by Tiffany Vogt @ TVWatchtower Sept 28, 2015
Martin Gero & Jaimie Alexander Image: Repost from
Wondering just what is up with those tattoos and if there is really a game-plan ahead for NBC’s hot new drama series Blindspot? You are not alone. So we checked in with executive producer and creator Martin Gero for some answer to all the burning questions.
How did you come up with such an interesting idea for the show?
MARTIN: I wish I had a better answer for this, but I’ve always loved puzzles. This kind of show is a show I would watch. And I just looked around and felt like there’s not a lot of these puzzle shows and it’s because they’re really hard to do. So I really thought about it just in the back of my head for years about how to do a show with a treasure map in it somehow. I lived in Times Square during the Viacom bomb threat, where they emptied it out, and that image has just stayed with me. It’s like so freaky because Times Square is like one of the world’s most famous busy places. And to see it totally empty was kind of an amazing thing. So one morning I was just thinking, “Wow, I wonder what they would do if they went and dismantled a bomb and there was a person inside that bag instead of a bomb?” And then I thought, “How could I connect that to a specific person? You could tattoo Kurt Weller’s name on her back.” And then I was like, “Well, what if she was covered in tattoos? What if it was a whole treasure map?” And I had never seen that before. I’d never seen a person as a treasure map. So I just got really excited about it and was like, “Let’s figure this out and see where this goes.”
We have seen a really strong connection already in just one episode between Jane and Agent Weller. Can you talk a little bit about what the relationship between Jane and the other members of the cast moving forward?
MARTIN: Absolutely. She slowly becomes very close with all of them. There’s a line in Episode 3 where they’re struggling to find what Jane’s role is, how to work it week to week or day to day, and Patterson says, “It’s kind of like a tangram, which is like these Japanese shape puzzles”. And she’s like, “You know, this team has been in one piece for so long, and we’re just trying to figure out how to incorporate this new piece, what shape that team is going to be.” So she really has an impact on all of their lives and the great thing about doing a show like this is week to week you get to deepen all of the characters, not just Weller and Jane. And so you start to have — like Patterson’s going to have her own stories and then Zapata and Reade will start to have their own stories. But it’s all directly tied to how Jane is impacting all their lives. So it’s a fun line to trace as who welcomes her with open arms, who’s suspicious of her, and who’s worried about her. It runs the gamut and all of their lives are changed for good and for bad by knowing Jane.
Rob Brown’s character, Agent Reade, stole the show at points there in the pilot with some of those one-liners. Can you talk about that character? And are we going to see more of him as the season goes on?
MARTIN: Absolutely. I think it’s really important on a show like this to find humor where you can so it doesn’t become all gloom and doom and dour. It’s something we do more and more every episode because our cast is really funny, Rob Brown especially. Certainly Ashley Johnson is going to carry a lot of that weight as well. It’s one of those things when we started testing the show, I was so pleased to find out that people just really connected to Rob’s character and the fact that there was a little bit of humor in the show. So it really allowed us to run with that as the episodes come up.
Did you create BLINDSPOT as a limited series since there’s only so many tattoos on Jane Doe’s body?
MARTIN: No. There’s a real concrete plan for the first three seasons, and then I have an idea on how to take it past there if we get there. The crazy thing about pitching these shows nowadays is people have been so burned by an idea that can last ten episodes. So you really have to — even in the origination of the pitch — come up with an enormous amount of backstory, which at the time feels like an enormous waste of time because you’re like, “No one’s even bought this show. What am I doing?” But the second it gets picked up it’s like, “I’m so thankful that I put in the groundwork when it was no so crazy.” So we have all of the ten full episodes for the first season mapped out and we know what the second season is and how to get into the third season. And then hopefully we’ll see. [EDITOR’S NOTE: The show was picked up for a back 9 episodes for Season 1 as of September 28, 2015.]
What went into the creation of each of the tattoos?
MARTIN: They vary. When I started developing the show, I made a book of like a hundred tattoos that I really liked. Then we hired a graphic designer to eventually layer them on her body in a rough placement. Then we hired Tinsley Transfer, which specializes in cinematic tattoos. Christian Tinsley and his team really took the design to a whole other level, brought an amazing amount of detail and brought an amazing amount of stuff with it. But for us there’s a lot of story on her body that needed to be incorporated. So it’s really a team effort between the writers and Tinsley Transfers, and we’ve brought in this guy David Quong, who’s a magician and puzzle-maker for the New York Times. He’s amazing. So he’s one of our chief puzzle consultants and makes sure that these things make sense and they work, which is super important to me. The second tattoo for the second episode, we put it out for Entertainment Weekly because you could solve it yourself after having seen the pilot, but no one has yet. It’s some sort of prize for the person that can figure it out. I’d be so impressed. But you can piece these together yourself. So it’s really important for us as a collaboration between the writers, Tinsley, and David Quong that this all makes sense and it all has a flow to it. So outside of that it’s hard to get into how we made each tattoo because they’re so based in story that hasn’t come up yet.
How do you appeal to the fans that want that rich mystery with those who maybe just are going to be casual viewers, who may just want to see Jane punch someone or fight someone?
MARTIN: I’ve said from the beginning this is a procedural for people that don’t like procedurals and a character drama for people that don’t like character drama. I think we can find a way to do both really well. Our story of the week comes from one of Jane’s tattoos and is closed-ended and like a little action movie in and of itself. But then what’s great about the show is that we’re able to do a layered character drama on top of that. I think with the “previously-ons” and people finding out information within the show, it’s the type of thing that will reward the loyal viewer but won’t alienate the casual viewer, which I think is so important on shows like these. Certainly, for me, especially when you’re doing twenty-two episodes a year, sometimes you find out about something and you’re like, “Oh man, I don’t have twenty-two hours to catch up on the first season.” And so for us it’s very important that the show has an entry point for anybody at any time.
What this journey has been like for you?
MARTIN: It’s been extraordinarily overwhelming for me and the entire cast and crew. We were really excited about the show and to see that it has connected with so many people is just really exciting. You never know in this business. I’ve been on shows that I thought were pretty good and no one watched. The last show that I created was the lowest premiere in the history of television. So this is a marked difference, certainly, than that experience. And it’s been really wonderful. I think for us, too, it’s exciting because we’re really proud of the pilot, obviously, but we’re even prouder of the series that we’ve made. A lot of people are like, “Sure, but how do you do this week to week?” And I really think we’ve cracked it and found that balance between a great, thrilling action hour and then emotional character drama. And I just can’t wait. People have told me, “I can’t wait to see it.” But we’re just so anxious to get it out there and have people watch it and go on this ride with us. Who doesn’t love a puzzle? Who doesn’t love a mystery? And this one is wrapped in a lot of fun stuff. The mystery of who she is and why someone did this to her, we feel like we have a good answer for that. I think it’s really dangerous for shows like this to feel like all middle from this point on. So we’re really going to churn through some pretty amazing story real quick. Even by the end of episode two, there’s a pretty major reveal in there that really shapes the entire show. So we’re just excited for people to see it.