SPOILER ALERT:This story contains plot points from the first three episodes ofParadiseon Hulu.
Did you wonder if you developed a reputation as a creator of triple-hanky family dramas?
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DAN FOGELMAN:I was pretty exhausted.
Dan Fogelman (inset) and Sterling K. Brown in ‘Paradise’Getty/Hulu
It had been a long six years of making a lot of television.
Ive always gotten the feeling like when one hit big, people would ask that question.
I didCarsandCrazy Stupid Love, butThis Is Uskind of swallowed those whole, at least for me personally.
I didnt actively say I dont want to write another family drama that has tears in it.
Ive had the kernel of this idea for a very long time, well over a decade.
Id considered writing it before I had doneThis Is Us, and I wound up writingThis is Us.
So afterThis is Us, I took a little break.
One day I sat down and just started writing it.
DEADLINE:When did you pull in Sterling?
Everybody started asking, Sterling must be so excited.
Is Sterling excited to play a part?
I was like, no, I havent given it to Sterling.
I didnt know that my brain was even there.
More and more people were saying it.
Then I realized, God, Ihavebeen picturing Sterling the entire time.
But there was no way Sterling was going to want to do another TV show with me.
But then Sterling read it in less than four hours and called me and he said, Im in.
So we were off to the races.
DEADLINE:You mentioned doing a lot of research.
We had sociologists write papers for us.
We did a lot of research on architecture.
Our directors went everywhere.
They got a special tour of the sphere in Las Vegas.
A tremendous amount of thought went into it.
Thats kind of how we did it.
I dont know if I should be talking about that.
I dunno how to talk about this television show yet!
DEADLINE:Why the shroud of secrecy when you were first pitching the show?
There was no logline released when it was sold to Hulu.
FOGELMAN:There are two mysteries in the show.
And then theres the mystery of who killed the President.
So theres two different mysteries and I think its a complicated thing.
Theres a shot of secrecy whenever you have twists and turns.
DEADLINE:You seem to like twists at the end of pilots.
Is that your signature move now?
FOGELMAN:I dont think so.
I swear Im not thinking about twists or whatnot.
And so I do like when at the end of episodes youre sent in a new direction.
With that first episode I had the opportunity to do that.
Ive only done a couple of real twists in my life.This Is Uswas one of the craziest.
Ive done other shows that arent about presidents that have more politics in them.
And again, I dont know that it was a conscious choice, its just not what its about.
I just kind of wrote what was on my mind.
I think thats similar here.
Theres some timely stuff in here, but it wasnt an active choice.
Im not a politician nor a politico.
Im not trying to say something.
Its just this is whats in the ether right now.
When I was writing it, we stopped during the midst of the writers strike.
We were in a very different political climate now than we were when it started shooting.
The world is moving at warp speed right now.
So to try and say something with the amount of time it takes to make something is nearly impossible.
DEADLINE:You have some really unique cover music in the show.
Its very much explained in the eighth episode, the soundtrack to our season.
Its part of the larger mystery.
These songs dont necessarily sit on the tops of the Mt.
Rushmores of songs, but theyre meaningful and fun to me.
So we thought of getting covers of them made that go the opposite way.
