The fans at MiraclesTV.com sit down for a virtual chat with Richard Hatem,
creator of “Miracles.”
 

1.  Before "Miracles," what were some of your favorite TV shows, past or present?  Which shows most inspired you?

The Big Three: Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Rockford Files and The A-Team.

Kolchak is the nearest and dearest to my heart.  Rockford might be the best all-around series I’ve ever seen -- it holds up beautifully, and there is simply no one on earth remotely like James Garner.  (I fear there never will be again.  Same goes for Darren McGavin.)

And The A-Team came along at just the right time.  Stephen J. Cannell -- a personal hero of mine -- wrote and produced both Rockford and The A-Team.  I was a junior in high school, but decided to take the leap and write my own episode; I fully intended to sell it and join the staff of the show.  It was exactly 20 years later that my first hour of television made it on the air.

2.  Who’s your favorite superhero?

No favorite superheroes.  Unlike almost all my peers, I’ve never been into comic books at all.  Also, no interest in Star Wars.

3.  Have you yourself ever had a supernatural experience?

I’ve never had a supernatural experience.

4.  Do you believe in God?  Do you believe in life after death?

I believe in God and life-after-death, but I believe the experience of both is as unknowable to human beings as the ideas of college and marriage are to a dog.

5.  Who’s your favorite author?

Thomas Berger, James Lee Burke, Toni Morrison, Stephen King, Robert B. Parker, Andrew Vachss, Robertson Davies, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Larry McMurtry, David Sedaris, Thomas Hardy, Stanislaw Lem.

A few books I’ve loved would include A Prayer For Owen Meany, by John Irving, The Main, by Trevanian, and Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card.  Ender’s Game might be the perfect novel.  I don’t know a single person who has read it who doesn’t rank it at the top of their list.
 

6.  What’s the best advice you ever got?

The best piece of writing advice I ever got boils down to, "It’s got to be about something." 

Meaning, don’t just write a story about a cop who solves a murder.  That’s not enough.  You only tell a particular story of a particular cop solving a particular murder to illustrate the point that... whatever: "true justice is out of the hands of mortal men," or "true justice can only be determined by mortal men," or "a small act of kindness can change the world." 

Really, it can be anything.  But the audience has to walk away with more than, "Oh, it was the ex-wife."

The best piece of life advice? "When in doubt, do nothing."

7.  When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I thought it happened when I was in high school.  But apparently I’d written and talked about being a writer since I was about five.  I just don’t remember it.  Back then I thought I wanted to be an actor and a stand-up comedian.  I’ve done a little of both and want to do more.

8.  What’s your biggest creative ambition?

My biggest creative ambition is to write a good novel.  Well, okay, first just write a novel.  And then write a good one.

9.  What’s the scariest movie you’ve ever seen?

I don’t recall ever being really scared by a movie.  The closest would be Night of the Living Dead, when I was twelve or thirteen.  Second scariest is probably Ordinary People or The King of Comedy.  I’m kidding here, but only a little.  (I love both of these films.)

More favorite movies: A Clockwork Orange, Harold and Maude, Die Hard, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Rollercoaster. 

Coincidentally, Rollercoaster was written by the late Richard Levinson & William Link, a writing team best known for creating Columbo.  Levinson had one daughter, the lovely and talented Christine Levinson, who was on the staff of Miracles with her writing/producing partner Zack Estrin.  They wrote "Little Miss Lost" and the as-yet-unaired "The Letter."

10.  Who’s your real-life hero or inspiration?

Besides David Greenwalt?  Uhhhhh...  Earlier, I mentioned Stephen J. Cannell as a personal hero/inspiration. 

By ‘hero,’ I guess I mean someone who at one point I became aware of and said, "Yeah, that guy does what I want to do."  So I’d add to that list Stephen King because he writes scary stories that mean something, and Robert B. Parker (author of the "Spenser" novels) because he has, over a long period of time and many novels, created a character and a world that is like our own -- but is infinitely preferable.  To me, at least.

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June 1, 2003  © Copyright 2003-2004 MiraclesTV.com.  All Rights Reserved.