Exclusive Interview: Dick Wolf

PREMIUM: Dick Wolf, the creator of the Law & Order franchise, discusses his career and the series Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D.

WS: Where did your interest in crime, police work and the justice system come from?
WOLF: I have been fascinated with crime and crime solving since I discovered Sherlock Holmes as a boy. There is nothing more dramatic than life and death. Police/crime stories and bringing criminals to justice have long been a mainstay of storytelling in novels, films and television. We are fascinated by what we fear, yet being able to see crimes solved and criminals convicted brings us closure. And I think readers and viewers enjoy being engaged in the crime-solving process. It's a low risk way to play detective.

WS: I understand that Law & Order was turned down by two networks before Brandon Tartikoff, the [former] president of NBC, picked it up. What did he see in the show?
WOLF: Brandon really liked the Law & Order pilot, but he said to me, "What's the bible for the show?" And I said, "The front page of the New York Post."

WS: To what do you attribute the longevity of the Law & Order franchise?
WOLF: The Law & Order brand has endured in a huge part because of the writing. The showrunners/writers have kept the series current, and written stories that are topical and compelling. For 25 years, people have been telling me that Law & Order is addicting. Crime is a constantly renewable resource, so there is no shortage of stories to tell.

WS: The story lines from Law & Order franchise shows were and are ripped from the headlines. How much research goes into each episode?
WOLF: We may rip the headline but we change the body copy. We have researchers, technical advisors and experts who are obsessed with accuracy. So what you see reflects real police work and legal strategy.

WS: If we think back to Hill Street Blues and then we look at Chicago P.D., how much more sophisticated have production values become today? How much more do audiences expect?
WOLF: Cable has really upped the ante when it comes to production values and storytelling. Character development, plotlines, effects and stunts are all factors. But ultimately, the audience wants strong protagonists who are likeable, complicated or both. Hank Voight [a sergeant in Chicago P.D.] is a fascinating character. And he is surrounded by an ensemble of cops who accentuate the many layers of his personality.

WS: How have pacing, issues and character development changed since Hill Street Blues?
WOLF: Storytelling has not really changed that much. Maybe today's audiences have shorter attention spans, so we need to keep the writing a little tighter. Standards have also loosened up over the years, in large part due to the proliferation of cable dramas. So we can get away with a little more.

WS: How much clout vis-à-vis network executives did writers/producers have in the days of Hill Street Blues and Miami Vice? How much clout does the showrunner have today?
WOLF: Writers/producers have always had clout because without a script there is no show. Today's showrunner has a more difficult job because production and the business in general have become more sophisticated. There used to be three broadcast networks. Now there are hundreds of channels. The competition is fierce. And the writing pool is thinner because there are so many more shows.

WS: What was the genesis of Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D.?
WOLF: Chicago P.D. is obviously an outgrowth of Chicago Fire, which was a concept we sold to Bob Greenblatt [chairman of entertainment] at NBC. I wanted to showcase first responders in a dramatic format. And Chicago is a city with a very rich history of police and fire stories. During the first season of Chicago Fire, we brought in two detectives (Voight and Dawson) and really liked both characters. We worked closely with the network to develop the companion show and it has benefited both series to be able to migrate characters back and forth.

WS: What have been the biggest changes you've seen in the television business?
WOLF: My parents worked in television, literally when the medium was born. In fact, they met at NBC. As a child I used to sit in the peanut gallery on The Howdy Doody Show. So I have really grown up in the business. We've gone from a three-network pie to a very fragmented multichannel environment. The television set used to be the center of family entertainment. Now we can watch whatever we want, whenever we want, on mobile devices, computers, big-screen TVs…. So in some ways that's good, but it also makes us more culturally isolated.

WS: What do you enjoy most about your work?
WOLF: The fact that I haven't felt that I was at "work" one day in the last 35 years.