David Shore On The Good Doctor, Crafting Complex Characters

PREMIUM: David Shore, creator, executive producer and showrunner of The Good Doctor, talks to World Screen about delving into complex, flawed characters trying to do their best.

He gave us Dr. Gregory House, the brilliant but misanthropic diagnostician in House. Now David Shore is offering viewers another medical genius, but one of an entirely different ilk: Dr. Shaun Murphy, an autistic surgeon with Savant syndrome. Based on a Korean show of the same name and starring Freddie Highmore, The Good Doctor focuses not on an antihero, but on a young doctor trying to overcome challenges and perfect his skills despite his blunt way of communicating.

WS: How did you get involved in The Good Doctor?
SHORE: I watched the Korean show! I didn’t realize at the time that Daniel Dae Kim [an executive producer on The Good Doctor] had the rights to it. But a couple of people told me you should watch this show. I did! I did the smart thing and listened to them!

WS: And you kept some elements from the original?
SHORE: I did. I kept a fair bit from the original and I changed a decent amount. After the pilot, we diverged and went our own way, but I owe a great debt to the Korean pilot. I thought it was a wonderful show.

WS: At what point did Freddie Highmore come on board and how did you work with him to craft the character of Dr. Shaun Murphy?
SHORE: After I had written the pilot, I got together with Freddie and our directors, and that’s all we talked about—this portrayal [of an autistic doctor with Savant syndrome]. What can go wrong with it, what do we need to respect, how do we avoid clichés, how do we make this real, how do we make him honest. We had a wonderful, wonderful meeting.

WS: So much of Shaun’s communication and Freddie’s performance is nuanced and a lot of it is nonverbal. Is that more difficult to deal with both in writing and acting?
SHORE: It is more difficult. There are certain advantages because Shaun can certainly make blunt statements that other characters might not be able to make. I think it is trickier. There are a lot of ways it could go wrong. There are a lot of ways it could be misunderstood. Freddie is brilliant because he doesn’t show us a lot but we get it. We almost always understand Shaun and root for him and sympathize and empathize. But with any character, you have to be honest and realistic and that is always a challenge.

WS: I’ve heard from some actors that creatively it’s more challenging to make a good guy interesting. And yet Shaun is so compelling. Is it more challenging to make Shaun interesting compared to an antihero or a bad guy?
SHORE: First of all, no! If you go with bad guys or larger-than-life characters they give an actor and the writers something to sink their teeth into and have fun with. But I think that sometimes that’s a bit of a cheat. The more interesting characters ultimately are regular people, capable of greatness who are flawed and have to overcome their own flaws somehow and that’s pretty much all of us. And that’s what makes Shaun a wonderful character.

WS: I understand that Freddie has joined the writers’ room and has written the first episode of season two. How did that come about?
SHORE: From the beginning, Freddie told me he was interested in being a producer and he very much is one on the show. And from the beginning, he said he wanted to do some writing and some directing; he likes to get involved in every aspect of the show. He came down to L.A. for a little while and met with the writers and we helped him craft a storyline for the first episode and he wrote our first episode.

WS: How do you create an atmosphere in the writers’ room where everybody feels free to share ideas?
SHORE: I think people feel free to share ideas if you respond to them with respect. That doesn’t mean I’m going to like every one of them, they may not all be good. But if you value the people in the room and let them know in some way that they are valued, then they will contribute. I expect them to contribute. The other side of that coin is that if they don’t contribute, I don’t want them in the room! There’s no hierarchy in the room. I guess that is disingenuous; the writers would laugh at that! I’m at the top. [Laughs] If I don’t like something, it’s not going to happen and if I do like something, it’s probably going to happen. But I like all the writers in my room and I want to hear from all of them. They all have good ideas, and that’s all that matters.

WS: How do you strike a balance between The Good Doctor’s procedural element and having episodes with continuing storylines?
SHORE: There is a procedural core and a there is a huge character element to the show and ongoing arcs to those characters. I always believe in doing both of them at the same time. Whenever we come up with a medical idea, the first question to ask is how this story will allow us to reveal something about Dr. Murphy or Dr. Brown or Dr. Melendez. So the purpose of the medical story is to help us reveal character. We do have a nice medical story in there that has a resolution, neither a good or a bad resolution, but a resolution in most episodes, but that story serves a larger purpose, which is to give rise to issues that help us explore our characters.

WS: Did you know at the beginning of season one that Dr. Glassman, played by Richard Schiff, would be very ill by the end of the season?
SHORE: Yes, I did. I got with Richard briefly at the beginning and he figured out that’s what I was thinking and I confirmed that’s what I was thinking! I also knew that Shaun was going to make mistakes as he was going along; he had to. We all do. We are human beings; we make mistakes. I didn’t want him to be perfect. That was important to me when I pitched the show to the network. I wanted to be honest in the portrayal of this man and all his weaknesses. I also knew that by the end of the year I wanted [him to make] a major mistake, but it was important that he have a reason for [the mistake]; that he have something distract him and Glassman’s illness serves as a distraction.

WS: At the start of season two how much did you know about the storylines and how much reveals itself in the writers’ room as the season progresses?
SHORE: There is a lot I don’t know. I know I want to explore Dr. Glassman’s illness and the treatment of the illness, the setbacks and the victories. So I want the whole season to be taken up with that. I know I want Shaun to grow a little bit in many ways [even if he has] with setbacks. But there is so much I don’t know that we discover in the room as we go along.

WS: While Dr. House was brilliant but often cruel, Shaun is brilliant but so humane. What appealed to you about this different approach to a medical drama?
SHORE: That’s exactly what did. Shaun is asking similar questions to House but from a more innocent point of view. When you write a character on a TV show, you live with that character almost as much as the actor does. You take that character home with you. I loved Dr. House and I loved living with him for eight years. I’m hoping that living with an optimistic character, a more positive character, is better for my soul. It can be a burden sometimes, but I’m hoping this will make me a better person.

WS: Have you received any reaction from the autism community?
SHORE: I think they were very leery of us beforehand. I don’t want to speak for all [people with autism], just for this character. What we’ve been hearing has been very gratifying. We’ve gotten a lot of letters, a lot of powerful stories. We’ve heard about the impact the show has had on individuals with autism.

WS: What would Dr. House think of Dr. Murphy?
SHORE: I like that question a lot! I hadn’t been asked that question before and I hadn’t thought about it before. I think Dr. House would like Dr. Murphy. I think Dr. House would be fascinated by him; he would be impressed with his skills, but most of all, Dr. Murphy would prove a challenge to Dr. House because all of Dr. House’s usual techniques for getting under somebody’s skin and exposing their weaknesses I don’t think would work on Dr. Murphy. I think he’d find his honesty refreshing. I think he’d like him.

WS: Wasn’t one of the ideas behind House that everybody tells lies? I don’t think Shaun lies that much, does he?
SHORE: He doesn’t lie well!