Mark Frost Questions:

M1. What are Mark Frost's other movies/shows?
M2. How closely did Lynch and Frost collaborate on TP?
M3. What happened to Lynch/Frost Productions?
M4. What is "Storyville"?
M5. What is "The List of Seven"?
M6. What is "The Six Messiahs"?

Answers:

M1. What are Mark Frost's other movies/shows?

- "Hill Street Blues" (TV series)

- "Storyville" (feature film, see below)

[Other works TBS]
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M2. How closely did Lynch and Frost collaborate on TP?

Very closely at first.  They jointly developed the pilot and
stories for the first season.  Frost was executive story
editor of the second season through the resolution of Laura
Palmer's murder.  Lynch was involved mainly in the beginning
and ending of the second season.  Despite some persistent
rumors, Lynch did not abandon TP during the middle part of
the second season to complete his film "Wild At Heart" (see
the timeline in issue #16 of "Wrapped in Plastic" for
details).

The visual style was basically Lynch and the other directors
tried to stay in that vein.

Reading Frost's novel "The List of Seven" (see question M5)
reveals that much of the supernatural/mystical aspects of
the show attributed to Lynch probably came from Frost.

Besides Lynch and Frost, writers Harley Peyton and Robert
Engels had the most influence on TP content.  According to
Peyton (in his "Wrapped In Plastic" interview), the first
season writers were given detailed outlines for episodes.
They could add their own touches, but only if Lynch and
Frost decided that they fit.  Apparently outlines for the
second season weren't as detailed.  (Maybe that is one of
the reasons some people felt the second season was worse.)

One big reason, though, was that Kyle MacLachlan objected to
the plan to develop a romance between Coop and Audrey and
make it the major thread to replace the Laura Palmer arc.
Much of what we see after the end of the Laura Palmer arc
were realy intended to be subplots to the main Cooper/Audrey
one.

When Lynch came back to do the second season final episode,
he also threw a lot of the script out of the window (as can
be seen from reading the description of the script in
"Wrapped In Plastic").  He had not been in touch at all with
the other writers, and some of what he did in the last
episode was at odds with what they had planned for the third
season, if there had been one.  Frost is quoted in "Wrapped
in Plastic" as saying it would have taken quite a bit of
work to get things back on track.

Although it is clear that Lynch and Frost had developed
major differences toward the end, including Frost's
disagreement over doing a prequel movie ("Fire Walk With
Me"), rather than a sequel, it appears that they are
currently on good terms, according to Frost's remarks when
being interviewed about his novels "The List of Seven" and
"The Six Messiahs" (see question M5 and M6).
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M3. What happened to Lynch/Frost Productions?

After several not-so-successful productions after TP
["American Chronicles", "On The Air", and "Hugh Hefner: Once
Upon a Time"], the two had an amicable parting.  Frost
decided to pursue his own filmmaking and writing career.
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M4. What is "Storyville"?

Frost's feature film about political corruption and murder
in New Orleans, starring James Spader.

It is available on video and laserdisc.
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M5. What is "The List of Seven"?

"The List of Seven" is Frost's novel, set in Victorian
England. It concerns Arthur Conan Doyle, a physician who
spends his spare time debunking phony mediums. He goes to
one seance where all is not as it appears, and it turns out
to be real. As he is drawn further into this investigation,
he meets up with a mysterious man, Jack Sparks, who is later
the basis for Sherlock Holmes.

TP fans will probably enjoy Frost's usage of Helena
Blavatsky (founder of Theosophy and originator of the idea
of the White Lodge) and the "dweller on the threshold".

The book is reportedly being made into a movie, with Frost
writing the screenplay.
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M6. What is "The Six Messiahs"?

This is Frost's sequel novel to "The List of Seven", again
revolving around the adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle, this
time during a visit to the United States, at a time when
Doyle has finished writing the series of Sherlock Holmes
books.

One of the book's recurring themes is how Doyle is
constantly hounded by Holmes fans, demanding to know how he
could have killed off Holmes, and whether he will bring him
back in a future book.  This is Frost's not too subtle jab
at his being hounded by TP fans during his book tour for
"The List of Seven".
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