sholio | White Collar uncut pilot

I watched the extended version of the White Collar pilot last night! Mostly it's pretty much like the aired version, except some of the scenes are longer - they trimmed bits of dialogue here and there to shorten it, without really changing the meaning of the scene. It was neat to get a little more - a little more banter here, a wee bit more backstory there - but there wasn't much that was cut that I minded not having in the "official" episode. We got to see June talk more about playing poker with the boys in the old days, and more of Diana teasing Neal, and a little more Neal-Peter banter. But really I could see why they cut most of it; it would've been nice to keep it, but I never noticed that anything had been cut from the final scenes - the pacing and emotions and everything are still just fine - so they did a good job.

There were only two bits I wished they'd kept. There was one little exchange between Peter and Neal - it was one of the scenes where they're talking in Peter's office, and Peter asks Neal if he trusts him, and Neal answers "... yeah" in this little-kid-caught-in-the-cookie-jar sort of tone that is so cute. Presumably, aside from just needing to trim for time, they didn't really want to push that aspect of Peter and Neal's relationship that quickly. But it was an adorable bit and I wish we'd gotten to keep it.

The other bit I would've liked to have seen in the episode is that, in the uncut version, we see Peter's moment of realization when he figures out what Neal is up to with the ankle monitor and the warehouse. I can see why they cut it, because when Peter gets out of his car and starts ordering people around on the scene, he's obviously figured it out and is still gleeing about it. The moment when he catches on isn't really necessary. But it's neat, just seeing that grin spread across his face as it hits him what Neal is up to and why. I always love Peter's "Eureka!" moments.

And the only long scene that they cut is one I'm glad they did - there's a scene in the extended pilot in which Peter meets Mozzie. But I think it was a good decision to string that along for a while, keeping the two sides of Neal's life separate until they accidentally collide. Also, the scene in which they finally meet in Neal's apartment is a lot more amusing and just generally a stronger scene than the original one in the pilot (where Mozzie supplies some plot-related information to Peter).

This is actually something I struggle with in my original writing, as opposed to fanfic ... the fact that any important scene can only happen once! Aside from canon AUs in shows/books/movies that have time or dimensional travel, you can only ever have one version of anything: the way two characters met, the first time they kissed, the time one of them died. So you'd better make it good. I think this performance anxiety is one of the hurdles that I have to overcome in writing original fiction -- the awareness that out of all the possibilities for the big emotional moments in the plot and in the characters' lives, I'm always going to have to pick one and go with it. In fanfic you can write a dozen versions, and other writers can write a hundred more. And then you can enjoy the one that you find the most satisfying. At the very least, there's always another version out there, or you can make up your own. As a writer, I like that freedom, even though as a reader/viewer, I'll (nearly) always take the one canon version over the million fanon versions. But when I'm writing my own stories, and will only ever get one version, it's hard to overcome the paralyzing fear that I'm not making the best decision and I won't get another chance.

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I never saw the pilot so have not even tried to watch the series as
when I did, it made no sense, although the characters do appeal to me.

It took me a while to become interested in the show; I rejected it based on the first couple of episodes I saw, then fell for it hardcore in season three and went back to get caught up.

Thanks for letting me know it was difficult for you to get into also
Maybe a look at the pilot might be in order..........

I had mixed feelings about the cut "Peter meets Mozzie" scene. On the one hand, it answered my question of whether or not Mozzie had a job, but on the other that he had a job was rather contradictory toward his lifestyle and would have made for a major character plot-hole, so in the end I was glad they left it out.

But when I'm writing my own stories, and will only ever get one version, it's hard to overcome the paralyzing fear that I'm not making the best decision and I won't get another chance.

I think this is where gut instinct becomes all-important. Although for me my issue isn't so much "which is the better option" but "can I come up with better?" because I have the bad habit of settling for the first scene that pops into my head rather than try to come up with various options. Usually it's not a big deal since I like to plan my stories as thoroughly as possible, but it ended up being a major setback in my current original story. My gut told me the start of the story needed some major work, I didn't listen to my gut, and when I tried to publish my story it was rejected for its slow pacing. It was a heck of a way to realize my beginning sucked. I'm now trying to listen to my gut more often, because it knows what we don't.

you can only ever have one version of anything Unless you're writing a groundhog day-style narrative! But it's not really something you can make a writing career of... or is it?

Thanks for the nuggets of information! I haven't seen the extended pilot... is it in the dvds?

I'm so with you on that Mozzie scene! I really didn't like it. Mozzie came off as just a paranoid nut, rather than the intelligent, sometimes whimsical paranoid he truly is.

I also loved the look on Peter's face in that cut scene, but yes, we could live without it. I was sorry to lose Diana's scene (or were there two? watched a while ago) because I felt it established the relationship between the characters a little more clearly.

I did enjoy watching the extra scenes. I loved the pilot either way.

It's a TV rip, I think ... it's got a TV logo on it. I can send you links if you want.

I'm looking forward to dropping the DVDs in my next Amazon order (budgetary restrictions force me to wait at the moment ...). I had no idea I was going to fall for this show so hard ...

Yeah, I think they were still trying to get a handle on Mozzie as a character, and the cut scene doesn't do him any favors. I'm glad they went for a more ambiguous approach and kept him in the background a little bit more until getting a better feel for how to play his dialogue against the way Willie Garson portrays him. Reading the original pilot script gave me the idea that the way Mozzie comes off in the cut scene -- which is almost exactly how it was written back when the show was based on the West Coast -- is the way they had originally planned the character, as a somewhat over-the-top caricature of a beatnik conspiracy theorist. But the way Willie Garson embodies him is really unique, in a way that's at odds with some of his goofier dialogue and behavior.

Diana's scenes -- yeah, I agree! We still got the gist of her relationship with Peter, but lost most of her interactions with Neal. I imagine that it made more sense to cut a lot of Diana's character development when they didn't keep her around past the pilot (I wonder what the decision-making process was, anyway -- taking her off and bringing her back like they did), but viewing it now, with Diana having become a main cast member, it's really nice to get those extra glimpses of her.

Yeah, the Mozzie scene lets us see a little more of his life ... but in a way that doesn't make sense in terms of everything we learn about the character later on. Like I said to

aelfgyfu_mead below, I think that the cut scene was closer to how they'd originally envisioned Mozzie, as more of a beatnik conspiracy theorist, before they started getting a handle on the way that Willie Garson's performance changes the character. I think it's funny that I didn't used to like Mozzie -- early in my viewing of the show, he was my least favorite character -- because I've really started to love him; he's a very unique character and I think a lot of it is because the way the actor looks and acts is really different from all the expectations that you might have for a character like that. I think it took the writers a little while to start embracing that.

My gut told me the start of the story needed some major work, I didn't listen to my gut, and when I tried to publish my story it was rejected for its slow pacing. It was a heck of a way to realize my beginning sucked. I'm now trying to listen to my gut more often, because it knows what we don't.

Ouch. But, yeah, I think you're right! I'm trying to learn to pay more attention to that sort of thing, too, because I have a tendency to think "Oh, this will bother me less once I get farther along in the story" -- but it almost never works out that way; if there's something that I find boring or cliche or annoying when I first start writing, it very rarely looks better from 20,000 words farther along.

I could be wrong, but I think I heard that the actress who plays Diana, Marsha Thomason, wasn't available by the time they got the green light for the series—there had been some delay between filming the pilot and going ahead with the series. She then became available during the season, so they brought her back at the end. They always wanted her, but they couldn't get her for a while.

No, you are correct, MT wasn't avaible for the most part of the first season, but they brought her back as soon as possible - a really good decision in my book.

Ah, thank you! That's good to know - I was really puzzled by the actress switch, especially since I'd liked her a lot in the pilot.

This is probably too old to get attention from someone now, but is there any way to find the uncut pilot?

White Collar uncut pilot

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