‘Quantico’ writers keep the action coming

By Frazier Moore

AP Television Writer

NEW YORK

Under bright lights in a Montreal studio, the stars of “Quantico” are filming a new episode of this ABC thriller cast as hotshot trainees at Virginia’s FBI Quantico Base. With their sworn mission to uncover domestic terrorists, these recruits would never guess that, less than a year down the road, one of them, Alex Parrish, will be framed for orchestrating a ghastly crime: blowing up New York’s Grand Central Terminal.

“Quantico” is a suspenseful saga filled with action, intrigue and hanky-panky among its sprawling ensemble. Meanwhile, it unfolds along two distinct time lines, whipsawing between training sessions and, months later, the bombing’s aftermath as Alex (series star Priyanka Chopra) struggles to prove her innocence and flush the real culprit from her FBI ranks.

With storytelling this knotty, it’s always worth remembering that “Quantico” just doesn’t write itself. 400 miles due south of Montreal, in a converted factory space in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood – that’s where the multilayered narratives come to light and where scripts emerge.

The season’s 15th episode airs Sunday (10 p.m.) boasting the latest dose of drama, derring-do and dirty tricks. But 15 is old news for the four-man, four-woman team of writers who, on a recent morning, gather around a conference table led by Joshua Safran, the series’ creator and executive producer. They are there to tackle Episode 21.

Weeks earlier, 21 had been, in writers’ lingo, “broken” – painstakingly charted from start to finish, then transformed into a scene-by-scene memo for submitting to the network for approval. But ABC had balked at one throughline, so before the episode’s designated writer, Cameron Litvack, can start the script, the room must tie up those pesky loose ends.

While they’re at it, Safran wants to make sure 21 smoothly paves the way for Episode 22, the season-ender, for which he will do the honors.

“Right now,” says Safran, “the issue for me with 21 is that it’s very talky. I want to add a little bit of energy.”

Energy seems to be Safran’s stock-in-trade. Animated, jovial and boyish-looking (though a seasoned veteran with “Gossip Girl” and “Smash” among his past TV credits), he crackles with energy, propelling ideas at Mach speed while kneading a well-thumbed deck of playing cards. (”I don’t smoke,” he says, “so I shuffle cards.”)

The vibe of this writers room, and those who inhabit it, suggest nothing so much as a spirited seminar in a graduate writing course. The air bristles with story twists, character refinements and other interplay that keeps assistant writer Braden Marks busy at his laptop capturing the give-and-take while, on the wall, a white board mapped out scene by scene is continuously tweaked.

Safran says he always meant to create a show that challenges the viewer, “something that requires active watching as opposed to ‘I’m going to drink wine and play Candy Crush while my television is on.’ For some people, that’s too much. But for other people, going on that ride is the way to hook them.”

“Quantico” has won a sophomore renewal, but it remains to be seen whether filming will remain in Montreal or migrate somewhere thriftier.

A geographic gulf between writing and filming, while not ideal, isn’t uncommon in series TV, and such tools as Skype, email and stop-overs by a visiting writer help bridge the gap.

But the fact is, it doesn’t really matter where the writers room is. However disembodied from production and all of its razzmatazz, however undercover the writers convene, here in this inner sanctum resides the brain trust that devises how the actors will perform and what the viewers will see.