Walk and talk
Encyclopedia
Walk and talk is a distinctive storytelling-technique used in filmmaking
and television production in which a number of characters have a conversation en route. The most basic form of walk and talk involves a walking character that is then joined by another character. On their way to their destinations, the two talk. Variations include interruptions from other characters and walk and talk relay race
s, in which new characters join the group and one of the original characters leaves the conversation, while the remaining characters continue the walking and talking.
series have used the technique to this purpose occasionally, plus all three shows in the CSI franchise use this frequently. Moreover, it has been used as a prominent story-enhancer in numerous episodes of The West Wing
, The Bill
, House M.D.
, Ugly Betty
, and ER
.
The Walk and Talk technique is also often used as a way of combining exposition
with a visual introduction to major areas (and their locations in relation to one another) that will be used in a production. Examples of this can be seen in both film (the opening conversation between Mal
and Simon in Serenity
) and television (the similar conversation between Sinclair
and Lyta
in the pilot
episode of Babylon 5
, "The Gathering
"). This use of the technique is regularly seen in opening scenes in the UK series Hollyoaks
as a way of recapping current story lines and showing how the plot streams interrelate with the characters.
, but it was arguably popularised by Thomas Schlamme, who favored the technique in Sports Night
when working with Aaron Sorkin
. Schlamme adapted it from the typical wide-angle shot of that time to a closer tight-angle shot, usually only encompassing the subjects' upper torsos. Subsequently, Schlamme used this technique heavily in Sorkin's NBC
show The West Wing
, and it remains a favorite of Sorkin, who continued its use in his show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
.
In both shows, Sorkin has at times mocked his own use of the technique in character dialogue. One example of this can be found in the West Wing first season episode "Five Votes Down
", where Josh
and Sam
talk while meandering around the office before Sam asks, "Where are you going?" each man then claims to have been following the other. This gag is repeated in the episode "Mandatory Minimums" when Sam and Toby are walking to breakfast and pass the restaurant by an entire block because they were "having a good conversation." Another mocking reference to the walk-and-talk occurs in "Debate Camp" during one of the flashback sequences to their first days in the White House. Josh and Sam are looking for a meeting in room West Wing 160 and agree to prepare for the meeting while searching for the room. Sam says to Josh, "We'd better get used to having meetings in the hall from now on." Josh later says that he is going to walk around some more and see if he can "get into a pickup meeting." In "Arctic Radar", Josh's assistant Donna
tries to tell him something while hurrying along behind him on his way to a meeting; he reaches the door and tells her, "You've gotta go faster next time. I'm here already." On the West Wing special episode "Isaac and Ishmael
", an episode shot over only two weeks and presented before the official season 3 premiere just weeks after the events of September 11, Sorkin remarked that the episode included "zero walking", unlike any other West Wing episode.
Sorkin later parodied the technique during a guest stint on 30 Rock in the season 5 episode "Plan B". Sorkin and show star Tina Fey are each waiting their turn for a meeting, when they engage in conversation. Sorkin suggests they "walk and talk," and they end up meandering through the hallways of the office building for about a minute before they end up back where they started.
", in which Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson and three other characters compare differing theories while traveling by train to the scene of an earlier crime. In film (far more so than in television), it has been recognized for decades that an ordinary dialogue scene—in which absolutely nothing is happening, other than people talking—can be made much more interesting visually if the characters are aboard a moving vehicle with some sort of changing background visible through the windows behind them. One example of this device is the "cuckoo clock" scene in The Third Man
, in which Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten have a conversation aboard a moving Ferris wheel, and the end of their talk occurs at its starting point.
, Ben Horne
uses the phrase "Walk and talk" while walking down a hallway and listening to one of his employees of the Great Northern Hotel.
30 Rock
has mentioned walk and talks on several occasions, one of which the characters walk and talk despite not actually walking to any desired place, to which they then realize.
It also occurs in an episode of NCIS
, when Michael Weatherly
's character, Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, is approached by an extremely attractive woman from the Seattle Police Department applying for a job. He asks her, "Can you walk and talk?" She answers the question sarcastically, as they proceed to an interrogation room.
A reference to the technique is also mentioned in an episode (Season 4, episode 7 - Ugly) of the TV series House, where the main character Dr. House says: "Let's go for a walk. Walking gives the illusion of the story moving forward.".
Sitcom Frasier
mentions "walk and talk" twice in season 3, episode 23 ("The Focus Group"), first broadcast on 14th May 1996:
Then later:
By contrast, Larry David
, in a few episodes of sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm
, mentions that he is dislikes the "stop and chat", a Larry David formulation that turns walk-and-talk on its head.
Filmmaking
Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...
and television production in which a number of characters have a conversation en route. The most basic form of walk and talk involves a walking character that is then joined by another character. On their way to their destinations, the two talk. Variations include interruptions from other characters and walk and talk relay race
Relay race
During a relay race, members of a team take turns running, orienteering, swimming, cross-country skiing, biathlon, or ice skating parts of a circuit or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games...
s, in which new characters join the group and one of the original characters leaves the conversation, while the remaining characters continue the walking and talking.
Purpose
The technique is frequently used as a means of emphasizing how busy the characters are. It suggests that there is so much to do and so little time to do it in that even traveling time must be used to serve additional functions. It also serves the purposes of smoothing transitions from one location to another and adding visual interest to what might otherwise be static "talking heads" sequences. All three Law & OrderLaw & Order franchise
The Law & Order franchise is a number of related American television series created by Dick Wolf and originally broadcast on NBC, all of which deal with some aspect of the criminal justice system...
series have used the technique to this purpose occasionally, plus all three shows in the CSI franchise use this frequently. Moreover, it has been used as a prominent story-enhancer in numerous episodes of The West Wing
The West Wing (TV series)
The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006...
, The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, House M.D.
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
, Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
, and ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
.
The Walk and Talk technique is also often used as a way of combining exposition
Exposition (plot device)
At the beginning of a narrative, the exposition is the author's providing of some background information to the audience about the plot, characters' histories, setting, and theme. Exposition is considered one of four rhetorical modes of discourse, along with argumentation, description, and narration...
with a visual introduction to major areas (and their locations in relation to one another) that will be used in a production. Examples of this can be seen in both film (the opening conversation between Mal
Malcolm Reynolds
Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds is a fictional character and main protagonist in the Firefly franchise. Reynolds is played by actor Nathan Fillion in the 2002 TV series Firefly and the 2005 film Serenity. In the series, Reynolds is the captain of the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity...
and Simon in Serenity
Serenity (film)
Serenity is a 2005 space western film written and directed by Joss Whedon. It is a continuation of the short-lived 2002 Fox science fiction television series Firefly, taking place after the events of the final episode. Set in 2518, Serenity is the story of the captain and crew of a cargo ship...
) and television (the similar conversation between Sinclair
Jeffrey Sinclair
Jeffrey Sinclair is a character in the fictional universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, played by actor Michael O'Hare. He was a regular in the first season of the show, as Commander of the Babylon 5 station, and made a number of guest appearances afterward.-Early life and...
and Lyta
Lyta Alexander
Lyta Alexander is a character from the fictional universe of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5, played by Patricia Tallman.Lyta was introduced in the pilot episode "The Gathering" as a telepath assigned to the Babylon 5 space station by the Psi Corps, a fictional organization...
in the pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
episode of Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
, "The Gathering
Babylon 5: The Gathering
Babylon 5: The Gathering is the pilot movie of the science fiction television series Babylon 5. The telefilm aired on February 22, 1993...
"). This use of the technique is regularly seen in opening scenes in the UK series Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
as a way of recapping current story lines and showing how the plot streams interrelate with the characters.
Use
An early use of the technique is in the British police procedural The BillThe Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, but it was arguably popularised by Thomas Schlamme, who favored the technique in Sports Night
Sports Night
Sports Night is an American television series about a fictional sports news show also called Sports Night. It focuses on the friendships, pitfalls, and ethical issues the creative talent of the program face while trying to produce a good show under constant network pressure...
when working with Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
. Schlamme adapted it from the typical wide-angle shot of that time to a closer tight-angle shot, usually only encompassing the subjects' upper torsos. Subsequently, Schlamme used this technique heavily in Sorkin's NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
show The West Wing
The West Wing (TV series)
The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006...
, and it remains a favorite of Sorkin, who continued its use in his show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was an American dramedy television series created and written by Aaron Sorkin. It ran for 22 episodes.The series takes place behind the scenes of a live sketch comedy show on the fictional television network NBS , whose format is similar to that of NBC's...
.
In both shows, Sorkin has at times mocked his own use of the technique in character dialogue. One example of this can be found in the West Wing first season episode "Five Votes Down
Five Votes Down
"Five Votes Down" is the 4th episode of The West Wing.Presidential chief of staff Leo McGarry needs five more House votes to pass a bill restricting the sale of automatic firearms—but the cost might be too high, especially if he has to go to the unpredictable Vice President to help put them over...
", where Josh
Josh Lyman
Joshua "Josh" Lyman is a fictional character played by Bradley Whitford on the television drama The West Wing. For the majority of the series, he was White House Deputy Chief of Staff in the Josiah Bartlet administration...
and Sam
Sam Seaborn
Samuel Norman "Sam" Seaborn is a fictional character portrayed by Rob Lowe on the television serial drama The West Wing. He is best known for being Deputy White House Communications Director in the Josiah Bartlet administration throughout the first four seasons of the series.-Creation and...
talk while meandering around the office before Sam asks, "Where are you going?" each man then claims to have been following the other. This gag is repeated in the episode "Mandatory Minimums" when Sam and Toby are walking to breakfast and pass the restaurant by an entire block because they were "having a good conversation." Another mocking reference to the walk-and-talk occurs in "Debate Camp" during one of the flashback sequences to their first days in the White House. Josh and Sam are looking for a meeting in room West Wing 160 and agree to prepare for the meeting while searching for the room. Sam says to Josh, "We'd better get used to having meetings in the hall from now on." Josh later says that he is going to walk around some more and see if he can "get into a pickup meeting." In "Arctic Radar", Josh's assistant Donna
Donna Moss
Donnatella "Donna" Moss is a fictional character played by Janel Moloney on the television serial drama The West Wing. Donna is a recurring character during the first season, although she appears in every episode, making her a de facto regular...
tries to tell him something while hurrying along behind him on his way to a meeting; he reaches the door and tells her, "You've gotta go faster next time. I'm here already." On the West Wing special episode "Isaac and Ishmael
Isaac and Ishmael
"Isaac and Ishmael" is a non-sequential episode of The West Wing which unofficially launched the third season in 2001. The episode was a response to the 9/11 attacks and was written and filmed within two weeks of that event and aired before the third season officially began.-Plot:The main cast...
", an episode shot over only two weeks and presented before the official season 3 premiere just weeks after the events of September 11, Sorkin remarked that the episode included "zero walking", unlike any other West Wing episode.
Sorkin later parodied the technique during a guest stint on 30 Rock in the season 5 episode "Plan B". Sorkin and show star Tina Fey are each waiting their turn for a meeting, when they engage in conversation. Sorkin suggests they "walk and talk," and they end up meandering through the hallways of the office building for about a minute before they end up back where they started.
Origin
The walk and talk is adapted from an earlier literary device in which the characters achieve two purposes simultaneously by traveling towards an objective while exchanging information through dialogue, as in the story "The Adventure of the Engineer's ThumbThe Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
"The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the ninth of the twelve stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in Strand Magazine in March 1892.-Synopsis:In his...
", in which Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson and three other characters compare differing theories while traveling by train to the scene of an earlier crime. In film (far more so than in television), it has been recognized for decades that an ordinary dialogue scene—in which absolutely nothing is happening, other than people talking—can be made much more interesting visually if the characters are aboard a moving vehicle with some sort of changing background visible through the windows behind them. One example of this device is the "cuckoo clock" scene in The Third Man
The Third Man
The Third Man is a 1949 British film noir, directed by Carol Reed and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Many critics rank it as a masterpiece, particularly remembered for its atmospheric cinematography, performances, and unique musical score...
, in which Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten have a conversation aboard a moving Ferris wheel, and the end of their talk occurs at its starting point.
In Television
In the fourth episode of the second season (20 October 1990) of Twin PeaksTwin Peaks
Twin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...
, Ben Horne
Ben Horne
Benjamin Joseph Horne is a character from the television series Twin Peaks, created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, portrayed by Richard Beymer. His last name is based on real life department store owner Joseph Horne founder of Horne's in Pittsburgh where Mark Frost is from, while his and his...
uses the phrase "Walk and talk" while walking down a hallway and listening to one of his employees of the Great Northern Hotel.
30 Rock
30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
has mentioned walk and talks on several occasions, one of which the characters walk and talk despite not actually walking to any desired place, to which they then realize.
It also occurs in an episode of NCIS
NCIS (TV series)
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...
, when Michael Weatherly
Michael Weatherly
Michael Manning Weatherly, Jr. is an American actor, best known for his roles as Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo on the television series NCIS, and Logan Cale on the television series Dark Angel.-Early life:...
's character, Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, is approached by an extremely attractive woman from the Seattle Police Department applying for a job. He asks her, "Can you walk and talk?" She answers the question sarcastically, as they proceed to an interrogation room.
A reference to the technique is also mentioned in an episode (Season 4, episode 7 - Ugly) of the TV series House, where the main character Dr. House says: "Let's go for a walk. Walking gives the illusion of the story moving forward.".
Sitcom Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
mentions "walk and talk" twice in season 3, episode 23 ("The Focus Group"), first broadcast on 14th May 1996:
- Frasier: Niles, is this going to be a long story?
- Niles: Moderately.
- Frasier: Walk-and-talk.
Then later:
- Frasier: Niles, is this going to be a long description?
- Niles: Very!
- Frasier: Walk-and-talk.
By contrast, Larry David
Larry David
Lawrence Gene "Larry" David is an American actor, writer, comedian and producer. He is best known as the co-creator , head writer, and executive producer of the television series Seinfeld from 1989 to 1996, and for creating the 1999 HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partially improvised sitcom in...
, in a few episodes of sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself...
, mentions that he is dislikes the "stop and chat", a Larry David formulation that turns walk-and-talk on its head.