Imperial Beach Eagle & Times: Local News
Exploring Life On The Border With David Milch
by Nina McDonald -Thursday, December 14, 2006

Producer David Milch relaxes between takes on the set of “John from Cincinnati,” HBO’s new series that is currently filming in Imperial Beach.

David Milch sees as the real theme of his show the boundaries between relationships, power and control [I don't know what this means], the normal and the not-so-normal. According to Milch, the reason Imperial Beach is the perfect setting for “John from Cincinnati,” is “because it's on the border.” intricate set of considerations. a producer, writer and director who is known for his explorations of the complexities of human nature.

The official press release for the show says it's a surf-noir story of a dysfunctional family of surfers who happen to live in Imperial Beach. Murder, mystery and levitating characters are all part of the intrigue. However, the story in Milch's head really has little to do with Imperial Beach, surfing or families per se. The town simply serves as the metaphor with which to explore the story's true focus.

While Milch is reluctant to divulge details, (“My job is to keep some element of mystification so the public has a fair shot at the material.”) he is happy to dive into the philosophical subtext of the series. He launches into what one soon realizes is a typically “Milchian” stream of consciousness.

“It's really about the cultural malaise which prevails in our country whereby every experience is turned into an article of commerce. We live by a set of illusions or self-deceptions which we feel are necessary in order to encounter the culture. I find something beautiful about our capacity for denial and self deception,” he says. I read that and excitedly think he means what I am thinking of myself as lacking - imagination, fantasy, illusion that one participates in and thereby keeps active. but maybe he means something totally else? what? so I have to watch the show, see what it is about, that is what he means...

“It's important that [the show] be on the border, the border of land and sea, the border of two countries US/Mexico, the border of the natural and supernatural. I want to explore the question of how you treat departures from the norm. For instance the idea of what is natural and supernatural; where are the boundaries? Where is the integration? The supernatural penetrating, permeating into the natural. If a guy levitates we say he must have a brain tumor. It's much more interesting to ask where has the supernatural [entered in]? We establish these boundaries in our lives. We force experiences into a box. The border will come to mean something over the course of time [in the series],” adds Milch.

Surfing is another essential metaphoric device according to Milch. “It's not about surfing. It's about a family who happens to surf. Surfing, the infinite boredom of surfing that is the challenge of surfing. huh.
Why do they do it? good, always the question for me.
When you become an adolescent that is the first time you feel your power, like you can shape your environment. right. you stay up late, full of it.
When a surfer first gets up on a wave they have the same feeling. That same experience each time: what do you do with that feeling? There is a confounded repetitiveness [they have to deal with]. Surfers have something in common with our culture which has a tremendous engine of power and doesn't know what to do with it.”

One of the borders that Milch explores in his work investigates that fine line between genius and insanity. I don't think it's a line. Milch's personal history suggests an ongoing dance between his extraordinary brain power and the wilder side of life. Google his name and after reading through just a few sites, a larger than life personality emerges. Milch's brilliance, impressive accomplishments, inspired commentary on a countless variety of topics. Bloggers and reviewers of his work are inspired by Milch's churning intellect, paying homage to his talents with phrases of almost baroque verbosity.

A first encounter with Milch.. He is at once affable and intimidating.
Kind - but doesn't suffer fools.
Self-deprecating, yet (perhaps justifiably) full of himself.
Ask him a question he believes is inane and sarcasm instantly surfaces.
He wonders at the mysteries of the world and the lives of the people he encounters, yet dissects the universe into complex theories of spiritual and mental possibilities.
He's a generous boss, good to work for and takes care of his people unlike many other Hollywood heavyweights, says one of the show's managers.

A phi beta kappa and summa cum laude graduate of Yale, Milch's conversation is filled with metaphysical concepts, erudite comments, literary references.
(“T.S. Eliot wrote that we can only stand so much truth. Most of us wouldn't know the truth if it stood up and bit us in the face and there's nothing bad about that.”)
One feels that there are hundreds of layers of unspoken observations that form a seamless universe in his brain. seamless, what would it be if it had seams? not cohesive, not perfectly interwoven, not comprehensive. The world according to Milch. He is known to do intensive research on his shows' subjects and has been described as having such identification with the characters he creates that he “channels” them as he writes the script.

Consistently successful since his first venture into television writing, Milch has a string of hits. In 1982 Milch's first script ever, for the popular television show “Hill Street Blues,” won an Emmy, the Writers Guild Award, and the highly respected Humanitas Prize. He went on to produce, write and direct the Emmy-award winning series “NYPD Blue” and “Deadwood.”
ominous feel to his work, a dark under of instability. juxtaposition of good and evil and exploring the tensions. “In Deadwood one of the characters that is shown in the first few minutes has his foot on a woman's neck, holding her down. It puts him beyond the pale as a sympathetic character. But he ends up being one of the most [well-loved] characters in the show. People are complicated,” he says.
That life-on-the-edge quality and unpredictability keeps his audience coming back for more.

But even if Milch wants to include a “Twilight-Zone” factor in the “John from Cincinnati” plot line, he is still very connected to the here and now. Milch has gone out of his way to get to know locals and include them in the filming experience as much as possible.
He has a reputation for picking out ordinary citizens and using them as talent in his shows. Several Imperial Beach residents are already working as extras and stand-ins for the series. He has charmed several local business owners and IB seems to have captivated him as well. “IB is great. An old-timey southern California beach town. We have had a relentlessly positive experience since we've been here,” he says. “It is a privilege for me; all the lives I have met.”
Milch has set up a mobile camp in IB until next May. Cast and crew will be shuttling back and forth from Los Angeles, filming exterior and surf shots for a week or two each month. The impact on the community will be nominal and positive if Milch has anything to say about it. Staff has been directed to keep citizenry up to speed through notices in the Eagle & Times on filming dates and locations so residents will be minimally inconvenienced. He also wants to give back to the community. He has already approached city officials with a proposal to offer internships to interested high school students.
The series is set to air this summer. Until then, cryptic press releases will continue to drop hints about this latest foray into the imagination of David Milch. The television-viewing public probably won't understand what this latest Milchian endeavor is all about, until it actually enters the dysfunctional, supernatural surfing world of “John from Cincinnati.”