Sherlocked Usa

Sherlocked secrets Ssshhhhh
First day of Sherlocked LA, and lots of interesting tidbits! Got to do one of those meet and greet over wine deals, where we got to ask questions. I asked Mark if he was going for an “unreliable narrator” thing with the set things changing within episodes, e.g. The 221 hallway light. He was surprised and said he hadn’t noticed it, and no it was just a mistake. He said any differences were just mistakes. Someone asked him about the lighting if the skull picture, and he said it was a lightbox behind the pic, and that in some scenes it was just too bright so they dimmed it in post. So absolutely no meaning behind it, and he seemed quite sincere about that and even commented that people read too much into things like that, and that they don’t aim for that (meaning subtle meta meanings). Later I brought the same thing up to Arwen, and he said one of the lights had gotten broken and they couldn’t find an identical one, so they just threw a similar one up. Then he explained that there were 2 sets for the stairs, split by the landing, so that’s why you see both different lights in the same scene. Really kind of sad about all the meta we make up that is absolutely not there at all.

Una was lovely, just a ray of sunshine, and said that Rupert was the naughtiest on set, and would nudge her (she mimed falling over) and tell rude jokes.
Jonathan I asked if he thought Anderson had a mental breakdown over Sherlock’s death/return, and he said yes absolutely, and then implied -implied only- maybe some repressed uh…feelings for Sherlock. Said “strong feelings, right from the start, not just the competitive aspect, but VERY STRONG FEELINGS” and “well we don’t know what was going on there….” He also said that he imagined Anderson now as trying to get his job back, with not much luck.
Wanda Ventam was lively and sharp as a tack, said that Ben was moving in October and described their babies (laughingly said the 4 month old boy has “alien eyes” like Ben). Briefly described Ben’s daily workouts of an hour, and what Dr. Srange producers required. Her hubby was sweet but very quiet, and said that Steven had the idea for them to be in Sherlock but ran it by Ben first.
Mark said that he always assumed they’d do more seasons, and anything else was “click bait” that he never said. I asked him - nicely!- if he thought using things like the Garridebs as throw-away references in the last episode took them if the table for future use, and he said no, and that “the big emotional moment, it’s there” or something like that (he rambles a bit), so I’m not sure if he meant the hug, or something in the future.
Major Sholto was funny and loved being there, saying repeatedly that they were a big family, as it’s the same crew,writers etc on many shows, and so he was invited in to be family, and now the convention was like a reunion 11 thousand miles from home.
Sue was smart and warm, and described trying to get another season going as “well I leave it a while, then I start calling them and saying sooo when are you free?” Also said stuff she’s said before, I’ll skip it.
Mark also said about the skull pic that the original artist was charging them a fortune so they just had Arwel make them one. Arwel pointed out that their budget was actually quite limited, and that 4.3 the “Bond lair” was his vision, and had to be done inexpensively. Sue also made some brief mention of having a small budget, so this is obv. a big thing.
Andrew Scott seemed a bit shy, like he was pushing himself past it, or maybe rather private? Great Irish(?) accent. I asked if he was thrilled to be asked back for 4.3 and he replied oh god yeah, especially with that entrance. Interestingly, he said the pool scene was never meant to be shot, it was written off-the-cuff as audition stuff, but then they liked it so much they wrote it in. Moriarity’s original line was “ that’s what people do, they grow old an die and blah blah etc” but he (Andrew) shortened it with that amazing delivery and that’s how it stayed.

Mycroft’s ring
Mark was asked about Mycrofts ring, and did it indicate marriage? Mark flashed his and said no, wedding rings go on this hand, mycrofts has no meaning or significance. There was also a very nice scene written that “explained his relationship with Lady Smallwood, but there just was no place for it to fit.”

Clarifying
Obv. I shortened the answers just to be concise, but I’ll expand on a few things that people are wondering about:
Skull pic - Mark was absolutely sincere talking about this, and this was a VERY casual fun setting (he’s quite charming and fit irl!). First he explained how the original artist was charging loads of cash to use his print, and they decided enough of that. They had Arwel make a skull, which was a print over a light box (blah blah lil pics of ACD, you’ve heard that before). When shot however, the other lights would hit it - did he say “oddly”? I forget the exact word. It would look too glaring, and like a postage stamp stuck on the wall (pantomimes that). So they changed it. Original question girl follows up “you turned it down?” And Mark replied “no, no, it was done in post” and a comment that “there’s really nothing more to it”
Budget: Mark and Sue both talked about how Sherlock was a huge hit, people think they are rolling in dosh ($) to get them made, but it’s the BBC, and it’s just not that way. Sue made a quip about how she’s the boss, but it’s not all in her hands (paraphrasing there - I have an excellent memory for dialogue, so most of this you can take as quite accurate). Arwen described drawing the “bond lair” - his words- and showing them the pics and then pantomimed jaw dropping astonishment from the team. He followed up with talking about how such a huge set was difficult to bring in on budget. In all the talks of $ there was a slight note of bitterness, or disbelief. SLIGHT note, they are British, but definitely there. I’m very sure they weren’t making it up.
Lights- I was unclear earlier on what Arwel said - he talked at length that there were 3 sets and a location every time they went down the stairs, so you’re literally seeing 2 different ceiling lights because you’re seeing two different sets. I mushed it up with the skull stuff earlier, sorry. He also spoke about how hard they try for continuity, but stuff just gets lost, and “every time you hand an actor a prop, they break it” and followed with a funny anecdote about Eccles and (forget) both IMMEDIATELY broke their first sonic screwdriver.

Ginger @Ckryger7
So Moffat said John's letter basically politely said to fuck off. #SherlockedUSA
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ckryger7/status...472580297994241

MidnyteMercury | Ami @midnytemercury
"Wanda describes our relationship as a bit of nooky that got out of hand." - Timothy Carlton on meeting Wanda
OMFGGGGG #SherlockedUSA
https://mobile.twitter.com/midnytemercury/...609386859479041

Something about Mary…..first off, Amanda was supposed to be here but cancelled just a few days ago. Bummer. During my pic signing with Steven I asked him if he felt Mary redeemed herself at the end, or was she still morally dubious. This started a fairly long Mary defense, that she shot Sherlock nicely, that if Sherlock was ok with it why wouldn’t we be, that she had more to overcome in her past thus her moving toward to good had more meaning. He was QUITE QUITE serious, and all my Mary is evil hopes died a sad death. She DID ACTUALLY jump in front of that shot, Steven takes that absolutely for granted, so our pondering of bullet speeds etc. were all in vain. He’s still surprised some people don’t like Mary, and is rather defensive of her.

Sue said that season five won’t get planned or written until Ben and Martin commit, and made an offhand comment like “when they’re less busy.” It sounded distant. Steven similarly said that he had no idea at all where the next season would go, and hadn’t thought about it yet. He’s busy with Dr. who now and might take a year off when that’s done.

Amanda Benton @whtbout2ndbrkfs.1h
Andrew Scott filmed the helicopter scene in #tfp without music. They hadn't chosen song yet #SherlockedUSA #moriarty

Asking Sue the Big Question
Our round table with Sue was like 6 of us, so we really could talk about whatever we wanted. And yes, I went there. I respectfully said “you know that some people are very upset that the series didn’t end …. gayer. With John and Sherlock together.” She replied that she never meant to make that show, they always knew the direction of the show: that the key line is in episode one when Mrs. Hudson asks if they’ll be needing two rooms, they answer that of course they’ll need two rooms (indicating they are straight). They make the show for the world, for the 99.something percent that watch that aren’t even aware of the controversy. If people need to vent and be angry, that’s fine, she’s okay with that, although she doesn’t read it as much as she used to. However, she doesn’t like when people DEMAND answers to questions, which is like bullying.
She was charming and smart, we also talked about being a woman in the industry, how she got her start, just general stuff. She’s extremely likable.

Something More About Mary
I didn’t realize people would be so salty about my brief convo with Steven about Mary. I prefer Mary to be evil cuz I think it’s more logical and hella more interesting, but to me it’s their show, they do what they want. Anyways, here’s the whole exchange while I remember it.
Me: do you think Mary was redeemed in the end, or was she still morally dubious?
Steven, surprised: well I don’t think she was morally dubious at all!
Me: uhh she did shoot Sherlock…
S: but she did it nicely, it was surgical. She was stuck in a difficult situation. If Sherlock didn’t mind it, why should we?
Me: so you think she was redeemed by her ending?
S, slightly frustrated with me: she didn’t need redemption, it’s not a scorecard. She had such a tougher background, so her movement towards humanity means more than …Sherlock is also, but he’s getting there, and John is solidly (for humanity, something like that I forget the wording, he rambled a bit, Mary took a bullet for Sherlock etc. )But she’s dead now, and there’s not a scorecard for that. It’s not black and white.
Me: ok, thanks for your time.

From the Makers of Sherlock
Just had the “Meet the Makers” panel with Mofftiss and Sue, which was kinda….anti-climactic? They were a bit more subdued, maybe because they took LIVE QUESTIONS randomly from the audience. They were aware that people suspected the questions were vetted to be softballs, so they went back to live, which yay them, I think it was brave. I’m not snarky here, I love and respect them for making Sherlock.
The only answers which were illuminating were 1) that season 4 was always going to be about Mary’s death, because John being a widower is an important part of canon, so she has to go. Thus the series became about grief. How John handled it, how Sherlock handled it. paraphrasing here, because they loved Mary so much.
Two, as Steven put it, you shine a light where you want it, you don’t paint the whole backdrop. Meaning, what they left out of the story doesn’t matter. This arose when a girl asked what happened after John got shot by Euros, and Steven made it into a bit of a joke … oh well Sherlock called the police, and followed the tracker he put behind John’s left ear, etc. etc. So there’s your answer for a lot of things like, how do they survive huge explosions, or what’s on that note? Doesn’t matter, blank background.
Three, all three of them together have a project greenlighted at BBC that has nothing to do with Sherlock but could be considered a, quote, stablemate. A later answer implied that it was updating a classic.
Someone asked about Garridebs, which I had personally also asked Steven about, and he gave the same reply again, that the important part of it was the personal moment when John is shot, BUT, we don’t need to see that from our John and Sherlock because everyone knows Sherlock would be upset. So he just used the name cuz he had three bodies to drop into the sea, why not call them that? Umm, ok.
Four, the decision to make Redbeard a child was made during TAB filming. According to them, It had become something of a joke, Sherlock mourning a dog so much, but what if it was a child? And they named him Victor Trevor from the canon.
I know some people are convinced they are lying liars who lie, but in person they are very genuine. Of course they are going to leave some loopholes open in case they need to come back to them, but I RRREEEAAALLLLYYY think they love Mary, think she’s not evil, and she’s dead.

“The great thing about The Three Gariddebs is the scene where Watson gets shot and The Three Gariddebs itself is just The Red-Headed League again, and I don’t think it’s one of the best ones. I think John knew perfectly well he was repeating himself, and threw in a good scene to cover it up. But the scene itself… wouldn’t be the revelation in our version of the show that it was in the Victorian stories. We already know all that. We know how Sherlock would have reacted… but in terms of the way we use The Three Gariddebs in The Final Problem, it was just that we had three people to kill and we thought, “oh, you know what would be funny? If you are going to drop people into the sea, give them funny names, it’s that old adage. Takes the sting out of drowning.”
— Steven Moffat, on what inspired the inclusion of The Three Gariddebs in The Final Problem

“I think you have to push it all the time. We have wild ideas - and we do them. Obviously some of them get grumpy and say “This isn’t the realistic detective show it used to be!" Heaven knows what they were watching.”
—
Steven Moffat, Sherlocked USA

andrew scott at the sherlocked convention just said that in the five minutes that Moriarty and Eurus had together they probably talked about rupauls drag race and I can’t