««Articles Index The Next Files Transcribed by Emily. Ian Spelling chats to executive producer Frank Spotnitz about his feelings on the show, as shooting of The X-Files heads toward an end. The X-Files Magazine: Last issue you spoke of how the audience just wasn’t there for The X-Files this season, even from the first episode. How much of that do you think had to do with people comparing the Doggett/Reyes era to the Mulder/Scully era? Is there a part of you that wishes the show were called something else so that maybe people would have given Robert and Annabeth more of a fair shot? Spotnitz: There is a lot to be said for that. Unfortunately, the business side of this is that we couldn’t have done that. We couldn’t have done that and kept the crew in place and kept the writers in place. It reached a certain economic level where the only way to continue was to keep it the show that it was. If instead we’d started the season as The X-Files: Doggett and Reyes, it probably would have taken a lot of pressure off and people might have been more willing to give it a break. When I say people I mean critics, online critics especially. I honestly don’t know, though, if that would have generated a bigger audience. The X-Files name is a pretty powerful name and we got the audience we got. I really have to scratch my head about why those people who didn’t show up didn’t show up. You mentioned some of your favorite Season Nine episodes last issue -- which of the latest episodes have you been enjoying? There are some really good ones coming up that haven’t been broadcast yet, including a two-parter that involves Scully’s baby and one with the Lone Gunmen that ties together every possible loose end with those characters. If you’re a Lone Gunmen devotee it will be the greatest episode ever. Even if you’re not, it’s got a straight X-file mystery in it. Will you find time before it’s all over to direct one last episode? I wish I could. I really do. I loved directing. I never thought I’d say that because I kind of avoided it for so long. I had a ball doing it both times I did it, but it was also very hard both times. It’s hard to get away from my producing and writing responsibilities long enough to direct, so no, I won’t be directing another one. A big, broad question, but what has the experience of working on The X-Files -- not to mention Millennium, Harsh Realm and The Lone Gunmen -- meant to you? You can’t overstate how important an experience like this is in one’s professional life. It’s eight years in one place, which is unusual enough, but then we’re talking about eight years on a show like The X-Files, which has operated at such a high level and has had such a high degree of success and recognition. It’s really been life-changing and an experience I’ll never forget. I expect I’ll be realizing the lessons I’ve learned here for the rest of my life. Here’s a question you’ll probably say should be answered by someone else, but how would you define your contribution to The X-Files? It is hard for me to answer that. This show is the vision of Chris Carter. The aesthetic, the storytelling discipline, the approach was and is Chris Carter’s. All of us who came here and the ones who succeeded -- and there were many who failed -- really worked to understand what Chris wanted, the objective of the show, and then tried to be as smart and ambitious and as hard-working as we could be in the service of that vision. My success was only in being able to have dialogue with Chris, a constructive one, understanding his vision and servicing it as best I could for eight years. How would you describe your relationship with Chris Carter at this point? We have a great relationship. You don’t meet people in life that you work so well with. The story process here, you end up talking about all these things in life. It’s really stimulating. The show is very ambitious and it tries to tackle really big ideas. We’ve been talking about these things for eight years and so much of what we talk about we can never really fit into an episode. So you end up covering all sorts of ground, even if it doesn’t end up on screen. We’ve had a great time here and I hope we get the opportunity to work together again in the future. Flash forward to just a few weeks from now. What do you think will be running through your mind that last day on set? I can already feel it coming. It’s going to be terribly emotional and sad. I’m going to miss these people very much. Some of these people I’ve worked with for eight years. It’s such a long time. That’s the hardest part. It’s not leaving the show behind that’s the hardest part because I feel ready to do that. It’s learning to go to work each day and not see all these faces I’ve seen for so long. I really have a great affection for very many people here and it will be hard to say goodbye to them. You’re in the process of saying goodbye to The X-Files, but you’ve also said hello to your next project. What can you tell us about Into the Ether and the deal you’ve struck with Dimension Films? I have signed a two-picture writing-directing-producing deal with Dimension Films. The first picture is a rewrite of a supernatural thriller set in a Boston hospital. I think it will be terrific… as soon as I can start working on it. I’m still in X-Files land right now and so I hope sometime in the next while I’ll be able to dig into the script and -- knock wood -- be able to make a movie sometime in the near future. I also have a second story in mind, but I haven’t even told them what it is yet, so I hope sometime in the near future I’ll be able to tell you. "The X-Files" TM and © (or copyright) Fox and its related entities. All rights reserved. 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