True Detective’s Executive Producer Richard Brown Had a Fantastic Chat with Forbes

By Reuben Levine | Apr 13, 2015

It’s a very exciting time for True Detective. The first teaser for the new season recently hit and it’s been difficult to not talk about it. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time, but all that patience is finally paying off. A day after the True Detective season two trailer was released, Executive Producer Richard Brown participated in a panel discussion with Hemlock Grove’s Dougray Scott.

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But the exciting bits came afterward, when Brown sat down with Forbes for an interview. Brown has some interesting thoughts on the current television landscape, such as the new avenues that have opened up because of streaming.

"“I don’t think it could have been made five years ago because what would have happened is … we would have had to go to a network to develop it, and they would have wanted something open ended for multiple seasons, not eight hours and out.”"

The takeaway being that True Detective only exists because of what streaming has done for television. True Detective would be a hard sell at any point, but TV — even HBO — has to compete with the type of original programing one can find on Netflix. In fact, Brown directly credits Netflix’s House of Cards with helping pave the way for True Detective.

And Netflix is always looming.

"“It used to be that if you proposed something that isn’t part of a formula, you couldn’t do that. But now, if HBO says no, Netflix is going to say yes,”"

That’s a bold but true statement. Netflix has put a tremendous amount of pressure on typical TV and the viewers are reaping the benefits. And part of that is due to the case, which is obviously a huge draw for viewers.

"“Matthew will tell you this himself … He would never have read these scripts if I had sent them to him and said, “This is a TV series.” That’s not what I did. I called his agent and said, “We are making this project with (director) Cary Fukunaga.”"

That’s an important point because it perhaps speaks to similar sentiments that Colin Farrell expressed not too long ago. Convincing major stars to do television is not easy, and ten years ago it may not have been possible. Not on this scale, at least. Television is deep in a Golden Age, and True Detective is a part of that.

And when it came to working with Matthew McConaughey, you may not be surprised to learn that it was a bit of a trip.

"“…Well we wanted him thin, but not gaunt, not really fucked up gaunt dying man. And he showed up on set 163 pounds, in just 18 days, and he is so disciplined that he didn’t lose or gain a gram. He arrived on set completely in character.”"

McConaughey’s dedication to the character of Rush Cohle is obvious; you can see it on-screen. It’s the main reason why so many are putting pressure on Vince Vaughn, and in that way it acts as both a blessing and a curse. The entire interview is one of the most candid ones we’ve had in a while, and will hopefully be just the start.

You can check out the rest of the interview over at Forbes.

Next: This Week in True Detective is a big one

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