CSI Files
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Start small and work your way up.<p><font color=yellow>Allen MacDonald</font> started working as a writers assistant for <I>CSI: Crime Scene Investigation</I> during the show's third season. "On <I>CSI</I>, that means you sit in the writers room with the writers as they pitch and develop story ideas and take notes," MacDonald explained to the <A class="link" HREF="http://saunders-report.blogspot.com/">Saunders Report</a>. "So, it was very exciting to be hired and know that I was going to be a part of that process."<p>At the end of the fourth season, MacDonald approached <font color=yellow>Carol Mendelsohn</font> about writing a freelance episode. "Well, nobody takes a writers assistant job that doesn't want to eventually become a writer themselves and 'go on staff'," MacDonald explained. Writing a freelance episode gave him a chance to join the writing staff. "It's an 'audition episode' to see if you can successfully capture the tone and characters," MacDonald said. "So Carol and <font color=yellow>Naren Shankar</font> decided to assign me Episode 18 of Season 5 which was called, <A class="link" HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/episodes/csi/season5/spark_of_life.shtml">'Spark of Life'</a>." The audition went well, and MacDonald was added to the writing staff for the sixth season.<p>MacDonald co-wrote the story and teleplay for <A class="link" HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/episodes/csi/season8/goodbye_and_hello.shtml">"Goodbye and Good Luck"</a>, <font color=yellow>Jorja Fox</font>'s (Sara Sidle) final <I>CSI</I> episode. "It made me sad," he said. "I had the good fortune to write a lot of episodes for her and I love the character, so saying goodbye was bittersweet. But at the same time, I was extremely excited by the prospect of bringing back Sara's nemesis from <A class="link" HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/episodes/csi/season6/the_unusual_suspect.shtml">'The Unusual Suspect'</a>, Hannah West [<font color=yellow>Juliette Goglia</font>]." He went on to say, "t felt like the right case and the right characters to revisit in order to make Sara realize that maybe she didn't have the stomach for <I>CSI</I> work anymore after nearly dying at the hands of Natalie [<font color=yellow>Jessica Collins</font>], the miniature killer."<p>To read the full interview, head over to the <A class="link" HREF="http://saunders-report.blogspot.com/2008/05/interview-with-allen-macdonald.html">Saunders Report</a>. Thanks to <font color=yellow>Shane</font> for sharing his interview with us.<center></center>