By March 1984, 'Dynasty' was the most popular TV show among American women viewers of all ages. Esther Shapiro told 'The New York Times', "People seem fascinated with the trappings. We got 4,500 requests from women who wanted to know where to buy Joan Collins's suit." Before returning to Denver, viewers were told Alexis had lived in Paris, Rome, Monte Carlo and Acapulco. Before marrying Cecil Colby, Alexis suggested they should travel to Portafino, Cancùn and Tahiti.
At the Roaring '20s party in Denver in 1982, Count Pierre de Chalon, who met Fallon while skiing in Chamonix, recognized Kirby Anders, a graduate student at the Sorbonne, at a party in Monte Carlo in 1981. Kirby was "wearing a lovely purple gown, very Balenciaga. The next day, you wore something suede. And that evening you were dancing barefoot on a table in a casino bar." At the time, Kirby was seeing Jean-Paul Cadot. Together they attended parties in Monte Carlo, Deville and Nice.
'The New York Times' continued, "The characters' lifestyle is what persuaded After-Six, the tuxedo maker, to devote 15% of its line to the Dynasty Collection. In addition to tuxedos, there is to be a line of women's apparel including lingerie, hosiery, shoes, the kinds of silk blouses worn by Linda Evans as Krystle Carrington, and the broad-shouldered suits favored by Joan Collins as Alexis Colby.
"There will be household linens, sheets, wall coverings, china and glassware. Next spring (from March 1985), there will be a line of jewelry, priced between $500 and $20,000 an item - with some customized pieces in the six-figure category. Down the road, Charles of the Ritz, which is bringing out the $150-an-ounce perfume dedicated to Krystle (before Christmas 1984), may introduce a men's fragrance linked to her husband, Blake (John Forsythe)."
In one scene on 'Dynasty', Fallon said, "Pierre, she works for us. She's our major-domo's daughter. I doubt she could afford your kind of Dolce Vita." Count Pierre replied, "Well, whoever she is, Fallon, she gets around."
In creating 'Dynasty', Richard Shapiro told Laurie Flesch in 2011, "One thing that's always fascinated Esther is how the rich live. What a fascinating thing to have all the money in the world, be able to do everything and anything you wanted to do, break all the rules and still have all the problems that the rest of us have. Aaron Spelling was terrific. We did the show the way we wanted. We wrote it the way we wanted and we cast it the way we wanted. Aaron and Doug Cramer were in charge of production and I think they did it beautifully."
Speaking to Joe Klein in 1985, Aaron Spelling remarked, "To me, that's the most surprising thing. I wasn't surprised that the show became a hit – although there was no way I knew it would become the phenomenon it is. Richard and Esther had a track record. But Esther did have a reputation as something of a liberal, so I was rather shocked to discover that she's the closest thing I've met in Hollywood to a 19th-century entrepreneur. You know, the licensing idea – selling Dynasty clothing, sheets and towels, jewelry, perfume, and so forth – was all Esther's. Not only that, she just loved dealing with the businessmen who produced the goods."
Esther Shapiro told 'New York' magazine at the time, "'Dynasty' came on the air just a few weeks after Reagan's inauguration, and there are certain similarities. A powerful executive married to a devoted woman, with a difficult ex-wife, a sensitive son, a rebellious daughter … and beyond that, the idea that having money and flaunting it, enjoying it, is okay – they have that in common too.
"We found that the audience wasn't very interested in the oil workers' stories but people were just fascinated by what was going on inside that castle ... We wanted to do something that would be fun, an American fantasy. We thought people had seen enough stories where families fell apart. We wanted a strong, 19th-century sort of family where people were in conflict but loved each other in spite of everything."
Douglas Cramer added, "That attention to detail is one of the things that makes 'Dynasty' Dynasty. For example, when Blake gave Krystle the Rolls, we had to reshoot the entire scene because he gave her an incorrect set of keys. I can't think of another show that would do that, but it was our intention from the start that 'Dynasty' would look different from all other television shows."
Stephen Black and Henry Stern of 'Falcon Crest' wrote the 1982 episode of La Mirage in which Fallon told guests, "As it said on your invitation, the only condition for being here (the Roaring '20s party) is that you get happy because that's what La Mirage is all about. Just remember the name of the game is pleasure so 23 skidoo and grab it." It was reported, "Denver telephone operators are besieged by callers who want the number of La Mirage, the fictitious country club (on 'Dynasty')."
Of storytelling, Jeff Sengstack reported in 2004, "I count myself fortunate to have Stephen Black and Henry Stern as neighbors and friends. Their TV scriptwriting and producing credits would fill this page. They forged new directions in episodic dramas with their work on 'Dynasty', 'Falcon Crest', 'Flamingo Road', 'Matlock', and 'Knots Landing'.
"Their work as head writers on 'As The World Turns' and consultants for 'One Life To Live' stirred things up and added sizzle to both of these long-running daytime staples. They've had a hand in a half-dozen TV movies, including the only TV film starring Audrey Hepburn, 'Love Among Thieves'.
Here's their advice to aspiring scriptwriters:
The most important thing is that we like to tell stories.
And the most important thing in stories is the characters.
"It's not a good idea to start your script writing with a plot. It's better to start with a theme. Know what you want to say, how you want to say it, and where you want to be at the end. The theme of our current film script is, How does the death of someone affect his three closest friends?
With the theme in hand, we next create the characters. What is their arc and how will that change throughout the story?
"We invent detailed character bios. Where did they go to school? What were their parents like? What was their childhood like? We don't have to use all that in the script, but it's good for us to know to help craft the story.
Next we sit down with a yellow legal pad and make 30 to 40 story points, such as guy robs bank, hides in mother's house, falls in love with neighbor, and so on.
Then we write an extensive narrative outline - 30 pages or more. We include texture - the tone and detail.
"We take time to describe settings and characters. Instead of merely using physical descriptions of characters, such as Bob is 6'2'' with the torso of a long distance runner, we're more likely to write, 'As John was driving up Canyon Avenue, he looked out his rain spattered window and caught sight of Bob, one more time, running in the rain.' That says a lot. We love doing that. It makes it easier to do the script.
It's really crucial that you learn how to structure a piece so that your story makes sense.
"Know where your story is going and how plot elements and character elements will build on each other so they peak at certain points. An excellent film example of structure is 'Two For The Road', with Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney. Even though they use multiple flashbacks, you know that from beginning to end this is a story of a marriage on the skids.
"Tell as much of the story as you can without dialogue. Tell it cinematically. Don't give camera directions such as wide, tight medium. That's the director's job and disrupts the story flow. But it's okay to script camera angles. We wrote a scene where a woman was about to tell her husband their son was killed in combat. The husband ran a steak house and happened to be in the walk-in freezer when his wife arrived.
"We directed the camera to look through the window and, without any dialogue, watch the woman tell the husband and see the reaction.
You can't write if you're not an observer. We're constantly eavesdropping in restaurants. We're acutely aware of dialogue going on around us. Our characters have to speak in the vernacular of the time.
Dialogue is more than just writing down what two people say to each other. Good dialogue is succinct, crisp, entertaining, and rich. It's a level above conversation.
"Bury the 'pipe'. The pipe is the exposition, the conduit of information, the stuff that the audience needs to know to make sense of the story. Say the character's been divorced three times, has six kids with six different women, and runs a grocery. You don't come out and say that. You impart it to the audience in an interesting way.
Scriptwriting is collaborative. Everyone has a hand in it. A screenplay will go through 10 to 15 drafts before shooting begins.
"Writing is hard work. To sit there in front of a blank, empty computer screen knowing that you have to come up with compelling characters and stimulating plots, week after week after week can be daunting. Back in 1970, we were working with Leon Uris on a musical production of his novel 'Exodus'. After several tiring meetings with potential backers, Stephen asked him if he had any advice for aspiring playwrights. He said, 'Put your ass in a chair in front of a typewriter.' This was the most succinct, valuable information we were ever given."
