Emmys 2012: Matthew Weiner and More Writers on Their Most Difficult Scenes  

MATTHEW WEINER Mad Men, “Far Away Places”

That episode had a very atypical structure, and we wondered if we could spend that much time with one character. I had, in the writers room, given this speech about Ginsberg [Ben Feldman] saying he was a Martian. I delivered it as Ginsberg. We knew that Peggy’s [Elisabeth Moss] story was going to climax with that, and it was going to be their great moment of intimacy; he would distract her from her failure and bond with her in that strange way that people who feel separate do. Then, when we were writing the draft, I got the notes from the room, and the speech was like one sentence. We searched everywhere, and it turned out I had never pitched more than that one sentence: ‘I’m a Martian.’ I had a great version of it, but it turned out it had all been in my head in one way or another. It all had to come from scratch. Once I reduced the panic and tried to re-create it, it did happen. So, to me, it still has a magical quality to it.”

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