Conversations with Mark Frost: Twin Peaks, Hill Street Blues, and the Education of a Writer

Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost dishes about his long and storied career, including his time as a stagehand at Mister Rogers' Neighborhood; his early days as a a young bachelor in Hollywood rooming with Adam Arkin and Michael O'Keefe; his brief time at Universal TV before chucking it all away to return home to Minnesota to work on documentaries; his experiences in the infamous Hill Street Blues writing room with Steven Bochco and David Milch; and, finally, his career-defining collaboration with David Lynch on Twin Peaks.

Mark Frost, cocreator of both the original Twin Peaks and The Return, is often lost in the shadow of co-creator David Lynch in the eyes of critics and scholars -- one newspaper even called him the "Other Peak." In fact, Frost played at least as crucial a role in developing the narrative, mythology, and aesthetic of what has come to be revered as one of the most artful and influential shows ever to air on television. This book, comprising a series of interviews with Frost over the course of a single year, finally and fully acknowledges the extent of Frost's contributions not only to those series, but also to American television in general, as a writer/producer on Hill Street Blues and other shows, and as a mentor to numerous other writers. The book traces the arc of his entire life and career, from his boyhood days in New York, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis, to his nascent playwriting career in Pittsburgh, to his days as a writer at Universal TV's famed factory of the seventies, to his work on Hill Street Blues alongside such industry titans as Steven Bochco and David Milch, to his multiple collaborations with the famously enigmatic Lynch, who perhaps emerges as slightly less enigmatic in the pages of this book. Conversations with Mark Frost deconstructs that legendary partnership, while at the same time exploring Frost's values, influences, thematic preoccupations, and approach to creating art -- for the screen, the stage, and the printed page -- as well as his thoughts about such topics as politics, extraterrestrial life, ethics, and the future of the human race.