EMMYS: Q&A With Scott Buck Of 'Dexter'

Six-time Emmy nominee Scott Buck had writing and producing stints on HBO's Six Feet Under and Rome before joining the Showtimeserial-killer-with-a-heart-of-gold drama Dexter for its second season in 2007. He's worked his way up from co-executive producer toshowrunner (he was named last December) in advance of shooting the shows 6th season thatpremieres on October 2nd.Dexter landed its4th consecutive Outstanding Drama Series Emmy nomination this time around the firstShowtime series to achieve that particular feat. Buck spokewith Deadline TV Contributor RayRichmond: DEADLINE: So Dexter had its highest ratings ever during Season Five. You averaged more than 5 million viewers a week between regular TV and on-demand. And yet a change is made for Season Six and you're elevatedto showrunner. Why? SCOTTBUCK: Yes, we'd just came off a great year. But the show that I was coming in to run had undergone a lot of changes by virtue of where the storyline was alone. I guess someone believed that it was time for achange and Id earned the promotion. Though as Ive never run a show before,its not a job I take lightly. Im swimming as fast as I can to cut down on thelearning curve. DEADLINE: Usuallythese transitions arentsmooth. BUCK: Thatsprobably true. I feel fortunate in that regard. It was sort of a combination ofmy being drafted and volunteering. Ive already found how different it isrunning a show from being an exec producer. In my previous job, theresponsibility was wholly writing. With this, Im supervising the writing andeverything else. So its a lot more responsibilityand a little more money. Letme just say that it wasnt a position that I eagerly pursued.I waspretty happy doing what I did before. Running a show is an entirely differentanimal. Its very much a learning process, and Im doing the best I can.Fortunately, Im working with a lot of very smart, very skilled people. DEADLINE: So now Dexter has made Showtime Emmy history. BUCK: I was here as a writer and executiveproducer, and these Emmy nominations arent something that anyone around heretakes for granted. The day the nominations come out is always a big cause for celebrationand going out for drinks. DEADLINE: Though itwould probably be even cooler if you guys finally won in the dramacategory. BUCK: Ofcourse. But getting nominated every year isnt too shabby, either. DEADLINE: How didyou come to Dexter in its 2ndseason? BUCK: I was working onRome at the time when wed all heard the idea that Showtime would be doing ashow where a serial killer was the lead. It seemed like a ridiculous idea thatno one should take seriously at all. I mean, it just sounded so hokey. But whenI heard Michael C. Hall would be starring, it got my attention, because I trusted hisjudgment.Its interesting the way the concept has morphed. The Dexter characterhas evolved so much season after season. Hes surprisingly different now than hewas in the beginning. We had the writers all re-watch Season One before we gotstarted this year of Season Six. We wanted to get back to some of that fun theyhad during the first season. It startled us how much Dexter himself had changedfrom those first few episodes. DEADLINE: What can we expect for Season Six? BUCK: Weskipped ahead a year this season and cleaned the slate, and Dexter is finallydone grieving the loss of his wife from the end of Season 4. Hes largely dealtwith that now in Season 6. Hes put it in the past, and well now be seeing astronger Dexter than ever before. And hopefully, we wont be killing off anymajor character this season. But top to bottom, from our cast to our crew, weall feel especially excited and energized and motivated this year. DEADLINE: You must getasked all the time when Dexteris finally going to wrap as a series. BUCK: To beperfectly honest, it hasnt come up yet for discussion.Imean, were all confident that it will come up. But were not working towardthe end just yet. How youll wrap is the kind of thing you want to know atleast a season in advance, and we havent discussed it yet at all, so thatshould tell you something. Everyone will want to check in and theyll all do itwith a slightly different idea of what should be done. And well definitelyhear everyones thoughts. DEADLINE: So yourerunning a democracyon Dexter rather than a dictatorship? BUCK: Iguess I am.