The staff for the first season consisted of Kripke and five other writers, with assistants to help with researching urban legends.^[8] Most of the work done in writing the series is very collaborative, with the writers often breaking up into groups. At the beginning of each season, the writers are brought together and pitch out their ideas, which are then assigned to a specific writer to be developed. Each story idea is outlined on a dry-erase board, with Kripke and Bob Singer making necessary changes. Afterward, the script is written,^[25] and Kripke goes through it to make sure it has the same tone as other episodes.^[8] Kripke found this task very difficult to do in the first season,^[26] but he felt it became easier by the third season, as the staff came to "really understand the show's style".^[26]

The tone of Supernatural was heavily influenced by films such as Poltergeist—having the horror happen in a family setting rather than remote location—and Evil Dead 2 and An American Werewolf In London—having bits of comedy mixed in. Commenting on the former, Kripke added, "It's the idea that horror can happen in your own backyard. How many viewers have to worry about the vampire in the gothic castle?"^[5] Other influences include The Two Sisters and Asian horror films The Eye, Ju-on, and Ring.^[27]

According to creator Eric Kripke, the show originally was intended to focus on the weekly monsters, with Sam and Dean Winchester merely being "an engine to get us in and out of different horror movies every week".^[28] His sole desire was to merely "scare the crap out of people".^[29] However, a few episodes in, Kripke and executive producer Bob Singer noticed the onscreen chemistry between Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. This revelation caused them to change the series to focus more on the brothers than the monsters, basing the weekly monster around the storyline they wanted for the Winchesters. According to Kripke, "...sometimes we don't even have the monster until way late in the break, once we get all the angst and the drama done first."^[28]

Unlike shows with "endless mythology" like Lost, Kripke prefers to keep Supernatural's mythology simpler, saying, "It's so hard to go season after season after season with a mystery and then provide an answer that's going to be satisfying." He prefers to have the series' structure like that of the earlier X-Files episodes, having mythology-based episodes spread through many self-enclosed episodes—Supernatural usually having three self-enclosed episodes followed by a mythology episode. With this format, viewers do not have to have previous knowledge of the mythology in order to watch the series, being able to "join the party at any time".^[30]

[edit] Effects

Though companies were hired for work on the pilot episode—such as Entity FX for the visual effects^[31]—effects departments now work exclusively for the series.^[32] Ivan Hayden is the visual effects supervisor, and works with many levels of the production staff. During pre-production, Hayden must go through the scripts, looking for possible visual effects. He then has a concept meeting with the writers, and after settling on the effect designs to use, coordinates with the special effects and stunt departments. Hayden is also present during filming to help the director make sure that the scenes are being filmed in the best way for the visual effects, such as by ensuring that the actors are looking at the correct location where an effect will later be added. Afterward, he then meets with the editors.^[33] Another aspect of the visual effects department is coming up with rules and physics for each supernatural creature,^[33] though the rules are often bent if it benefits the story.^[32]

[edit] Music

Supernatural features a synthesized orchestral score, although real instruments such as guitars and cellos are used at times. Special instruments have also been used to relate to specific episodes, such as playing "bluesy gospel music" on a broken-down piano in the faith-healing episode "Faith". Unlike other television shows, the series features two composers: Christopher Lennertz and Jay Gruska.^[34] Each composer scores every other episode, giving them extra time to write the scores, which usually end up being around 30 minutes per episode. They write themes for their own episodes and characters, and work with one another if there is overlap between episodes. They try to base the music on the visuals of the episode, such as in the episode "Dead in the Water", in which off-angle shots are accompanied by repetitive and discordant notes, and spoken words such as "water" and "die" are followed by a lower pitch to create a "gurgly" sound.^[35] While there are similarities in the scores for situations such as the brothers and their father, about a third of each episode's score is newly written for the supernatural legend.^[34]

While original scores are used throughout episodes, another important aspect of the series' music is classic rock, which creator Eric Kripke threatened to quit over when the network would not allow its inclusion. Most of the songs are from Kripke's private collection, although one of his favorite bands—Led Zeppelin—is too expensive to use.^[36] The series has featured such bands as Blue Öyster Cult and AC/DC on more than one occasion. Multiple songs are usually used throughout each episode, and accompany "The Road So Far" sequences before select episodes that highlight a montage of past events. Although Kripke prefers to keep a fine line between the score and songs used, sometimes Lennertz and Gruska are required to write short sections of rock-like music to fill fifteen- to twenty-second gaps, as it would be too costly to acquire song rights.^[37]

[edit] Filming locations

Though the pilot was filmed in Los Angeles, principal filming takes place in Vancouver, British Columbia.^[18] Thus, on-location filming usually takes place in the area. "Dead in the Water" was filmed at Buntzen Lake,^[38] and the final scenes of "Simon Said" were filmed at Cleveland Dam.^[39] Other locations used on the show are often reused two or three times, with the art department making variations to conceal this.^[40] Heritage Park in Burnaby has been used as a cemetery in "Red Sky at Morning", and as the location of the gingerbread-house cottage in "Bedtime Stories".^[41] As well, Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam has served many functions for the series, including an asylum in "Asylum",^[42] a hospital in "In My Time of Dying",^[43] and a prison in "Folsom Prison Blues".^[43] Because episodes usually take place in the middle of nowhere, filming often takes place at an old military base. Having been shut down for years, the buildings have been removed, leaving just roads on which sets are erected, such as for crossroads scenes.^[44]

[edit] Online distribution

Rather than having the series debut on television, The WB instead made the pilot episode available for online streaming through Yahoo! a week before it was set to premiere on the network as part of a promotional scheme.^[45] Following the transition to The CW, Supernatural episodes were added to Apple's iTunes Store starting in December 2006, being one of the first CW series to be made available for sale online.^[46] The following month, the network began streaming episodes of the series on its website with limited commercial interruption, available for up to four weeks after the initial airings.^[47] Beginning January 11, 2007, Australia's Network Ten also began offering full episodes for download via their website, through a deal with Warner Bros. Television.^[48] To combat piracy, Ten debuted the second season premiere five days before its initial broadcast in the country, making Supernatural the first major network show available for free download in Australia before being aired. Subsequent episodes became available online just hours after being televised.^[49] Around the same time, episodes were also made available for download on Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace.^[50] In September 2008, Amazon.com launched its new on-demand TV service, with Supernatural being one of the many television shows available for sale.^[51]