We absolutely adore these two!! This is a great interview The Frame had with Ron and Terry.
Outlander is a family affair. Moore’s wife, Terry Dresbach, is the show’s costume designer, and the couple has since set down roots in Scotland where the series is filmed. The couple stopped by the Frame recently to talk about how they met, how they balance work with home life and why “Outlander” has such a devoted and passionate fanbase.
How did you get started as a screenwriter, Ron?
Moore: I was in LA trying to be a writer and I had taken a variety of jobs like messenger and animal hospital receptionist and one day I started dating a girl who found out that I was a Star Trek fan because I had Captain Kirk posters in my apartment.
Dresbach: Always good for a date.
Moore: Worked for me. And she said, hey I have a connection to Star Trek the Next Generation ‘cause I used to work on it and I could get you a tour of the sets. I said, oh man that would be amazing could I go see the sets please, please, please. So she made a call and there was a regular schedule of the set tour that they used to do in those day. I just decided I was gonna take a shot, ‘cause I had been sort of trying to write scripts on and off with varying degrees of discipline over a couple of years. I just thought this was my opportunity. I wrote a spec script and I brought it with me on the set tour and I convinced the guy that was giving me the tour to read it.
As I was watching Outlander, it occurred to me that you’re not making a period drama. Terry, what can be a producer’s challenge of shooting in two time periods seems like a costume designer’s dream. Is that what appealed to you?
Dresbach: I call it my best dream and worst nightmare all rolled into one because, yes, on the page and in a purely creative sense it does give you this amazing opportunity, but the logistics behind it and the execution are quite daunting. But it’s a remarkable opportunity. This is a book that I read when it first came out. I was very familiar with the material and I was involved with bringing it to Ron and it was something that just felt like it should be on screen. I didn’t really want to be involved with that process because it was so huge. But it is a remarkable story and creatively quite exciting.
