Five Votes Down

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“Five Votes Down”
The West Wing episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 4
Written by Aaron Sorkin (teleplay)
Lawrence O'Donnell Jr. & Patrick Caddell (story)
Directed by Michael Lehmann
Guest stars Michael McGuire
Thom Barry
Janel Moloney
Jay Underwood
Mark Blum
Sara Botsford
Jillian Armenante
Tim Matheson
Production no. 225903
Original airdate October 13, 1999
Season 1 episodes
  1. Pilot
  2. Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc
  3. A Proportional Response
  4. Five Votes Down
  5. The Crackpots and These Women
  6. Mr. Willis of Ohio
  7. The State Dinner
  8. Enemies
  9. The Short List
  10. In Excelsis Deo
  11. Lord John Marbury
  12. He Shall, from Time To Time...
  13. Take out the Trash Day
  14. Take This Sabbath Day
  15. Celestial Navigation
  16. 20 Hours in L. A.
  17. The White House Pro-Am
  18. Six Meetings Before Lunch
  19. Let Bartlet Be Bartlet
  20. Mandatory Minimums
  21. Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics
  22. What Kind of Day Has It Been
List of The West Wing episodes

"Five Votes Down" is the 4th episode of The West Wing.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The West Wing staff works around the clock to secure the five Congressional votes they need for the passage of a new gun control bill, while the President unintentionally gets his back medications confused, and Leo's wife tells him that she is leaving him.

In the end they manage to get the five votes with the help of the Vice President, who takes credit for the victory.

[edit] Production Notes

The teaser of this episode features the longest and most ambitious steadicam walk-and-talk scene to date. Over four minutes in length, it was shot on location at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

Director of photography Tom Del Ruth recalls, "It started out on the dance floor, went into the lobby, through the top-floor kitchen area, down two flights of stairs into the bowels of the kitchen and through the cavernous kitchen, where food was being prepared for a banquet. We worked our way through that area, went down another flight of stairs to where the laundry facilities are, then proceeded into the catacombs, all the way through the base of the hotel and out into the parking lot, where we ended up in a motorcade. The shot involved more than 500 extras and nearly all of the major cast members, and it was all done in one seamless Steadicam shot.Each take required one magazine of film, and the actors had to pass off dialogue from one person to another. It required quite a bit of orchestration. It was about a five-page scene and took us half the night [to shoot]." This required steadicam operator Dave Chameides to walk backwards at full speed for over thirteen takes, nearly collapsing in exhaustion by the end of the shoot.[1]

[edit] Emmy Awards

Nominated

[edit] References

  1. ^ Five Votes Down - The West Wing Episode Guide

[edit] External links

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