Chris Carter Frequently Asked Questions

Chris Carter FAQ

By Stacey O / Updated October 1998

Information about this FAQ
Who is Chris Carter?
Physical description?
What about CC's family?
Where is CC from?
Is CC married?
What are CC's hobbies/interests?
What is one of CC's fondest childhood memories?
What kind of TV did CC like when he was growing up?
Does CC like any movies?
What's CC really like?
How does CC describe himself?
What are some nicknames he has been given?
Politics?
What is the significance of Ten Thirteen Productions (the name of Chris Carter's production company)?
What is the significance of 11:21?
What is the significance of Fox?
What is the significance of Mulder?
What is the significance of Dana?
What is the significance of Scully?
What is the significance of Sunflower seeds (one of Mulder's behaviors)?
What is CC's educational and work background?
Paranoia?
What started it?
CC has a view of America where superficial pleasantness masks an underlying ugliness. What were the causes of this and what keeps him going?
How did CC come up with the idea for The X-Files?
What did CC's wife Dori have to say about the stories (CC's comes up with)?
How did CC come up with the idea for MillenniuM?
What is MillenniuM really about?
Where do the story ideas come from?
Are there any story ideas seemed too far-fetched?
How does the science work on the show?
What about secrets of the production side?
Is there a problem with Fox censors?
Did The X-Files move?
What is going on with Millennium?
Why don't they move X-Files back to Friday night and put Millennium on Sunday night?
Where did "The Truth is Out There" title in the credits come form?
What was the phrase at the beginning of the episode _____?
What is the snake that appears in the opening MillenniuM (and was the tattoo Scully got)?
Where did Deep Throat (the character) come from?
Why does Mulder put tape on his window in the shape of an X?
How did CC get Lance Henriksen to do TV?
Has CC ever done a cameo on one of his shows?
What did CC have to say about writing the words to P.M. Dawn's contribution, If You Never Say Goodbye?
What was that poem that Scully recited at the beginning of Memento Mori?
What are CC's favorite X-Files episodes?
Does CC think he has a genius for being frightening?
What scares CC?
What about the internet?
Has CC ever seen a U.F.O.?
What about paranormal conventions?
What about merchandising?
How do I join the Fan Club?
What about The Expo?
How does a writer get a script to CC?
When is the last season of The X-Files?
More X-Files movies?
What is Harsh Realm all about?
What about syndication?
Where can you write to CC?
Awards and Honors
For more information check out...

Information about this FAQ

The following is a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Chris Carter, as well as other information that offers insight into the man and his creations. This list will be updated regularly.
This FAQ was written based on several magazine articles and books. Please note that in some cases, Chris Carters' "quotes" were taken from these items. This is so that nothing would get lost in an effort to organize the information into the FAQ. Items are copyright of said sources and are meant to inform Chris Carter fans, not to infringe on any rights. The majority of these sources can be found on this web site. Please keep in mind that while quotes were taken in an attempt to provide the facts, it has been know that sometimes a subject can be misquoted. Therefore, if you have any corrections or more information, I would appreciate it if you could e-mail me. Please provide your reference. CC refers to Chris Carter. ThanX!
Please note that I am in no way affiliated with Chris Carter, Ten Thirteen Productions and/or Fox. I am a fan.
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Who is Chris Carter?

Chris Carter is the Multi-award-winning/Creator/Executive Producer/Main Writer/Occasional Director of The X-Files and MillenniuM, two of Fox Network's TV series. CC is also the writer/producer of The X-Files movie. The X-Files and MillenniuM are produced in association with Ten Thirteen Productions, CC's company.
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Physical description?

5'11"
blonde hair
blue eyes
broad shoulders
all American look
handsome
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What about CC's family?

His father, William was a union man. A construction worker. He was a little on the strict side.
His mother, Catherine was a homemaker, whose family owned Mulder's Feed Store.
Both of his parents have passed away.
CC has one younger brother, Craig, who is a physicist.
CC had a fairly normal childhood.
CC is Baptist, but is not practicing. He quit going to church around the age of nine or ten (around the same time as he got into little league.)
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Where is CC from?

Chris grew up in Bellflower, California - a blue-collar Los Angeles suburb.
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Is CC married?

CC is married to Dori Pierson.
She is a screenwriter. Dori's credits include the movie Big Business.
They started dating in 1983.
They were married in 1987.
They have no children, however, CC is godfather to Piper, Gillian Anderson's daughter.
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What are CC's hobbies/interests?

CC is passionate about surfing. He took up the sport at the age of 12. His favorite surfing spots are in Santa Barbara.
Softball, baseball, squash. He used to be a pitcher in Little League.
When he was growing up, football games were a really big deal on Friday nights.
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What is one of CC's fondest childhood memories?

It was a haunted house that neighbors set up at Halloween."People would jump out and tie you up and squirt you with stuff," he says.
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What kind of TV did CC like when he was growing up?

CC has stated that he was a big consumer of television as a kid. He loved it, and thinks that's why he is doing what he is doing now.
Some of his favorites were: of course the show that inspired The X-Files, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Mysterious Island, Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, The Outer Limits, Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family and Love American Style.
Believe it or not, CC never watched an episode of Star Trek.
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Does CC like any movies?

CC is a film buff.
His favorite movies include The Indiana Jones Adventures by George Lucas, Martin Scorcese's works, Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather I and II and Brian De Palma's The Untouchables, Raging Bull, All the President's Men, The Silence of the Lambs, anything dark, gritty and real and anything that Julies Vern wrote.
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What's CC really like?

CC is described as and is said to be: a good, decent man, generous, shy, soft-spoken but intense, a controlling maniac and a genius, super-intelligent, a perfectionist, extremely focused, loyal, intimately involved with every aspect of his shows and calm and in control (like Frank Black and Fox Mulder).
He likes dim light, solitude, being alone and quiet humor.
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How does CC describe himself?

(Regarding Scully and Mulder) "There pretty much equal parts of me. The doubter and the person who wants to believe. I describe myself as a non-religious person looking for a religious experience." He has no regular spiritual practice.
"I don't believe from blind faith, but, like Mulder, I want to believe."
"The main misconception of me is that I'm some kind of sci-fi maven, " he says. "People would be surprised to learn that I'm really the guy next door, not a paranoid, kook or crank....I have no reason to believe in paranormal phenomena."
"I still think of myself as a 38-year-old surfer."
He also describes himself as, a terrible cook, an athlete and a journalist. He hardly has a personal life. He goes to work. He goes home.
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What are some nicknames he has been given?

The Phantom - CC's staff have nicknamed him because he appears and disappears in the office hallway when they least expect it.
Prince of paranoia
Anti-Cancer Man
Agent Other Agent - David Duchovny: "Actually, Chris already played a character on the second-season finale: one of the FBI agents who was grilling scully about my whereabouts. He was in the script as Other Agent, so we called him Agent Other Agent..."
God - Internet fans commonly refer to him as a god.
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Politics?

He voted for Clinton both times.
He is a registered Democrat.
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What is the significance of Ten Thirteen Productions (the name of Chris Carter's production company)?

CC's birthday is October 13, 1956.
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What is the significance of 11:21?

It is Dori's birthday. (CC's wife)
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What is the significance of Fox?

CC grew up with someone with the name.
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What is the significance of Mulder?

CC's mother's maiden name.
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What is the significance of Dana?

It is just a nice soft woman's name CC likes.
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What is the significance of Scully?

CC grew up in L.A. where Vin Scully was the voice of God.
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What is the significance of Sunflower seeds (one of Mulder's behaviors)?

CC has a habit of munching on sunflower seeds. (He also has an addiction to Atomic Fire Balls.)
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What is CC's educational and work background?

Bellflower High School. He feels he was not a great high school student and was bored.
Chris majored in journalism at California State University at Long Beach, California.
He put himself through school working as a production potter. When he was a sophomore, he built a house from the ground up with a carpenter.
In 1979 he graduated with a degree in journalism.
He then went to work for Surfing magazine in San Clemente as associate editor. He wrote and traveled extensively.
In 1982, after watching Raiders of the Lost Ark six times in six days, he recognized his own need to tell stories and became interested in screen writing.
Dori encouraged Chris to start screen writing.
His first screenplay was called National Pastime. Nothing happened with it.
He wrote a second script, a comedy, that was seen by Jeffrey Katzenberg (Disney).
Jeffrey Katzenberg (then chairman of The Walt Disney Studios) signed CC to a development contract with Walt Disney Pictures in 1985. He gave CC an office and a secretary and $40,000 (he stated that he didn't think he ever made more than $18,000 a year at "Surfing.") CC stayed at Disney from '85 to '87.
At Disney, Carter wrote and produced several television movies in addition to the television pilots Cameo By Night and The Nanny. He took a short leave of absence from Disney to co-produce the second season of the comedy series Rags to Riches, and returned in 1989 to create and serve as executive producer of Brand New Life, a recurring comedy series that ran as part of a rotating schedule on Disney's Sunday night lineup.
He also did Meet the Munceys and B.R.A.T. Patrol.
Chris met Brandon Tartikoff, then the president of NBC Entertainment over a softball game. Tartikoff was the one who had brought Chris over to NBC.
Chris' writings also impressed Peter Roth, the president of Stephen J. Cannell Productions. Roth kept Chris in mind when he moved from president at Cannell to president at Twentieth Century Fox.
In 1992, Roth signed Chris an exclusive deal in Twentieth Century Fox to develop new shows. The first thing he pitched to Fox was a show with a darker concept, The X-Files. Roth agreed with the idea, and Chris began developing the characters and premise.
The first time he tried to sell the idea of The X-Files, Fox didn't buy it. They didn't understand it. There was nothing like it on TV. CC went to Martha's Vineyard (why Mulder is associated with the Vineyard), where he met a Yale research psychologist, who gave him a book , a tract, which was a statistical survey done by Dr. John Mack, a Harvard Professor. It showed that 3 percent of Americans believe they'd been abducted by aliens. There were two guys, one from Harvard the other from Yale, saying there's something here. It was all he needed to go back to Fox.
The X-Files premiered in September 1993.
MillenniuM premiered in October 1996.
The X-Files movie premiered June 19, 1998.
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Paranoia?

He is very paranoid in that he is acutely aware of fear and betrayal.
His father had a bad relationship with his mother who had left his father at an early age . He was keenly attuned to her betrayal of him and CC thinks that's something that passed down.
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What started it?

He lovingly refers to his mother who couldn't keep a secret.
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CC has a view of America where superficial pleasantness masks an underlying ugliness. What were the causes of this and what keeps him going?

It is not only a solid, lower-middle-class work ethic but also the belief that, like his characters, he is answering a higher calling. "I'm doing this at a time when I'm thinking about a lot of important things in life. Both my parents have died. I think about the future in a way I probably wouldn't have 10 years ago. So I'm really thinking about how people treat one another and looking at the world and its injustices and the incapability of getting justice."
"I always connected my attitudes toward systems, authority, and institutions to Watergate"& "I was forever made distrustful of anyone in power."
Grim murders of Carter's late adolescence took root in his psyche.
When he describes the decline of his hometown, he wants only to return to the moment of optimism before the nation's decline.
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How did CC come up with the idea for The X-Files?

"I just wanted to do something as scary as I remember the Night Stalker was when I was in my teens."
"I was interested science. My brother is a physicist, and I'm kind of a dilettante amateur scientist. But, magic - the unexplained, a mystery - is always fun to write about. What I really wanted was to do a good scary show. This was the summer of 1992. The two characters I came up with sort of represented those two sides of myself: the scientific and the intuitive. Then I switched genders. At the same time, a bunch of other elements came together. You know you start working on something, and all of a sudden your antennae become fixed. . I saw a guy who worked for the FBI on Larry King whose detail was satanic cults. He said that he had not found one ounce of truth in any of those things. But I found it interesting that they had somebody specifically investigating something like that. And Silence of the Lambs had come out, which I thought was beautifully done, and I actually studied that movie pretty carefully. So it was scratching at my mind: the FBI was fresh in my mind. Kolchack, FBI - that really helped form the concept."
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What did CC's wife Dori have to say about the stories (CC's comes up with)?

Even Dori, his wife since 1987, was surprised. "I didn't know those stories existed in his head," she says.
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How did CC come up with the idea for MillenniuM?

"Actually, I never know how to answer that question. It is one of the strangest things. People ask me, "Where did you get that X-Files idea?" I always say, "I made something up." But the truth is, I just don't know. Ideas just sort of come up out of your subconscious, which is where the best stories come from. This one, I had an idea for this character Frank Black. Then I struck on this idea of the Millennium Group. That kind of just came to me. I don't even know how it came to me. A group of guys I know who are retired FBI agents -- this is in real life -- have gotten together and they function as consultants. I thought that was an interesting thing. Here are all these guys with this expertise. So I was kind of inspired by that and did something that I feel suited my idea."
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What is MillenniuM really about?

CC claims the impending turn of the century haunts the worst criminals and makes them commit horrible crimes; hence the name Millennium. Statistics contradict his belief-the FBI says violent crime has been dropping steadily since 1991-but Carter is resolute. "Truth will be stranger than fiction," he says. "My sense of the world is that everything gets worse. Everything is always in a state of decay. I feel a general sense of entropy."
"This is a simple morality tale," Carter says now, "in that people who are the perpetrators of evil deeds are caught and punished for them. They are clearly bad people and we have good people chasing them. People who provide us with hope."
Carter has focused on fear, paranoia, and pure evil. "My feeling of life, and this is a rather grim outlook, is that everything gets worse," says Carter. Still, he insists the heart and soul of the show is more hopeful. "This isn't a serial-killer-of-the-week show. Actually, the things I am really interested in are hope, heroism, faith, spirituality, and selflessness. That is what I hope for. Discipline. Order. Goodness."
As we approach the year 2000--the end of the Millennium--psychopaths around the world emerge to create chaos and horror. It is a story of good versus evil, redemption and damnation, heaven and hell. Ex-FBI agent Frank Black (played by Lance Henriksen of "Aliens") and a secret group of former law enforcement officers known as the Millennium Group have taken on the task of saving the world. As Black says, "The Millennium Group believes we can't sit back and hope for a happy ending."
Drama about the struggle between the forces of good and evil as the turn of the millennium approaches.
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Where do the story ideas come from?

He is constantly reading - (magazines, newspapers and journals) (Science, Discovery, Scientific American, anything with a good science section)
"These ideas really come from anywhere, newspapers, magazines, journals, the scary things rattling around inside my and my writing staff's heads."
"Sometimes I'll suggest something, that will become a story."
He came up with the idea for an episode called DPO about a kid who could control lightning from hearing a song called Ring the Bells by James. (He doesn't like the one on their album. He likes the live version.) It felt to him like the song was a heart attack. That was what a heart attack must feel like. So he thought that would be interesting if a heart attack is actually an electrical malfunction, it means you could actually use the song too ... trigger heart attacks actually, actually use the electricity to do it.
He gets inspiration through the paranoia. He has a basic mistrust of people. He has a basic mistrust of government (because people are government. He said that he thinks he is "adding static to the collective awareness, that's a good thing." "Paranoia is a good thing."
"I don't use much unsolicited stuff from friends and fans."
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Are there any story ideas seemed too far-fetched?

"I think I'm pitched ideas, by people, that just don't fit. I don't know what has -- has not flown. It's often times people will try to do everything at once, in a UFO story. You know, they'll want to do Independence Day and you know you have to throw in all -- those things are too far-fetched. ... This is oftentimes what happens as people come in and they want to do the thing where the, you know -- a city is taken over. You just can't do that on an X-Files. It's unbelievable. These things don't happen. ... I strive hard to do something that is believable."
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How does the science work on the show?

"The show is built on a solid foundation of real science. It's one of the secrets of the show."
"Well, Scully's point of view is the point of view of the show. And so the show has to be built on a solid -- a bedrock foundation of science. In order to have Mulder take a flight from it. So if the science is really good, Scully's got a valid point of view. She's got an argument. And Mulder has to then convince her that she's got to throw her arguments out, she's got to accept the unacceptable. And there is the conflict."
"... Herrenvolk is being used as a teaching aid at the Indiana University. So that's hard, good, genetic science. That I went over very carefully with a friend of mine who's a professor at UMass/Amherst. She went over the genetics with me, and what was possible. What actual protein strings -- those were accurate. And it's very important to the show that they are accurate, because scientists are big fans of the show. And they would call "Bullshit." My professor friend helped me also with the Erlenmeyer Flask. I'd read a David Suzuki book on genetics and it was very difficult to understand. You really have to -- I think -- immerse yourself in genetics, to understand it completely. But that is one of the secrets of the show."
"We try to be as accurate as possible. For example, in the E. Flask, I checked all my science with a research virologist from Amherst U. Then I got nailed because I referred to chloroplasts as plant cells. Sorry. We try."
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What about secrets of the production side?

"With the directors we have, I'm very emphatic about certain ways to do things. These shows are always scary because the camera's going to make it scary. How the show will differ from many shows ... is that we have to tell a story with a camera .... We actually have to -- the camera has to reveal things. Has to see things that are there just at the right time. The point of view is everything. Point of view is everything in storytelling anyway -- but particularly when you're trying to scare people. Because you have to scare people from a subjective -- you can't scare people from an objective point of view. Well, you can. But mostly you're scaring them with a scare you're delivering to someone on screen."
"I have rules. And you know the rules are always made to be broken. The directors break them, wonderfully, sometimes."
"I don't like the camera in motion for no reason at all. I don't like it pivoting [demonstrates] like a character would swivel it's neck, unless it is somebody's point of view. The camera has to move in a way I call "Slow Camera, Stiff Neck." I don't want that camera flying through space. We have a high crane available to us at all times. And directors see that, and they want to -- you know -- swoop the camera in. It's distracting particularly for this kind of storytelling. I think you have to tell a story very quietly. ... That's pretty much it. The camera shouldn't move independently of the action. You don't want the camera telling you a story instead of the characters telling you a story."
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Is there a problem with Fox censors?

Carter admits to "big battles" and says he loses "occasionally."
A script for the necrophiliac episode was returned to him with a one-line response: "Unacceptable for a network television broadcast." So he "made a few changes" (one being a new descriptive name for the antagonist: "death fetishist").
He also had to argue, during the making of another episode, to retain a sequence in which a man "barfs up a flukeworm" on camera. "I got a note back: 'You can't use this." And I just went to battle. I think that show was a success because they allowed it in."
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Did The X-Files move?

The X-Files has moved to L.A. from Vancouver.
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What is going on with Millennium?

Millennium has been renewed for at least one more season and is staying in Vancouver.
Carter is making the care and nurturing of Millennium a priority. "I am dedicating myself to putting this project back to a place where I think it can be," Carter says.
Morgan and Wong have left and the new Executive Producers are Chip Johannessen (who has been with the series from the beginning as a consulting producer) and Michael Duggan.
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Why don't they move X-Files back to Friday night and put Millennium on Sunday night?

The majority of the mail they receive is from people praising the move to Sundays because now more people are home to watch the show, as the record high ratings also indicate. Most die hard fans are used to the show being on Friday, and yearn for it to return to Friday, but the truth of the matter is that on Sunday nights the show gets more viewers, so the time slot move is considered a success. Millennium in the Friday night time slot also has more viewers than X-Files did in it's first season in the same slot, and we also consider that a success. So, to sum up: The show gets more viewers in the Sunday night time slot.
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Where did "The Truth is Out There" title in the credits come form?

"That one hit me because I wanted something that summed up the philosophy of the show in those main titles."
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What was the phrase at the beginning of the episode _____?

The Erlenmeyer Flask - "Trust No One"
Ascension - "Deny Everything"
Anasazi - "Ei Aaniigoo 'Ahoot'e" (Navajo for The Truth is Out There)
731 - "Apology Is Policy"
Herrenvolk - "Everything Dies"
Teliko - "Deceive Inveigle Obfuscate"
Terma - "E Pur Si Muove" (translates to: "But it does move" and it was a quote attributed to Galileo after being forced to testify before the Inquisition that the earth stands still.)
Gethsemane - "Believe The Lie"
Redux - "All Lies Lead To The Truth"
The Red and the Black - "Resist or Serve"
The End - "The End"
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What is the snake that appears in the opening MillenniuM (and was the tattoo Scully got)?

"The snake biting its own tail is called the ouroboros. It has a lot of symbolism. It symbolizes the conflict of life devouring itself so it means both good and bad things. It's very pertinent to the show. It's a very powerful symbol, and I think appropriate to the show."
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Where did Deep Throat (the character) come from?

"Watergate was like the 'big bang' of my moral universe, I was 15 or 16 when it spilled out on the American consciousness and conscience. So the idea of questioning authority, trusting no one, is part of the fiber of my being. Deep Throat, of course, came from the infamous Watergate figure who may or may not have existed--the guy who told Woodward and Bernstein to follow the money. Our Deep Throat emerges from some shadowy level of the government, and leads Mulder and Scully, carefully and selectively. He helps them when they reach a dead end or take a wrong turn, but never gives them too much and he is not 100% on their side."
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Why does Mulder put tape on his window in the shape of an X?

Mulder used to do this to signal X when he wanted to meet with him.
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How did CC get Lance Henriksen to do TV?

CC had Lance in mind when coming up with the idea of Frank Black, he didn't think he would be able to get him. Henriksen would never have considered a TV role. After learning that the actor was staying at a Vancouver hotel, CC bypassed Henriksen's agents and slipped a personal note under his door. "I did it because every time I tried to get him on The X-Files, his agents had always said, 'Not interested in television.' My note simply said I was a fan and that I hoped that we could work together some time," Carter says.

"I was very touched by that," says Henriksen. "Nobody had ever made it that personal. But I still didn't do it. And I didn't call him back either. I just never thought of television. There was almost a kind of movie snobbery about it. But then I got this script."

The two met for dinner to discuss the project and hit it off immediately. "My first question to him was, 'Chris, this is going to scare the hell out of people. Where is the hope?'"

Carter, who has long been a fan of the actor's, saw Henriksen as someone who could assimilate the horrors of the world in which his character dwells with the life he's trying to build with his wife and young daughter. It is the existence of the one which makes the other bearable, and the omnipresent threat of evil and violence which drives Frank to strive to fight it. "The hope is that there can be something we can do to stem the tide of what seems to be an ever-growing, worsening situation in the world," Carter says. "And that is what Frank is about too. He wants his family to live in a safe place. It is no accident that he paints his house yellow. You paint away the darkness. You do whatever you can. My telling of life - and that is a rather grim outlook but I think it's true - is that everything gets worse. Dirt comes in. The grime. And we are always sweeping it away. We are cleaning. We are organizing. Chaos reigns. Even though that there is a beautiful, physical order in the world - everything seems to make sense on the cellular level and in the way we breathe and everything else - nature kind of encroaches. And we try our best to carve out of the jungles cities with order and places where we can live in a human way."

Has CC ever done a cameo on one of his shows?

In the second season's cliffhanger, Anasazi. CC appeared as an FBI agent questioning Scully.
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What did CC have to say about writing the words to P.M. Dawn's contribution, If you never say goodbye?

I play piano poorly, but I am a closet lyricist. I realized with this song how hard it is to do something beautiful and crystal in three minutes or less. This is one of the dividends I'd never expected when the show started, that I'd get to work with musicians like this. I stand in awe of them. It's their world that seems a real mystery to me.
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What was that poem that Scully recited at the beginning of Memento Mori?

That was not a poem, but a moving passage written by Chris Carter.
SCULLY
For the first time I feel time like a heartbeat, the seconds pumping in my breast like a reckoning; the numinous mysteries that once seemed so distant and unreal threatening clarity in the presence of a truth entertained not in youth, but only in its passage. I feel these words as if their meaning were weight being lifted from me, knowing that you will read them and share my burden as I have come to trust no other. That you should know my heart, look into it, finding there the memory and experience that belong to you, that are you, is a comfort to me now as I feel the tethers loose and the prospects darken for the continuance of a journey that began not so long ago, and which began again with a faith shaken and strengthened by your convictions. If not for which I might never have been so strong now as I cross to face you and look at you incomplete, hoping that you will forgive me for not making the journey with you.
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What are CC's favorite X-Files episodes?

Duane Barry, Beyond the Sea, The Erlenmeyer Flask, Colony/End Game, Sleepless, Ice and Fresh Bones.
Several that he finds particularly frightening: Beyond The Sea, which is one of his very favorites, as well as The Calusari and Fresh Bones, which he said "were great scary episodes."
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Does CC think he has a genius for being frightening?

He laughs: "I understand what people don't understand. I understand where people are vulnerable."
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What scares CC?

Although CC sets out to scare people, CC doesn't like seeing blood. (He even fainted once when he went to the doctor for surfers ear.)
"I'm afraid of violent death," he said. "I'm afraid of contraction of incurable diseases." Suddenly the origins of many X-Files episodes begin to seem much clearer. Carter admits that some of the stories are a working out of his private fears. "When I was a kid," he continued, "I was afraid of portable toilets." Does that make "The Host", which featured a notable scene involving the Flukeman and a portable toilet, an episode with a lot of personal meaning? "Extremely."
An IRS audit. ;)
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What about the internet?

"It puts pressure on us to keep us honest. We- we've got to be honest on our science, our research has to be accurate because we've got a big science-based audience out there who watches us very carefully and loves to "pick our nits"-as it were, and so, that keeps us honest. I think we have to please that audience to maintain our popularity."
Carter says that he feels "blessed" that "The X-Files" "came of age" just as the Internet entered the mainstream. "You have an audience who is smart, who is computer literate, and computer learned. They like the show. So they take advantage of this new tool, and so do I. I'm on the Internet every week, sometimes every day if I have the time. I use it to plug in to feel the pulse of my audience. I take the criticism to heart... the good criticism, that is."
"You do get hooked (on the internet). I could spend hours on my computer just going through the various web sites and seeing what people say. It used to drive my wife crazy. She'd be getting ready for bed and I'd be nowhere to be found. I'd say, "I'll be right up," and then hours would go by and I'd finally find my way up to bed. I just developed a need for the feedback that you get, which is very helpful in many cases. I think The X-Files was the first show that had that kind of relationship with its audience, and so I like to think that we both came of age at the same time."
He used to look at posts by the fans immediately after the show. He does not have the time anymore. An assistant goes through them and gives them to CC. He flips through it and there are certain things he'll read, for example Sarah Stegall's critique.
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Has CC ever seen a U.F.O.?

He has never seen one, but, he has talked to A LOT of people who have seen them.
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What about paranormal conventions?

"This is the surprising thing. When I started the show everybody said, "Just wait -- the freaks are going to come out of the woodwork." (Laughs) And it hasn't happened. You know, there've been instances, but most of those people at the conventions are just regular folk. There are a lot of people who are sort of UFO buffs. But I would say most of the people are not."
CC has gone to around seven or eight conventions.
On how the people respond when CC goes out - His response: "It's crazy. In San Diego, I got up on stage and it was like I was truly like a rock star. (Laughs) I mean, I stood up and there were just, for five minutes, there were flashbulbs flashing, and people applauding, and people on their feet. I didn't know. I was astounded. It's part of this dream. It's really to me like a -- I can't explain it. It is surreal. It's like I'm living someone else's life. There are some things, as an executive producer, that you don't imagine yourself ever doing. Winning a gold record for an album that I produced and co-wrote a song on. Being an actor on one of my own episodes. But the celebrity. The fact that I had my picture taken for Rolling Stone, that I'm in Rolling Stone is a really weird thing to me. It's like your old rock star fantasy sort of coming true. In a really bizarre way. And I never imagined that."
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What about merchandising?

"I didn't want to cheapen the show by just putting the "X-Files" logo or Mulder and Scully's face on anything that could be licensed. So I've turned a lot of things down. Boxer shorts was one. Various and sundry key chains. Flashlights. Mostly just doo-dads. Gee-gaws. I don't know how to describe them. Trinkets. What David Duchovny calls wampum."
"Actually a lot of the things I learned about merchandising come from the surfing world. I saw these guys at Ocean Pacific -- OP -- Gotcha, Quiksilver. I knew them when they were just starting out. And as soon as those guys were in Robinson's, May or Sears or whatever, basically you knew you'd gotten to the end. The secret is to keep everything small and keep it hard to get, and it'll have a longer life. There was a memo that came by at the beginning of the second season, which said that "X-Files" merchandise was going to start appearing in J.C. Penney stores. And I fired off the angriest memo to these saying, "Are you crazy?""
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How do I join the Fan Club?

These are not all of the official fan clubs that exist, just those for which the Official X-Files Web Site has obtained addresses thus far.
For complimentary information on the official fan club, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:
In North America
The X-Files Official Fan Club
P.O. Box 344
MT. Morris, IL 61054
(818) 409-0960
In Australia -
X-Files Fan Club-Australia
c/o Photon Productions
G.P.O. Box 2067
Sydney 2001
Australia
or call 800-67-1701
In Italy -
The Official X-Files Fan Club - Italy
2 Piazza Risorgimento
00041 Abano Lazale (Roma)
Italia
In France -
The Official X-Files Fan Club - France
93, av. du General Leclerc
75014 PARIS
FRANCE
or call 1.45.42.3945
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What about The Expo?

Information on The Expo can be found on the official site.
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How does a writer get a script to CC?

The short answer is you can't--at least not unless the material goes through the proper channels. The reason is potential legal liability to the show and studio in reading any unsolicited teleplay or story pitch. No one from the show is allowed to accept such material or even listen to ideas that don't come through established avenues, since if a similar episode were to appear at some later point the show could be sued by someone claiming that his or her idea had been appropriated. For that reason, nothing can even be looked at unless it comes through a licensed literary or TV agent or an attorney. ALL unsolicited ideas and scripts are left unopened and are THROWN AWAY. This is for YOUR protection. You can get a list of agents who are willing to look at new writers from the Writers Guild of America West (located in LA). Also, there is no writers bible or guidelines for The X-Files.
If your interested in becoming a writer, I recommend that you visit the Writers Guild of America and the biz section of my site (which provides interesting and informative links to sites in the entertainment field).
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When is the last season of The X-Files?

Chris Carter, Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny are signed for two more seasons.
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More X-Files movies?

Chris Carter has stated that he would love to do a whole series of movies. Carter's feature deal with 20th Century Fox makes a reality Fox's desire to turn ``The X-Files'' into a feature film franchise, much like ``Star Trek'' is for Paramount. This summer's ``X-Files'' feature has earned nearly $150 million in worldwide grosses, and sources say ``The X-Files'' stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have already agreed to star in the next feature, intended for a 2000 release.
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What is Harsh Realm all about?

Scheduled to debut on Fox in the fall of 1999, will likely be the comic-book-based sci-fi drama Harsh Realm. Carter says he believes he'll write the project, with X-Files helmer Dan Sackheim to direct. For more information on the comic book check out http://www.thehud.com/home.html.

What about syndication?

On the fX cable network the show is run daily, and on national television stations (cable and non-cable) the show airs in syndication (being promoted as X2) on weekends.
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Where can you write to CC?

CC does not have an official e-mail address.
Both shows have email.
The X-Files' url is http://www.thex-files.com/xfmail.htm
MillenniuM's url is http://www.foxworld.com/millnium/milmail.htm
You can write to Chris Carter via snail mail.
Chris Carter
Executive Producer
"The X-Files"
20th Century Fox
10201 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035
Fan mail to any of the stars: Star's name goes here
c/o "The X-Files"
20th Century Fox
10201 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035
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Awards and Honors

Chris Carter and his series' have received many awards and honors. The following is a list of organizations that have honored, nominited and/or awarded them for their efforts. They include (but are not limited to):

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror (Saturn Awards)
American Society of Cinematographers Awards
Cinema Audio Society Awards
Digital Hollywood Awards
Directors Guild of America Awards (DGA)
Emmy Awards
Environmental Media Awards
Golden Globe Awards
International Monitor Awards
Mystery Writers of America (Edgar Allan Poe Awards)
New York Festival for Television Programming and Promotion
Parent's Choice Honors
Peabody Awards
People's Choice Awards
Producers Guild of America Awards (Golden Laurel Awards)
Screen Actors Gulild
Television Critics Association (TCA) Awards
Viewers for Quality Television (VQT) Awards
Writers Guild of America Awards (WGA)
For a detailed list of awards for The X-Files check out the official X site

Chris Carter has been honored by numerous magazines, including but not limited to Time Magazines 25 Most Influental people, Entertainment Weekly's Power 101 - The Rising List and then The It List, CNET's mover's & shaker's list and TV Guide's (2 of) TV's best ever list, People's 50 most beautiful people in the world.
Chris Carter has been honored by the numerous web sites devoted to both of his shows and of course him.
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