Media Project - Dexter - Identifying the various "actors" involved

Key "actors" that contribute to producing Dexter...

Creator - Author Jeff Lindsay, creator of the Dexter series of novels. Four novel to date, beginning with Darkly Dreaming Dexter in 2001. The novels revolve around the central character of Dexter Morgan, a forensic investigator with the Miami Metropolitan Police Department. By day Dexter attends crime scenes and specialises in analysing blood splatter patterns. By night, he caters to what he refers to as his “dark passenger” and moonlights as a “likeable vigilante serial killer” (Friend, 2006).

Series Creators / Executive Producers - Executive producers Sara Colleton and John Goldwyn took the concepts and characters from the novels with an idea of remediating them into a feature film, with this idea eventually developing into an episodic television drama. Teaming with producer Clyde Phillips, this team takes ultimate responsibility for the overall product, acting as a type of quality control that is involved to some degree with all aspects of the series along with seventeen other series producers who adopt supervising and coordinating roles.

Broadcaster / Distributor - The pilot episode was screened by the American cable television network Showtime Entertainment, a subsidiary of the mass media company CBS Corporation. Interestingly, both Showtime and CBS screen Dexter in the US, but CBS screens a free-to-air primetime version of the series which is highly-edited so as to avoid offence.

Screenwriters - Currently a group of twelve key screenwriters are responsible for producing scripts that will be shot as weekly one hour episodes.

Directors - A small group of directors exercise some create control over the production, liaising with actors, camera and lighting crews amongst others to create an end product.

Actors - A principal cast of nine actors has been involved with the production since the pilot episode. Over the course of last four seasons, a number of additional actors have also been involved in both reoccurring and guest roles that may last for an entire season or just for one episode.

The Geographic Setting - Miami - Key to the action of the series is the physical setting, the city of Miami, Florida. Well-known Miami landmarks including the Everglades National Park, Biscayne Bay, Key West and Little Havana serve as settings for the series. As a consequence of this setting, there is a strong representation of Cuban-American culture. Several key characters are of Cuban descent and Spanish is widely spoken throughout the series.

The Physical Setting - The Miami Metropolitan Police Department - On one level Dexter is a crime series and as a result much of the setting of the series takes place within the Miami Metropolitan Police Department. Many of the cast of characters are employed by the Miami Metro Police and much of the action takes place within the police station or at crime scenes.