Red Ruses is what's known as a 'spec script'. That's a script about an existing program (in this case, CBS's The Mentalist) written for a contest, not as a submission to the program itself. So basically a throw-away. Except I wasn't happy about that idea. So I introduced one of the characters I was fond of that I'd created for this episode to players from several previous scripts and a new cast was born. Paul Smithson, Jr. and his story here became components of the screenplay Bad Actors and the novel. The Bad Actors screenplay also introduces the song All I'm Asking For, which I recorded with Diane Marie. It was ostensibly written by Ramona Duke, a character from the Penny Lane Pilot on this page.
