 " Gone for Goode " was written by series creator Paul Attanasio and directed by executive producer Barry Levinson . Levinson was seeking to create a television series based on Homicide : A Year on the Killing Streets , a 1991 non @-@ fiction book by David Simon based on one year he spent with Baltimore Police Department homicide detectives . Levinson and fellow executive producer Tom Fontana hired Attanasio to adapt elements of the book into the teleplay for the first episode . It was first television script Attanasio ever wrote . The episode was shot by director of photography Wayne Ewing . Stan <unk> started out working as editor , but departed before the process was done due to creative differences with Levinson . Tony Black finished the editing for " Gone for Goode " , but did not return for the rest of the season , and Jay Rabinowitz worked as editor for the remaining episodes . The costumes for the episode were designed by Van Smith , but he also did not return to work on subsequent episodes . Although it was first episode of Homicide : Life on the Street , it was not technically a television pilot because the network had already ordered a full season of episodes before " Gone for Goode " was produced . The first episode was noted at the time for weaving four separate storylines into a single episode , the first in a trend of multiple subplots in each Homicide show . NBC executives indicated to Attanasio and Levinson they would have preferred the script to focus on a single homicide case rather than four , but ultimately allowed the script to be filmed with all subplots included . Additionally , despite intense advance promotion of the Homicide premiere , Attanasio deliberately sought to introduce the show with little fanfare , avoiding sensational gimmicks in favor of character @-@ driven plot , quirky dialogue and morbid dark humor . 
