#I just have to write the script and prep the references | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

coulsons-fullmetal-cellist · 2 years ago

Text

The Final Girl Phone Call

(Dieter x horror loving female)

Words: 1, 1996 (get it? Because Scream came out in 1996!)

Summary: this is my entry for the PedroHalloween2023 with the theme What’s Your Favourite Scary Movie? Thanks to @o-sacra-virgo-laudes-tibi for bringing this to my notice and suggesting the story

Warnings: lots of references to Scream, somewhat difficult questions relating to horror films, Dieter being Dieter

Check out masterlist here

Watching a scary movie had a routine and ritual to it. A scary movie required comfort and tasty snacks. Scary movies required only the fluffiest of blankets to snuggle under to feel safe and warm while people were having their limbs chopped off by a machete wielding maniac on screen. This blanket was special because it was one of the first luxury purchases you made when you first moved to New Zealand. You were strangely feeling homesick, moving out of home for the first time, and you saw this soft orange blanket made from New Zealand wool. It cost more than a regular blanket, but it called out to you, wanting to offer you comfort. It provided many hours of comfort, especially when you were feeling lonely once you moved to Los Angeles. Once Dieter became a permanent part of your life, you introduced him to the blanket, almost like it was a pet, but obviously he loved it and treated it with respect.

You had just gotten out said comfy blanket and put it on the couch to get comfy with when a familiar tune broke through the silence. It was your phone. Normally you would check the caller ID but this time you answered without checking who it was.

“Who is this?”

“Tell me your name and I’ll tell you mine.” The voice on the other end was rough and laced with danger.

“I don’t think so.”

A few days earlier…

“You want to do a Scream roleplay?” Dieter looked at you like you asked him to strip naked, paint himself green and walk around town in public, which he would actually do and probably did once back in his younger, drug-filled days. “I’m a kinky guy, but that may be a bit too kinky for me.”

“It’s not that sort of roleplay. I just want to act out the opening scene.”

“Am I going to have to stab you? Because I really don’t want to do that.” He wrapped himself around you, almost protecting you from any potential dangers.

“Aw, you’re so sweet,” you kissed his cheek. “I don’t really want to get my fake blood out. And I wouldn’t know which one to use.”

“It would make a mess.”

“And how would we get the stabbing action going?”

“It would make a giant mess.”

You were too lost in your overthinking to notice that your boyfriend was teasing, “It’s going to be a lot of prep and too much effort.”

“I only like the good mess.”

“The good mess?” his cheeky look gave you the answer you were seeking, so you gently nudged him. “I’m just curious.”

“Curious was me in my days in a travelling nomad artist commune with access to too many drugs. You, my dear, have a morbid curiosity wrapped up in a sexy adorable package. One of the many reasons I love you.” He kissed your cheek this time.

“I just want to see how I’d be if your life was in danger.” He gave you that look again. “I know it’s weird. I’m just curious to know if I’d act smart or become a hopeless case.”

“You’ve seen way too many horror films to act dumb.”

“But that’s how I’d be on screen. How would I be in real life?”

“Would a Scream roleplay really help out?”

“Possibly. It’ll be fun.”

“Let me guess, you’ve already written a script?”

You didn’t want to admit how many times you watched the opening scene in order to write down the dialogue to get material for a roleplaying script.

“Maybe. But you come up with the questions, it’s not fair otherwise.”

Back to the script…

The plan was simple: Dieter will call you as soon as you got home. Then the roleplaying would begin.

You had made your way over to the kitchen. Taking a bag out of the cupboard, you put the popcorn in the microwave. After a pressing a few buttons, you shut the microwave door but realised it wasn’t loud enough, so you opened it again and slammed the microwave door shut. This time, it was loud enough to be heard at the other end of the phone.

“What’s that noise?”

“It’s popcorn.”

“You’re making popcorn?” you mumbled a yes, “Popcorn is only for when you’re going to watch a movie in my opinion.”

“What a coincidence, I was just about to put on a movie.”

“Really? What kind of movie?”

“A scary movie.”

“You like scary movies?”

“It’s my bread and butter.”

“So what’s your favourite scary movie?”

“I don’t know.”

“You have to have a favourite. What comes to mind?”

“Well it’s a difficult question to answer. I have one too many favourites so really it should be what is my favourite right now? Normally I’d be up for a fun adventure like The Mummy, or a parody look at horror films like Tucker and Dale but really horror is such a great canvas to explore the harsh realities of life and use the metaphor of a supernatural monster to recreate and actual human monster.”

Dieter’s real voice came through the phone, “Honey cakes you’re going off topic.”

“Sorry,” you went back to the script. “Why do you want to know my name?”

“I want to know who I’m looking at.”

“What did you say?” You sensed that you were not alone and looked out the window, seeing only darkness. You made sure the screen door was locked; it was as it always was.

“I want to know who I’m talking to.”

You had moved to the front door this time and made sure it was locked; it was as it always was. “That’s not what you said.”

“What do you think I said?”

“What are you up to? Is this some kind of joke?”

It was at this point the microwave decided to provide a jump scare. You had forgotten about the popcorn until now. A tiny yelp was heard over the other end of the phone. You just left the door of the microwave open so it would stop screaming at you.

“More like a game. Can you handle that?” you didn’t answer. “I’ll take that as a yes. Now here’s how we play. I ask a question and if you get it right, I’ll spare the life of your boyfriend.”

Dieter could not play the double role of the boyfriend in danger. He was a talented actor, but not that talented.

“I’ll give you an easy question, as a trial run.”

You had by now, made your way back to the couch and wrapped yourself in the safety of your blanket. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

The voice on the other end gave a small maniacal laugh, “Now, what was the original title for Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

“It was Head Cheese.”

“Good. But now all the questions get harder. Which means a harsher punishment for Mr. Sexy here.”

You covered your mouth, not because you were scared, but of the nickname your boyfriend gave himself. “So, first question: How many people does Jason kill in Friday the 13th?”

“Um, none because it was Pamela Vorhees who did all the killing.”

There was a pause coming from the phone, “Uh, I was meant to ask how many people died in that film but you’re correct, nonetheless. So next question: who was the serial killer in Silence of the Lambs?”

“There were two weren’t there?” the phone didn’t answer. “There was Hannibal Lecter obviously but there was also Buffalo Bill.”

You heard a rustle of paper and mild swearing, “Stupid kid ripped me off!” After a minute, Dieter finally got back into character, “Now here’s a really hard question: what is regarded as the first horror film?”

“That would be Le Manoir du diable.”

There was a pause, “And in English that would be?”

“The Devils Castle.”

“Correct. Next question: what horror film made the most money worldwide?”

“Are we talking most profitable film or highest grossing film?” you didn’t get an answer, so you continued. “Because the highest grossing horror film is IT, but Paranormal Activity grossed nearly $40 million off a $450, 000 budget.”

“Okay, um…”

Intense rustling was heard coming from the hallway cupboard. You went to investigate, knowing it would spell certain doom in any horror film but for real life, cause just a mild inconvenience.

The rustling noises got more frantic, and the doors of the cupboard suddenly opened, your boyfriend spilling out onto the hallway floor. It was hard to tell it was him at first because he had dressed himself head to toe in a black robe. From his hands spilled out his phone, some scribbled notes, and a mask. You picked it up to see that it was a replica of Ghost Face.

“You went and got the costume?”

“Well yeah. I had to get into the part, didn’t I?” he rubbed at his knee where he fell. “It took me a while to find that mask. All the stores had were the ones from the latest Scream film and I wanted to make sure it was the same as the first Scream so…”

“I don’t think I would have noticed,” you saw the dejected look on his face so you knelt down and embraced him, “Aw, you’re the best boyfriend ever!”

“I am?”

“Yeah. But I have to ask: why did you hide in the cupboard? You could have hidden yourself away in the spare room.”

He was probably dazed from falling out of the cupboard, “Because…it was authentic to the film?” neither of you were convinced. “And I love you?”

You couldn’t help but laugh, “Were you planning on jumping out and scaring me?”

“Kind of. I was hoping we’d do a bit of light tussling followed by some sexy time,” he sighed. “Sorry the questions weren’t that good. The kid on set said they were really hard questions.”

“I thought they were pretty good questions.”

“Really?”

“Really really.”

You helped him get up which took longer than normal as the length of the sleeves provided lots of tripping up material.

“I don’t know how anyone can do anything in this costume.”

“Well, they did stumble a lot in the first three films,” you hugged him close. “So do you want to get out of this costume and…?”

“Get naked?”

“I was going to say snuggle up on the couch and watch a scary movie,” he pouted adorably. “I made popcorn.”

“I like popcorn. And I like snuggles.” He tried to wrap his arms around you but then remembered that the sleeves prevented this, so he took off his costume. You don’t know how he managed to get the costume on in the first place with how much difficulty he had getting it off. But soon he revealed back his normal self which was his normal Dieter attire.

By that time, you re-remembered about the popcorn and put it in its special popcorn bowl. Thankfully it was now at the perfect temperature for snacking on while watching a scary movie.

“Any requests?” you asked him.

He thought long and hard, so about thirty seconds, “Um, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” you looked at him in surprise. “You asked for a scary movie request.”

“Is it scary?”

“Remember the tunnel scene?”

“Oh,” You shuddered. “That might be too scary.”

“How about the one with witches and that actor you like?”

It took a while for you to decipher this, “You mean Hocus Pocus?” he nodded so you kissed in agreement and made your way to the couch.

Dieter carefully picked up the blanket before sitting down and let you snuggle up to him. He then arranged the blanket so it covered the both of you. “So how do you think you’d be in a scary situation?”

“I think I’d be a Sydney Prescott,” he looked confused. “You know, she’s the final girl from-“

“Scream, yeah. You definitely are,” he kissed your forehead. “My final girl.”

Lovingly tagging @pedrocontestsrus @boliv-jenta @simpingcowboy @ellenmunn @brilliantopposite187 @chaithetics @myloveistoolittle @cevans-is-classic @glshmbl @perennialdoll247 @joelswritingmistress

#PedroHalloween2023 #pedro pascal #jose pedro balmaceda pascal #dieter x honey cakes #love of horror fanfic #love of horror

21 notes · View notes

ninjadeathmedia · 1 year ago

Text

Written By Noam Kroll

One of the cornerstones of independent, micro-budget productions is undeniably single-location filmmaking.

It’s practically a rite of passage for first time feature filmmakers.

Limiting your production scope to one (or possibly two) main locations has long been one of the best ways to save time and money on a DIY production.

This is why it’s often recommended as a model for your first feature film. The benefits are so obvious…

Working within a single location simplifies production in every way. You need less time, can avoid company moves, and can cut down on logistical expenses dramatically.

Not to mention, if you shoot in your own home (or a location you have access to), you have infinite prep time. Giving you more ability to dress the set, rehearse with your actors, and re-write to match the location.

All of this can result in more time spent with the actors, less time dealing with logistical nightmares, and more bandwidth to focus on the craft itself.

But despite the obvious upsides, there are some major challenges and potential pitfalls associated with single location filmmaking.

I explored some of these issues in depth in this podcast, but in short, here is a quick summary:

Issue #1 – Maintaining visual interest

No matter how great your location may be, if you aren’t careful about your stylistic approach the audience will become fatigued.

You can solve much of this at the script level, by first ensuring you are writing the script to maximize every corner of the location.

Shoot in every room, every space, and every nook and cranny that you can. Diversifying your backgrounds / settings can make a massive difference.

It’s also good practice to set your scenes during different points in the day, to create more dynamic lighting opportunities.

A sunrise scene will be lit very differently than a midnight scene, even if they are set in the same room. This minor adjustment on the script level can create major contrast scene to scene.

Once on set, it’s about getting creative with camera placement, framing, and other visual elements

I recently wrote an article about the unique coverage in Poor Things, which is a great point of reference. That film used wildly different lenses in each scene, cutting between fish eye and long lens, and then back again. It keeps your eyes glued to the screen.

Whatever visual style you choose, make it distinct. There’s no reason why two scenes shot in the same room have to be covered the same way.

Issue #2 – The stakes aren’t high enough

Many of the best single location films are primal in nature. They deal with stories that are life or death – or at least feel that way to the characters and audience.

The Ryan Reynolds film Buried is probably the most restricted film I’ve ever seen, at least in terms of location scope. The entire movie takes place in a coffin underground, with the main character buried alive.

The primal nature and natural high stakes of that story are what make it fascinating to watch .

Certain genres tend to lend themselves well to single location filmmaking for this reason. Horror in particular can be an obvious choice (especially the “monster in the house” sub-genre).

That said, you can make an incredible single location / high stakes film in any genre. Drama, comedy, romance, it’s all possible. Some genres just have the primal element more baked in than others.

Issue #3 – Dialogue

Almost every single location film is made or broken by the quality of dialogue.

It goes without saying that you should always challenge yourself to write the most compelling, nuanced, subtextual dialogue that you can. Regardless of the scope of production.

But on a micro-budget single location film, dialogue plays an even more critical role than usual. With so much else stripped away, it is the ultimate focal point for the audience.

Nailing the dialogue isn’t just about what you write on the page, though. It’s equally (perhaps more so) about the actors that you cast.

There is no better gift that you can give your film than amazing performances. But it’s a one two-punch – You need a great script to attract great actors, and you need great actors to elevate your material.

So write scenes that will excite both your actors and your audience. And don’t be afraid to push the performances into uncharted waters.

Ultimately, the audience is watching two (maybe three) actors talking in a room for the majority of your film. That’s what you are up against. There is no better remedy than a great cast armed with a solid script.

All of these elements combined will ensure your single location film feels exciting, and unlike any that has come before.

#filmmaking #filmmaking tips #cinematography #filmmakers #movie #movies #filmmaking techniques #cinematography tips #indie filmmaking #film edit #cinema

4 notes · View notes

snicketsquadron · 2 years ago

Text

VFD Is fundamentally voluntary

I know it’s a lot of fun in the ASOUE fandom to point out the sinister nature of VFD as an organization. The books themselves make a point of how no person is purely good or evil, and people can be pushed into all sorts of actions by circumstances. That being said, I think it can kind of flatten the point to argue that the VFD recruitment process is kidnapping/indoctrination in the same way that the snow scouts being kidnapped by eagles is. And I recently reread the Unauthorized Autobiography so here are some quotes:

A lot of folks will quote “The Little Snicket Lad” but the point of that chapter is that the lyrics are inaccurate.

“The cheesemakers...remain very close associates of my entire family.” Given that this was Valorous Farms Dairy, and the dairy is written to directly or mentioned in several future letters by the Snicket siblings and others, it seems likely that the cheesemakers were and remained VFD members.

“As part of my work with the heroes of this ballad, I often have to deliver secret information” VFD referred to as heroic. (You can, of course, disagree with Lemony)

“I was far past crawling on the day in question” Less of a voluntary take but more of a factual note, as people often interpret that Lemony was recruited as an infant.

Now the quote: “My mother asked the same question when she came home that fateful day and found waiting for her not three young children but one worried husband and two half-full cups of tea” is concerning. But it should be considered in the context of a later section.

Regarding the lyrics “One evening Jake was chopping wood/And his wife was at the mill” Snicket writes:

“This is more or less accurate, much to my mother’s dismay, who always wished that she had delayed her investigation one more day, so she could have been at home that day to say goodbye. My brother insists that he was allowed to finish his tea before departure”

So the Snicket parents were worries/dismayed, but not because they thought their children were kidnapped. They were already aware that their children were to be taken, and just wanted to be around when it happened. Given that his mother was investigating a mill and the Valorous Farms Dairy association mentioned above, it seems reasonable they were volunteers themselves.

Furthermore, Snicket notes he was able to visit his parents “rarely”, which may still be sinister to some people, but is hardly the often-implied total sequestering.

This exchange is small but important:

R: R’s right. We are entering people’s homes- J: We get permission first

And from Nero’s letter regarding K’s recruitment of two children at Prufrock Prep:

“Like all orphans, the two kidnapped brats were so stupid that they didn’t even look scared as Ms. K. carried them away. Their faces were very serious, as if they were embarking on an important mission of some kind.”

And finally, there’s the recruitment script itself, which follows three steps:

“What was that noise?” “Nothing”

According to Snicket, the parents saying “nothing” is already coded, as there is never nothing outside. So this already implies permission/engagement on the part of the parents. But even if the parents do not know about VFD, or the phrases happen by accident, it is much much less likely that anyone would completely by coincidence say the third phrase:

If there’s nothing out there then what was that noise?

Which signals listening volunteers that it’s safe to act. (This is also why it’s significant that Lemony was not an infant at the time of recruitment. All VFD volunteers recruited this way make a conscious choice to consent to recruitment.

Now, of course, in the real world children can’t legally consent or make binding contracts. But that gets into Doylist arguments, and this book series at a Doylist level is written for kids, so depicts children as full moral and intelligent agents who can make independent decisions.

#ooc #vfd

25 notes · View notes

unfortunatetheorist · 2 years ago

Text

Cut Scene:

"What does Hangfire mean" - for the plot?

Once again, the brilliantly inexplicable and inexplicably brilliant minds (including @snicketstrange, @snicketsleuth and @thesnicketfile) behind ASOUE have provided us with food for thought:

Page 21 of The Incomplete History Of Secret Organisations (the real-world version, not in-universe) refers to Daniel Handler's original script for 'The Wide Window' - "a carving on the underside of a table prompted the Baudelaires to ask, "What does Hangfire mean?""

If this happened, i.e. the scene was not deleted, I believe it could've contributed significantly more to the plot, especially that of 'The Miserable Mill', than it actually did:

The Baudelaires would've found the carving, and pondered it's origin. (Obviously.)

The Baudelaires would've then gone to Lucky Smells Lumbermill (either by themselves or with Mr Incom-Poe-tent) and asked Sir (and/or Charles) about Hangfire (and the people in the picture).

Charles would've just been his usual, rather ignorant, self to be frank. On the other hand, Sir would've still put them to work in the mill, but I think his answers to their queries may have been different.

Based on popular speculation that Sir and Smogface Wiley are actually the same person, this opens up the plot, as Sir could tell the Baudelaires about his childhood, and maaaybe recognise Lemony as the guy who interviewed him in All The Wrong Questions...

But, he's also very emotionally distant from others. We see it in 'The Miserable Mill', mostly around Charles. If Sir's been working with Charles for so long, and he still doesn't trust him enough to hear his ideas, why on Earth would he trust 3 strange orphans with his childhood memories?

So, the Baudelaires don't get an answer to the Hangfire mystery... or do they?

During the Baudelaires' (so-called, 5-minute) "LuNcH bReAk", Klaus goes to get hypnotised and Violet & Sunny go to the library of one book, The History of Lucky Smells Lumbermill...

...where they likely don't find an answer.

Either:

If Dr Orwell censored Chapter 12 (The Paltryville Fire), she could have censored anything else, in the name of "business", of course.

Or:

Sir/Smogface Wiley found it too troublesome and/or unnecessary to bring up his past, which may or may not have involved Hangfire [After all, the book is about the history of the mill, not of the author].

6. A lack of answers and a lack of guardians would have led the Baudelaires to Prufrock Prep, where they would have undoubtedly told the Quagmires.

7. They find the in-universe version of TIHOSO and write down what they can in their commonplace books...

8. Before it gets harpooned by Esmé Squalor during the final events of 'The Vile Village'.

My point is, the whole mystery of Hangfire could have ended up as another running mystery throughout the series, but that would have probably led into other flashbacks from other people during the trial in 'The Penultimate Peril', and the showrunners decided to stick to the books.

And it worked.

¬ Th3r3534rch1ngr4ph, Unfortunate Theorist/Snicketologist

7 notes · View notes

dreammelter · 2 years ago

Text

Speedrun Workshop Postmortem

I wanted to make a more detailed postmortem as I cleaned the project files up but I'll keep it simple today… If I take any longer, I'm sure to give up on it. (The year is ending so there's a lot of prep/wrap-up going on in other areas I'm responsible for. 🙃)

What I'll cover:

What was the project about? It's goals? It's products?

How did I approach it?

How did things change and why?

What did I like most of what I completed?

What did I wish I could complete?

What did I learn? (A LOT. But maybe make a more definitive list.)

What would be my tips/advice for next time?

(Project deliverables are up on GitHub.)

The One Day Workshop

I only vaguely remember what spurred the project and apparently don't have any journal entries for it either… so here's the gist of it!

My sister worked with City of Las Vegas/Strong Future to help teach some Office 365 basics. In July, she decided to start a small tech biz (now defunct) that offered more technical training. If I remember correctly, she asked if there was anything I'd like to offer, so I figured I could cover programming, 3D art, and game development. (I really just wanted an excuse to play with the things I liked lol.) The team at Strong Future took an interest in hosting the game development class, but they only had a small budget for it at the time. So we decided to host a workshop for middle and high school students on Nevada Day.

The idea was to introduce students to the process of game development as well as some careers and resources. Since the workshop would only last 5 hours, the students would follow along with the recreation of an arcade-like game. I originally wanted to require students have some experience with code since we'd be jumping right into a project. We decided to leave it open to those without it, though. I figured I could do a quick intro to scripting and wouldn't sweat it too much since students could either type-along or drag-and-drop the files.

The workshop had an additional constraint: the computers in the lab wouldn't be able to install any additional software, so I'd have to use a portable or web-based game engine. I've long held onto a list of game engines and dev resources, so finding one wasn't an issue. What was interesting, though, was seeing how some of them have changed over the years… Godot Engine was the first one that came to mind and the one I was sure I was going to go with, but I took a look at my old list anyway. Cocos2D was my second choice since I'd be able to use JavaScript and I was considering it for a future web project, but it required more setup and research than I was interested in bothering with. (The modern Cocos editor requires an install.) Defold, like Godot, doesn't require an install but I didn't want to write in Lua. (Read: I didn't want to relearn how to write Lua. I only have three months.) Game Maker, Construct, GameSalad, and GDevelop were some others I considered for their web versions and/or visual programming features, but I didn't want to force the students to sign up for anything.

So Godot it was. 😎 Long Live Open-Source.

We also named the workshop "Speedrun" some weeks later.

Expectation

The workshop needed three things: a prototype to remake, some slides, and a collection of resources the students could use and refer to later. I was also advised to create a printed handout students could follow along with.

There would also be 20 students at most.

I wanted to break down the five hours as such:

1 hour talking about the industry, careers, and development concepts

3 hours walking through the prototype

1 hour letting the students tinker and build their own levels

(I wrote a couple of different outlines with timestamps closer to the end of the project, too.)

I wanted to teach the students game dev was all about problem solving (and IID.) I'd pose a question or scenario, then walk them through the implementation. Once we built the base game, the students could use the extra resources to add to it however they pleased.

I also split up the 3 months of development time of this project:

1 month to get up to speed with Godot 4 and create a game prototype

1 month to polish the prototype and write up the written materials

1 month to polish the materials, practice the presentation, and prepare for the workshop day

Reality

So I ended taking two months trying to prototype. I briefly talked about it in the "mini postmortem" I included in the class handbook… In short: I tried out different game ideas to see what I could actually implement by the end of the first month. The second month rolled around so I started moving the desired game mechanics to a clean file… just for them to start falling apart. That's when I settled on just making a simple platformer. I used all of September and half of October putting the platformer prototype together, leaving two weeks to put the remaining documents together. Ended up skipping the handout, since I couldn't decide what to put on it… I had a couple different versions of the to-do lists I used to track progress of the game that I could use, but I wasn't sure just how much detail should be included for each task to actually be useful. I didn't complete the handbook in time for class either, so I spent an extra two-three days writing that up…

Dragging and dropping the scripts and resource files from the prototype came in super handy. Because, contrary to my expectation, 4 hours was not enough time to even get past the setup of the player character and tile map. I did not account for students who might not have had any experience with editors of any sort (and forgot to give them an actual tour of the engine. OTL) It wasn't the perfect presentation of "game dev as problem-solving" I hoped for… it was a scramble of remembering what to click and do next. I think the problem-solving sentiment still floats around in the docs and presentation… somewhat. But if there's anything I regret, it's that failure to effectively lead the students through the recreation of the prototype game. We were all pretty exhausted by the end. They said they learned a lot but I hope it didn't crush their interests in building games. 😭

I did spend about an hour and a half covering the industry and such (to my surprise. I wasn't sure I was going to have enough to say, but alas… we did. And it was just a debrief of the topics themselves.) I was also lucky that the students who came in later showed up at opportune times, when it was easy to get them up to speed.

I didn't complete the prototype, but we didn't get very far with the game in-class, either. Guess there's a bit of grace there… I was so worried I end up with a class full of students who were already so comfortable building games in the virtual worlds they hang out in. (But I only had one student who was actually enrolled in a game development program and he was just starting out. All of the students were.)

Reflections

All of that said… I think seeing the reality of how this went down was enlightening. When I get ideas they tend to be overly idyllic and lofty, so it was good to see the gritty, incomplete, and even a little ugly side of this. It was a nice reminder of how much effort goes into creating something that's really good. I mean… the burnout I got after rushing to get this together was 0/10… but the respect I gained for the craft went up 1000%. And seeing how much is available online: from support groups to free tools, the future of game dev will always be bright and exciting.

Part of my screw-up with the approach to teach the development part could have been alleviated if I knew we'd only tackle such a small scope in that time… I obviously couldn't have known how much we'd get through, but a back-up plan beyond "use the premade resources to speed things up" might have been useful in this case. Maybe I could have an alternate "lesson route" where I scaled back most of our goal.

Then again… I probably would've known this ahead of time if I actually practiced the full presentation with someone, rather than the dry run I did alone. 🤔 (One of those expectation vs. reality things.)

Favorite Things

I remember making my first digital game in Flash (though I have this sneaking suspicion there was something I used before it?) Godot's scene-structure was very reminiscent of it. I also liked that it meant you could structure you game basically as the way you see it, making it easy for students to conceptualize.

I also love that you can make tools for the engine using the same language you do to write gameplay code. The coin tool is probably my favorite thing, even though it's incomplete.

Wishes

I'd actually like to figure out what's going on with the double jump animation (which was working at first.) The player can double jump, the conditional block holding the animation just doesn't fire. (I think. I'd have to check the code again.)

It'd also be cool to get the coin tool to work properly in-editor.

Lessons Learned

You won't be able to fit absolutely everything into a project and you probably shouldn't try. 😆 Don't let your brain lie and say you can. Dipping into the longer list of "Nice to Haves" after finishing the "Must Haves" feels nicer than having a long list of "These things were supposed to be in the game--"

Conclusion

I'm gonna be 100% honest, I'm not sure I'd try to build a platformer on my own again. Maybe something closer to a visual novel, sure, but anything more than that? I'd probably enlist the help of some friends. (Especially a gameplay programmer. I'll stick to tools…🫠)

It's a stark position from the one I held as a teen building (fragments of) games… maybe it was the rush to get something together and the burnout that followed. Maybe it was the fact I was building something outside of my initial intention, so I didn't have the same "emotional attachment" I would for something more personal. I do primarily think it was the time constraint and the pressure to make something that I thought would be satisfactory for the students to start with. Sure, I can perform under pressure, but I can't say I do better work under it. And frankly, the pressure is only more bearable with a team, which I didn't have lol.

However, the most important thing is that I completed enough of what was required for this endeavor that I could see it as a success. It's not a smashing or career-changing one, but it's just big enough to be a meaningful experience. (For me and for the handful of students who made it.)

#long post #game dev #yee.txt #if there are typos and stuff pls forgive meeeee #i'm dropping this here so i can go finish chores and stuff ;;;;

2 notes · View notes

rielzero · 1 year ago

Note

How long does a comic usually take you?

Oh! A question! Thank you anon c:

I'll be honest, I have no idea if I can even give an average. I generally hope to get to a point it'll just take 2 weeks to finish one comic, but so far it takes a month and then I take a month break because my health gets really loopy..?

Currently we're in the end of spring (At least it feels like the end of spring) And start of summer.. I have seasonal affective disorder so I really slow down and get a hit of summer depression. I take vitamin supplements and try to manage it, but I can never predict how things go, At least I have a tumblr timeline so I plan to properly examine my mental state by looking back the past few years at some point.

Things that tend to affect how long a comic takes me.

Amount of pages that the comic has.

Complexity of page layouts, if a comic has a lot of characters in complex poses the posing, drawing and flatcolor stage take much longer.

Extra rendering requirements (Effects, magic, story-telling visuals.)

Comic prep-work (Such as the creation of refsheets and gathering of references, thumbnailing and screenshotting for backgrounds)

Script revisions (If my script is outdated, I need to check this first before I even start thumbnailing.)

Writing the script (Haven't needed to do this in a while, there's currently about 10 comics planned, and I am working on number 5.)

Research. (I sometimes go back and look into elements from the game, or research DND lore, this is mostly background story work so you don't really notice it, I suppose)

Health flop, chronic fatigue and disability. If I feel down, I can't make myself draw. Usually I try to work on some 3D stuff if I can't get myself to do linework, that way its worked on a little bit daily if not at all.

Other things outside of my control that take away time I'd prefer to spend on the comic.

I try to take breaks on the weekends usually.

Overall Estimate Of Some Tasks that I figured

Screenshotting backgrounds for the entire comic: Takes about 3-5+ hours, Dependingly. I actually need to play the game to get certain locations in specific gamestates and to double check potential missing elements from the script.

Thumbnailing the entire comic: 4-6 hours, amount of pages affects this. I am looking back and forth to my script while doing this.

Layouts / 3D & Text bubbles: One page layout can take 1+ hour or more, less if the contents are fairly simple. Pages without dialogue take less time, Action scenes take the most time even when they don't contain dialogue due the poses.

Drawing & Rendering: 1-3 hours per page, considering Wether there are lightning effects, complex poses, or a large amount of characters present. Flat-coloring sometimes takes much longer than actually drawing.

Double Checking and Final Touches: This doesn't take that long, 30 minutes or a bit more. I'm pretty much proof reading the entire comic to make sure nothing's missing, from character details to spell-checking text.

And I do this all on my own!

#anon ask #ask the artist #ask me anything #askbox #bg3 #bg3 fancomic #fancomic #webcomic #comics #art #queue #queued #queued post

1 note · View note

j2memories · 1 year ago

Text

EW Article (April 13th 2022)

Jensen Ackles on directing Walker and finally getting to work with the band Kansas

Plus: Check out exclusive photos of Ackles and Jared Padalecki with the group.

By Samantha Highfill | April 13, 2022 at 10:38 AM EDT

The Supernatural family lives on... in more ways than one.

Not only did Jensen Ackles reunite with his onscreen brother of 15 years, Jared Padalecki, to direct this week's episode of Walker, but when he spoke to EW, he was in the middle of another big moment: seeing the pilot of The Winchesters get made.

"I'm sitting in a car on set watching takes from the front seat," Ackles says with a laugh. "We just did a huge stunt." (For a Supernatural show, that sounds about right.)

This week's Walker will also feature a number of Supernatural Easter eggs — most notably, a performance by the band Kansas, whose "Carry on Wayward Son" became the unofficial theme of the show over the course of its 15 seasons. As fans know, Kansas was originally supposed to perform in the Supernatural series finale before COVID restrictions forced a rewrite. Now, Padalecki and Ackles have finally been able to make that happen.

Read what Ackles had to say about it and check out exclusive photos below.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You've directed on Supernatural, but what was it like for you to walk onto a new set and take on that role?

JENSEN ACKLES: Well, look, it was still a friendly set. [Laughs] Jared had laid the groundwork of like, "This is my brother. I'm here because of what he and I built together." He gave a great speech to the whole crew, saying, "We wouldn't be here without the work that this guy did with me." I was vouched for by the commander-in-chief, so although I was a guest in someone else's house, it was a house that felt very welcoming.

You've obviously seen Jared play a number of characters on Supernatural, but what was it like to see him in such a different setting, playing a character he's said is more of a Dean than a Sam?

Funny enough, I feel like Walker is probably more like Jared than Sam was, not necessarily in actual character development, but just in mannerisms and reactionary things, the nuances of what Jared's doing. I think this feels a little closer to him, which is great because who knows him better than him? It was fun to get back into the shorthand with him with performance notes, with technical notes. I can even use a reference to a movie and he knows that I'm actually giving him a note. There's nobody else I can do that with. He and I have that, and we'll always have that. That's not something that fades away.

How did the Kansas performance come about? Did they just call you up one day and say, "P.S. We have Kansas"?

Basically, yeah. They were like, "We're writing that script right now, but we just found out Kansas is actually going to be in Austin playing one night and it happens to be three days before you start working." So I was in prep and basically they broke the main unit early on the previous episode so that they could do a full company move over to the Moody Theater in downtown Austin and we could set up and shoot, essentially, a rock concert. So I shot that while in prep, and then a couple days later we started rolling on principal photography for me.

How did you prepare?

I basically went back and watched a bunch of rock concerts to see how they were directed and then got with my DP, Peter Kowalski, who, funny enough, was the A camera operator from Dawson's Creek. I was like, "PK?!" And he was like, "Jensen?!" [Laughs] I think the first time I ever stood on a surfboard was his in North Carolina. So that was a great reunion, and he and I worked really well together. We spent half a day in the Moody Theater shooting a rock concert with Kansas as our subject. And they were awesome. They were like, "How many times do you want us to do it?" We were like, "Three times max," and they said, "We can do it three, we can do it five, whatever you need." They were so accommodating and so cool, as I knew they would be.

Did it feel like a full-circle moment knowing you almost had them in the Supernatural finale?

Yeah, and they were also really excited that they were getting to scratch an itch that didn't get scratched. I didn't know this, but they were literally at the airport and some of them were getting on a plane to come to Vancouver when they got called and told, "Sorry, COVID, we're shutting down." So that's how close we were to having that experience with them. The fact that we got to do that in any capacity felt like we got to scratch an itch that needed to be scratched.

This episode has a couple of Supernatural Easter eggs. Were those written in the script or was that more of a collaborative effort?

A little of both, but here's why: Katherine Alyse, who wrote the episode, knows Supernatural very well and essentially wrote a lot of Easter eggs. I was either like, "Oh, I can absolutely do that" or, "I can level that up." We definitely tried to pepper in the Easter eggs when we could.

Walker airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CW.

Link to the Article

0 notes

positivexcellence · 3 years ago

Photo

Jensen Ackles on directing Walker and finally getting to work with the band Kansas

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You've directed on Supernatural, but what was it like for you to walk onto a new set and take on that role?

You've obviously seen Jared play a number of characters on Supernatural, but what was it like to see him in such a different setting, playing a character he's said is more of a Dean than a Sam?

How did the Kansas performance come about? Did they just call you up one day and say, "P.S. We have Kansas"?

How did you prepare?

Did it feel like a full-circle moment knowing you almost had them in the Supernatural finale?

This episode has a couple of Supernatural Easter eggs. Were those written in the script or was that more of a collaborative effort?

#j2 #Jared Padalecki #Jensen Ackles #director jensen #walker bts #entertainment weekly #kansas

377 notes · View notes

cadencejames87 · 3 years ago

Text

They Can Wait

quick note: I’ve shared thots, head canons, and sneak peeks of scenes from scripts I’ve written... This will be a first for me, venturing into the fanfic medium of writing and I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to interact, like, comment, reblog (Please do not copy or repost anywhere else.) And thank you to the beta readers @imaginedreamwrite & @sableseb and calming my nerves over sharing this piece.

WordCount: 1.2k

PAIRING: Bucky Barnes x Pregnant Reader

Warnings: *SMUT/FLUFF* If you’re not 18+ DNI! unprotected sex between husband & wife, choking, flirtatious teasing, slight oral (fem receiving), reader experiences contractions ...Anything else let me know.

We jump right into it so continue below the cut...

INT. NEW YORK LOFT - NIGHT

SOFT BREATHY MOANS fill the dark room.

You are currently laying on your side as Bucky pumps into you from behind, his vibranium fingers dancing over your clit as his right hand messages your breasts and his mouth explores your neck. Your own fingers comb and grasp at his hair over your shoulder while your other hand interlaces with his flesh fingers, pulling his hand up to your throat.

Bucky nips at your shoulder as his grip tightens, softly around your neck.

You are two weeks past your due date and working your way down a lengthy list of at home methods to induce labour.

Bucky, being the insatiable man that he is, keeps bringing you both back to this specific method. Never once does he think of crossing it off the list and you can't complain.

Not only is your husband gorgeously thick with piercing blue eyes and an intimidating rbf that leaves you weak in the knees and others avoiding his gaze. But lately just about everything he's been doing has your body aching for him. All you want are his hands, that mouth, his tongue, every part of him to be all over you. And really all he's doing is helping prep for the arrival of your first born. Giving you foot and back messages, running out for those midnight cravings, setting up the nursery, baby proofing waaaaay too soon. But man oh man does dad mode look great on him.

Just as you feel your orgasm building and you're ready to explode, Bucky slowly pulls away, "No, please. Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop. Jaaaaaames." He ignores your pleas and the whiney way you say his name as he turns on the bedside light and tosses the covers back. His eyes falling to the wet mattress between the two of you.

His eyes widen slightly with realization as he looks up at you. "Baby Doll, I think your water broke."

You continue to reach for him. "No, not yet. Come on, please. I was so close. They made us wait. What's a better time than now to learn patience?"

He tilts his head to the side as he sits back on his knees. "No, I’m not... No! We have to get you to the hospital."

"I’m fine, I don’t feel anything. We have everything ready and the hospital is like two blocks away. Please, baby." Again with the grabby hands. "Please, I want you." Bucky seems to be thinking it over, battling his inner need to devour you as you beg for him. You roll your eyes, unable to wait for him to figure out his next move as you grow impatient, "If you’re not gonna help then get dressed and start the car. But hand me the toy."

He knows exactly which toy you're referring to, your favourite ever since he made it for you after one too many missions away from home. The exact replica of his own erect member. "Look, I'll help. But I'm not sticking my dick inside you and risk stabbing our infant child or blinding them with my cum."

"Just, please, anyth--" A contraction rips through you.

Bucky is by your side immediately, wrapping his arm around you as he pulls you closer and allows you to squeeze his flesh hand. He kisses your head. "You're okay. You got this, Doll." He kisses your temple. "You're so strong."

The pain subsides and you turn to give Bucky a kiss. "Thank you." He sits with you for a moment as your breathing returns to normal. "You think we still have time?" He purses his lips and gives you that glare that has you rolling your eyes with a sigh. "Fine, help me up."

Bucky helps you sit up and kneels in front of you as he wheels over a small black suitcase. The one you've taken to adding a marking to with a gold sharpie every time Bucky went away on a mission. The markings mirroring his arm and only adding to Sam's pure enjoyment as Bucky walks in carrying the bag. Proudly, because it reminds him of you. He can't take any real personal items without the fear of losing it or having someone find something that leads them back to you. He even has a burner phone for missions and always leaves a new one for you with instructions to dispose of it properly if he doesn't respond at the designated times...

Bucky takes the warm pj's you set on top of the bag and helps slip the shirt over your head. You bite your lip and raise one leg, resting your foot on his shoulder as he reaches for the bottoms.

He knows what you’re doing, with your beautiful, glistening pussy on perfect display. You can see him struggling to restrain himself, following his Adams apple as he swallows hard. "Stop teasing." He slips your foot off his shoulder and into the pant leg, leaning forward to lick a stripe from your clenching core to your clit and kisses the bundle of nerves with suction before leaning back with a smirk as he finishes getting you dressed.

"Tease!" You pout.

He chuckles, helps you to your feet and grabs a duffle bag with his own hospital clothes; sweat pants, his blue henley, and a hoodie. He dresses fast, scoops up the two bags, and takes your hand in his as he leads the way through your loft style apartment.

Before you even make it out the door you are nearly doubling over with another painful contraction.

Bucky drops the bags to hold you up. He's so comforting and sweet, peppering you with kisses, rubbing your back and showering you with wonderful praises all the way through.

"I'm scared, Buck." He can see the tears well up in your eyes. "It already hurts so much. And what if I'm not ready? What if I--"

"Shh, Y/N, you are the bravest woman I know. I can't promise it won't hurt, but you're strong. Your body knows what it's doing and I'll be there with you. Squeeze my hand as hard as you need to, hell, bite me if you need it. You are going to be the best mom this kid could ever hope for and I know that for a fact because I am the luckiest man to have such a caring, supportive, patient, loving and beautiful wife who puts up with me. Forget about the what if's, you've got this!" He pulls you into a warm hug that you never want to leave, unfortunately there's a baby that needs to be birthed, otherwise you don't know how long the two of you would have been standing there in each other's arms.

"Hey," you sniffle. "The contraction passed, maybe now we can--"

"Y/N!"

You raise your hands in mock surrender. "Kidding. Let's go have this baby."

Bucky collects the bags from the floor after helping you slip into a pair of comfy boots and your warmest jacket.

“But don’t look at me when we walk into the emergency room and the nurses eyes stray to that captivating outline in your sweats.”

#sebastian stan smut #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes smut #bucky barnes x y/n #Bucky Barnes #Bucky Barnes x female reader #sebastian stan x reader #Sebastian Stan

699 notes · View notes

illusion-reality-steve · 3 years ago

Text

Updates on my Steve-related fan content and Blue Straggler

I’ve made changes and progress on my fan projects during the blog’s hiatus, and it’s time for me to give an update on them! I’m going to start with good news, then bad news, and end it with my favorite piece of good news.

Good updates:

RRFF: RRFF will return next month on September 23!!! I have 7 chapters ready to go. Though once I post all those chapters, RRFF will go back to hiatus while I work on writing and editing the next 17 chapters. This is because I’ve decided to scrap Act 3 in favor of rewriting it with better subplots and moments. Fingers crossed that I’ll be able to work on the project regularly even after summer break, so that the next hiatus won’t be super long.

Reverse Rewrite AU: I got most of the prep work done now, and I should be posting content about this story soon! I’m currently working on concept art and visuals for the AU. My goal is to tell the AU’s story through episode synopsis, art, and some written script, so the writing won’t be as detailed or as long as RRFF. I’ve had a lot of fun working on this AU, and I can’t wait to show it! I think I’ll start posting content of this AU after RRFF goes on hiatus again.

Bad updates:

Mite Steve AU: If the lack of Miteposts hadn’t made it clear, the AU is on hiatus. I’d love to get back to it soon, but currently, I’m not enjoying working on it, and I have no clear idea of when I’ll get back to it. This also applies to the Rainbow Quest version of the Mite Steve AU.

RRFF Extended AU/spinoff sequel: I’ve hinted or stated a few times that I wanted to write a spinoff sequel for RRFF that dives deeper into the lore of the Colors/Six Bright Eyes and my fan OCs. But recently, I’ve been working on new creative projects, and the RRFF extended AU is now a low priority for me, and likely will stay that way. So I decided I will not write RRFF’s spinoff sequel. I might make smaller content (like skits) to show the story I was planning to tell in the spinoff sequel, but that is not a guarantee. I hope you guys understand that! For now, I’m just enjoying my time working on the main story of RRFF, and still being just as excited to share more chapters when they’re ready!

And to end this update, my favorite good update:

The Blue Straggler story: For context, I have discontinued the Blue Straggler AU and started on a new story for Blue Straggler for reasons mentioned in this post. I have been brainstorming new ideas for backstories and character arcs for Blue Straggler. I’ve narrowed my ideas down to two possible directions to take his new story. Now I gotta make a decision on which direction to take. To help me figure out the best direction to take, I’m gonna do some more research. I’m going to research more about storytelling, plotting, chronic conditions, and worldbuilding.

Yes, you heard me right. I’ve been learning how to world-build because of a huge change I made for this project. Hear about it under the cut:

I’ve decided to take Blue Straggler out of the Steve/Space Saga universe!

I am going to remove all references to the Space Saga, Steve Saga, and other Steve-related series in the revamp. I’m going to give Blue Straggler an original setting for his story to take place in.

The setting, story, and lore will have absolutely no connection to the Steve Saga. No Steves (Blue Straggler’s species has been changed to a different fantasy creature), no Sabre, no Lucas, no Galaxy family. Different lore, power system, characters, and genre. The only thing I’m salvaging from the Blue Straggler AU is Blue Straggler himself.

I got a vague idea for the new setting of the story, but I need to do research to make it more concrete. Because of my decision to take the story out of the Steve Saga universe, it’s going to take a long time until I’m finally ready to reveal the story. Given this is going to be my first attempt at creating an original world as a serious, committed artist, I want to take the time to learn the ropes of original fiction and thoroughly plan out Blue Straggler’s story, characterization, and lore. Right now, I’m not ready to start giving teasers.

If you are curious about the revamped story, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being interested in and patient with the project!

Thank you for listening to my updates!

#update #rrff #rrff steve saga #reverse rewrite au #mite steve au #mite steve #blue straggler steve #blue straggler au #steve saga au #rrff six bright eyes #six bright eyes family

2 notes · View notes

azroazizah · 5 years ago

Note

yo, Okey so I wanna make a comic.... but I have never ever made a comic before. I mostly want to make a comic because it looks fun to have longer art projects to work on over time. Anyway I have no idea how to write a story( and I’m also scared that making a comic will be too hard). What should I do :0 how do I start, how much prep on the story should I have before starting drawing?? Thanks!!( and btw I always love it when you do small comics!! Your art is really an inspiration to me OwO)

okay, first, omg thank you very much you have succeeded on melting my heart into a mush 😭

and second, I’m hardly someone who should give others advice since I’m not a professional yet wwwwww but anyway I’ll try my best

1. Plan you ending

yes, do plan your ending first before you start to write anything complex. it gives you an anchor and sense of direction when writing the plot and problems. it doesn’t have to be overly detailed

2. Do write the script form start to finish, plan the arcs

this is important in doing a long story. write out your general plot first. write your main conflict and problems.

then you can start to divide it into tinier plots if you wish to by planning little arcs and bridge them nicely. it would prevent you to stray from your original plot.

to start a serious comic, you must have at least planned all the major plots and the ending, and also already have a structured outline on how much arcs and sub-plot it would have. if not, you’re most likely going to stray and would find trouble with the pacing. Give an arc a hint or a revelation on the main plot and keep them relevant. unless you wanna make a small detour to let you characters breathe from the conflict

you don’t have to plan an over-complicated plot, just the simple introduction, mystery, action, conflict, and conclusion will do. The main point is that you know where your story is going to, and you know how it would reach the finish line

those two are what you should prepare before drawing. now, to the extra advice:

3. Because it’s a comic, make your characters distinguishable

not just for their hair and eye color, but also eye shape, facial features, body shape, etc. Make their expression unique for each of them. Know your character and translate their traits into body language. I usually do this by drawing those facial expressions meme with the same character over and over again.

for example, Soul’s contented smile would differ from Black Star’s contented smile. Bakugo’s surprised face is different from Deku’s surprised face, and of course, even if you switch their hairstyle and eye colors, they’re still distinguishable because they have different facial features

4. Make your characters human, including the antagonists

don’t make them two-dimensional. give them flaw, make them relatable. make us understand why they do what they’re doing even though we don’t agree with their decision and behavior.

You don’t have to like your character as a human, but do give them both good and bad points. there are no real villains and heroes in a good story, just deeply flawed human beings.

5. Growth

this is also important. identify the main issues of your character, and make sure they have changed at the end of your story. it doesn’t have to be a positive growth, but make them change, especially emotionally

write how your characters are at the start of the series, and compare to how they would be at the end

this also applies to character interactions. friendships and familial bonds grow over time, you have to remember that it’s not only romantic and antagonistic relationships that are changing

6. World building

if your story would be set in an epic fantasy or otherworldly concept, then don’t give your readers info dump

introduce your setting slowly, only tell what’s important. and bc it’s a comic, use the background, use the people, use your art style to introduce your world.

we can take A:TLA for example, we don’t see them dumping worldbuilding things and history shit on the first episode. we just see there’s bendings, there’s the avatar, and it is set in a medievalish age. We would naturally see further into the world concept as the character travels around

7. REFERENCES AND BETA READERS

this is pivotal. watch and read many comic/webcomic and focus on their storytelling and art.

also give your first draft to a beta. ask them how your pacing is, how your story is, is there a plot hole, etc. and don’t be afraid, first drafts are bound to change and evolve! don’t be too harsh on yourself if your first attempt is not to your standard!

that’s it I guess?

anyway I’m just writing what I’ve been doing I’m sorry if my advice just over-complicates things wwww I hope it could help you a bit ><

thank you for asking and I wish you good luck on your comic!!

#zi blabs #snakepelt #zi answers

121 notes · View notes

lizacstuff · 4 years ago

Text

Merhaba friends - SCK episode 35 asks

(Fragman 36 ask at the end)

Apologies to those of you who sent asks for last week’s episode and I didn’t answer them. The week got away from me and then suddenly it was show day, the episode aired, and the asks were no longer relevant. Even if I didn’t answer I appreciate you reaching out!

Anonymous said: I’m dying to know what you thought.

While my ego would like to think that there are a variety of subjects that people might seek out my thoughts on, I’m going to guess you want to know what I thought of episode 35.

I had a mixed reaction. I liked a lot of things, loved a lot of things, there were some things I found disappointing, and a few characters I wanted to strangle. So let’s explore from that perspective.

Liked:

Romcom feel was back. It felt lighter and was easier to watch than a lot of eps in this arc.

Aydan, Ayfer and Seyfi working together to unite the kids. They were actually funny and trying to do the right thing, even if their methods were a bit morally gray.

Serkan and Eda’s photo on outdoor advertising and on the cover of magazines. We’ll ignore how quick the turnaround was to get those photos up, it was just plain fun to watch Serkan see himself on his drive into work and be embarrassed and aggravated by the whole thing, while there was also a little spark of excitement from him in being linked to Eda like that. That was enjoyable.

Melo is always the best bestie and Ayfer didn’t suck as an aunt!

LOVED:

Most every individual Edser scene.

Serkan out-of-his head with worry, planning to jump into the frigid sea, even though he wouldn’t have any shot of saving her that way. That’s my ride-or-die, protective romantic robot!

Serkan making faces as Eda plans her wedding. Excellent work from Kerem here.

Eda buttoning up Serkan’s shirt. That was hot. It was also hot that he just let her.

Sekan buttoning up Eda’s dress (get a room kids and start going the other way... unbuttoning, UNBUTTON) This scene was emotional and the sexual tension!

Serkan clutching his chest. The poor boy was about to have a panic attack right there. Follow through, writers, give him the full fledged panic attack!

The hair caught in the button (There’s that button again!) sequence. it was funny and sexy and made Selin into a foolish, immature third wheel. I’m all for it.

Serkan apologizing to Eda for Selin, that was big because up til now he hasn’t really recognized how awful Selin is in most situations. He has blinders when it comes to her, mostly because he doesn’t pay attention, so it was satisfying to see him acknowledge her bad behavior.

EVERY MOMENT AT THE BOLAT HOUSE. That was a great sequence, and IMO we mostly have Hande and Kerem to thank for it and not the writers. They brought it to life and obviously a lot of it was on them to just figure out what to do in the scene. I loved that Serkan saw Eda amongst the flowers in that painting. Swoon! their conversation about how they were both hungry was hilarious. Every moment with them fixing the sandwiches was gold and then it just got better from there. With him being willing to share food, to the throwback “mesala” conversation to her listening to his heart. All so... so... good.

However, while we definitely deserved those nice, long, funny, heartwarming scenes, I must say the writers didn’t use them to their fullest potential. How did the night end? How did they part? Why was no progress made after spending the night that way? If the writers were even half decent at their job they would have had Serkan confess some feelings while high, but not remember in the morning thus giving us the parallel with episode 11 when he was sick. Eda would have felt defeated when he didn’t remember, again, and it would have made more sense why she thought the fake wedding was her last shot at getting through to him.

Characters I’m mad at:

Ceren knows the whole episode that Deniz loves Eda, she knows he’s being weird about it, she makes up with Eda, and stills says nothing? WTF?

Engin makes it to the wedding, he knows Serkan has his memories back and he doesn’t stop the wedding to let Eda know before she says yes? WTF?

Ferit allegedly has the photos and he thinks the wedding is real, but he doesn’t show Eda the photos so she has a better idea of what she’s getting into? WTF? (though through that whole Ferit/Selin scene I wondered if Ferit was just playing along with Selin, trying to get info out of her and he’s not really the one who has the photos. Time will tell. )

Selin/Deniz- Obvious, psychos, I need them freaking gone. How Deniz can claim to love Eda, but sit there and watch her look devastated and cry her eyes out at the thought of fake marrying him, while knowing he’s about to pull a disgusting trick is unfathomable. He needs to be committed.

Disappointing:

To be clear, I no longer care, but I can’t believe how badly they flubbed this storyline. That? That was the payoff for the hell we’ve been put through for 7 weeks? Wow talk about not worth it and anti-climactic. I’m not going to go on about all the ways they failed, but I could.

While I fully believe that Serkan fell back in love with Eda before he got his memories back (see this post) he should have confessed to Eda before he got them back. That was the whole point of this entire storyline and they carried that the entire time, but then fumbled the ball at the 1 yard line. Good grief, these writers are bad.

Serkan gets his memories back, he knows time is of the essence, and he still is torn and has to think about it? WHAT? Just no. Ridiculous. I realize they did it for maximum suspense, but they shouldn’t have. They really shouldn’t have.

That was their reunion after all we’ve been through? Come on, writers, step it up. I realize we no longer have the writers that gave us his love declaration in 11 or Eda’s and Serkan’s proposals, or their make up scene in 28 or their goodbye scene in 28, but this was lackluster.

So, in summation, there was a lot that I really enjoyed, I thought the episode flowed better than some of the others in this arc, and lots of great individual Edser moments, it’s just the way they flubbed the whole storyline. I’m just so glad the amnesia is over, that thankfully I don't really care.

Anonymous said: when pushed by engin and aydan multiple times in the episode he never denies he ISN'T in love with her and rather skirts around the issue and deflects with "she's marrying deniz!" which should be proof enough he fell in love with her especially considering in 29 he was telling eda that "there was no such thing as love" between them. it was almost reminiscent of eda in 10/11 where she doesn't tell him her feelings bc she believes he wants selin, this time in reverse bc he believes she's moved on.

This came in response to this ask, and yes I agree. I should have hit that point harder, that Engin and Aydan ask him and he never denies it. When this arc started he would have denied it in a flat second.

He fell in love with her again, full stop. It’s just a shame that they didn’t make it the entire crux of his love confession, we deserved to see that. Just one of the many ways the writers dropped the ball with this storyline.

Anonymous said: The whiplash we got going from 26-28 to the drag of 29-35 though. 🤦🏼‍♀️ and you really could cut out that entire storyline and you wouldn’t be missing anything because really nothing happened. They didn’t even have Serkan stopping Eda before he got his memories back to fulfill a basic assumed foreshadowing. Like....huh?

I don’t want to be negative, but it’s crazy to me that they sped through wedding prep at a lightning pace and then went through this painful amnesia storyline at a snail’s pace. They should have had at least 5 episodes of wedding prep, doing just one pre-wedding activity per episode, but kept Babaanne around to create the drama. I wanted at least one episode of them back together, but keeping it secret so they could work against her. We were robbed of that!

Anonymous said: I know we’ve been hating a lot on the new writers but the showrunner still has to sign off on these scenes right? And it’s been the same one this whole time. What has she been thinking? Maybe the writers didn’t do their homework but surely she can tell that scenes being very out of character wouldn’t make sense?

Bold of you to assume there’s a showrunner as we know them on a Hollywood show. I assume you’re talking about Asena, but I always think of her more of a cross between an EP and a network exec. A bit more removed than a showrunner. I have no idea who the guiding light of this show is since Ayse left. The production timelines are so tight, I don’t think there’s time to review scripts and reject them. Sometime I think it’s a wonder anything makes sense at all.

Anonymous said: I see you've giffed some of the edser "questionable positions" bookshelf scene. (Awesome gifs btw). Honestly, that entire scene was really funny, with the rest of the art life crew jumping in. Even Selin made me laugh when she came in there and said "how did her hair get stuck?!" and Serkan very sarcastically replied with something like "I wound it up in there, what do you think??" Not to mention all the very close face talking that was going on!

Great scene! Here’s the gif set you’re referring to. I suppose the writers proved they could do fun, and romantically comedic scenes if they want to. More like this, please.

Anonymous said:

With these past 5 (?) episodes with these last set of writers, I truly believe that they did not go back to watch SCK at all before writing. Any past references were probably given to them on a checklist or something. Like I don't know if they even watched episode 28 with how they ended up doing away with the memory loss. Its kind of astounding how much they dropped the ball. Hopefully the rumors of new writers are true and they get enough episodes to give us a good ending to this story!

This came in right after the episode, but unfortunately, we learned today that we are apparently not getting new writers, at least not for episode 36.I was fully convinced we were since Sefkat (the production company twitter admin) liked Yasin’s post when he said we’d be getting all new writers for 36. Normally I don’t believe anything Yasin says because he has lied so many times that any info he actually has just comes across as a clock being right twice a day. However, when she liked it, I found that convincing. Also the way they cancelled shooting on Saturday and H/K were in for a meeting on Friday. Seemed like it was all adding up. We’ll see, maybe there will be new ones for 37??

As for not watching what came before, it certainly feels like they only skimmed and watched certain scenes and didn’t do a deep dive on the series. Watching all the eps in full should be a requirement before they start the job. I always feel they are just off with Serkan’s characterization, they don’t quite get him and they turn him a bit into a cardboard cutout of early Serkan. It’s like the character sketch outline of Serkan, but with no depth.

Anonymous said: When I saw the character description of the new cast member added to the show I was like "great, another possible screen space filler in regards to Aydan" but after watching the episode, I was actually really intrigued by his character. I know there's a bunch of theories out there that Serkan is actually his son, which I don't really buy into right now, but nevertheless he was a real potential to be a father figure in Serkan's life... and maybe the only guest character to not be a villain lol.

I’ll tell you this, that casting makes it seem like they at least want us to think he’s Serkan’s father. He’s way better looking that Alptekin and he just looks like he could genetically be responsible for the magnificence that is Serkan.

We’ll see what they do. I think it could be interesting, just because until Serkan met Eda he was so invested in being “Serkan Bolat” that having his identity shaken like this would be seismic for him. It could create some really good drama for him in all his relationships without tearing apart Edser. Also, if Alptekin knew it would go along way in explaining that relationship. Alptekin always demanding perfection and the cold way he sent him away to boarding school. It would explain why he could never earn his father’s love or approval, and that knowledge might give him some peace.

In addition, and a big plus, it would mean that his biological father was NOT responsible for the deaths of Eda’s parents.

Anonymous said: 1/ everyone for weeks was waxing poetic and had super detailed headcannons of how serkan would remember in really specific ways when he realized he was in love, something that ayfer kinda poked fun of at the beginning of the ep talking about the fake wedding, but i was genuinely laughing out loud at serkan and engin accidently getting into a fight and him yelling throughout it that he remembers and engin pushing him in front going "can you give him one good hit?!" lmaoo

2/ getting a good hit to the end to unscramble your brain that is already giving you flashbacks is more actually more realistic than the usual fairytale way.. sure, less romantic, but definitely more realistic. the man was already in love with her, super confused on what to do since he genuinely thought she was marrying deniz, and was already having flashes, all he really needed was good hit in the head lol. maybe eda should've kept going when they were boxing 😂

I like your take on it.

Anonymous said: i think they saw the fandom complaining week after week that there was too much heaviness/drama in their romcom and said "so you guys want romcom? here i'll give you full on romcom" which is what i thought this episode was! and i really appreciated such a fun ep overall to watch to bring this otherwise really sad and emotion heavy memory loss plot to an end.

Yes, the episode was a lot more fun than most that had come before it. If only they could have tied it all together.

Anonymous said: Something that just occurred to me that's so crazy in addition to wrapping an episode days before it airs, is that in Turkish television, a series has like 1 permanent director and a small writing team that writes ALL of the episodes. In US TV, that's pretty much unheard of - different writers rotate owning each episode and the same director will shoot maybe 2-3 episodes at most a season. The production turnaround time is so short that it's insane that we don't hear of more last-minute delays

I know, I think about this all the time. It’s crazy to me that there’s only one director. Which is why there’s not a lot of added layers to this show. When a director just has one episode on their plate and they spend a couple of weeks prepping to direct, every shot, every angle, every bit of set dressing can be meaningful. This show doesn’t have that kind of visual depth. On the other hand you do get a director that knows the actors and crew inside and out and they all have a short hand which allows them to get to what they want faster and easier. That can’t be replicated with directors who come in for one episode.

Anonymous said: Over the past month or so, I’ve been seeing so many people cancel Serkan and wanting Eda to leave him forever and move away, but she really never gave up on him and she might finally get him back this week 😭 in fact, Eda and Melo are the only people we’ve seen who have tried to help get his memories back! Everyone who has been friendly to Selin can disinvite themselves to the Edser wedding

I’m glad I didn’t see a bunch of this nonsense myself. But, honestly, anyone who wants Eda to leave and not end up with Serkan... why are they watching this show to begin with? Did they take a wrong turn somewhere? How did they last this long watching it? We’re 35 episode in and this entire show is their love story, beyond that story and it being a vehicle to showcase Hande and Kerem’s awesome chemistry, it really doesn’t offer many other reasons to watch.

And yes to jettisoning anyone who was friendly with Selin. PIRIL I’M LOOKING AT YOU. I sure hope Piril finds out exactly how low Selin will sink. She needs to feel ashamed for welcoming her back without question.

Anonymous said: That fragman for ep 36...part of me wants to hope that it will all be solved pretty soon, since we got edser separated for so long we deserved them together now. But part of me also knows these writers suck so I’m expecting the worst. I just wanted edser together again 😭

I know. When I saw the full fragman my initial reaction was to yell “WHY CAN’T WE HAVE NICE THINGS!!!!!!!” But I’ve calmed down now.

It seems to me that we have Serkan and Eda together and working together to figure this mess out, which is good. we have romantic walks on the pier, and Eda spending the night at his place and a sweet breakfast setting with Eda in jammies. All good.

But then we also have Selin and Deniz refusing to quit. Selin comes up with the plan that if Deniz doesn’t sign the papers in time, then they will have to get a divorce which means Eda can’t marry for 300 days. So then, what? Deniz steals Serkan’s car and goes on the run?

What they hope to accomplish with this, I don’t know. Because even if they succeed and Serkan and Eda can’t get married right away, it’s not like they’ll just magically decide that they want to be with those two psychos instead. I can see Selin doing it just for revenge so she can make them miserable, but what’s Deniz’ motivation? The further psycho he goes, the worse Eda will think of him. Bizarre.

As for the pregnancy thing. It sounds like Eda must hear that from someone. My money is on Deniz. That’s his Hail Mary to try and drive a wedge between Serkan and Eda. Because seemingly when Eda brings it up, Selin asks where did you hear that. Also, phew, Eda says right away that if its true that Sekan deserves to know, which hopefully will clear things up (because the writers showed us over and over and over again that they weren’t sleeping in the same bed) and it will show Serkan just what kind of crazy he’s dealing with.

Anonymous said: I was pretty excited after watching the fragman, but surprised when I went on twitter and saw that almost everyone was really upset by it. I’m sure most people know Selin isn’t actually pregnant, but they all still somehow hate the storyline (possibly bc they think it’ll drive edser apart?) idk am I crazy for thinking that we’ll still get good edser moments and them staying together and fighting together? I guess the show needs drama to continue but I’m not mad because I think good edser will outweigh bad/miscommunication edser.

I’m sure we’ll get good Edser moments, but I can’t really fault anyone for being extremely annoyed by this fragman. I think this little plot point will end up not being a big deal at all, however, I can see how it feels like a kick in the face after what we’ve been through the last 7 episodes. It’s like can we get one happy episode? Just one?

Also it’s just very uncomfortable. I’m in the camp that currently thinks it’s impossible for her to be pregnant because they haven’t slept together. He was too fragile and injured before they came back to Istanbul (sleeping on the couch with his PTSD) and after he was too confused and consumed by Eda and just uninterested in Selin. I have to believe they kept showing us them not spending the night in the same place for a reason.

However, if they were to have had sex, it’s very unsettling because it’s a little too close to him not being able to give consent. It’s Rape by Deception. He had a brain injury, amnesia, was suffering a myriad of traumas and was not in his right mind. He did not have the full set of facts on where their relationship stood, but she did (she knew he wanted nothing to do with her and told her he never loved her and didn’t even want to be friends) and instead of being honest she abused him. She lied to him. She didn’t tell him the truth about what had happened. She isolated him from anyone who could tell him the truth and manipulated him into thinking that she was the only person in the world he could trust and the person he loved and trusted most was untrustworthy and an enemy.

However, as the audience we know the things she’d done in the past to abuse his trust, and we know for certain if he remembered, he would never consent to sleep with her. Never. So even beyond the cheating and the romance it would rob us of if they did have sex, it’s ICKY and GROSS and none of us want to even think of it. I don’t expect TV writers in Turkey to be on the forefront of thought when it comes to issues of consent, so I’d rather this door just not be opened at all.

But here we are, they opened it. Now all we can do it hope that it is a device to hear Serkan say that it isn’t impossible and for Selin to be fully exposed as completely unbalanced and a lying, manipulator.

Anonymous said: the fandom by use of sheer will forced this selin plot line into existence LOL. i swear since the beginning of the memory plot in 29, the "selin will lie to eda she's pregnant" rumor has been constantly making rounds, and i guess it's time to cash in. i will say that i've seen ppl thinking know that somehow serkan and her were intimate even though she's clearly lying.. guys, if there was even a POSSIBILITY she would've used this way back before now and would have told everyone, including serkan.

I agree with this. If this was a card she could play with Serkan, she’d play it. She’s been getting more and more desperate. And in the fragman there she is coming up with ways for Deniz to run away so he can’t sign the papers. If there was something she could hold over Serkan, she would, She’s not because then the con would be up, we’ll just have to wait and see how big of a lie she’s willing to tell.

Anonymous said: I wonder if Selin was a spy when she was younger! That woman is always watching everything from her car! Even in the new trailer.

Ha! Let’s hope that in the end she’s not a very good spy and they finally get one over on her. Oh please oh please oh please let the stable boy be the one who has the photos and let him have more on her. I want there to be tons of photos of her in her car spying on them. That would be so humiliating for her.

Seriously, though, who knows what happened to Selin to make her the way she is. Frankly, I don’t think my assessment of her has really changed (most of my old posts on her are tagged with “anti Selin”) She’s just a spoiled, selfish, entitled brat who thinks she should get anything and everything she wants. If she wants Serkan, she should have him, doesn’t matter what he wants or who she hurts, she’ll do whatever she has to do to make that happen. She was probably never told no as a child. So when she’s thwarted she thinks she’s entitled to whatever reaction she wants to have, if that’s ruining other people’s lives, so be it. No one can be happy if she’s not.

#Sen Çal Kapımı #Sen Cal Kapimi #Edser #sck episode discussion #sck speculation #sckask #asklizac #sck 1x35 #sck 1x36 #anonymous

16 notes · View notes

girlsgonemildblog · 4 years ago

Text

There Was So Much Crying - The Bachelor, Season 25, Week 11 & After The Final Rose Recap

Image from abc.com

We made it. We finally arrived at the finale of what may have been the longest season of The Bachelor ever. Perhaps not in weeks and episodes, but definitely in years it took off my life. The episode opens with shots of Matt and the two remaining ladies, Michelle and Rachael, all looking very serious. Rachael was even staring pensively off in the distance while writing in her journal. Every season there’s a shot of one of the final girls journaling, and I refuse to believe that that many people keep a journal. I try to journal, and I am good for like two entries a month, and that’s only until I completely forget about journaling for half a year until I find the notebook in a drawer I never open.

Matt then goes and sees his mom, Patty, and older brother, John, who looked so much like him it was actually distracting.

Matt’s family first meets Michelle, and Patty starts crying almost immediately. Michelle and John then go off to speak privately, and it was clear that John prepped for this conversation. He had a line of questioning memorized, and they were personal, such as “When was your last relationship?” and “Why did it end?” I think John would get along well with Michelle’s kindergarteners.

Patty then gets a chance to talk with Michelle, and the two of them had an instant connection. Serious bonding happened. Patty starts crying (again) because she is so happy that Matt has found love. I would be remiss if I did not say that if my boyfriend’s mom were crying like this, it would be a red flag for me. Like, why are you this grateful that someone is willing to be with your son? What is wrong with him that you’re not telling me?

The next day it is Rachael’s turn with the Jameses, and John lays into her just as much as he did Michelle. He hits her with questions like “How many relationships have you been in?” and “Have you ever been in love?” It did not seem like he was as satisfied with her answers as he was with Michelle’s. When Rachael talks to Matt’s mom, they discuss the importance of religion in both of theirs, and Matt’s, lives. Patty cries, and Rachael says that the show is “God’s way of bringing her and Matt together.” God, Chris Harrison, same difference.

After Rachael leaves, Matt gets a chance to debrief with his mom and brother. His mother seems to like both girls, which was probably quite unhelpful for Matt, who needed to decide between the two. She also says that she does not think Matt is ready to get engaged, which was pretty evident at this point. She then goes into quite a speech about how “love ends,” and it’s “not the end all be all.” Patty’s clearly been through a lot, and desperately needs to go to therapy. John counters by telling his brother that he supports him no matter what, but he also shouldn’t jump into a decision if he is not ready.

This whole conversation (understandably) confuses Matt, and he asks to speak with Chris Harrison. He tells Chris that he’s unsure if he’s ready to get married and fills him in on the conversation with his mom. Chris simply replies, “that’s a lot to unpack,” which is a very fitting response. He then tries to talk Matt into it in an attempt to salvage what has ultimately been a complete shit-show of a season. My personal opinion is that if you’re not sure if you’re ready to get engaged, you’re not ready to get engaged. You need to be 100% confident before you get down on one knee. (I also think you need to be 100% confident the other person will say yes, but I won’t get into that right now.)

The next day, Matt takes Michelle to the top of a building and brings her dangerously close to the edge with her eyes closed. When she does open her eyes, he announces that they will be repelling down the side, and that would be the point where I would break up with him. If he really loved her, he wouldn’t ask her to risk her life. Matt was really bad at the repelling but still took it upon himself to explain how to do it to Michelle, who was having no issues. That night, Matt goes over to Michelle’s hotel room. She gives him a gift; matching “World Changing Warriors” basketball jerseys with “Mr. James” and “Mrs. James” on the backs and he then breaks up with her. She says to him, “just tell me where you’re at,” and he responds, “I don’t think I can get there with you.” Harsh, to say the least.

The following day, we see Rachael getting ready for her own date with Matt. Chris Harrison then knocks on her door, and she is delighted to see him, unfortunately not realizing what is happening. Chris Harrison does not show up with good news. Chris tells Rachael that Matt’s going through some things and doesn’t want to see her today (imagine getting stood up on The Bachelor), but conveniently omits that Michelle was sent home the previous night.

Matt meets with Neil Lane, the official diamond provider of Bachelor Nation. Neil asks Matt if Rachael is expecting a proposal, and he says, “she’s expecting honesty.” Uh, no, Matt. She is definitely expecting a proposal.

Rachael gets a date card asking her to “meet me by the lake,” which is extremely ominous. Rachael does meet him and gives her pre-proposal speech, which is filled with clichés like, “I’m not gonna run when it gets tough,” and “when you’re hurting, I’m hurting.” Matt then tells her that he can’t propose to her (then why the hell did he get that ring?), but he still wants to “commit” to her. Then they all lived happily ever after. Just kidding, she got exposed on the internet, and the whole show exploded.

Which brings me to the third hour of the finale, “After the Final Rose”. Because Chris Harrison decided celebrating slavery was defendable, he’s been put in time out, and Emmanuel Acho was asked to step in and host. For those who are not familiar, Acho is a former linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles (go birds!) and current analyst on Fox. He also wrote a book titled Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man and hosts a video series on topics involving race.

Emmanuel brings out Michelle first, who looked stunning. She tells Emmanuel that after she was sent home, she asked for two minutes with Matt, not to change his mind but just to get closure, but he refused, which is actually pretty shitty of him. Emmanuel then asks for her thoughts on Rachael’s scandal. Michelle, very tactfully, says that those photos hurt her and that she does believe Rachael has a good heart, but she was just ill-informed and inconsiderate.

Matt then comes out to speak with Michelle. She confronts him over how she was forced to walk away without closure, and he says he wishes he had pushed more for that conversation. This phrasing interested me because it implied that not speaking with her may not have been his choice alone. As Oprah would say, was he silent, or was he silenced? Emmanuel asks Michelle if she still loves him. She says that she still cares for him, and he will always hold a piece of her heart. She also roasts him by saying he needs to come up with more phrases than “thank you for sharing that with me.”

It is then Matt’s turn to speak alone, and oh boy, did he look tired. It was so painfully clear that he just wanted to be done with this whole thing. He and Emmanuel discuss how he was under extra scrutiny because he was the first Black bachelor and how he is the only representation of a Black man in some of the viewers’ homes. Matt speaks about how other leads would only be asked to find love, but he also had to represent all Black men. Emmanuel asks him how much of the pressure may have been internalized, and Matt responds that the pressure comes from the fact that Black people are conditioned to make people comfortable with their Blackness.

Their conversation then shifts to his relationship with Rachael, and Emmanuel asks what made Matt first fall for her. He says her authenticity, which is a bit ironic in hindsight. Matt then breaks down their trajectory after leaving Pennsylvania. At first, they were in a honeymoon phase. When the rumors started bubbling about Rachael’s past, Matt dismissed them as rumors and just tried to be there for her. He said that “you hear things that are heartbreaking and pray that they’re not true.” When he discovered they were true, he was taken back to growing up in the south and the people and places that made him feel unwelcome. Eventually, he broke up with her. He said it was a tough conversation, but “if you don’t understand that that’s problematic in 2018, then there’s a lot of me you won’t understand.”

Emmanuel then spoke to Rachael one-on-one. He shows her the controversial photo, and she says she sees “someone who was living in ignorance without thinking who it would be hurting.” Her use of the phrase “someone who” is important to note because she is separating herself from the actions and thus not actually taking responsibility for them. She also says that she never asked herself about where the tradition comes from because if she had, she would’ve immediately realized it was problematic. Remember she said this, it’ll come up later. Emmanuel asks her who is to blame for her ignorance, and she says there is no excuse. This is the point where it became painfully clear that everything she was saying had been scripted and rehearsed a thousand times. Acho also asked her what steps she was taking to educate herself, which she did not actually answer. She said it wasn’t about reading books and watching documentaries (you know, the tools of education) and even said, “we need to take action.” I’m not sure who the “we” she was referring to is exactly because she was the only one on that stage who was photographed playing Slave-Owner.

Matt joins Emmanuel and Rachael, and calling the situation awkward would be an understatement. Matt clearly didn’t want to have to talk to her anymore, and it was evident that a lot more went on during their break up than either of them were willing to say. Emmanuel asks Matt if there is anything else he has to say to Rachael, and he was silent for a long time. They went to a commercial break, and when they came back, he was still silent for a good 10 seconds. I would’ve taken that as a no, but they just kept on waiting. Eventually, Matt says that the most disappointing thing was having to explain to Rachael why the party was problematic. Remember back when Rachael said, “if I had just asked myself where the tradition came from, I would’ve immediately understood it was problematic”? Well, apparently, that was bullshit because in the year 2021, she didn’t, and she clearly fought with Matt about it and defended herself. In addition, Matt tells her that she doesn’t fully understand his Blackness, and she wouldn’t understand that for their kids. He also points out to Emmanuel that he didn’t sign up for this conversation, which I found such a perfect encapsulation of why this entire situation has been so unfair to Matt. Emmanuel asks Matt if the door is still open for a relationship with Rachael, and Matt says that feelings don’t just go away, but she needs to do the work on her own. I.e., Matt doesn’t want to be her babysitter and shouldn’t have to be held responsible for her actions or inactions.

After a palette cleansing commercial break, we return to a different graphic on the screen, that of The Bachelorette. Michelle and Katie then come out and announce that they will both be the Bachelorette, each with their own season, and Katie going first. Katie’s season will premiere in May, giving us just enough time to recover from this shit show before diving headfirst into the next one.

14 notes · View notes

leverage-commentary · 5 years ago

Text

Leverage Season 2, Episode 5, The Three Days of the Hunter Job, Audio Commentary Transcript

Mark: Hello, I’m Mark Roskin, Director of this episode.

Melissa: Melissa Glenn, one of the writers of the episode.

Jessica: Jessica Rieder, the other one of the writers of this episode.

John: [Laughs] John Rogers, Executive Producer.

Chris: Chris Downey, Executive Producer, and this is The Three Days of the Hunter Job.

John: Uh, Glenn and Rieder, why don’t you tell us a little bit about this episode - how, uh, how we came up with this? I’m opening my beer, you guys talk.

[Beer Can Opening]

Melissa: [Laughs] Okay, enjoy. Um, I think the episode actually, Albert had the first idea, of doing something with a tabloid- or media-type person.

John: Right.

Melissa: -that’s Albert Kim.

John: That’s right. It started as like a Page Six person, right?

Melissa: Yeah, and then we just took it to the room and explored it, and we just thought it would be a lot of fun to go after someone in this… arena.

Jessica: Originally, I think we were thinking, yeah, more like tabloid, but then we thought that more often people who are really, like, injured today by the media, it tends to be more like, y’know, more on-screen news kinda stuff. So we took it in that direction.

John: Yeah, with- with newspaper circulation dropping by 20% every year, they’re really kinda losing their power as a threat. And, uh, you know, there have been cases of people appearing on these sort of shows that have been driven to, uh, suicide, or been wrongly accused and [unintelligble] in the press. And with the 24-hour news cycle, you know, that’s a big deal. Uh, we would like to mention that this was based on no one individual.

Chris: No, absolutely not.

John: Absolutely not.

Chris: And if we were to mention who it might be based on, we’re gonna say Wayne Gretzky.

John: That’s good, Wayne Gretzky will be the code word. Because Wayne does not do slanders.

Chris: Absolutely not, Wayne will not sue us in any way.

[Laughter]

John: Now, that’s one of the creepier and better victim intros that we’ve done, the failed suicide. We’ve had a lot of talk about like, did he die, did he not die?

Jessica: That’s true.

John: And uh, I believe it was actually a reference on The Sweet Hereafter. The bus accident.

Jessica: It was! That movie wrecked me!

[Laughter]

Jessica: Oh my gosh, I literally watched that movie on a plane and people were looking at me.

John: As you sobbed in the aisles?

Jessica: Yes, I was openly sobbing. I’d forgotten about that.

John: So we thought the most tragic thing we could would be a bus accident. And of course, y’know. And we used a technique, so slandering people.

Chris: Now, Marc, was there any movies or any things you looked at when you, uh, were prepping this? That you wanted to, uh-? How- how did you prepare for this one?

Marc: Uh, you know, I watched- I watched Network again. It was something I wanted to see, and just watching a lot of the local newscasts. And actually, watching their newscast, where we shot the show, uh, was helpful as well.

John: That’s worth mentioning, actually. We’ll get to this stuff, and we’ll point it out, but Portland, yet again, came through for us. And instead of having to build a newsroom, we got a newsroom.

Marc: Yes.

John: Which channel was it?

Marc: They’re Channel 8 News. And they gave us the room, they gave us all the technical support we needed, all the cameramen that you’ll see on the floor there are theirs. They really rolled out the red carpet to us.

Chris: And I think there’s- is there a newscaster on this, too, from there?

Marc: Yeah, yes. The guy who bookends the show, at the end, Joe. He’s one of their local, uh, local newscasters.

John: This is also where we’re advancing Sophie’s arc. And why don’t you talk about how we wound up doing this?

Jessica: Um, I think that we wanted Sophie to be getting uncomfortable. Sort of, like, wanting to spread her wings a little bit. So right before this, she had broken up with her boyfriend and was just, sort of, feeling a lack of control over her life. And so usually, she’s taking orders from Nate and he’s crafting the vision, but as sort of a struggle to find her new identity and maybe get a little bit more control over her life, we had her take over and be the one sort of calling the shots on this one. Which is really fun. I think that everybody in the cast had a little fun, like, changing the roles around.

John: Well they had a lot of fun both teasing- kind of also teasing Tim, a little. It was-

Jessica: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

John: More than teasing Nate, it was also teasing Tim on some of his acting stuff.

Chris: It was actually one of the unintended benefits of Gina’s pregnancy, which was, as we did this arc of her going to find herself, everyone had to take on different roles. And I think it was probably the first episode of the season where we got to really explore that, and we get to see all the different dynamics that it caused.

John: There’s also a callback here, is Sophie talking Parker through the con; that’s something we actually reference in the season finale. And again, that’s one of the things where we really wanted to hammer, which is, they all seem very competent, but they’re all very good at one specific thing. And we really wanted to set up for when we knew Sophie would be gone for an episode or two, the chaos that would ensue when that occurred. This is also kind of a cue to Nate’s control issues, where he can’t even let her talk. You know, it has to be done his way. Um, and Beth Broderick!

Chris: Beth Broderick. Uh, Marc, how did we- how did we end up with Beth Broderick?

Marc: Beth was a friend of Dean’s, who, they were politically active together. They campaigned for Howard Dean together-

John: They were with Bill Ayers, right? They were Weathermen?

[Laughter, Crosstalk]

John: I remember, because Beth and Dean were there when Bill Ayers wrote Obama’s book. They were there but- Wait, are we recording?

[Laughter]

Jessica: Yeah, yeah.

John: Dammit, alright.

Marc: And Dean just- Dean read the script and said, ‘This is gonna be perfect for her’. And she hit it out of the park.

Chris: Boy, did she ever. And I mean, it was just amazing vision on his part, and boy she’s great.

Marc: And also- and also, for a guest star, she’s in almost every scene of the show.

John: This is one of the biggest villains of the- of the two years.

Marc: Yeah, every scene. And the stuff that we made her do, you’ll see later on- big monologues, climbing fences, and she did everything.

John: Yeah, she’s a trooper, man. She went over that fence in shoes. Well that’s- it’s- because again, we were playing around with the format. This is an open mystery, so we know what the con is, but it’s one of the times where really, the victim’s POV is the effect that we’re creating. It’s a lot like Order 23, your hospital episode, where the intent is to see the emotional state you’re bringing up in the person. And so you just live with the villain more that way. And for those episodes, you really need a heavy hitter for an actor.

Chris: And it was also interesting, too, because, you know, we were always looking for cons that didn’t involve delivering a sack of money. We wanted a con where we wanna evoke some kind of a reaction in the bad guy that brings them down, and this one was tailor-made for that.

John: Yeah. And if, uh- this was actually based on, you know, us talking about people who sell fear, and sort of the fear industry in America. And we always say we’re bringing the villain down with their original sin. And so, she sells fear, we’ll bring her down with fear. And this was the big speech- I think I’m the one who came up with the sandworm, it was- it was originally, uh, “the creature that she once bestrode like the [mumbled] on the sandworm of doom.” And I believe you wisely cut out the sandworm of doom reference at the end of this speech.

[Laughter]

Chris: Wow, somebody- somebody mercifully did that?

Jessica: I guess we figured the four people who would understand that weren’t going to miss it that much.

[Laughter]

John: And now we’re in Washington! For the miracle of stock footage.

Marc: Yes.

Jessica: It really does add scope. Every time I watch this show, I’m like, “we like- went there!!” But we didn’t.

John: Again, that’s Portland coming through for us.

Jessica: We just went to Portland, yeah. [Laughs]

John: Well, and Portland doubles as a lot of great cities, east coast cities, and uh, we got a lot of great stuff off of Portland. And this is the newsroom we were talking about.

Marc: Yes, this is the newsroom, and we had to be out of there by four o’clock every day, because they actually had to have their news broadcast.

[Laughter]

John: I love the hair and bow choice on Beth here.

Jessica: Oh my gosh.

Marc: Oh, that’s fabulous.

John: Wardrobe and hair here, now they were kind of intentionally mirroring Beth there.

Marc: Yes, and you’ll notice that every outfit that our Beth Riesgraf is wearing, does match Monica a bit, whether it’s a little color, a little highlight.

Chris: Yeah, it’s great. It’s terrific. And she really just, she looks like a local newscaster.

Jessica: She totally does.

Chris: She just does.

Jessica: I have to say, this was one of the most fun scenes to write. Like, Beth- or Parker being so out of her comfort zone? Because she is so competent, y’know.

John: Yes.

Jessica: And so to be able to write her being a little insecure and fumbling around a little bit was just, it was really fun. And that was actually fun throughout the episode, to be able to write all these people. And just, y’know, being out of their comfort zone, and the comedy that, y’know, lies in that.

John: Yeah, and also Hardison- Hardison being effective, but going over the top as he always does, which- which, y’know, brings us down. Which we actually wound up hitting in the Ice Man later on in the season, yeah.

Jessica: Yeah. A lot of the stuff that we set up here- like, inadvertently, I think, paid off in the Ice Man.

John: Not inadvertently at all, we planned this-

[Laughter, talking over each other]

Jessica: Not inadvertently- did I say inadvertently? I meant deliberately.

Chris: No it was meticulous, we certainly didn't write these things by the seat of our pants.

Melissa: Don’t mind her.

John: We weren't banging these out in four days at a time.

Chris: This was not written in four days.

Jessica: This was certainly not written the day before it was shooting, no.

[Laughter]

Melissa: I love this scene. Her lean in here is-

Chris: Oh this is so ‘Happy Birthday, Mister President’.

[Laughter]

Chris: It is. That's what I heard when I heard that.

John: And now we go to- now we go to conspiracy land. And it was a lot of fun designing Hardison’s- Hardison’s den of crazy. Marc how did you wind up- where'd you go for that?

Marc: We- our art department just came up with a lot of concepts, and our set designer, Adam, just was- he basically put this together himself-

Chris: It's fantastic.

Marc: -with Becca, but it was just great, it really-

John: And that hair is CG, let's add that, that hair is actually a CG effect.

[Laughter]

Marc: We were wondering if we should just have Hardison just laying on the floor and, you know, revealing him, but then we thought why not- let’s give him a proper reveal.

Jessica: And those eyes, how they are slightly crossed the whole time, that's actually Hardison- that's actually Aldis doing that right? Those aren't contacts?

Marc: Yes, that's actually Aldis doing that.

Jessica: He must've had-

John: Yeah, massive headaches by the end of the-, yeah.

Jessica: That's what I was gonna say. I look at that and get a headache.

Marc: It was on a special skills on his-

John: On his actors- on his headshot.

[Laughter]

Marc: Right next to rollerblading.

Melissa: And it was actually true, right?

Jessica: Be careful what you list there, they will make you do it.

John: No the paranoid- the paranoid stuff here was an awful lot of fun to write. We had cooked up an awful lot of- we had found an awful lot of crazy crap on the web. This is- yes this is the one they're building the bunkers to put the Guantanamo people in, when they were talking about closing Guantanamo.

Jessica: Oh yeah, we went through so many possible conspiracy theories. We all tapped into our inner like freak to like, ‘what do you think the government is doing’. It was really- it was kind of an insight-

John: And then when you do the research and find out what they've done, it kind of takes the-

Jessica: Yeah, it's like oh, my stuff’s kinda boring.

John: ‘I think the government lets do one where the government's testing bio weapons in the New York subway. Oh they did that…’

Jessica: Oh shoot.

John: That's not- wow.

Jessica: Guess that can't be funny anymore.

John: No, that's not funny at all.

Marc: Oh Aldis did a great job in this role.

Chris: He just so inhabits this role, you know. I can't say enough about him.

John: I don't know what is Beth doing behind there, where she's kind of, like, scratching at the neck, like she just hates being in this outfit

Marc: Yes.

Jessica: It's true, she does.

John: No, this is- this is a great crazy. And it's interesting to see how it's really a tonal shift from like conspiracy theory to Three of the Condor like at the halfway point of the episode.

Marc: ‘What’d you find? What’d you find?’

[Laughter]

John: ‘Hey, little Timmy.’

[Laughter]

Marc: My favorite line.

Jessica: It’s true.

Marc: ‘Terrorists!’

[Laughter]

Chris: Oh, coming out of the sandbox.

John: Coming out of the sandbox, yeah.

Chris: I love that.

John: We eventually- I think we wound up in the writers room just doing long rants and then taking the best sections of them.

Melissa: Yeah it was a lot of [unintelligible].

Jessica: Our poor writer's assistant, I think, basically just had to cut and paste into the script. Like remember that section three pages ago?

John: When we were really drunk, right. And this is also- like, we have to reestablish her villainy and make sure we understand that she is deserving of the horrible fate we’re about to bestow upon her by the fact we know that we’re gonna- this is also where the nicknames for Parker came up which was a lot of fun. You guys came up with a lovely bit where she just kept giving her horrible nicknames.

Jessica: That's right.

John: This office is like- this set is like the tardis; people are always coming out of doorways.

Chris: Yeah, yeah, no.

John: There's just way too much space in here.

Marc: Keep moving.

Jessica: I just have to interject that this is my favorite Christian costume of the year. Suit. I would put Christian in a suit every episode.

Marc: I would love to as well.

Chris: The Men in Black.

John: Yeah, the sort of Men in Black.

Jessica: I like it! Hair pulled back. Yup. It's good. That’s my secret agenda; I'm just putting it out there.

Marc: He's not a big fan of suits.

Jessica: No, he doesn't like them.

Chris: I have to say, I thought the interplay between all the characters in this one was probably my favorite of the season.

John: Really?

Chris: I mean everyone really- I really did- I thought all these little scenes of them just played great.

Marc: Well I love this, because this was a note where I think I called John and said, ‘You know, with Eliot and Parker when she's asking all these questions about conspiracy theories, how is Eliot’s tone?’ And all John said was, ‘big brother effing with little sister.’

Chris: Yes, that was it.

Marc: I was like, ‘Got it.’

John: That's it.

Chris: That's the model of this episode.

John: Because Parker’s grip on reality is- anything- there's a great description of Sherlock Holmes in the- I think in A Study in Scarlet where Watson writes down everything he knows. And it’s a- he knows he has no idea of the- Sherlock Holmes has no idea the earth goes around the sun, because it's not important to solving crime. And it amuses me that Parker, outside of crime, could be talked into believing pretty much anything.

Jessica: It's true. She's so savvy in some ways, and totally clueless and childish.

John: And particularly with these guys who she trusts. This lift, did we take this lift from the tango that eventually died?

Jessica: Yes!

Chris: I think it was.

Jessica: Oh the tango.

John: Use all the parts of the buffalo.

Chris: Which may live again folks.

John: Which may live again.

Melissa: Then we won't tell you what it was.

Jessica: Right.

Melissa: It's great trick that Apollo showed us, where using just a really strong magnet and lifting somebody's IT tag off-

John: Now was it- was a lot of fun, was finding the neodymium magnets and which- you know what you can do? They can tear off the hand of a young child. When I saw that on the web, I must've- I must've said that phrase at least twice a day for the rest of the year.

Melissa: They are very strong magnets.

Jessica: I think that's true.

John: I’m delighted by the fact that you can buy something on the web that can tear off the hand of a small child. The magnet that he's using is a neodymium magnet it's a very powerful- and that's something Apollo actually showed us in order to lift metal objects off people, it's incredibly strong.

Chris: And what's this location that we have as the Pentagon? This is an active building in Portland?

Marc: This is the active local political building in downtown Portland.

Chris: And they basically just emptied the local city government for us?

Marc: Yes.

Chris: They just sent everybody home for the day. ‘Go drink.’

Marc: And this was also used in the two-part season finale as well.

John: The finale, that's right.

Marc: The room that Eliot stole the badge is their assembly room. This is a fun scene. I think the two of them together was great.

John: And the camera man actually found a nice little beat here. He's just like, ‘I like to get punched.’

Jessica: I like it.

[Laughter]

John: There you go. And Eliot is always, like, this little beat of suspicion, this little-

Marc: I figured I'd go slow motion here just to try and sell it a little bit more.

Melissa: Well done.

Marc: But I love Beth Riesgraf’s performance in here, as soon as the video camera’s on her.

Melissa: Yes.

Marc: Wanting to take the spotlight a little.

Melissa: It was perfect.

Marc: And Beth Broderick just shoves her away. It was perfect. This was all ad-libbed.

Jessica: This is so local news, too.

[Laughter]

John: It's really cheesy.

Jessica: It’s very local news; just great.

John: And now there was a big thing- it was a big thing with the uniform, getting a uniform that would work on Tim. Because Tim’s hair is not a buzzcut, and the problem with television, if you buzzcut someone, you live with that look for the rest of the season.

Marc: Yes.

John: So we were actually gonna abandon the idea and then our consultant told us that the special ops guys who come back from Afghanistan keep both beard and longer hair and wear it with the uniform, so we gave him that particular uniform and it worked out just fine with the beret.

Chris: Fans of Taps may enjoy watching this little sequence.

John: Fans of Taps. Does he die in Taps?

Chris: I don't remember.

John: Does he die in Taps- or is this- could we say like we’ll do it in a way where this is like a continuity of Taps.

Jessica: This might be him.

John: This is a pseudo sequence-

Chris: Could this be his character from many years later?

John: You know, we never said where Nate went to school. We-

Jessica: That's true; there's a lot of material.

John: I like the implication that Nate Ford was actually the kid in Taps; that's kind of screwed up. Yeah, and then this was a tough one because we did not have the bag of money, right?

Chris: No.

Jessica: That's true.

John: So we had to establish- we were like, ‘Great, it’s information.’ And then we’re like, information is a great concept, it doesn't really work on television. And that's where we came up with a red file.

Melissa: Yes, put it in a red folder.

John: We spent a long time figuring out what the visual cue would be that the audience could track, that Marc did an excellent job of establishing to the audience, so the audience would understand: that's the MacGuffin, that's the axe, you know.

Marc: And ‘red file’ is said a couple times; they just keep hammering it.

John: Well what was Dean's rule? You never- the audience doesn't really hear it until the third time.

Jessica: Oh that's interesting; it's true.

Chris: And you get a nice little swagger, here, where it’s just all she cares about is the status in the Washington press core.

John: Yeah and- it's not all based on Wayne Gretzky's resentment of not being picked in [mumbled].

Chris: No, not at all.

[Laughter]

Chris: Not Wayne Gretzky's resentment at all.

John: You know Stanley Cup won't get you respect in the Washington press core. There's actually a great photo of him sitting there right in front of that wall, one of my favorite shots, just mad.

Marc: He was just in an armchair. ‘Let her run it.’

John: Oh, there was the other thing. We spent like a day, where I may have been drunk. We spent like, a day coming up with the sleazy stories that she would promo.

Jessica: That was fun.

Melissa: What’s going on at naptime?

Chris: Secret call girl ring.

John: What's killing you?

Jessica: Which of your appliances are trying to kill you? I have to say, at home it's currently my microwave. That's a different story. But they are actually trying to kill you sometimes.

[Laughter]

John: How’s hiatus treating you there?

Jessica: You know what? It's been rough and I'd rather not talk about it. It’s good if we go back to work.

Chris: For those keeping score, here's the evil speech of evil.

John: Evil speech of evil.

Melissa: This is a great evil speech of evil.

John: That's right.

Melissa: I love this speech.

Jessica: Yeah.

John: Yeah this- and this was kind of the- this was kind of an honest thing where we realized that this con wouldn't work. Where just because the people that are Wayne Gretzky's audience members believe that only bad people go to jail, and therefore would not be scared by this story.

Chris: Well, and also again, it’s like the idea of what- what kind of scandal is- would appeal to her? It’s sex; it’s salacious details. It would have to go to some different level than the violation of civil rights.

Marc: And will you tell the listeners what the significance is of Ren Field and Betsy Wetsy?

[Laughter]

John: Yeah well, Betsy Wetsy is just a doll name for her, and that's one of the nicknames. Renfield is Dracula’s insane human assistant who was- we meet, I believe, locked up in a mental institution.

Chris: Oh that's right, that's true.

John: That's where the nicknames come from.

Jessica: Obviously Marc, it is Dracula's evil assistant.

[Laughter]

Jessica: I'm sorry.

John: You know what? It's just-

Chris: I mean, everybody knew that.

John: It's just supposed to make sense to Beth Broderick's character; it's a little bonus point for the people paying attention.

Chris: He cut the Dune reference in to keep Renfield.

John: If you cut Dune, you keep Renfield.

Jessica: We decided to let that one go, yeah.

[Laughter]

John: And Gina really tees off nicely in here. And this is also an interesting idea that Nate’s not unaware of this role in the group is destructive. But he doesn't care when he does it.

Jessica: That's true.

Chris: Right.

John: And it's interesting this leads right into Top Hat where we see he's back in that position and it’s consuming him at the end of that episode. You know, where she- there's actually an interesting arc in the second season where Sophie's smarter than Nate, and is more personally developed. She understands she has to get her head together or she's gonna wind up dead. Where Nate just really spirals out in a more addictive style. Nice- nice zoom.

Chris: Nice bullet.

Marc: The ninja zoom!

Chris: And this, what a-

John: What a hit, oh man.

Jessica: That stunt was amazing.

Chris: This is- to talk about- talk about this stunt, Marc.

Melissa: This is amazing.

Chris: What happened?

John: Because when we saw this on dailies, we thought you killed her.

Jessica: We thought you killed the stunt woman.

Marc: I did too, and um, basically she took a hit really hard.

Chris: I mean, so the car actually hit the stunt woman.

Marc: Yeah, she jumped up a bit. Normally-

Chris: How fast was the car going?

Marc: Normally you wouldn't take that much impact, but she took a lot, she took a lot.

Chris: And was that her regular stunt double who does the flips?

Marc: No this was a different stunt girl that we had, someone who can-

John: Who then left the set right after and went on to live a perfectly healthy life in another state.

[Laughter]

Marc: No, she was fine. She got up; she was great.

John: Yeah.

Marc: The other problem is when we had Beth Riesgraf there, there was a pile of red ants that kept coming-

Jessica: Oh, that was-

Melissa: Climbing up on her, that was-

Marc: She was always like ‘Come on, shoot! The ants are getting me!’

Melissa: I remember she was trying to blow them away.

John: Now does anyone remember why he's a postman?

Jessica: Because postmen don't get noticed.

Melissa: Nobody notices them.

John: That's right, and what’s the classic G. K. Chesterton story that we were referencing?

Chris: The job depends on this.

Jessica: The postman?

John: The job- no

Chris: We've got five new writers out there who know the answer.

[Laughter]

John: They all know that we’re referencing G. K. Chesterton, The Invisible Man.

Chris: They're out there thumbing through Dune right now waiting for us.

[Laughter]

Melissa: Rieder and Glenn are going down.

John: No, one of the first mystery stories I ever read was a G. K. Chesterton mystery story where he figured out the killer was the postman because nobody pays attention to the postman. It's the only person who goes in and out of buildings without ever being noticed.

Jessica: Wow.

John: I’m fairly sure that's where- and this of course is Deep Throat. This is where we spiral off into Three of the Hunter,

Chris: This is Deep Throat folks.

Jessica: I know that one.

Chris: Our only note for this scene was: he must step out of shadows.

Jessica: It’s true.

John: We didn't care where the shadows were.

Jessica: I don't think we wrote the rest.

Chris: We wanted it to be a parking garage, I'll say that right now. But if it couldn't be a parking garage, it was like: he must step out of shadows.

Marc: I looked, I tried to find a parking garage, I swear.

[Laughter]

Marc: It was gonna be a company move; I couldn't do it.

John: No, I understand.

Marc: This is actually in the basement of the-

Chris: No, it works great.

John: It does work great.

Marc: -assembly building.

John: Especially with the elevator, with the cage door. I always love those.

Chris: You couldn't oversmoke this, right, there's smoke, right?

John: I think Tim’s actually on fire right now.

[Laughter]

John: Generating so much smoke in this scene. This is where we spiral- I remember- I think we spun up the virally evolving toxin, and there was that guy I went into that long bit and you looked at me like, ‘Wait, is that real?’ ‘No no, it's not real at all, don't worry about it.’

Marc: I think we did this- we did this scene, we did her scene outside of the assembly room, we did the scene of her breaking into the office; I think that was all one day in the same building.

John: Wow.

Chris: Wow. Boy that's a lot.

Jessica: And how many days did you guys have to shoot this? Was it seven?

Marc: Seven days.

John: It’s seven days. Most network shows are 8-12.

Chris: Yes.

John: Most 8; some 12; us 7, occasionally 6½.

Melissa: We don't mess around.

Marc: And the guy who shoots second-unit was busy.

Melissa: It was rather busy, shooting first-unit.

John: Right, yeah.

Jessica: Oh right, yeah.

Chris: By the way, I think the- you filled in on this one also. We should note that, I think-

John: You had like a week prep on this; there was cancellation-

Marc: Yes. Yes.

Melissa: This one we jumped on.

John: And did a great job because this is visually very- this is very layered and it's very complex. And- I'm sorry, that outfit kills me every time.

Marc: It's funny, because everybody got to play a part in this except our grifter, Sophie, who usually gets to play characters.

Jessica: That's true, yeah.

John: Yeah, that's the idea. And also the idea was to, you know, also start easing her out of that, you know, she's only around really for two more episodes of this season.

Marc: And here again is another mention of the red file.

John: There you go, flashback. And the murderous, besuited Eliot. Tim really dug in on the paranoia here. He really-

Marc: Yeah.

John: That's a menacing, scary look.

Marc: Yes, it was a lot of lighting.

[Laughter]

John: The shadow’s on the wall; that's very nice.

Marc: God bless Dave Connell.

John: And then back to the apartment of crazy.

Marc: Yes, and more teasing the little sister.

Jessica: That was so fun.

Chris: It's great her leaning up against him, too.

John: It was interesting to watch. Like I said, the pairings that wound up happening this year evolved. And not just because we wound up losing Gina for the back half of the season, but the Parker/Eliot thing got really interesting. And then the Eliot/Sophie thing got really interesting early in the season, that sort of, you know, now that he's forgiven her he's actually a confidant because he's the only one whose overawed by Nate, you know?

Jessica: That's true. I think it's funny, because last season I think-

John: Is that a good look, too, by the way, Reider?

Jessica: No, I actually didn't hear the last thing you said because I was kind of focusing on that, but the suit it- just kidding, I always listen to John when he talks. Otherwise he threatens to fire me. But I think-

John: Rat.

[Laughter]

Jessica: Or sometimes he actually does it; I just ignore it. But the first season it was a lot of, like, building Parker and Hardison’s relationship and like, we really love that and really enjoyed writing it. But this here was really fun to do more of the brother/sister stuff between Parker and Eliot and even like Eliot and Hardison. And that was, like, the most fun thing in my opinion to write, cause that was just so family-like, you know, a dysfunctional, funny, loving family.

John: And also Chris and Aldis are kind of like brothers in Portland. Like, hanging out with them, that relationship is very real.

Chris: And Beth, too.

Marc: I love this little beat of - just jumping in - of just, Hardison explains everything he's doing and just saying ‘you doubt me? Look at this.’ And it's happening in real time.

Chris: I like- this was a very numbers thing. You came up with this.

John: I came up with this because I have friends who are journalists and, you know, one of the things they talk about, is the fact that every journalist cultivates like 3 or 4 good sources on the hill, but the overreliance on those sources means they can never call them on their bullshit. And that turned into this kind of-

Chris: But it's nice; the math part I like, too.

John: The math part is nice, too. It's a nice bit of physics bullshit.

Chris: Math porn.

John: Math porn.

[Laughter]

Chris: We don't do a lot of that.

John: Project Destiny, by the way, is a lovely callback to The Core, the movie I did in 2003.

Jessica: More quizzing.

Chris: Available on Amazon.

John: Available on Amazon. I just wanna say, a lot of science fiction writers like John Scalzi and Joss Whedon, they really like it.

[Laughter]

John: And, you know, it comes highly recommended. No. This is- the stripper scene is ridiculously funny and is really one of the better flashbacks. Just- those flashes are tough, because they have to be one shot, really, and they have to convey an enormous amount of information as fast as possible.

Chris: Now here, this is- we’re getting into the paranoia sequence. This is great, I love this.

Melissa: Just the water everywhere.

Marc: This was, yeah, we did everything; every time she sees water, we just went to slow motion.

Chris: It’s so well done. It’s- it's all- just you saw that the choice of water really plays out here. Because it's everywhere.

John: Where did you get that fish tank? Who has that fish tank?

[Laughter]

Marc: No, I requested the fish tank.

John: Who has that fishtank in their office? Nobody has that fish tank in their office.

Marc: That was the one request I had from the art department.

John: And the whole idea is they're basically breaking this woman's sanity, which is-

Jessica: That’s fun.

John: But she made a nice older man try to commit suicide, and she’s deserving of it.

Melissa: She deserves it.

Jessica: That was one of the challenges, I think, of spending so much time with her, is that we had to keep reestablishing her villainy so that we didn't feel bad for her. Cause like, when you spend so much time with her, we didn't want to make her into the victim.

John: Particularly Beth Broderick, who is a particularly sympathetic charming actor, we didn't want to-

Chris: Well it's a testament to her, because it's true, a lot of these ones you want, sort of, physically imposing bad guy when you're putting them in in this kind of Saw-like trap.

[Laughter]

Jessica: Yeah, totally.

Chris: Seriously.

John: ‘This is Jigsaw. In front of you is a briefcase full of money orders.’ What no- not saw what are you doing?

Chris: A kind of psychological Saw.

John: Yeah, but it's interesting, this is the one of the rules we have, which is things can't just go randomly wrong, they have to go wrong because of either something we've set up that is an unintended consequence, or they've succeeded too well. And Marc where did you get all these amazing vehicles?

Marc: This was the local national guard.

[Laughter]

Marc: Again, Portland opening up its doors to us.

Chris: This is a product of our- of that trip we took to scout locations, which if our wives were listening right now, was to see things like this and not to drink.

[Laughter]

Marc: Yes it was.

Chris: Not to go to strip clubs.

John: Exactly.

Marc: And they gave us everything.

Chris: So you see-

John: So cut the silent treatment, ok? It's right there!

Chris: So this is why we went, so we can have this sequence, so now you know.

Jessica: Chris how's your hiatus going?

[Laughter]

John: So yes, this was the local national guard; all their vehicles, all their guys in uniform.

Marc: Personnel, guys in uniform, all their vehicles. They basically do all the repairs on vehicles that are used to also be a big firing range where they test weapons as well. That's why they kept saying ‘Don't go up the hill.’

John: Really?

Marc: ‘Don't go up the hill, there's a couple things that haven't gone off yet.’

Chris: This is a great shot right here.

John: Yeah this we couldn't have built this, probably.

[Laughter]

Chris: No.

Jessica: Probably not.

John: I'm thinking on seven days we couldn't have put that together. That's a good looking bunker. And there's Beth Broderick charging the fence like a trooper.

Marc: Charging the fence. We do have a stunt person in this shot, but we used her just in the one little brief shot. Beth wanted to go all the way over. I'm like ‘No no, I've got a lot more work to do with you.’

Melissa: I remember writing this and we thought once she throws the purse over, that's commitment. If a woman throws a purse over a fence.

Chris: Oh wow, that's her folks!

Marc: Yeah, cause it was written, I think, just tossing the purse and then she's over. I'm like, ‘No, we gotta carry this over.’

John: Yeah no, that's Beth Broderick on the barbed wire, yeah.

Jessica: In those heels, that's moxie. That's not hubris, that's moxie.

John: ‘That's not hubris, that's moxie.’ Nicely done. And now yes, cause that's just a poorly thought out idea.

[Laughter]

John: But she's driven by paranoia and madness and so-. And Sophie has seen the wages of her obsession.

[Laughter]

John: This is a- this is also a pattern that we wind up, which is Hardison in trouble and everyone kind of enjoying yanking him around a little. Because he's usually on the other- and I think we say this actually in this one. It’s like, ‘Not so funny being on the other side.’

Jessica: Yup.

John: Yup and the parallel interrogations. This was a ton of fun.

Jessica: This was my- I think these were my favorite scenes of the whole episode. Just Hardison playing around with this guy. I don’t- I just love this whole part; writing it was fun, watching it was fun.

Chris: Oh, I love this line here about ‘This is not a planned community’? That was perfect.

[Laughter]

Marc: ‘She's a freak, man.’

John: No. And these- and this is interesting. This should be taken from The Closer. This is like- this shooting style is dead serious. No- and these are- and these are actual soldiers right? One of them was.

Marc: No no, these guys are both actors.

John: The gate guys are-

Marc: The gate guys are, yeah.

John: Actual soldiers, right.

Marc: And the guys in the hallways.

John: Yeah. And she's gone and the problem is, and this is another thing, again, when you've got a five hander, it’s like who’s in the game, who’s out of the game at any given point. Who’s dead and who's been blown. Yeah, it's not fun. You know, there's a lot of shows with one lead and four sidekicks, and having like really five-hander is-

Jessica: Those lucky bastards

John: Like yeah, those lucky bastards.

Chris: And another one of our almost real time endings. I’d say this-

John: I’d say this is the pattern of the second season, that we really got into about episode three or four. Acts four and five are almost real time.

Chris: Almost always really time.

John: Act four in particular.

Chris: Sometimes 3, 4, and 5.

John: Yeah, act 4 in particular.

Marc: Here's where Eliot gets to toy with Hardison.

Melissa: Yes, just so much fun.

John: Yeah, just so much frustration and rage. Just the little shit eating grin there, yeah, because it's usually the other side. Cause there's nothing funnier than Chris Kane annoyed. Chris Kane annoyed is money.

Chris: And that was- she just did that, right?

Jessica: Yeah, that was not scripted.

Chris: A little found moment.

John: She just found a gas mask. And I like she's completely oblivious to the things that might go horribly wrong. For Parker this is actually amusing.

Melissa: It’s fun.

Jessica: It's all a game, yeah.

John: I also love, again, both establishing her mania and her villainy here, that she will sell out humanity for a chance to be in the bunkers.

Marc: Right.

John: Even in this moment, she's a weasel. Yeah, we’ll have no mercy for her.

Jessica: Yup, it’s true.

John: And I also like- it was a great job by makeup and wardrobe. But particularly make-up and hair on this one, to slowly spool out her look-

Jessica: Yeah.

John: -over the course of the act.

Marc: And keeping the continuity. This is where I said to Aldis, I said ‘This is your moment where you get to be Samuel L. Jackson for a moment.’

John: Oh when he flips, when he's got the information. Yeah we saw these in dailies actually- that look up right there-

Jessica: Yeah, that was-

John: That was like, ‘woah, what the hell is that?’

Jessica: ‘What’d you do to Aldis?!’

Marc: Yeah, I said ‘You've gone from crazy weird scared paranoid, give us a good-’

John: ‘I want you to reach into the bag and take out a wallet.’ No, he's really- and the slam, the hand slam was great. This- and this guy did a really good job. Now these- this whole act- and this was- But again, we’re talking about sort of the things you find in second season, is you go from making 13 little perfect ones, to learning how to make 100. Is you really start finding out it’s ok to just live in one scene for an act, if it's a really entertaining scene.

Chris: In one set. Yeah, like when we broke it, it was like act 4 is the army. That’s where we’re living.

John: And really only one sequence - interrogation and rescue. That’s it; there's nothing else really going on. In the first season we found this very static, and just being able to trust the actors and the characters now, this is a ridiculously entertaining act.

Jessica: Yeah.

Marc: I mean, look at all the vehicles they gave us, it's unbelievable.

John: That's your tax dollars at work, ladies and gentleman. Helping out making Leverage.

Jessica: Thank you for that.

John: Also, there's a little throw away there where Sophie explains that, you know, people don't look at generals in the eyes, they just look at the ranks. It's a little-

Marc: Yeah, the stars and bars.

John: There's a little hint to Sophie's background there, sorta background that- Gina had come up with that, we’re kind of seeding through. And these guys trying to decide which ones, who’s crazy. Oh, and the whole bit about them signing the nukes, what had been the news right before was the fact that they had accidentally flown those nukes. Remember that story? The Air Force had lost track of four nukes for a couple days. And we were like, well we could make up something ridiculous or just take the incredibly terrifying thing that's on CNN.

Jessica: Right, yup. Used what they actually did.

John: We wind up making- we have we wound up making up not a lot on this show.

Chris: No yeah, we try- We find ridiculous things, we try to work it in.

Jessica: It’s true.

John: Yeah.

Chris: Whenever possible.

Melissa: At times we have to scale back reality and say people aren't gonna buy this, it's too crazy.

Jessica: Totally true.

John: Absolutely. No, there's a lot of- there’s a couple- couple times where people go ‘Eh, it’s a little much’ is always the real thing.

Jessica: Yeah, it's never something we've made up.

John: The stuff we've just bullshitted, they always buy.

Jessica: Totally true.

Chris: And this is a good example of sometimes people say, ‘Well how would they get away with this or, you know, get past levels of security?’ Well in this one, they get just enough out of the perimeter, and then their cover is blown pretty quickly. So, you know, we’re not saying that the entire US Army is duped by our guys on the fly.

John: But a lot of that's- A lot of it is, in this season, is establishing all they really ever buy themselves is 15 seconds. But the stuff they can pull off in that 15 seconds is why they are who they are, you know. And that's the thing, is at this point, you know, he knows they gotta get the hell out of dodge, and that's why they split up, and that’s why they’re getting ready to do the blow off. The cackle bladder.

Marc: And they have a great escape vehicle.

John: They have a fantastic Hyundai, which really delivers for us here.

Melissa: Which Tim always really drives hard.

Chris: Do they give us product integration in the commentaries?

John: They did actually, we get an extra 20 grand for saying how bad ass this car is.

Jessica: Every time we say it, they give us money.

John: Yeah I like it. Actually it's a pretty- and boom!

Chris: And Marc, I think I remember you called saying, ‘I was just checking to see if we blast through the gate?’

Jessica: Yeah that was yours, was it?

John: Who were you talking to?

[Laughter]

Marc: Yeah exactly I was like, ‘Ok, sorry.’

John: We’re usually calling every week insisting on something exploding, I don't know why you're calling us to ask if they can go through a gate.

Jessica: Can the gate then explode after they drive through? Because that’d be even better.

John: And basically that's the whole idea, is they've only bought 15 seconds, the con is unraveling, and how fast can they play it out?

Chris: Yeah.

Marc: I like the delivery that these- they give in these little beats, little banter back and forth, and Tim’s just, ‘Mhm, yeah, mm.’

John: Yeah, he's really digging in. And she's even more unraveled. No, it’s lovely.

Jessica: I like this part how, like, usually with our villains; we sort of lead them through to the end. But this one, like, we just spun her up so tight that, like, the fifth act is almost just her spinning out on her own, you know?

John: It's really just getting out of her way at this point.

Chris: And was this-? Just for the tech geeks. Is this a steadi-?

Marc: There's that red file reference.

Chris: Was this a steadicam or-?

Marc: Yeah that was steadicam. Steadicam and 360.

John: Oh the- him and- [laughs] this is actually a prelude to something else in the season finale, but Eliot- Eliot in various iterations; the writers were playing around with how menacing he needed to be when he came out of the bathroom. And then we realized you know what? No matter who you are, coming out of a bathroom with rubber gloves is just never a good thing.

Jessica: That's true.

John: Nobody ever comes out of a bathroom with rubber gloves to help you.

Marc: And you can barely see it but we also line the walls with plastic as well.

John: Yeah, you just know that's a bad thing. And the fact that he actually- they sold that, too. That was a big comedy beat.

Chris: He got maced.

Jessica: That was fun.

John: Now this is great, and this is what's amazing, is that this is what's a big chunk of stuff with none of our actors.

Marc: Yes.

John: And all the local Portland actors were great cause that guy’s local. Is the newscaster that she replaces, is she a newscaster or is she a local actress?

Marc: No, she's a local actress.

John: Yeah, and she's got a great look, she looks exactly like that sort of financial, you know, on Wayne Gretzky's network that kind of financial, you know-

Chris: Yes, Versus I think is the network. The hockey channel?

[Laughter]

Jessica: Yeah, the financial girl on Versus.

John: The financial girl on Versus. Exactly. I love- we're gonna get sued by Wayne Gretzky and have no way to explain this. Like why? Got no idea. How do we-

Chris: And another thing to track here that is great, was the pill bottle, because the whole slander of our victim in the beginning was that he had taken antidepressants and was totally out of context and getting her to hold this pill bottle was a great part of the con.

John: Though I'll tell you, that was one of those moments where I realize you're 40, when we originally had the dad be a Vietnam vet. And then we did the math on driving the bus and we realized ‘oh shit, it’s Desert Storm. Oh man.’

Jessica: Right, yup that’s true.

John: And now, yes, just to taking the water with her coat. And by the way, I'd like to say uncle tenuse is coming to town. There we go! Just for the 60 year old comedy fans, that reference.

Jessica: Spit take.

John: Nice spit tak;, classic spit take.

Marc: She was great. She had another bit in the office, but it got cut for time.

John: It got cut. Oh, she was Beth's assistant. She was Beth Broderick's assistant, right?

Jessica: Right.

John: Yes, and then the crazy footage. And it was interesting again, that- Look, her eyes are tearing up; that's great.

Marc: And she did this over and over and over again.

John: But that was- it’s like Knights Tale with jousting. We had to establish what the rules were. I always admire the fact that Knights Tale explains what joint is very effectively and very efficiently.

Melissa: Right.

John: And we had to explain what the rules of her expose style are early, so that we can then have a framework for the audience to see how each beat is falling into place.

Chris: This is how she's brought down.

John: And that's just crazy and screwed up.

[Laughter]

John: I like the fauxhawk on the second cop; I didn't notice that the first time around. And then Beth Broderick taking the hit, I believe.

Marc: We did get a stunt person just for the fall to the ground.

[Laughter]

Marc: There.

Chris: Wow.

John: Oh she's spun out- and now this is a great improv by the guy. Or you came up with this on the set, right? The- the chair push?

Marc: Yeah, I wanted to keep the whole idea that they are on live, he sees the light and he just pushes the girl in front of the camera, like, ‘go, go, go!’

Jessica: Nice.

John: And also, nice choice here, where this little gloat that she puts on right here about the destruction of probably someone she hates is nice. ‘I’m Monica freaking Hunter!’

[Laughter]

John: It is. It’s Network Spock welded onto Three Days of the Condor.

Chris: Yeah it’s the whatever your local 70’s paranoia.

Marc: And that's our local Portland newscaster, Joe.

John: Parallax view too. And that's our local anchor, that's right. There you go, redemption. The end, and the bad guy has suffered, brought down by their own sin. And America can go to bed secure that bad people are punished and good people triumph. And that's the way the world is; they should sleep better.

Jessica: Obviously.

Chris: There's a nice little ending. Who’s idea is it that Eliot‘s cooking here? To carry that forward from season one? Was that- I don't think that was in the script, was it?

Jessica: I don't know.

Melissa: It was in the script, and we followed it through a little with the pitch in the- I think one of the ones where he's like ‘I cook all my own food.’ We were trying to follow this through.

Chris: Grow my own food, that's true.

Melissa: We’re trying to make this very- that’s who Eliot is.

John: And you know, it's interesting, this- We wound up shooting up here in the apartment more than down by where we installed all those expensive monitors. Cause this was just a really kind of fun, intimate space.

Chris: Well this is also sort of the family area, when you're around the table on the bar.

John: Yeah, Eliot’s actually cooking a lot this season. He's kinda going back and forth; he's behind that counter a lot. The fact that they’re- it was kind of a running gag, we never really landed on it, but it goes through the season Nate never has control of his refrigerator again once the season begins.

Jessica: It’s true.

John: They're always stealing his food. Nate- there's a running gag where Eliot’s always icing up from the ice in his fridge.

Melissa: Right.

Jessica: Yeah.

John: This is a nice beat.

Chris: A nice moment between-

John: Where he admits he was a screw up, and she kind of admits that he was a screw up also. Yeah, it was hard. I mean, you really need to establish they can’t have a romantic relationship yet. They're not-

Jessica: Not there.

John: Not there, yeah. And that was the hard won wisdom of first season. They really land the sort of friends and something more beat at the end of this.

Jessica: I loved that throughout the season. I think, you know, that gets sprinkled in a lot and I’ve- you know, them as friends is just- I don't know; it seems so comfortable and there's so much there.

John: Two lonely people who wandered the earth, you know. There's very few people they've actually connected with over the course of their lives, so.

Jessica: I love these final moments with them.

John: There was a lot of these this season, with the, like, little character beat codas.

Chris: There's one between her and Eliot in Top Hat-

John: The next episode.

Chris: -with the same vantage point.

John: 207 there's- yeah.

John: Yeah and again it's- a lot of it is - it’s ok to just hang out with the characters. That was a lot of fun. Anything you wanna say before we take off?

Marc: No, I just- it's great to be able to direct a great script, so thank you girls.

Jessica: Thank you; it was fun.

Melissa: Our pleasure.

#Leverage #Leverage TNT #Leverage Audio Commentary Transcripts #Audio Commentary #Transcripts #Parker #Alec Hardison #Eliot Spencer #Nate Ford #Sophie Deveraux #Season 2 #Episode 5 #Season 2 Episode 5 #The Three Days of the Hunter Job

49 notes · View notes