WEBVTT - 35 - Jason Katims (Away) 0:00:00.990 --> 0:00:02.150 From CurtCo Media. 0:00:02.440 --> 0:00:03.460 There's no place like Hollywood. 0:00:10.270 --> 0:00:13.119 Welcome to another stuck at home special episode of Hollywood 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:17.120 Unscripted. I'm Jenny Curtis. And today, I'm virtually sitting down 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:21.250 with showrunner, producer, and writer of some wildly beloved shows 0:00:21.459 --> 0:00:25.090 such as Friday Night Lights, Roswell, and Parenthood. It is 0:00:25.090 --> 0:00:28.270 an absolute pleasure to welcome Jason Katims. 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:30.790 Thank you so much. It's great to be here. Thanks, Jenny. 0:00:31.130 --> 0:00:34.800 I actually want to start with Away, which is a 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:37.800 show that you're executive producing and a writer on, and 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:40.989 it is coming out on Netflix on September 4th. I'd 0:00:40.989 --> 0:00:43.470 love to hear more about the project, how it started. 0:00:43.610 --> 0:00:48.269 Sure. Well, I'm super excited about the show. It started when 0:00:48.349 --> 0:00:51.280 I read an article by Chris Jones for Esquire, an 0:00:51.379 --> 0:00:54.050 article that was called Away. And Chris Jones is a writer 0:00:54.050 --> 0:00:57.220 who's been writing about space for the last 20 years. 0:00:57.750 --> 0:01:02.150 And this article was really incredibly intriguing to me because 0:01:02.150 --> 0:01:05.240 of the point of view. It was about what the 0:01:05.310 --> 0:01:09.479 experience was like being away from home, what that did 0:01:09.479 --> 0:01:11.779 to people. It was like I don't really think of 0:01:11.780 --> 0:01:14.490 myself as the space guy, the guy who does space 0:01:14.490 --> 0:01:18.140 shows. But I read this article and I couldn't stop 0:01:18.140 --> 0:01:21.069 thinking about it. And actually, it was originally brought to me 0:01:21.069 --> 0:01:23.479 by a friend of mine who I worked with years ago, 0:01:23.479 --> 0:01:25.929 Matt Reeves. And Matt said, "Is this is something you'd like to 0:01:25.929 --> 0:01:28.389 work on with me?" And so we met with Chris 0:01:28.390 --> 0:01:31.300 Jones, got more excited about it, and that's how the 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:34.669 project started. I mean, the thing that I find so 0:01:34.740 --> 0:01:37.770 wonderful about it is, to me, I felt like, " Oh, 0:01:37.770 --> 0:01:40.259 this could be a show about a marriage and about 0:01:40.259 --> 0:01:44.619 family and about nuanced human stories," which are all the 0:01:44.619 --> 0:01:47.820 kinds of shows I've always worked on, but against this 0:01:47.820 --> 0:01:53.510 incredibly exciting backdrop, this epic backdrop of space. That felt 0:01:53.510 --> 0:01:56.410 different to me and challenging to me and something that 0:01:56.410 --> 0:01:58.669 I got very excited about trying to tell a story. 0:01:58.970 --> 0:02:00.960 The show, though, was created by Andrew Hinderaker? Or how did 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:03.640 he get involved? Did you bring him on? 0:02:03.780 --> 0:02:08.190 Yeah. So what happened was we optioned this story from Chris Jones. 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:12.649 And then, so Andrew Hinderaker had been working with me 0:02:12.650 --> 0:02:14.739 on a couple of shows. So he's this amazing playwright. 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.470 And worked at first on the show that I did 0:02:17.470 --> 0:02:20.470 called Pure Genius and then on The Path, which Jess 0:02:20.470 --> 0:02:25.450 Goldberg created. And Andrew took this article and found this 0:02:25.450 --> 0:02:29.989 incredibly personal way in, which is always the most exciting 0:02:30.030 --> 0:02:34.299 way to really dig into a project. He really told 0:02:34.299 --> 0:02:36.810 the story about how he had a long distance relationship 0:02:36.810 --> 0:02:39.919 with his long time girlfriend who had some pretty serious 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:43.090 medical issues. And that was what he was using to 0:02:43.090 --> 0:02:46.190 tell the story about Emma being away from her husband and her 0:02:46.350 --> 0:02:49.620 family at a time when her husband, Josh Charles's character, 0:02:49.690 --> 0:02:52.639 has a very serious medical issue. And once he sort 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:55.079 of came up with that premise, we all get very 0:02:55.079 --> 0:02:58.549 excited because we felt like he was leaning into what 0:02:58.549 --> 0:03:01.870 the potential of this story is. And the other thing that he 0:03:01.870 --> 0:03:05.739 brought to this, which is something that we're all really 0:03:05.739 --> 0:03:10.839 excited about, is the international crew. And the idea that 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:14.060 while it's about this family, this long distance relationship, and 0:03:14.060 --> 0:03:17.079 really the ultimate long distance relationship between Hilary's character is 0:03:17.079 --> 0:03:20.919 trying to stay connected to her family, it's also about this new family forming 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:24.329 in space and these people who all come from very 0:03:24.329 --> 0:03:28.579 different worlds and different religions, different philosophies, different ways of 0:03:28.579 --> 0:03:31.899 seeing things, reasons to be at odds with each other 0:03:31.899 --> 0:03:35.360 at moments. And yet the idea of these disparate people 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:38.700 coming together to work together and ultimately form this new 0:03:38.700 --> 0:03:43.090 family together is also incredibly poignant. So the show really 0:03:43.090 --> 0:03:46.980 just works on so many levels. It was by far 0:03:47.140 --> 0:03:51.310 the most challenging show, from a producing point of view, 0:03:51.630 --> 0:03:53.740 that I've ever been involved in. I mean, every show has 0:03:53.810 --> 0:03:56.850 some visual effects. Parenthood had visual effects. Nobody would know 0:03:57.150 --> 0:04:01.320 it did, but it did. But this show was a new level. And they 0:04:01.430 --> 0:04:05.420 took so much time in preparation to figure out how 0:04:05.420 --> 0:04:07.260 to make the show and how to make the show 0:04:07.339 --> 0:04:12.240 feel real and accurate. It's not intended to be sort 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:14.610 of science fiction in that way, like in a Star 0:04:14.610 --> 0:04:17.240 Trek way, it's supposed to feel like what it would 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:20.379 be like if NASA put up or when NASA does send a 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:25.409 ship to Mars. Our production designer, David Sandefur, actually got 0:04:25.409 --> 0:04:28.589 renderings from NASA, which is what he based our spaceship 0:04:28.589 --> 0:04:31.630 on. So it was very challenging to make it this 0:04:31.630 --> 0:04:34.670 story that was speculative fiction, but to have it feel 0:04:34.670 --> 0:04:37.289 real and not like sci- fi. What would it be 0:04:37.289 --> 0:04:39.950 like going on this journey to try to do this 0:04:39.950 --> 0:04:41.770 thing that nobody's ever been able to do before? 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:46.370 And a journey to Mars is not going to go easy. There's a 0:04:46.370 --> 0:04:47.450 lot of drama. 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:50.509 Yeah. A lot of drama. One of the things that 0:04:50.539 --> 0:04:53.529 we'd always talked about was that the drama of what 0:04:53.529 --> 0:04:57.390 happens on earth has to be as riveting as what 0:04:57.390 --> 0:05:00.270 happens in space. And that's the thing that I'm actually 0:05:00.270 --> 0:05:03.169 most proud of, of what Andrew and all of us did, 0:05:03.169 --> 0:05:06.390 and Jess Goldberg, who came on to showrun and partner 0:05:06.390 --> 0:05:08.960 with Andrew in doing the show. When you cut to those 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.430 scenes on earth, you're not just waiting until we get 0:05:11.430 --> 0:05:14.640 back to space. It's really the opposite. It's like those scenes 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:18.309 are as emotional to watch what it's like, what it does 0:05:18.310 --> 0:05:23.140 to Josh's character, what it does to Talitha's character, who plays Hilary and 0:05:23.409 --> 0:05:26.460 Josh's 15 year old daughter. Talitha's character actually, when we were 0:05:26.460 --> 0:05:29.640 in the writer's room, was the character that I gravitated to 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.580 most because I thought it's so wild that this is going 0:05:32.580 --> 0:05:36.169 to be about a three year mission in success for 0:05:36.229 --> 0:05:39.859 Hilary's character by the time she sort of returns. And that's 0:05:39.859 --> 0:05:42.479 high school, that's all of the high school for her. And the idea 0:05:42.500 --> 0:05:45.380 of her being away from her mother and watching what 0:05:45.380 --> 0:05:48.440 happens to her and watching her grow up was so 0:05:48.529 --> 0:05:51.640 intriguing to me. To me, that was as exciting to 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:54.359 me as the stuff that was happening in space. And I 0:05:54.359 --> 0:05:56.809 felt like the challenge was to make sure that as 0:05:56.810 --> 0:05:59.739 we made the show that those scenes were as riveting 0:05:59.909 --> 0:06:03.200 and even more so watching them try to stay connected 0:06:03.289 --> 0:06:06.539 and watching those essentially Zoom calls before I knew what 0:06:06.539 --> 0:06:09.900 the hell Zoom was. When we wrote them, essentially what 0:06:09.900 --> 0:06:12.739 they were trying to stay connected first by those video 0:06:12.740 --> 0:06:15.950 chats, and then eventually just with sound, and then eventually 0:06:15.950 --> 0:06:20.419 just by emails and texts that are delayed for longer 0:06:20.419 --> 0:06:22.990 and longer the further they get away. All this stuff just 0:06:22.990 --> 0:06:26.279 felt very emotional and moving to me. It felt like we could do the 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.609 show and have a take on it that feels different 0:06:28.609 --> 0:06:30.640 to me than other shows that I've seen that are 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:31.280 about space. 0:06:32.089 --> 0:06:35.919 Because she's young, going back to Talitha's character, it feels 0:06:35.919 --> 0:06:38.190 like we can connect most to her because she really 0:06:38.190 --> 0:06:41.469 wears her processing on her sleeve. Do you find that 0:06:41.469 --> 0:06:44.319 because you've also done a lot of work with characters 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:47.570 who are in their adolescence, is that something you gravitate 0:06:47.570 --> 0:06:50.589 towards always? Or is that specific stories? 0:06:50.589 --> 0:06:53.469 I gravitate toward those stories. For some reason, I always 0:06:53.469 --> 0:06:56.469 have. Maybe I've been stunted in my growth or something. 0:06:56.469 --> 0:06:58.989 But I always have. The first show that I worked on 0:06:58.990 --> 0:07:01.880 was My So- Called Life. And Winnie Holzman, who created 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:05.020 that show, became a mentor to me. And I remember her 0:07:05.020 --> 0:07:10.540 describing adolescence as an emergency. Everything is always an emergency 0:07:10.770 --> 0:07:12.830 in adolescence. And I thought that was just a great 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:16.590 way to think about it. And of course, that suggests drama when 0:07:16.590 --> 0:07:20.370 everything's an emergency. It's a great time to write about 0:07:20.370 --> 0:07:25.180 because so much change happens in short periods of time. 0:07:25.810 --> 0:07:28.830 You mentioned My So- Called Life. And Edward Zwick, who 0:07:28.830 --> 0:07:31.430 was also on My So- Called Life, was on this 0:07:31.430 --> 0:07:34.999 project as well. Can you talk about the team that 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:37.460 you kind of created from all walks of your life 0:07:37.460 --> 0:07:39.940 and how that kind of felt bringing in so many 0:07:39.940 --> 0:07:40.371 connected people? 0:07:40.371 --> 0:07:44.870 Yeah. On this show, I've worked with more people that 0:07:44.870 --> 0:07:48.080 span my entire career in doing this in a way 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:51.520 that's never happened before. And I think in some way, 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:54.989 it's because of the challenge of making the show. And 0:07:54.989 --> 0:07:58.020 coming to Ed, Ed hired me on My So- Called 0:07:58.020 --> 0:08:00.239 Life. And then I did the first show that I 0:08:00.239 --> 0:08:05.059 created, Relativity, with him and Marshall. And Ed literally found me, I was 0:08:05.330 --> 0:08:07.809 a playwright living in Brooklyn, and he found me under 0:08:07.810 --> 0:08:10.520 a rock in Brooklyn. He read one of my plays 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:13.680 and called me. And out of nowhere, he literally gave 0:08:13.710 --> 0:08:15.640 me a chance to write on My So- Called Life. 0:08:15.900 --> 0:08:18.380 He introduced me to Matt Reeves, who's the person who 0:08:18.380 --> 0:08:21.420 I found this project with and started this project. There were 0:08:21.530 --> 0:08:24.480 so many other people who played key roles. David Boyd 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:27.249 was our cinematographer who then became one of our great 0:08:27.250 --> 0:08:32.110 directors on Friday Night Lights. He was our cinematographer and 0:08:32.110 --> 0:08:35.650 producing director on this show. And I hadn't been able to 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:37.800 work with them since Friday Night Lights. I hadn't been 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.360 able to work with Ed since Relativity and My So-Called 0:08:40.540 --> 0:08:42.870 Life. I hadn't been able to work with Matt Reeves 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:45.820 since The Pallbearer, which is a script we wrote together. 0:08:45.949 --> 0:08:48.219 And of course, then there's Andrew and Jess who I've 0:08:48.290 --> 0:08:50.740 worked with on The Path and Pure Genius. So it 0:08:50.740 --> 0:08:53.369 was an amazing experience. It's sort of what it took 0:08:53.370 --> 0:08:56.859 to (inaudible) the show because it was just having Ed involved 0:08:56.860 --> 0:08:59.770 in this, he was the perfect director for it because 0:08:59.770 --> 0:09:03.439 he's done all these incredibly huge, epic movies with this 0:09:03.490 --> 0:09:08.260 huge landscape, but he's done this intimate storytelling in television 0:09:08.260 --> 0:09:11.050 with Thirtysomething and Once and Again and My So- Called 0:09:11.050 --> 0:09:15.229 Life. And our show requires those two things with equal 0:09:15.230 --> 0:09:19.089 attention put on both the visual landscape and the grandness 0:09:19.089 --> 0:09:22.230 of it, but also the sort of tiny moments. So 0:09:22.230 --> 0:09:25.010 it was a thrill to get to work with Ed 0:09:25.010 --> 0:09:28.250 again, particularly on this project that was a challenge to 0:09:28.459 --> 0:09:32.570 all of us. And it became this amazing collaborative effort 0:09:32.610 --> 0:09:35.459 to make the show. So many people had such huge 0:09:35.459 --> 0:09:39.819 parts of this. David Sandefur, our production designer, who really 0:09:39.890 --> 0:09:42.660 came up with the sort of look for the spaceship 0:09:42.660 --> 0:09:45.900 and the moonscape where they launched from. It was very 0:09:45.900 --> 0:09:48.949 exciting and a bit overwhelming to take this on. And I'm 0:09:48.949 --> 0:09:50.870 really proud of the show. I mean, I did write an 0:09:50.870 --> 0:09:54.439 episode, which I'm really proud of. It was so much Andrew 0:09:54.439 --> 0:09:56.099 and Jess who sort of took this on and did 0:09:56.100 --> 0:09:58.860 the heavy lifting and deserve the credit for it. But 0:09:58.860 --> 0:10:02.050 I'm so proud when I watch the episodes that it's everything 0:10:02.050 --> 0:10:04.920 that we imagined and more. In a few weeks, I guess we'll see 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:08.079 what everybody else thinks. But to me, I feel like 0:10:08.150 --> 0:10:11.559 it grips you emotionally, these characters' stories. And I'm excited for people to 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:11.849 see it. 0:10:22.579 --> 0:10:26.300 A Moment of Your Time, a new podcast from CurtCo Media. 0:10:27.079 --> 0:10:29.469 Currently 21 years old, and today- 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:31.920 I felt like magic descended from her fingertips down to the base of my spine. 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:32.340 You have to take care of yourself because the world needs you and your voice. 0:10:32.340 --> 0:10:37.670 Trust me, every do- gooder that asked about me was 0:10:37.670 --> 0:10:38.640 ready to spit on my dreams. 0:10:38.900 --> 0:10:40.170 Her fingers were facing me. 0:10:40.170 --> 0:10:43.310 It can feel like your purpose and your worth is really being questioned. 0:10:43.310 --> 0:10:45.699 It ain't going to stop me from playing the piano. 0:10:45.699 --> 0:10:48.499 She buys walkie- talkies, wonders to whom she should give 0:10:48.500 --> 0:10:49.069 the second device. 0:10:49.170 --> 0:10:51.959 Pets don't love humans. We never did. We never will. 0:10:51.959 --> 0:10:52.879 We just find ones- 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.160 The beauty of rock climbing is that you can only 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:56.160 focus on what's right in front of you. 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:59.610 And so our American life begins. 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:03.910 We may need to stay apart, but let's create together. 0:11:04.329 --> 0:11:08.860 Available on all podcast platforms. Submit your piece at curtco. com/ 0:11:08.929 --> 0:11:22.380 amomentofyourtime. Talking about the team, just to go back really 0:11:22.380 --> 0:11:24.689 quick, was it an active choice where you said, " I'm 0:11:24.699 --> 0:11:26.920 going to reach into my past for all of these people?" 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:29.100 Or did it become kind of a reflex for you 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:32.099 that suddenly you found yourself bringing in people from your past? 0:11:32.329 --> 0:11:35.420 No, it wasn't an active choice. It just happened that 0:11:35.420 --> 0:11:38.370 way. It started with Matt and I reading this article 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:40.550 and getting very excited about it. So in a way, 0:11:40.550 --> 0:11:43.540 it did get started with somebody who I had been wanting to 0:11:43.540 --> 0:11:46.010 work with since I first worked with him. And life happens and 0:11:46.010 --> 0:11:48.670 you go in different directions. So we've always stayed connected 0:11:48.670 --> 0:11:51.030 over the years through friends and helping each other on 0:11:51.030 --> 0:11:54.119 projects that we worked on. And so that was very 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.740 exciting and that's what started it. But then when looking 0:11:56.740 --> 0:11:59.770 for a director, we were trying to find who is 0:11:59.770 --> 0:12:02.479 the person to direct this? Because some things that I said 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:04.350 of having to have somebody who could sort of take 0:12:04.350 --> 0:12:07.740 on space and also we felt like would get that 0:12:07.740 --> 0:12:10.280 this is really a show about the nuanced moments the 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.360 characters had. And so Ed was just the person to 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.839 direct it. And it was very exciting in talking to 0:12:16.839 --> 0:12:19.270 him about it once he read the script and decided 0:12:19.270 --> 0:12:22.229 he wanted to do it. What's great about Ed is once 0:12:22.230 --> 0:12:24.559 he is in, he's in. And it just like, he 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:27.850 became as invested in wrecking this as he would be in 0:12:27.850 --> 0:12:31.249 anything that he had directed or features or I think 0:12:31.250 --> 0:12:33.949 anything that he's done. And it was really lovely to 0:12:33.949 --> 0:12:36.329 have that experience of working with him in that way 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:38.870 and watch him take this on. And while I worked 0:12:38.870 --> 0:12:40.219 with him on My So- Called Life, I got a 0:12:40.429 --> 0:12:43.429 little bit of a glimpse into his process as a 0:12:43.429 --> 0:12:46.679 director. This gave me much more of a window into 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:49.160 that. He's a master. And it was really great to 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:51.410 be able to work with him. And it's like you can 0:12:51.410 --> 0:12:54.270 sort of see, when you watch the pilot episode, how 0:12:54.270 --> 0:12:57.629 much he took on to sort of create the aesthetic for the show and 0:12:58.140 --> 0:13:01.530 the look of the show and to get these wonderful performances 0:13:01.709 --> 0:13:03.079 from Hilary and the rest of the cast. 0:13:03.610 --> 0:13:06.270 Do you find that in this stage of your career 0:13:06.270 --> 0:13:08.900 you're still learning from people in situations like that? 0:13:09.270 --> 0:13:11.760 Oh, it's no doubt. I mean, look, it's no doubt. 0:13:11.829 --> 0:13:15.749 Every time you take on a project, you're challenging yourself 0:13:15.750 --> 0:13:18.109 in a different way. Everything has to be in some 0:13:18.110 --> 0:13:21.800 way something that you feel like you're just starting when you do 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:23.939 it. It's more exciting when you do a show and 0:13:24.059 --> 0:13:26.269 you get a little scared when you're doing it. And 0:13:26.270 --> 0:13:28.120 can I do this? Or is this going to be where they 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:32.780 discover that I'm a fraud? And this one more than 0:13:32.780 --> 0:13:35.530 others that I've taken on because it just was such an 0:13:35.610 --> 0:13:40.020 undertaking to do it. And you really just had to have 0:13:40.020 --> 0:13:44.150 such faith because it's also a visual effects show. I 0:13:44.150 --> 0:13:46.219 mean, so much of the stuff that happens in space. I 0:13:46.219 --> 0:13:49.579 mean, the spaceship was built, but all of the environments that 0:13:49.579 --> 0:13:51.839 were outside of that ship were visual effects. And of 0:13:51.839 --> 0:13:55.069 course, we were doing things like hanging people on wires. 0:13:55.069 --> 0:13:59.800 And especially the bigger set piece sequences, especially in the 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:03.609 second episode, there's a huge spacewalk sequence. And when I 0:14:03.610 --> 0:14:07.050 watched the first cut and there was no visual effects 0:14:07.059 --> 0:14:10.309 in it yet, and I was like, " Okay, I'm just going 0:14:10.589 --> 0:14:13.989 to have faith that this is going to be good." 0:14:13.990 --> 0:14:17.250 And those visual effects, our team was amazing, but it 0:14:17.250 --> 0:14:19.930 takes a long time when you have a big sequence 0:14:19.930 --> 0:14:23.140 like that. It takes a long time for seeing what that 0:14:23.490 --> 0:14:26.960 exterior of the spaceship and the moonscape is going to look 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:29.850 like. And it takes a long time so that the 0:14:29.850 --> 0:14:32.820 details are put in so that it actually feels real, it 0:14:32.820 --> 0:14:35.790 actually feels like the astronauts are walking on the moon. 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:38.940 It's not until the very end when you put together 0:14:39.020 --> 0:14:41.060 the sort of details and the visual effects along with 0:14:41.130 --> 0:14:44.950 the sound effects, you can actually suspend your disbelief. So that was 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:48.300 something that so many people that do what I do 0:14:48.300 --> 0:14:50.380 have been doing that stuff for years, I just haven't 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:54.239 done those types of shows. And so it was exciting for 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.540 me to do it. And it was a total learning 0:14:56.540 --> 0:14:59.440 experience. And working with Ed, it was a learning experience. 0:14:59.900 --> 0:15:02.009 Even though I had worked with him before, it was 0:15:02.010 --> 0:15:06.440 a different context. And I got to, on one hand, 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:09.670 collaborate with him in a way that I hadn't before. But 0:15:09.670 --> 0:15:11.540 in another hand, I sort of got a sort of 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:14.440 front row seat to watch him do what he does. 0:15:15.020 --> 0:15:17.650 The anti- gravity stuff wasn't just outside the ship. It 0:15:17.650 --> 0:15:20.530 was also inside. So does that mean you had the actors on 0:15:20.530 --> 0:15:23.220 wires for all of those scenes then when they'd pop 0:15:23.220 --> 0:15:25.550 in, say something sassy, and float out of the room? 0:15:25.790 --> 0:15:28.340 That's right. Yeah. So there was a lot of wire 0:15:28.340 --> 0:15:30.950 work. The actors had to go through sort of pretty 0:15:30.950 --> 0:15:34.359 intense training to do that, way more intense than they 0:15:34.610 --> 0:15:37.410 imagined. When we first sat down and met with Hilary 0:15:37.500 --> 0:15:40.060 about doing the part, we talked about the character and we 0:15:40.060 --> 0:15:42.640 talked about it. She was so excited about this show 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.170 because it was her dream when she was an eight 0:15:45.170 --> 0:15:47.070 year old girls to be an astronaut. So she was 0:15:47.070 --> 0:15:49.840 all in from the beginning. And we sort of brought 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:52.729 up, because it was important to bring up at the beginning that there was 0:15:53.010 --> 0:15:54.720 going to be wire work and there's going to be training, it 0:15:55.150 --> 0:15:57.330 was going to be intense. And she was like, " Oh, 0:15:57.330 --> 0:16:00.430 I'm all in. I'm ready." That's such a big part 0:16:00.430 --> 0:16:04.100 of her life. And we were like, " Oh my God." Very excited that she 0:16:04.100 --> 0:16:07.200 was up for it. But even Hilary, who in her 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:11.970 regular life has an insane fitness routine, even she was 0:16:12.060 --> 0:16:15.330 a little bit challenged and overwhelmed by just how much 0:16:15.330 --> 0:16:17.540 it took for her and for all of them to 0:16:17.690 --> 0:16:19.700 do that. But not only the work that they had 0:16:19.700 --> 0:16:22.030 to do while you were wired, but to act while you're 0:16:22.250 --> 0:16:25.420 doing it. And so that was a big undertaking. But 0:16:25.420 --> 0:16:28.590 we had such an amazing crew and we spent so 0:16:28.590 --> 0:16:33.330 long prepping for this stuff. I do think the actual 0:16:33.390 --> 0:16:39.120 process of doing it was less chaotic and overwhelming than 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:42.019 it seemed as we were planning it. And that has 0:16:42.020 --> 0:16:46.450 a lot to do with the team. Ed's work, preparation, 0:16:46.540 --> 0:16:49.050 David Boyd, again, our DP, that I've been trying to 0:16:49.109 --> 0:16:52.009 work with David since Friday Night Lights and finally lured 0:16:52.109 --> 0:16:56.130 him here between Ed and space, I got him. But 0:16:56.570 --> 0:16:59.619 because on Friday Night Lights, he was a DP who 0:16:59.620 --> 0:17:03.940 was so fearless and embraced the way we wanted to 0:17:03.940 --> 0:17:06.700 shoot that show, more than embraced the way we want 0:17:06.700 --> 0:17:08.740 to shoot it, he helped create the way we shot 0:17:08.740 --> 0:17:11.760 that show. That was obviously a very different animal. I mean, 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:15.519 it was a lot about shooting handheld and with no rehearsal and taking 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:17.590 the sort of down and dirty approach. This is a 0:17:17.590 --> 0:17:21.889 very different thing, but he approached it in the same fearless 0:17:21.889 --> 0:17:24.379 way. And it was just everything that we said, can 0:17:24.379 --> 0:17:27.139 we do this? Yes, but we're on a TV budget 0:17:27.139 --> 0:17:29.530 and it's got to look like this. He's like, " Yes." 0:17:29.530 --> 0:17:32.070 He sort of planned it out. And we had so 0:17:32.070 --> 0:17:35.159 much going for us once we actually started shooting. 0:17:35.830 --> 0:17:38.710 You've said that the isolation aspect of the story has 0:17:38.710 --> 0:17:42.389 become obviously more poignant during the coronavirus times. Are there 0:17:42.389 --> 0:17:45.750 parts of the show that you connect to now more 0:17:45.750 --> 0:17:46.869 than you did before? 0:17:47.129 --> 0:17:50.149 Yeah. The thing that was interesting is we shot the show 0:17:50.149 --> 0:17:52.330 and then it was that middle couple of weeks in 0:17:52.330 --> 0:17:55.450 March that were, I think for all of us, these 0:17:55.450 --> 0:17:59.189 surreal moments where we went from thinking we had a 0:17:59.190 --> 0:18:02.359 couple months left of post and we were already finished 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.670 shooting. We went from thinking, " We're a small group here, 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:09.359 we could finish up." And we went from that to 0:18:09.399 --> 0:18:12.399 literally in a 24 hour period realizing no, everybody has 0:18:12.399 --> 0:18:14.960 to go home. They have to go home right now. And 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:18.300 we just basically, without even knowing how we were going 0:18:18.369 --> 0:18:20.830 to finish the show, we just sent everybody home. And 0:18:20.830 --> 0:18:24.760 then at this point, it was our editor, mostly our 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:28.519 visual effects artists, post- production people, our mixers, all of 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.040 those people. And of course, all of us are the sort 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:33.940 of producers and directors who are still looking at cuts. 0:18:34.010 --> 0:18:36.660 And we just said, " We are going to just have 0:18:36.740 --> 0:18:38.490 to figure out a way to do this a little 0:18:38.490 --> 0:18:41.879 differently." And we sort of took out that sort of human connection 0:18:41.879 --> 0:18:44.510 aspect of it. And there was a lot of watching 0:18:44.580 --> 0:18:48.470 cuts on my computer at home, emailing notes or getting 0:18:48.470 --> 0:18:50.570 on Zoom and going back and forth with notes in 0:18:50.629 --> 0:18:54.170 that way. And suddenly, I was watching cuts while this 0:18:54.210 --> 0:18:56.919 was happened and all the episodes resonated in this way that 0:18:57.210 --> 0:18:59.780 felt different than they did before because it felt like, 0:18:59.780 --> 0:19:03.350 in a weird way, working together on this show, we were 0:19:03.350 --> 0:19:06.050 going through that sort of feeling of being away that 0:19:06.050 --> 0:19:08.240 is what the show is about. And of course, in 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:10.959 a bigger way, all of us were being separated from 0:19:11.010 --> 0:19:13.760 our friends and, a lot of cases, our family members, 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:16.310 and had to find new ways to try to stay connected. 0:19:16.310 --> 0:19:19.760 And we're dealing with the effects of what it feels 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:22.970 like when you're isolated and when you're not connected. And 0:19:22.970 --> 0:19:26.040 that's the theme of the show. It's a theme that 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:30.010 resonated us before this happened, but honestly, it just feels more 0:19:30.070 --> 0:19:32.790 moving to me, even more moving to me, watching it 0:19:32.790 --> 0:19:35.729 now in this context. So the beautiful thing about the 0:19:35.730 --> 0:19:41.330 show is that it's so uplifting and it's aspirational. That's 0:19:41.330 --> 0:19:43.169 really the beautiful thing about it. So when you're watching 0:19:43.169 --> 0:19:45.090 it, it's not like, " Oh, this is what it's like to 0:19:45.090 --> 0:19:47.560 be in quarantine." It's not that experience. I mean, the 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:50.790 experience is one of a feeling of being connected, it says 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:54.909 feeling of coming together and doing something for the greater 0:19:54.909 --> 0:19:57.030 good and testing the limits of what we can do 0:19:57.030 --> 0:20:01.149 as human beings. So it's got very high aspirations in 0:20:01.149 --> 0:20:03.270 that way, but it does feel, when you watch some of 0:20:03.350 --> 0:20:06.640 these scenes of people being separated, you connect sometimes in just 0:20:06.649 --> 0:20:08.719 a visceral way and sometimes in a literal way. I 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:11.990 mean, when you see, in the first episode, Hilary trying 0:20:11.990 --> 0:20:14.340 to talk to her husband who's in the hospital and 0:20:14.340 --> 0:20:16.899 she can't be with him in the hospital. Well, that's 0:20:16.899 --> 0:20:20.470 a very literal connection that we can all relate to 0:20:20.470 --> 0:20:24.320 now having lived through this for over the last period 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:26.889 of months. And so it definitely feels like the show 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:30.270 has become something that I feel even more connected to 0:20:30.270 --> 0:20:31.600 than before this happened. 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:35.629 The mission in the show is set to be three years long. Is 0:20:35.629 --> 0:20:37.590 that the plan for the show? Or do you have 0:20:37.669 --> 0:20:40.340 an idea of the arc of what the ideal length 0:20:40.340 --> 0:20:40.760 would be? 0:20:41.050 --> 0:20:44.060 We have sort of ideas about it. We've talked about it both among 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:47.490 Jess and Andrew and I and the writers. We've talked 0:20:47.490 --> 0:20:51.250 about it to Netflix. We sort of think that the length 0:20:51.250 --> 0:20:53.810