WEBVTT - Betsy Beers 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:02.720 I always say like shows are like kids. I have 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:04.640 no children, So this is as close as I can 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:09.240 get to the analogy in that the oldest show is 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:12.160 like having a kid who's left the house and has 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:15.320 gone to college or is so when there's an emergency, 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:18.160 when there's a real issue, you check in. Yeah, you 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:22.720 celebrate birthdays, you know it's correct. You make yourself available 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:25.880 for whatever's necessary. But honestly, you you spend a lot 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:37.160 of time lauding them for their thriving survival in Hi, 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:41.440 I'm Betsy Beers and I make television. 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:51.320 Hi, everybody, you found us. If you were looking, you 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:55.040 have found us. We are off the beat and I 0:00:55.080 --> 0:01:00.240 am your host. Brian Bamgartner. I'm very excited about today's gat. 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.600 You know, usually we talk to actors, or we talk 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:09.360 to athletes, sometimes musicians, but today I'm talking to a 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:15.160 powerhouse in television. She is the force behind many of 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:16.440 your favorite shows. 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:19.120 She is Betsy Beers. 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:22.120 Now she's not the face you see on screen, but 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:26.600 she is someone whose work you know and I promise 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:30.399 you love. She is the producing partner of Shonda Rhymes. 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.440 And even though Shonda's name is the one in the 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:38.880 title of Shonda Lant. Betsy has always been right beside 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:43.440 her from day one on Grey's Anatomy. She's also executive 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:47.800 produced Private Practice, The Catch, Scandal for the People, How 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:51.880 To Get Away with Murder Station nineteen Bridgerton, Inventing Anna, 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:58.200 and Upcoming The Residence. She is amazing and you are 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:03.000 going to love what she has to say today. Before 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:05.920 she was the other half of the Shondaland Empire, she 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:10.520 brought you some of your favorite indie classics like Safe 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:15.000 Passage with Susan Sarandon, Two Hundred Cigarettes with Ben Afflack 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:20.520 and Kate Hudson, High Fidelity, The Hoax, Just Chef's Kiss 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:24.239 to all of it. And apart from her amazing body 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:27.440 of work, she has an amazing story to tell as well, 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:32.240 from studying to be an actor to realizing maybe it 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:36.160 wasn't her calling to where she is today. This is 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:39.680 a fascinating conversation for me. I know it will be 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:46.720 for you as well. Here she is the incredible Betsy bears. 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:51.679 Bubble and Squeak. 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:55.880 I love it, Bubble and Squeakano. 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:02.560 Bubble and Squeaker, cook it every move from the Nuo. 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:18.520 Hi Betsy, Hi, Hi Brian, how are you. 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:24.560 I'm peachey. It's a Monday after holiday, and I'm peachee. 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:27.480 You said it was a Monday after the holiday. I 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:29.680 just I don't want to scare you. It's tuesday. 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.519 Oh no, oh no, I did it again. 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:33.840 It's tuesday. 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:35.760 It's the last weekend. Oh no? 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:38.640 Was it? 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:38.760 Was? 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:39.680 It a good weekend? 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:42.600 It was lovely. Thank you for asking. It was actually 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:48.040 relatively relaxing and relatively planned free, which sometimes is the 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:51.840 best thing personally for me. I just it was. It was. 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:53.720 It was pretty chill, which was good. How about you. 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:54.480 That's good. 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:57.400 Mine was the opposite, actually, and I'm with you. I 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:00.920 like I like your I think I had ree barbecues 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.440 in three days, my lord, I know well, and of 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:07.440 course I end up having to cook no matter, none 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:09.600 of them were at my house, yet I still somehow 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:14.400 managed to be behind the grill. But it was it 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:17.200 was nice. I mean, I appreciate you taking the time. 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:19.640 I'm glad you had a relaxing weekend. 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:21.000 You are well. 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:24.200 You're you're the busiest woman is showbiz. I think well, 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:26.159 and have been for a long time. 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:30.680 You know, you get in less trouble if you stay busy. Right, Yeah, 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:34.880 we're very, very fortunate to be busy and happily working 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:38.760 and all that other kind of good stuff. So it's, uh, yeah, 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.200 it's it's been a little aerobic, and you know it's good. 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:44.600 Everyone's well, just to sit and stare into space and 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:45.520 walk the. 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:46.920 Dog, that's right, you know. 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:49.880 Well, that's that's why I cook. That's because then I 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:51.440 don't have to think about anything else. 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:51.840 Exactly. 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:55.040 My husband does all the cooking, and that's partially why 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:57.720 he cooks. Is he just just like I'm going to 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.560 stand here and cook and y'all can greu what heck 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:01.400 you want to talk about? 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.160 All right, Well, we have a lot to talk about today, 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:10.960 I know, I know. Just don't get nervous. It's fine. 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:13.279 Just think of it this way. It's my this is 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:16.000 me auditioning you. Okay, that's all it is. So don't 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:18.280 get nervous. 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:20.120 Just as I don't have to do like an up 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:21.560 tempo and a ballot. I'm fine. 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.440 Oh here's here's the thing. It's just like they say, 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:25.760 when you're auditioning. 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:29.400 I want to like you, so I want I want 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.799 I want to think that you're right for this, Betsy. 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:35.320 So don't don't be nervous. There's no reasons. 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.680 Okay, that's good. Okay. Yeah. 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:45.120 Well, and I understand after my extensive research team and 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:48.000 myself did some research on you. You you you started 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:49.880 out acting. We're going to talk about that in a minute. 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:55.200 But you you grew up in Massachusetts. No, no, no, I. 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:56.480 Grew up to Long Island. 0:05:57.520 --> 0:05:57.920 There you go. 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:02.000 Okay, where's that correct team? Right now? 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:03.280 That's what I There you go. 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:07.640 It's a it's a common mistake. Ran, it's a common mistake. 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:09.640 I love, okay, because you went to you went to 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:13.200 Milton there, the boarding school in Massachusetts, but you came 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:18.839 from Long Island. I was just there roundabouts last week, 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:22.040 beautiful area of the country. Tell me a little bit 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:26.680 about you growing up there on Long Island? Are you 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:28.440 interested in as a as a kid? 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:36.120 I was interested in mainly acting. Actually, Like I grew up. 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.320 To give you some backstory, my father was an agent. 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:43.640 He was older when he had me. He died when 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:46.760 I was pretty young, but I had a number of 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.320 formative years with him where we spent a lot of 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.440 time at home. My mother was working. He happened to 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:55.279 be there, and a lot of what I learned in 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:59.920 terms of how to identify people read, came from city 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:04.800 with him and watching television or reading books about plays 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:08.880 because he was a theater agent. Okay, And so from 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:11.320 a really early age, it seemed like the only thing 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.240 that was interesting was acting. I liked that, and I 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:21.080 liked reading, and I liked badminton weirdly because we had 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:22.280 a badminton. 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:27.120 That and I really long. That's a long island thing, right, 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:27.880 I don't know. 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:29.440 Man, I don't know. Like I think it was the 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:31.640 only thing we could fit in the yard, right, you know? 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:35.240 It was like so, and I loved to torture my 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:37.720 sister by following her around too is my older sister, 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:40.840 and desperately trying to get involved in every single thing 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.840 she was doing, which of course meant that she would 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:45.920 figure out jobs for me to do, like pick up 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:49.040 dog poop and that's what, So, this is your job? 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:51.880 You wanted to help so long, within a way of saying, like, 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.080 very very early on, I thought, wow, acting must be 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.480 great because my dad loves them and they're on TV 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.360 and they seem to be good. Well do you know 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:03.440 about that too? Since you're on TV? 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:06.840 Well, I mean I get I get a little bit 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:09.280 about why that would be attractive for people. 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:13.400 You But so when did you start? When did you 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:15.520 go to boarding school? Is this your board? 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:18.320 I went to boarding school. Now, it wasn't like Dickensie 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:19.760 and I was five type thing. 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:21.400 Okay, it was. 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:25.320 I went to boarding school when I was about fourteen 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:27.760 thirteen fourteen. It was my sophomore year in high school. 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:32.200 So my school, my elementary school, finished in ninth grade 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:33.640 and then you either had to go off to a 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:36.920 high school or go way to boarding school. So both 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:38.959 my sisters went to boarding school. A lot of the 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:40.760 people at the school went to boarding school, so it 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:45.280 was not it was not a you know, incredibly untoward 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:47.800 or unknown thing to me because I'd watched both sisters 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:48.320 go off. 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.280 And do it. Right. Do you do? 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:54.920 You do you feel like that being on your own early? 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.160 Was there an independence thing that you gained there? And 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:00.960 partly I'll tell you why I asked because because I 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.520 didn't go to boarding school, but I did go to 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:08.640 this program between junior and senior year of high school 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:11.559 where I went to Northwestern. 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:13.640 University for oh wow, eight. 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:17.160 Weeks or something and was studying theater there. And I 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:20.400 was like, probably too young to do that, but I 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:23.600 was like, oh wow, like, this is what it means 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:26.480 to like be on my own. And even I remember, 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:29.640 you know, taking is at the l right, taking it 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:33.520 in from from Northwestern into the city. I saw a 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:36.800 baseball game, like on my own. It's like, wait, this 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:39.520 doesn't happen at home. There's there's just sort of a 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:43.560 level of independence you have just just by having that space. 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:46.040 I feel like you you begin to do things on 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:48.200 your own a little bit earlier. You think that's true. 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:50.080 Can I ask you a question, did you ever go 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:54.280 to camp? I did, yes, because camp was sort of 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:56.800 like the starter kit in a way, Like I went 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.400 away to camp. I went to a sleepway camp, and yeah, 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:02.160 it's like boarding school. There there were house mothers and 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.560 there are people in charge and stuff. But it was 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:08.240 definitely the first time I was really away from home 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:14.040 and I sort of understood that, yeah, your your whole 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:16.800 life and sort of personality and the way you reacted 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:21.720 wasn't solely dependent on your home situation. Because I know, 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:25.240 like for me, I ended up loving camp and I 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:28.719 loved boarding school. I think it was a wise thing 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:30.280 at a particular point for me to get out of 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:33.560 the house. It just it was there was more for 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:36.680 me to explore and more to do. And at that 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:39.080 stage of the game, both my sisters, who were older 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:41.040 were out of the house and I was alone with 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:41.440 my mother. 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:47.960 So it's you know, which God bless her understanding here? 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:49.320 Yes, yes, you. 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:52.680 Might, you might, you might know what that that feels like. So, yeah, 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:56.760 it was. I found boarding school to be the most amazing, 0:10:56.800 --> 0:11:01.360 delightful experience ever. And I I think I found a 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:03.080 lot of my own confidence there. I don't know if 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:06.199 you felt that way by going to your Stinton Northwestern, 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.640 but I really started to develop my own voice, I 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:13.360 really started to understand what and I had a great education. 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:17.720 Milton is a great school, and you know, I think 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:21.719 it was just this amazing exposure to all this all 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:25.679 these different areas of study and people who were both 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:29.000 the same and different, and it was I loved. I 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:31.400 loved the experience. I found incredibly liberating. 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:32.320 Yeah. 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:40.000 Uh, you go to Williams College, prestigious, Williams prestige college. 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:44.600 Uh and and you studied acting there. So at this point, 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:45.440 is this what you. 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:47.680 Want to do? You want to you want to be 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:49.880 repped by your dad or whatever, and you want to 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:50.520 be an actor. 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:54.960 Well, my father, unfortunately died to get out, clearly, clearly, 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:57.120 to get out of repping me. I think we should 0:11:57.160 --> 0:11:58.600 just we should just make it clear. 0:11:58.640 --> 0:11:59.200 I made it. 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.640 I made it. I made a choice, and you know what, 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:03.280 it failed. 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:06.880 Sorry, you know it, and it didn't fail. It just 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:09.920 was a choice. It's fine. And you couldn't comprol whether 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:12.240 he died or not. What are you freaking psychic? 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:14.400 No, no, no, that wasn't in my research. 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:20.079 Well, i'd be surprised. I'd worry about your researchers if 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.120 honestly they were sitting around going like life expectancy of 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:27.160 Betsy's family. No. I started actually like when I was 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:31.760 about five or six. I remember I was the I 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:36.360 was a butterfly in the local production of Noah's Ark. 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:42.240 Remember, and I remember, I remember, Okay, it was it 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:42.960 was amazing. 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:45.760 It got clearly four stars on YELP. 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:46.720 So I. 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:50.720 Thought that it was terrific. And I kept acting all 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:52.880 the way through elementary school, and then acted all through 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:55.000 high school, and then acted all the way through college. 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:59.319 So by the time I think I was twelve thirteen, 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:01.079 I was pretty sure sure that that's what I wanted 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:04.040 to do. But I also knew that I had to 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:07.080 go through college, and I wanted to go through school 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:10.120 and you know, finish all that before I before I 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:13.240 hit the boards. So that was that was definitively what 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:15.280 I was going to do. There was one brief period 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:18.760 when I studied. I did a year abroad in London 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:23.040 to study theater and literature, and I had a great 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:28.320 literature professor who sort of said, you know, you might 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:30.920 have you ever thought of going into literary criticism because 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:33.120 you know how to analyze books and stories and I 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:36.480 loved reading. And I was like, no, I want to 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:38.040 be an actress. I just want to be loved, I 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.560 you know, like you normally do. And he was like, well, 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:44.000 this would be an interesting career path if you wanted to. 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:46.800 And you know, I haven't thought about that until very 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:50.720 recently when I realized, I guess that's what I'm sort 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:56.440 of doing, is evaluating literature. So basically, yeah, I went. 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:59.520 I got out of college, I went straight to New York. 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.440 I did some summer theater and then some really bad 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:06.720 dinner theater. Did you ever do dinner theater? 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:11.600 I never did. If they were I needed more attention 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:14.559 just about to. 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:19.640 Say that it's the worst. There's nothing like doing a 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:22.920 British force and running around like in your underwear on 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:27.760 a stage while people are asking for prime rip, like 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:34.640 there's just sauce. It's also like the clink clink clink 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:37.440 clink clink of silverware and stuff. It was. It was 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:39.960 just it was beyond humiliating and it should have been 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:43.320 an early harbinger for my career. But I got I 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:46.600 got to New York, and uh, it was very clear 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:48.600 I was never going to be like Lady Macbeth. So 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:53.440 I tried it and got into this improvisation group. And 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:56.600 I did that and realized, oh, I really love sketching, 0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:00.640 improv comedy. Comedy seem like a real good plan. 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:01.640 You know. 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.920 I actually about the Dinner Theater though you know, this 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:07.480 was this was this is a number of years ago. 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.280 But I realized, and maybe the only person who has 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:14.400 like truly emerged from Dinner Theater Amy Adams chan Hassen 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:18.000 Dinner Theater musical theater in Minneapolis, because I spent some 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:19.080 time in Minneapolis. 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.040 So there you go. There's some fun. There's a fun 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:22.040 fact for you today. 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:28.880 Somebody, somebody, somebody succeeded in see you know what, you 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:31.560 know what Amy Adams got them to put their forks 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:34.160 and knives down for a second and focus on something 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:35.960 besides the lava tower. 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:41.560 That was that's right, Uh comedy, Yeah, that's I did 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:42.120 not know. 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:44.760 That about you. You were doing and so you fell 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.720 in love with like So it was improverse, like sketch 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:49.200 that was sketched like. 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:53.000 I started with improv and it was a group that 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.080 was around in New York when I graduated, which was 0:15:56.800 --> 0:16:00.400 the early eighties, late seventies, early eighties. Yes I'm old, 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.920 and I found this group and it was kind of 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:07.400 an offshoot of the Proposition in Boston, which were people 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:09.360 who don't know is where, like Jane Curtin came from 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:12.360 and was one of the along with Second City, was 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:17.200 sort of one of the the og improv groups and 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:21.080 I did. I performed with them for a while and 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:23.640 then met a couple of people and we branched off 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:27.120 and started our own group where we did sketch. I 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:30.320 wrote the music, my friends did sketches that were based 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:32.400 on our things, and then we did like theme shows 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:38.000 and we performed them and I acted in commercials sometimes 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:40.040 to support that. But I wasn't very good at that. 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:43.120 I was way better at auditioning and making shit up 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:44.840 and then they would take the shit I made and 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:46.720 then they'd make it into the commercial, but they wouldn't 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:49.920 hire me, so which was okay. And then I got, 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:52.800 you know, the other kind of the the canary and 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:54.760 the coal mine when one of the AD execs took 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:56.520 me out to drink and he said, you ever thought 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:58.760 of being an AD executive? Because you'd be amazing And 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.000 I was like, no, I just want to be loved. 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:05.960 What kind of a doctor? And let's just say, Brian, 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:07.359 that's the way it went for a while. 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:13.800 Well that is I I'm telling you, I have not 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:15.800 I have not thought about this in years and years. 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:17.159 But see, and I was. 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:20.159 I was one of the protective ones, right like I 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:22.960 was when I was auditioning for commercials and it would 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:27.280 be like, just improv this moment eating pizza, and I 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:30.359 would be like, you know what, what I come up 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:31.800 with is better than what they're going to come up with, 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:33.119 and then they're going to steal it from me and 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:35.720 they're going to hire somebody else. So now, how how 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:39.480 do I how how can I possibly succeed in this scenario? 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:42.840 And exactly, yeah. 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:46.240 I see you were so much smarter if if I 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:49.080 had met you in the future, but the present for 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:51.280 me that the future, because you'd be in the future, 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:53.280 I would have said, you would have come to me 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:56.520 and you would have said, dude, you've got this all wrong. 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.879 They're just raping and pillaging your slightly crappy material to 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:05.879 less crappy. I mean, how long did you do commercials? 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:08.560 I did not very much. 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:11.720 I mean, I I know I didn't. I mean I 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:15.119 still have like visceral. 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:20.120 What is it, uh two oh one South Librea one 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:22.359 one oh one. 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:26.800 The enormous like I have like an actor's nightmare, but 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:29.560 not about forgetting my lines on stage, like that of 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:36.200 walking into that bullpen where they're simultaneously auditioning for twelve 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:40.000 commercials at one time, and I was, I was, I 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:42.359 was a good boy, Like I would go to the 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:44.560 doors that I actually had an appointment, and then I 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:47.359 would watch these people too, who are probably smarter than me, 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:50.520 probably Amy Adams, where they would want it would go, 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:53.840 and they would they would just walk around and if 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:57.520 they saw like a similar looking type person to that, 0:18:57.600 --> 0:18:59.399 they would just go sign in and just go audition. 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:00.639 I'm like doing that. 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:04.840 Oh my god, that's so gutsy, that's so Gutsy. I 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:09.480 primarily auditioned badly in New York. I did some auditioning 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:11.919 badly in LA, but I really locked it up in 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:15.159 New York. And I remember thinking, I walked into one audition, 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:17.040 I haven't thought about this in years because I'm having 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:20.880 total PTSD right now right. And they also never knew 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:22.320 what to send me out for, so it was like 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:24.440 I was like twenty six and they sent me out 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:26.600 for like a Tampax commercial, and they're all these girls 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:29.280 who are twelve, and they're like, like, what am I 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.280 doing here? But I remember walking walking into this one 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:36.199 audition and Robert Morse was sitting there and he was 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:41.639 waiting to read, like, come, I don't know ben Gate commercial, 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:44.639 and I was like, oh my god, it's Robert Morrison. 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:46.640 For all of you who aren't listening, Robert Morse, one 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:49.879 of the finest actors, made his name for most people 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:51.960 and had to how to succeed in business without really 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:54.320 trying a Broadway ended up obviously a lot of people 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:56.280 know from mad Men, but this guy was a god 0:19:56.320 --> 0:20:00.520 to me. And I remember walking in and you have 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:02.280 this moment you go like you can't go up to 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:04.240 him and go like what the fuck are you doing here? 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:08.879 Like why are you auditioning? Because like all the ship's 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:12.120 going on in my head and this weird jinga that's happening. 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:14.359 But part of me was going, this is not a 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:18.119 good route. This is this is this is not a 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:22.000 do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:25.639 This is yeah, so so many, so many warnings, Brian, 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:26.920 so many warnings. 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:29.879 Here here's the thing, Betsy. Still, I still deal with 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:35.080 that to this very day. So you changed, you changed paths, 0:20:35.720 --> 0:20:38.000 and that was that was very smart in. 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:41.000 That read I changed past and I actually, in fairness, 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:43.800 like I realized I got this job when I came 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:46.520 out to Los Angeles. I was a really good waiter 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:48.600 by the way, in New York, and I could not 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:53.280 get a job waitressing in LA because in the late eighties, 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:55.320 as a woman, you could not get a job in 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:58.040 a fine dining restaurant as a waiter, like it was 0:20:58.080 --> 0:20:59.959 pretty much for Boton. You could go to a coffee, 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:02.879 you could go to like edd Bebeck's, which is this 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:05.520 old timy place that used to be, but you couldn't. 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:08.679 And a friend of mine suggested reading scripts, and so 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:12.560 I started reading scripts to make money. And I like 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:15.040 sent things out blindly. I didn't really know anybody, And 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:17.520 after like two weeks people started calling and they were like, 0:21:18.359 --> 0:21:20.800 this is really good coverage because for people who don't know, 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:23.600 you read a script or a book and you write 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:25.840 down the whole plot synopsis like a book report, and 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:27.359 then you give sort of comments as to what you 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:28.960 would do to either make it better or whether or 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:33.880 not it sucked or And after like years of acting badly, 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:37.760 in like three months four months, I got a job 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:42.160 reading at a studio, at a movie studio, and they 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:44.359 offered me this full time job. And I sat and 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:47.639 I drove around Beverly Hills where the studio was with 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:49.200 my friend in a car, and I was like, I 0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:51.520 don't know what to do? And he said, how do 0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:54.320 you feel when you do this? And I said, it's easy. 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:56.679 I really like it. I can solve problems. It's like 0:21:57.119 --> 0:21:59.400 my brain works like it's a puzzle. I love puzzles. 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:00.840 You said, how do you feel like when you're acting? 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:03.840 I said, I love acting, but I just it's so 0:22:04.040 --> 0:22:07.760 painful and I'm just I feel like I'm not good enough. 0:22:07.760 --> 0:22:12.359 And he was like, is that your answer? And you know, 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:16.680 dear reader, The best thing is that the super skill 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:19.240 it gives you is when you go into producing, you 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:23.480 love actors so much that and I genuinely love and 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:25.679 have so much respect for actors because I don't know 0:22:25.720 --> 0:22:27.560 how the hell you do what you do, Like I think, 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:29.960 it's such a hard job. And I can tell you 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:31.920 for me, it was really hard. 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:54.560 That was at United Artists, right where you started. Yeah, 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:55.480 where you started. 0:22:55.680 --> 0:22:59.000 You started reading, and so I've got a bunch of pieces, 0:22:59.560 --> 0:23:01.520 but I want to kind of have you help me 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:06.280 navigate what happens. So you're reading scripts and then I 0:23:06.320 --> 0:23:10.600 read you got into development at Booboo Productions. So was 0:23:11.320 --> 0:23:15.000 this a natural transition or well. 0:23:14.880 --> 0:23:15.440 It's greed. 0:23:17.280 --> 0:23:19.000 You know what. I got a mini upgrade while I 0:23:19.040 --> 0:23:21.800 was still United Artists because I got there. I started 0:23:21.800 --> 0:23:25.359 reading scripts and the same thing happened there that had 0:23:25.359 --> 0:23:27.840 happened actually with companies before I took the job, which 0:23:27.880 --> 0:23:32.639 is I started to get invited upstairs to give notes 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:35.159 to actors like I made. I went to all the 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:37.360 different executives and met them to try to figure out 0:23:37.359 --> 0:23:40.920 what they wanted. And one executive in particular, Ruth Vitally, 0:23:41.000 --> 0:23:43.560 who still is in the business, who was one of 0:23:43.560 --> 0:23:46.600 my first mentors. She would call me and say, I've 0:23:46.600 --> 0:23:50.159 got a writer up here. Can you basically explain what 0:23:50.200 --> 0:23:52.960 you think the script needs and give them notes? And 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:55.280 so I didn't know. I mean, I just gave notes. 0:23:55.680 --> 0:23:58.280 And I have to tell you, Brian, like sometimes they 0:23:58.280 --> 0:24:00.400 were really famous writers and I had no idea who 0:24:00.400 --> 0:24:02.280 they were. So like Ron Shelton came in and I 0:24:02.320 --> 0:24:05.000 told him miss scrip sucked. And it was great because 0:24:05.000 --> 0:24:06.959 I would say, to blame it on me, and if 0:24:06.960 --> 0:24:09.920 it's good, you take it like it's fine. Then Ruth 0:24:09.960 --> 0:24:13.800 got a job. UA closed down and I was free 0:24:13.880 --> 0:24:17.280 lancing again, and Ruth got a job with Gary Ye 0:24:17.280 --> 0:24:21.679 of Goldberg Ubu for this short lived but mighty film development. 0:24:22.359 --> 0:24:25.040 And I had done what I think is sort of 0:24:25.760 --> 0:24:29.679 baby development in fixing people's scripts. But then we had 0:24:29.720 --> 0:24:33.359 we had a very large discretionary fund because Gary brand 0:24:33.440 --> 0:24:38.720 family ties, and you know pretty much they were incredibly generous, 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:42.359 and I like to say, like God bless them. I 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:45.800 got paid to learn how to develop and kind of produce, 0:24:46.600 --> 0:24:50.320 and we would basically take the discretionary fund and go 0:24:50.400 --> 0:24:54.440 out and go this person looks nice, let's try writing 0:24:54.520 --> 0:24:56.480 us a good lay had and I learned a ton 0:24:56.600 --> 0:24:58.119 and it was real boots on the ground and it 0:24:58.200 --> 0:25:01.160 was great. And so from there I went after they 0:25:01.200 --> 0:25:06.880 shut down. You might see a pattern starting here. It's okay, 0:25:07.040 --> 0:25:08.400 the pattern changes, you'll see. 0:25:08.480 --> 0:25:11.600 Yeah, I was gonna ask you. 0:25:13.440 --> 0:25:16.000 Yeah, after twenty two years, I think she's probably gonna 0:25:16.040 --> 0:25:20.080 go Yeah, I got you too. This woman, she's just 0:25:20.200 --> 0:25:20.960 got the mark. 0:25:21.480 --> 0:25:21.600 Uh. 0:25:22.000 --> 0:25:24.680 Then I went to work with Galen Hurd and ended 0:25:24.760 --> 0:25:28.960 up running her development and she's doing just fine. Yeah, 0:25:29.000 --> 0:25:32.080 so the curse of non Harry Potter stopped. 0:25:32.119 --> 0:25:38.840 Okay, okay, it's interesting your story about giving notes to 0:25:38.880 --> 0:25:41.680 famous writers and not just not knowing who they were. 0:25:41.800 --> 0:25:44.600 So you were just saying, there is a parallel that 0:25:44.680 --> 0:25:48.679 for me as well, which was I hadn't done the 0:25:48.880 --> 0:25:52.080 film and tell like I hadn't been beaten down in 0:25:52.160 --> 0:25:55.720 a way like everyone else. I had, just I was 0:25:55.720 --> 0:25:59.840 like I was working on theater production after theater production. 0:26:00.080 --> 0:26:03.000 I was just trying to do the best I could 0:26:03.040 --> 0:26:06.040 to create a character within this and make this the 0:26:06.040 --> 0:26:09.159 best show. And so when I came and I think 0:26:09.400 --> 0:26:11.920 meeting the folks on the office so fast and having 0:26:11.920 --> 0:26:15.959 that happen, definitely that was a part of I believe 0:26:16.119 --> 0:26:18.520 why that happened for me at the time, because I 0:26:18.640 --> 0:26:22.320 was too dumb slash an experience to know any better 0:26:22.400 --> 0:26:27.080 or be nervous about anything. Anyway, there's something kind of 0:26:27.080 --> 0:26:30.720 beautiful about that. I mean within your story as well, 0:26:30.760 --> 0:26:35.600 that you were given the freedom to say what you 0:26:36.000 --> 0:26:39.520 thought because you didn't know you weren't supposed to maybe right. 0:26:40.040 --> 0:26:42.200 I think that's absolutely I think that's really well put. 0:26:42.280 --> 0:26:44.880 I do think what you're describing in terms of your 0:26:44.920 --> 0:26:47.320 experience is very similar. So you don't know to be afraid, 0:26:48.040 --> 0:26:50.760 and what it did was it taught me there's no 0:26:50.840 --> 0:26:54.680 point in being afraid. I also, as anybody who knows 0:26:54.840 --> 0:26:58.400 pretty well can tell you that I have a tendency 0:26:58.760 --> 0:27:01.440 if I feel really strongly about something, you can see 0:27:01.480 --> 0:27:03.560 it all over my face. Anyway. I'm a really bad 0:27:03.560 --> 0:27:08.680 facial liar, like I learned. Actually, one place is when 0:27:08.720 --> 0:27:13.760 you're on a set and you're watching something film. It's 0:27:13.880 --> 0:27:17.960 really important to learn not to make weird faces because 0:27:18.320 --> 0:27:20.320 we may not be doing it about the acting, but 0:27:20.440 --> 0:27:22.840 every poor actor will come up and go what I do. 0:27:22.920 --> 0:27:26.879 I'm like nothing, I just the sandwich was bad, and 0:27:26.880 --> 0:27:32.320 they're like no, So I think sadly, I have a 0:27:32.320 --> 0:27:35.159 bad poker face, and I do think what it does 0:27:35.400 --> 0:27:39.920 is it does encourage you to really to act how 0:27:39.960 --> 0:27:43.440 you feel, or to follow your instinct or to because 0:27:43.480 --> 0:27:46.040 it got you that far. And when you realize that 0:27:46.080 --> 0:27:48.399 somehow or another, you gave notes to a fancy person 0:27:48.400 --> 0:27:50.520 and you didn't know that they were fancy, the next 0:27:50.520 --> 0:27:53.240 time you give notes to somebody's fancy or you're in 0:27:53.280 --> 0:27:58.440 a situation with a director or a show, you feel 0:27:58.480 --> 0:28:00.560 very confident in your own choices because I have not 0:28:00.720 --> 0:28:01.560 worked once. 0:28:02.520 --> 0:28:09.320 Right, right, twice exactly. No, that is very true. 0:28:09.400 --> 0:28:12.520 I will about about you having a poco face. I 0:28:12.560 --> 0:28:15.800 will tell you I remember the first time we met. 0:28:16.040 --> 0:28:17.360 I don't know if you remember. 0:28:17.080 --> 0:28:17.479 This or not. 0:28:17.640 --> 0:28:20.399 This is a long long time ago, and I can't 0:28:20.400 --> 0:28:25.080 remember exactly what it was, but it was either something 0:28:25.320 --> 0:28:29.399 in or around the Emmys, some event, and or in 0:28:29.520 --> 0:28:32.720 or around the Screen Actors Guild Awards. It was some 0:28:32.840 --> 0:28:34.440 awards party. 0:28:34.280 --> 0:28:36.240 Were we were on that same circuit. 0:28:36.520 --> 0:28:40.920 I thought, that's right, absolutely, and you were. You were 0:28:41.040 --> 0:28:45.680 just unapologetically kind to me. And I spoke about you 0:28:45.840 --> 0:28:49.200 afterward to some of my other cast mates at the time, 0:28:49.240 --> 0:28:52.120 and I was like, you know it was just really nice, 0:28:52.280 --> 0:28:54.719 and I'm sure because you were saying nice things, I 0:28:54.760 --> 0:28:57.320 was like, Betsy Beers is so she's she was just 0:28:57.360 --> 0:29:02.400 so there was something about your openness and directness and 0:29:02.520 --> 0:29:06.440 unpretension to just tell me very clearly what you thought 0:29:06.560 --> 0:29:10.160 about the show, and I know I found it like 0:29:10.320 --> 0:29:15.720 so incredibly refreshing, and I've I've we don't know each 0:29:15.760 --> 0:29:18.680 other very well at all, but I've always had just 0:29:18.720 --> 0:29:23.520 such positive thoughts about you because of that, not trying 0:29:23.560 --> 0:29:28.000 to hide, you know, not say something because oh you 0:29:28.040 --> 0:29:30.360 get that all the time, right, like people being guarded 0:29:30.360 --> 0:29:32.680 because they think they should be guarded for like why 0:29:32.880 --> 0:29:36.479 like we're just working on two different television shows, like 0:29:36.480 --> 0:29:40.360 like what difference does it make? But anyway, I didn't want. 0:29:40.200 --> 0:29:40.520 To tell you. 0:29:41.000 --> 0:29:44.440 That makes me really really happy. And I do believe 0:29:44.720 --> 0:29:48.480 that so much of what we do is it's got 0:29:48.480 --> 0:29:51.800 to be genuine enthusiasm, and I was genuinely enthusiastic about you. 0:29:51.880 --> 0:29:54.200 I was genuinely enthusiastic at the show, but especially like 0:29:54.280 --> 0:29:57.200 what you do and what you did, so I am 0:29:57.400 --> 0:30:00.840 very I feel like people don't share that enough too. 0:30:00.920 --> 0:30:03.440 I guess the deal is, you know that is it's 0:30:03.560 --> 0:30:05.400 it's exactly what you say it and it kind of 0:30:05.960 --> 0:30:08.840 it bugs me. And ask people what my pet peeves are, 0:30:08.880 --> 0:30:11.640 and one of them is just say what you mean, 0:30:11.800 --> 0:30:17.000 like just I mean I I do it to a fault. 0:30:17.040 --> 0:30:21.360 Sometimes there have been moments where you know, I've I 0:30:21.400 --> 0:30:24.520 think I've made actors freak out a little bit, or 0:30:25.040 --> 0:30:27.080 you know, great writers or whoever, where I just go 0:30:27.160 --> 0:30:29.160 up and I just I either gush or I say 0:30:29.160 --> 0:30:32.560 something really really specific. But then I don't care because 0:30:32.600 --> 0:30:37.880 I just virtually nobody hates to be told that you're 0:30:38.280 --> 0:30:42.160 they're seen, at the very least, maybe if you're actually 0:30:42.240 --> 0:30:45.120 talking to the fake president from twenty four and telling 0:30:45.200 --> 0:30:47.280 him you wish it was the real president from twenty 0:30:47.320 --> 0:30:50.520 four and he's a little weirded out. That might have 0:30:50.640 --> 0:30:57.280 happened once at a party late, but I try to 0:30:57.360 --> 0:31:01.880 keep it, you know, generally. Okay, that's great, I'm glad. 0:31:01.880 --> 0:31:02.640 I'm glad to hear it. 0:31:02.720 --> 0:31:03.000 I do. 0:31:03.240 --> 0:31:10.800 I do think. I think kindness and and honestly listening. 0:31:11.720 --> 0:31:14.600 Just listen to what somebody has to say. I know 0:31:14.640 --> 0:31:17.120 it sounds simple, but you're doing a podcast, you have 0:31:17.200 --> 0:31:21.400 to listen. I've done them. It's but it's just you 0:31:21.480 --> 0:31:23.800 learned so much. I don't know, it's good, but thank you. 0:31:23.840 --> 0:31:25.720 That's a really nice compliment that means a lot coming 0:31:25.760 --> 0:31:26.040 from you. 0:31:26.200 --> 0:31:28.760 Well, and it's it's it's it's true. 0:31:30.120 --> 0:31:34.520 You eventually become president, which sounds like a fancy worder. 0:31:34.600 --> 0:31:36.840 United States of America. 0:31:36.920 --> 0:31:39.400 Is an amazing transition from the story you just told 0:31:40.360 --> 0:31:45.360 of Dog Star films, two hundred cigarettes, high fidelity, pushing 0:31:45.440 --> 0:31:51.400 ten and at this point, at this point, you're you're 0:31:51.440 --> 0:31:55.880 a producer. Now, how do you define the work that 0:31:55.960 --> 0:31:59.239 you do as a producer because and I say that, 0:31:59.400 --> 0:32:03.280 one because I'm genuinely interested and want to listen, And two, 0:32:03.280 --> 0:32:05.040 there are so many different types. 0:32:05.080 --> 0:32:08.360 So for people out there, how would you define. 0:32:07.920 --> 0:32:12.280 The role that you play in these projects starting then 0:32:12.000 --> 0:32:13.520 and then moving forward. 0:32:14.640 --> 0:32:18.880 It's such a hard question to answer succinctly, because first 0:32:18.920 --> 0:32:22.040 of all, they're the same job in movies and TV. 0:32:22.200 --> 0:32:26.240 You just the focus is different in movies, and just 0:32:27.040 --> 0:32:29.400 in movies, the person who's really in charge of the 0:32:29.440 --> 0:32:32.280 vision is the director. So as a producer, your job 0:32:32.560 --> 0:32:38.240 is to me to take I believe it's everywhere from 0:32:38.520 --> 0:32:42.120 starting with an idea to acquiring piece of material to 0:32:42.720 --> 0:32:48.560 finding a writer to putting together and developing, and by 0:32:48.560 --> 0:32:53.320 that I mean working on story and figuring out different 0:32:53.360 --> 0:32:55.440 beats and how a story should play and why you 0:32:55.480 --> 0:32:59.800 want to do it, through conversations with the writer, to pitching, 0:33:00.680 --> 0:33:06.040 through production, then post and then out in the world publicity. Right, So, 0:33:06.080 --> 0:33:08.240 if I'm being cute, I would say, it's those piece 0:33:08.840 --> 0:33:12.440 but the way I see and then in TV, take 0:33:12.480 --> 0:33:14.640 the director, take that person out and make it the writer, 0:33:14.720 --> 0:33:17.680 because the writer is the showrunner. The director was always 0:33:17.680 --> 0:33:21.680 the sort of core creative vision. Fancy producers, yes, but 0:33:21.960 --> 0:33:25.680 it's usually the directors you know, the last name, And 0:33:26.160 --> 0:33:28.880 for me, it's always meant I want to make sure 0:33:28.960 --> 0:33:32.640 that I am there to help articulate the vision of 0:33:32.720 --> 0:33:37.520 the show, which means that I am I'm in service 0:33:37.560 --> 0:33:40.240 of the show. I'm always in service of whatever anybody 0:33:40.320 --> 0:33:42.920 needs to make the show as good as it can be, 0:33:43.000 --> 0:33:45.160 and that means I will I will do anything that 0:33:45.200 --> 0:33:48.880 I'm vaguely qualified to do and part of my job 0:33:49.360 --> 0:33:55.040 which I'm like vaguely qualified, but if needed, I don't 0:33:55.040 --> 0:33:58.440 go off and do it. But if needed, the important 0:33:58.440 --> 0:34:00.240 thing is that I can look at the writer, the 0:34:00.280 --> 0:34:01.959 creator and the showrunner and say what do you need 0:34:02.000 --> 0:34:04.560 me to do? Or this is what I think needs 0:34:04.560 --> 0:34:07.840 to be done, And it might be different showrunners and 0:34:07.880 --> 0:34:10.760 you know this too. Different creators of shows have different 0:34:10.760 --> 0:34:13.239 areas where they feel incredibly strongly about input, and then 0:34:13.239 --> 0:34:15.200 they have other areas where they really love to delegate. 0:34:15.800 --> 0:34:18.080 I love to be involved in every single piece that 0:34:18.160 --> 0:34:22.799 I can be, and a lot of it is how 0:34:22.800 --> 0:34:26.160 do I contribute to making the best product possible? And 0:34:26.239 --> 0:34:29.719 different people need different things. I've worked with showrunners who 0:34:30.640 --> 0:34:32.480 and you know, the folks that I work with here 0:34:32.480 --> 0:34:35.560 at Chanelan who are great, want very specific things in 0:34:35.680 --> 0:34:39.440 order to help shore up and articulate their vision. I 0:34:39.480 --> 0:34:44.319 work with other showrunners and creators who want a much 0:34:44.360 --> 0:34:49.239 more wide partnership. You know, I think it's an I 0:34:49.360 --> 0:34:54.440 frankly love partnerships. I love working closely because I think 0:34:54.960 --> 0:34:56.239 this is going to surprise you. I have a lot 0:34:56.280 --> 0:35:02.560 to say, hah. And I think that collaboration very often 0:35:02.640 --> 0:35:10.520 makes for the most fun and great television and movies. 0:35:11.440 --> 0:35:12.120 It's the best. 0:35:12.680 --> 0:35:12.879 Yeah. 0:35:14.040 --> 0:35:16.319 Yeah, I mean, if you can do everything on your own, 0:35:17.200 --> 0:35:20.279 then you don't need anybody else. And no matter how 0:35:20.360 --> 0:35:23.680 great your vision is as a writer or a director. 0:35:24.200 --> 0:35:27.560 As you indicated on the medium, you're bringing other people 0:35:27.600 --> 0:35:29.440 around to try to make it better than what you 0:35:29.440 --> 0:35:30.440 can create yourself. 0:35:30.760 --> 0:35:33.680 Yeah. Yeah, And I think one of the great things 0:35:33.680 --> 0:35:37.799 about having experiences. I've told this story before, but when 0:35:37.800 --> 0:35:40.200 I was doing two hundred Cigarettes was my first movie. 0:35:40.239 --> 0:35:43.000 We had five dollars in ninety five cents. It was 0:35:43.080 --> 0:35:45.960 four billion five year old actors. Not really you know, 0:35:46.920 --> 0:35:49.440 they were all really cool kids in their early twenties, lateeens. 0:35:50.320 --> 0:35:52.840 And it was me standing for thirty eight days, freezing 0:35:52.880 --> 0:35:55.040 my ass off all night long, every night in New York. 0:35:55.040 --> 0:35:58.200 And I'd never done anything like it before. I'd done 0:35:58.400 --> 0:36:00.160 all the steps before, but it was my first just 0:36:00.200 --> 0:36:04.800 real like almost so adventure. And I remember like somebody 0:36:04.840 --> 0:36:07.279 asked me a question and I did, like that, well, 0:36:07.320 --> 0:36:09.680 I you know, think blah blah blah blah, and it 0:36:09.760 --> 0:36:13.680 was I clearly had no idea what I was talking about. 0:36:13.719 --> 0:36:17.080 And a dude, I was like two in the morning, 0:36:17.120 --> 0:36:21.239 and I still remember we were like downtown and this 0:36:22.239 --> 0:36:24.640 it's somebody I think was like a grip was moving 0:36:24.719 --> 0:36:26.879 something and he said, can I can I just give 0:36:26.920 --> 0:36:30.160 you a piece of piece? And I said, yeah, sure, 0:36:30.239 --> 0:36:33.000 I'm I'm sure I know the answer, and he said, 0:36:33.040 --> 0:36:35.480 you know, it's fine to admit you don't know what 0:36:35.520 --> 0:36:37.839 you're doing. People love it when you ask for help 0:36:38.080 --> 0:36:41.440 because they love to teach you what they know. So 0:36:43.040 --> 0:36:46.080 that's okay. And I went, oh, I get it. That's 0:36:46.200 --> 0:36:50.400 that's really you're smart, that's you're not I'm not fooling anybody. 0:36:50.480 --> 0:36:52.520 And you know that. I mean, Brian, you've been through 0:36:52.560 --> 0:36:55.600 that where it's like, Okay, dude, you clearly have never 0:36:55.640 --> 0:36:58.839 done a shot list before, so just ask someone how 0:36:58.880 --> 0:37:01.080 to do the shot say you don't need a shot 0:37:01.120 --> 0:37:05.200 list or whatever the heck kid it, but I will. 0:37:05.239 --> 0:37:07.640 I will go into I always say it's a successful 0:37:07.680 --> 0:37:12.120 show or movie or project when I can walk away 0:37:12.280 --> 0:37:13.719 at the end of it and say I didn't know 0:37:13.800 --> 0:37:15.839 that thing, and I learned that I didn't know how 0:37:15.840 --> 0:37:18.719 to handle that kind of person. I didn't. I think 0:37:18.760 --> 0:37:22.759 it's a great job because there's an endless opportunity for 0:37:22.880 --> 0:37:27.920 learning and growth if you just listen, and like we 0:37:27.960 --> 0:37:31.520 always say, here and Sean and I've talked about this 0:37:31.560 --> 0:37:33.319 for reason. I think it's true. With Alison Akel and 0:37:33.400 --> 0:37:36.080 all the wonderful people in development, the whole company but 0:37:37.160 --> 0:37:41.040 I we don't want to do anything we've done again, Like, 0:37:41.080 --> 0:37:43.520 we don't do the same thing twice. And that's the biggest. 0:37:43.920 --> 0:37:46.960 One of the biggest things initially that I think we 0:37:47.080 --> 0:37:50.480 discovered when we were first starting out on Grays was, 0:37:51.120 --> 0:37:53.239 you know, ABC wanted to spin off of Grays and 0:37:53.280 --> 0:37:57.799 I think they wanted, you know, Gray's Chicago. So it's like, 0:37:58.280 --> 0:38:03.000 here's here's a girl named you know, Beredith and she's 0:38:03.280 --> 0:38:05.960 you know, it's that was terrible. I'm sorry, I don't 0:38:06.000 --> 0:38:08.279 why I said that, but you get the idea. And 0:38:08.360 --> 0:38:09.480 so we looked at each other. 0:38:09.520 --> 0:38:09.840 Idea. 0:38:10.160 --> 0:38:14.719 Yeah, we looked at it, and you know, and the doggie, 0:38:15.040 --> 0:38:17.879 and we looked at each other and we were like, 0:38:18.200 --> 0:38:19.360 do you want to do that? I was like, I 0:38:19.400 --> 0:38:20.600 don't want to do it all over again, do you? 0:38:20.760 --> 0:38:22.120 And it would have I'm sure it would have been 0:38:22.120 --> 0:38:25.799 gigantic success. But we did private practice because it was 0:38:25.880 --> 0:38:28.040 much more interesting to say, hey, those are people in 0:38:28.040 --> 0:38:30.520 their twenties, they're just starting out. What happens if you 0:38:30.560 --> 0:38:33.480 take a group of doctors that we know, some we know, 0:38:33.600 --> 0:38:35.440 so we don't, and you put them in a different 0:38:35.440 --> 0:38:38.520 time of their lives, which is late thirties early forties, 0:38:38.800 --> 0:38:41.680 when the decisions are getting really hard, you experience death, 0:38:41.800 --> 0:38:43.759 you have to make decisions about your relationships and and 0:38:43.800 --> 0:38:45.880 all that kind of stuff. And I think from that 0:38:45.880 --> 0:38:48.160 point on we both were sort of like, at least 0:38:48.200 --> 0:38:51.720 I can say for me, what I love is getting 0:38:51.719 --> 0:38:55.640 the opportunity to say what you want in different formats 0:38:55.680 --> 0:38:56.920 and stories and different ways. 0:38:56.719 --> 0:38:57.320 Of saying. 0:38:58.840 --> 0:39:02.759 You. I mean, it's time to make sure everybody knows 0:39:02.760 --> 0:39:03.759 what we're talking about here. 0:39:03.920 --> 0:39:04.360 Betsy. 0:39:04.520 --> 0:39:07.520 You're at the Mark Gordon Company. You meet a writer 0:39:08.000 --> 0:39:12.719 named Shonda Rhymes. Shonda Rhymes has created a show, Gray's Anatomy. 0:39:13.440 --> 0:39:17.080 You began working with her and on the show since 0:39:17.200 --> 0:39:18.719 day one. No, that's not true. 0:39:18.840 --> 0:39:23.520 There was no show. So basically we developed a pilot 0:39:23.560 --> 0:39:27.600 together the first year that we met that was about 0:39:27.600 --> 0:39:31.200 work correspondence. It didn't get picked up, okay, so the 0:39:31.320 --> 0:39:34.560 second year we definitely wanted to work together again. It 0:39:34.600 --> 0:39:37.160 was for those of you who you probably all know 0:39:37.160 --> 0:39:38.719 because you listen to this podcast, and I'm sure he 0:39:38.800 --> 0:39:41.200 talked about this a lot. But there's a pitching season 0:39:41.239 --> 0:39:43.160 and network in the old days, and it was summertime 0:39:43.400 --> 0:39:45.959 and you came up with your ideas and you'd pitch 0:39:46.000 --> 0:39:49.160 it and then you'd write the script and the fall, 0:39:49.200 --> 0:39:51.840 and then you get picked up around after the holidays, 0:39:51.880 --> 0:39:54.880 and then you'd film your pilot. So we heard that 0:39:55.040 --> 0:39:59.880 ABC was looking for a medical show, and she was like, 0:40:00.080 --> 0:40:01.839 I was going to go to medical school. And I said, 0:40:01.840 --> 0:40:03.879 I hate medical shows. I think they suck. I don't 0:40:03.960 --> 0:40:07.280 understand what's going on. They're screaming and yelling. They're scary. 0:40:07.320 --> 0:40:10.399 I don't get it. And she was like, it's so weird. 0:40:10.440 --> 0:40:13.560 I said, because you need a you know, she was. 0:40:13.719 --> 0:40:15.160 We basically talked about it. She was like, there are 0:40:15.160 --> 0:40:17.719 these things called interns, and I was like, those sound good. 0:40:18.760 --> 0:40:20.680 In turns sound good because they don't know what they're 0:40:20.680 --> 0:40:23.440 doing either. So we sat and we had a lot 0:40:23.440 --> 0:40:25.279 of conversations, which is what we've done in the other 0:40:25.320 --> 0:40:28.920 script developed, you know, talked, and then she went off 0:40:29.239 --> 0:40:34.520 and based on conversations around Big Brain, she did what 0:40:34.960 --> 0:40:38.399 I now call the percolating process, which is she takes 0:40:38.440 --> 0:40:41.200 all these things I'm making weird finger moves for people 0:40:41.239 --> 0:40:45.319 who don't know what I'm doing, weird finger moves, not 0:40:45.480 --> 0:40:47.200 those kind of weird finger moves stopping. 0:40:47.800 --> 0:40:49.000 I didn't say a word. 0:40:49.080 --> 0:40:53.239 I'm saying it. I'm saying it too some listener. But 0:40:54.000 --> 0:40:58.920 she she will go off and take things and do 0:40:59.000 --> 0:41:02.680 this incredible work where all of a sudden she came 0:41:02.760 --> 0:41:05.319 back and she handed me this piece of paper which 0:41:05.360 --> 0:41:08.520 was the pitch, and it was unbelievable and it was 0:41:08.880 --> 0:41:12.160 the first episode. Is pretty much the first episode. And 0:41:12.840 --> 0:41:17.400 so we got the pilot picked up for a script 0:41:17.520 --> 0:41:20.480 and then they couldn't decide if they wanted to pick 0:41:20.480 --> 0:41:23.160 it up to make a pilot. We were the last 0:41:23.160 --> 0:41:26.719 show to get picked up. We had to do all pitch. Yeah, 0:41:26.760 --> 0:41:30.960 nobody got it except the executives who were behind it 0:41:31.040 --> 0:41:34.200 were really pro it. But up top there was one 0:41:34.239 --> 0:41:36.719 woman named Susan Lyne who was a co president with 0:41:36.800 --> 0:41:38.960 Lloyd Bron at that time. I think at ABC I 0:41:39.000 --> 0:41:43.640 could be wrong, and Seanda I went in and basically 0:41:44.560 --> 0:41:47.279 made a plea and told her why we thought it 0:41:47.320 --> 0:41:49.520 was important. I made up a bunch of stuff. I 0:41:49.520 --> 0:41:53.520 have no idea what I was thinking. And God bless her, 0:41:53.560 --> 0:41:55.520 and God bless Lloyd Bron or whoever else who. By 0:41:55.560 --> 0:41:57.920 the way, there is a real Lloyd Braun for all 0:41:57.920 --> 0:42:01.719 of you who watch side Field. Anyway, they picked up 0:42:01.719 --> 0:42:03.680 the pilot and then we were the last show to 0:42:03.680 --> 0:42:06.360 get picked up for series and they put us on 0:42:06.400 --> 0:42:10.960 a mid season and that's when we started. So I 0:42:11.040 --> 0:42:13.719 went through the whole one hole pilot and then this 0:42:13.760 --> 0:42:18.319 whole journey, and then I went off to continue to 0:42:18.360 --> 0:42:20.960 work on the first season of Grey's Anatome while I 0:42:21.000 --> 0:42:23.600 still had my job at Mark Gordon Company, where I 0:42:23.680 --> 0:42:26.279 was producing a movie in Italy called Casanova, and I 0:42:26.320 --> 0:42:29.160 was commuting back and forth every couple of weeks to 0:42:29.239 --> 0:42:33.160 work on Grays and then go work on Casanova. And 0:42:35.960 --> 0:42:39.200 shortly after that I ended up quitting that job and 0:42:39.239 --> 0:42:42.400 going to work full time with Shonda on Grace. 0:42:43.719 --> 0:42:45.960 Wow, those early days. 0:42:47.040 --> 0:42:49.359 Now you're commuting back and forth from Italy, so you're 0:42:49.400 --> 0:42:52.239 not there every day. How much are you working on 0:42:52.320 --> 0:42:56.560 the day to day scripts? Production, reviewing cuts? 0:42:57.000 --> 0:43:00.440 It's a TV show, so initially when the scripts are 0:43:00.480 --> 0:43:03.440 being written, I would be giving notes on scripts. But 0:43:03.480 --> 0:43:05.200 there was a writer's room for the first time. Up 0:43:05.280 --> 0:43:07.239 until then, it had just been the two of us. 0:43:07.360 --> 0:43:09.839 And then obviously there was a writer's room. We had 0:43:09.880 --> 0:43:12.759 a great guy come in who you know, helped sort 0:43:12.760 --> 0:43:15.600 of organize stuff. So it's a hard question. To answer, 0:43:15.680 --> 0:43:19.920 because initially I was involved and aware of everything that 0:43:20.040 --> 0:43:22.680 was going on, but the writer's room was sacras anct, 0:43:22.840 --> 0:43:26.280 and they would write scripts. I would look at stuff, 0:43:26.680 --> 0:43:30.360 and then I was pretty much back and forth whenever 0:43:30.400 --> 0:43:33.000 it was necessary. And then when cut started to come in, 0:43:33.040 --> 0:43:36.600 definitively I was there. That started around the time that 0:43:36.640 --> 0:43:39.080 I was there more than I was in Italy. I 0:43:39.080 --> 0:43:40.799 went back and forth to Italy a few times. And 0:43:41.800 --> 0:43:44.680 true story, I was sitting on set after being on 0:43:44.719 --> 0:43:48.520 the pilot and sitting on set in La, and I 0:43:48.600 --> 0:43:51.440 was sitting in Piazza San Marco, and I was waiting 0:43:51.480 --> 0:43:54.880 for the sun to be perfect, because the DP needed 0:43:54.920 --> 0:43:58.480 a perfect son. And I didn't understand why it was 0:43:58.480 --> 0:43:59.799 taking so long at this point. I mean, I came 0:43:59.800 --> 0:44:01.920 from movies, Brian, this is so ridiculous. But I was 0:44:01.920 --> 0:44:05.080 sitting there. I'm by nature really impatient person, as you 0:44:05.120 --> 0:44:08.439 can tell, but I was like, what's taking so long? 0:44:09.239 --> 0:44:11.799 And I think, I said, you know what, if I've 0:44:11.800 --> 0:44:15.040 been back in La, we could have gotten ten setups 0:44:15.040 --> 0:44:18.399 in this amount of time. And Jeremy Irons comes over, 0:44:18.680 --> 0:44:22.279 who is in the movie, and he looks at me 0:44:22.360 --> 0:44:26.320 and he goes, you know, dear girl, you really should 0:44:26.320 --> 0:44:29.680 go back to Los Angeles because you're more I think 0:44:29.680 --> 0:44:32.279 you're more of a television person than you are a 0:44:32.280 --> 0:44:35.480 movie person. I was like, you're right. I think you're 0:44:35.520 --> 0:44:38.719 probably right. And you know, in the movie version, I 0:44:38.719 --> 0:44:40.520 would have packed everything up. But I went back and 0:44:40.520 --> 0:44:43.319 forth and it was wonderful during the movie. But that 0:44:43.400 --> 0:44:45.279 was the moment when a penny dropped and I was like, 0:44:45.760 --> 0:44:50.120 I love TV. People just keep working. Nobody stands around, 0:44:50.320 --> 0:44:51.600 you know, no one stands around. 0:44:51.719 --> 0:45:14.480 Nope, you just finished your twentieth year, became the longest 0:45:14.520 --> 0:45:20.000 running drama in ABC history. Do you ever give yourself 0:45:20.040 --> 0:45:21.759 a moment to go back and think of those early 0:45:21.880 --> 0:45:25.359 days and think, oh my gosh, we're still doing it 0:45:25.440 --> 0:45:27.560 twenty years later. 0:45:27.400 --> 0:45:30.080 And how does that? What does that mean to you? 0:45:31.680 --> 0:45:37.440 I mean, it's a stand it's astounding. Like I remember 0:45:37.600 --> 0:45:41.560 season one where we were just like throwing the kitchen 0:45:41.600 --> 0:45:44.839 sink because this is probably our last. And the great 0:45:44.840 --> 0:45:48.400 thing about Shanda, Shanda is fearless when it comes to storytelling, obviously, 0:45:48.480 --> 0:45:51.520 so it was just like, I just pull all the 0:45:51.560 --> 0:45:56.279 stops out and I don't know, it's such a testament 0:45:56.360 --> 0:46:01.320 to both our fans I mean have such incredible, crazy 0:46:01.360 --> 0:46:06.480 loyal fans, and something about the show keeps resonating. I 0:46:06.480 --> 0:46:08.640 mean it does for me. It's better for me because 0:46:08.680 --> 0:46:11.399 you know that would be embarrassing, but it didn't. And there's 0:46:11.400 --> 0:46:14.759 so many talented people involved, and I think it means 0:46:14.760 --> 0:46:17.799 so much to me that over the years, like now, 0:46:17.840 --> 0:46:21.759 we have Meg Morenis, who started with us in like 0:46:21.880 --> 0:46:24.920 season two as an assistant as a runner and who 0:46:24.960 --> 0:46:28.480 is now running the show. And I think there's something 0:46:28.600 --> 0:46:32.280 so wonderful and incredible about so many of our actors directing, 0:46:32.280 --> 0:46:36.359 and I it just it means a ton. It's it's 0:46:36.480 --> 0:46:39.560 mind boggling. I mean, if you had said to me, 0:46:40.680 --> 0:46:43.560 if you had said to the way younger less wrinkled 0:46:43.680 --> 0:46:47.160 me like years ago, that we would be going, I'd go, 0:46:47.600 --> 0:46:57.359 that's unbelievable. But yay, I mean it's it's definitely it's 0:46:57.360 --> 0:47:00.920 definitely crazy. But I'm very proud of you. 0:47:01.560 --> 0:47:06.680 In addition to Gray's Anatomy, served as producer on Private Practice, 0:47:07.239 --> 0:47:11.200 among others, The Catch Scandal for the People, How to 0:47:11.239 --> 0:47:16.000 Get Away With Murder Station nineteen, and now of course 0:47:16.239 --> 0:47:25.799 the smash Sensation, Bridgerton Inventing Anna and upcoming the Residents, 0:47:26.000 --> 0:47:28.840 who I just was able to talk to Susan collect you. 0:47:29.160 --> 0:47:31.319 Susan, right, yeah, how did you? 0:47:31.520 --> 0:47:34.440 How did you know that? Now now you don't research me. 0:47:35.280 --> 0:47:40.520 I talked to Susan. I talked to Susan, and she 0:47:40.680 --> 0:47:43.040 told us, by the way, everything that happens. So I 0:47:43.080 --> 0:47:46.120 don't even know if you need to run it. Do 0:47:46.200 --> 0:47:47.719 we have a release date on that yet? 0:47:47.760 --> 0:47:52.080 By the way, No, we don't, but I'm sure whatever 0:47:52.080 --> 0:47:54.120 release date it will be, it will be a terrific one. 0:47:55.239 --> 0:47:56.200 She's lying everyone. 0:47:56.239 --> 0:47:59.239 She knows exactly when she knows, she knows exactly when 0:47:59.239 --> 0:47:59.879 it's coming out. 0:48:00.600 --> 0:48:01.040 I don't know. 0:48:01.200 --> 0:48:04.640 I didn't I didn't do the math. I don't do 0:48:04.760 --> 0:48:09.240 numbers that well. This is like a combined nine hundred 0:48:09.239 --> 0:48:14.600 and seventy three years of television, it appears to me. 0:48:15.680 --> 0:48:18.920 So this I'm going to ask this question again in 0:48:18.920 --> 0:48:22.799 a in a slightly different way. I mean, at one 0:48:22.880 --> 0:48:25.720 point in time, you've got at least Gray's Anatomy, Private 0:48:25.800 --> 0:48:31.720 Practice and Scandal that's on the air. At the same 0:48:31.800 --> 0:48:36.200 time you now have other you know, Bridgerton, at the 0:48:36.200 --> 0:48:40.000 same time that Inventing Ana is happening, and now the Residents. 0:48:40.480 --> 0:48:44.239 So you have to be more macro now right, I mean, 0:48:44.280 --> 0:48:46.840 are you are you reviewing scripts for these shows? 0:48:46.880 --> 0:48:47.200 Still? 0:48:47.520 --> 0:48:49.839 It depends on the screen, It depends on the show. 0:48:50.000 --> 0:48:53.120 Is I think if I always say like shows are 0:48:53.160 --> 0:48:55.600 like kids, I have no children. So this is as 0:48:55.600 --> 0:48:58.840 close as I can get to the analogy in that 0:48:59.640 --> 0:49:02.759 the oldest show is like having a kid who's left 0:49:02.800 --> 0:49:05.560 the house and has gone to college or is So 0:49:05.840 --> 0:49:08.040 when there's an emergency, when there's a real issue, you 0:49:08.120 --> 0:49:13.279 check in, You celebrate birthdays, you know it's correct, You 0:49:13.320 --> 0:49:16.840 make yourself available for whatever's necessary. But honestly, you you 0:49:16.920 --> 0:49:22.120 spend a lot of time lauding them for their thriving survival. 0:49:22.239 --> 0:49:22.840 In my opinion. 0:49:23.440 --> 0:49:27.080 On the other spectrum, on the other end is when 0:49:27.080 --> 0:49:29.200 a new show is around, it's a baby and that 0:49:29.239 --> 0:49:32.680 needs a lot of Karen feeding. So when Bridgerton was 0:49:32.680 --> 0:49:36.360 starting out, I was involved in every aspect of Bridgerton. 0:49:37.320 --> 0:49:40.880 Now I'll be involved in different aspects of Bridgerton, but 0:49:40.880 --> 0:49:43.680 it's not the same. That's only been four seasons with 0:49:44.280 --> 0:49:47.000 eight episodes, as opposed to something like Gray Is Where 0:49:47.800 --> 0:49:50.640 And you remember this, Brian, like we made TV and 0:49:50.680 --> 0:49:51.920 it was twenty four episodes. 0:49:52.000 --> 0:49:56.080 You know, so we were doing thirty. By the way, 0:49:56.080 --> 0:50:02.160 you guys, thirty thirty right against you guys. 0:50:02.000 --> 0:50:03.560 That is rape and pillage thirty. 0:50:04.040 --> 0:50:04.919 I mean it's a lot. 0:50:05.200 --> 0:50:07.640 Yeah, that was a lot. Like you so you had 0:50:07.680 --> 0:50:10.719 like a bathroom break and a trip to Disneyland, and 0:50:10.719 --> 0:50:12.839 then you came back and you started again. It's like there, 0:50:13.000 --> 0:50:14.120 that's no hiatus. 0:50:14.480 --> 0:50:16.480 No, no, thirty is a lot. 0:50:17.520 --> 0:50:20.560 Thirty, Yeah, I think. So bottom line is every it 0:50:20.600 --> 0:50:22.800 goes back to what I said about producing. I'm here 0:50:22.880 --> 0:50:26.960 for whatever is necessary for whatever is going on. And also, 0:50:27.000 --> 0:50:31.640 remember when we were doing it was like Gray's Private Scandal, 0:50:31.760 --> 0:50:35.240 how to get Away with Murder. We are also developing shows, 0:50:35.440 --> 0:50:39.439 so on top of it, I would be theoretically keeping 0:50:39.480 --> 0:50:42.280 an eye on a bunch of shows and then trying 0:50:42.280 --> 0:50:44.200 to get new shows on the art because why not, 0:50:44.320 --> 0:50:48.840 I mean, we have there's time for bathroom break. 0:50:49.080 --> 0:50:53.319 Yeah, yes, exactly. 0:50:54.239 --> 0:50:58.200 Well, Look, I was told I needed to ask you 0:50:58.360 --> 0:51:00.880 what's happening in Bridgerton third season? 0:51:01.560 --> 0:51:03.280 I mean I need all the answers. 0:51:03.520 --> 0:51:07.800 What's happening third season in Bridgerton? You can see it. 0:51:07.800 --> 0:51:11.759 It's it's it's on it's on the it's on the 0:51:11.960 --> 0:51:12.800 streaming device. 0:51:13.080 --> 0:51:15.640 It's all it's all, you're all done, it's all out. 0:51:15.920 --> 0:51:18.680 No, it's out. The second part is out in a 0:51:18.719 --> 0:51:20.520 couple of weeks. The first part is out. 0:51:20.760 --> 0:51:24.239 Yes, right, So what happens in the first part No, 0:51:24.719 --> 0:51:26.440 in the second part, Oh, I thought. 0:51:26.280 --> 0:51:28.840 You just want to know in general. Oh, in the 0:51:28.880 --> 0:51:30.240 second part, a lot of stuff happens. 0:51:30.320 --> 0:51:33.759 Yeah. Oh see, that's not that's not the kind of 0:51:33.920 --> 0:51:35.439 you know, breaking news we need. 0:51:35.680 --> 0:51:37.879 No, no, you're yeah, you won't get any breaking news 0:51:37.880 --> 0:51:41.239 for me. There will be wearing corsets. There will be 0:51:41.280 --> 0:51:45.760 some dancing, undoubtedly, there might be some romance. 0:51:47.280 --> 0:51:49.080 Romance or sex, you know. 0:51:49.560 --> 0:51:51.240 I think sometimes there's both. 0:51:51.680 --> 0:51:57.879 Okay, this show is I mean, this has taken over 0:51:57.920 --> 0:51:59.279 the zeitgeist here. 0:51:59.360 --> 0:52:03.719 This is like a cultural uh what do you call it? Phenomenon? 0:52:04.239 --> 0:52:04.920 Is that it. 0:52:07.239 --> 0:52:11.480 I it's a lot of people love, have a lot 0:52:11.480 --> 0:52:14.720 of love, which is really good because it's really bad 0:52:14.760 --> 0:52:19.640 when they don't. But no, it's it is. And I think, look, 0:52:19.800 --> 0:52:23.799 I feel incredibly lucky that when we first debuted this 0:52:23.960 --> 0:52:27.240 it was the middle of COVID. I had no idea 0:52:27.400 --> 0:52:29.719 because I don't I'm not a big social media person. 0:52:29.760 --> 0:52:32.480 Although everybody here keeps starting to change that and I'm like, 0:52:32.880 --> 0:52:36.960 you just don't want this. But I was like sequestered 0:52:37.000 --> 0:52:40.880 during the holiday, and I started getting phone calls to 0:52:40.880 --> 0:52:42.719 my friends in London and stuff, and it was like 0:52:43.000 --> 0:52:45.520 this amazing thing when everybody was all separate and we 0:52:45.520 --> 0:52:48.160 were all kind of everything was kind of grim that 0:52:48.200 --> 0:52:51.279 the timing I think worked incredibly well for us too, 0:52:51.360 --> 0:52:55.279 and it got It was a little beacon of you know, 0:52:55.680 --> 0:52:59.399 X case escapism and hope distraction, distraction, and I think 0:52:59.440 --> 0:53:02.040 everybody got. Really what I love about this show is 0:53:02.080 --> 0:53:05.120 you really engage in the whole family and the families, 0:53:05.560 --> 0:53:08.840 and so you have a kind of a fighting rooting 0:53:09.880 --> 0:53:14.000 side for every couple as they come up right. And 0:53:14.239 --> 0:53:16.440 the thing that has been hardest for people to understand 0:53:16.520 --> 0:53:18.560 is that we really do mean that happily ever after 0:53:18.600 --> 0:53:20.120 at the end of a season and then the next 0:53:20.120 --> 0:53:22.880 season starts, and after the first season, people I think 0:53:23.120 --> 0:53:26.880 used to seeing our serialized shows, We're like, but when's 0:53:26.920 --> 0:53:29.839 the duke going to come back and leave her and 0:53:29.880 --> 0:53:35.400 do something? Really, No, Jolia Quinn, It's these are nice stories. 0:53:35.480 --> 0:53:43.080 No, Well, you may not know social media, but you 0:53:43.120 --> 0:53:45.000 know other things. I don't know what that was a 0:53:45.080 --> 0:53:46.960 terrible transition. But you didn't. 0:53:47.120 --> 0:53:48.680 You didn't. You didn't take my bait. 0:53:48.880 --> 0:53:55.000 So anyway, it has become such a cultural phenomenon. You 0:53:55.480 --> 0:54:00.880 are the host of a companion podcast A side the 0:54:01.080 --> 0:54:03.160 ton Get it, Bridgerton. 0:54:03.640 --> 0:54:04.960 Are you having fun doing that? 0:54:05.760 --> 0:54:08.360 I love doing it? But also, Brian, I used to 0:54:08.400 --> 0:54:11.600 do Most people don't know this, but back in the 0:54:11.640 --> 0:54:15.239 old old days, Shonda and I did a podcast which 0:54:15.280 --> 0:54:19.560 was called we just called it Gray's Anatomy, and we 0:54:19.600 --> 0:54:21.520 would do that. In the beginning, we'd be like, I'm bad, 0:54:21.520 --> 0:54:26.239 super like Gray's Anatomy, and we would just talk. I 0:54:26.239 --> 0:54:28.400 don't even think we had guests. I think we just talked. 0:54:28.920 --> 0:54:30.759 So we started with that and I ended up sort 0:54:30.800 --> 0:54:33.839 of asking a lot of questions. And then after that 0:54:34.080 --> 0:54:37.640 I did a Scandal podcast, and then I did I 0:54:37.680 --> 0:54:39.640 did a Gras Anatomy podcast, I think, and then I 0:54:39.640 --> 0:54:44.120 did an Inside Shondaland podcast, And so now I'm doing 0:54:44.160 --> 0:54:47.720 this and it's I really I love I love the medium, 0:54:47.800 --> 0:54:52.720 and yours are delightful, like you are, like, you're really 0:54:52.719 --> 0:54:55.879 really good at this, and I think, oh me, oh yeah, 0:54:56.480 --> 0:54:58.600 I think you're really really good at it, and you're 0:54:58.800 --> 0:55:03.440 you just get people to tell great stories and and 0:55:03.600 --> 0:55:06.200 everyone just always it always sounds like everyone's having a 0:55:06.200 --> 0:55:08.240 really good time, which they are because I'm actually genuinely 0:55:08.280 --> 0:55:11.919 having a good time, which well, thanks deep until now 0:55:11.960 --> 0:55:15.640 today was not as sunny. But I'm I'm not going 0:55:15.719 --> 0:55:17.520 to go punch someone in the face now because you've 0:55:17.520 --> 0:55:21.960 been so lovely. That's good. But no, I just think 0:55:21.960 --> 0:55:25.560 they're great. I think it's yeah, I think I think 0:55:25.560 --> 0:55:26.279 you're really good at it. 0:55:26.600 --> 0:55:28.920 Well that's very nice. I will tell you this, and 0:55:28.960 --> 0:55:31.440 this is not a joke. It's my favorite thing that 0:55:31.480 --> 0:55:34.160 I do. I love having these conversations with people like 0:55:34.239 --> 0:55:36.840 you and others. And again, I mean, it goes back, 0:55:37.440 --> 0:55:39.719 you know, a good a good storyteller always goes back 0:55:39.760 --> 0:55:42.000 to the beginning. But it is what you talked about, 0:55:42.080 --> 0:55:44.760 the grip telling you like, don't act like you know everything, 0:55:44.800 --> 0:55:47.560 and if you can learn something from somebody over the 0:55:47.600 --> 0:55:51.640 course of a conversation, well my day feels better. 0:55:51.800 --> 0:55:54.200 So I truly do love doing it. 0:55:55.440 --> 0:55:56.080 You can tell you. 0:55:56.800 --> 0:55:58.320 Can tell thank you for saying it well. 0:55:58.160 --> 0:56:03.520 Because you genuinely ask questions and that come from other questions. 0:56:03.000 --> 0:56:04.960 Like you your I'm listening. 0:56:05.239 --> 0:56:08.560 It's but that's the thing That's where we go back to. 0:56:08.760 --> 0:56:11.200 If there's one thing I could say about everything in 0:56:11.239 --> 0:56:15.560 the world right now is if everybody, if everybody listened better, 0:56:15.600 --> 0:56:19.600 if we all listened, there might be I don't know 0:56:19.600 --> 0:56:21.600 if there'd be solutions to problems, but at least there 0:56:21.600 --> 0:56:25.960 wouldn't be so much intense and hideous frustration. Maybe, I 0:56:26.000 --> 0:56:26.319 don't know. 0:56:26.560 --> 0:56:28.240 I find that divisiveness, Yeah. 0:56:28.080 --> 0:56:32.879 Divisiveness, but hey, I'm an idealist, yes, which is. 0:56:33.040 --> 0:56:35.880 Well, I know me too, But it does feel in 0:56:35.960 --> 0:56:38.680 some ways that that would make things a hell of 0:56:38.719 --> 0:56:45.120 a lot better, for sure. I I gotta let you go, 0:56:45.200 --> 0:56:49.000 But I do have to mention again after my conversation 0:56:49.080 --> 0:56:52.640 with Susie who, Susan who? By the way, By the way, 0:56:52.680 --> 0:56:57.120 I just made Susan Colecchi Susie. So I don't know 0:56:57.120 --> 0:56:59.160 if she would appreciate that or not, but I did it. 0:56:59.560 --> 0:57:02.920 The rest it's coming out. She would give me no information. 0:57:03.040 --> 0:57:04.600 You want to tell me any more about that. You 0:57:04.680 --> 0:57:06.080 want to tell me what happens. 0:57:06.680 --> 0:57:09.360 What I can tell you probably exactly what she told you, 0:57:09.360 --> 0:57:12.960 which is a it's a very funny murder mystery set 0:57:13.000 --> 0:57:14.239 in the White House. And I'm going to. 0:57:14.239 --> 0:57:17.680 Say upstairs, downstairs, Susie yep. 0:57:17.520 --> 0:57:23.160 And Susie aka Susan Glad Susie formally known as Susan 0:57:24.280 --> 0:57:29.240 Desperately Seeking Susie. She's so good, I mean, she's she's 0:57:29.320 --> 0:57:33.320 so good, she's and she's such a delightful human like yes, 0:57:33.680 --> 0:57:37.360 she's just genuinely couldn't be lovelier, but she's everybody in 0:57:37.400 --> 0:57:40.600 it's wonderful. Uzzo dubo, like the whole. But it's one 0:57:40.640 --> 0:57:48.000 of the most incredibly delightful, talented, joyful casts I've ever encountered. 0:57:48.800 --> 0:57:52.080 The cast, the cast is incredible. I remember mentioning it 0:57:52.080 --> 0:57:54.360 with her. I don't have it in front of me, 0:57:54.440 --> 0:57:58.160 but you know, it feels like it's lacking. It's lacking 0:57:58.240 --> 0:58:00.760 me for sure, So let's just get out of the way. 0:58:00.960 --> 0:58:02.240 I think that's about. 0:58:02.680 --> 0:58:07.160 Other than that, it sounds like it's spectacular, a spectacular 0:58:07.240 --> 0:58:12.520 cast that I know will be yet another massive hit 0:58:13.440 --> 0:58:20.920 for Shondaland last question, what makes your partnership with her 0:58:21.520 --> 0:58:23.800 work so well? 0:58:24.200 --> 0:58:29.720 You know, I think from my point of view, when 0:58:29.760 --> 0:58:31.920 I work with her and when I work on things 0:58:31.960 --> 0:58:35.080 with her, I do my best work. I feel like 0:58:35.240 --> 0:58:37.080 I'm challenged to do my best work. I feel like 0:58:37.120 --> 0:58:42.720 I'm engaged to do my best work, and I genuinely, 0:58:43.320 --> 0:58:46.760 I genuinely respect what she does. And two she is 0:58:46.920 --> 0:58:50.800 and and I don't. I don't know, you know, it's 0:58:50.840 --> 0:58:53.680 sort of like what makes it work so well? I 0:58:53.720 --> 0:58:56.920 think we both listen and we both have my guesses. 0:58:57.080 --> 0:58:58.640 You could ask her me if she'll say no, but 0:58:59.000 --> 0:59:01.320 I think we both have a genuine that would be 0:59:01.400 --> 0:59:04.840 really embarrassing when like I don't respect her what I 0:59:04.880 --> 0:59:09.600 think we have. I just she won't leave the office. 0:59:09.680 --> 0:59:15.360 It's so it's so incredibly uncomfortable. That's not true, you guys. 0:59:15.560 --> 0:59:17.800 I do feel like I feel like, you know's there's 0:59:17.840 --> 0:59:21.320 that old improv thing which is yes, and it's yes, 0:59:21.400 --> 0:59:24.880 And I always feel with her. I can, you know, 0:59:24.880 --> 0:59:26.240 say I don't like this or blah blah blah, but 0:59:26.320 --> 0:59:29.240 there's always a yes, and there's always a yeah. But 0:59:29.280 --> 0:59:32.080 what if we did this? Yeah? But what? And I 0:59:32.200 --> 0:59:35.480 know if I'm genuinely excited or interested about something, the 0:59:35.720 --> 0:59:38.880 likelihood is there'll be a real conversation that we're having 0:59:38.880 --> 0:59:41.200 and vice versa. That there's always something at the core 0:59:41.240 --> 0:59:45.760 of it where there's something really meaningful to discuss. And 0:59:46.600 --> 0:59:49.080 I think That's an incredible privilege in a world where 0:59:49.160 --> 0:59:51.480 you get to work with somebody Because people are like, wow, 0:59:51.480 --> 0:59:53.760 you worked together for so many years. I'm like, why 0:59:53.800 --> 0:59:57.440 wouldn't we Like, why wouldn't I right, it seems to 0:59:57.440 --> 1:00:00.560 be doing okay, and I still I think she's one 1:00:00.560 --> 1:00:01.919 of the most delightful people on earth. 1:00:02.000 --> 1:00:05.960 So well, after this many years, that is an amazing 1:00:06.240 --> 1:00:08.959 thing to hear. You know, I've never done this before, 1:00:08.960 --> 1:00:11.280 I've never said this before. I've never used these words 1:00:11.800 --> 1:00:16.840 here before. But there's to steal from a good buddy 1:00:16.840 --> 1:00:20.440 of mine, Dan Patrick, who talks mostly about sports and 1:00:20.440 --> 1:00:23.520 some entertainment. At the end of every show, they go 1:00:23.560 --> 1:00:25.480 around the room and say, what did you learn today? 1:00:26.040 --> 1:00:28.120 And let me just say, the combination of what you 1:00:28.320 --> 1:00:32.160 just said combined with something that I've never really occurred 1:00:32.160 --> 1:00:35.040 to me before, which is really stupid on my part. 1:00:35.680 --> 1:00:38.280 But the fact that you all have or that you 1:00:38.360 --> 1:00:40.640 have made a decision that you don't want to do 1:00:40.680 --> 1:00:45.600 the same thing over and over, and the diversity of 1:00:46.120 --> 1:00:49.880 style within the work that you guys have been creating 1:00:50.200 --> 1:00:55.200 now for twenty years is astounding. And the fact that 1:00:55.240 --> 1:00:58.320 you all are able to listen to each other and 1:00:58.360 --> 1:01:02.320 that you work well together, you must despite her wanting 1:01:02.360 --> 1:01:05.400 you to leave the office sometimes like each other, and 1:01:05.440 --> 1:01:09.120 that you're creating work that is different. I mean, you 1:01:09.200 --> 1:01:11.640 look at because I have a list here, because you know, 1:01:11.680 --> 1:01:15.360 I'm very prepared, but you look at like Bridgerton and 1:01:15.440 --> 1:01:19.720 Scandal and Grays and even Private Practice how to get 1:01:19.760 --> 1:01:22.520 away with murder inventing on it. I mean you, the 1:01:22.600 --> 1:01:27.440 diversity with which you continue to explore within the medium 1:01:27.440 --> 1:01:30.160 of television is great. I'm sure the residence is going 1:01:30.200 --> 1:01:33.360 to be incredible, And I just want to thank you 1:01:33.400 --> 1:01:36.120 so much for taking the time out of your very 1:01:37.000 --> 1:01:40.160 very busy schedule to have a conversation with me today. 1:01:40.600 --> 1:01:41.520 Yeah, right, I appreciate it. 1:01:41.520 --> 1:01:44.160 I know, I really appreciate you asking. And look, I 1:01:44.160 --> 1:01:46.000 also want to give a shout out to all the 1:01:46.040 --> 1:01:50.160 writers and creators that we work with, because Shanda creates 1:01:50.280 --> 1:01:54.000 some of the shows, but you know, Paul Davies and 1:01:54.160 --> 1:01:57.160 Pete Nook and Alan High, like, there's a bevy of 1:01:57.200 --> 1:02:02.120 folks that I feel like we're also incredible, incredibly fortunate 1:02:02.240 --> 1:02:05.840 to be trusted with their vision. And I appreciate your 1:02:05.920 --> 1:02:09.160 kind words, and uh, this has been really really fun. 1:02:09.280 --> 1:02:12.880 I anytime you're just sitting around doing a podcast and 1:02:13.040 --> 1:02:15.200 if you want someone to pop on, just. 1:02:15.160 --> 1:02:17.880 Give me a I got you anytime. 1:02:18.080 --> 1:02:21.840 I'm always sitting here pretty much pretty much here. Yeah, 1:02:22.040 --> 1:02:26.560 so easy to find. It's easy to find desperate to talk. 1:02:27.040 --> 1:02:30.360 Oh, I know that that's not true, but thank you 1:02:30.440 --> 1:02:30.920 so much. 1:02:31.000 --> 1:02:31.760 And listen. 1:02:32.120 --> 1:02:35.000 After the Residence here wins an Emmy or two, and 1:02:35.040 --> 1:02:38.520 that becomes that becomes more of a grown up than 1:02:38.960 --> 1:02:42.480 at the very least, when you've got something else, your 1:02:42.560 --> 1:02:45.760 next major hit that is about to launch, that you 1:02:45.800 --> 1:02:50.400 won't give me any freak information about. Yeah, then the end, 1:02:50.480 --> 1:02:51.439 we'll talk then for sure. 1:02:52.000 --> 1:02:52.440 Awesome. 1:02:53.800 --> 1:02:55.400 Thank you, Betsy, Thanks so much. 1:02:55.480 --> 1:03:10.520 Thank you, Brian, Betsy, thank you so much for being on. 1:03:10.720 --> 1:03:13.600 I appreciate your time so much. I know how busy 1:03:14.120 --> 1:03:17.400 you are. Thank you for your openness, for your insight 1:03:17.880 --> 1:03:19.720 to a part of the process a lot. 1:03:19.600 --> 1:03:23.480 Of us don't always see. So thank you. I enjoyed 1:03:23.480 --> 1:03:24.240 this conversation. 1:03:24.560 --> 1:03:29.760 Everybody, go watch the new season of Bridgerton out on Netflix. 1:03:30.040 --> 1:03:33.800 Part two coming very very soon, although Betsy wouldn't tell 1:03:33.840 --> 1:03:39.640 me about it, And listen to Betsy's podcast Inside the Ton, 1:03:39.920 --> 1:03:42.960 And of course we're all going to be waiting for 1:03:43.280 --> 1:03:46.760 the residents. I'm going to see you here next week. 1:03:46.920 --> 1:03:59.760 Until then, everybody, you guys have a great week. Of 1:04:00.080 --> 1:04:04.000 A Beat is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, 1:04:04.280 --> 1:04:08.240 alongside our executive producer Lang Lee. Our senior producer is 1:04:08.320 --> 1:04:12.360 Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and 1:04:12.400 --> 1:04:16.800 Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and 1:04:16.920 --> 1:04:21.040 our intern is Ali Amir Saheed. Our theme song Bubble 1:04:21.120 --> 1:04:25.120 and Squeak, performed by the one and only Creed Bratton.