Speaker 1: And that's what you really missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2: And Kevin an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Welcome to you, and that's what you're the miss podcast.
Speaker 1: Well today, Kevin, we've got We've got him, the.
Speaker 2: Man, the myth, the legends. Telly is the Glee Club. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he is Glee. He is what made us like us
Speaker 2: Glee Club members show up.
Speaker 1: He's the glue.
Speaker 2: He's the actual glue.
Speaker 1: He doesn't really need an introduction. If you know, if
Speaker 1: you know Glee, you know Telly. If you know the cast,
Speaker 1: you know Telly. But he was a PA that started
Speaker 1: it and basically created his own role in dynamic on
Speaker 1: the show as basically our our wrangler in corraling all
Speaker 1: of us fools together. But it was our strategy to
Speaker 1: keep Kelly around. It was I don't want to listen
Speaker 1: to who's that. It's not Telly. No, okay, anyway, here's
Speaker 1: telling kusagas enjoy. Hi.
Speaker 3: Hi, Jenna, and I haven't seen you in forever.
Speaker 1: I know, a really long time. How are you.
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm okay, I'm good.
Speaker 2: It's just okay's had a.
Speaker 3: Great time in Thailand. Okay, back in the real world,
Speaker 3: I know. Is it hard to adjust back to this life.
Speaker 3: I mean, you don't want to know.
Speaker 2: I'll call you after this, because I do want to know,
Speaker 2: in fact, and actually maybe I should. We should get
Speaker 2: lunch after this.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, oh man, it's good to have you here.
Speaker 3: It's so great to be here.
Speaker 2: If anybody has ever listened to any sort of Glee
Speaker 2: behind the scenes, anything, seen any photos, then you know
Speaker 2: who Telly Kusakis is, because there is no Glee without.
Speaker 3: T to say.
Speaker 2: It's true, it's true, like you were such a vital
Speaker 2: piece of making the show work. You know, We've interviewed
Speaker 2: a lot of crew members and it's amazing how much
Speaker 2: weight everybody was pulling, because it really was this gigantic
Speaker 2: team effort.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, but.
Speaker 2: Damn Kelly, you had a job that no one else
Speaker 2: could do well. Yes, and nobody nobody else wanted. You
Speaker 2: had to pass the torch personally to make sure somebody
Speaker 2: could handle us.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, that's true. That's true. For those who don't know,
Speaker 3: I started on Glee as a set PA, and typically
Speaker 3: on a TV movie that there's one PA who's dedicated
Speaker 3: to the handling of the actors, or the first PA,
Speaker 3: and so I was the first team PA. Hungrily for
Speaker 3: the first three seasons.
Speaker 2: And you started immediately right. You didn't work on the
Speaker 2: pilot started. I did not work on the pilots. I
Speaker 2: am a NEPO baby. My father worked on the pilot.
Speaker 3: And then when it was ordered to series, he was like,
Speaker 3: I could give you this job because I didn't have
Speaker 3: a job and I was twenty nothing. And then I
Speaker 3: was like, I don't know, I've never done it before.
Speaker 3: I don't know if I want to like chase around
Speaker 3: a bunch of factors. I think what really happened, which
Speaker 3: was helpful for all of us, was that like, for
Speaker 3: the most part, everyone that was an actor on the show,
Speaker 3: or at least playing one of the teenagers, was so green,
Speaker 3: and I was so green that we kind of like
Speaker 3: worked out our own system how to be on the set,
Speaker 3: how to go to and from the set, because you know,
Speaker 3: it's like the ad team, the prepas are, you know,
Speaker 3: sort of meant to just like keep tabs on everyone
Speaker 3: on the set. So it's like, you know, and I
Speaker 3: feel like, just because it was such a large group
Speaker 3: of people, like, yeah, we kind of worked out our
Speaker 3: own little shorthand our own little thing because we were
Speaker 3: all kind of like what the youngest of us was
Speaker 3: twenty eighteen and the oldest was like twenty nine or
Speaker 3: whenever at the time. So yeah, we were all the
Speaker 3: same age. We all had similar experience in life and work,
Speaker 3: and so it's just like, yeah, I kind of like
Speaker 3: worked my way in there.
Speaker 1: And it made yourself it replaceable.
Speaker 3: On many I wore many hats in that role.
Speaker 1: You really did. You made yourself irreplaceable. Nobody would listen
Speaker 1: to anybody except for you. Yeah, And we kind of
Speaker 1: hadn't made it that way. So we were like, well,
Speaker 1: we'll just have Telly around and we won't listen to
Speaker 1: anybody else, so we'll make sure that they know that
Speaker 1: we need Telly.
Speaker 2: We acted up. I think the only times we collectively
Speaker 2: acted up was if like you weren't there for some
Speaker 2: reason or like you were taking like if they had
Speaker 2: somebody else come in. We were not easy for anybody else.
Speaker 3: No, And I think it was like a lot of
Speaker 3: you know, on there's a lot of hurry up and
Speaker 3: wait on sets, and and a lot of like a
Speaker 3: lot of the time you'll get an actual will get
Speaker 3: called to set at the right time, you know, but
Speaker 3: then there's eventually going to be some you know, the
Speaker 3: final camera checks, the final hair and makeup, so it's
Speaker 3: like you're never writing change when they're ready. No one's
Speaker 3: ever really ready when ready is called. But I think
Speaker 3: because again there were so many it was like of
Speaker 3: you that it was like, well they're not going at
Speaker 3: so I'm not going to go, you know. And that
Speaker 3: was exact a lot of like false calls to set
Speaker 3: and like a lot of like, well you guys need
Speaker 3: to go now, and it's like, well do we really
Speaker 3: need to go now or or is it just going
Speaker 3: to be another fifteen people standing in that room doing nothing?
Speaker 3: Oh god, it just all came back. Then it was
Speaker 3: like like my voice coming through would be like, okay,
Speaker 3: it's actually time for you to go. So sort of
Speaker 3: like and I always like employed the method of just
Speaker 3: like touching someone's shoulder or need making eye contact to
Speaker 3: say ever even to go do your job now.
Speaker 2: I mean think your personality it was built for that
Speaker 2: because you know, you like to say this what other
Speaker 2: people tell you. But you are the universally most like
Speaker 2: last I've ever met.
Speaker 3: Like, thank you, that's very sweet of you. Yeah. I
Speaker 3: I think I work best when just working with other people.
Speaker 3: And this is like working with other people because it's
Speaker 3: well I also, like you know, have no personal boundaries.
Speaker 3: So that's right, none of us did, which is great.
Speaker 3: So you know it'st important.
Speaker 1: That was the most important.
Speaker 3: Ye be there talking it out, working it out, figuring
Speaker 3: it out together just kind of like that's sort of
Speaker 3: just naturally how I like to be. And I think again,
Speaker 3: like another there was so much to learn in those
Speaker 3: first few years for all of us in so many
Speaker 3: different ways, and like so you know, I think it's
Speaker 3: just like was always good to be there. I think
Speaker 3: like ultimately what ended up happening was that like I
Speaker 3: took on a lot of a role as like a
Speaker 3: lot like an emotional sort of, I took on a
Speaker 3: lot of like emotional I don't know what the term
Speaker 3: is other than like baggage, but it's not really baggage.
Speaker 3: But like you know, as things come up and like
Speaker 3: tempers flare and it gets on to our sixteen and
Speaker 3: so many various things that happened that can you know,
Speaker 3: and then everyone's got personal lives for shit, you know,
Speaker 3: stuff's going on in your personal life, and but you're there,
Speaker 3: you are on set living as I'm sure you guys
Speaker 3: have talked about like scenes of fifteen people where only
Speaker 3: three people talk. So it's like, great, I'm so glad
Speaker 3: I was here all day to stand in the background, right.
Speaker 3: But you know, it's like those things, there's a lot,
Speaker 3: there's a lot to take on, a lot to learn,
Speaker 3: and then especially once the show is like catapulting into
Speaker 3: this like insane stratosphere of of like same and just
Speaker 3: like everybody knows who you are now and you know,
Speaker 3: all eyes around Glee. It's like there's a lot of
Speaker 3: emotional tension that comes up with that, a lot of things.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of what came from that. I
Speaker 3: think a lot of where a dynamic ended up in
Speaker 3: that third season especially was sort of just like being
Speaker 3: there to make everything, make sure everybody was like okay
Speaker 3: on that level, on that emotional yeah, and to just yeah,
Speaker 3: make things so smoothly, especially like with such a revolving
Speaker 3: door of cast as well, like on the special guest
Speaker 3: level and on just like the day playing co star level,
Speaker 3: there's like tons of people. So I like really took on,
Speaker 3: you know the role of like being that first person
Speaker 3: that they meet at base camp, being the first person
Speaker 3: that they see on set, you know, being there. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and just like you know, so that it so that
Speaker 3: nobody that I took it on personally, So it was
Speaker 3: like nobody that came on to be on camera, be
Speaker 3: they like a dancer or Carol Burnett, like, you know,
Speaker 3: I want them to know that there's someone here that's
Speaker 3: not the fact that that will show them where to
Speaker 3: go or tell them what to do, because it was
Speaker 3: really I mean that when that machine was up and running,
Speaker 3: it was like it was fast, it was big, and
Speaker 3: it was loud, you know, so it was it could
Speaker 3: sometimes be really hard for so as much as I
Speaker 3: took on and loved being there, is sort of like
Speaker 3: the support for the main cast, it was like I
Speaker 3: also really did take on. Yeah, you did that role
Speaker 3: for the other cast of just you know, just being there, and.
Speaker 1: There's a much bigger role than any PA I think
Speaker 1: on any other show has taken on ever.
Speaker 2: Because I imagine that's not in the job description. Were like,
Speaker 2: it's like you're welcoming, and we were all very proud
Speaker 2: of what we were doing, and so it feels like
Speaker 2: you were welcoming people into our home and making sure
Speaker 2: like I'm going to be a good host and make
Speaker 2: sure you're taken care of, so like when you leave,
Speaker 2: you feel protected and that you had a good and
Speaker 2: safe experience.
Speaker 3: And you know, like I think in a in general,
Speaker 3: you know, there's a lot of talk I think around
Speaker 3: Glee and in other shows and like other like outsiders
Speaker 3: looking in. It's like you think, like, oh, how is that.
Speaker 3: How do the cast treat this new person, or how
Speaker 3: do the cast treat this bring this other person? Like, yes,
Speaker 3: we're all humans, so we like should be treating each
Speaker 3: other with respect. But also like it's not necessarily a
Speaker 3: regular actor's job to like bring in another actor and
Speaker 3: show them the ropes and like make sure that they're okay.
Speaker 3: And you know, like everybody has their own thing and
Speaker 3: their own laying to be in on a set, so
Speaker 3: it's like right, and like, I don't think anybody did it.
Speaker 3: I don't think anybody was overly like rude or didn't
Speaker 3: take care of people in that way. But you know,
Speaker 3: it was nice that I could be that somewhere, you know,
Speaker 3: fill that space in so that.
Speaker 1: For sure, it's a good point that people knew.
Speaker 3: That they were they could do their job. And then
Speaker 3: also right if there was anything else going on that
Speaker 3: it was like could be a safe enough place to
Speaker 3: just like talk about it, let it out, or at
Speaker 3: least just like recognize that not everything in life is
Speaker 3: like sunshine and rainbows and roads sometimes bad days.
Speaker 2: I was just thinking, how that's such like an unquantifiable
Speaker 2: quality or attribute to a set. But I think that's wrong.
Speaker 2: I think it is quantifiable in the sense that you
Speaker 2: probably were the piece that connected all of these different departments.
Speaker 2: Obviously there was overlap with you know, Heather Knew, Brittay
Speaker 2: and Hannah and the dance department, and obviously Zach and
Speaker 2: Broke and we were close with them, or makeup and
Speaker 2: hair or any Kosters that were coming in. But you
Speaker 2: were the singular person going between all of those things, right,
Speaker 2: and the reason why we probably are also all felt
Speaker 2: so comfortable, I don't know, mixing or being like we're
Speaker 2: all on the same level here. It's not like, oh,
Speaker 2: we're the first twelve people on the call sheet. That
Speaker 2: doesn't mean anything. We're making sure everybody is, you know,
Speaker 2: having a good time and like we're hanging out. We're
Speaker 2: all young, and at the same time, you could do
Speaker 2: that and be the emotional support for everyone but also
Speaker 2: make sure the ship was running how it was supposed
Speaker 2: to be run.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and also like I noticed two and you know this.
Speaker 3: I don't think we'll ever go away. But there's like
Speaker 3: there's this attitude around actors sometimes on a like on
Speaker 3: a set with the crew, where it's like they're like
Speaker 3: there's special attention given and sometimes they're like handled in
Speaker 3: this way that's like, you know, you hear these horror
Speaker 3: stories of people living like you can't make eye contact
Speaker 3: with this person or like you can't do this that,
Speaker 3: and it's like whether or not that happens or is real,
Speaker 3: it's like there's still sort of this attitude where it's
Speaker 3: like for the crew where it's like okay, but the
Speaker 3: cast is somehow like unapproachable or like leave them to
Speaker 3: themselves or like you know true, And that's again part
Speaker 3: of just like being respectful of people in their jobs.
Speaker 3: But I also think, like to what you're saying, Kevin,
Speaker 3: like maybe I had a hand in helping like everyone
Speaker 3: more accessible to everyone. Yeah, you guys needed to talk
Speaker 3: to someone who It's like I don't know who this
Speaker 3: person is on the crew, but I need to get
Speaker 3: this done. It's like, oh, I can link you up
Speaker 3: with that person. Yeah, Vice versa, because you know, it's
Speaker 3: like there's a lot of people, you know, people like
Speaker 3: if a crew member had like a friend or family
Speaker 3: on set and they wanted to like meet you guys,
Speaker 3: all talk to you guys, it's like they'd always kind
Speaker 3: of like I remember a lot of people coming to
Speaker 3: me and being like how should I handle this, and
Speaker 3: it's just like, you know, like break down. So I
Speaker 3: also like felt like, yeah, you did conviously breaking those
Speaker 3: walls down and making it so that like everyone everyone
Speaker 3: can talk to everyone here.
Speaker 2: And it makes me think of like we go into
Speaker 2: crafty and see these beautiful drawings, like who did that, right? Jason?
Speaker 1: Jason?
Speaker 3: Right, Jason did this drawing?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, really, I just found my teena card
Speaker 1: that Jason.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's like I don't even know. I don't know if
Speaker 2: that's normal on set, but we were all the different
Speaker 2: departments were fully just intermigrated.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and again I think that like had a lot.
Speaker 3: I'm not going to say that was I was the
Speaker 3: reason for that. I think a lot of it. Most
Speaker 3: of it would probably was what you referenced that sort
Speaker 3: of like Glee to me was like everyone was being
Speaker 3: called upon to go above and beyond like every day, yes,
Speaker 3: every department that is, there's a commiseration there or like
Speaker 3: a camaraderie where it's like we're all we're all being
Speaker 3: pushed here to like a limit. So it's like I
Speaker 3: think that bonds you as well.
Speaker 2: You said, like the emotional like by season three, because
Speaker 2: we we did season three, watch season three recently and
Speaker 2: we're talking about how the wheels were falling off.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, and it was just where you guys were
Speaker 3: out in your rewatch.
Speaker 1: We're in season four now.
Speaker 2: But season three it was a lot of like oh
Speaker 2: my god, like, yeah, did we block this out of
Speaker 2: our memories? Were we even like conscious of what was
Speaker 2: happening because it was just so hectic, But you were
Speaker 2: there as like the emotional support, which I know is
Speaker 2: not part of your job description, but I don't know,
Speaker 2: like how do you think that impacted you or does
Speaker 2: still impact you? Or like a lot was being asked
Speaker 2: of you about and beyond of what a normal PA
Speaker 2: job would be, and I don't think we knew any
Speaker 2: different that maybe that wasn't fair to you because we
Speaker 2: were all best friends and so there was that weird
Speaker 2: line of like what we said, like being a coworker
Speaker 2: being a best friend, and it was fully, it was
Speaker 2: very blurry like there was no separation.
Speaker 3: Totally, totally yeah, And I think especially by that point, well,
Speaker 3: I guess my first thought about that is like at
Speaker 3: that point, there was like we're dealing with like we're
Speaker 3: going on the third year of like some intense like
Speaker 3: exhaustion because we've gotten like season one, we had that
Speaker 3: big long break between the first like the first twelve
Speaker 3: and the back nine, but then it was like back
Speaker 3: nine concert tour, season two, concert tour, season three, and
Speaker 3: so it's like at this point we've.
Speaker 2: Had the same schedule as us, minus like the press stuff,
Speaker 2: but like you saw us through all of those moments
Speaker 2: as well, which nobody else did. So I think like,
Speaker 2: and I think.
Speaker 3: When you mix it up like that way with the
Speaker 3: show and then the tour on the off time and
Speaker 3: then we're socializing as well, I think it's just like
Speaker 3: you start seeing like you're all feeling it, you all
Speaker 3: know it, right, It's like you know what we've been
Speaker 3: through professionally. And then I mean when you're spending all
Speaker 3: their time together, we also just know each other so well,
Speaker 3: we know what's going on in each other's lives. We
Speaker 3: know those stresses, and so I think, you know, I
Speaker 3: think it was just a natural progression. I think as
Speaker 3: far as like taking on more of that personal stuff
Speaker 3: or like being available for that, like just seems like
Speaker 3: a natural progression because it's like we're friends, we're and
Speaker 3: and I know what's going on. It's not like your
Speaker 3: friends that have to work and you are on the
Speaker 3: weekends and you're sort of like, how was work this week? Like, Oh,
Speaker 3: it was all right.
Speaker 2: It's like no, I know that I intimately knew everything.
Speaker 3: I intimately know what's going on, Like I know who's
Speaker 3: you know, I know if there's tension between two cast members.
Speaker 3: I know if someone's having some issue at home like
Speaker 3: yeah or Pritner or whatever. Like we're all aware of
Speaker 3: all that stuff. So I think, yeah, I think that
Speaker 3: was just like sort of naturally happened. But I think
Speaker 3: what also came with that was like by season three,
Speaker 3: for me personally on set, like there I would I
Speaker 3: had lost some of the like more traditional PA responsibilities,
Speaker 3: like I was now no longer like in place of
Speaker 3: you know, like locking up doorway and like right like
Speaker 3: handling the walkie talkies like I had kind of graduated
Speaker 3: to a place where I could be on set with
Speaker 3: the actors, be at base camp with the actors, like
Speaker 3: be running in between and doing all those things that
Speaker 3: I needed to do that were maybe not part of
Speaker 3: the job description. So it's funny here there's like a
Speaker 3: bit of a balance in that, like because I was
Speaker 3: maybe taking on more nuanced personal like matters or like
Speaker 3: emotional heavy lifting. Yeah, it's no longer doing some of the.
Speaker 1: Physical annual labor, yeah.
Speaker 3: Or like you know, so it's like their balances out
Speaker 3: in that way, like with time comes seniority as well.
Speaker 2: So it's really crazy because I think it's like when
Speaker 2: things happen incrementally, you know, over time, you don't necessarily
Speaker 2: realize it. I was like, yeah, I think the reason
Speaker 2: I probably like sort of came out to everyone was
Speaker 2: because of you, Like you helped me sort of like
Speaker 2: you know, get there.
Speaker 3: You also had no choice.
Speaker 2: I had, it was but it was like I didn't
Speaker 2: have for example, like a lot of gay friends. I
Speaker 2: was around a lot of gay people. You were very close,
Speaker 2: we were very close in age. You were someone who
Speaker 2: felt so secure and free within themselves. You created this
Speaker 2: I don't know, probably subconsciously, unbeknownst to me, this really
Speaker 2: safe space and someone to like look up to and
Speaker 2: admire and in a way where because growing up in
Speaker 2: the entertainment business, I thought this was something that would
Speaker 2: always have to be hidden. Obviously, you know, Jenna and
Speaker 2: Amber and Chris already knew, but you were the next person.
Speaker 2: And I think once and like, how it even happened.
Speaker 2: I remember we were in Vegas. I remember sitting on the floor.
Speaker 2: There was the family bed and I was sitting on
Speaker 2: the floor charging my phone, and You're like, so, Kevin,
Speaker 2: what's up you like guys? Oh no, you said, did you.
Speaker 3: Say you wanted to tell me? Yeah? And I'm like, uh,
Speaker 3: like fun, what do I do it?
Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, I guess I like dudes.
Speaker 1: Oh my god.
Speaker 3: Yeah wow.
Speaker 2: But I can't I can't probably express the ways in
Speaker 2: which that was so helpful, just being around you, being
Speaker 2: able to like truly be myself at home and at work.
Speaker 2: And I think, you know, the whole set felt like that,
Speaker 2: where I mean you saw it on the actual episodes
Speaker 2: reflected where like everyone was welcome, everything was celebrated, and
Speaker 2: then behind the scenes it was even more so. I
Speaker 2: think where the crew was so accepting of each other
Speaker 2: and of us, and everyone was like, you're going to
Speaker 2: work with like some pretty tough dudes, and like they
Speaker 2: loved this show and they loved the gage so much,
Speaker 2: like people that you would necessarily like I probably wouldn't
Speaker 2: have felt comfortable like being myself in front of it was
Speaker 2: like that didn't matter, and so like it was very
Speaker 2: educational for me, and you sort of like held my hand.
Speaker 2: I think through all.
Speaker 3: Of that, Oh, thank you, Kevin. I'm glad I could
Speaker 3: be there. And yeah, I mean I think and I
Speaker 3: think again, that's just like I think that has a
Speaker 3: lot to do with, like, you know, those lines being
Speaker 3: blurred between like personal life and professional life and and
Speaker 3: a lot of times I think that's tricky issues and yeah,
Speaker 3: I can be but I think a lot of times
Speaker 3: that it creates maybe those environments you're talking about where
Speaker 3: everyone's a little more comfortable to be themselves a little
Speaker 3: bit more or like you know, and then ultimately, like
Speaker 3: I am against the idea of like holding back any
Speaker 3: part of yourself anyway, So I think probably my natural
Speaker 3: tendency is to like draw that out of people. If
Speaker 3: there's yeah, for sure, holding something back.
Speaker 2: Which is sort of like you and Meg's ended up
Speaker 2: being like the perfect duo because she very much I
Speaker 2: think echoes that in her own way, like everyone trusts her, Yeah, nurturer,
Speaker 2: which is I felt like she was the correct successor.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I really did need. That was a funny thing too,
Speaker 3: because you know, luckily with being in a position like
Speaker 3: a pare, you're easily replaceable, but like in the sense
Speaker 3: of like because you were not when we come in
Speaker 3: and like there's it's it's again. It's all those like
Speaker 3: once you know the ropes, you can kind of get
Speaker 3: to the ropes anywhere. But as funny as I like
Speaker 3: was moving on from this set, I was like, oh God,
Speaker 3: who's gonna like this just can't be anyone like trying
Speaker 3: to be a successor in that you know, it's someone
Speaker 3: who's yes, it's really not you know, and it's like
Speaker 3: there's a lot of leadership that goes on with it. It's
Speaker 3: like it's a funny position where I always said it
Speaker 3: was like on set I had to tell people what
Speaker 3: to do without making it seem like I was telling
Speaker 3: them what to do or like it was their idea
Speaker 3: or it was you know this sort of or interrupt
Speaker 3: conversations without being rude, Like it's just these weird little
Speaker 3: soft skills that you need, yes, and ultimately end up
Speaker 3: in being like being able to command the room or
Speaker 3: get I mean. And this was not and it's not
Speaker 3: even a way of saying like everyone was acting so
Speaker 3: crazy that they needed someone special to like rein it
Speaker 3: in or it's like no, just like the sheer volume
Speaker 3: of people like fifteen afters touched up and on.
Speaker 1: Set, yes, is like at the same time, it's hurting
Speaker 1: Castle more.
Speaker 3: And it's like not any that's not the normal. That's
Speaker 3: not the normal thing.
Speaker 1: So yes, it's not, it's not. It was a lot
Speaker 1: to take on and then especial, Yeah, you was crazy.
Speaker 3: I was actually thinking about this the other day because
Speaker 3: I was like thinking like, oh, Kevin must be like
Speaker 3: he must almost he must be like almost thirty two
Speaker 3: or something. And then I was like, wait a second,
Speaker 3: he's only like a few years younger than me, like
Speaker 3: he's thirty five. And then I was like when we
Speaker 3: met and you were like twenty four, It's like that's
Speaker 3: what there's like. So it's like I remember being like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, I'm so much older than this kid. Yeah,
Speaker 3: learn and dah da da da and it's like and
Speaker 3: then jenneb you being like two years you know in
Speaker 3: between oh she knows you know and I are basically
Speaker 3: the same age, but like the young kid is not.
Speaker 3: And then now I'm like, okay, no, we're the same age.
Speaker 2: I remember feeling like all of my twenties, I was
Speaker 2: like Chris and I felt like I'm always around older people.
Speaker 1: Oh I'm always Oh my god, Wow, okay the kid
Speaker 1: comes out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well in the same age.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we are.
Speaker 3: So yes, I was young when I thought I wasn't
Speaker 3: young starting out fly. I look back now and I'm like,
Speaker 3: it was a baby child.
Speaker 1: Now when you were when you were passing the torch
Speaker 1: over to megs d after all those we did we
Speaker 1: pushed you. No, we're encouraging you, but tell us, like,
Speaker 1: I'm curious to hear in your mom mind. Did you
Speaker 1: hit a breaking point? Was there a point where you're like,
Speaker 1: I got to get out of here, or what was
Speaker 1: it that made you How did you get to the
Speaker 1: next level? In the Ryan Murphy camp, well.
Speaker 3: What happened with my so I guess it was very
Speaker 3: early on. It was like season one. The producers were
Speaker 3: very much, like I got really good feedback from them,
Speaker 3: and in that like we want you here, we want
Speaker 3: you to work with us, we want to promote you
Speaker 3: when we can. We don't know what that is or
Speaker 3: what it'll look like, but that was sort of like
Speaker 3: part of the discussion for me really starting early on,
Speaker 3: which was great. At one point. I think it was
Speaker 3: actually season at the end of season two into season three.
Speaker 3: Matt Hodson was Ryan's assistant at the time, and it
Speaker 3: was being promoted and he you know, so that position available.
Speaker 3: I talked to him about that. I was still at
Speaker 3: that point, so to answer maybe the breaking point question,
Speaker 3: like at that point, I was still like into being
Speaker 3: on set, wanting to be on set, like being Ryan's
Speaker 3: assistant like had its appeal, but like, wasn't weighing out
Speaker 3: the on set job at that time. It's funny, I
Speaker 3: have lots of like sliding doors moments of like what
Speaker 3: if I had done that, Yeah, right, would have changed.
Speaker 3: But anyway, so so I think then and then I
Speaker 3: guess it was midway or you know, towards the end
Speaker 3: of season three that the script coordinator was fired or
Speaker 3: left or something and so that position was available, which
Speaker 3: I didn't really know a lot about the position, but
Speaker 3: after finding out that it's sort of like a you know,
Speaker 3: a liaison between the writers in the production office and
Speaker 3: you sort of handle this the formatting and proofreading of
Speaker 3: the scripts and the continuity of the show and things
Speaker 3: like that. That definitely felt like also in my wheelhouse
Speaker 3: as skills were concerned and seemed appealing. And so by
Speaker 3: the time that came around, I think with the season
Speaker 3: three and just feeling like, yeah, maybe I felt like
Speaker 3: there was enough appeal there where I was like, Okay,
Speaker 3: I can leave this behind. I think maybe I feel
Speaker 3: like also i'd maybe like hit a ceiling on set
Speaker 3: where it was like what more can I do? As
Speaker 3: fart like there, you know, because it's like taking on
Speaker 3: more responsibility on set is like a whole other DGA,
Speaker 3: like a d thing, right, which was like the path
Speaker 3: I wanted to go down, right.
Speaker 2: You sort of like maxed out what you could do.
Speaker 3: Because it was like a new thing that didn't really exist.
Speaker 3: It was like its own thing. It kind of felt
Speaker 3: like it had grown to where it could grow. And
Speaker 3: then yeah, and there was something really exciting about for
Speaker 3: me about like taking on new responsibilities in the writer's office,
Speaker 3: like getting closer to the writing process and in turn
Speaker 3: just learning a lot more about actually about how the product,
Speaker 3: how production works, you know. So it was so it
Speaker 3: didn't I didn't reach a breaking point. I think I
Speaker 3: reached a point where I think with like with anything,
Speaker 3: there's like when you're doing the same thing over and
Speaker 3: over again, and there's like maybe some resentment that builds
Speaker 3: up that was like the job, not so much of
Speaker 3: the people. And then so yeah, I think I was
Speaker 3: just ready to move on because I also loved the
Speaker 3: idea of having regular office hours and not because the
Speaker 3: thing that is so wearing about being on set in
Speaker 3: a crew is that you're there the whole time, right
Speaker 3: there all day long, right, and so it was like, yeah,
Speaker 3: so it's just like a lot of time and so and.
Speaker 2: You're there before us and after us.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and for the scene. You know, it's like if
Speaker 3: we have you know, acchoir room scene in the beginning
Speaker 3: of the day, but then the rest of the day
Speaker 3: it's just a little start. It's like, you know, you're
Speaker 3: there for everything, Yeah, all scenes with one or two
Speaker 3: actors to the big group numbers. But I think a
Speaker 3: lot of the reasons maybe I didn't take that first
Speaker 3: opportunity to like get off set. There was a little
Speaker 3: bit of like fomo too and like part of the
Speaker 3: group and like being there for those times. And then
Speaker 3: I think when it looked like I don't know, maybe
Speaker 3: it just happened this way, but like it sort of
Speaker 3: felt like after season three anyway, like with this, you know,
Speaker 3: story wise, with the half of the group going to
Speaker 3: New York, and then like it felt like a disjointed
Speaker 3: different thing anyway. And at this point again it was
Speaker 3: like I was secure enough with all of my relationships
Speaker 3: with people on set. I was like, okay, well and
Speaker 3: we're all still working on the same project, so it's
Speaker 3: like I'm not right. It's like we're gonna maybe spend
Speaker 3: a little less space to face time together and that's okay.
Speaker 3: And and ultimately, yeah, it's just like going to every
Speaker 3: department and getting their time sheets and just those little
Speaker 3: like as it's been three years, like I can't keep
Speaker 3: doing this.
Speaker 2: I remember us having conversations with you. We were like, Telly,
Speaker 2: like we want you here, kind of like you kind
Speaker 2: of go and I remember you like really taking your
Speaker 2: I remember at the end of season two and you're
Speaker 2: considering that, and it also just felt like, well, I
Speaker 2: also want to be with like these people I love
Speaker 2: every day, and like you built this position into like
Speaker 2: what it was right, and it was like your thing,
Speaker 2: Like this was like fully your position that you created
Speaker 2: out of nothing on set, and like it felt like
Speaker 2: there was pride in that. And also it's like going
Speaker 2: to do something else, you have found something you were
Speaker 2: really good at and you were irreplaceable, and it was
Speaker 2: sort of like, okay, then I have to just like
Speaker 2: even though you're in the same production, you're working with
Speaker 2: other people at your already know but a different capacity,
Speaker 2: it still felt like that would be scary and terrifying
Speaker 2: because it's like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's felt like something I think too, Like I
Speaker 3: always had it in the back of my head, like
Speaker 3: I know this isn't going to last. Like I know
Speaker 3: this isn't going to last, like you know, Like again,
Speaker 3: being an EPO baby, I was very exposed and from
Speaker 3: a very early age of like the realist the realistic
Speaker 3: nature of of TV and that yeah, there's you know,
Speaker 3: scarce times and there are good times, there's everything in between,
Speaker 3: and that like you know, like so to try to
Speaker 3: enjoy it and know that it wasn't gonna last. But
Speaker 3: then at the same time, there was this feeling of like, oh,
Speaker 3: it's like so precious and if it ever changes, then
Speaker 3: what's going to happen? Like it needs to be this way.
Speaker 3: And then I think that that maybe was more in
Speaker 3: the water at the beginning of season three, and then
Speaker 3: towards the end of season three, I think it was like,
Speaker 3: you're already something should change here in order to sustain this,
Speaker 3: because this isn't sustainable.
Speaker 1: It's not.
Speaker 2: Because you started at the very beginning with us and
Speaker 2: went on tours with us that nobody else in production
Speaker 2: did like that until Meg's joined. But what was that
Speaker 2: experience like seeing I don't know the public or like
Speaker 2: the growth of the show because you were in that
Speaker 2: bubble where we did the first twelve and nobody saw
Speaker 2: it and then it went from now we're doing an
Speaker 2: international tour. Like from your perspective, what was that experience?
Speaker 3: Yeah? That was it was wild. It was yeah. So
Speaker 3: you know when I started, I you know again like
Speaker 3: I've seen my dad, my members of my family like
Speaker 3: make shows and then they are great and then they
Speaker 3: disappear and then who knows. So it's like I knew
Speaker 3: this was happening in a vacuum. I think it was
Speaker 3: the day that we were shooting Stay a Little Prayer
Speaker 3: that I saw that because I had never seen a rehearsal.
Speaker 3: I hadn't seen it whatever like I did. I'd maybe
Speaker 3: read a script at this point, but I was sort
Speaker 3: of like, okay, like what is this show? And then
Speaker 3: like saw it and saw the like like the way
Speaker 3: that it was like on the page, it was just
Speaker 3: like they've performed a song. And then it was like,
Speaker 3: oh no, like these these are like singers and dancers
Speaker 3: who are like Corey Group dancing to a choreograph song
Speaker 3: like and like the way that it worked in the
Speaker 3: story too. I was like, oh, this is really going
Speaker 3: to like hit in a way like I was like,
Speaker 3: so I knew from them that it was going to
Speaker 3: be like wild but interesting, and then to see the
Speaker 3: rest of the stuff we did that season was just
Speaker 3: like wow, and no one's even seen this yet, like
Speaker 3: this is right. So I think that going from there.
Speaker 3: I mean I remember being on the first tour. It
Speaker 3: was the last leg of the first tours, was like
Speaker 3: Radio City Music Hall and Ryan would call the show.
Speaker 3: You know, we'd have like a little moment at the
Speaker 3: beginning and everyone would make a speech, and I remember
Speaker 3: I was like, I'm going to say something here because
Speaker 3: this was like the last you know, so this is
Speaker 3: the last leg of this trip and where Radio City
Speaker 3: Music Hall and I referenced and I said to all
Speaker 3: of you, like I remember being like in that dark
Speaker 3: auditorium watching You'll Do Somebody to Love, like over and
Speaker 3: over and over and just like as an audience won
Speaker 3: and just like loving it so much and feeling like
Speaker 3: it was so special and so intense, and then like
Speaker 3: and look where we are now. Now you're performing for
Speaker 3: thousands of people at Radio City Music Hall. Like that
Speaker 3: wasn't lost on me then, and then it just kept compounding,
Speaker 3: like the next year. It's like going from I think
Speaker 3: always going on tour was like a way to check
Speaker 3: the temperature of what is happening out there, because yes,
Speaker 3: we all had Twitter, and Twitter was new, and it
Speaker 3: was like there was definitely a sense there of like
Speaker 3: what the fandom was like, but it was like to
Speaker 3: be to be like physically barricading your bodies, just like
Speaker 3: going from a van to a hotel lobby and like
Speaker 3: hearing the screams of that arena and like I remember
Speaker 3: Indianapolis for some reason was like it was the best
Speaker 3: wow smelloping and just to you know, so to see
Speaker 3: that and to have, you know, to have literally witnessed
Speaker 3: it going from this like little thing and like sneaking
Speaker 3: into rehearsals in the tin shed and like right, oh,
Speaker 3: and like getting to know everyone and like knowing what
Speaker 3: people's backgrounds were and like, Okay, this person has a
Speaker 3: lot of experience in dance, and Jenna has the experience
Speaker 3: in theater, and like you, Kevin has experience in music,
Speaker 3: and like and that, Like I always thought that was
Speaker 3: really cool how everyone like brought a little bit of
Speaker 3: something but that of their own, but like the like
Speaker 3: speed with which it like became one cohesive thing, and
Speaker 3: like it became like emblematic and iconic in this way
Speaker 3: of like you know, you're characters were, and I think
Speaker 3: like a lot of that had to do with the
Speaker 3: show and the costumes and everything, but it's like there
Speaker 3: was just this like thing where everyone became it became
Speaker 3: this phenomenon and then it was that and it was
Speaker 3: like unstoppable.
Speaker 1: Hmmm. I remember on tour there was one city. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you remember what city it was where
Speaker 1: we were able to go see the fans. Like most
Speaker 1: of the tour, we weren't able to go and meet
Speaker 1: the fans. It was just impossible. There were too many
Speaker 1: people and it was dangerous. There was one city there
Speaker 1: was chainling fences around the parking lot and somehow till
Speaker 1: they got a golf cart, yes, and you round. I
Speaker 1: think it was Chicago, and we were like waving at
Speaker 1: the fans and we would drive up and we would
Speaker 1: sign through the chainling fence. We would sign people's posters.
Speaker 2: Maybe it was I don't know, the Chicago we were
Speaker 2: able to like actually interact with the pot It was.
Speaker 3: You know. I think I remember that because man was
Speaker 3: tweeting me about they have like shirts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, gifts for us, right.
Speaker 3: Yes, That's the other thing I'll say is about sort
Speaker 3: of when I realized too that like maybe this has
Speaker 3: gone beyond like what was expected. Was like also a
Speaker 3: radio city music hall, and I like was like having
Speaker 3: a bat. It was a stressful day and there was
Speaker 3: like some shit going on. I was like I just
Speaker 3: need a second. I went out of the stage door
Speaker 3: and I like sat down on the curb and just
Speaker 3: like looked at my phone for a minute or whatever
Speaker 3: and just like took a breath and came back in
Speaker 3: and like checked my tweets and it was like four
Speaker 3: tweets being like oh we see you Toddle or like whoah,
Speaker 3: like people are tweeting me and having recognized me. And
Speaker 3: then it was like the next year it was like
Speaker 3: people were screaming my name as I left the arena,
Speaker 3: or like I would walk or and everyone would scream
Speaker 3: and ask me for autographs or they'd be like I
Speaker 3: have gifts for you, and it was sort of like, uh,
Speaker 3: like what's going on here? Like it's very like if
Speaker 3: you know you know, but also yeah, where it was
Speaker 3: like how do you know who? I'm the guy who
Speaker 3: like it's cool? No, no, no, you know, I think yeah
Speaker 3: it was. It was It was definitely nothing i'll witness
Speaker 3: like I you know, I'm lucky to have witnessed it.
Speaker 3: I think it was a totally singular experience of life
Speaker 3: to like have like been with the show as it
Speaker 3: went from you know, it's infancy into this like into
Speaker 3: today where it's still this thing. It's like on Wheeldy
Speaker 3: growing like massive things that's just like he's creating and
Speaker 3: keeps reinventing and living on. And you know, I don't
Speaker 3: think there was a day that I tried to that
Speaker 3: I took it for granted that I was pinching myself
Speaker 3: throughout the whole time, because it was just, Yeah, it
Speaker 3: was definitely in the back of my mind, I had
Speaker 3: that like, this is never really going to happen again.
Speaker 1: Do you have any numbers to stick out in your
Speaker 1: head that you remember when you you were watching while
Speaker 1: we were shooting that, or anything that was of note
Speaker 1: or yours one on.
Speaker 3: I definitely got a lot braver as far as where
Speaker 3: I would be and what I would be doing during
Speaker 3: the filming of the seas because like the first season thing,
Speaker 3: I was literally outside the auditorium, like making sure nobody
Speaker 3: walked in a lot of the numbers. But so and
Speaker 3: you know, things like stealing away for a rehearsal when
Speaker 3: you guys were in ursal and stealing away and then
Speaker 3: like someone's missing, so like I'll stand in for someone
Speaker 3: for a whole rehearsal. So it's like, right, a lot
Speaker 3: of that happened for me in season three. And you
Speaker 3: can learn choreo total, we can dance, yes, thank you.
Speaker 3: It is one of my many talents. Give that. I
Speaker 3: remember standing in for Corey for Empire State of Mind,
Speaker 3: so I knew that whole dance, so it was like
Speaker 3: I could do that dance. I always always, always loved
Speaker 3: the Treble Tones trouble Tones, and they're any of their
Speaker 3: numbers and have distinct memories of dancing in the wings
Speaker 3: with both to those numbers when ye just and to
Speaker 3: be like upper body of choreography too, yes, exactly, I'd
Speaker 3: love the new directions, but yeah, geographically challenged people in
Speaker 3: that group, which really maybe limited the scope of choreography.
Speaker 1: But I'm calling for Trouble.
Speaker 3: Tones was always fun because it was like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: you're moving your You're moving your neck and your hips
Speaker 3: all the same time. But you know, I think there
Speaker 3: was always there was always something really special for me
Speaker 3: about like being in the auditorium, especially if it was
Speaker 3: like dark and I could just like sit there and
Speaker 3: take it all in. Like I mean, any time the
Speaker 3: amber had a solo, I was just like sitting there
Speaker 3: completely wrapped yea.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
Speaker 3: But you know, I think and so I think I
Speaker 3: just like lots of little and fun memories and always
Speaker 3: what was always great and exciting about it as a
Speaker 3: PA and as a script coordinator was like seeing it
Speaker 3: on the page, how it was written and what it was,
Speaker 3: and then in the first part of the show, being
Speaker 3: like so surprised with like whoa, I had no idea,
Speaker 3: like the set was going to look like this, so
Speaker 3: that there was going to be pyrotechnics or like everyone
Speaker 3: was going to be dressed in this costume or whatever.
Speaker 3: You know, It's like it's kind of that stuff when
Speaker 3: you're not in a production meeting. You know, no, that's
Speaker 3: all happening. And so the excitement of like showing up
Speaker 3: on set and being like what is it going to
Speaker 3: look like? It was exciting or like hmm, or you know,
Speaker 3: like I remember with like True Colors, it was just
Speaker 3: like they sing True Colors. And then like showing up
Speaker 3: and it was like Jenna as it was your solo
Speaker 3: and like I had no idea, and it was like,
Speaker 3: it's just so exciting to have that like and then
Speaker 3: it's like, oh, like listening to it for the first time, yeah,
Speaker 3: for the hundredth time, just like you know, like finding
Speaker 3: that excitement in it each time. So I have like
Speaker 3: lots of great memories of watching the numbers and participating
Speaker 3: in the numbers when I could and always yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: and just like being there. I was, but you know,
Speaker 3: always loved the group numbers. The big splashy one Somebody
Speaker 3: to Love was always, you know, I always have fund
Speaker 3: memories of that one.
Speaker 1: And yeah, that's a special one for sure.
Speaker 3: And then yeah, on the tour, I like worked my
Speaker 3: way into the safety dand so that was always a
Speaker 3: nice big number Riverdee Mountain High. It was like willing
Speaker 3: to watch. Also there was the aspect of like watching
Speaker 3: everyone else, like when it was solos or duets, It's
Speaker 3: like watching everyone else's reaction was always really fun, especially
Speaker 3: if it was like a special guest star or whatever like.
Speaker 3: So it was like, right, numbers were always a big
Speaker 3: fun thing to do. A lot of other there were.
Speaker 3: They're huge undertakings a lot of the time, so they
Speaker 3: were a daunting But it was also especially those rehearsals,
Speaker 3: for its very very exciting.
Speaker 2: Speaking of guest stars, yes, you got to interact with everyone,
Speaker 2: like yeah, and form close personal relationships with some of them,
Speaker 2: that's right.
Speaker 3: I mean seasons four or five and six, I was
Speaker 3: no longer on set, so I while I did meet
Speaker 3: some of those guests I didn't really like interact with
Speaker 3: some of the most The last special guests are on
Speaker 3: set that I like was working with was Woo Pee Goldberg,
Speaker 3: which was like so cool. I was like, I literally
Speaker 3: still sometimes I'm like what she was Also like it
Speaker 3: was crazy that how many people were all the time.
Speaker 3: But yeah, again, like I think I approached that in
Speaker 3: a in that same way of like they're just like
Speaker 3: they're they're here just like any other actor or any
Speaker 3: other day players here. So like I went in with
Speaker 3: just like that's you know, it's always helpful to like
Speaker 3: have what you're gonna say rehearsed. And on that show,
Speaker 3: it certainly was just like a very routine thing to
Speaker 3: like welcome someone to set. But yeah, I think I
Speaker 3: never was I never really was like intimidated by anyone.
Speaker 3: So I think that helped in like helping to establish
Speaker 3: that that dynamic. But also it was like so exciting.
Speaker 2: I mean, your bond with Gwyneth was hilarious.
Speaker 1: Gwyneth loved you.
Speaker 3: Gwyneth and I hit it off really well, which was
Speaker 3: amazing and hilarious, and yeah, and it was always it
Speaker 3: was again, it would just come out from like hanging
Speaker 3: out on set and just like we would all just
Speaker 3: be like Gavin and with each other. And it was
Speaker 3: like there were some some start some guest stars who
Speaker 3: you knew were like there to do the job and
Speaker 3: that's great, and they're like they've got other shit going
Speaker 3: on and they're in and out and whatever. But it's
Speaker 3: like some were like also just there to hang Yeah,
Speaker 3: totally and wanted to and they're sitting there in the
Speaker 3: chairs between takes, like getting the goss and wanting to
Speaker 3: know who's who.
Speaker 1: Yes, and yeah.
Speaker 3: So she she was definitely there. She was into play.
Speaker 3: She was there to play fun. And you know, also
Speaker 3: it was really cool and kind of like humbling to
Speaker 3: see a lot of these huge stars that you've like
Speaker 3: admired for your life and then they come in and
Speaker 3: to see them kind of like because you throw in
Speaker 3: like music and dance and and then all of a
Speaker 3: sudden they're you know, back at sort of square one,
Speaker 3: and you can see how nervous they are or how
Speaker 3: like this is so far out of what they normally do,
Speaker 3: and it's like it's sort of this humbling thing where
Speaker 3: you're like, oh, yeah, like are people too all people
Speaker 3: that are terrified and dancing, you know, you know, whatever
Speaker 3: it is, it's like, it's like so just to like
Speaker 3: be exposed to it on that level too, was always
Speaker 3: really yeah, humbling and reassuring that just like nobody here
Speaker 3: really knows. That was another thing too about Glee. It's
Speaker 3: like you had to kind of maybe realize a little later,
Speaker 3: Like and certainly as I'm listening to episodes of your
Speaker 3: podcast and hearing from people like Ryan, it's like none
Speaker 3: of us knew what we were doing. Everyone was flying
Speaker 3: by the seat of their pants. Yea, you know, and
Speaker 3: that includes like everyone starts, that includes the guest stars.
Speaker 3: So your pa, Yeah, then you do script coordinator for
Speaker 3: how long? So I started script coordinating. I think the
Speaker 3: first episode I script coordinated was promised source So that
Speaker 3: was end of three. So I did a few episodes
Speaker 3: of season three, and then I did all of season four,
Speaker 3: season five, and season six as script coordinator. And season six,
Speaker 3: which was I think only thirteen episodes. I was actually
Speaker 3: in the writer's room for those episodes and wrote one
Speaker 3: of those episodes of the six I did have the
Speaker 3: credit of writer amazing technically by the end, which is
Speaker 3: very cool. Moving on up, Yeah, it was like it
Speaker 3: was a It was very It was a nice place
Speaker 3: to end up just in terms of like the scope
Speaker 3: of my own like path on the show. It felt
Speaker 3: very accomplished, but also like felt like, yeah, I sort
Speaker 3: of like when I left Glee moved on to Scream
Speaker 3: Queens and was there, it sort of felt like, oh, okay,
Speaker 3: I'm now at like the bottom of the next like
Speaker 3: there had been a graduation of sorts where yeah, I
Speaker 3: like moved you know, being in being in the writer's
Speaker 3: room with Glee was super fun super different than being
Speaker 3: on set, very uh yeah, a very different environment. And
Speaker 3: it's funny because, like I know, it felt like Ryan
Speaker 3: like maybe checked out or wasn't involved as involved in
Speaker 3: the later seasons, certainly on a production level, but to
Speaker 3: the end he was like still coming into that writer's
Speaker 3: room and pishing the stories and telling us what the
Speaker 3: songs were going to be, like coming in and just
Speaker 3: being like it's going to be this episode, and it's
Speaker 3: going to be this, this, this and this and then
Speaker 3: and it's like so it's like to the end, he
Speaker 3: was still involved, and he read every script before it
Speaker 3: went out, and he looked at every page, every scene.
Speaker 3: I think there was maybe one episode that he did
Speaker 3: not like personally read and sign off on before it
Speaker 3: went to production. But you know, so he yeah, so
Speaker 3: he was always still involved to whatever degree, but to
Speaker 3: be in that writing room and see like how it
Speaker 3: worked and how he clicked and how the shorthand, even
Speaker 3: though it was the full staff at that time, like
Speaker 3: the shorthand he had with Ian and with Brad and
Speaker 3: with everyone really and sort of and like ultimately, you know,
Speaker 3: because I had I don't have. I didn't have a
Speaker 3: lot of writing experience. Didn't want to be you know,
Speaker 3: like stepping on any toes. But what was cool about
Speaker 3: Glee is the music and the fact that like that's
Speaker 3: a super really easy thing to pitch when you're like
Speaker 3: starting out in a room you're like where you're like
Speaker 3: you might feel a little bit funny about pitching a
Speaker 3: storyline or like especially when so much is handed down
Speaker 3: from above, Like it was. Having that sort of like
Speaker 3: that very basic element of the script was like a
Speaker 3: really good, like easy sort of like playground to play in.
Speaker 3: Yeah that went because you got I got the sense
Speaker 3: of a pitch falling flat, I got the sense of
Speaker 3: hitting I got you know, like I got songs on
Speaker 3: the show that I pitched and that you know, never
Speaker 3: would have been on there had I not, which is great,
Speaker 3: but but it's but it's just songs. It's not like
Speaker 3: it's not your own ideas and your own writing, which
Speaker 3: you know as a writer that that definitely comes up
Speaker 3: that sort of those feelings of rejection. But m yeah,
Speaker 3: So it was definitely a different pace being in the
Speaker 3: writer's office and a whole different beast than being on set.
Speaker 3: But it was What was nice and similar is that
Speaker 3: I feel like there was a chance to sort of
Speaker 3: put my own stamp on things as far as like
Speaker 3: how the job was done. It helped that I knew
Speaker 3: everyone in the production so well, because right definitely you're
Speaker 3: you know, you know the right people to tell the
Speaker 3: right information too. But ultimately, I think it it was
Speaker 3: like a way for me to pivot to working a
Speaker 3: little bit more directly with the you know, creative producers
Speaker 3: and get a little bit closer to the writing process
Speaker 3: and eventually in in the writing process, and you know,
Speaker 3: so that was sort of I don't know, looking back,
Speaker 3: that's sort of just like a really dreamy track to
Speaker 3: have taken.
Speaker 2: Selfishally, I loved it because I would come hang out
Speaker 2: with you. It's alternate between the loft and megs. And
Speaker 2: then I would come to you and you like, have
Speaker 2: this couch in your office.
Speaker 3: I did.
Speaker 2: It was the best. I would disappear. Oh god, it
Speaker 2: was great. I loved those days because I would just
Speaker 2: completely disappear.
Speaker 3: That's the great thing about working on a Ryan Murphy shows.
Speaker 3: Every office is just decorated so beautifully, so gorgeous. The taste.
Speaker 3: Adore the taste. We've got, the taste we have.
Speaker 1: Got the I have two questions for you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, let's get hit me. I'm in the hot seat now.
Speaker 1: WHOA.
Speaker 2: That's the different master of games as well, that we
Speaker 2: would play hot seat, we'd played Mafia, all kinds of
Speaker 2: dream wedding.
Speaker 3: Yes, if we're all just tactics to keep you all
Speaker 3: in the same place, and the word they loved to
Speaker 3: play them today exactly.
Speaker 1: Is there anybody that sticks out to you in your
Speaker 1: time on the show, in the crew or on set
Speaker 1: every day that just sticks out to you because you
Speaker 1: you were like the the meeting of the minds for everybody,
Speaker 1: And I'm just curious you like really encountered everybody on
Speaker 1: the day to day.
Speaker 3: Well, yes, I did feel very strong connections with lots
Speaker 3: of people, and even if they weren't strong connections, like yeah,
Speaker 3: I was interacting with almost everybody, and to have so
Speaker 3: much deep love for so many top of mind, it's
Speaker 3: like got to be my girls. Aaron Kruger, mccash and
Speaker 3: Kelly Mitchell makeup department heads. Yeah, because you know, work
Speaker 3: euro based camp, working closely with the actors, ads and
Speaker 3: hair and makeup are kind of always working together, and
Speaker 3: you know, they really kind of took me under their
Speaker 3: wing early on as like a young green pa and
Speaker 3: really kind of like helped me understand what my role
Speaker 3: was a little bit better, especially in terms of their
Speaker 3: roles were. And they were also I mean just amazing
Speaker 3: people to talk with, like incredible experience in the industry, right,
Speaker 3: and so just yeah, lots of like I just have
Speaker 3: memories of lots of late nights of you know, picking
Speaker 3: their brains, having them tell me stories just like of
Speaker 3: their youth, of their early experiences like cracking jokes, having
Speaker 3: a good laugh, lots of dancing together, and then like
Speaker 3: mornings in the trailer just like sack whatever, talking about
Speaker 3: anything and everything and just sort of hanging out. And
Speaker 3: like also I was always just so in awe of
Speaker 3: the work, their work that they did. Yeah, incredible, she
Speaker 3: could be said of Zach Woodley. I mean Zach was
Speaker 3: more of like a rock star kind of like I'd
Speaker 3: like cool kid on campus vibe. Like never did I
Speaker 3: feel like he was ignoring me or anything. But he
Speaker 3: had that like a bit of an elusiveness. So it's
Speaker 3: like there would be times where Zach would pass by
Speaker 3: and he'd be like, you come with me, and we'd
Speaker 3: like go out and have a cigarette, and I was like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, Zach wants to hang out with me.
Speaker 3: This is the coolest thing ever. Yes, Yeah, so Zach
Speaker 3: definitely I had. I always cherished time spent with back
Speaker 3: on set again personally, but also just like always in
Speaker 3: awe of like how quickly he could work and how
Speaker 3: quickly he could adapt, and you know, the ways in
Speaker 3: which he interacted with with the cast or whoever it was.
Speaker 3: You know, that's all stuff that like I picked up on.
Speaker 3: And you know that's the cool thing too about being
Speaker 3: on set as a PA is like you're kind of
Speaker 3: in the middle of everything, but you really get a
Speaker 3: great idea of like what every department does, what it's
Speaker 3: possible for and how they do it to the point
Speaker 3: where you know you're you're able to witness like everyone's
Speaker 3: impeccable work from like one vantage point and that's really
Speaker 3: really cool. Yeah, I mean there was the list could
Speaker 3: go on and on, but you know, those are some
Speaker 3: top of mind people on it. But every day was
Speaker 3: like it was like summer camp or school in this
Speaker 3: amazing way where you could just like it's like, wow,
Speaker 3: we get to hang out again tomorrow all day and
Speaker 3: like I'm when I talk to this person or it's
Speaker 3: like you know, if it's like this from Electric or
Speaker 3: you know, Joey from the Camera department or whatever, it's
Speaker 3: just like I'm gonna sit and learn more about these
Speaker 3: people because I'm spending more time with them than I
Speaker 3: am with my own family. So true.
Speaker 1: Second question, what is the feeling that Glee leaves you with?
Speaker 3: Oh God, how was time to have for that one?
Speaker 3: There are many feelings that Glee leaves me with. I
Speaker 3: think most of all it's pride, Like I'm so proud
Speaker 3: of myself for the work I know I accomplished, but
Speaker 3: you know, more over everyone else, you guys, especially like
Speaker 3: those people I just mentioned in the crew, it's just
Speaker 3: like a sense of like you like a deep satisfaction
Speaker 3: and pride of like wow, like look what we did,
Speaker 3: like what look what we did every day? And yeah,
Speaker 3: so I think that that it's among many many other feelings.
Speaker 3: There's definitely just yeah, a strong sense of pride.
Speaker 1: It's a good one, Thank you, a good one.
Speaker 2: I just got TEARI eyed.
Speaker 3: I can talk about the anxiety, the anxiety if you
Speaker 3: want that.
Speaker 1: For another episode.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we watched the breakup the breakup episode, and there
Speaker 2: was a flashback of Corey and I sobbed Telly. Yeah,
Speaker 2: not to bring up sad things, but after Corey passed,
Speaker 2: you were in the writer's and I just remember you
Speaker 2: texting me because we were all obviously very off, you know,
Speaker 2: like shit was weird. Everything felt weird. It sort of
Speaker 2: felt like we were trudging through deep water. No one
Speaker 2: really wanted to be there, right, we know how to
Speaker 2: be And I remember you saying, it's just so weird
Speaker 2: to keep showing up to the same place where we
Speaker 2: spent the most time with him, and like we have to, right,
Speaker 2: you can't like you can't leave escape it, right, and
Speaker 2: we're like we're still within the same four walls every
Speaker 2: single day, And I remember in one brother was like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, he's right. That is so sad and upsetting.
Speaker 2: But the flip side of that was, Oh, thank god,
Speaker 2: I'm surrounded by these people who know this specific experience
Speaker 2: and there's.
Speaker 3: So many of us and you don't have to laying
Speaker 3: it to no.
Speaker 2: And it was my first time, you know, dealing with
Speaker 2: grief in any sort of way like that, and it
Speaker 2: was nice to be able to have people around me
Speaker 2: who could voice it in different ways, verbalize in different ways,
Speaker 2: to explain things that I didn't know how to identify
Speaker 2: within myself.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think like those are various experiences with
Speaker 3: grief in my I've always learned and noticed that it's
Speaker 3: like you do learn like everyone does it a different way,
Speaker 3: and there's something you can kind of learn or pick
Speaker 3: up on from everyone that year that's with you there
Speaker 3: in that In that case, it was it was a
Speaker 3: strange time season four though, is uh. I feel like
Speaker 3: there was a little bit of like creative freedom in
Speaker 3: those episodes that they put in three. So I wonder
Speaker 3: if on a rewatch that I might not like season
Speaker 3: four a little bit more than I remembered liking it,
Speaker 3: just know, I'm really big swings. I don't know what
Speaker 3: are your impressions.
Speaker 1: So people are telling us it's not that good, but
Speaker 1: so far we're what four episodes, and I guess at
Speaker 1: this point, yeah, I'm really liking it.
Speaker 2: There are big swings, but I think they're pretty successful
Speaker 2: thus far. Yeah, yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 3: This is like all of the new It's very like
Speaker 3: Lost when Lost season four was new People last four wards?
Speaker 3: Where are what we do? That's not like Lost at all?
Speaker 1: Right, you're totally right.
Speaker 2: So Kelly texted me, I don't know, probably a year
Speaker 2: ago now, being like, I've been listening to the podcast
Speaker 2: and you've been getting some things wrong. I did, and
Speaker 2: I don't know if you have a running list or
Speaker 2: if you remember any of this.
Speaker 3: And then I did. I sort of did, but then
Speaker 3: I didn't. I wasn't listening consistently enough and then and
Speaker 3: it wasn't that things were wrong, it's just that Okay,
Speaker 3: So you know, the three of us often are speaking
Speaker 3: together on the phone, especially you know around Christmas. Yes,
Speaker 3: we're having lots of convos, having lots of face time. Anyway,
Speaker 3: So there there was something about there is something about
Speaker 3: listening to your podcast that makes me just feel like
Speaker 3: I'm on a conference call with you, so being like
Speaker 3: where you guys will be like what was it? Like
Speaker 3: was it this? Was it that? Like where were we?
Speaker 3: And I'll know the answer as all.
Speaker 1: Are you yelling at us out? Yeah?
Speaker 3: And then so there were just like some examples of that,
Speaker 3: you guys being like, yeah, maybe it was this, and
Speaker 3: I'm like, no, no, it was the other one.
Speaker 1: That's funny, that's really funny.
Speaker 3: There's been any likeagious inaccuracies.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if things just little things.
Speaker 2: Well, no, Telly's got a steel trap.
Speaker 3: You know. Now you're in the now, you're in the later,
Speaker 3: the latter half when I was in charge of the continuity.
Speaker 3: So maybe I'll have some more great some more. Maybe
Speaker 3: So I'll listen. I'll listen to a few and see
Speaker 3: if there's anything. But I was thinking, and I will
Speaker 3: just add this. I don't know if this is even
Speaker 3: something that you want to hear, but I was thinking
Speaker 3: about how I was so good at the continuity right
Speaker 3: because I was like I was on set for all
Speaker 3: these scenes. I know exactly what who was talking to
Speaker 3: whom and about what, Like no, this reference is wrong.
Speaker 3: It wasn't that. But there's this like one thing that
Speaker 3: still haunts me to this day that I missed. Oh yes,
Speaker 3: tell us please please, probably coming up in the Thanksgiving
Speaker 3: episode season four, is there's that scene at the prom
Speaker 3: Maybe it's at the prompt anyway, it's the end of
Speaker 3: season three with Rachel and Quinn in the bathroom, and like,
Speaker 3: someone gives someone a train ticket, doesn't Rachel give Quinn
Speaker 3: a train ticket to visit her at visitor whatever? Yes,
Speaker 3: So many episodes later.
Speaker 1: Q gives Rachel, Quinn gives Rachel the ticket.
Speaker 3: Okay, so later in the Thanksgiving episode it's referenced and
Speaker 3: where Quin's like, she never even used that train ticket.
Speaker 3: I got her, but really it was Rachel who got
Speaker 3: it for Quinn and not Quinn who got it for Rachel.
Speaker 3: And I made that mistake and I went all the
Speaker 3: way to the show and I don't even know if
Speaker 3: anyone ever caught it, but I was like, this is
Speaker 3: my this is.
Speaker 2: My glaring, this is you publicly outing yourself.
Speaker 3: I'm responsible for that.
Speaker 1: Look, there are worse things. Yeah, telling the worst thing.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't I wouldn't worry too much about it. I
Speaker 1: hope you don't just sleep over it.
Speaker 2: I hope you seen really well tonight.
Speaker 3: Chest There's no way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2: I'm glad we could provide you a platform for that.
Speaker 3: Yeah. My salvation is here and it's always been us long.
Speaker 1: Well, You're welcome.
Speaker 3: So much. Anytime. I'd love to talk.
Speaker 2: And I think it'd be really fun to do an
Speaker 2: episode recap with you.
Speaker 3: Fabulous you know which one. I'd love to do that.
Speaker 1: Okay, great, look at look at for and see if
Speaker 1: there's anything that sticks.
Speaker 3: Out for sure. Thank you so much for doing this.
Speaker 3: Bye bye bye, Oh Kelly.
Speaker 1: Oh sweet tea. Man. I honestly it's like without Telly
Speaker 1: there is no gly No.
Speaker 2: I don't I honestly don't know how anything would have
Speaker 2: gotten done, and it scares me to think about. Obviously,
Speaker 2: the rules were sort of the structures were a little
Speaker 2: bent when we were making the show because Kelly did
Speaker 2: feel so many different obligations that are not part of
Speaker 2: a normal job description. And if you had someone come
Speaker 2: in who was very by the book about it, I
Speaker 2: just don't know what. I don't know what that experience
Speaker 2: would have been like, because it's it's hard to separate
Speaker 2: the joy that you see on screen from the joy
Speaker 2: we felt behind the scenes on set, right, and I
Speaker 2: think a lot of that was created. A big part
Speaker 2: of that was Telly, but it was also every crew
Speaker 2: member where we were all.
Speaker 1: Just well, Which is why I think when people say
Speaker 1: a lot of guests on the show come on and
Speaker 1: they say it, you'll it'll never happen again. Like I
Speaker 1: it was a really special crew, a really special set.
Speaker 1: I think that's why was because it felt like a
Speaker 1: family and everybody did integrate in a way that doesn't
Speaker 1: always happen on set. And it's also there's not always
Speaker 1: time for it. But we were spending time more time
Speaker 1: with our crew and our cast than our own families. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so when it's a lot of like to you know,
Speaker 1: two hand or scenes onlike you know what I mean, Like,
Speaker 1: it's it's a different dynamic.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So but you're right to your point. I don't I
Speaker 1: don't want to imagine a Glee without Telly and without
Speaker 1: our family, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think it also speaks to like the type of
Speaker 2: show we were making. I think it had never really
Speaker 2: done been done before in this way. I think people
Speaker 2: felt really proud of it, right, and it was something
Speaker 2: their whole family could watch. It was something that they
Speaker 2: could be proud of us punning awards.
Speaker 3: It was very.
Speaker 2: Successful, right, and there was no when you are singing
Speaker 2: songs every day and getting to watch those performances, I
Speaker 2: think it does something for your like psyche of Yeah,
Speaker 2: we may have to be here fifteen sixteen hours a day, but.
Speaker 1: Look what we're doing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we could do something really fun.
Speaker 2: And then also on top of that, once it came
Speaker 2: out and you could see how positively it was impacting
Speaker 2: people right and representing people, that's just the whole other thing.
Speaker 2: And so I think it was just I think Telly
Speaker 2: was right to say pride, you know, is a great
Speaker 2: word for it, because all the departments felt it.
Speaker 1: Yes, Ian used the same one. Well, thanks Kelly for
Speaker 1: coming on. I hope you guys enjoyed that episode with
Speaker 1: our team. Man, thanks for.
Speaker 2: Joining us, and that's what you really meant.
Speaker 3: I came more.
Speaker 2: And finally I gotta tell you thanks for listening and
Speaker 2: follow us on Instagram at and that's what you really
Speaker 2: miss pod and make sure to write us a review
Speaker 2: and leave us five stars.
Speaker 3: See you next time,