Speaker 1: My sister in law is visiting and she's staying with us,
Speaker 1: and one of it like, she's a huge movie buff
Speaker 1: and so whenever we see each other, we immediately like
Speaker 1: start comparing what we've seen lately, and then we invariably
Speaker 1: stay up until like two in the morning every night
Speaker 1: that she's here watching movies. Now, but it's reminded me
Speaker 1: of something that like one of my favorite things about
Speaker 1: my wife and my wife's entire family is watching movies
Speaker 1: with them. Oh God, is the fun greatest time. They
Speaker 1: all vocalize and talk, and it is like it is
Speaker 1: so not the strong family tradition. You're like, I grew
Speaker 1: up in a very sort of like while we watched
Speaker 1: the movie and then if it's a comedy, you laugh,
Speaker 1: but like and it's my wife does it with just
Speaker 1: the two of us, like if we put on anything,
Speaker 1: and it just fills me with so much joy to
Speaker 1: like share in the experience of what she's reacting to,
Speaker 1: and it's it gets I mean, I also make fun
Speaker 1: of her because she also does the thing where she
Speaker 1: asks like, well, why would he do that? And it's like, well,
Speaker 1: that's the question the movie's making you ask, Like the
Speaker 1: thing that like you're not supposed to know, you're supposed
Speaker 1: to be asking that, and so we I teas her
Speaker 1: all the time about that, but it's it's actually like
Speaker 1: it goes pretty deep for me in that, Like she's
Speaker 1: the first person to watch anything I make and to
Speaker 1: read anything that I write. And her transparency, her like
Speaker 1: vulnerability and like openness to respond like she's this. It's
Speaker 1: so helpful because she tracks like how the audience is feeling,
Speaker 1: and you can all like she just can't hide her emotions.
Speaker 1: She actually got kicked out of dance when she was
Speaker 1: a kid because she would just make faces in the
Speaker 1: mirror and like and she she does it all. I
Speaker 1: have to like hold her back from Indie because she
Speaker 1: just reacts to whatever is happening. It's like she can't
Speaker 1: fake it. She can't hide her emotions anyway. It's just
Speaker 1: like I love going to movies with a crowd. I
Speaker 1: love and sitting with my in laws like it's my
Speaker 1: when we the first holidays I spent with them when
Speaker 1: we went back to Florida and there roy all got
Speaker 1: together and we watched They found out I had never
Speaker 1: seen the movie Rocky and they were like, we have
Speaker 1: to watch writers like Rocky not then. This was fifteen
Speaker 1: years ago or whatever, and it was like so important
Speaker 1: to her family, Like we are all watching Rocky for
Speaker 1: Rider and it was so much and it's like now
Speaker 1: it's just a tradition. Like when we get together, you know,
Speaker 1: for the holidays, we watch really bad horror films together
Speaker 1: and everybody's shouting at the screen. It's just like, it's
Speaker 1: my favorite thing in the world. So shout out to
Speaker 1: everybody who like vocalizes, and like, let's let's.
Speaker 2: Do it in the movie theater.
Speaker 1: No. No, in the movie theater, we're pretty calm.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: No, that's like, isn't that weird? It's like a weird contradiction.
Speaker 1: It's like you want to do.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you don't want to mess with the people you
Speaker 4: don't know, right, But Susan does this thing where we'll
Speaker 4: turn on a movie that neither of us will scene
Speaker 4: and she'll go, why do you do that?
Speaker 1: I'll be like, babe, I'm as.
Speaker 4: Far into this as you are, I know, seconds in
Speaker 4: and I don't know either, Like.
Speaker 2: I can't do that.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: We just started it, I know.
Speaker 5: So writer, another question for you, does she do it
Speaker 5: about things that are because I can be kind of similar.
Speaker 5: If I'm at home and Jensen and I are watching something,
Speaker 5: I also want to talk through, Like if I find
Speaker 5: something so particularly funny one of them, you know, oh,
Speaker 5: I think it's so funny because and then I'll talk
Speaker 5: about it. But I have a very hard time doing
Speaker 5: it for something that makes me very choked up. But
Speaker 5: I did it quite a bit during What's that movie
Speaker 5: we both love? After Sun when she puts her feet
Speaker 5: down on the rug and I started sobbing, and I said.
Speaker 2: That's the logo, God Bob.
Speaker 5: I couldn't. I couldn't get this. I couldn't because I
Speaker 5: just had my entire heart in my throat. Does she
Speaker 5: also vocalized through things that are making her choked up?
Speaker 1: And why all of it?
Speaker 3: All of it?
Speaker 1: It's so lovely. I mean what I love is just
Speaker 1: the little like, oh, like all the little like she's
Speaker 1: just on a journey and she's it's happening and it
Speaker 1: helps me or like you know, especially I mean like
Speaker 1: one of the you know, when we first started dating,
Speaker 1: I made my first short film, Irish Twins, with my brother,
Speaker 1: and you know, we were only three months into a
Speaker 1: relationship or whatever. So by the time I edited, we
Speaker 1: had been dating for probably six months, and so she's like,
Speaker 1: I'm showing her the first rough cut, you know, and
Speaker 1: it was like hearing those things and then she just
Speaker 1: just fell apart and was crying holding me and was
Speaker 1: so moved, and it was like, Okay, I know I
Speaker 1: did the job like I made a movie, you know,
Speaker 1: because she because she can also be very honest and
Speaker 1: it's not working, you know, Like I give her scripts
Speaker 1: all the time and she's like, no, I just I
Speaker 1: wrote two scripts last year that, you know. She's like sorry,
Speaker 1: And that's like we've developed this this you know, comfort
Speaker 1: and this confidence in each other as readers and watchers.
Speaker 1: But it's it's so built around her vulnerability and her
Speaker 1: openness and her willingness to just express and to react.
Speaker 4: Does she vocalize the same way by herself when she's
Speaker 4: reading books? Yes, okay, so she's like talking to the book.
Speaker 1: And that's why I like, I literally like watching her
Speaker 1: read stuff I've written. It's like part of the process.
Speaker 1: Like if I walk by her office while she's reading
Speaker 1: something that I've given or I'm like secretly listening for oh, you.
Speaker 5: Should put a camera in there that she knows about
Speaker 5: I'm just gonna put this camera here. I don't want
Speaker 5: you to feel me watching you, but I want to
Speaker 5: go back and watch it to see the moments. Yeah,
Speaker 5: that's really cool. Well I love that. Shout out to
Speaker 5: spouse's who let us talk during movies.
Speaker 2: Welcome to podmeets World.
Speaker 1: I'm Daniel Fishel, I'm Rider Strong, and I'm Wilfordell.
Speaker 5: One thing that has definitely changed since our first time
Speaker 5: around on Boy Meets World when we were filming it
Speaker 5: in nineteen ninety seven is selfish slightly dramatic teens. Is
Speaker 5: our understanding of how complex and intricate the making of
Speaker 5: a TV show can be. It's not just the faces
Speaker 5: you see on camera, or the director's, showrunners and executive producers,
Speaker 5: who over the past two decades have become stars in
Speaker 5: their own right. It's every single name you see in
Speaker 5: the credits, each holding their own, vital and mostly thankless
Speaker 5: job that make sure the program you love stays afloat
Speaker 5: week after week. It's the titles you don't fully understand,
Speaker 5: like Key Grip or best Boy or assistant to mister
Speaker 5: big Shot.
Speaker 2: These jobs are critical.
Speaker 5: And without a good employee hired to take care of
Speaker 5: these positions, you might as well pack it up and
Speaker 5: go home, because it'll show on the screen. One of
Speaker 5: our favorite parts of making Podmets World has been shining
Speaker 5: a light on some of these people who worked behind
Speaker 5: the scenes on our show, and we didn't really know
Speaker 5: how great they were when we were kids. We were
Speaker 5: pining over boys at our regular high school, or figuring
Speaker 5: out how you can safely ship one white rose back
Speaker 5: to your high school girlfriend, or just scoping the new
Speaker 5: studio a lot to find a safe place to smoke.
Speaker 5: But now we realize their hard work and it's time
Speaker 5: to give them their flowers. And today we're hoping to
Speaker 5: do just that with one of our favorite faces from
Speaker 5: that time, who When Jensen asked me what he did
Speaker 5: exactly on Boy Meet's World, my answer was it was
Speaker 5: very important, and I'm excited to find out.
Speaker 1: That's about right.
Speaker 5: What I do know is he was the production coordinator
Speaker 5: on the show, starting in season one and running through
Speaker 5: the finale in season seven, and that wasn't his first
Speaker 5: Michael Jacob's production. He had already worked on My Two
Speaker 5: Dads and The Torkulsns. He'd later branch out, gaining a
Speaker 5: ton of experience under his belt, with many titles on
Speaker 5: shows like Swingtown and CIS Los Angeles and The Ten
Speaker 5: Things I Hate About You TV adaptation. So now please
Speaker 5: welcome to the podcast production coordinator and all around great
Speaker 5: guy Russell dag Hey.
Speaker 2: Russell, Well, how are you look at you?
Speaker 3: How y'all? Hello, beautiful people.
Speaker 1: I'm here too. I'm here too. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you can tell.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I see you.
Speaker 5: We saw you recently at our Pod meets World first
Speaker 5: half party, and your interview was only like a week
Speaker 5: after our party, so it was a bit of a technicality,
Speaker 5: but we make the rules.
Speaker 2: So we are thrilled to see you.
Speaker 5: We have not stopped talking about how great it was.
Speaker 5: Do you leave this impression on everybody you meet thirty
Speaker 5: years ago? Does everybody feel this way about you?
Speaker 3: Oh? I mean, I hope so, yeah, it's probably. You know.
Speaker 3: First of all, I felt like one of the kids
Speaker 3: kind of growing up. I grew up on Boy Meets World.
Speaker 3: You know, I've been around. I'm not a kid, and
Speaker 3: I wasn't a kid back then, either, but I just
Speaker 3: had so much fun, you know, and it's like family. Yeah, really,
Speaker 3: you know, I mean, and I just yeah, I guess
Speaker 3: that's love, right, yeah, each other. Yeah, it's true really
Speaker 3: what it was about.
Speaker 5: So, your first job was on a Michael Jacob show
Speaker 5: My Two Dads as part of the production staff in
Speaker 5: nineteen eighty nine.
Speaker 2: How did you get that job?
Speaker 3: You know, it's really I have before I get too
Speaker 3: far into this, Lynn McCracken friends. And at the time,
Speaker 3: I was a struggling would be dancer. That's really what
Speaker 3: I wanted to really, yeah, yeah, yeah, And I had
Speaker 3: studied dance and I was I was doing you know,
Speaker 3: nightly shows at Magic Mountain believe it or not, man real,
Speaker 3: and it was that was the greatest gig, by the way.
Speaker 3: It was a fireworks spectacular and it was all like
Speaker 3: George Kersh music and it was tap dancing and you know,
Speaker 3: jazz hands and.
Speaker 1: The Magic even did stuff awesome.
Speaker 3: Here was the great thing about doing that show. It
Speaker 3: was during the summer, and it was on Mystic Lake
Speaker 3: and it was a fireworks show, so they could only
Speaker 3: do it once. So we were in and out of
Speaker 3: there and we were like drunk at Marie Calendar.
Speaker 2: Were you in a costume?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I was doing Yeah, I was like in
Speaker 3: several costumes believe it or not. And it was. It
Speaker 3: was a lot of fun anyway, but it was a
Speaker 3: short lived gig, you know, that's the way Joe biz is,
Speaker 3: you know. And I just was like, you know what,
Speaker 3: I don't think And I would go to auditions. I
Speaker 3: would go to auditions as a dancer, and they would
Speaker 3: be hiring maybe three boys, you know, and there would
Speaker 3: be five hundred amazing dancers there, and I was just like,
Speaker 3: you know, I'm not sure that I want to do this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, being a dancer is just the hardest because it's
Speaker 1: like all the same insecurity and like performance anxiety of
Speaker 1: being an actor, plus the athletic demands, like you're also
Speaker 1: an athlete. So it's like I can't imagine something harder
Speaker 1: than taking on me.
Speaker 3: And I say that it's kind of a short lived
Speaker 3: thing too, you know you've ever been injured or whatever.
Speaker 3: But I you know, I mean I I did it
Speaker 3: for you know. I was like the only boy in
Speaker 3: my high school who did modern dance, you know, very
Speaker 3: popular with all the girls and the cheer leaders and
Speaker 3: all that stuff. But you know, it was it was
Speaker 3: just something that I was good at and I love
Speaker 3: doing and but so Linda Krachen and I were friends,
Speaker 3: and we'll go back to I Digress. Lenny was my
Speaker 3: friend and she was working on the show as Michael
Speaker 3: Jacob's assistant on My Two Dads, and they were hiring
Speaker 3: a PA, like a night PA. So that was my
Speaker 3: first gig and it was such a great thing to
Speaker 3: see Stacy Keenan just recently too. Yeah, party and so
Speaker 3: Lynn McCracken got me this job, got me an interview
Speaker 3: with Arlene Grayson. Yeah. He became my mentor by the way.
Speaker 3: So so thank you Lenny McCracken for getting me that gig.
Speaker 3: And I was the night PA. Oh I was talking
Speaker 3: about Stacy Keenan. Yeah, So Stacy Keenan. I saw her
Speaker 3: at your at your party and uh she said her
Speaker 3: name and I was like, wait a minute, I know
Speaker 3: that voice. I know that name. I was a PA
Speaker 3: on My Two Dads and we just had a laugh.
Speaker 1: And I delivered your scripts at Yes the Morning the
Speaker 1: roughest gig.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: But you so you actually learned how to do production though,
Speaker 1: I mean, you worked, You did the thing that so
Speaker 1: many pas think they're going to do and then they
Speaker 1: just get the crap being out of them. Because it's
Speaker 1: such a hard job and they run screaming from the business,
Speaker 1: but you stuck it out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you know, I remember things fights that
Speaker 3: I got into in those days, you know. And also
Speaker 3: working really closely with Michael Jacobs because being the night PA,
Speaker 3: I had to wait for him to finish that rewriter,
Speaker 3: you know, because it wasn't there was a writer's room
Speaker 3: on that show. But primarily in those days, in those
Speaker 3: olden days, Michael would stay and write at night and
Speaker 3: I had he was done, and then I would xerox
Speaker 3: the script and then I would get under copies. The
Speaker 3: Thomas Guides.
Speaker 1: Talk about them all the time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I had to do the Thomas Guide map,
Speaker 3: and there it is the guest.
Speaker 1: Daniel got us. These these are Thomas Guides.
Speaker 5: I got him a Thomas Guide with where Disney, Where
Speaker 5: we met.
Speaker 1: Disney, where we met right there?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I so the Thomas Brothers. Yeah, delivery scripts
Speaker 3: in the middle of the night. Michael Jack Michael Jacobs
Speaker 3: would occasionally start watching television or something and I would be.
Speaker 1: Like, Michael, can you get.
Speaker 3: A great movie? But you know, you know, I made
Speaker 3: a lot of money to deliver scripts and delivering scripts
Speaker 3: all night, you know. But that's how I started, was
Speaker 3: on that show. And you know, God bless Arlene Grayson.
Speaker 3: She took me under her wing. She became like a
Speaker 3: mentor to me, you know, and she you know, and
Speaker 3: I kind of got bumped up to an assistant to
Speaker 3: the producers and and then became a production coordinator and
Speaker 3: worked on shows. You know. From there, I worked on
Speaker 3: a lot of Columbia television shows and you know, I
Speaker 3: did a show with George Clooney called Baby Talk. That
Speaker 3: was my first job as a production coordinator.
Speaker 5: Okay, well before hold on, before we get into that,
Speaker 5: you move on. Then from My Two Dads onto the
Speaker 5: Torkl Sens in nineteen ninety one, and at that time
Speaker 5: you were then a co producer in post production. Did
Speaker 5: Arlene get you from My Two Dads to the Toal
Speaker 5: Sins Or was that Michael?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was really, you know, it was it was
Speaker 3: our lean who kind of took me. But I have
Speaker 3: I owe a debt of gratitude to Michael Jacobs, who really,
Speaker 3: you know, took care of me and took me along
Speaker 3: with him from show to show, and you know, gave
Speaker 3: me a lot of opportunities and I think you know,
Speaker 3: all I had to do really is to pay attention,
Speaker 3: you know, and that's certainly what our lean stressed was, like,
Speaker 3: you know, just you know, pay attention and be present
Speaker 3: and you know, words slip by, right, and uh yeah,
Speaker 3: so if I did tole sins and that was a blast.
Speaker 1: But I think that's a credit to you that, you know,
Speaker 1: so many people get those entry level positions on a
Speaker 1: production and just shut down because it's such hard work.
Speaker 1: And of course all the glamor of show business that's
Speaker 1: interesting is like actors and exciting stunt scenes are special effects,
Speaker 1: and none of that really happens, right, that's like the
Speaker 1: the one minute a day where that stuff's going on.
Speaker 1: The rest of it is real work. It's like you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's office work, it's coordinating different people, it's you know,
Speaker 1: dealing with personalities cruise. So like a lot of people
Speaker 1: just bail at that point, and you stuck it out
Speaker 1: and that you you and learned how how the sausage
Speaker 1: is made, right, Like, I mean, that's and you only
Speaker 1: do that if you're willing to like put the time
Speaker 1: in and and and yeah, listen, it's yeah.
Speaker 3: And to the credit of that that particular group, Michael's
Speaker 3: you know, Michael's little uh what do we used to
Speaker 3: call it? His not his playpen, but his sand his
Speaker 3: sand pit whatever we call sandbox box. Thank you Michael
Speaker 3: sandbox and all those people that inhabited that was that
Speaker 3: you know, it was about having fun too, you know,
Speaker 3: and uh, you know, if it hadn't been fun, you know,
Speaker 3: there's no way you can survive those kind of hours.
Speaker 1: And totally yeah, so much.
Speaker 5: Okay, So then you move on to being a production coordinator.
Speaker 5: Can you tell everyone exactly what do you do as
Speaker 5: a production coordinator?
Speaker 4: What the hell is the Russell is the question I'd
Speaker 4: like to ask. I think Daniel's being more polite about it,
Speaker 4: but what the hell is that?
Speaker 3: You know, it's a lot of a lot of things,
Speaker 3: and you know it here, you know what I printed
Speaker 3: out my resume because there's so much that I can't remember.
Speaker 3: But under this I have like this kind of general responsibilities.
Speaker 3: And I've been an associate producer, I've been a production manager,
Speaker 3: I've been a production supervisor and a production coordinator and
Speaker 3: you know, and I kind of have to remind myself
Speaker 3: a because you know, I'm you know, elderly and forget things,
Speaker 3: but here to answer your question in all sincerity. You know,
Speaker 3: it's a million things, and it's different for every production.
Speaker 3: But basically, the production coordinator is that worker bee who
Speaker 3: is kind of doing making all the nuts and bolts happen,
Speaker 3: all the logistics, all the communications for the show. If
Speaker 3: it's it's sending out call sheets to the actors crew,
Speaker 3: it's you know, making a million calls to people to
Speaker 3: tell them the schedule has changed. Were sending schedules, being
Speaker 3: kind of the liaison for the network and the studio
Speaker 3: and the facility where we were shooting. So you know,
Speaker 3: you remember we on Boing Meet's World, we went to
Speaker 3: three different places. We started out at Disney for a
Speaker 3: couple of years, then we went to kt LA for
Speaker 3: a couple of years, Then we were at Radford for
Speaker 3: a couple of years, and then back to Disney for
Speaker 3: the last season. And I was kind of the person
Speaker 3: who was the liaison between all of those those folks
Speaker 3: that worked in those back those departments like moving in,
Speaker 3: setting up offices and getting parking spaces and setting up
Speaker 3: dressing rooms and and all that good stuff.
Speaker 4: Were you not to interrupt, but just because you talked
Speaker 4: about it, And this is something we've brought up a
Speaker 4: bunch of times because we talked about all the time.
Speaker 1: But do you know why we were shuffled around from
Speaker 1: studio to studio to studio and why we weren't just
Speaker 1: say able to stay at Disney for all seven years?
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know specifically. I know that probably
Speaker 3: had something to do with well, where Michael wanted to be,
Speaker 3: right and also what stages were available. So you know,
Speaker 3: I don't know what happened between season two and three
Speaker 3: that moved us to KTLA, but it could be that.
Speaker 3: You know, it's also a budget thing too, Okay, you
Speaker 3: know different places.
Speaker 5: You know, there's no doubt that KTLA had to have
Speaker 5: cost significantly then.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, wow. I also I want to hear what
Speaker 1: was the difference like for you in terms of the
Speaker 1: two companies, like or the studio lots. Were they different vibes,
Speaker 1: different people working for them? Like what was I imagine there?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, I mean obviously Disney Studios, I mean with
Speaker 3: all of its history and it's lush beauty and historic
Speaker 3: buildings and squirrels yeah, I mean, just yeah, squirrels that were.
Speaker 4: Yeah, KTLA had a lot of lushes. They were just
Speaker 4: kind of hanging out in the parking lot, that's right.
Speaker 2: Drinking out of a paper bag, a different kind of thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, remember we I think it was our first day
Speaker 3: that the cast was on kt LA proper, like you
Speaker 3: guys came in for a rehearsal or and there was
Speaker 3: like a sniper from the across the street. Do you
Speaker 3: remember that?
Speaker 2: I do?
Speaker 3: Yeah. The hood now, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2: Like everybody's shelter in place.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know. And for me it was more about
Speaker 3: I learned. Part of my growing up in this business
Speaker 3: was really about how to relationships and being that liaison,
Speaker 3: that person that had to go and ask for things.
Speaker 3: You know, we need more air conditioning, or I need
Speaker 3: you know this, favor this you know, or I got
Speaker 3: good at negotiating. But it was about learning how to
Speaker 3: build relationships. And I don't know if you were Pat
Speaker 3: who ran Pat Do you remember Pat, Pat Jackson? Or yeah?
Speaker 3: So Pat was kind of like the lot manager and
Speaker 3: he was like my main guy.
Speaker 4: Oh wait, I remember Pat so familiar.
Speaker 1: I have a fun well tell us about Pat.
Speaker 3: Pat was great, but I remember well, after Arlene passed away,
Speaker 3: Karen McCain became the producer and she really became my
Speaker 3: work wife and we you know, I was her lieutenant.
Speaker 3: I was, you know, we were kind of inseparable. We
Speaker 3: kind of did the show. We all the all the
Speaker 3: logistics of the show, the budget, the crew, the facilities,
Speaker 3: all of that stuff we kind of did together. And
Speaker 3: you know, I remember she had to take me to
Speaker 3: lunch once and said, you know, Russell, you really need
Speaker 3: to make friends with Pat because he's going to be
Speaker 3: the person you know that we you know, it's having
Speaker 3: that relationship is going to make it a lot easier. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, and I was, I was still sort of
Speaker 3: up and coming and learning, and I thought, well, I
Speaker 3: had to be a hard ass, you know, I needed
Speaker 3: to stand my ground and be you know, the boss.
Speaker 3: And you know that just doesn't that doesn't work. I
Speaker 3: mean obviously you get so much more with a little honey, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean that was one lesson that I
Speaker 3: learned that going from place to place was that it
Speaker 3: was about you know, making friends and having people that
Speaker 3: were going to take care of us.
Speaker 1: But you also seem to be I mean, were you
Speaker 1: also a liaison for people on the set because you
Speaker 1: also seem to be on the set a lot of time.
Speaker 1: We hung out all the time. You were with us constantly,
Speaker 1: that's right.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I eventually kind of moved from the office, you know.
Speaker 3: I think it was probably season four. I became the
Speaker 3: associate producer, so I was bumped up to what in
Speaker 3: multi camera in this sort of format of television, the
Speaker 3: associate producers sort of like the production manager. So if
Speaker 3: you're doing like a movie or single camera, which I
Speaker 3: eventually went to work in, that would be the UPM
Speaker 3: or the unit production manager. So I then became responsible
Speaker 3: for the person who would create the episodic budget, dealing
Speaker 3: with all the departments. So I'd go to set, dressing,
Speaker 3: set deck, and say, hey, Robin, what's this episode going
Speaker 3: to cost you? You know, after the production meeting, they
Speaker 3: would go and they would create their budgets and then
Speaker 3: they would give them to me, and then I would
Speaker 3: create what was called the episodic budget, and and then
Speaker 3: that would be often a phone call over to Disney
Speaker 3: that said this episode is going to cost us X
Speaker 3: amount of dollars. So I so I was a lot
Speaker 3: of it was a lot of communication with the departments props,
Speaker 3: that deck, hair and makeup. I just listened to the
Speaker 3: Lori heaps hair and they all hated me. They did.
Speaker 3: They would sometimes come in and would have to be
Speaker 3: the person that would say, hey, you know, do you
Speaker 3: really need the sextra person or you know, can we
Speaker 3: do without this or whatever? And so yeah, so then
Speaker 3: I just became you know, and a and again it
Speaker 3: was about you know, making friends with these people, and
Speaker 3: we did. We had a great time.
Speaker 1: What I love, Russell is that everything you're describing your
Speaker 1: entire existence back then was everything that we took for
Speaker 1: granted totally. It's literally all the stuff that we we
Speaker 1: never had to think about because it was always taken
Speaker 1: care of. And like you know, it wasn't until I
Speaker 1: worked on other shows or other where I could see,
Speaker 1: oh that the production, like the trains don't run on time,
Speaker 1: things are not happening. It's because you guys did such
Speaker 1: a good job that we always felt we just totally
Speaker 1: took it for granted. We just always felt like everything
Speaker 1: that we never needed was there. Yes, And so I'm
Speaker 1: curious what I want to hear. I want to hear
Speaker 1: about a disaster or things that didn't go wrong because
Speaker 1: we never felt it. I don't remember, or maybe you
Speaker 1: can remind me of a time when something wasn't there,
Speaker 1: but it always felt like things were going smoothly and
Speaker 1: that our production was just flying along. So I want
Speaker 1: to hear, do you have a memory of like a
Speaker 1: time when something just did not come together?
Speaker 3: Uh? Oh, boy, things would have I'm trying to remember,
Speaker 3: you know, like some sort of weird I think about,
Speaker 3: you know, natural disasters of course, like yeah, like earthquake, Yeah,
Speaker 3: the north Ridge earthquake, when you know, you'd walk on
Speaker 3: stage for days after and it was like everything was
Speaker 3: sort of shut down, I think, and it was like
Speaker 3: you'd be you know, under lights and everything would be rattling. Yes, honestly,
Speaker 3: I would have to think, and I don't. I don't
Speaker 3: really have a particular story about things going completely.
Speaker 1: Well that should be.
Speaker 4: I mean, with that right there tells you exactly how
Speaker 4: the production was going. If one doesn't just pop in immediately, yeah,
Speaker 4: because that's what it was.
Speaker 1: Without without naming names, did you ever have to let
Speaker 1: people go or lose whole apartments or switch things over?
Speaker 1: And why would that happen?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I mean I in my day, I
Speaker 3: can't even recall what shows, but probably a lot with
Speaker 3: boy not so maybe not so much with Boy because
Speaker 3: it was such a it just it just was a dream.
Speaker 3: Let me tell you. It's just it worked well. There
Speaker 3: weren't there There wasn't a lot of turnover. It was
Speaker 3: kind of a love best.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean I have had to let people go. And
Speaker 3: you know, I had one guy who was hired as
Speaker 3: a as a PA, and I can't remember what the
Speaker 3: problem was, but I had to let him go. And
Speaker 3: I remembered that he when he was leaving the office,
Speaker 3: he threatened to run me over in his car. And yeah,
Speaker 3: so I had hired let go this PA and he, yeah,
Speaker 3: I think either when he was leaving or I was
Speaker 3: outside and he was still there, and he threatened to
Speaker 3: run me over with his car because I was such
Speaker 3: a piece of work, and and I was like, you know,
Speaker 3: I'm I'm sorry, you know, please don't run me over.
Speaker 3: But you know, things like that. But in terms of
Speaker 3: the crew for Boy, I mean, we just we just
Speaker 3: got lucky, you know. I know, I just took just
Speaker 3: texted Karen and I was telling her that that I
Speaker 3: was doing this and I and that i'd seen you
Speaker 3: all recently, and I said, you know, we're we are
Speaker 3: so blessed and lucky to have those seven years. It
Speaker 3: was probably the beast seven years of my my time,
Speaker 3: my career. I've been doing this for a long time
Speaker 3: now you're all directing and writing and and you know
Speaker 3: it's uh, it widens your perspective for sure.
Speaker 1: Right, makes you realize how rare it was. Okay Russell,
Speaker 1: very important question. Okay, Will has a memory that prisoners
Speaker 1: were brought in to watch our show as an audience.
Speaker 1: Is there any truth to this?
Speaker 2: He doesn't. He thinks they were out on like good beha.
Speaker 4: Yes, I think it was, like I was told at
Speaker 4: the beginning of the show, anyone knew what the show was,
Speaker 4: that one of the groups they would bring in would
Speaker 4: be like work release prisoners to fill audiences.
Speaker 3: I you know, I can't imagine the show that that
Speaker 3: would get it, But I don't. I sort of remember.
Speaker 3: I sort of remember mail coming from prisons.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that happens all the time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that and that was when you were all
Speaker 3: a certain age was very was taken very seriously, and
Speaker 3: I don't think it ever got to you, right, Yeah,
Speaker 3: I don't remember prisoners every.
Speaker 1: Still not still knocked up.
Speaker 5: I know, we gotta we gotta interview. We got to
Speaker 5: interview the woman who ran the audience, Janna Ja Yeah, right, yeah, Okay,
Speaker 5: So let's go. It's nineteen ninety three, season one. You
Speaker 5: have this job for a new program Friday nights. It's
Speaker 5: called Boy Meets World. What do you remember thinking about, like,
Speaker 5: what were your impressions of the show?
Speaker 3: What were my impressions in the show? Okay, so I
Speaker 3: have to say that it wasn't a show that I
Speaker 3: would probably watch, honestly, because it just wasn't. But then
Speaker 3: there were times when watching that I don't think that
Speaker 3: I ever really watched it all that much on the air,
Speaker 3: but watching it shot, I will be honest, there were
Speaker 3: many times when I was in tears, really moved, and
Speaker 3: you know, I think back then the jury was still out.
Speaker 3: I mean, I I loved you kids, I mean I
Speaker 3: really did. I thought, God, how lucky we are at
Speaker 3: these these are you know, well grounded. I loved your
Speaker 3: parents so lucky. You know, it was just like down
Speaker 3: to earth they raised you right, you know. I had
Speaker 3: done and just going back, I had done a pilot
Speaker 3: with Ben when he was nine, so I already had
Speaker 3: this love affair with Joanne Savage his mom.
Speaker 1: What was that pilot we did.
Speaker 3: I did a pilot. It was Columbia Television. It was
Speaker 3: called Hurricane Sam. And he was like nine years old.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 3: Uh. It was with Ray Walston man and I was
Speaker 3: I think I was a p A on it. I
Speaker 3: think because I drove Ray Walston back. Yeah, I was
Speaker 3: a p A. I drove Ray Walston at home every night.
Speaker 2: That's cool.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was very cool. He was talking. He would
Speaker 3: talk about Brando and all this.
Speaker 1: Oh man.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then he like gave me a thousand dollars
Speaker 3: at the end of the shoot, like seriously, like just
Speaker 3: here's a thousand bucks, you know, thanks for driving me.
Speaker 1: It was school actor.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it was with Ray Wilston, Karen Valentine, Frand Dresser,
Speaker 3: Oh my god. And was Hurricane Sam. He was the
Speaker 3: he was so he was.
Speaker 1: The lead of the show.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, around him.
Speaker 1: I never even heard of this there.
Speaker 3: It didn't get picked up obviously, you know, it was.
Speaker 3: I did a lot of stuff like that. You know
Speaker 3: a lot of little shows. The pilots they're on my
Speaker 3: on my resume. I have. It starts with Point Meets World,
Speaker 3: I mean, because I mean, you know, there's a little
Speaker 3: bit of agism in this business, you know. So it's
Speaker 3: like I can send my resume out to people who
Speaker 3: probably grew up watching the show and they probably don't
Speaker 3: want to work with Grandpa. You know.
Speaker 5: Did you work out the schedules for us when we
Speaker 5: went to other than Will when we went to Orlando?
Speaker 5: Did you do you remember the Disney World trip?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I do, and I remember I was so jealous
Speaker 3: and I didn get to go. Yeah, but yeah, I
Speaker 3: probably did the travel. I probably did all the travel stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm not sure that I did the actual schedule. That
Speaker 3: would probably have been Karen and was it was it
Speaker 3: Kendall that directed that or I think it was mc McCracken. Okay,
Speaker 3: so probably Aaron and Jeff got together and did the
Speaker 3: schedule once you got there. Why was there a story
Speaker 3: to this?
Speaker 2: No, we just wondered.
Speaker 5: We just always talk about like those, you know, those
Speaker 5: big production weeks when everything works.
Speaker 1: To bring it up all the time.
Speaker 5: I love to point out to Will that he didn't
Speaker 5: get to go.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Will got to go to Lake Placids.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Potato, same Florida. It's very similar.
Speaker 2: Lake Flaccid Disney World.
Speaker 1: Everyone knows it's the same state with Nancy Kerrigan, which
Speaker 1: was cool as hell. That was awesome, but come on,
Speaker 1: it's Disney.
Speaker 3: It's Disney Disney World. I didn't need to go either.
Speaker 1: Okay, we should have hung out, Russell, we should have
Speaker 1: hung out.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 5: Something we talk about a lot is how we always
Speaker 5: felt like in between seasons that we were regularly on
Speaker 5: the bubble. Did you find out well before us when
Speaker 5: we were picked up or did you also worry we
Speaker 5: were getting canceled every year?
Speaker 3: Yeah? That was always everybody's worried. Yeah, it's only been
Speaker 3: once my career, and that was when I did n
Speaker 3: CIS Los Angeles four years and we got picked up
Speaker 3: for two years. I think too. I think we got
Speaker 3: picked up for several years anyway, just keep it going.
Speaker 3: And it was sort of like, wow, what are you relaxed? Okay,
Speaker 3: I'm going to buy a new car.
Speaker 1: That's so cool.
Speaker 3: So but yeah, no, we were. We were always on
Speaker 3: that same bubble with you, I think.
Speaker 4: Do you have a preference because you've done and I
Speaker 4: know we'll get into the single camera stuff that you've
Speaker 4: done as well, But if you had to choose between
Speaker 4: working on multi caam or single cam, do you have
Speaker 4: a preference between the two.
Speaker 3: Uh, sitcom give me Yeah, seven years would take me
Speaker 3: into retirement.
Speaker 1: Much easier production. Yeah, yeah, everything's so streamlined. It's you know,
Speaker 1: it's more like producing a live show than it is.
Speaker 1: I mean, single camera is so every day is like
Speaker 1: new problem solving.
Speaker 3: It's just were we were home by well, not the writers.
Speaker 3: The writers were slaving away, you know, making making this,
Speaker 3: you know, adding the heart and the funny to this show,
Speaker 3: which there was so much, but you know, I would
Speaker 3: say that sitcoms. Yeah, we were home at what six o'clock?
Speaker 3: I know. It was such a great you have a life,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 1: It was the best. Yeah, it really was the best.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 5: Is it true that since after COVID you were also
Speaker 5: able to produce on like the health and safety side,
Speaker 5: which was obviously a very important and stressful managerial job
Speaker 5: during that time.
Speaker 2: What was that like?
Speaker 3: Uh? It was yeah, it was a lot. And I
Speaker 3: I probably worked on like five of their shows and uh,
Speaker 3: just going from one show to the next, creating the
Speaker 3: budget and over and hiring a staff of all those
Speaker 3: COVID people. If you, if you, if any of you
Speaker 3: worked on camera during the pandemic, it was really important
Speaker 3: that the crew be you know, masked and tested. I
Speaker 3: mean we it was the upshots. I did the Upshaw
Speaker 3: season two, and we tested the cast five days a week,
Speaker 3: and a lot of those red zone people, the people
Speaker 3: that were closest to the cast, hair and makeup, the ads, uh,
Speaker 3: they all had to be tested five days a week.
Speaker 3: And everybody in the crew was in masks. So it
Speaker 3: was a lot of criteria that you had to take on.
Speaker 3: You had to understand, you know, working closely with with
Speaker 3: medical people. And it was great, I tell you, I
Speaker 3: was so lucky to get that job and and and
Speaker 3: to be there through at a time when a lot
Speaker 3: of people were not working. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Well, and especially over the last few weeks, people
Speaker 5: all over the world now have been reading articles in
Speaker 5: the La Times and Variety detailing an epic decrease in
Speaker 5: employment opportunities in Hollywood, especially on the production side, since
Speaker 5: COVID and then the strike and a bit of a
Speaker 5: strategy pivot for streaming services. So, with you on the
Speaker 5: front lines of production, what is your opinion on the
Speaker 5: current state of the industry retirement.
Speaker 3: I you know, I mean, I know that if if
Speaker 3: I were in Atlanta, I'd probably work all the time.
Speaker 1: So everybody says Atlanta and Nashville, everybody's moving.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I just sort of feel like I think that
Speaker 3: our state government needs to get on board more tax incentives,
Speaker 3: more incentives to bring production back here. I mean, I
Speaker 3: can't imagine anybody wants to go to Vancouver or to
Speaker 3: you know, anywhere, to work elsewhere. I mean, this is
Speaker 3: our home and this is LA's one. You know, I
Speaker 3: love living here. You know, I don't really want to
Speaker 3: go anywhere else. So those are my thoughts. I have
Speaker 3: to tell you that there's part of me that that
Speaker 3: does think about early retirement, that thinks about doing something else.
Speaker 3: I mean I would I would love to keep working
Speaker 3: and and and and growing that pension and having having
Speaker 3: a full career in this business. I just, you know,
Speaker 3: I think I shared with you certainly a writer, we've
Speaker 3: talked about you know, what else I might do if, if,
Speaker 3: if this continues, AM close to retirement. I'm not quite
Speaker 3: good yet, but I have these kind of thoughts about,
Speaker 3: you know, going away part time, not not really like
Speaker 3: not moving completely away from Los Angeles. But my dream
Speaker 3: would be to like open up a bed and breakfast
Speaker 3: in Costa Rica. Wow. So and writer. You and I
Speaker 3: have talked about that. Yeah, I really I'm actually going
Speaker 3: next month. Yes, and I go for check it out
Speaker 3: and kind of get the vibe you're gonna love it.
Speaker 1: Were you always so?
Speaker 4: Here's there's some people that are just their entire lives.
Speaker 4: Danielle's one of them, for instance, that are very good
Speaker 4: at planning things, very good at coordinating things.
Speaker 1: Have you?
Speaker 4: Was that always what you were like growing up? I
Speaker 4: mean it seems almost like a mindset for certain people
Speaker 4: and you Did you have that when you were growing up?
Speaker 1: Were you just always the person planning?
Speaker 3: Planning? I'm not sure planning is the right thing. I
Speaker 3: think being able to cross keys and dot I like
Speaker 3: sort of somebody who's kind of methodic, high functioning, you know,
Speaker 3: like I CA, I care about what I'm.
Speaker 1: Doing, Attention to detail, yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, and and also just pay like paying attention,
Speaker 3: you know, learning those early lessons from Karen and Arlen,
Speaker 3: great teachers that I had that just was like, you know,
Speaker 3: pay attention and and you know, be kind and care
Speaker 3: about what it is that you're doing. I think, And
Speaker 3: so I don't think I'm great at planning things. I mean,
Speaker 3: sure I worked I worked when not in production. I've
Speaker 3: done several events, like big special events, and I've been
Speaker 3: hired by these big companies that you know, kind of
Speaker 3: close streets and they're seven days long and it's thousands
Speaker 3: of people, and I've had that opportunity to kind of
Speaker 3: do that kind of planning and preparing. And again, it's
Speaker 3: just it's sort of the same idea. You just sort
Speaker 3: of for me. You know, I think I was a
Speaker 3: great PA because I would I'd set up, like, I
Speaker 3: know this sounds silly, but I would set up the
Speaker 3: craft service table in the office for the writers, and
Speaker 3: I would think about like what do you what do
Speaker 3: you need? Like if I was going to come here
Speaker 3: and make a cup of coffee, I mean, is that
Speaker 3: kind of right?
Speaker 5: And in which order do you want? You don't want
Speaker 5: to grab the bagel and have the plate at the end.
Speaker 5: You've got to have the plates at the top right.
Speaker 3: You know, you just think about it like what what
Speaker 3: is the order here? And uh and and how can
Speaker 3: I make it better? Always sort of approached the work
Speaker 3: and yeah, and to have fun, you know, it's important
Speaker 3: to you know, keep it light.
Speaker 5: We definitely had a lot of fun on Boy meets world,
Speaker 5: that's for sure. What do you think is in the
Speaker 5: future for traditional TV? What do you if you had
Speaker 5: to look into the future, what do you think it's
Speaker 5: going to look like.
Speaker 3: Traditional TV redesigned? You know, I would? For me, I would.
Speaker 3: That's a difficult question to end. I think that I
Speaker 3: what I'd like to see is more kind of a live,
Speaker 3: spontaneous uh live performances that get recorded and or broadcast.
Speaker 3: I mean, I just think, you know, I love these things.
Speaker 3: Maybe not the answer to your question, but like I
Speaker 3: love going to the the movies to see uh live
Speaker 3: theater like the National Theater will have showings of of
Speaker 3: their their theater bright you know, and I'm a big
Speaker 3: theater queen. You know. I love theater and I love
Speaker 3: you know, dance, and I love so I mean, I
Speaker 3: would love to see more live meets television.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean Netflix has actually been going in that direction.
Speaker 1: They've been doing their their live comedy events and doing Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's interesting. I think people are craving a little
Speaker 1: bit of something a little more exciting that isn't just
Speaker 1: always available, always made and your binge watch, but like
Speaker 1: keep you on the edge of your seat and keep
Speaker 1: you Yeah, I mean the sitcom was doing that for
Speaker 1: a little while too.
Speaker 4: You know, ABC was doing the live episodes of you
Speaker 4: know what was Free His Company, or they would throw
Speaker 4: throw some all in the family, they'd recast it do
Speaker 4: a live show. You'd get that energy, that kind of
Speaker 4: that who are the actors going to mess up? Is
Speaker 4: it going to be different on the East coast than
Speaker 4: it is on the West coast? I mean it was
Speaker 4: kind of an event onto itself to go and check
Speaker 4: it out, so that, Yeah, that's interesting to see more
Speaker 4: more live stuff.
Speaker 1: Cool.
Speaker 3: I like that concept. I think realistically, you know, you
Speaker 3: kind of wonder about you know this the scrolling of
Speaker 3: your telephone and and and how fast paced that fast
Speaker 3: pace everything is, and then with you know, with TikTok
Speaker 3: and all this other stuff. So I kind of wonder
Speaker 3: how traditional broadcast television is going to move to that
Speaker 3: realm or it's mine in some way. So, you know,
Speaker 3: I'm not really sure the answer, but I'm pretty sure
Speaker 3: that somehow, you know, social media is going to take over.
Speaker 5: Right, Yeah, well, thirty years later, why do you think
Speaker 5: it is that out of all the shows you've worked on,
Speaker 5: why do you think that boy Meets World is still
Speaker 5: so relevant. Why are people still talking about it?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, a lot of credit has to go
Speaker 3: to the writers, Michael and his team of writers, and
Speaker 3: the cast. The beautiful I mean, it had such heart,
Speaker 3: I think is the best word to say. It just
Speaker 3: you know, I think that's what made it special. And
Speaker 3: I you know, the experience of working on the show
Speaker 3: was wonderful. But I think that just from a holistic thing.
Speaker 3: I mean, it just had to do with the fact
Speaker 3: that it it was it was a special thing. It
Speaker 3: was it was funny, it was fun, it was educational,
Speaker 3: but it also had a certain kind of I guess
Speaker 3: heart and emotion and we loved those people and it
Speaker 3: was just you know, yeah, so that's it. It just
Speaker 3: it had heart. Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think the relationships that we all had really came through,
Speaker 5: you know, the friendships we had between the cast and
Speaker 5: the crew and the production. I mean, you know, the
Speaker 5: fact that we had as many people as we did
Speaker 5: who lasted for all seven seasons. There are quite a
Speaker 5: few people that were there for all seven years. And
Speaker 5: of course we had people who we had you know,
Speaker 5: we had some turnover, but it wasn't a ton and
Speaker 5: I think those you know, those bonds and those relationships, and.
Speaker 2: You know, we got really lucky.
Speaker 5: It was a I know you mentioned to me at
Speaker 5: the party and you said it here too that just
Speaker 5: of your careers, Boy meets World were the best seven years.
Speaker 2: And you know, I think we can.
Speaker 5: All agree that, like what we would do now to
Speaker 5: have another seven years like that?
Speaker 3: Yes, you know.
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: It's also it's it's what it's the other thing is.
Speaker 4: And we've talked about this a lot. You get that combination.
Speaker 4: It's a rare combination of us all getting along, really
Speaker 4: caring about each other, the writers caring about the project.
Speaker 4: And then you have Michael Jacobs at the Helm, who
Speaker 4: is a genius when it comes to family sitcom.
Speaker 3: I mean he just was.
Speaker 4: And so you put all that together and yeah, that's
Speaker 4: it was pretty magical.
Speaker 3: Yeah, big shout out to Michael Jacobs and what he creates.
Speaker 3: And because it is about finding the heart.
Speaker 1: And yeah, he could do it. He really could do it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And as you said, it's about those relationships. I mean,
Speaker 3: they were real and we've all been we've all been
Speaker 3: on projects where it's just it's hateful, right, absolutely, Like
Speaker 3: you know, you know, I won't mention any names, but
Speaker 3: I mean I've been on sets where and the shows
Speaker 3: were kind of brilliant, like HBO series that I did
Speaker 3: that I loved, and I loved watching it. It was
Speaker 3: just so good. But let me tell you, those people
Speaker 3: hated each other, yeah, you know, and there was a
Speaker 3: lot of shouting and I was just really ugly to
Speaker 3: be around. So how they made good television, I don't know.
Speaker 5: Right, Well, Russell, it's so great to see you. Thank
Speaker 5: you for coming on our little podcast and sharing your
Speaker 5: experiences with us. And we're going to be interviewing Karen
Speaker 5: McCain as well, so we'll get to have your one
Speaker 5: of your mentors. I wish we could. I wish we
Speaker 5: could interview Arlene I. Her name has come up so
Speaker 5: many times on this podcast with such fond memories of
Speaker 5: all of us, and she's missed, and you.
Speaker 2: Know, here we are, thirty years later, still talking about her.
Speaker 5: So she made a mark.
Speaker 3: That's right, that's right. You know, I was such a
Speaker 3: debt of gratitude to her. She was she was a
Speaker 3: good egg and she taught me what was important and uh,
Speaker 3: you know, I I've gotten into writing recently and I'm
Speaker 3: just just creative writing. And I wrote a short story
Speaker 3: about her and about a whole lot of stuff about
Speaker 3: you know, living through you know, about loss and faith
Speaker 3: and but it all it goes to the most amazing
Speaker 3: story that I have and that it has to do
Speaker 3: with Arlene and the Miracle Bear. Probably the best thing
Speaker 3: I've ever written. I mean, I joined a writers group
Speaker 3: and I'm just doing it for creative reasons, and it's
Speaker 3: and it's really.
Speaker 5: Is there a spot where we can read it?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a very personal story. But yes, I would
Speaker 3: let you, I would let you read it. I actually
Speaker 3: I'm quite proud of it. It's a it's a very
Speaker 3: personal story about loss and faith and my relationship. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's kind of the most amazing story that I tell
Speaker 3: and it's a true story about that involves her, and
Speaker 3: so yeah, I would Yeah.
Speaker 4: Well yeah, Russell, these both these guys know that as
Speaker 4: I sit here and record when I first moved out
Speaker 4: to l A, Arlene to make sure that I wouldn't
Speaker 4: be alone, wrote her name, her address, and her phone
Speaker 4: number down and it's in her handwriting, and it's I
Speaker 4: look at it every day. It's literally right over my computer,
Speaker 4: and it just it sits there, so I know that
Speaker 4: she's there if I ever need her, if I'm still lost,
Speaker 4: I can give her a call.
Speaker 3: I have a shelf in my room that has well
Speaker 3: the title Miracle Bear is about a teddy bear, and
Speaker 3: so it's her, one of her old teddy bears, and
Speaker 3: it's there's next too is the picture of her laughing,
Speaker 3: and she's just like.
Speaker 1: That's how I remember her. She was always laughing, big smile.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was That was just a big smile, big
Speaker 4: big laugh time.
Speaker 3: But I just have to tell you about a funny
Speaker 3: little story about that, because Arlene was super funny. She
Speaker 3: would do crazy crazy like she just was funny. But
Speaker 3: I was really good friends, really tight with and I
Speaker 3: still am with Jerylyn Shafey Schaeffer, who was Michael's assistant
Speaker 3: of course, and Carlos Aragon who was Don Perrapsi's assistant
Speaker 3: but then became, I guess became a writer on the show. Uh,
Speaker 3: And so we were the three of us were was
Speaker 3: when we were at kat l a and and Arlene
Speaker 3: had passed away, and we were talking about her and
Speaker 3: just laughing about how funny she was. Whether it was
Speaker 3: whether she was walking down the halls and she would
Speaker 3: be she she would sing as this sort of tone
Speaker 3: deaf opera singer. I was like, I shot the sheriff.
Speaker 3: We were like, what, I shot the sheriff, you know,
Speaker 3: like no reason. But so one of the things that
Speaker 3: she used to do was she take she'd take a
Speaker 3: drink and then she'd let it slob her out of
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, you know, crazy. So we were kind
Speaker 3: of channeling Arlene that that night while we were shooting
Speaker 3: the show at kat La and there was Jarrelen and
Speaker 3: Carlos and I kind of mimicking her. We were kind
Speaker 3: of spitting up on the floor of the hallway and
Speaker 3: then we looked up and we realized there was a
Speaker 3: camera in the way and that that our friend Pat,
Speaker 3: the lot manager, was probably seeing this or would see it,
Speaker 3: and we, I mean we just died laughing. That was
Speaker 3: a moment of Arlene kind of just staying with us,
Speaker 3: you know, bringing us joy and that's funny.
Speaker 2: I love it. Well, thank you so much for being
Speaker 2: with us, Russell.
Speaker 3: Thank you for including me. I appreciate it. I really do.
Speaker 5: I look forward to hearing what your thoughts are in
Speaker 5: Costa Rica.
Speaker 2: I look forward to seeing what the next step is,
Speaker 2: of course, I.
Speaker 5: Of course I also selfishly want you to continue working
Speaker 5: here because I want to work with you.
Speaker 3: With you, So yeah, all right, you guys, thank.
Speaker 5: You, thank you.
Speaker 1: Great to see you.
Speaker 2: What a what a guy.
Speaker 5: He has the same the same energy that I remember
Speaker 5: him having, although I never saw him doing his job.
Speaker 5: He was in a different office, you know, he wasn't
Speaker 5: on stage. He was in the production office, so I
Speaker 5: never like saw him working.
Speaker 2: He was always working, but I wasn't. I didn't see
Speaker 2: what he did.
Speaker 5: And like you said, writer, just he did all the
Speaker 5: things we completely took for granted.
Speaker 2: But I remember wanted her to.
Speaker 1: Be more drama for the podcast. I wanted things to
Speaker 1: would be always on the edge of falling apart. But
Speaker 1: it sounds like our show really, I know, pretty.
Speaker 2: Smooth, like a well oiled machine.
Speaker 1: It was because of Karen and him, you know, like
Speaker 1: on the on the actual production side. Obviously, we we
Speaker 1: we spend so much time with this show talking about
Speaker 1: the creative side, which was also running pretty darn smoothly,
Speaker 1: but the production, like we just never had any real problems.
Speaker 1: That's crazy to me when I think about the jobs
Speaker 1: I've worked on since you know, stuff's always falling apart
Speaker 1: or on the verge of falling apart, and people are
Speaker 1: mean to each other, people are angry, people are bitter,
Speaker 1: and we just didn't have that culture all right. When
Speaker 1: we get Karen mccainnon on here, I want, I want,
Speaker 1: I'm hoping so correct drama, drama.
Speaker 2: Ahead of time start like I.
Speaker 1: Just love production stories like you know, challenges like I
Speaker 1: just love like you know, we didn't even get into
Speaker 1: the wrestling episode or you know, times and it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think multi camera sitcom, especially back then when we
Speaker 1: had like good budgets, they did go pretty smoothly, you know,
Speaker 1: I think they were pretty cushy jobs actually in Hollywood terms,
Speaker 1: you know, whither other jobs like single camera shows. There's
Speaker 1: just so much more problem solving is so much more
Speaker 1: you know work, So there's a lot, lot lot more drama.
Speaker 5: Well, thank you all for joining us for this episode
Speaker 5: of Podmeets World. As always, you can follow us on
Speaker 5: Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us your
Speaker 5: emails Podmeets World Show at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: And we have merch writer wants the Drama March.
Speaker 5: Podmeetsworldshow dot Com writer send us out.
Speaker 1: We Love You All pod dismissed. Podmeets World is an
Speaker 1: iHeart podcast producer hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfridell and Ryder
Speaker 1: Strong Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman Executive in
Speaker 1: charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tarasubasch producer,
Speaker 1: Maddi Moore engineer and Boy Meets World Superman Easton All.
Speaker 1: Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. Follow
Speaker 1: us on Instagram at podmets World Show or email us
Speaker 1: at Podmeats World Show at gmail dot com