Speaker 1: So we've alluded to this like once or twice, but
Speaker 1: I just wanted to get this story out there if
Speaker 1: if you're willing to talk about it, Will, because this
Speaker 1: is your story. Oh gosh, Will's already nervous. Well, no,
Speaker 1: this is you for you sold a script to Disney
Speaker 1: while we were on Boy Meets World. You sold a
Speaker 1: pitch and you were like, at the time, like the
Speaker 1: youngest screenwriter to have sold a studio, Like, what is
Speaker 1: that story? It's just I just want to talk about this.
Speaker 1: This is what you were doing in Amsterdam. It was
Speaker 1: time that you were writing the screenplay. It was a
Speaker 1: Winnie the Pooh script, but you had this idea and
Speaker 1: you sold it. Yeah. I had an idea for for
Speaker 1: a a live action animation the Pooh and so this
Speaker 1: was nineteen ninety eight, nineteen ninety seven. So I had
Speaker 1: my agent called Disney and I set up a pitch
Speaker 1: and I went in and I pitched, which I still
Speaker 1: think was as an amazing idea. It was Christopher Robbin
Speaker 1: is now eighteen. His parents put him in therapy because
Speaker 1: he was talking to imaginary you know, animals. They moved
Speaker 1: him away from the hundred acre would he now is
Speaker 1: growing up in America. Meanwhile, the hundred Acre Would is
Speaker 1: bought by a corporation and is going to be destroyed
Speaker 1: an animated Whinney like an environmentalist, and then animated Whinney
Speaker 1: and Tiggers show up at the foot of Christopher Robbin's
Speaker 1: bed one morning as he's pledging a fraternity and so
Speaker 1: he you know, he's at college and now these characters
Speaker 1: are back into his life and he essentially they and
Speaker 1: they need his help to save Ragoon, him into going
Speaker 1: back to saving the hundred Acre Would. And he's trying
Speaker 1: to have for us that they exist because and so
Speaker 1: he were the hallucinations from his childhood exactly. And so
Speaker 1: I went to Amsterdam to write it and then they
Speaker 1: really liked the script and they had me. They hired
Speaker 1: me to rewrite it um and I did that and
Speaker 1: then they sat it on a shelf and they said,
Speaker 1: are you nineteen, yeah, twenty years old and they and
Speaker 1: they said, no, we're in this this fight with a
Speaker 1: eight millions company right now who created Winnie the Pooh,
Speaker 1: So we can't you know, we can't really do anything.
Speaker 1: And then I found out years later they did it
Speaker 1: with you know, they they changed it around they gave
Speaker 1: it to a whole bunch of different writers, and then
Speaker 1: they threw you and McGregor in it. And the Writers
Speaker 1: Guild essentially said to me when I said, look, I've
Speaker 1: got I mean the contract literally says nineteen ninety seven
Speaker 1: live action animation Christopher Robin movie. Right, um, and WJA
Speaker 1: was like, look, we know your genesis. We can tell
Speaker 1: your genesis, but it's gone through so many hands now
Speaker 1: that there's really nothing we can do about it, right,
Speaker 1: which is what happens with studio films that yet real credit.
Speaker 1: There's probably been like twenty writing teams on different the
Speaker 1: Pooh movies. So what ended up in the Christopher? Did
Speaker 1: you see the finished film? No? I refused, No, absolutely absolutely,
Speaker 1: because that was like, that was my first screenplay. That
Speaker 1: was the first thing that I'd written and sold, So
Speaker 1: that was that was an important one to me and
Speaker 1: to just be like, yeah, hey, thanks kid. I mean
Speaker 1: to the point where apparently the WGA representative called Disney
Speaker 1: and said, hey, I'm calling on behalf of Wilfridell and
Speaker 1: before she finished my name, the woman said, oh no,
Speaker 1: his project was totally different, and they went, ohkay, So
Speaker 1: it was you know, they did their due diligence, and
Speaker 1: there was a big lawsuit around the thing where there's
Speaker 1: a bunch of writing teams that said that they had
Speaker 1: done it. But I defy somebody to come up with
Speaker 1: a contract that would predated nineteen ninety seven. Now, you
Speaker 1: said that you called your agent, but I remember Jeff
Speaker 1: McCracken figured prominently in helping you set up the pitch.
Speaker 1: Did he may? I feel like you mentioned it while
Speaker 1: we were on set, because for people who don't know,
Speaker 1: Wilfridell is the king of genius movie ideas, like five
Speaker 1: times a day he just will be like, yeah, you
Speaker 1: know what we need and he'll say a moving You're like,
Speaker 1: well that needs to be made, like you should be
Speaker 1: running the studio. And so you had that moment with
Speaker 1: this Winnie the Poop pitch, and I think it was
Speaker 1: Jeff mccrackin that was like, we need to get someone
Speaker 1: on the phone, and you got on the phone. He
Speaker 1: did a speaker call during lunch at Boy Meat's World,
Speaker 1: this is what I remember, and got somebody higher up
Speaker 1: at Disney and said I would just want to hear you,
Speaker 1: hear what Will has to say, And you gave like
Speaker 1: a two sentence pitch and the person paused and was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we got to hear that full pitch, and then you
Speaker 1: went in and had your full pitch. But it was
Speaker 1: because McCracken just heard. McCracken was so supportive of anything
Speaker 1: artistic that we wanted in anything in our lives. But
Speaker 1: super artist. I mean Jeff McCracken at one And I
Speaker 1: was going to tell this story when he got on
Speaker 1: the podcast, but hopefully he'll come on. But at one
Speaker 1: point the network insisted that I cut my hair. I
Speaker 1: was growing really long hair and it really upset me,
Speaker 1: and I went and they cut my hair off, and
Speaker 1: the next day he had long hair. The next day
Speaker 1: he came in with short hair that was all raggled.
Speaker 1: He cut his own hair that night in his house
Speaker 1: to support me having to cut my hair. That's the
Speaker 1: kind of man this guy is. So I do not
Speaker 1: doubt at all that Jeff McCracken did something like that.
Speaker 1: Don't doubt that at all. Yeah, he's still he still
Speaker 1: reaches out to help me in my career and my person.
Speaker 1: He's a beautiful man. He's just one of those giving yes, incredible, Well,
Speaker 1: you guys will be pleased to know we have him booked.
Speaker 1: He will be coming on the pod. It's going to
Speaker 1: be us gushing for two hours. I know. It's literally
Speaker 1: going to be the longest episode we've ever done. It'll
Speaker 1: be season three when he comes in because you know
Speaker 1: too much. And then we are just going to need
Speaker 1: a full hour of us just telling him how much
Speaker 1: we love him. Um. So, welcome to pod Meet's World.
Speaker 1: I'm Daniel Fishel, I'm Writer Strong, and I'm Wilfredale. Guys,
Speaker 1: this is a this is a Q and A episode.
Speaker 1: It's going to be really fun. You guys send us
Speaker 1: so many amazing emails. We get thousands of questions from listeners.
Speaker 1: We appreciate every single one, and we have pulled some
Speaker 1: for another special Q and A episode, and only I
Speaker 1: have seen them in advance. So Will and Writer are
Speaker 1: going in blind and uh. But something totally unrelated that
Speaker 1: I have been forgetting to say in every single episode
Speaker 1: is that my hair care company be free by Daniel Fishel.
Speaker 1: I have created a coupon code for you guys, just
Speaker 1: for you Pod Meets World listeners. You can use code
Speaker 1: PMW for Pod Meats World PMW and get fifteen percent
Speaker 1: off anything on the site. So I'm just gonna I'm
Speaker 1: throwing that in. I made it for you a long
Speaker 1: time ago and then just never told anyone. So important
Speaker 1: important part of the sales team is to have people
Speaker 1: know that why has nobody used this coupon? Ye I'm
Speaker 1: a really good businesswoman. I create coupons and then don't
Speaker 1: give them to anybody. So I need more condition Okay,
Speaker 1: I will. I don't give it to them for free,
Speaker 1: make them pay. Now that I have your code, I
Speaker 1: was waiting for sale. Now I'll send you all the
Speaker 1: conditioner you want, okay. Um. Also, we wanted to let
Speaker 1: you guys know we are going to be in Chicago
Speaker 1: March thirty first through April second at C two E two.
Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to it. We're going to be
Speaker 1: joined by Trina McGee and mister Bill Daniels and Miss
Speaker 1: Bonnie Bartlett. So that just let a Phoenie call escape.
Speaker 1: I know you felt it right, I was gonna do
Speaker 1: it for you. Totally felt it. It almost passed my lips.
Speaker 1: I was like, well I choke that one right by.
Speaker 1: Maybe I do it. Wow? Amazing. So that'll be really fun.
Speaker 1: If you guys don't have your tickets yet, please get
Speaker 1: them join us. It's actually going to be a little
Speaker 1: family trip for us. Writer, your family's going, yeah, will
Speaker 1: Sue is going. Sue's going as well, and hopefully we
Speaker 1: are going to while we're there. Oh, we are definitely
Speaker 1: right right, I'm so excited about C two E two,
Speaker 1: but I want to go to I know, I'm mostly
Speaker 1: excited about Eddievics. We have not reached out to them
Speaker 1: about planning that, so we should. We should actually do that,
Speaker 1: and we need to reserve a table. Yes, okay, I'll
Speaker 1: reach out to them. Um. Producer Jensen car, husband of
Speaker 1: this podcast, is also coming with me. So we're going
Speaker 1: to have a little family trip and I can't wait.
Speaker 1: And we're gonna see Tony Quinn while we're there as well.
Speaker 1: Yes we are maybe, Oh yeah that'd be great. All right, great, okay,
Speaker 1: So our first question, I thought this was very fun.
Speaker 1: Did you guys get paid for Team Beat type magazine shoots?
Speaker 1: And then related to that, how many shoots did you
Speaker 1: do and were they fun? Writer, go for it. No,
Speaker 1: we never got paid. It was kind of a racket
Speaker 1: and it wasn't until I was older that I realized
Speaker 1: how much free content we provided for these magazines. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they would. Typically what would happen is you would you
Speaker 1: would get a call or somebody would get a call.
Speaker 1: I guess my manager would get a call being like
Speaker 1: some magazine wants to do a photo shoot with writer.
Speaker 1: And what that usually meant is that you would get
Speaker 1: some free clothing um or like there was a sense
Speaker 1: that like or it was just free publicity. It was like,
Speaker 1: you know, so for a couple years, or if for
Speaker 1: at least like one year or the first first year
Speaker 1: or the show, I would just show up because somebody
Speaker 1: would tell me to and they would get they would
Speaker 1: do an entire day of photoshoots with you know, different outfits,
Speaker 1: different backgrounds. And then it wasn't until I was like
Speaker 1: fifteen or sixteen, I think that somebody realized, like Wright
Speaker 1: or you maybe just don't do that right if you,
Speaker 1: because I didn't, you know, I just showed up wherever
Speaker 1: and did them. And then it was like, oh, I'm
Speaker 1: getting like sort of pigeonholed as this like teen idle
Speaker 1: honk thing that doesn't have anything to do with my
Speaker 1: acting career, in fact kind of hurts my acting career.
Speaker 1: And so then it was like, you know, I stopped
Speaker 1: doing them right around when I was like fifteen or sixteen,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's weird. We would get free stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you get to keep your clothes that you try on
Speaker 1: that day because clothing companies would want us to be
Speaker 1: wearing them, so they would provide for the magazines. So
Speaker 1: the magazines would pay for the photographer and they would
Speaker 1: get free clothing and free talent for the day. Right,
Speaker 1: And then we would do like you said, there'd be
Speaker 1: a whole day and there would be a bunch of
Speaker 1: like we'd they'd have a snowboard there and they would
Speaker 1: drop snow or do something snow related. And then you
Speaker 1: would use those pictures in November, and then there'd be
Speaker 1: like some sort of Christmas thing and they'd use you'd
Speaker 1: hold a cupcake for around your birthday. Um, and so
Speaker 1: in that one day, you'd go through like the season
Speaker 1: of photos and then they would use them. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: then sometimes they would do events like remember we would
Speaker 1: they would do like a snowboarding day at yeah Big Bear, right,
Speaker 1: or paintballing, and so they would invite us to do that,
Speaker 1: and we would want to do it because it'd be fun,
Speaker 1: cool kid things to do. And then they would get
Speaker 1: a bunch of photographs out of it, and so everybody
Speaker 1: would sort of win. I guess, um, I got paid,
Speaker 1: I paid, I got paid. Well, oh my gosh. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't necessarily say they were fun. Some people had more
Speaker 1: fun than others, Like I never I always enjoyed photoshoots.
Speaker 1: I thought they were kind of fun. Um. But I
Speaker 1: think writer probably thought it was a true nightmare. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that wasn't I mean, eventually, at first, I remember being
Speaker 1: very stoked to be interviewed and like yeah, I just
Speaker 1: thought like, oh, it's cool to this is what being
Speaker 1: an actor means. People wanted, you know. And then when
Speaker 1: it started to feel like I was being used and
Speaker 1: it started to feel like I was, I don't know,
Speaker 1: it just it just made me uncomfortable, Like once I
Speaker 1: started to feel like, oh, I don't I don't want
Speaker 1: posters of me on the wall like I'd like to
Speaker 1: talk about acting or I don't know, it was just
Speaker 1: always it made me. Also, the social media of our day,
Speaker 1: that's what you had you That's how you got the
Speaker 1: word out and you know, hey, this is the new
Speaker 1: hot guy. And it was whether it was Jonathan Taylor
Speaker 1: Thomas or Jonathan Brandis, or there was and then it
Speaker 1: was you. I mean, there was always like a bunch
Speaker 1: of people that they were the it thing for a
Speaker 1: little while, and then it was like, now here's the
Speaker 1: new it thing. And it felt very distinct from like
Speaker 1: other types of fame, you know what I mean, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: in a way, it felt very niche Yeah, like it
Speaker 1: didn't it didn't translate to work, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like it wasn't like because I was in these teen magazines.
Speaker 1: If anything, I feel like it made it harder to
Speaker 1: get movie jobs. You know, already being on television made
Speaker 1: it almost impossible to get movie jobs, but certainly uh
Speaker 1: doing it being a teen magazine person, Like it didn't
Speaker 1: translate to to work, you know, because I mean you
Speaker 1: look at somebody like I mean Jonathan Taylor Thomas was
Speaker 1: working constantly because he was on Home Improvement, but like
Speaker 1: somebody like Jonathan Brandis was the king of those teen
Speaker 1: magazines but did not work now, like could not get work,
Speaker 1: like it was a struggling actor throughout his entire teens,
Speaker 1: and there was always this weird sense of like this
Speaker 1: does not equal the same thing, you know, Like Andrew
Speaker 1: Keegan was all in these teen magazines, but it actually
Speaker 1: wasn't on consistently on a show those into all those years.
Speaker 1: It's interesting. It was just a weird dynamic, YEA. Our
Speaker 1: next question is how much did guest cast members usually
Speaker 1: get paid? Was it per episode, per line? How about
Speaker 1: the background actors? So I'll go ahead and answer this one,
Speaker 1: that guest guest actors negotiated their own salaries. They sometimes,
Speaker 1: I'm sure there was just whatever scale was. Can we
Speaker 1: talk about all that was? I think everybody only got
Speaker 1: scaled on those kinds of shows. You don't negotiate it.
Speaker 1: I mean, unless you think Phyllis Diller. Still, That's what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So you know, your average guest star just
Speaker 1: gets paid. Maybe even Daniel Harris got more than just yeah,
Speaker 1: that's possible too. Oh maybe that's true. Maybe she was
Speaker 1: a big amount. So there's a thing called scale, which
Speaker 1: is like what the unions determine is the base pay
Speaker 1: rate that you're allowed to make to do a union project.
Speaker 1: And so usually what offers our scale plus ten scale
Speaker 1: plus ten percent, and that ten percent is to cover
Speaker 1: the cost of your agent fee, so that you you
Speaker 1: get scale, which is the full dollar amount I don't
Speaker 1: remember what scale was back in the day. I've no memory.
Speaker 1: And there's a difference between one day guest star, every
Speaker 1: day guest guest star. Right, how many lines you have.
Speaker 1: There's also that there's like the under five rule. I
Speaker 1: think you can have up to five lines. So if
Speaker 1: you're curious, you can go to SAG's website. You'll probably
Speaker 1: find these contracts exactly. There are the contracts on the
Speaker 1: SAG websites that you can figure it out. I don't
Speaker 1: remember what they were back in the day, and it's
Speaker 1: not usually like paid per line. But like Will said,
Speaker 1: there are different scale rates based on whether you're working one,
Speaker 1: three or five days. Um. But yeah, so you could
Speaker 1: put many star versus a guest star. Like you know,
Speaker 1: there's a right and the background actors. If I'm not mistaken,
Speaker 1: it was like a hundred a day that sounds about right,
Speaker 1: or maybe one hundred and fifty. Yeah, somewhere between one
Speaker 1: hundred just today, right, and you were there for as
Speaker 1: many hours as they kept you around. If that was fourteen,
Speaker 1: fine it was. And heard when we talked to some
Speaker 1: of our background actors they'd be on four or five shows.
Speaker 1: So hopefully maybe you know because they'd only be on
Speaker 1: Boy two days, right for blocking and tape days, so
Speaker 1: you're hoping that there's the other days they're on other
Speaker 1: shows doing the same thing. So hopefully they're working five
Speaker 1: six days a week at one hundred dollars a day.
Speaker 1: But it's still Yeah, but the main point of being
Speaker 1: a background extras to get hip hopefully, you know, which
Speaker 1: wasn't true necessarily for the first couple of seasons of
Speaker 1: Boy because there was two unions back then. There was
Speaker 1: a screen Extras Guild in the Screen Actors Guild. They
Speaker 1: merged right near the end of Boy Mute World, but
Speaker 1: so yeah, but you would still still getting into a
Speaker 1: guild was really helpful. And then just expos sure, right,
Speaker 1: like to just be in on set and seeing how
Speaker 1: things worked and understanding you know, that was just an opportunity. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, Adam Scott was an extra. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of people that were background actors that
Speaker 1: have made the transition, so it's it can be a
Speaker 1: great gig. Another question we got is what other podcasts
Speaker 1: do you guys love? Wow? Okay, great answers. I have
Speaker 1: a bunch, I have a bunch bunch, uh, and so
Speaker 1: I I love Myths and Legends. It's a great podcast,
Speaker 1: um where they take you know, retail myths and legends.
Speaker 1: Imagine that. Um, it's a great one. Um, I really
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's a like slightly snarky, sarcastic take
Speaker 1: on actual myths and you get a little bit of
Speaker 1: the backstory. But he's done like episodes. It's it's a
Speaker 1: husband and wife team. Um. And they've done episodes about
Speaker 1: like King Arthur, like hundred episodes about King Arthur. You
Speaker 1: can do all the Greek. It's so great. So it's
Speaker 1: very very educational and entertaining. Um. Let's see. I listened
Speaker 1: to Hello from the Magic Tavern, which is an improv
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I love it so much. It's an
Speaker 1: improv show where the conceit of the show is that
Speaker 1: somebody has been sucked into a Lord of the Rings
Speaker 1: like fantasy World, but with his podcasting equipment, Like he
Speaker 1: was in the back of a Chicago of a McDonald's
Speaker 1: in Chicago or Burger King in Chicago and fell through
Speaker 1: a portal and ended up in this land. So every
Speaker 1: week they bring on it's him and a wizard and
Speaker 1: a shape shifting badger and every and they're just improv
Speaker 1: actors and then they bring on somebody and that person
Speaker 1: shows up with a character like I am a dragon
Speaker 1: who's a teenager or whatever, and then they just improv
Speaker 1: and have an interview with that dragon and they have
Speaker 1: to just roll with whatever the person brings, whatever they say,
Speaker 1: and it is so fun. And would you go on
Speaker 1: that show? No, I'm not a good improver, man, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't know. That sounds like, yeah, No, they have incredible guests.
Speaker 1: I mean they've gotten everybody a huge comedy star. It's
Speaker 1: I mean, at this point, it's like eight years old.
Speaker 1: I've been listening to since the beginning. I remember, it's
Speaker 1: gotten crazy. I used to have like more developing storylines
Speaker 1: and now it's back to more of just a fun
Speaker 1: interview show. But man, it's it's so so clever. Um
Speaker 1: what else I listened to a lot? What about you?
Speaker 1: I'm I don't listen to a ton, but the ones
Speaker 1: that I do, like, I listen to my Mash Matters
Speaker 1: because you know, obviously big into the Mash world. And
Speaker 1: I listened to you SNAPf Foo with ed Helms, which
Speaker 1: is also on I Hurt, I hurt, But yeah, Snapfoo.
Speaker 1: It takes one, uh you know, mess up in history
Speaker 1: and talks about it for eight episodes. So the you know,
Speaker 1: the idea of the movie War Games actually happened in
Speaker 1: the United States. Uh And so it's kind of ed
Speaker 1: helms breaking down and it happens very entertaining. But now
Speaker 1: I'm getting more and more into kind of podcasts and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. Um are you now? Are Can we
Speaker 1: ask you the same questions, Danielle, are you since you've
Speaker 1: seen these questions? Do you have any any podcast that
Speaker 1: you listen to? Yes? I love SmartLess. I don't get
Speaker 1: to listen to it as often as I'd like, but
Speaker 1: I love SmartLess. Um and I listened to We Can
Speaker 1: Do Hard Things with Glenn and Doyle and her wife
Speaker 1: Abby Womba and dear sister Amanda, who so yeah, I
Speaker 1: love love that podcast. That's Those would probably be the two.
Speaker 1: And then I don't know if you've ever heard of
Speaker 1: a show called pod Meats World, but boy do I
Speaker 1: love it. I can't. I can't get through it. Like
Speaker 1: the hosts just constantly talk over each other. It does
Speaker 1: seem like they love to hear themselves talk. But I
Speaker 1: find them all endlessly enjoyable. I noticed none of you
Speaker 1: have mentioned I hear voices. It's nice to know that
Speaker 1: you also listen to my other podcasts, thanks so much.
Speaker 1: And Literary Disco is another. I'm a big fan of
Speaker 1: that as well. We didn't mention her other podcasts at all,
Speaker 1: where it's like nobody's fans of each other's other podcasts.
Speaker 1: We're nothing if not honest. Okay, So I thought this
Speaker 1: was interesting because I feel like we've done it a
Speaker 1: little but but maybe we haven't explained it well enough.
Speaker 1: People want to know how our sets worked while filming,
Speaker 1: like in front of the audience. People are a little confused,
Speaker 1: like did the different sets move? Could we move them?
Speaker 1: So let's explain it because I guess when you watch
Speaker 1: like some SNL stuff, they actually are moving sets, all right, Yeah? No,
Speaker 1: we we had standing sets, like, yes, they were built
Speaker 1: before the audience ever arrived, days before, and they would
Speaker 1: be standing there, and for the most part, we use
Speaker 1: the same sets over and over, So the audience would
Speaker 1: be in bleachers that would sort of rise up from
Speaker 1: the stage floor like maybe ten rows of bleachers, like
Speaker 1: a like a high school auditorium bleacher set, and then
Speaker 1: in front of those bleachers, there would be the camera
Speaker 1: area what is that called, like the camerayle camerale there
Speaker 1: you go the aisle right, so it would be like
Speaker 1: about ten feet between the audience where they and the
Speaker 1: sets where the cameras would be on these giant rolling
Speaker 1: you know, the cameras are on wheels, so they can
Speaker 1: move into position and constantly be adjusting, and they can
Speaker 1: also go up and down. And then where you know,
Speaker 1: you would have essentially it's a the fourth wall that
Speaker 1: doesn't exist, that would you know, the entrance to the
Speaker 1: set which had three walls, and everybody that came to
Speaker 1: visit would always comment on how small the sets actually locally, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they look much larger, little big. Yeah. Answer is the
Speaker 1: sets don't move, the cameras do. Right. But so left
Speaker 1: to right, let's take the audience POV. Imagine yourself, dear listener,
Speaker 1: as an audience member in the bleachers on the set
Speaker 1: of Boy Meets World. Way over to the left was
Speaker 1: the Matthews family living room living room, and then immediately
Speaker 1: connected to that was the kitchen, kitchen, and then obviously
Speaker 1: Phoene's yard. The back. The entire left half of the
Speaker 1: audience's view was the right, three sets right yard would
Speaker 1: sort of end in the middle of the audience right then,
Speaker 1: and then there was class last room, Class which was
Speaker 1: Turner's classroom by second season, so then Turner's classroom, and
Speaker 1: then Hollow which was a big, long set, big, and
Speaker 1: that was it, and then they would ring in. The
Speaker 1: boy's bedroom would be at the very very end if
Speaker 1: we ever needed it. And so those were called swing sets,
Speaker 1: and that's because those could swing in and swing out.
Speaker 1: And then there was extra room where there were other
Speaker 1: swing sets that could be built to the left or
Speaker 1: right of the audience, but we would never shoot scenes
Speaker 1: there in front of the audience. So basically the only
Speaker 1: thing we would ever shoot on audience night in front
Speaker 1: of the audience were those scenes we mentioned that from
Speaker 1: audience POV they could see with their eyeballs right, um,
Speaker 1: and then the audience is right facing the same direction
Speaker 1: as the audience would have been. Cafeteria set exactly, um
Speaker 1: or whatever swing ended up would also sort of go
Speaker 1: in there right yeah. Yeah, I'm occasionally living room, kitchen, kitchen,
Speaker 1: and Phoenix, yeah, Phoenie's back The backyard ends up being
Speaker 1: sort of very middle, yeah, which is so funny because
Speaker 1: it's actually kind of our at least you said yeah.
Speaker 1: But also kitchen kitchen back kitchen backyard was kind of
Speaker 1: the most center um and then classroom you could fully
Speaker 1: see and really you could see mostly I would call
Speaker 1: partial school hallway maybe seventy five percent. You wouldn't be
Speaker 1: really be able to see unless you were in one
Speaker 1: particular part of the audience. You wouldn't be able to
Speaker 1: see the ever changing bathroom, Phoenie's principle's office door. Like
Speaker 1: that door was kind of it was the way to
Speaker 1: the end and for the audience. So everybody knows you're
Speaker 1: you're you're not really I mean, you're watching the stage,
Speaker 1: but you're really looking up at the monitors. There's monitors
Speaker 1: all on the ceiling and what you're on the you know,
Speaker 1: hanging above you, and you're watching the show on a
Speaker 1: television screen. Yes, those monitors are showing you what the
Speaker 1: cameras are recording and up there switching. So there's a
Speaker 1: wonderful person called a switcher and their job is to
Speaker 1: have the list from the director and the associ see
Speaker 1: a director about which camera you want me to show
Speaker 1: at which time? Do you want the two shot here?
Speaker 1: Do you want the master here, and then that person
Speaker 1: is switching between the cameras so that the audience can
Speaker 1: see what basically will be the edited version that will
Speaker 1: eventually air on television. And I would say, if I
Speaker 1: was an audience member of a show, I would never
Speaker 1: watch what was up there. I'd want to be watching
Speaker 1: the actual action on stage directly in front of you,
Speaker 1: because that's when you would see, oh, so and so
Speaker 1: is going to break. That's when you would see the
Speaker 1: kind of fun stuff that you don't end up seeing
Speaker 1: in the in the final product. Um writer, this is
Speaker 1: a really good one for you. Could someone please explain
Speaker 1: the difference between a four camera and a one camera sitcom?
Speaker 1: How can somebody who just watches TV tell the difference?
Speaker 1: So I wouldn't ever say that there's like a one
Speaker 1: camera sitcom, but I know you've recently had The Office, right,
Speaker 1: You're right, yes, but yes those are those modern family
Speaker 1: those are considered single camera, right, so generally a hybrid no? No, okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: so I think the well, there's there's the distinction is
Speaker 1: like between literally using one camera or multi cameras. That
Speaker 1: is one form of distinction, but usually what people refer
Speaker 1: to as multi camera sitcom and single camera sitcom. A
Speaker 1: multi camera sitcom is front is filmed in front of
Speaker 1: a live audience, or at least has a laugh track,
Speaker 1: But it's essentially a play like ours, where we have
Speaker 1: three three walt sets and four cameras, and the actors
Speaker 1: are performing every take live um and the cameras are
Speaker 1: adjusting on the fly. Whereas in a single camera show,
Speaker 1: you set up individual shots to build your visual storytelling,
Speaker 1: and so the actors have to Usually you shoot everything
Speaker 1: in one direction, so you set up the cameras and
Speaker 1: the lights and you do everything that happens in a
Speaker 1: scene facing one direction. Then you turn around and have
Speaker 1: to do all of that again to get the other
Speaker 1: actors in the scene from the other direction. And you're
Speaker 1: getting individual shots, close ups of actors, maybe a two
Speaker 1: shot of two actors, and so you're individually building the
Speaker 1: story in discrete shots, as opposed to a multi camera sitcom,
Speaker 1: which is like essentially capturing a live play that's going on.
Speaker 1: How can so I think the main question was how
Speaker 1: can somebody who just watches TV know the difference? I
Speaker 1: think one of the easiest ways to do it essentially,
Speaker 1: and there are a few, you know, exceptions to this rule.
Speaker 1: If you hear laughter, yeah, it's a multi camera sitcom.
Speaker 1: Laugh track, laugh laugh track, or the audience, it's a
Speaker 1: multi camera sitcom. Now that there's some things that break
Speaker 1: the trope. Mash is a perfect example where they added
Speaker 1: a laugh track, which the producers couldn't stand that they
Speaker 1: added a laugh track. But for the most part, if
Speaker 1: you hear laughing, like you never hear laughing in the office,
Speaker 1: you never hear laughing in modern family, you don't. You
Speaker 1: don't hear that stuff because there's no audience there. You're
Speaker 1: shooting it like a film, right, So if you hear laughing,
Speaker 1: it's a multi camera sitcom. Well interesting, Okay, this was
Speaker 1: more of an observation, which is a car that's This
Speaker 1: was more of an observation mixed with have you guys
Speaker 1: noticed this? And I also go ahead and say no
Speaker 1: ahead of time in season one and maybe others. In
Speaker 1: the opening credits, the globes are spinning the earth in
Speaker 1: the wrong direction. It should be west to east. Have
Speaker 1: you ever noticed this? It took me thirty years to
Speaker 1: realize that rolling over and was a metaphor. You think
Speaker 1: I know which way is good because it's a metaphor
Speaker 1: for going back into the past where we're rewinding to think. Um,
Speaker 1: I mean, first of all, we all know that it's
Speaker 1: inaccurate anyway because the Earth is flat. So I mean,
Speaker 1: just that right, just that alone is wrong. So whatever
Speaker 1: slash s that's the online version of sarcastic. I'm being sarcastic.
Speaker 1: That's how you let people know now online that you're
Speaker 1: being sarcastic. How do you let them know you absolutely
Speaker 1: believe that it's flat? What do I what do I hit? What?
Speaker 1: But do I hit there? Slash key for Ernest? Yeah? Exactly?
Speaker 1: There you go. Okay, Um, if you could be cast
Speaker 1: in your dream role, TV, movie or Broadway, what would
Speaker 1: it be? And why? I have no idea anymore because
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not. I know, I don't think about it.
Speaker 1: I would. I would love to do a play. And
Speaker 1: you know, if if I was gonna, I've I've told
Speaker 1: myself if I'm ever gonna do acting again, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: start with a play. Um. And I love Sam Shepherd
Speaker 1: plays and I feel like I'm finally old enough to
Speaker 1: be in a Sam Shepherd play. I don't know which
Speaker 1: one or which role, but if I was going to return.
Speaker 1: I would, I would do it. Love to do a
Speaker 1: great play by a good play, right, like a Sam
Speaker 1: Shepherd's great. That's a good answer. Nice, Well, mine slightly different. Um.
Speaker 1: I want to be the fun uncle or the the
Speaker 1: young dad on a sitcom. I'm built for sitcom. It's
Speaker 1: what I love. It's what I've always wanted to do.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm a born in bread sitcom actor, and it's
Speaker 1: it sucks because I'm a born and bred actor targeted
Speaker 1: to a thing that no longer exists. Right, It's like
Speaker 1: being a radio actor exactly. Yeah, I'm best farrier in town.
Speaker 1: Nobody's shoeing horses that much anymore. So that would be
Speaker 1: my dream job is a classic eighties nineties sitcom where
Speaker 1: I'm now the young dad or the fine uncle. Right,
Speaker 1: what about you, Danielle um gosh, I don't know. On
Speaker 1: the one hand, I love you, know similar to you will.
Speaker 1: I love sitcom. I love multi cameras. Um, I would
Speaker 1: love to be a mom on a multicam again. I
Speaker 1: think that would be great. I'd love to be the Betsy.
Speaker 1: I could say that Panga from Girl Meets World, But
Speaker 1: I want to be the Betsy. Yeah. Um, I love.
Speaker 1: I would love that, but also I love like I
Speaker 1: loved the Good Place, and I would have loved to
Speaker 1: have been basically any of the characters on the Good Place,
Speaker 1: some equivalent to the Good Place, you know, Abbot, Elementary
Speaker 1: that that would that would be fun. Um, that would
Speaker 1: probably be mine. I also want to be in a
Speaker 1: Hallmark movie. We've talked about this. We want to be
Speaker 1: in some kind of Christmas Hallmark thing where I what
Speaker 1: I love Christmas now, like, yeah, that'dance? Who are that's
Speaker 1: my audition Christmas? Well, it's funny. We talked about this
Speaker 1: before the show started. But for for will Winnie the
Speaker 1: Pooh movie, while you were in Amsterdam, people wanted to
Speaker 1: know it was in here. Um. So the next question
Speaker 1: was somebody, Um, somebody wanted to know who does the
Speaker 1: booking of guests for the podcasts? How does it all
Speaker 1: go down? Um? So I'll go ahead and answer this one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's the magic of television. It's the mast. It's great.
Speaker 1: It's it's an all hands on deck team effort. We
Speaker 1: among the three of us come up with who the
Speaker 1: guests are that we want to have. Also, producer Jensen Cart,
Speaker 1: husband of this podcast, sends us names all the time.
Speaker 1: How about this person? How about that person? We say, yes,
Speaker 1: we think this person would be a wonderful guest, they
Speaker 1: were instrumental into the show, or we think people would
Speaker 1: like to hear from them. Um, and then whoever has
Speaker 1: a connection and to them says, I will reach out,
Speaker 1: Let me send an email, let me send a message,
Speaker 1: let me do that. Sometimes when it's somebody none of
Speaker 1: us have a connection to, we get I heart involved
Speaker 1: and we say, iHeart, do you have a connection to
Speaker 1: this person. If you do not, can you reach out
Speaker 1: to their agent? And we send a formal ask. One
Speaker 1: of the reasons we try to avoid that is little
Speaker 1: known secret for people who are not involved in the
Speaker 1: entertainment industry. Reps, agents, managers. Sometimes they will just answer
Speaker 1: for their clients without ever even sending the message along,
Speaker 1: and you will have had to have had a conversation
Speaker 1: with your agent or manager about whether or not you
Speaker 1: want them to do that. I was always the type,
Speaker 1: for the most part, to say, by the way, I
Speaker 1: want to know every single thing that comes in. Even
Speaker 1: if you think I'm not going to want to do it,
Speaker 1: I want to be the person to say no to
Speaker 1: it or say yes to it not you, or then
Speaker 1: there would be times where I would be like, I
Speaker 1: don't want to do anything. I don't want to do
Speaker 1: any press and I would say you can go ahead
Speaker 1: and stop telling me those things. The answer is us know,
Speaker 1: unless you think it's going to change my life or
Speaker 1: that I would have to be an insane person to
Speaker 1: say no to this thing, go ahead and pass for me.
Speaker 1: So we like to do it from the personal way
Speaker 1: of does anybody know this person? Do you have a
Speaker 1: phone number? Because also getting a personal ask for something
Speaker 1: is feels better than your manager being called. So it's
Speaker 1: all hands on deck approach. We also do need a
Speaker 1: special shout out though, to producer Jensen car pusmandis the
Speaker 1: podcasts for the amount of work, Yes he does. He
Speaker 1: ultimately person who schedules all of our He also does
Speaker 1: all of our scheduling, which once the connection is made,
Speaker 1: he's the one who coordinates with the actual talent. Correct.
Speaker 1: So once that connections and they say yes, then Jensen
Speaker 1: takes over and says what are your avails and gets
Speaker 1: the avails for those people and then has to work
Speaker 1: it into our schedules, which our schedules are also all
Speaker 1: over the place. Will does other podcasts, writer or does
Speaker 1: other podcasts, and teaches and has travel days. Will does
Speaker 1: lots of cons so he has travel days. I regularly
Speaker 1: have directing jobs, and I can't know those for like
Speaker 1: months ahead of time. Sometimes I get a call and they,
Speaker 1: you know, they'll say, hey, what's your availability for May,
Speaker 1: and it's you know, we may have already scheduled dates
Speaker 1: for May, and then I'll have to change. And so
Speaker 1: that is a kind of the calendar is a very fluid,
Speaker 1: evolving ecosystem and it is a very hard thing to manage.
Speaker 1: And producer Jensen car, husband of this podcast, is really
Speaker 1: good at it. Yeah. And I feel bad though, because
Speaker 1: there's times like May, I have jury duty in May. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so it's like I won't know until the night before,
Speaker 1: literally the night before when I call in if I
Speaker 1: even have to go, I know. So it's like we're
Speaker 1: trying to see you try to schedule stuff, and it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: this might happen pass right exactly. Just makes it really difficult. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And he is married to me, Danielle. He's married to
Speaker 1: all of us. I know. I'm sorry, I don't mean
Speaker 1: to insult you. He is a shared husband. He has
Speaker 1: shared husband. Okay, so someone said they did not quite
Speaker 1: understand the difference between a producer and a director when
Speaker 1: we have mentioned them on this podcast. In some cases
Speaker 1: they have been both. Like Jeff McCracken was a producer, No,
Speaker 1: wasn't a producer. Producer. He worked for Michael Company. Yeah,
Speaker 1: which was not the same thing as being a producer.
Speaker 1: But I thought he was also a producer on the show.
Speaker 1: He wasn't. Oh maybe maybe he was eventually. But you guys, trainer,
Speaker 1: you're both directors, so was training or producer? I don't
Speaker 1: think so, Okay, just think maybe second season. Second season
Speaker 1: he gets a producer credit if memory serves. His name
Speaker 1: is now in the front as a producer credit, if
Speaker 1: memory serves, right. I mean, we talked a little bit
Speaker 1: about this when I talked about Alex producing movie. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's really in television. Producer is a crew is there? Well,
Speaker 1: there's two different types of producers. There's the creative producer,
Speaker 1: which is is usually a writer with a lot of
Speaker 1: creative input for the overall show, so they're not only
Speaker 1: just writing an individual episode, which would be a staff
Speaker 1: writer who's just part of the team and writing episodes,
Speaker 1: and they usually get one episode with their name on it,
Speaker 1: but they're participating in the writing for every episode. The
Speaker 1: upgrade from being a writer is to be a producer
Speaker 1: who is also a writer, So you're still getting paid
Speaker 1: as a writer, but now you're functioning as a producer
Speaker 1: or an executive producer, which is even higher creatively and
Speaker 1: that those people, you know, have more creative input on
Speaker 1: the whole storyline and more authority in the writing room.
Speaker 1: And then an EP is the highest credit among the
Speaker 1: EP and producers. There's a show runner, yeah, but there's
Speaker 1: usually a showrunner, which is not an official title that
Speaker 1: is not paid for. But there's usually one person who
Speaker 1: is designated as the runner of the room. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: person who runs the actual room. So those seasons that
Speaker 1: David Kendall was there, he would be the person in
Speaker 1: the room saying, who's writing this episode? We got this
Speaker 1: episode coming up due to the and like sort of
Speaker 1: coordinating people's schedule. Captain of the ship, the captain of
Speaker 1: the ship, right, But in general with our show, Michael
Speaker 1: Jacobs was the head executive producer cola showrunner, so he
Speaker 1: mostly ran the writing room and gave notes after run throughs.
Speaker 1: And then there are producers like we've talked about Karen
Speaker 1: McCain and producer who are line producers. They are the
Speaker 1: ones in charge of the actual production, making sure that
Speaker 1: camera people show up, that lunch has taken care of,
Speaker 1: that people get paid doing all the books, and that's
Speaker 1: like a more of a logistical producer real position, and
Speaker 1: so they also get a producer credit. Director is the
Speaker 1: person who is in charge of the visual storytelling and
Speaker 1: the engaging with the actors performances, so they're in charge
Speaker 1: of giving the actors notes. Executive producers are not supposed
Speaker 1: to give actors notes without going through the director. That
Speaker 1: obviously didn't happen very often on our show, right Our
Speaker 1: executive producer like to just give notes. But technically, according
Speaker 1: to DJA rules, only the director is supposed to be
Speaker 1: giving notes to actors and working with them on how
Speaker 1: to perform and be in the scene, and then figuring
Speaker 1: out the camera, which shots are lining up, where to
Speaker 1: tell the story. That's what a director does, and a
Speaker 1: director on a sitcom is in second position to the
Speaker 1: writing staff for the most part. It's a very important
Speaker 1: role for the actors, but as far as creatively, the
Speaker 1: sort of packing order is executive producers creative writing. Those
Speaker 1: people are the sort of the kings and queens of television. Right.
Speaker 1: The director's job on a sitcom is to bring those
Speaker 1: people's dreams and ideas for the show to life. It's
Speaker 1: not the director's medium. The director is not going, this
Speaker 1: is my dream for this. It's kind of like what
Speaker 1: do you want them to do? And then their job
Speaker 1: is to make it happen. Right, They're more like the
Speaker 1: executive branch of like, yeah, technical side of things. In film,
Speaker 1: a director is much more the creative voice. So even
Speaker 1: if they didn't write the script, they're the ones on
Speaker 1: set making the movie from start to finition. It's a
Speaker 1: much more creative position. So film directors are the main
Speaker 1: creative right. Everything goes through the director on a film set. Also,
Speaker 1: you get into different rules as far as what the
Speaker 1: producers mean on movie sets as well. There's a capital
Speaker 1: P producer versus like a executive producer on a movie. Actually,
Speaker 1: the executive producer is not necessarily usually or or a
Speaker 1: title given to someone who had a significant role in
Speaker 1: making the movie happen, but wasn't the person financial producers guilt,
Speaker 1: by the way, there is no This is one of
Speaker 1: the part of the very easy answer is that the
Speaker 1: producer producer is a nebulous term, precisely because there is
Speaker 1: no union, there's no guild like there are for the
Speaker 1: other positions, so writing and directors, and so the reason
Speaker 1: that producer credit gets thrown out is because there's no
Speaker 1: one regulating it within the industry. So there's been a
Speaker 1: lot of talk the last couple of years of Formula
Speaker 1: Producers Association that will represent them and enforce these titles,
Speaker 1: because yeah, like a producer credit has been given as
Speaker 1: a way to give writers a bump financially or given
Speaker 1: them a new title, when actually, like, as far as
Speaker 1: the writer's Guild is concerned, those mean nothing. So it's
Speaker 1: a tricky position. You guys had so many cues, and
Speaker 1: we had so many a's. This episode is just getting
Speaker 1: too long, so we're going to split it into two
Speaker 1: with a bonus episode. Don't worry, you don't have to
Speaker 1: wait long. It's coming out tomorrow. We love you all.
Speaker 1: Pod Dismissed Pod meets World is an iHeart podcast produced
Speaker 1: and hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfordell and Writer Strong. Executive
Speaker 1: producers Jensencarp and Amy Sugarman, executive in charge of production,
Speaker 1: Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara Sudbach producer, Jackie Rodriguez,
Speaker 1: engineer and Boy Meets World super fan Easton Allen. Our
Speaker 1: theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. You can
Speaker 1: follow us on Instagram at Pod Meets World Show or
Speaker 1: email us at Pod Meets World Show at gmail dot
Speaker 1: com