Speaker 1: And That's what You Really Missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2: And Kevin an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Welcome to and That's what You Really miss podcast. Kevin,
Speaker 1: we got Jenna, We got him, We did we got him.
Speaker 1: Brad Beaker is here. Everybody. You've heard his name about
Speaker 1: a million times on this podcast. He was such an
Speaker 1: integral part of the shaping of the show, which we'll
Speaker 1: learn about about directing a thousand episodes.
Speaker 2: The season's worth of episodes.
Speaker 1: He always did the big ones because there was just
Speaker 1: he always could. He could handle it. They just knew
Speaker 1: and we are always in the best hands. He did
Speaker 1: excellent work. We love him, his family and you guys
Speaker 1: are not gonna want to miss this now.
Speaker 2: This is one of our favorite interviews that we've ever done.
Speaker 2: This is Brad Beaker. I remember us.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, it's been so long.
Speaker 1: I was just saying that, that's it's crazy.
Speaker 3: How you doing.
Speaker 1: We're good, How are you good? Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 3: It's great to see you guys.
Speaker 2: Likewise, also, Brad is like the busiest person in the
Speaker 2: entire world, So thank you for finding the time to
Speaker 2: talk to us because it means a lot. We needed you.
Speaker 2: You were an integral part of this damn show. Yes,
Speaker 2: we talk about you all the time.
Speaker 3: I'm so excited to be here. It's like it I
Speaker 3: texted you, guys.
Speaker 4: I don't know if it ever actually went through, but
Speaker 4: it was like when I saw you were doing the podcast,
Speaker 4: I I was like, oh, I have to hear this.
Speaker 4: And I listened to the first two hours when Ryan
Speaker 4: was talking, and I mean, I can't even tell you, guys,
Speaker 4: I just cried, like, I mean, I really and and
Speaker 4: it was that thing where it was like when it
Speaker 4: ended for me, it was like there was kind of
Speaker 4: just no time to look back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, Like there was.
Speaker 4: No I had no reflection and there were all these
Speaker 4: complicated things all tied up in there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it just all all came flooding. Is just
Speaker 3: like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Wow, Well thanks for listening to those. It was an
Speaker 1: important those were an important two episodes.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Sure.
Speaker 2: What's interesting too is we've talked to a lot of
Speaker 2: crew members and they didn't say it exactly the same way,
Speaker 2: But I think a lot of people who just you know,
Speaker 2: you're onto the next show, You're onto the next thing,
Speaker 2: and you have to keep moving. And obviously we experienced
Speaker 2: a lot during our time in Glee that I think
Speaker 2: a lot of people had sort of like the deferred
Speaker 2: emotional like look back at our experience and so yeah,
Speaker 2: it's so interesting to hear you say that too, like
Speaker 2: Aaron Kruger was saying.
Speaker 4: Yeah, really well and it you know, it's like it
Speaker 4: was one of those things where I could At the time,
Speaker 4: it was like, you know, I couldn't afford to stop,
Speaker 4: you know, there was no time to It was like
Speaker 4: you have to you have to pay the bills, right,
Speaker 4: and it was like you just have to go. You
Speaker 4: had to go find the next It was like hustle, hustle, hustle.
Speaker 3: But it was so.
Speaker 4: It was just such a I mean, the show really
Speaker 4: defined my career without question. You know, It's I sort
Speaker 4: of felt like it was the.
Speaker 3: Birth of my.
Speaker 4: Entire entertainment experience. You know, it's like I had I
Speaker 4: had had I was an editor before you know, I
Speaker 4: was an editor. I worked on Niptuck and and then
Speaker 4: it was like, you know, I cut the pilot right
Speaker 4: and crazy, but but it was like everything that I learned,
Speaker 4: everything that I used today, I learned in that time
Speaker 4: when we were together, right, it was like all of
Speaker 4: it was like school. You know of like, hey, this
Speaker 4: is how you make this is how you make great television.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you did over and over and over again
Speaker 2: you became It's from our perspective, I don't think it
Speaker 2: ever felt like, oh, I'm learning on the fly, and
Speaker 2: you know, doing this you always felt like a really
Speaker 2: steady hand, which I think is why you ended up
Speaker 2: doing the more complicated episodes, the bigger you got stuck
Speaker 2: with all the competitions.
Speaker 3: That's right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2: At some point like oh, you know who could do
Speaker 2: this affect efficiently? Let it again, make our day.
Speaker 1: Get all the shots, get all the footage. Sweet, Let's
Speaker 1: go back a little bit because there's a lot to
Speaker 1: cover here. And I'm you said that you cut. You
Speaker 1: were an editor first, and you cut the pilot. I
Speaker 1: want to know what you're feeling. What is when you
Speaker 1: were cutting this pilot, like what your thoughts were, and
Speaker 1: also what was the journey of your ask reasons to
Speaker 1: be a director, to go from editor to director and
Speaker 1: how did you get on to season two and then
Speaker 1: become like one of our resident directors.
Speaker 4: Okay, So I mean it was hilarious because so I'd
Speaker 4: worked with Ryan and Brad right on Nip Tuck. They
Speaker 4: had this pretty handsome pilot that they wanted to make,
Speaker 4: and you know, Ryan went all in on this pretty
Speaker 4: handsome pilot and I cut that and that didn't go,
Speaker 4: you know, and then they were like, oh, there's this
Speaker 4: you know, there's this thing about a glee club, you know,
Speaker 4: and and funny enough, it was like in high school,
Speaker 4: I auditioned for the glee club three times.
Speaker 3: Never made it. What never made it? Yep? I could sing,
Speaker 3: but I couldn't dance.
Speaker 2: Oh pesky dancing.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: It didn't stop a lot of our cast.
Speaker 3: Very good, Kevin, it was very.
Speaker 4: I was always very aligned to Finn's story, right but
Speaker 4: h and I grew up forty miles from Lima, mm hmm,
Speaker 4: right in a small town in small town Ohio.
Speaker 3: That was where I grew up.
Speaker 1: You're the closest connection we have to Limo.
Speaker 4: I may have been the only person on the producer's
Speaker 4: side that actually has ever been to Lima.
Speaker 2: Oh for sure. I don't think that's a maybe.
Speaker 4: But you know, I was like, I remember being like,
Speaker 4: oh my god, this is this is so interesting and
Speaker 4: this is so fun. And at the time Ryan was
Speaker 4: in this wonderfully collaborative phase of his career where he
Speaker 4: would bring Chris Baffa and I into his office while
Speaker 4: we were shooting Nipped, and at lunch we would sit
Speaker 4: and we would go through the Glease script and he
Speaker 4: would be like, Okay, if you were going to shoot this,
Speaker 4: how would.
Speaker 3: You shoot it?
Speaker 2: Wow?
Speaker 4: And Chris would be like, Chris and I were so different.
Speaker 4: But Chris would be like, I would shoot a nice
Speaker 4: close up of you know. And I would be like,
Speaker 4: I would take the camera and I would go I
Speaker 4: would do this and this, and I'll go over here
Speaker 4: and go over there.
Speaker 3: And but Ryan would just sit and listen and be
Speaker 3: like okay.
Speaker 4: And and you know, he used He didn't use a
Speaker 4: lot or I don't know how much he used of
Speaker 4: anything that we said, but we we had talked through
Speaker 4: what the show was, almost seen by scene before he
Speaker 4: ever started shooting it.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 4: And so you had this idea of like what he
Speaker 4: was going for that was so fun.
Speaker 2: Wow. I really yeah. I never knew that even happened.
Speaker 2: Because in that pilot, as you do with pilots, one
Speaker 2: of the best things about it is the way that
Speaker 2: it was shot. All of those handheld moments also, you know,
Speaker 2: with the big sweeping numbers and the cranes and Andrew
Speaker 2: on Steady came like all those things combined made a
Speaker 2: very specific sense of what the show is.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, and he just he spent.
Speaker 4: I mean, Ryan is so brilliant and he just he spent.
Speaker 4: But he spent a lot of time thinking about it. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and he really wanted it to feel special and unique,
Speaker 4: and and you know, he's very close. He'll ask and
Speaker 4: then he'll sort of look and you know, study what
Speaker 4: you You never know whether he likes what she said
Speaker 4: or necessarily you know, and then he just goes and
Speaker 4: does his own thing right, which is brilliant. But but
Speaker 4: it was fun going into it because it was like
Speaker 4: we sort of had this idea that it was like, oh,
Speaker 4: this is this is going to be fun. One of
Speaker 4: my favorite memories of the pilot was like we were
Speaker 4: almost done with the pilot. I've almost got it put together.
Speaker 4: You guys are finishing shooting.
Speaker 3: And I called.
Speaker 4: Him and and I was like, Ryan, the pilot is
Speaker 4: so good. I'm not sure you need don't stop believing.
Speaker 2: The only person in history to ever say that, right,
Speaker 2: But it.
Speaker 3: Was like we we just hadn't we hadn't put it
Speaker 3: together yet.
Speaker 4: I had no idea, you know, and of course it
Speaker 4: was like as soon as I put it together, it.
Speaker 3: Was like, oh my god, that was the dumbest thing
Speaker 3: I've ever said.
Speaker 2: And he still kept you around.
Speaker 3: Well, it was it was we were on the phone.
Speaker 4: Maybe he didn't hear me, I don't know, but he
Speaker 4: didn't say anything.
Speaker 2: He was just like, uh huh, yeah, that is nice though.
Speaker 2: That is I think that it's good as a collaborator
Speaker 2: to just like let people say their piece. You hear them,
Speaker 2: and so you're not critiquing, you know. I think if
Speaker 2: I were on the other end of that phone like no, no, no,
Speaker 2: just just wait and see you're wrong, you know, something
Speaker 2: like that, Like I imagine, you know, in that collaborative process
Speaker 2: where you guys worked hand in hand for so long
Speaker 2: that you need to be able to say things good, bad, whatever,
Speaker 2: and not have any judgment on it.
Speaker 4: And it wasn't It wasn't an anti dunk stop. It
Speaker 4: was just like it's so good. It was like and
Speaker 4: it was like, you know, at that point, having we
Speaker 4: just watched it and it was like you got to
Speaker 4: that point and it was like, oh my god, this
Speaker 4: is great, like I'm in yeah, yeah, sure, And it
Speaker 4: was like because that was as as as much as
Speaker 4: defining as it was.
Speaker 3: It was just a button on the end of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah.
Speaker 4: But and the only other thing that was really fascinating
Speaker 4: it was like we did test the show very early on,
Speaker 4: and in the original pilot there was a whole long
Speaker 4: thing with the adults, right, and and the kids didn't
Speaker 4: come in. You guys didn't come in intil ten minutes
Speaker 4: into the pilot, right, and you know, you know how
Speaker 4: they have that line across the screen. It's like, if
Speaker 4: you've ever been to testing, they have these lines, and
Speaker 4: it's all the people in the room, right that they
Speaker 4: all have this line, and they ride these meters. So
Speaker 4: if Hawk makes a fart joke and everybody's everything goes up. Right,
Speaker 4: It's like if it's adults sitting in a room talking.
Speaker 4: But if you get to the bottom, right, if you
Speaker 4: click out, you change the channel, that person becomes to zero.
Speaker 4: Doesn't matter what they do on the dial after.
Speaker 2: That, Yeah, they're out.
Speaker 4: Interesting, we had a very high number of click outs
Speaker 4: in the first screaming right, and we're sitting you know,
Speaker 4: we're sitting at a table and that there are people
Speaker 4: in all these rooms. You can see those one way mirrors, right,
Speaker 4: and it's Ryan and Brad and Dana Walden and Jen
Speaker 4: Selke and and it's like, you know, I have an
Speaker 4: idea about how to get the kids in in minute five,
Speaker 4: like if we restructure the whole we could just move
Speaker 4: some things around. And and Ryan looked at me and
Speaker 4: he was like go And I was like, what do you.
Speaker 3: He's like, go do it.
Speaker 4: I was like, okay, all right, He's like, I'll be
Speaker 4: in in the morning, right, And we we each had
Speaker 4: we'd probably had two glasses of wine, you know, like,
Speaker 4: and it was and so I drove back to Paramount
Speaker 4: and I was up all night long, right like to
Speaker 4: you know, trying to re rework it and rework it,
Speaker 4: and rework it. And Ryan came in at ten and
Speaker 4: watched it, and then I think Dana and Jen came
Speaker 4: in in the afternoon. But we screened it again the
Speaker 4: next night, right, and it was like and it made it.
Speaker 4: It made a huge difference, like everything went way up.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: It's crazy wow.
Speaker 4: But it was like you know, we nobody knew, right.
Speaker 4: It was like it's sort of initially like you know,
Speaker 4: the pilot was like it was the teacher. Yeah right,
Speaker 4: it was about the teacher trying to save the glee
Speaker 4: club totally, and then it became no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 4: the kids, the kids, the kids.
Speaker 2: It's sort of like that West Wing story, how the
Speaker 2: president was hardly ever supposed to be in the show.
Speaker 2: And then as they were doing the pilot and we're
Speaker 2: testing it, like, oh, we need more Martin Sheen and
Speaker 2: this as as possible. Yes, the numbers were going off
Speaker 2: the scale. You were talking about, you know, the conversations
Speaker 2: you had with Ryan beforehand about how it would be
Speaker 2: directed stylistically coming into the editing because you know, we
Speaker 2: talked to Paris the other day and how we haven't
Speaker 2: really talked to editors.
Speaker 3: We didn't.
Speaker 2: You were the only editor really that we had any
Speaker 2: contact with, and that was because you started directing.
Speaker 1: You broke the wall.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you broke the wall. So the process of editing
Speaker 2: is like this great mystery to me because you guys
Speaker 2: sit in a dark room all day and really make
Speaker 2: the thing. You can change something from working to not
Speaker 2: working or vice versa. Like you just said about the
Speaker 2: beginning of the pilot, So like, what was were there
Speaker 2: conversations with Ryan. I'm sure that we're besideistically about going
Speaker 2: into it how he wanted it to be edited, or
Speaker 2: you already had that history together so he knew your style.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, Ryan is so he's so hands on,
Speaker 4: and at the same time it's like he's also you know,
Speaker 4: he finds his people who he trusts, right, and then
Speaker 4: he sort of empowers you to.
Speaker 3: But what I'll always say is like.
Speaker 4: That first year, i mean, the whole editorial team, we
Speaker 4: just had this great It was like a it was
Speaker 4: like our own little family. Yeah, we lived we lived
Speaker 4: in those trailers. Yeah, we were there weekends, we were
Speaker 4: there nights. And it's like every time we'd finished, every
Speaker 4: time someone would put together a cut, an editor's cut,
Speaker 4: a director's cut, we'd all come into the room and
Speaker 4: we'd screen it right.
Speaker 3: And there were rules.
Speaker 4: It was like you had to open with, you know,
Speaker 4: with you were going to talk after. You had to say,
Speaker 4: this is what works for me, this is what's working
Speaker 4: for me, like positive positive.
Speaker 3: Right, be positive? Yeah right, yeah, and then this is
Speaker 3: what's not working for me. Right.
Speaker 4: It's like what you like is irrelevant, right, It's like
Speaker 4: it's like it works or it doesn't or it's not working. Yes,
Speaker 4: yes you're emotional, and it's like and but we were,
Speaker 4: and you guys would be gone and we would go
Speaker 4: over to the stages and like take photographs of each other.
Speaker 3: Like jumping off the stage. You know, like it was
Speaker 3: our own little we were.
Speaker 4: We but we spend all our time like trying to
Speaker 4: make you guys talk and make you guys.
Speaker 3: You know, it's like get the last and.
Speaker 4: Get the camaraderie and get the connections, and you really,
Speaker 4: you know, editorial is one of those places where it's
Speaker 4: like it just takes what it takes.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: It's like for every one day of shooting, I call
Speaker 4: it three days of editing, my right, So it's like
Speaker 4: three days to sort of get through all the footage
Speaker 4: and find the moments and just get it up and
Speaker 4: together right. And it was like, you know, one of
Speaker 4: the fun things was like the the way that we
Speaker 4: used the a cappella singers as the score. Right, there
Speaker 4: was a group called the Swingle Singers that we used
Speaker 4: in the pilot that just felt so it was so
Speaker 4: wee weird and offbeat but yet so right for a
Speaker 4: glee club. Yes, And then you know, Jimmy Levine, our composer,
Speaker 4: was like, we found he found a way to put
Speaker 4: it into his keyboard so he could literally play voices
Speaker 4: on his keyboard.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Right, But those were the things we were doing, you know,
Speaker 4: in the dark, behind the scenes. So point nine percent
Speaker 4: of the time, everything is great, right, and it's like,
Speaker 4: you know, and whatever.
Speaker 3: We're figuring out, it's like, hey, this is what we're up.
Speaker 4: Against, and like, but we're getting it, and you know,
Speaker 4: and then at five o'clock, you know, Ryan would come
Speaker 4: in and watch something r right, and he would watch
Speaker 4: something and it's like and he would give you notes, right,
Speaker 4: it's my first The first thing we screamed. We screamed
Speaker 4: the first act of the pilot, and he just kept saying,
Speaker 4: it has to be emotional.
Speaker 3: It has to be emotional, it has to be emotional.
Speaker 4: And so I kind of patted it with all this
Speaker 4: like piano score, you know, and and the act one
Speaker 4: ended and he was like, it's not funny. And I
Speaker 4: was like, oh my god, like I have that yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: it's it's it's not funny. And it was like I
Speaker 4: was like, come back in two hours, come back in
Speaker 4: two hours, right, you know, and then you just go
Speaker 4: back to what originally put together, right, and it was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 4: this is it. Yeah, but you just you know, especially
Speaker 4: with Ryan, I always played the game of like tell
Speaker 4: me what you feel, tell me what. Like Ryan was
Speaker 4: really good at not being too micro. It was the macro.
Speaker 4: It was like, you know, it's flat, it's boring. I
Speaker 4: hate him, you know.
Speaker 2: Right, but that helps, I mean because you can still
Speaker 2: do like your art in it and then have him
Speaker 2: give you the general sweep of things.
Speaker 4: Right right, and then it's like, okay, I know what
Speaker 4: we're working toward, right as opposed to you know, and
Speaker 4: it's like some people they have to go shot shot
Speaker 4: by shot, right, and it's like that's that's difficult, you know,
Speaker 4: or it's not.
Speaker 3: You become more of a set of hands.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know than a contributor, right right, right.
Speaker 2: Well, he trusts you to do the thing that you
Speaker 2: were hired to do implicitly, right, and your your taste,
Speaker 2: your judgment.
Speaker 3: Yes, and we had that yeah right.
Speaker 1: I'm just so curious of like when that was then
Speaker 1: you were like hey Ryan, can I can I move?
Speaker 2: Let me out?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 4: So as this was all going on, right, it was
Speaker 4: like there. So there was Niptuck, right, and then Ryan
Speaker 4: did Running with Scissors, right, and I was the assistant
Speaker 4: editor on Running with Scissors, and then I became an
Speaker 4: editor on Niptuck. And at some point Ryan and I
Speaker 4: had this. He he invited me to dinner and he
Speaker 4: was like, I want you to be my editor, right,
Speaker 4: And I so naive and like and you know, I
Speaker 4: was just like, oh my god, Ryan, I'm so flattered
Speaker 4: and that means so much to me. But I'm not
Speaker 4: going to be an editor forever, like I'm going to
Speaker 4: be a director. And I just I couldn't ever tell
Speaker 4: you that I would just be your editor, because this
Speaker 4: is always I'm going to be a director, you know.
Speaker 4: And I was like, I will edit for you as
Speaker 4: long as it makes sense and as long as but
Speaker 4: it's like I will not always be an editor like that.
Speaker 4: Just and it was like I'm sure he doesn't even
Speaker 4: remember this, but it was like I stepped on the tablecloth.
Speaker 4: Oh no, and I'm not a glass of wine.
Speaker 1: Often no, rad Nora.
Speaker 3: And he.
Speaker 4: But it was like we never spoke about it again, right,
Speaker 4: but it was it was it was there, you know
Speaker 4: what I mean. We got up the next day we
Speaker 4: got up the next day, we went to work, you know.
Speaker 4: And and so as Glee was starting, right, there was
Speaker 4: Nip Tuck and ten episodes into Glee, there was Eat Pray.
Speaker 3: Love, Yes, right, yep, And and I cut. I was
Speaker 3: I was overseeing the editing of Nip Tuck and.
Speaker 4: Overseeing the editing of Glee, and I cut Eat Pray Love?
Speaker 2: Right, So how does that work? How are you? I imagine
Speaker 2: when you cut, you're cutting Eat Pray Love. Maybe it's
Speaker 2: some more hands on every day thing. Well I mentioned
Speaker 2: all these are every day, but like, wow, what capacity
Speaker 2: are you doing each of these things?
Speaker 3: So here's the thing. It was like you know a movie.
Speaker 4: You shoot it, you get it together right, and then
Speaker 4: you really like massage it like you think about you
Speaker 4: think about it, you screen it, you talk to people,
Speaker 4: you get feedback, and then you go in and you
Speaker 4: make micro adjustments. Yeah, you know you lift this chunk, right,
Speaker 4: you rework this scene.
Speaker 3: It was such.
Speaker 4: Great training, yeah, to be a director, Yeah, because you
Speaker 4: realize it's like you make decisions quickly, right, you have
Speaker 4: to make you have to be able to distill something
Speaker 4: down to what it is very quickly, right, and and
Speaker 4: kind of you can obsess all day long on like
Speaker 4: do you open on the close on the insert close
Speaker 4: up or do you open on the wide shot? Doesn't
Speaker 4: really matter, right, It's like it will you make a decision,
Speaker 4: try it one way, go on, finish the whole thing.
Speaker 4: When you go back, you'll know, right.
Speaker 2: But if you know that as an editor like that,
Speaker 2: I think that's probably also makes you such a great
Speaker 2: and effective director, is that you know exactly what editing
Speaker 2: can't do.
Speaker 4: It was great training to actually to start directing, you know,
Speaker 4: And I'd be lying to say I wasn't. I wasn't
Speaker 4: taking notes from every director that came in, every director
Speaker 4: that you saw. It was like, you know, I had
Speaker 4: a notebook of things that I loved that they did,
Speaker 4: and then things that I never wanted to do. Right
Speaker 4: where it was like, you know, hey, if we're going
Speaker 4: to start the scene and you're going to come in
Speaker 4: the door, right, it's like when you go to reset,
Speaker 4: you only walk to the doorway, you don't actually go
Speaker 4: out the door.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: This happens all the time. Yeah, right where it's like
Speaker 4: and then you go back in the in the bin
Speaker 4: and it's like you can't use that take because you
Speaker 4: didn't go.
Speaker 3: All the way out the door, right right, yeah, And
Speaker 3: it's like just a simple reset yeah right, yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And it's like okay, just always please reset.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: That's an editor director right there.
Speaker 2: Right when it came time for you to direct your
Speaker 2: first episode kids never yeah, I mean such a great one.
Speaker 2: How did how did that come about?
Speaker 3: Okay? So uh.
Speaker 4: And we finished so so basically so, Ryan had sort
Speaker 4: of offered me, hey, so when do you want to direct?
Speaker 4: Do you want to direct to Nip Tuck or would
Speaker 4: you rather direct a glee And at the time there
Speaker 4: was so much I just kept saying, I want to
Speaker 4: do whatever makes me most valuable to you, like I
Speaker 4: want to direct. But so in season one, my name
Speaker 4: came out on hairography mm hm, right when they put
Speaker 4: the first draft of Hierography out. But the studio called
Speaker 4: and said, Ryan got on a plane to go to India, right, uh,
Speaker 4: scouting for Eat Pray Love, And you've never directed, and
Speaker 4: it's like you have to wait, right my script. My
Speaker 4: my name was on the script for SmackDown, right uh.
Speaker 4: And again you know, it was like, oh, it's too soon.
Speaker 4: It's like there's too much you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And so.
Speaker 2: So it was kind of like it was there were all.
Speaker 3: It was in the it was in the water.
Speaker 4: I actually the first thing that I ever directed, I
Speaker 4: don't know if you remember this, Kevin, was the porta
Speaker 4: potty in the pilot when you were stuck in the
Speaker 4: porta potty.
Speaker 3: Yeah there was.
Speaker 4: Ryan hadn't shot the inside of the porta potty when
Speaker 4: you were trapped.
Speaker 2: On Yes, yeah, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 3: And he sent me out and he was like, go
Speaker 3: over there and set that up and you shoot it.
Speaker 2: I do remember. Oh, I completely forgot about that. Oh
Speaker 2: my god, because it was like a quick thing. We
Speaker 2: like came over just did that piece, just.
Speaker 3: That little thing. Yeah, right.
Speaker 2: That felt really fancy to me too, by the way,
Speaker 2: like it was the first time I had been called
Speaker 2: to like, oh, we have to go do this thing
Speaker 2: that we didn't do before, and I don't know why.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, we're really making a TV show, right.
Speaker 2: That felt really like on the fly, you know, go
Speaker 2: get in that costume, go do this. I'm like, yeah, great,
Speaker 2: this is so exciting.
Speaker 4: Do you remember we took the back out of the Yes,
Speaker 4: the back out of it, so it.
Speaker 2: Was like real movie make it like that's what it
Speaker 2: was like to be yes.
Speaker 4: But but so when r so basically Ryan came to
Speaker 4: me after he play level was like, I'm going to
Speaker 4: give you, ah, I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna make
Speaker 4: it a special episode. I'm gonna make I'm gonna give
Speaker 4: you an episode that counts, right, And I mean that
Speaker 4: script was such a gift to be able to. It
Speaker 4: was just such a you know, it was it was
Speaker 4: such a turning point. It was a twist in its
Speaker 4: own way. It was like wheels like wheels was that
Speaker 4: it was like it was such a revelation that on
Speaker 4: the page that was hands down like the biggest thing
Speaker 4: that we did in season one, right to reveal that
Speaker 4: Sue you know, had a soft spot, right right right,
Speaker 4: and then it was like to take the bully and
Speaker 4: you know, make the give the bully a secret.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: But so that was you know that that was the
Speaker 4: I mean, he completely set me up to succeed, you know.
Speaker 4: And it's like, in hindsight, had you know, had been hierography,
Speaker 4: that may have been the only one I ever.
Speaker 2: Did, right, Yeah, you know what I mean, because some
Speaker 2: of those were trickier. You know, we'd have directors in there, yeah,
Speaker 2: and we're like, oh, how are they going to do this?
Speaker 2: Because yeah, some of them are just trickier to make,
Speaker 2: like some of the kookier things if you would lean
Speaker 2: into them a little too much, like is that going
Speaker 2: to work as well? You never know?
Speaker 4: But well and right, And it's like some of them were.
Speaker 4: And it was one of those things where it was like, look,
Speaker 4: I always wanted to direct. I've had no idea that
Speaker 4: I would really get to transition out right, you know
Speaker 4: what I mean, Like it was like and had that
Speaker 4: episode not been what it was very easy. It's very
Speaker 4: lots of people get one episode, right, you know what
Speaker 4: I mean, Like you get one chance, and it's like
Speaker 4: I've always you know, it's like they say, better better
Speaker 4: to be lucky than good, right, And it was.
Speaker 3: Like it was I was so lucky.
Speaker 1: It's both, I mean, it was yeah, and I'm sure
Speaker 1: you had you had also had an advantage of like
Speaker 1: coming in as an editor, knowing what what you're sending
Speaker 1: to the cutting room, right, you know what you need
Speaker 1: to get, you know if you have it or not,
Speaker 1: if they can make it work with what you've got
Speaker 1: that day, and then also just having the wherewithal like
Speaker 1: we don't need that. There's a bunch of you know,
Speaker 1: to make your days. I think the skilled part that
Speaker 1: comes in is like you were so actor friendly, and
Speaker 1: most of our directors that we we liked working with
Speaker 1: the most worthy, actor friendly ones who came in and
Speaker 1: knew the character or helped us kind of like what
Speaker 1: we already know about these characters, right, they're like, this
Speaker 1: is your house, tummy, and let's collaborate and make this work.
Speaker 1: And then having the big picture. So it's it's interesting
Speaker 1: to me because you came and so actor friendly from
Speaker 1: the start, and also just with the wherewithal to be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is this is the vision, here's the plan. We've
Speaker 1: got it. You know, we're crossing its shots off the
Speaker 1: big whiteboard.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's incredible.
Speaker 4: Well, I felt like I listened to most I listened
Speaker 4: to a lot of the podcasts and listening to people
Speaker 4: talk and like, you know, the things that you guys
Speaker 4: talk about on the show is so interesting because my
Speaker 4: experience was so different in so many ways.
Speaker 3: Like I felt like.
Speaker 4: My job was to just tell the story right and
Speaker 4: whatever the story was, whatever it was given. You know,
Speaker 4: people lots of people had thoughts about whether this story
Speaker 4: or this It was like my job was to make
Speaker 4: it work right, and that was my training from the editing.
Speaker 4: So it was like, in order to make this work,
Speaker 4: the only way I know how to do this is
Speaker 4: this right. And it's like as time went on, you know,
Speaker 4: or it's like you know, it's like when we lost
Speaker 4: Corey and it was like there was always that thing
Speaker 4: that was like.
Speaker 3: Should the show have ended? Or like.
Speaker 4: I could never think about that right, Like that that
Speaker 4: just to me, that wasn't my job, right, Like my
Speaker 4: job was to show up every day and try to
Speaker 4: inspire you guys to lean in in the best possible
Speaker 4: way to tell this, Like I I have some funny
Speaker 4: memories of like like it was very it was always
Speaker 4: just just stay with me, right, And so here here
Speaker 4: a couple of good ones. When we were shooting uh
Speaker 4: the funeral. During the we're singing pure imagination. Yeah, everyone's
Speaker 4: everyone's in the like lined up in the choir and
Speaker 4: we we start rolling and I walk around the back
Speaker 4: and there's a curtain back there, and when I opened
Speaker 4: the curtain, there are two cast members standing in the
Speaker 4: back playing a video game on their phone.
Speaker 3: Like during the number.
Speaker 2: Oh god.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it was just like, okay, cut, we just
Speaker 4: don't do that, right, let's go again. Right, they were
Speaker 4: on camera, they were on camera, they were standing in
Speaker 4: standing in the back row.
Speaker 2: Everyone was like, so they couldn't have been me. They
Speaker 2: couldn't have been me.
Speaker 1: You remember this, yes, I do.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, that is bold.
Speaker 1: It was a weird It was a weird energy day.
Speaker 1: I'll never forget it.
Speaker 3: That was a weird day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4: And then it was you know, there'll be things like
Speaker 4: someone would come up and say, you know, like during
Speaker 4: during one of the competitions, someone will come up. Let's say, okay, well,
Speaker 4: the cast is decided they're not going to sing the
Speaker 4: background vocals in the song, right because they didn't record them. Yeah,
Speaker 4: And so they've all gotten together and they've all decided
Speaker 4: that they're not going to sing the background vocals.
Speaker 3: We did that.
Speaker 4: So I call everybody together and I would just be like, you, guys,
Speaker 4: I've heard that you don't want to sing the background vocals.
Speaker 3: I know your voices aren't in there. I'm so sorry.
Speaker 3: I just want to tell you that.
Speaker 4: Like I called Adamanders and I've set up a recording
Speaker 4: session after we wrap tonight, so you guys can all
Speaker 4: get your voices in there, but I need you to
Speaker 4: sing the temp track today, right, And if you don't
Speaker 4: want to do it, we can wait and we can
Speaker 4: put And it was like, no, we'll do it, We'll
Speaker 4: just sing it.
Speaker 1: It's like when I've heard stories of like other shows
Speaker 1: where there are potentially more challenging actors in how they
Speaker 1: stage a scene or block a scene before in their rehearsal,
Speaker 1: and you know, the director would know have the wherewithal
Speaker 1: to be like, okay, I know this actor is going
Speaker 1: to be like, well what if I went left instead
Speaker 1: of going right? And so the director would then go, okay,
Speaker 1: I think maybe you should go right here at this point,
Speaker 1: and they the actor would be like, no, I think
Speaker 1: I'll go left.
Speaker 4: I would do things like set my backpack on a
Speaker 4: chair that I didn't want you to sit in when
Speaker 4: you came in, like and I would, you know, and
Speaker 4: it was like I was sort of arranged.
Speaker 3: The room right.
Speaker 1: I shook And a couple of times.
Speaker 4: This was like on that New York set, like someone
Speaker 4: would come in and be like, you know what, I'm
Speaker 4: gonna sit there. I've never sat in that chair before
Speaker 4: I love that idea.
Speaker 2: Ah, I can't get We were such poles, were going
Speaker 2: to sing backgrounds well I.
Speaker 1: Remember, I don't remember which competition it was, but it
Speaker 1: was the introduction of the Brad Beaker wig. We were
Speaker 1: doing some insane nationals regional sectionals one of those which
Speaker 1: Brad always got those because it was very organized. He
Speaker 1: had a big whiteboard with all the shots we needed
Speaker 1: from all of the different choirs, including interactions, and literally
Speaker 1: it would be like people would be crossing these shots
Speaker 1: off and it's the way we got them done. He
Speaker 1: got them done so efficiently. And if you saw Brad
Speaker 1: at one of those in one of those episodes, we
Speaker 1: were like, we're just gonna get it done, like we
Speaker 1: just knew. We were like, okay, we're in good hands.
Speaker 1: But there was one and we were working really late, right,
Speaker 1: it was a really late night, and I don't know
Speaker 1: where this came from, Brad or who you got this from.
Speaker 1: I mean, there is a hair department, but Brad put
Speaker 1: on a wig and it really shifted the framework for
Speaker 1: how we went about the rest of that day, like
Speaker 1: it's not that serious, let's get it done. We're here
Speaker 1: and it's funny.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: There was something about it. And then when I came
Speaker 1: to shadow you on American Horror Story, the wig was back.
Speaker 1: The wig lived on.
Speaker 2: Wait really, yeah, no way the wig lives.
Speaker 1: Where did the wig come from?
Speaker 3: Brad Okay?
Speaker 4: So the you know the first time the war the
Speaker 4: wig wants as a joke, right, I think I wore
Speaker 4: it at that competition as a joke and it immediately
Speaker 4: created a levity on set that I've found so valuable.
Speaker 3: You knew your audience and so yeah, and just but.
Speaker 4: Just I would just come around the corner and you
Speaker 4: would forget that it was me, and it would be like,
Speaker 4: it's not so bad. He's wearing a wig, you know
Speaker 4: what I mean. But there was one during in I
Speaker 4: Think It's wedding was in season six. Right in season six,
Speaker 4: I was I'd been sent to New Orleans.
Speaker 3: I was on American Horrse.
Speaker 4: Story, and I had shot all night and I had
Speaker 4: to fly back.
Speaker 3: To shoot the wedding.
Speaker 4: And so I'd shot all night, got on a plane,
Speaker 4: flew to LA. They picked me up and and I
Speaker 4: was coming straight to set to go. But I decided
Speaker 4: that the only way I was going to really be
Speaker 4: able to get through the day was to just take
Speaker 4: on an alter ego. So I put on the black wig.
Speaker 4: And the best part was that Jennifer Coolidge was there,
Speaker 4: right and at the end of the day she got
Speaker 4: on the on the golf cart with Nya and Heather
Speaker 4: and somebody else and she was like, I really love
Speaker 4: that black haired director.
Speaker 3: She didn't know.
Speaker 1: What an episode to direct.
Speaker 3: It got me through.
Speaker 4: It got me through that day, and you know where
Speaker 4: it was like I just all of a sudden, I
Speaker 4: was someone else.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you needed some levity. That's the power, the power
Speaker 2: of drag. Yeah, that's right, right, it really is.
Speaker 1: You've also had some other difficult, complicated episodes, like Shooting Star.
Speaker 3: That was a tricky one.
Speaker 1: You've had some really great ones. I mean, like I
Speaker 1: have a list here of like Frenemies, which we loved,
Speaker 1: and the wedding and obviously the series finale you got
Speaker 1: to do, which was such a blessing to have you there.
Speaker 1: But like, yeah, something like Funeral, which is kind of stranger,
Speaker 1: like Shooting Star was, I'm sure incredibly challenging.
Speaker 4: Well, let's talk about that for a second. It's like that,
Speaker 4: you know, one of the things that I always try,
Speaker 4: you know, It's like I listened to a couple of
Speaker 4: paris Is, you know, and you know, Paris would say
Speaker 4: like he wanted to keep it simple, to keep it
Speaker 4: about the acting, right, and it's like I love that.
Speaker 4: I didn't feel like I always felt like what I
Speaker 4: tried to do was let the content drive the shooting strategy,
Speaker 4: and you know, we really you know, it's like Brian
Speaker 4: and Brad and Ian would each do their own unique
Speaker 4: things and as auteurs, they could kind of go wherever
Speaker 4: they wanted. And I always tried to kind of, you know,
Speaker 4: use the inspiration that people brought in, right, but then
Speaker 4: channel it to and what the content was, what the
Speaker 4: story was.
Speaker 3: And when they said they wanted to do.
Speaker 4: Shots fired in school, right, it was like you really
Speaker 4: go down there and it's like.
Speaker 3: How do we do this organically? Right? And I really upset.
Speaker 4: The camera department because I went to the camera department
Speaker 4: and I told Andrew and Dwayne that they weren't allowed
Speaker 4: to come to rehearsal and I needed them to go
Speaker 4: outside and they couldn't be on stage.
Speaker 3: While we were rehearsing in the scene.
Speaker 2: Yeah right, yeah, wow, yep.
Speaker 3: And they were so they were so mad right.
Speaker 4: But if you remember, it was like and Jenna, you
Speaker 4: weren't you weren't there, No, it was you were on
Speaker 4: the you were on the bus, that's correct, right. I
Speaker 4: believe you were in trouble at the time for some reason.
Speaker 1: Was I No, I was in the episode though.
Speaker 3: Oh you were in the episode for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh, I was just stuck outside.
Speaker 3: You were stuck outside, yes, right, uh.
Speaker 4: But the you know what we did was we went
Speaker 4: in and I just said, we're not going to rehearse, right,
Speaker 4: and I put I put a note in three different
Speaker 4: spots in the choir room right where it was like, Okay,
Speaker 4: when you hear shots fired, go hide. There are three
Speaker 4: places you can hide when you get there. If you
Speaker 4: don't know what to do. There's an order of events.
Speaker 4: And if you need to talk to someone and they're
Speaker 4: not hiding, where you are all across the floor and
Speaker 4: find them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh my god.
Speaker 3: Right yeah.
Speaker 4: And then we brought the operators in and we put
Speaker 4: the operators and they all put thousand foot mags on, right,
Speaker 4: which is about ten minutes of film.
Speaker 1: Yep, oh my god.
Speaker 4: And we had a little you know, starter pistol, right,
Speaker 4: m h. And then we just ran extras. We ran
Speaker 4: background around the outside.
Speaker 3: Of the thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh my god.
Speaker 3: And we did eight takes.
Speaker 4: We rolled out every single time, so we shot ten
Speaker 4: minutes and we all sat in the village and cried. Right,
Speaker 4: It was like we were so it was terrifying. Yeah, right,
Speaker 4: but we wrapped at lunch. We shot ten pages before lunch.
Speaker 4: But it felt like the only honest.
Speaker 3: Way to tell that story.
Speaker 4: And so the camera operators didn't know where to look, right,
Speaker 4: so they were having to find the story right, and
Speaker 4: you guys were having to find it in the I
Speaker 4: mean I remember you were out of your you were
Speaker 4: out of your chair up against the wall, right, and
Speaker 4: you were the filmmaker, right, But it felt like the
Speaker 4: only honest way to do that, Like if we it
Speaker 4: felt to me like if I had shot that conventionally,
Speaker 4: it would have felt so manipulative. Yeah, for the show
Speaker 4: that we were right, Yeah, so I should you know,
Speaker 4: but it it wasn't. I wasn't trying to show off
Speaker 4: or just trying to make it work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And as like being an actor in that situation,
Speaker 2: because we were all also worried about how do you
Speaker 2: make this work? Like is this should we even be
Speaker 2: doing this? All those questions that you were saying, like,
Speaker 2: it's not really our problem, we just have to figure
Speaker 2: out how to make it work right. And the tone
Speaker 2: set that day by you and your plan got rid
Speaker 2: of all those doubts and extra questions for us because
Speaker 2: now we had a plan something that we had never
Speaker 2: done before that was immersive in that way, and because
Speaker 2: it was new for everybody and sort of unsettling for everybody,
Speaker 2: you certainly pull up and figure out, we're going to
Speaker 2: make this thing work, and it's exciting and it's a challenge,
Speaker 2: and it made it so much easier to get into
Speaker 2: that really horribly dark place of what was going on
Speaker 2: in that scene, but it was from like a working perspective.
Speaker 2: It was really really exciting in this episode that we
Speaker 2: were all really nervous about doing right, and it made
Speaker 2: it probably isn't the right word, it made it really
Speaker 2: fun because we were like, oh my god, yeah, it
Speaker 2: felt honest. It felt like we were doing sort of
Speaker 2: like a short one act play without any rehearsal of
Speaker 2: like do we actually know this scene? Like that's why
Speaker 2: you put up those notes, and it really really helped,
Speaker 2: but it also felt safe of we by that point
Speaker 2: we had this great relationship with you. We knew you
Speaker 2: would catch us and make us look good, and you
Speaker 2: that day made us all feel like there, you can't
Speaker 2: do anything wrong, Like if the camera finds you, then
Speaker 2: just say you're lying. Then like just you were just
Speaker 2: going to make it work. And we'd sit there for
Speaker 2: like ten minutes in that scene, which feels like an
Speaker 2: eternity because it's silent and it's dark and it's you're
Speaker 2: not calling out to do anything. Every few minutes you
Speaker 2: hear a background actor running through the hallway. It was
Speaker 2: really terrifying. But the way you set that up hopefully
Speaker 2: made it, you know, so successful for us to be
Speaker 2: able to operate in that it was fascinating.
Speaker 3: I was proud of it.
Speaker 4: It was like that it was one of those there
Speaker 4: were a few times, you know, it's like when I
Speaker 4: don't when we did the Beatles and Blaine came in
Speaker 4: to tell you guys all that he wanted to propose
Speaker 4: to Kurt right, and you know, it was like they've
Speaker 4: been broken up, he cheated on him, you know, And
Speaker 4: you come in at the top of it and it
Speaker 4: was like, you know, you look at it and you're
Speaker 4: just like, how am I going to.
Speaker 3: Make anyone believe this.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, and it's a five minute like the way
Speaker 4: that I what I ultimately decided was that we couldn't
Speaker 4: cut right and it was completely choreographed. But it's like,
Speaker 4: you know, he goes to each person and it's like
Speaker 4: I need it because of this, and I need because
Speaker 4: of this, and yep. The way I felt when it
Speaker 4: was it was like, well, I don't know if I
Speaker 4: completely agree with this or this, but it's like, you
Speaker 4: know what, he's really committed, and I guess we should
Speaker 4: just help it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 4: That was it was, And that was always the way
Speaker 4: I liked to approach. That was just like, okay, what's
Speaker 4: the visual way to tell this story?
Speaker 2: Yeah, very clear, and it always felt like that. It
Speaker 2: always like your respect and it also makes obviously we
Speaker 2: knew you had been involved in the show from the
Speaker 2: very beginning, but hearing now about how you really helped
Speaker 2: or were there at like the birth of like what
Speaker 2: the DNA of the show became, so you knew it
Speaker 2: in a way that only maybe Ryan did, and you
Speaker 2: had because you have those early conversations because you auditioned
Speaker 2: for show choir, like you had this like really specific
Speaker 2: experience to be able to do those things and make
Speaker 2: them work and just trust that the story was gonna
Speaker 2: somehow come out in a way that you wanted it to.
Speaker 4: And always it was always with respect, right, and always
Speaker 4: with it was like always trying to just make it
Speaker 4: the most honest version of it. And it's like, look,
Speaker 4: it didn't always work, and I wasn't always right or like,
Speaker 4: but you know, I always remember in season six, it
Speaker 4: was like that first episode back put a lot of
Speaker 4: extra stuff in there, right to try to sell what
Speaker 4: I thought the story was. It was like I think
Speaker 4: Jim Rash came in to tell Leah, you know, tell
Speaker 4: Rachel that she was fired from the show. It was
Speaker 4: like yeah, but but but we let him improv and
Speaker 4: he sort of really it didn't make the cut, but
Speaker 4: it was like Ryan was upset, like it was like
Speaker 4: it's gone too far maybe you know, yeah.
Speaker 3: But there were always options.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was like it was always done in this
Speaker 4: way of like trying to uh honor what was there, right,
Speaker 4: it was like take on me, remember that we did
Speaker 4: the sketches, but it was like none of that was
Speaker 4: in the script, right.
Speaker 3: It's like that whole the homage to the video.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's the whole I mean, that makes the
Speaker 2: whole number Like that is that is what the number
Speaker 2: is about.
Speaker 1: The comic strip into the Yeah so cool and everybody there.
Speaker 1: What about the final episode, Like that's not a small
Speaker 1: feat to have a series finale that you have to
Speaker 1: close out a store. Now, obviously you're on that journey
Speaker 1: with us, you're not coming in out of nowhere, you know,
Speaker 1: But did that feel like it had more weight to it.
Speaker 4: When a two thousand and nine I always thought may
Speaker 4: have been the you know, it was like could have
Speaker 4: been the finale everybody you know, right, and it's like
Speaker 4: but but I'll tell you there were a couple.
Speaker 3: Things about about the finale. For me, it was like.
Speaker 4: I really thought that last line, that that thing that
Speaker 4: they posted on the on the wall, you know, it
Speaker 4: takes a lot of bravery to look around and see
Speaker 4: the world not as it is, but as it should be,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 3: Like to me, it's like that was the.
Speaker 4: Show always right, like always pushing the way the world
Speaker 4: should be, not the way it really is, you know,
Speaker 4: and that always touched me in such a way that
Speaker 4: it was like that was worth it. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 4: and you know, look, it was a huge like I
Speaker 4: carried it like the way to the world. It was
Speaker 4: a huge honor to be able to shoot the last episode.
Speaker 2: Right, It feels right too, especially you know, your involvement
Speaker 2: from the conception of the show.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: But Brad could have done it, you know, it's like,
Speaker 4: you know, and and it would have been it would
Speaker 4: have been great. And but but I think that for me,
Speaker 4: it was like that moment really was the one that
Speaker 4: hit home, right. It was like at that point, I
Speaker 4: think there was still it was like I really if
Speaker 4: you guys remember that opening shot through the mirror where
Speaker 4: we pushed through the mirror and it's like, you guys,
Speaker 4: some of you had to run around the other side
Speaker 4: of the you know, from one side of the stage
Speaker 4: to the other, and there were like doubles and and
Speaker 4: it was like we were pushing through the mirror and
Speaker 4: that idea of like pushing through our reflections and.
Speaker 3: You know, there was some fun stuff there. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Watching that episode is one of those cases too, where
Speaker 2: you have so much to do emotionally. It's not just
Speaker 2: what's in the episode, it's also six years that have
Speaker 2: led up to it, and because you have these time
Speaker 2: jumps where that's also something that I feel like can
Speaker 2: get off the rails pretty easily and quickly. And when
Speaker 2: we were watching it this time, it's so grounded and
Speaker 2: so moving or I think a lot of series finales
Speaker 2: do the time jump thing, and some work better than others.
Speaker 2: And I was really proud watching it because I felt
Speaker 2: like it works so successfully. It still feels like the
Speaker 2: same show, where a lot of times when you watch
Speaker 2: a series finale, sometimes they do a big swing and
Speaker 2: it feels like you're watching a different show. So it's
Speaker 2: not satisfying. And I don't know how you did it.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think maybe you've told us, you know,
Speaker 2: the ways that you look at a script and try
Speaker 2: to make it come across on screen. But it was
Speaker 2: such a feat, I think, to be able to do
Speaker 2: all of that. There's so much that happens in that episode,
Speaker 2: but everybody gets the moment. Everybody gets like a nice
Speaker 2: wrap up. It doesn't feel rushed, it doesn't feel like
Speaker 2: you're trying to get an eight billion different plot points.
Speaker 2: And it was because you know, our memories are terrible,
Speaker 2: but watching it, it was like, oh, this episode is
Speaker 2: so good. Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 3: I'd have to say.
Speaker 4: The one thing I did watch it too, and it's
Speaker 4: like the one thing that I noticed was like, you
Speaker 4: guys didn't really get your I didn't think you guys
Speaker 4: got a proper moment.
Speaker 3: Yeah it's there, it's.
Speaker 4: There, but it's not And I was like, oh, really,
Speaker 4: I don't. There's there's a kiss on the steps. Yes, right,
Speaker 4: that's pretty cute.
Speaker 2: Yeah right, there's only so much time you have, like
Speaker 2: forty two minutes, you know, so.
Speaker 4: I know, I know, but it was like it was
Speaker 4: funny because I did, I really did notice it.
Speaker 3: I was like, oh, yeah.
Speaker 1: No, I feel like we got our moment earlier in
Speaker 1: that season when we and I think you directed this too,
Speaker 1: if I'm not incorrect, having our favorite scene that where
Speaker 1: Arty and Tina say that they're going to marry each other.
Speaker 1: Oh it's the wedding. Yeah, and Arty and Tina sit
Speaker 1: in the choir room and say they're going to marry
Speaker 1: each other at thirty if Yeah, yeah, that's right. But
Speaker 1: that to me felt like Larti and Tina.
Speaker 2: Really yeah yeah yeah, And that was also that that
Speaker 2: felt so different to film as well. I think, Jenna,
Speaker 2: you can speak to this, but I know I just
Speaker 2: keep saying how good you are as the director.
Speaker 4: But.
Speaker 2: That that was set up for a really simple scene
Speaker 2: felt so different where like you really allowed us like
Speaker 2: I felt like an adult and that you know, we're
Speaker 2: playing high schoolers, and it felt like maybe the only
Speaker 2: time being on that show where I felt like I
Speaker 2: was having like a grown up conversation with another character.
Speaker 2: And I remember again like it was we shot out
Speaker 2: really quickly because just two of us, it's really simple,
Speaker 2: but you kept you would come in and like whisper
Speaker 2: one word to me or whisper one word to Jenna,
Speaker 2: and just kept it simple and it made it feel
Speaker 2: again like one of those moments I was really satisfying
Speaker 2: as an actor to just get to do it. And
Speaker 2: it was about I felt like it was about me
Speaker 2: and Jenna in real life, like our friendship that we
Speaker 2: had built over the years, and you know, and it
Speaker 2: felt like you were just like respecting all of that.
Speaker 2: And like Jenna and I talked about that scene all
Speaker 2: the time because it meant a lot to us. And
Speaker 2: that is sort of arting Tina's wrap up.
Speaker 1: Hmm.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I never thought about that. Uh that's really Uh.
Speaker 2: I want to go watch that again, it's a good scene.
Speaker 2: It's simple, it's.
Speaker 1: Very but it's very grounded and honest, the most grounded
Speaker 1: because Ardientina can kind of fly up the.
Speaker 2: Handles a little bit to marry Mike.
Speaker 3: Like we know.
Speaker 1: We were given a lot to do but therey but
Speaker 1: but yeah, it was like very grounded and very Jenna
Speaker 1: and Kevin ask if you will like it just felt
Speaker 1: really honest, right, Like Kevin said.
Speaker 4: That's what we want, isn't it right, And it's like,
Speaker 4: and that's the it's you know, it's it's it is
Speaker 4: fun because it you know when I when I listened
Speaker 4: to Ian talk about it and like and it's like, look,
Speaker 4: it's like the funny.
Speaker 3: I love the funny, and I love the Ian weird, right.
Speaker 4: And the and kind of you know how he talked
Speaker 4: about season one and season six is being like his favorites, right,
Speaker 4: But it's like I love it when it can go
Speaker 4: weird and then you can really land it can just
Speaker 4: be honest, yeah, right, And because there is some we
Speaker 4: could we're all weird. Yeah right, It's like we're all
Speaker 4: weird in our own way, right, And I think.
Speaker 2: So it's the beauty of the show. We've said it
Speaker 2: like something crazy will be happening in one scene, then
Speaker 2: the very next scene you're having a really serious talk
Speaker 2: about race, and it's grounded and beautiful and moving almost
Speaker 2: in the same you know, forty two minute episode and it.
Speaker 1: All works the journey.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, And like that was the tightrope that the
Speaker 2: show constantly walked, and I think worked almost every single
Speaker 2: time most of the time.
Speaker 3: Well, and it's.
Speaker 4: Look, it's like whether it whether it worked all the
Speaker 4: time or not, it always tried.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And it's like, I mean, it's funny because for me,
Speaker 4: one of the biggest I feel I felt like my
Speaker 4: big moment with you guys, there were two moments as
Speaker 4: a cast when I felt like, you really like, what
Speaker 4: are we doing? And the one was original songs, right,
Speaker 4: and it was like, sorry, but I told you guys
Speaker 4: all together and I was like, listen, we're gonna shoot
Speaker 4: this until you guys really decide. You have to love
Speaker 4: these songs and you have to lean in and sing
Speaker 4: them like you think they're the greatest things ever.
Speaker 2: See when we tell you people who have been listening
Speaker 2: that we were really concerned about Loser like me, we
Speaker 2: were really concerned everybody knew.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you could see it on our fas.
Speaker 4: But by the way, it was like when you cut
Speaker 4: it all together and it aired right.
Speaker 3: So it was one on iTunes yea how it worked,
Speaker 3: you know?
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it was, but it was and it was
Speaker 4: that thing, and I had this feeling from the get
Speaker 4: it was like your faces.
Speaker 3: Will sell it, yeah right, yeah yeah, and.
Speaker 4: It truly it's like when you all of a sudden,
Speaker 4: it's like you forget you're not listening to the music anymore.
Speaker 4: You're you're feeling a thing that you guys are doing.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: It was that and the and when we did the
Speaker 4: it was on my Way, you know with the Kroski,
Speaker 4: you know when when it was Team Suicide and they're
Speaker 4: getting married and Quinn and it was like there was
Speaker 4: a moment where everyone was like what I don't understand
Speaker 4: And I just remember being.
Speaker 3: Like, you guys, just go with me for a minute. Yeah,
Speaker 3: just go with because we can do yeah, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And sometimes that's all you need to hear is
Speaker 1: like I got you, I got I'm in this with you.
Speaker 1: We're a team. We're gonna make this work. But you
Speaker 1: got to do your part and I'll do mine, you know.
Speaker 1: That's all we kind of needed. Sometimes was like, oh,
Speaker 1: all right, Brad's asking us to do something right now
Speaker 1: that we literally are not doing.
Speaker 2: We're not doing anything we were hired to do. Let's
Speaker 2: remember why we're here. Do you have any favorite scenes
Speaker 2: or numbers that you got to either direct or edit?
Speaker 3: I mean, honestly, you guys.
Speaker 4: Truthfully, it was like I went into every scene like
Speaker 4: I want to fall in love with this scene.
Speaker 3: You know, yeah, And it's like.
Speaker 4: There were you know, there were I'll tell you one
Speaker 4: of my and I've given you a lot of them already.
Speaker 4: But it's like, so when they were going to do
Speaker 4: the first kiss between Blaine and Kirk, okay, we went
Speaker 4: in to rehearse, and I said to Darren, I was like,
Speaker 4: you know, Darren, like I remember my first kisses very well,
Speaker 4: and I remember always having a plan as to how
Speaker 4: I was going to do it or where I was
Speaker 4: going to stay, and and it just they never worked out.
Speaker 4: So when you come over to sit down, I think
Speaker 4: you should scoot your chair all the way over next
Speaker 4: to him and sit And he was like, oh, no,
Speaker 4: I would never do that.
Speaker 3: I want to sit here. And so but when he
Speaker 3: wanted to see was they were.
Speaker 4: They were literally like six feet apart, right, And I
Speaker 4: was like, okay, great, okay, got it. I turned around
Speaker 4: and I just said to I said to Chris Bafa,
Speaker 4: light the whole room, get three cameras. This is going
Speaker 4: to be great because I knew he couldn't possibly kiss
Speaker 4: him from there. Yeah, right, And I just I didn't
Speaker 4: say any another word. I was like, you know what,
Speaker 4: we're done. We're not going to rehearse anymore. Let's just
Speaker 4: go away. Turn the cameras on, and it's like when
Speaker 4: he's sitting there, you can see this moment's where he
Speaker 4: realizes he can't possibly get there right and see he
Speaker 4: has to get up and sort of awkwardly move around
Speaker 4: on the table and like leave.
Speaker 3: And it was like it felt so.
Speaker 2: Honest, I love it.
Speaker 3: I don't know, it was just like we're done.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, gotcha.
Speaker 2: Oh that's it, that's perfect.
Speaker 1: Well, we literally I could we we have a thousand
Speaker 1: questions for you because we haven't seen you in years. Also,
Speaker 1: but we obviously don't want to keep you. We know
Speaker 1: you're so busy. We have to ask you if you
Speaker 1: listen to the podcast, you know, and I'm sure you've
Speaker 1: thought about it, but what is the feeling that Glee
Speaker 1: leaves you with.
Speaker 3: So many feelings? But honestly, it's like pride. You know.
Speaker 3: It's like I just I'll always look back and I
Speaker 3: feel so proud that I got.
Speaker 4: To spend that time with you, right, to spend that time.
Speaker 4: You know, it was like it truly, you know, it
Speaker 4: defined my life. You know, I learned so much. And
Speaker 4: it's like there were horrible things and there were great things, yep,
Speaker 4: but but we were all in it together for better
Speaker 4: or worse, you know. And when I look back, and
Speaker 4: you know, it's like for all.
Speaker 3: For whatever whatever you thought or whatever the it's like
Speaker 3: when you look back at what we did, I'm just
Speaker 3: so proud of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah you should be, I mean we all are.
Speaker 3: But yeah, yeah, do you have you guys answered that question?
Speaker 1: We're going to we have an episode coming where we
Speaker 1: have to answer this good.
Speaker 3: Okay, good.
Speaker 2: I might lift a lot of your answer, Brad.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming on. It truly would
Speaker 1: not have been the same to do this podcast without you.
Speaker 1: You are such a massive part of the heart of
Speaker 1: the show and for us and just really just shaped
Speaker 1: the experience on it. You know, behind the scenes and
Speaker 1: then also the story for everybody else. So we're just
Speaker 1: so grateful that you were on the journey with us.
Speaker 4: Yes, thank you so so much for having me, guys,
Speaker 4: I really it meant the world to me.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 3: It's great to see you.
Speaker 2: But it was so nice to see you. I'm so
Speaker 2: glad everyone now can like feel you're sweet thinking here.
Speaker 2: This is a sweet man who is very talented and
Speaker 2: put up with a lot from us for a long time,
Speaker 2: you guys, and always made us look good.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Thanks Brad, Thank you, Brad, Brad Beaker. I can't believe
Speaker 1: that we couldn't talk to him for another hour, Kevin,
Speaker 1: because we probably could.
Speaker 2: Have these director talks, you know, Brad Beaker.
Speaker 3: And.
Speaker 1: They see they do. They're the leaders. They run the ship.
Speaker 1: They run the ship well, I mean excellent excellence. We
Speaker 1: are working with the top of the line, top on.
Speaker 2: The line, and Baker's fingerprints are all over Glee, like
Speaker 2: Glee would not be the same without him, and he
Speaker 2: I'm so glad. I'm just so glad he got to
Speaker 2: come on here or we got him. All of you
Speaker 2: could listen, because he's brilliant, he's so kind and so nice. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: he really is. Thank you Baker for spending so much
Speaker 2: time with us. Thank everyone for listening. And you know
Speaker 2: that was one of the titans of Glee right there,
Speaker 2: and that's what you really missed. Hey, thanks for listening,
Speaker 2: and follow us on Instagram at and that's what you
Speaker 2: really miss pod. Make sure to write us a review
Speaker 2: and leave us five stars. See you next time.