Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Kristin Davis, and I want to know are
Speaker 1: you a Charlotte?
Speaker 2: This is exciting everybody. Finally, finally we have Amy V. Harris,
Speaker 2: one of.
Speaker 1: Our glorious, glorious writers. She has finally joined us on
Speaker 1: Are You a Charlotte because we have gotten to our
Speaker 1: first episode. Now we're going to go through the history.
Speaker 1: But she was in our world for a long time
Speaker 1: before she had her first episode. But her first episode
Speaker 1: with her name on the script is Ring It Ing Ding.
Speaker 1: It aired on January twenty seventh, two thousand and two,
Speaker 1: which is interesting, And Michael Patrick was just on last
Speaker 1: week and we were talking about how in the so
Speaker 1: we're on the air in the summer of two thousand
Speaker 1: and one. Obviously it's leading towards nine to eleven. Yes,
Speaker 1: and then they had separated the episodes into like a
Speaker 1: second season, yes, and no one really remembers.
Speaker 2: Why do you remember? So?
Speaker 3: I think we did eighteen episodes that season season four.
Speaker 3: I think I think they decided instead of running eighteen
Speaker 3: through the summer, which would be a very long season
Speaker 3: for an HBO show, that they would split it up,
Speaker 3: and so we ended up doing I believe the first
Speaker 3: ten were in the summer, and the second the eight
Speaker 3: were in January.
Speaker 2: That makes sense, that's interesting.
Speaker 1: I don't really remember that as being like something different
Speaker 1: that they did, and obviously something that they would be
Speaker 1: continuing on doing up until this day where they separate seasons,
Speaker 1: which is interesting because I remember, I don't know if
Speaker 1: this is probably silly, but I was always a little
Speaker 1: annoyed when they did that because it was almost like
Speaker 1: they got another season, but we were just paid the same.
Speaker 3: Yes, we did season four and then they split it
Speaker 3: up and made it season four A and four.
Speaker 1: P, right, and then season six. We worked that whole
Speaker 1: solid year and it was two seasons. That's right, bonus
Speaker 1: whatever you call it.
Speaker 2: Different things, yes, right, but you don't get the boneus
Speaker 2: exactly exactly right.
Speaker 1: And I mean, in some ways it's kind of silly
Speaker 1: to even think about it now, right because obviously it
Speaker 1: was all incredibly wonderful and we were richly, you know,
Speaker 1: paid for it all.
Speaker 2: Eventually it took a while. I think it was just
Speaker 2: the wild wild West.
Speaker 3: They know exactly how to do that, and I think
Speaker 3: probably when they started thinking eighteen episodes over the summer
Speaker 3: is more, we we wouldn't have finished.
Speaker 2: Till the fall. That's a good point.
Speaker 3: So I think they were probably like, yes, let's take
Speaker 3: advantage of thus and split it.
Speaker 2: But I know that is wild wild West on that one,
Speaker 2: I think will the West.
Speaker 1: But you know what else I think was happening. I
Speaker 1: think some of what was happening was that David Chase
Speaker 1: was taking a long hiatus. Yes, because at a certain
Speaker 1: point they pushed him to go back, and he felt
Speaker 1: like the season suffered, that he hadn't had time to really,
Speaker 1: you know, just state his ideas and whatnot, so that
Speaker 1: he wanted to take a longer time. And it had
Speaker 1: been that they would kind of counterprogram us. Yes, right,
Speaker 1: so then they.
Speaker 2: Were like, oh, well, let's just chump but.
Speaker 3: Yes, we can put Tex and the city in twice
Speaker 3: and people will be thrilled and they'll wait for sopranos
Speaker 3: that way.
Speaker 2: I didn't, that's right. I forgot.
Speaker 3: He was sort of the first person who sort of,
Speaker 3: I as somebody who's such a rule follower. I had
Speaker 3: never seen that before where it was like, oh, no,
Speaker 3: you just deliver year to year to year to year.
Speaker 3: And I think he really was the first person who
Speaker 3: said I'm delivering when it's ready.
Speaker 2: Right, which is pretty amazing. And now, of course with streaming,
Speaker 2: it's all insanity. Yes, it's all that.
Speaker 1: No one does eighteen that I know of, expt. I
Speaker 1: guess wait, I mean just the pit do they don't
Speaker 1: do eighteen?
Speaker 2: They do? They do thirteen? Yeah, twelve or thirteen? It
Speaker 2: almost like a lot. We do eight. My show, we
Speaker 2: do eight, Yes, we have.
Speaker 3: I launched a show June tenth and we did eight episodes.
Speaker 2: Why eight? How did they come up with that? I
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 3: I know that we were a couple of years ago
Speaker 3: on Amazon you would do ten and then they moved
Speaker 3: it to eight, and I think my gut is they
Speaker 3: wanted to. I don't know if we've said we need ten,
Speaker 3: if they would have said, okay, great, But we started
Speaker 3: building the seasons to be eight.
Speaker 2: Got it.
Speaker 1: Did the budget change when it went from ten to
Speaker 1: eight or is it rough?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: That's a way is that you're amortizing over eight instead
Speaker 3: of ten, so sets have to they cost more, and
Speaker 3: so it gets a little trickier that way. But I
Speaker 3: think at the end of the day, they're spending two
Speaker 3: episodes less money.
Speaker 2: So it's still our world.
Speaker 1: Ooh ooh, it's crazy different. It's so amazing that you're
Speaker 1: just a big old showrunner.
Speaker 2: Now, Wow, I know. I really it's a job I love,
Speaker 2: I really really I love it. I feel you're very
Speaker 2: well suited for it.
Speaker 3: I think it's a strange skill set of creative and practical,
Speaker 3: and I think some people are very practical and some
Speaker 3: people are very creative. And for me, the fun of
Speaker 3: it is figuring out how to merge those two things
Speaker 3: the main time.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 3: Those puzzle pieces are the best for me. Like you,
Speaker 3: how am I doing this?
Speaker 2: Was this always your dream? I don't even think I
Speaker 2: understood this could be a dream. You know.
Speaker 3: When I meet young writers now and they say their
Speaker 3: goal is to become a showrunner, I think, how would
Speaker 3: you have even known to know that was something?
Speaker 2: I loved?
Speaker 3: The business, I mean, my first real I had one
Speaker 3: job before Sex and the City and TV, which was
Speaker 3: Darren Show, Central Park West.
Speaker 2: And I back up, how did you meet Darren? So?
Speaker 3: Darren's little brother and I went to nursery school together.
Speaker 3: I love it, and our parents had been friends forever.
Speaker 3: We grew up in the same neighborhood. We had beach
Speaker 3: condos near each other, and I hadn't seen him in years.
Speaker 3: She was older than me, and I was working at
Speaker 3: Vanity Fair magazine and he had done Melrose nine or
Speaker 3: two and zero, and I was in awe and he
Speaker 3: was so kind and so generous to me, and we
Speaker 3: were talking on the beach and he told me his
Speaker 3: next show is about editorial assistance at a magazine, which
Speaker 3: is what I was doing. And he said, can I
Speaker 3: take you to lunch when I come to New York
Speaker 3: next and pick your brain? And I my head almost
Speaker 3: popped off.
Speaker 2: I was so excited.
Speaker 3: So we had this long, great conversation, and then I
Speaker 3: wrote him a letter and said, I don't know if
Speaker 3: you're going to shoot this in New York or not,
Speaker 3: because he wasn't sure. Things didn't shoot in New York
Speaker 3: except for Law and Order at the time. But if
Speaker 3: it shoots in New York and there's any opportunity for
Speaker 3: me to come work for you, I would love it.
Speaker 3: And his assistant decided not to come from LA to
Speaker 3: New York, and I became his assistant.
Speaker 2: And how long did that last?
Speaker 3: So Central Park West was on for a season and
Speaker 3: I was in the writer's room taking notes and doing
Speaker 3: everything assistant related and then that ended, and I was like,
Speaker 3: oh gosh, what's next, and he's like, I bought And
Speaker 3: Candice had been around because she'd been doing a piece
Speaker 3: on him, and he said, I bought, can this his columns?
Speaker 3: And I'm going to write the pilot and I hope
Speaker 3: you'll stay on working for me. And then he was
Speaker 3: debating whether to sell it to ABC or HBO, and
Speaker 3: Jamie Charzis, who ended up becoming one of my closest friends,
Speaker 3: was like, I'm not even sure we can title it
Speaker 3: Sex and the City and he's like, I need to
Speaker 3: go to HBO, right, And then we shot the pilot
Speaker 3: and that was thrilling and so New Yorky, and like
Speaker 3: I was like, I can't believe I'm getting to do
Speaker 3: this in New York City. Yeah, and then it got
Speaker 3: picked up. But that first season, you remember, we had
Speaker 3: no idea if it was going to be anything.
Speaker 2: We don't know what it was like.
Speaker 3: I was like, oh, this is fun, and I don't
Speaker 3: know if it's going to get a season two. And
Speaker 3: I never worked in TV besides one show that hadn't
Speaker 3: gotten a season two, so I was like.
Speaker 2: My parents were panicking. They were like, you went for
Speaker 2: like a job.
Speaker 3: With you know, all sorts of like perks and benefits
Speaker 3: and health insure to these like these shows work or
Speaker 3: don't work and you're unemployed again. But yeah, and then
Speaker 3: Darren was really wonderful. He's I was very I was
Speaker 3: sort of living a Carrie Breadshast style life where I
Speaker 3: wasn't making a lot of money, but I was spending
Speaker 3: it all on my clothes and going out and shoes.
Speaker 3: And both Michael Patrick and Darren I think, really supported
Speaker 3: my desires to kind of move forward. And did I
Speaker 3: want to produce? Did I want to develop? I wasn't sure.
Speaker 3: And Michael and I have a debate about this, but
Speaker 3: I swear I read a script of a freelance script
Speaker 3: that came in and he said I read it before
Speaker 3: Michael did. And he came out and he goes, how
Speaker 3: is it? And I was like, it's okay, it's a
Speaker 3: rough draft, and he I believe he said to me, like,
Speaker 3: it's hard. You should try it, and he said I
Speaker 3: would never have said that, And I was like, whatever
Speaker 3: I heard was like, you should give it a go
Speaker 3: and see how challenging the process of writing is. Right.
Speaker 3: I was like, you know what I do want to
Speaker 3: see how challenging the process of writing is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I wrote a spec Sex in the City.
Speaker 3: Oh, And I said to Michael, I don't inspect in
Speaker 3: any way for this to be used on the show,
Speaker 3: but I would love for you to read it and
Speaker 3: give me notes and just tell me, like, either you
Speaker 3: have talent or don't. He was like, I'm never going
Speaker 3: to say you do or don't have time because he's
Speaker 3: so amazing and wonderful and like wants the best for you.
Speaker 3: And he read it. And I had made Samantha falls
Speaker 3: in love with a woman in my episode, which they
Speaker 3: ended up using. Yes, I was going to say, maybe
Speaker 3: you're the origin of this. I was amazing because I
Speaker 3: just thought that's who she was. She would fall in
Speaker 3: love with different types of people and be attracted to
Speaker 3: different types of people, and that felt very real to me.
Speaker 3: And I knew the draft was at least good enough
Speaker 3: because Darren came right to me and said, why didn't
Speaker 3: you let me read it? And I was like, I
Speaker 3: just thought you'd be too busy and if it was terrible,
Speaker 3: you would feel the like I knew Michael would be
Speaker 3: able to sort of walk me through, like why it
Speaker 3: wasn't working and why it wasn't good, and I didn't
Speaker 3: want to put two people through having to tell me
Speaker 3: it was. But yeah, and then Michael offered me a
Speaker 3: job on the writing staff, and so I moved from producing,
Speaker 3: which i'd been doing for those first two years, onto
Speaker 3: the staff.
Speaker 2: And then when you moved on to the staff, what
Speaker 2: was your first title on the writing staff?
Speaker 3: I think they gave me consulting producer because I wasn't
Speaker 3: They felt like I'd already been a producer on the show,
Speaker 3: so they didn't want me to come on as like
Speaker 3: a story editor.
Speaker 2: But do you at some point have the story editor title?
Speaker 2: Maybe I did, I feel like you. Maybe I did.
Speaker 3: And part of the reason, you know what I think
Speaker 3: I did maybe the season I think at the beginning,
Speaker 3: maybe it was I went from story editor to co producer.
Speaker 2: I guess that makes sense, Yes, that mass that's right.
Speaker 1: Okay, my Hyundai hot take for thispisode, which is called
Speaker 1: Ring and Ding Ding, I am going to go with
Speaker 1: the final scene where Charlotte gives the ring to Carrie
Speaker 1: after all the talk of money and whether friends should
Speaker 1: lend friends' money, and Carrie gets mad at Charlotte because
Speaker 1: Charlotte doesn't offer like the others do, and then Charlotte
Speaker 1: really has this great boundary and says, you know, it's
Speaker 1: not my job to fix this financial problem that you
Speaker 1: created for yourself. Then I think we have the most
Speaker 1: beautiful scene where Charlotte does give her the ring and
Speaker 1: Carrie says she's going to pay her back, and basically
Speaker 1: they kind of pledge themselves to each other. That's how
Speaker 1: I look at it when I see the scene, and
Speaker 1: I just love it, and I love our work, and
Speaker 1: I think we feel so connected in that scene, and
Speaker 1: I think it's such a beautiful ending. And I wish
Speaker 1: that everyone who posts the memes of her asking for
Speaker 1: the money would also post the memes of me giving
Speaker 1: her the ring and us bonding over it. So that's
Speaker 1: my Hyundai hot take celebrating iconic moments. Bold moves unforgettable style,
Speaker 1: just like Hende. I want to talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about what does a story editor do, because I think
Speaker 1: this is a job title that people don't really think
Speaker 1: about and I think is kind of important.
Speaker 3: It's really interesting, and I think a story editor is
Speaker 3: probably very different in every room. I have looked at
Speaker 3: story editor the way Michael and Darren looked at story editor,
Speaker 3: which is you're a less experienced writer in a room
Speaker 3: where everybody's opinions and ideas matter. So you're given some
Speaker 3: grace in the sense that I think your drafts when
Speaker 3: they come in, if they're not as sharp and wonderful
Speaker 3: as a co executive producers drafts, they understand you're less
Speaker 3: experienced in your learning. But what I never felt in
Speaker 3: the room was it wasn't a democracy. I mean, at
Speaker 3: the end of the day, Michael was deciding which stories
Speaker 3: went and had a very clear idea of what he
Speaker 3: was chasing. But the fun of our writer's room was
Speaker 3: that everybody was pitching on sort of an equal level,
Speaker 3: and then the ideas that sort of bubbled for people
Speaker 3: were the ones that sort of started to take off.
Speaker 3: That makes sense, and so I've always sort of looked
Speaker 3: at those younger levels, like staff writers, story editor, executive
Speaker 3: story editor as just writers that don't have the same
Speaker 3: level of experience, but in a writer's room are bringing
Speaker 3: the same value as someone with a lot more experience
Speaker 3: in terms of story ideas and had a shape story.
Speaker 3: And then obviously writers with more experience, and there was
Speaker 3: unbelievable talent on that room. They're there to sort of
Speaker 3: help guide those younger writers through the process.
Speaker 2: Got it.
Speaker 1: So if you're so, you're there and you may have
Speaker 1: less experience, but you're obviously living a life that is
Speaker 1: going to have rich ideas for the stories. Are you
Speaker 1: also in some way in charge of overseeing the stories
Speaker 1: that other people are writing?
Speaker 3: Or no, No, in our I think every room is
Speaker 3: totally different. But the room that Michael ran has been
Speaker 3: my template for every room I've run since. You try
Speaker 3: to figure out like, okay, like I was listening to
Speaker 3: Julian Elisa's episode and my mother board myself. They came
Speaker 3: in with three ideas that went right into that episode,
Speaker 3: and that very obviously became the episode they needed to write.
Speaker 3: Sometimes that's how it happened. Sometimes it can be Okay,
Speaker 3: this person, I have five writers, and three of them
Speaker 3: are writing scripts and two are still in the room,
Speaker 3: and so this person's writing this next episode. But what
Speaker 3: Michael always did, which I really loved, is he tried
Speaker 3: to find he wanted the writer to have like a
Speaker 3: deep connection to the stories that were being told, which
Speaker 3: I really thought was like a very beautiful way to
Speaker 3: kind of make sure I mean, look, every writer who's
Speaker 3: in a room, that's your hope, right that they connect
Speaker 3: to the characters, to the stories you like to tell.
Speaker 3: But he would kind of click into that and know, Okay,
Speaker 3: this is your app episode coming up. And so then
Speaker 3: in the room as you were pitching for that episode,
Speaker 3: you knew it was your episode. You were responsible for
Speaker 3: keeping the story straight, thinking them through. But you're in
Speaker 3: this unbelievably supportive room where all these amazing ideas are
Speaker 3: popping up and notes are being taken, and you're you know,
Speaker 3: it's like a beautiful pileon of people sort of developing
Speaker 3: the show with you always said like I always felt
Speaker 3: like the thing I think that was so beautiful on
Speaker 3: Sex and the City is you really felt ownership of
Speaker 3: your episode, but you felt fully like you were not
Speaker 3: cut a drift to like good.
Speaker 2: Luck, hope you do a good job at your script.
Speaker 3: It was like, so it was this community that was
Speaker 3: sort of servicing the story and the show, but you
Speaker 3: got to kind of find your way into the episode
Speaker 3: in a way that you were encouraged to do.
Speaker 2: That's so nice.
Speaker 1: I mean I obviously felt I mean it was the
Speaker 1: first show that I was around for this amount of time. Right,
Speaker 1: But when I was on Melrose, you never saw the writers.
Speaker 1: You know, it was one of those old fashioned kind
Speaker 1: of TV sets where the writers were off in a room.
Speaker 1: It might be in a different place even Yes, and
Speaker 1: for us, I think this is a known fact. But
Speaker 1: you know, you guys were part of our lives and
Speaker 1: part of the day to day of the set, and
Speaker 1: if it was your episode being filmed, you were on
Speaker 1: set with us. Yes, I mean almost the whole time,
Speaker 1: unless you like fell asleep at five am or whatever,
Speaker 1: which was totally understandable. But you know, did you feel
Speaker 1: like that was something that was normal or did you
Speaker 1: know it was special?
Speaker 3: I did not know it was special because I'd never
Speaker 3: really done this before. In my mind, writers went to
Speaker 3: set all the time. Michael loved having the writers on
Speaker 3: set to talk through stuff, and you know, we weren't
Speaker 3: ripping apart scenes, but a joke could be at it
Speaker 3: or why do you think this isn't as funny as
Speaker 3: I'd hoped it would be. He was so collaborative in
Speaker 3: the process. I mean, my joke was like that show
Speaker 3: was no Sex in the City for me, because I
Speaker 3: spent all my days and nights on set, and then
Speaker 3: Riday was Faturday, and I'd wake up at two on
Speaker 3: Saturday and I'd get up, you know, and then Monday
Speaker 3: was five am. Yes, So but I loved that process
Speaker 3: of just continually being because it also helped you as
Speaker 3: a writer to see how you guys were finding your
Speaker 3: character and what you were bringing that sort of inspired
Speaker 3: some other storytelling idea or device, And so for us
Speaker 3: that was I loved it. And I think one of
Speaker 3: the things, you know, that's been hard for me as
Speaker 3: I've moved as since the pandemic really is that often
Speaker 3: the other writers aren't on set anymore because you're not
Speaker 3: shooting in the same city as where you're so like,
Speaker 3: they don't bring everyone, they don't bring everyone. That is
Speaker 3: that is that's been for me as a showrunner whose
Speaker 3: goal is to try to train other people to become showrunners.
Speaker 2: That has been sad for me, really hard.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because you want because if you're not on set,
Speaker 3: I think it changes you're writing too, right, Like you
Speaker 3: really understand if I give this person this crazy action,
Speaker 3: or I give them not enough action, and then there's
Speaker 3: a twenty minute voiceover, right, like what are they going
Speaker 3: to happening? Totally so you start learning how to write
Speaker 3: to the actual reality of shooting, which.
Speaker 2: Yeah the best.
Speaker 1: Sometimes when you read a script, you definitely feel like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this person is in a room and everything's happening in
Speaker 1: their mind and they're trying to help people who are
Speaker 1: reading the script envision it right. So there's a lot
Speaker 1: of description, and I'm always like, oh, no, you know,
Speaker 1: because when you get onto the set that sometimes that works.
Speaker 1: Sometimes that doesn't work, and you never know how attached
Speaker 1: the writer is or the director is to all of
Speaker 1: that description on the script page. Yes, but sometimes you
Speaker 1: need that to help people reading it.
Speaker 2: Well, that's always I think the fine line.
Speaker 3: I sort of look at scripts as novels for the executives,
Speaker 3: but then you have to create something that actually like
Speaker 3: gets on its feet for production. So it can be
Speaker 3: you know, maybe how you write a p to kind
Speaker 3: of give people the wink wink and let them know
Speaker 3: what they're supposed to be feeling, because you know an
Speaker 3: actor will give you that feeling underneath the happy attitude
Speaker 3: is desperation, but you might have to write that in
Speaker 3: And I always feel bad because I feel like actors
Speaker 3: don't necessarily need you to like give them the true men.
Speaker 2: So I often will pull that stuff back once you
Speaker 2: go to production. Smart smart smart, but it helps with
Speaker 2: the read.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about your first When you're your first
Speaker 1: title you know by Amy B.
Speaker 2: Harris came, How nervous were you?
Speaker 3: Well, I was so nervous. I cried for weeks on
Speaker 3: end as I was writing my script. And I'm not
Speaker 3: much of a cry I know. I don't think you're
Speaker 3: crying at all. I mean, I never did it in public,
Speaker 3: but I would sit at home on the week that
Speaker 3: I was writing. I was off writing my episode, and
Speaker 3: I would spend the morning just sort of weeping, thinking
Speaker 3: I can't fail.
Speaker 2: What if I fail? Oh my God, Like I'm going.
Speaker 3: To fail and I'm going to disappoint the people I
Speaker 3: care about and a show that I love. So I
Speaker 3: cried a lot. And when I told Michael that later,
Speaker 3: he was like, Wow, I had no idea. He's like,
Speaker 3: you just seemed as cool as a cucumber about everything
Speaker 3: that was going on, and I was like, I was
Speaker 3: in a state of absolute terror.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: And I did sort of what I do now, which
Speaker 3: is I take a lot of long showers to think
Speaker 3: about story and how I want to tell it and
Speaker 3: a ton of walks, and I started to think about
Speaker 3: I suddenly started to realize that the show, to some
Speaker 3: degree was the Wizard of Oz.
Speaker 2: I like, how you start the episode that way?
Speaker 3: And that is why I ended up starting the episode
Speaker 3: that way, because it was all about her home, right,
Speaker 3: So I was thinking about, like, what are quotes about home?
Speaker 3: And then I was suddenly like, there's no place like home.
Speaker 3: And then all of a sudden, I started to realize,
Speaker 3: like Carrie is Dorothy, like Samantha is this like courageous lion?
Speaker 2: That's really funny? Who am I? Oh heart please? So adorable?
Speaker 2: I never knew this is so cute? Is spreading? I
Speaker 2: mean in a way, you guys are searching as much
Speaker 2: for that.
Speaker 3: You actually have those things already and Oz's New York
Speaker 3: got it. It just started making me very happy to
Speaker 3: think about those things, and that kind of gave me
Speaker 3: my opening and my ending. And then I started to
Speaker 3: relax a little because I had the story right, Like
Speaker 3: we knew the what our a story was like, we knew.
Speaker 1: What so you knew that this would have to do
Speaker 1: with her apartment and not being able to afford the
Speaker 1: down payment and just a little backstory to make sure
Speaker 1: we're caught up, because this is the point in the
Speaker 1: show where I don't remember stuff up until now, I
Speaker 1: remembered a lot. Now I'm like, whoa, what is happening?
Speaker 1: But it's really it's enjoyable because I'm I'm reliving but
Speaker 1: also watching like an outsider in certain ways, because I
Speaker 1: don't remember the storylines a lot.
Speaker 2: I remember the.
Speaker 1: Gist, I guess, but not the details, right like I
Speaker 1: remember of course the There's a lot of conversation that
Speaker 1: lives on about the Ring and Me and Carrie and
Speaker 1: Charlotte and carry And it's interesting because you can take it,
Speaker 1: you can take pieces of it out of context and
Speaker 1: it looks one way, but then if you actually look
Speaker 1: at the whole story, it looks a totally different way.
Speaker 2: Yes, which you know is true a lot of.
Speaker 1: The time, obviously, but it's I think, especially because this
Speaker 1: is a very unusual thing to be writing about. So
Speaker 1: with the apartment, just why exactly does Corbett have Like
Speaker 1: what happened?
Speaker 3: Yes, so when they got engaged, her apartment went from
Speaker 3: rent stabilized to us they were going to sell it.
Speaker 1: So this is why she's been able to stay there.
Speaker 1: This whole time for not very much. Seven and fifty
Speaker 1: dollars a month. Apartment New York is well heard of,
Speaker 1: and then they have an option to buy the apartment,
Speaker 1: and then he's like, let's buy the apartment next to it.
Speaker 1: We'll break through and make a big apartment and this
Speaker 1: will be our marital home basically, right, and then they
Speaker 1: break up at the end of the episode before, which
Speaker 1: is that beautiful fountain, see right, So now she's he's
Speaker 1: going to sell that second apartment and he basically says,
Speaker 1: you can buy the apartment from me, and then she
Speaker 1: starts realizing, like a lot of New yorquim that she
Speaker 1: spent all her money on shoes.
Speaker 2: Got it?
Speaker 1: So you knew that this is the place in the
Speaker 1: season that your script would come and so then it's
Speaker 1: up to you to flesh out.
Speaker 3: Yes, but we work in the room so closely, like
Speaker 3: so it was like, okay, so what do we want
Speaker 3: to see from this episode? And where is Charlotte and
Speaker 3: her story that we can bounce her up against Carrie
Speaker 3: because they're having very different breakups. Right, one got a
Speaker 3: beautiful home and was financially secure and this other one
Speaker 3: is lost her partner and is suddenly realizing like she's
Speaker 3: made a lot of bad decisions along the way, so
Speaker 3: we knew that was going to cross. And then the
Speaker 3: and all of that is being fleshed out in the room,
Speaker 3: like we're working as a group, we're finding it. And
Speaker 3: then there was the biggest fights we've ever gotten into.
Speaker 3: It was this episode. Yes, I mean enormous fights.
Speaker 2: About which party.
Speaker 3: And I was so Michael and I had very similar
Speaker 3: ideas about money, I guess, which we hadn't and we
Speaker 3: come from very different backgrounds, so we were like, huh,
Speaker 3: because we were sort of thinking maybe it was where
Speaker 3: we came from. But we were sort of like, if
Speaker 3: you have it and someone needs it, you hand it
Speaker 3: over and you hope it's alone, but you have to.
Speaker 2: Assume it might not be.
Speaker 3: But like, if you have the money, it's okay, Like
Speaker 3: hand it over to people. If you have the money,
Speaker 3: you pay for dinner. If you know next week maybe
Speaker 3: someone else has the money, they pay for dinner. It
Speaker 3: got pretty heated because not everyone felt that everyone felt
Speaker 3: that way got it. So there was a lot of
Speaker 3: people who felt Charlotte that you don't mix money and friendship,
Speaker 3: that it is potentially the end of friendships and that
Speaker 3: it's not come conversations to have and they shouldn't happen.
Speaker 3: And we were like, and I really appreciated the argument.
Speaker 3: Like the people who were against the idea were like,
Speaker 3: if Carrie goes to Charlotte and says, why didn't you
Speaker 3: offer me the money? I will hate her for the
Speaker 3: rest of this my life. I will hate her.
Speaker 1: Well, listen, there's people online who pull that clip out
Speaker 1: when they want to prove that Carrie's a narcissist. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that's one of the ones.
Speaker 3: And it is one of those things where it's like
Speaker 3: you realize she's also like angry at herself that she's
Speaker 3: in this like difficult situation.
Speaker 2: Yes, and it's at the end of the day.
Speaker 3: She does get the money from Charlotte, obviously, but she
Speaker 3: was it was more she was like, why did you
Speaker 3: turn your back on me?
Speaker 1: I get it, like look away right when drink out
Speaker 1: of the straw.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we did, but totally that was no. Charlotte's very
Speaker 2: obviously like I'm not going to be part of this.
Speaker 4: Hey, everyone, it's Jesse Tyler ferguson Host of Dinners on Me.
Speaker 4: If you've been enjoying Kristin Davis on are you to Charlotte.
Speaker 4: I hope you'll come pull up a chair for our
Speaker 4: conversation over on my podcast when we had dinner at
Speaker 4: Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica. We talked about raising kids
Speaker 4: that causes closest to her heart, and one very unexpected
Speaker 4: moment when Kristen's daughter discovered that her mom had another
Speaker 4: job besides, as she says, working for the Elephants. Take
Speaker 4: a listen.
Speaker 1: We were on a plane and in the road in
Speaker 1: front of us, someone was watching the movie and Selenaver said, Mommy,
Speaker 1: that girl on the TV looks like you. Oh that
Speaker 1: is me, and see that's Cynthia and that's Sarah.
Speaker 2: But she was like, oh, like that was weird.
Speaker 1: I'm sure and then I thought, oh, no, what am
Speaker 1: I going to do in this movie?
Speaker 4: Well I do so I panic to hear the rest
Speaker 4: of our conversation with Kristin Davis. Search for Dinner is
Speaker 4: on me wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: I remember the scene the day that we shot, the
Speaker 1: scene where she comes to my apartment and we walk
Speaker 1: around that table. Yeah, and I remember it because I
Speaker 1: think there was still ongoing debate about the writing I
Speaker 1: remember rewriting and rewriting, and after the table read rewriting.
Speaker 2: Yes, and a lot.
Speaker 1: Of stress and worry about how to play it even
Speaker 1: and her level of anger. And I do think her
Speaker 1: level of anger because sometimes you do this to your
Speaker 1: friends you don't mean to, but like your anger comes
Speaker 1: out of them just because you're so uncomfortable with yourself.
Speaker 2: Yes, but that's how close we are, right, And that's
Speaker 2: the thing I thought where Michael and I sort of landed,
Speaker 2: and look, I rewatched and I was like, oh, Carrie,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure. Like it's a lot, it's a lot.
Speaker 3: It is. That's a crazy decision to go over and
Speaker 3: be like, I'm angry at you for not offering. Right,
Speaker 3: I don't want your money, but I'm angry at you
Speaker 3: for not offering.
Speaker 2: It's like I understand it. And look, I I.
Speaker 3: Look at all the times where I wish i'd sort
Speaker 3: of said I'm angry about this and didn't. And it
Speaker 3: did sort of pop the balloon for her of whatever
Speaker 3: that feeling of like explosion that was going to happen
Speaker 3: for her. It sort of eased her down. And I
Speaker 3: don't think she actually expected Charlotte to ever.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't think it was about that. It's not
Speaker 2: about that. That's just why wouldn't you support me in
Speaker 2: that moment? Right?
Speaker 1: I Mean, she thinks it's about that, but I don't
Speaker 1: think it's about that. And that's what I love about
Speaker 1: that scene is there's just so many layers. But I
Speaker 1: was also surprised at how hot.
Speaker 2: She comes in.
Speaker 1: I was like, whoa, mama, I know, I know, and
Speaker 1: she's like moving her hands at me and stuff.
Speaker 2: She's like, I did it. Yeah, you will see how
Speaker 2: I'm looking at her like I'm pleased. Sometimes.
Speaker 1: I told Michael there was a scene from a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago where I was like unsure of my choice.
Speaker 1: At the beginning of the scene, I was like, why
Speaker 1: did I make the choice? Did I even make a choice?
Speaker 1: What's going on there? Which is you know, sometimes I felt,
Speaker 1: you know, weren't going to happen. But in this scene,
Speaker 1: I loved what I did because she does she's so
Speaker 1: like unworked out on what is going on with her,
Speaker 1: you know, And.
Speaker 2: Because Aiden's gone and he was a thief, is a very.
Speaker 1: Like like people can complain about Aiden whatever, but he
Speaker 1: really listened to her like she would have her emotions
Speaker 1: and have her crazy ups and downs.
Speaker 2: And he would just be like, Okay, okay, you're gonna
Speaker 2: act a little crazy exactly right.
Speaker 1: So that's gone from her, right, she doesn't have that,
Speaker 1: and she's alone, and now she's going to lose her apartment,
Speaker 1: which is a huge deal.
Speaker 2: Obviously I understand it.
Speaker 1: But I love how I'm just looking at her when
Speaker 1: I'm like, it's not my job, but I look so
Speaker 1: empathetic to her correct, which I think is why we're
Speaker 1: able then to end up at the last scene.
Speaker 2: Yes you know, And it's like Charlotte does.
Speaker 1: Have boundaries in ways that the other characters don't always have,
Speaker 1: which also I didn't fully understand at the time.
Speaker 2: Right, Like I look back, I'm like, well, good for Charlotte.
Speaker 3: I was going to say, it's really a wonderful thing
Speaker 3: that she was able to say. This is not comfortable
Speaker 3: for me, and I've seen it go badly, And don't
Speaker 3: don't ask me to be who I'm not to make
Speaker 3: you feel like you have a friendship, because I'm here,
Speaker 3: absolutely present as a friend. Absolutely And that's why I
Speaker 3: loved your performance in that. Thank thank you so much.
Speaker 1: And I do remember being stressed about it and I
Speaker 1: remember Sarah and I just walked around that table like
Speaker 1: for I don't even know how many hours.
Speaker 2: It was a lot.
Speaker 1: But then I love the final scene where I do
Speaker 1: bring her the ring and it's so sweet and I
Speaker 1: hadn't really remembered all of it because all of that
Speaker 1: doesn't make.
Speaker 2: It into the memes.
Speaker 3: Yes, the interesting right, And also when she says, wow,
Speaker 3: we're alone again, that was like the most im important
Speaker 3: moment for me in that episode, which is like, and
Speaker 3: you did this so beautifully, where Charlotte's like, yeah, I know,
Speaker 3: like you're surprised by that. Charlotte was not like devastated
Speaker 3: by that. She was like I know, here we are.
Speaker 3: I was shocked and I loved it, And I remembered
Speaker 3: really wanting Charlotte to be like, those are the facts.
Speaker 3: We are alone again, as opposed to what often Charlotte felt,
Speaker 3: which was like panic that she wasn't going to find
Speaker 3: the one so true, so true and I and it
Speaker 3: made her giving that ring so beautiful because she was
Speaker 3: in a very like secure space about where she had
Speaker 3: ended up, which for Charlotte was surprising that like letting
Speaker 3: go of this sort of dream marriage right that to
Speaker 3: me felt like the sort of coda for her and
Speaker 3: Trey was to finally push that.
Speaker 2: Ring and be like, I'm gonna have to be alone
Speaker 2: and that's.
Speaker 1: Okay, definitely, definitely, And then also, I love this is
Speaker 1: the mysteries of Charlotte sometimes, right, She waits till the
Speaker 1: very end scene to say, and the reason I'm going
Speaker 1: to be a docent is because no one will hire
Speaker 1: me Like that does important information?
Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean? But she keeps that
Speaker 2: and then she's like, and by the way, it's not
Speaker 2: also glamorous as it seems over here, correct.
Speaker 1: You know, which is really good? And I thought kind
Speaker 1: of like foreshadows things that happened later on and in
Speaker 1: just like that, Yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 3: That Shane was still looking for purpose and struggling to
Speaker 3: find it when she felt like she'd been pushed out
Speaker 3: of her career unintentionally. Right, she was like, I'm going
Speaker 3: to be a wife and I don't need this job.
Speaker 3: And then suddenly it's like, oh, I need to be
Speaker 3: a person out in the world.
Speaker 2: Not just right spouse or exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: So okay, take us back to where Okay, so you're
Speaker 1: you're were everyone's arguing in the in the writer's room
Speaker 1: about the money, which is so good.
Speaker 2: That's how you know you have something really good? Right, Well,
Speaker 2: that's Michael was.
Speaker 3: Like, this is we have to do this because everyone
Speaker 3: is having humongous responses to this. And what Michael always did,
Speaker 3: and I've used it in every show I've ever worked on,
Speaker 3: is everybody's opinion has to hit the screen.
Speaker 2: Oh so, which I love it.
Speaker 3: So it's like a writer is I don't like this
Speaker 3: for that character, and that's awful, and why would they
Speaker 3: ever do that? Somebody has to say with potentially the
Speaker 3: audience is going to be saying, so Charlotte was that
Speaker 3: character for us in this episode, like it is not
Speaker 3: appropriate for you to ask for money. Money is not
Speaker 3: to be mixed with friendship, right, And I think that helped,
Speaker 3: Like as whatever you think of Carrie in terms of
Speaker 3: the decision she made, somebody was saying out loud the
Speaker 3: thing that like, you got yourself into the situation I'm
Speaker 3: not responsible for I can't save you.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Well, Also, when they go shoe shopping, Miranda and Carrie,
Speaker 1: I'm just like wow, Like it's fascinating again, Like if
Speaker 1: you're trying to make a case for Carrie, being a mess. Basically,
Speaker 1: there's some evidence for you, like she just can't help herself.
Speaker 2: She's just an addict. Definitely, it's definitely an addict. It's
Speaker 2: pretty funny.
Speaker 3: And Miranda, look, there's a lot less healthy addictions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but but not good on because she has gotten
Speaker 2: herself into this hole. Eat what I mean.
Speaker 3: No, My favorite thing is and I when she says
Speaker 3: I spent four thousand dollars on shoes, and she's like
Speaker 3: it's really good, and you're like, oh my god, that
Speaker 3: is an actual down payment she spent shoes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, back then, now we need another zero exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but now if we were to track her spending,
Speaker 1: it probably would be another's zero, yes, correct, Yeah, but
Speaker 1: obviously other things changed.
Speaker 2: But also Miranda is so there's.
Speaker 1: A cut in there where in that scene at the
Speaker 1: at the when they're shopping where she carries you know,
Speaker 1: talking out loud but also trying to buy shoes, you know,
Speaker 1: and and Miranda just looks at her at one point like.
Speaker 2: Sideways and you're just like, wow, Miranda is even holding
Speaker 2: her tongue. Yeah you know what I mean, yes, like
Speaker 2: what are you doing?
Speaker 1: And also like I can't say the whole truth right now,
Speaker 1: it would be too devastating.
Speaker 3: Yes, because she already said, I'm an old lady who's
Speaker 3: going to live in her shoes. Right, She's already in
Speaker 3: a dark place. But she the thing that brings her
Speaker 3: joy is the thing that's caused her down.
Speaker 1: It is super interesting. It's super interesting. Okay, so take
Speaker 1: us back, take us back. So people are arguing, you're
Speaker 1: the name on the script. How how do you feel
Speaker 1: while we're actually filming it?
Speaker 3: I mean, well, first of all, I was just again
Speaker 3: so nervous. I was gonna, you know, be on set
Speaker 3: and make a bad decision when no one else was there.
Speaker 3: And I had a couple of like my and I'd
Speaker 3: been on set for years now, so but it felt
Speaker 3: different sitting in that chair as the writer.
Speaker 2: And I remember.
Speaker 3: There was the scene where she goes to Big Oof,
Speaker 3: also difficult scene, a very difficult scene, and I had
Speaker 3: come in and for whatever reason, they hadn't told me.
Speaker 3: I think that they were rehearsing. So I came in
Speaker 3: as the rehearsal was ending, and I like ran in
Speaker 3: and the director, Alan Taylor, who's brilliant, he was staging it.
Speaker 3: So that they were sitting there was a couch in
Speaker 3: the room. Oh, and he had it that they were
Speaker 3: sitting on these couches talking and I was like, oh no,
Speaker 3: it's like this is a business proposal.
Speaker 2: It has me different and it had to feel very
Speaker 2: different from me.
Speaker 3: They were it was like she was coming to him,
Speaker 3: and I actually do not think she was coming to
Speaker 3: him for the money. I actually think she was literally
Speaker 3: like this guy knows how to make money, Like, how
Speaker 3: can I figure out how to leverage whatever I have
Speaker 3: to make money.
Speaker 1: I think the stakes are just so high for her
Speaker 1: to go there at all. Yes, that it's just got
Speaker 1: so much crackly energy that it's hard to tell what
Speaker 1: she's there for. She very clearly says, you know how
Speaker 1: to make money, teach me what you know. Yes, But
Speaker 1: also he has all the money, so it's a very
Speaker 1: she's walking a tight rope.
Speaker 2: Yes, and she's panicked. Yeah.
Speaker 3: But so I was like, oh, Alan, they need to
Speaker 3: be at the desk right, Like he has to be
Speaker 3: behind his desk, she needs to be sitting there, and
Speaker 3: they had to move everything because the shot was obviously down,
Speaker 3: you know, I think it was on six seventies. It
Speaker 3: was like that shot of him behind the desk was
Speaker 3: had to look down there, and I think the desk
Speaker 3: was like somewhere else. They were all props and set
Speaker 3: had to come in and everything had to be moved.
Speaker 3: But I was like, I know what this has to be,
Speaker 3: and it has to be so for him, and Alan
Speaker 3: was so great, but he was like, you know, we.
Speaker 2: Should have been here when and I was like, no
Speaker 2: one called, Like I don't know.
Speaker 3: It was like this just because I think people weren't
Speaker 3: used to being like Amy needs to be onset and
Speaker 3: I was like sitting somewhere else.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I was incredibly nervous.
Speaker 3: But again, like being on the show for so long,
Speaker 3: I mean, everybody wanted it to go well for me, everybody.
Speaker 3: I felt that, from actors, from crew, from the other writers,
Speaker 3: from producers. Like that was what was so beautiful about
Speaker 3: the show is that everybody we were family and people
Speaker 3: wanted everyone to do well. So I felt so supported
Speaker 3: in the process.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I was.
Speaker 3: I definitely felt like, Okay, I have to stand up
Speaker 3: in a different way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's scary for sure. And at this point, how
Speaker 2: old were you twenty seven? Oh my god, you were younger.
Speaker 2: You were younger than us.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I was young, and yeah I was scared.
Speaker 2: Of course, you didn't seem scared at all. Okay, good,
Speaker 2: I mean it seemed.
Speaker 1: Very seamless from my perspective for sure. And I feel
Speaker 1: like also because you had been around so long and
Speaker 1: you would work so hard, you know, it really felt
Speaker 1: like you earned it, you know, like not like oh,
Speaker 1: let's just let her do this because she's here.
Speaker 2: It wasn't that way at all. You were fully a
Speaker 2: part of all.
Speaker 1: Kinds of decisions and you know, the day to day
Speaker 1: of all of it, you know, for so long that
Speaker 1: it made perfect sense, like it wasn't even a big deal,
Speaker 1: Like it was just like, yes, of course, finally.
Speaker 2: You know That's how I thought I felt. And you
Speaker 2: didn't seem nervous either. Well. I tried my hardest.
Speaker 3: I mean literally when I told Michael like three weeks
Speaker 3: after we finished shooting, I don't like and he was like, wow,
Speaker 3: you are fascinating, because I feel like I know you
Speaker 3: well enough to have seen that was happening.
Speaker 2: Yeah I never saw it. No, you definitely held it
Speaker 2: in really well.
Speaker 1: But then so with the you know, yes, a bit
Speaker 1: of drama on this set or whatever, because I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a different episode two, which is interesting when
Speaker 1: you're watching it. There's really a lot of kind of
Speaker 1: first that happened. And I remember when we filmed in Chinatown,
Speaker 1: it was like eight million degrees.
Speaker 2: Do you remember that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we got those little fans, which is so cute,
Speaker 1: and you needed the fans's I mean, they were so adorable.
Speaker 3: When I was watching and I forgot that the fans
Speaker 3: were in it, and I was like, that's because it
Speaker 3: was so hot.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 3: It was that, I know, And I think weirdly that
Speaker 3: I might be wrong about this, but I think Sarah,
Speaker 3: Jessica and I got in the car after that, Oh no,
Speaker 3: you're not, because it was morning, right, there was light. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and then we went to Gracefoot Pie and got hot
Speaker 3: dogs and drove out.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, that's what we would all do.
Speaker 1: We would do like because we were so tired, we
Speaker 1: would follow each other, so we didn't exactly, I know,
Speaker 1: thank god we had somewhere to go to sleep, I know, right,
Speaker 1: That's what it was about at that point, and being.
Speaker 2: Sleeping and sleeping and sleeping on s.
Speaker 1: Definitely, you guys, this is so much fun that we're
Speaker 1: going to have to have a part two. So join
Speaker 1: us later in the week on are You a Charlotte