Speaker 1: Welcome back to do some Amingos podcast.
Speaker 2: This is Freddy Rodriguez and I'm Wilmer Valderama and we
Speaker 2: are here.
Speaker 3: With the incomparable Melissa Famero and I am I'm so
Speaker 3: interested in hearing about your directing about Mobeta, your your
Speaker 3: great podcast.
Speaker 1: But let's let's dive into it.
Speaker 4: The nucleus of that show was when we were on Brooklyn.
Speaker 4: We were always in each other's dressing rooms, like during
Speaker 4: lunch or breaks, and we would just be talking like forever,
Speaker 4: and most of our conversations were like I'm struggling with
Speaker 4: this and like giving each other advice or like what
Speaker 4: are you how are you handling this?
Speaker 5: Or like what are you doing lately? It's making you
Speaker 5: feel good? And so like the podcast kind of came
Speaker 5: from that.
Speaker 4: It's like it's like a like a spin off of
Speaker 4: our dressing room.
Speaker 6: You were already experienced.
Speaker 4: It was already like part of our dynamic. It was
Speaker 4: already part of search. Friendship is like and you know,
Speaker 4: and even like now like you know, I mean, we
Speaker 4: see each other quite often, so we don't talk on
Speaker 4: the phone all the time, but when we do talk
Speaker 4: on the phone, it's a two or three hour conversation,
Speaker 4: like it's one of those friendships, you know, we can
Speaker 4: just talk forever.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, it's when I when I hung out with
Speaker 3: you guys in Austin.
Speaker 1: This is before I even heard your podcast.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, I haven't even come out yet.
Speaker 1: Turn to women and going like, these two need their
Speaker 1: own show.
Speaker 6: Man, and.
Speaker 4: That's why.
Speaker 6: That's why they're here. Buddy.
Speaker 3: I know, but but it didn't like I knew that
Speaker 3: witnessing it firsthand, Yeah I was. I was like, Wow,
Speaker 3: these two the chemistry is like nothing I've seen before.
Speaker 6: You know, I would love to see that like on screen,
Speaker 6: on screen. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 4: We're always talking about it. Yeah, I'm always trying to
Speaker 4: cook up something.
Speaker 6: What's like that that you know, like you know, like
Speaker 6: a like a like a duo.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I have. It's weird.
Speaker 4: I have some ideas for us, but I'm like, we
Speaker 4: have to be older, like like I got this great idea,
Speaker 4: but it's for like when we're in our like late
Speaker 4: fifties or you.
Speaker 5: Know, so we're just gonna like sit on. Yeah, but
Speaker 5: so done.
Speaker 2: So a little bit more about more better, because more
Speaker 2: Better has been a very wonderful success story for iHeart
Speaker 2: and you know, by the way, More Better is available
Speaker 2: anywhere you get your podcast. It's also part of the
Speaker 2: Michael Tuda Podcast Network family.
Speaker 6: But but one of.
Speaker 2: The things that was very fascinating is that voices like you,
Speaker 2: voices that speak to all communities and all cultures, you
Speaker 2: haven't had really the kind of the space to really
Speaker 2: kind of explore, you know, the many boxes you check
Speaker 2: for not just humanity but as strong family women. You
Speaker 2: both are amazing moms, and you're incredible uh professionals. You're
Speaker 2: also an amazing director and you're directing someone really amazing stuff,
Speaker 2: which I want to talk a little bit more about
Speaker 2: your directing stuff. But you know, how would you describe
Speaker 2: to our listeners More Better? What do you think that
Speaker 2: people come to more Better for?
Speaker 5: Yeah, so on more and Better.
Speaker 4: We tackle a different topic every episode. Some of them
Speaker 4: are kind of deep and heartfelt, and some of them
Speaker 4: are like what wine goes best with Cheetos? Really run
Speaker 4: the gammet, you know, and yeah, and we halfway through
Speaker 4: this first season.
Speaker 6: You shouldn't talking, like you should stop talking.
Speaker 1: I just stop talking.
Speaker 5: That's the show. Check us out, get your podcast Wine
Speaker 5: and Cheetos.
Speaker 4: We literally did do that, and yeah, and it's really
Speaker 4: fun and it's and it's you know, like I said,
Speaker 4: it's an extension of us. Both of us have always
Speaker 4: I think one of the things that's always connected us
Speaker 4: is Stephanie and I are people that are always kind
Speaker 4: of working on ourselves, you know, just like I think
Speaker 4: we both sort of see life and this job as like,
Speaker 4: you know, there's a there's a progression, like you're always growing,
Speaker 4: you're always learning, like you're never just settled right like
Speaker 4: otherwise we'd be freaking.
Speaker 5: Buddhist monks, like you know, like never have it all
Speaker 5: figured out.
Speaker 4: And so yeah, just exploring that in in in tackling
Speaker 4: like one topic big or small each episode, and we
Speaker 4: started getting suggestions from our audience, which was like the best,
Speaker 4: most unexpected kind of turn for the show because we
Speaker 4: got the best questions and stories and it was such
Speaker 4: a beautiful way to connect with the people that were
Speaker 4: listening to the show.
Speaker 5: And also it just like really gave.
Speaker 4: Us ideas, like because we might have went out of
Speaker 4: ideas a lot of episodes.
Speaker 5: It's a lot of episodes on a podcast. I was like,
Speaker 5: how many episodes are doing Yeah.
Speaker 4: But I was like, that's the standard in which it
Speaker 4: is and yeah, and it's so it's been really fun
Speaker 4: and I'm excited to bring season two.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So how many seasons were Brooklyn n nine?
Speaker 5: We did eight seasons?
Speaker 1: Eight seasons. Yeah.
Speaker 6: How many episodes of the season.
Speaker 4: First five seasons were twenty three episodes?
Speaker 6: Wow?
Speaker 5: Six was I think eighteen?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Seven was thirteen and eight was ten? Okay, I think yeah.
Speaker 6: I mean that's when people were really cranking episodes.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: It's like, oh, yeah, I was seven months out of
Speaker 4: the year, and yeah, it was.
Speaker 5: It was a lot. It was the first season.
Speaker 2: I was that's what you do, right, we do twenty two,
Speaker 2: twenty two, we are doing twenty now, okay, but when
Speaker 2: I got there, we were doing twenty four. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: bro by episode twenty, I'm You're like, yeah, you're literally
Speaker 2: beat up.
Speaker 5: Oh my god.
Speaker 4: And when you walk into like table reads and the
Speaker 4: writers just they look rough.
Speaker 6: Especially in nineteen it's.
Speaker 3: Usually like after Christmas, New Year's right January, you just like.
Speaker 1: An episode eight.
Speaker 5: I think about it like a hour about your health.
Speaker 6: Like the one hour dramas.
Speaker 2: That one hour dramas are crazy because you're really putting
Speaker 2: out an hour of television. Well, you're putting forty two minutes,
Speaker 2: which is double the comedies, which is comedies twenty two minutes.
Speaker 2: But it is still amount of pages and work that
Speaker 2: you've got to come up with, you know, and you
Speaker 2: need to do this many.
Speaker 6: Crimes in one year. That's really good, you know.
Speaker 2: But also I went into into your directing career because
Speaker 2: you've been able to successfully direct multiple prime time shows, and.
Speaker 6: That's something that guy.
Speaker 2: I haven't directed prime I directed other stuff, you know,
Speaker 2: but I look forward today that I get to, you know,
Speaker 2: kind of produce and direct at the same time. I
Speaker 2: know you're a director as well and producer. When did
Speaker 2: you get the bug to direct?
Speaker 4: I think I always secretly had it, but it all
Speaker 4: sort of came about.
Speaker 5: I did this one job that long story short.
Speaker 4: The director was all over the place and I like
Speaker 4: had a heart out because of childcare, and he almost
Speaker 4: blew the heart out, and it was frustrating because I
Speaker 4: was like, well, if you and so. On the ride home,
Speaker 4: I was called my manager and I was like, if
Speaker 4: he had done this, if he had done that, if
Speaker 4: he had done this, if he hadn't taken so long
Speaker 4: to make this decision, if he had shot it from this,
Speaker 4: you know, we would have made the day. And my
Speaker 4: manager goes.
Speaker 5: I think you should direct, and I was like, what
Speaker 5: this all with this conversation is about. I'm really mad.
Speaker 5: So he set up the low stakes.
Speaker 4: There was like a little web series that he had
Speaker 4: some friends doing or that he knew of. It was
Speaker 4: called Front Seat Chronicles and every episode takes place in
Speaker 4: the front seat of a car and it's a different scene,
Speaker 4: and so he put me in touch with them. They
Speaker 4: were like, yeah, we'd love for you to come direct one,
Speaker 4: and they had a writer that wrote this great scene.
Speaker 4: They let me cast my two friends because that was like,
Speaker 4: I need to direct some people that are going to
Speaker 4: like love me and.
Speaker 5: Support me doing this, and they did and.
Speaker 4: It was just like a It was kind of like
Speaker 4: for me to dip my toe in and be like
Speaker 4: would I enjoy this and would I know how to
Speaker 4: do it? And then that thing that happens when you
Speaker 4: spend so many hours on a television set you have
Speaker 4: no idea the wealth of knowledge that you know that's.
Speaker 5: Already in your brain.
Speaker 4: And I was like, Oh, I know how to do this,
Speaker 4: and I'm enjoying doing this and I'm not getting flustered
Speaker 4: by any of it, and I know what I want
Speaker 4: my shots to be. I know how this is going
Speaker 4: to come together. So then season six, Stephanie, Joe, and
Speaker 4: I and actually I have to give Joe and Stephanie
Speaker 4: credit because we had talked about putting our names in
Speaker 4: to direct episodes on the show, but then we got
Speaker 4: canceled and rescued by NBC and I chickened out because
Speaker 4: I was like, I don't want to ruffle the girl
Speaker 4: boss's feathers, like, and Joe and Sevanie were like, oh no,
Speaker 4: we put our names in. You should put your names in,
Speaker 4: like you should? You should, you know, pitch yourself to direct,
Speaker 4: and I was like, oh okay, And I would never
Speaker 4: have done it if they hadn't given me that push.
Speaker 4: So I did, and they gave all three of us
Speaker 4: an episode that season and it was great and it
Speaker 4: was so fun and it was so fun to do
Speaker 4: their episodes. It was so fun to do mine. I
Speaker 4: got really lucky with mine where I was like in
Speaker 4: the c storyline, so I only like worked like one day.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, how was it directing yourself?
Speaker 5: Did you I hated it?
Speaker 1: Did you go back and watch?
Speaker 5: Never want to do it again? Never going to do
Speaker 5: it again.
Speaker 4: I hated the feeling. I think some people can just
Speaker 4: split their brain that way. I felt like I couldn't.
Speaker 4: I felt like I wasn't one hundred percent present in
Speaker 4: the scene the way I normally were.
Speaker 6: You watch and then you were like, ah.
Speaker 4: No, I wasn't watching playback because there's no time to
Speaker 4: really do that, especially on a comedy set, and you're
Speaker 4: like moving.
Speaker 6: Yeah, first thing they needed to Yeah, Well, I.
Speaker 5: Got really lucky.
Speaker 4: The writer of that episode was Phil Augusta Jackson, who
Speaker 4: created went on to create Grand Crew, who actually really
Speaker 4: helped my directing career kind of move forward. And he
Speaker 4: had already directed an episode of Brooklyn and I uh
Speaker 4: because at one point I told him like, I think
Speaker 4: you're extraordinarily talented and if you ever need me to
Speaker 4: act in anything, I will be there. And he was like,
Speaker 4: I got this short film that I'm going to do
Speaker 4: my first time directing, Like, will you beat it? And
Speaker 4: I was like yes, And so I was in his
Speaker 4: first short film, and so we had already collapsed. So
Speaker 4: this was a third time we collaborated together. And I
Speaker 4: just turned to Phil and I said, Phil, these are
Speaker 4: the shots. This is what I'm going for like direct
Speaker 4: these scenes because I'm gonna lose my goddamn mind right now,
Speaker 4: and I hate this so much. I want to just
Speaker 4: act in the scene.
Speaker 3: Well, because you felt like you were two in your
Speaker 3: head when you were acting in the scene, Like.
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, I couldn't figure out how to mentally like
Speaker 4: be in the scene the way I would be as
Speaker 4: an actor and also have part of my brain thinking
Speaker 4: of what adjustment I mean, I can adjust myself, but
Speaker 4: what adjustments do I want my scene partner to make?
Speaker 5: What is the camera doing? Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Like, and then like checking off all the things like, oh,
Speaker 4: I hope they pulsed in at this part or did it?
Speaker 4: Like I just couldn't do all that math in my
Speaker 4: head while I was performing, and I I kind of could,
Speaker 4: but I didn't like the feeling of it.
Speaker 5: I felt like I was.
Speaker 4: Doing each job at like sixty percent. I get what
Speaker 4: you're bat and I didn't like that feeling.
Speaker 6: Myself to do.
Speaker 5: And I think some people can just do that.
Speaker 4: I think I've watched America Ferra direct and scene she's in,
Speaker 4: and she does it bleavy, beautifully and flawlessly, Like I
Speaker 4: think some people just have that brain, and I.
Speaker 5: Don't, so I won't ever be doing that again.
Speaker 2: I mean, and someone explained it to me, as you know,
Speaker 2: once you put your once you set up your cameras
Speaker 2: and you know how you're going to cover your scene.
Speaker 2: Once you're in the scene, you take the hat off
Speaker 2: and just make sure the scene works as a perform as.
Speaker 6: An actor, and then once the scene is done, then
Speaker 6: you go back.
Speaker 4: I also didn't love the feeling of like being an
Speaker 4: actor in a scene with another actor and being like, hey,
Speaker 4: so you know in that part, you know what I mean,
Speaker 4: like noting an.
Speaker 5: Actor while you're also the actor in the scene.
Speaker 4: With them, because normally, like you would never you know, and.
Speaker 3: It just especially an actor who's like, you're you're a
Speaker 3: fellow series regularly.
Speaker 5: Right right, That's yeah, it's weird, you know.
Speaker 4: And yeah, so I didn't. It was fine when I
Speaker 4: wasn't in the scene and I was approaching my my castmates,
Speaker 4: like as a director, and they all were like very
Speaker 4: beautifully like supportive, even Andre, like but not even Andre.
Speaker 4: Andrea was beautifully gracious to everyone. Actually I probably was
Speaker 4: like I thought Andy would give not a hard time,
Speaker 4: but I thought he would like tease me throughout the
Speaker 4: whole thing, and he did.
Speaker 6: He took it seriously.
Speaker 5: He took it very seriously. He was very professional, which
Speaker 5: like a little part of me.
Speaker 6: Was that's what you want to but I was like, come.
Speaker 5: On, I'm not gonna rasp me at all.
Speaker 4: But no, he was like very everybody was like very
Speaker 4: sweet and professional. And the cool thing about that experience,
Speaker 4: which you know, you never really get again because it's impossible,
Speaker 4: it was so nice to direct actors knowing exactly how
Speaker 4: they like to hear notes exactly, like what their langua
Speaker 4: or unique little languages are. And I think that was
Speaker 4: also like important to remember when I went to other shows.
Speaker 4: Was like trying to figure out part of that on
Speaker 4: day one, right, or like trying to mind that from
Speaker 4: a showrunner or you know, someone who's directed on the
Speaker 4: show A bunch, Like, so would you.
Speaker 1: Ask ahead of time before you start on another show?
Speaker 5: Would you always? Yeah?
Speaker 4: Act yeah, Like is there anything you can tell me
Speaker 4: about how actors like to hear notes or like you know,
Speaker 4: you know, because some people, you know, there's actors that
Speaker 4: like like really actory kind of note, you know, like
Speaker 4: intention and verbs and da da da, And then there's
Speaker 4: some actors that are just like faster, like you can
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, like higher stake, like you know,
Speaker 4: like short things, you know, like so I try to
Speaker 4: find that out as much as I can before.
Speaker 6: What about you as an actress? How do you like
Speaker 6: to be addressed? How do I?
Speaker 5: How do I like to be addressed? Yes, queen miss?
Speaker 5: How do I like to hear? Notes?
Speaker 4: I definitely like the theater kid and me appreciates like
Speaker 4: a beautiful, well thought out note that like has depth
Speaker 4: or intention in it.
Speaker 6: What about season six? New director?
Speaker 5: Give it to me quick?
Speaker 6: What is it? Oh?
Speaker 4: Yeah, but they're definitely there. Definitely is I do, especially
Speaker 4: when you worked in comedy right with somebody's like so
Speaker 4: just like more energy and like the stakes higher, and
Speaker 4: you're like faster, you want it faster?
Speaker 5: Just say faster, Just say.
Speaker 6: Faster to tie it up a little bit.
Speaker 5: Yeah, just taint it up. Yeah, that's it. You can
Speaker 5: say that, you know.
Speaker 6: Yeah? What about you?
Speaker 4: What do you?
Speaker 1: What do you?
Speaker 5: What do you? Yeah?
Speaker 6: Well, so it's two things like drama and comedy.
Speaker 2: For me, had two are phones that I love so much, right,
Speaker 2: And I would say that as as when I was
Speaker 2: wearing my comedy hat I had.
Speaker 6: You know, I was very.
Speaker 2: When I was playing Fez on seventy show. I had
Speaker 2: this director named David Trainer, who they directed one hundred
Speaker 2: and ninety nine episodes wow, the exception of the pilot
Speaker 2: and David Trainer. You know, I had created this accent, right,
Speaker 2: but I also created this vibe which was like such
Speaker 2: an ambiguous in his saying, yet like you can get
Speaker 2: away a character. So so like, no matter how I
Speaker 2: did it, it was like a choice that people are like.
Speaker 6: You're gonna do it like that. Yeah, you're gonna do it.
Speaker 6: So but because I was still committed, they're like, he's
Speaker 6: gonna do it like that.
Speaker 2: He's gonna do it like that. So they kind of
Speaker 2: would let me cook by myself sometimes. But he was
Speaker 2: like the Wilmer whisperer because sometimes my accent will get
Speaker 2: a little too strong and really hard to understand, and
Speaker 2: so he will come into the scene and he'll be like, well,
Speaker 2: just like a little mover of the fingers. And he
Speaker 2: didn't want to tell me in front of everybody that
Speaker 2: like that, like it's hard to understand you.
Speaker 6: Yeah, he didn't want to say that. Yeah, So he
Speaker 6: was just like, I don't see it a little.
Speaker 2: More and then okay, we're gonna go again, and just
Speaker 2: like an so he will steer the boat.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I love which is so much of what
Speaker 4: it is, especially in comedy.
Speaker 2: Yes, so in comedy and you know, but I also
Speaker 2: like a showrunner running in and be like, here's five lines.
Speaker 6: We're gonna this is the new joke. I love that,
Speaker 6: Like I'm just okay, it's a sport. To me.
Speaker 2: It's like, Okay, that one wasn't as funny. This is
Speaker 2: I'm gonna nail this right now. Okay, there are two
Speaker 2: hundred and thirty people are waiting to laugh. Okay, cool ready,
Speaker 2: okay said, and you know, so I'm very good with
Speaker 2: attention in that.
Speaker 6: In drama.
Speaker 2: Season eight Fancis, it's a little bit of like, you know,
Speaker 2: there's so much to shoot in a drama and a
Speaker 2: crime investigation show.
Speaker 6: I don't like. I don't know what it is.
Speaker 2: But I don't like when when a director says like,
Speaker 2: you know it will be funny.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, don't say you know it would be funny
Speaker 4: the funny guy.
Speaker 5: Yeah, do you get all like.
Speaker 6: No, no, I make them feel like I listened. Yea,
Speaker 6: mm hmm, Okay, let's try that. I like to try that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh cool, cool, Yeah, we'll run it again, you know.
Speaker 2: But I learned so much a lot of the directors
Speaker 2: that come in, and this is like basically a big
Speaker 2: tribute to all the directors that come into well machines,
Speaker 2: like the machines that are like just cranking out episodes.
Speaker 2: Like I would say, like, you know, sometimes they have
Speaker 2: the thankless job of inherent it in a DP that
Speaker 2: knows how to just shoot the show by itself, right,
Speaker 2: and then a director's coming to kind of.
Speaker 6: Steer the pace and steer the whatever, you know.
Speaker 2: But there are those directors who really want to collaborate
Speaker 2: with the actor, and I think that's always super welcoming,
Speaker 2: really exciting. But you know, at NCIAS is an interesting
Speaker 2: thing because the actors have you know, double Bachelor degrees
Speaker 2: on their characters. Yeah, they've done seven hundred episodes as
Speaker 2: this character.
Speaker 5: No one's going to know it more than yes, you know, so.
Speaker 2: They kind of it was a little bit, but you know,
Speaker 2: I would say I had this. I appreciate when somebody
Speaker 2: can can explain to me in feelings, like you know,
Speaker 2: as opposed to like quite literally like some writers want
Speaker 2: to say it as scripted, and I have a tough
Speaker 2: time saying like I don't know how to sell it
Speaker 2: like that, Like I think I'll sell it better this way.
Speaker 2: But long story short, I think like comedy, it could
Speaker 2: either be like steer the boat or like it could
Speaker 2: be like try this different way, you know.
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 6: And I love that sport and in drama I like it.
Speaker 6: I don't. I don't need silk gloves. I can take it.
Speaker 2: But it's just like it's like you got to come
Speaker 2: with a very specific direction where you want if you
Speaker 2: want to steer the scene to go into different pace
Speaker 2: or a different thing, like just just say that ship.
Speaker 5: Just say that ship.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 5: What about if a director comes in is like be better.
Speaker 6: Be better, try not to suck on this, be better?
Speaker 6: Does that give me that direction? Yeah?
Speaker 5: So Wimmer, that was great. That was great, just as
Speaker 5: an option. Be better?
Speaker 6: Okay, yes, uh, give me a line reading.
Speaker 5: Oh you like line readings.
Speaker 6: No, I'm just saying I want you to tell me
Speaker 6: that you can do my job better. I can do better.
Speaker 6: Show me show show be better, show me better, tell
Speaker 6: me better, show me more better.
Speaker 1: You know what it is.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know it's coming giming. So what do you
Speaker 6: want me? How do you want me to? You know,
Speaker 6: but nobody actually has the boss to say that should allowed.
Speaker 6: It's like, just be better.
Speaker 4: I'm like, im now, be pitching myself hard for your show,
Speaker 4: just so I can come in on every time.
Speaker 2: I love for you to direct show. Yeah, and I
Speaker 2: will literally take it very serious. I'd definitely be andy,
Speaker 2: you know, I'd be like.
Speaker 4: I'm not going to dreg your show. You that ship
Speaker 4: you have to it would jump the sharks. The tone
Speaker 4: would be completely different.
Speaker 6: What happened? We have jumped the show?
Speaker 5: Why are they doing jokes?
Speaker 6: They jokes? Why are they so over the top? Why
Speaker 6: is he wearing the hat? Wh wh where is he
Speaker 6: wearing a hat? Like pushing?
Speaker 5: It was really funny, but just not our show.
Speaker 6: Is seen in boxers. I don't understand why boxers like SpongeBob.
Speaker 6: What happened to the show?
Speaker 5: Also, the theme song is different, Freddy, how do you
Speaker 5: like to hear it?
Speaker 6: Notes?
Speaker 1: I go off of emotion.
Speaker 3: I just just just tell me what emotion because I'm
Speaker 3: always just digging for truth.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, at the end of the day, that's.
Speaker 6: All it is.
Speaker 3: You're just digging for truth. So what emotion are you
Speaker 3: looking for? Sometimes people are just like, oh, well this
Speaker 3: and that, and they you.
Speaker 1: Know, like, just what emotion, dude? What once you give
Speaker 1: me that, I'll know what emotion to dig in.
Speaker 2: Here example of that, that's that's actually really you know,
Speaker 2: I said many words because we're doing a podcast, but
Speaker 2: like that's a very direct way of saying, like, you know,
Speaker 2: like where.
Speaker 6: Do you feel? Said the director?
Speaker 2: We are in this story, and what do you think
Speaker 2: my character should be feeling right now?
Speaker 6: It's what you're saying, right, yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like I'll do a scene and maybe, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe I'm angry.
Speaker 3: And they're like, oh man, I've had a director going
Speaker 3: all to this to that, and they'll they'll go off
Speaker 3: and their sort of myriad of notes and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 3: so just just real simple man, what emotion are you
Speaker 3: going for?
Speaker 1: Yes? Give me the emotion. Yeah.
Speaker 4: So the like better note for you would be like
Speaker 4: it I want to I love you know, the anger
Speaker 4: is really great, but it's a little too high, so
Speaker 4: maybe we infuse some sadness in there, or maybe we
Speaker 4: have use some anxiety or something like could you know
Speaker 4: what color?
Speaker 5: They want to exactly?
Speaker 1: Colors?
Speaker 5: Yes, and then I use that I know how to
Speaker 5: do that, yeah.
Speaker 3: Because it's the well, right yeah, yeah, just go back
Speaker 3: into the well and go, okay, they want that emotion.
Speaker 3: And then like you know, I find my brain sends
Speaker 3: the signal to the well and yeah, like gives you
Speaker 3: the emotion.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I find myself doing that sometimes when I
Speaker 4: get like a long winded note and then I if
Speaker 4: I'm like I'm not, I like, do you ever do that?
Speaker 4: Like translate and I'm like do you mean more this
Speaker 4: and that and like in your own terms, you.
Speaker 6: Know, yes, so you can hear it in the words that.
Speaker 5: Will actually yeah.
Speaker 4: And then sometimes I feel bad because I feel like
Speaker 4: I just told the director how to actually.
Speaker 6: Talk talk director. Here's how you're utimes.
Speaker 4: The reaction is like, well, yeah, yeah, you know I
Speaker 4: just said that, And I was like, no, no, no, I'm
Speaker 4: saying how what I'm making sure that what I hearing
Speaker 4: is what you're saying. So we're on the same page,
Speaker 4: like yeah, because I have my own way of hearing
Speaker 4: and interpreting and then translating.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And what you said earlier about like a new
Speaker 3: director coming on your show, about you having a double
Speaker 3: bachelor's degree and in the character right like this the
Speaker 3: show I did it was the character was pretty external
Speaker 3: and I don't know, I abo'd say over the top,
Speaker 3: but it was definitely bombastic and electric.
Speaker 1: And and I don't think the director really watched the show.
Speaker 3: And he came on and and was just like, what
Speaker 3: are you doing?
Speaker 1: No, man, that's too much.
Speaker 3: I'm like, dude, I'm doing this for likes you watched
Speaker 3: the show at all, that's the character, you.
Speaker 5: Know, there's nothing worse. Yeah, doesn't watched the show.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you can tell like he didn't mean it
Speaker 3: in a mean way, but he had no filter and
Speaker 3: and he just pretty much told me I was like
Speaker 3: sort of overacting or whatever.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, no, man, that's what this is what.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, this is this is what I've been this
Speaker 5: is what I've been doing. Yeah, I watched more than
Speaker 5: one episode.
Speaker 2: Why is the one thing you you I would talk
Speaker 2: about now, like how we want to receive it. But
Speaker 2: what is the one thing that when a director does
Speaker 2: and and I'll give you an example, but when the
Speaker 2: director does that you were just like you took me
Speaker 2: out for me? Is when a director just makes you
Speaker 2: do it multiple takes without communicating the why.
Speaker 6: They're doing another take.
Speaker 2: Like I had a director a couple of seasons ago.
Speaker 2: We were doing a scene where we were going up
Speaker 2: this apps of this courthouse, you know, and we're going
Speaker 2: up the steps and then I'm talking walking talk, and
Speaker 2: then we say, wait, cut, okay, back to one, we're
Speaker 2: gonna do it again.
Speaker 6: I was like, all, great, right, we'll go back. We're
Speaker 6: doing and I.
Speaker 2: Think two takes for our show. We're nailing it at
Speaker 2: two takes. We're neling right back we take. We nail
Speaker 2: it at nobody forgets lines and ncyahs by the way,
Speaker 2: Like that's amazing, But that's because we in between scenes,
Speaker 2: we're getting each other off book. We're rehearsing the stuff together,
Speaker 2: which we really set each other up for success, you know,
Speaker 2: especially Gary Cole and I like and Katrina and Sean Murray,
Speaker 2: Like we all sit down and we're like, okay, let's
Speaker 2: run it, around it, run it, because sometimes we're shooting
Speaker 2: three and a half pages of just.
Speaker 5: Like I love that though. That's ensemble acting.
Speaker 6: It's amazing.
Speaker 2: But so then we're going to third take and she's like,
Speaker 2: let's do it one more time, and now at this point,
Speaker 2: we're like six takes and haven't heard award from the director.
Speaker 2: He hasn't addressed the actors, She hasn't addressed you know,
Speaker 2: the camera. So I look at the camera, our steady operator,
Speaker 2: and I go, I go, why.
Speaker 6: Are we doing it again?
Speaker 2: And he's like, I don't know. I said, we not
Speaker 2: nailed the movement. Like he goes, I don't know. It's
Speaker 2: everything's been fine. We just keep doing it.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: And he doesn't even he doesn't even know. Our camera
Speaker 2: operator doesn't even know. And I looked at the DP
Speaker 2: and I'm like, is the reason why we're doing it again?
Speaker 2: He goes, So then I said, and.
Speaker 5: Then we never saw that director ever again.
Speaker 6: Director, thank you for tuning in to those amigos. It's
Speaker 6: very good everywhere you got your podcast.
Speaker 2: So honestly, I was like, hey can I So at
Speaker 2: that point I was like shaking because like, you know,
Speaker 2: we're losing the sun and we're making us do it
Speaker 2: over and over again. This and he's talking up and
Speaker 2: down the steps, up and down the steps, so you're
Speaker 2: not aware of your actor's band, you know, stamina, you
Speaker 2: know you're in location.
Speaker 6: It's like five pm. We're losing the sun.
Speaker 2: We've shot four scenes in this location, like everyone's like drained,
Speaker 2: you know. So I said out loud, I'm sorry, before
Speaker 2: we even do another take, can we actually get a
Speaker 2: little perspective on the why we continue to do this scene?
Speaker 6: Is? Why are we not getting How can we help
Speaker 6: you get this?
Speaker 2: And she comes out and she's like, no, I just
Speaker 2: feel like, you know, we can do it one more time.
Speaker 2: And I said, and this is the first time, probably
Speaker 2: the last time I'll do this, but and I hope
Speaker 2: to God this last time I do this.
Speaker 6: But I've basically not going to be the first, not
Speaker 6: going to trust that, I said.
Speaker 2: So she didn't couldn't give me an explanation, and I
Speaker 2: looked at my cast and I was like, actually, know
Speaker 2: we're done with the scene.
Speaker 6: We're done.
Speaker 2: I think we're gonna we're gonna move on to the
Speaker 2: next day. And she was like, I'm sorry, and I said,
Speaker 2: we're done. We're not shooting the scene anymore. We're absolutely
Speaker 2: we're wrapping. That was the last eve and I we're
Speaker 2: gonna wrap the scene. And she was like, look and
Speaker 2: the DP and the camera when we're like they've never
Speaker 2: seen me, and like Mark Harmon was then too, so
Speaker 2: and he just kind of walk off. It was like
Speaker 2: we're done, We're done doing the same.
Speaker 6: I think that's it. I think we have it in
Speaker 6: any of the six stays and then you'll be able
Speaker 6: to cut it.
Speaker 2: And we walked off and then like everyone started picking
Speaker 2: up the equipment or whatever, and it was like that
Speaker 2: was the end, and and I felt bad, but I
Speaker 2: realized what was missing. Like a director has to command
Speaker 2: the crew, giving off information, so we so we get
Speaker 2: to the storytelling. When you exhaust your actors, you start
Speaker 2: losing the grip.
Speaker 5: I was going to say, did that director like fully
Speaker 5: lose the crew? That's there's nothing worse when the.
Speaker 2: Director do you have a steady camera operator going up
Speaker 2: the steps.
Speaker 5: Backwards and they don't know why they keep doing it.
Speaker 2: And it's a walking talk yeah, backwards and back down
Speaker 2: backwards and back down backwards. And this guy is like
Speaker 2: doing stair masters while we're like trying to do this
Speaker 2: can talk scenes anyway. So my point is like these
Speaker 2: are the moments where you're kind of like, as a director,
Speaker 2: like you have to create a certain amount of harmony.
Speaker 2: You have to understand like, you know, the harmonic love.
Speaker 4: The crew has power Yeah, the crew was going to
Speaker 4: be real slow to get up the next day.
Speaker 5: They're gonna be They're gonna take some time.
Speaker 4: I was like, you know what I mean, they're gonna
Speaker 4: you know, they might be like you might come up
Speaker 4: with an idea for a new prop and they might
Speaker 4: be like, you know, I mean not crews are very professional,
Speaker 4: but they work really hard. And when they feel disrespected
Speaker 4: that way, sometimes they you know, they're.
Speaker 6: Like, yeah, Nina, stuff is done by remind you you're in. Yeah,
Speaker 6: it was. It was. It was a tough thing and
Speaker 6: and uh.
Speaker 5: Or just like the morale is down, the everyone's just
Speaker 5: it's just like, you know.
Speaker 2: What's your what's the what's the thing that you were
Speaker 2: like that took me out that a director can do.
Speaker 3: Yeah, stuff like that, like like unnecessary stuff, you know,
Speaker 3: without telling me without It's.
Speaker 1: So funny and we might have Worke took the same director.
Speaker 3: The last show I did, I had to walk into
Speaker 3: I had I had to walk up some some courtroom
Speaker 3: steps also the same thing, and it was like one
Speaker 3: hundred degrees outside, and they wouldn't just like just want more. Man,
Speaker 3: I'm like, what's what's wrong? And they wouldn't communicate to
Speaker 3: us what was wrong, and they were just trying to
Speaker 3: get the timing just right and they couldn't get it.
Speaker 3: I'm like, dude, it's it's I'm wearing a suit, yeah,
Speaker 3: at a circuit point sweating like yeah, change course or just.
Speaker 2: Except it's communication, Like you just need to be communicator.
Speaker 2: Just tell me what you're trying.
Speaker 5: To we're trying to now, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, totally totally like communication.
Speaker 3: I don't you know, I don't like I don't like
Speaker 3: disrespectful directors that really like, oh yeah.
Speaker 4: When somebody like they give you a note and it's
Speaker 4: like a little like condescendan Yeah, it's a little like
Speaker 4: you know, like the way they say it or.
Speaker 3: The yet yellers or like these directors were like yellers
Speaker 3: or you know, oh.
Speaker 5: Like shouting a note across the thing instead of like walking.
Speaker 6: Up to you. Yeah, or just like assholes.
Speaker 3: You know, like like these asshole directors like that takes
Speaker 3: me out, man, It completely turns me off.
Speaker 1: And I just, you know, you know, stuff.
Speaker 4: Like that you mine is so cliche. I fucking hate
Speaker 4: line readings.
Speaker 6: Oh really, I do.
Speaker 4: I know it is not everyone my husband loves. My
Speaker 4: husband really doesn't mind line readings, like sometimes it really
Speaker 4: helps him understand a note. A line reading is when
Speaker 4: a director, instead of giving you a note for the line,
Speaker 4: like says how they want you to say the line, so.
Speaker 6: Like it's exaccurate.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 4: Was trying to, Like, I hear line reading, and I don't.
Speaker 4: It triggers me me in a weird way, like I
Speaker 4: feel like I'm doing a bad job, Like I'm doing
Speaker 4: so bad that you have to say the line how
Speaker 4: I should be saying it. And I also don't understand
Speaker 4: what the note is. Then I try to like, well,
Speaker 4: what is what is the note? Like what what is
Speaker 4: what is the shift or the adjustment? And I can't
Speaker 4: hear it in the line reading because I'm all caught
Speaker 4: up in my own ship. And then I get offended
Speaker 4: and then and then I get like kind of mad,
Speaker 4: you know, Yeah, I start spiraling and I and I yeah,
Speaker 4: and it's so cliche and I wish it didn't, but
Speaker 4: I mean it bugs me less. I think as I
Speaker 4: get older, when I was younger, I would like immediately
Speaker 4: get mad.
Speaker 3: But do you think that the line reading comes before
Speaker 3: or after they try to convey what the direction or
Speaker 3: the emotion is. And the second part is do you
Speaker 3: mind them giving you a mind line reading if after
Speaker 3: they've given you a direction, it's not it's not resonating.
Speaker 4: Yes, because I had this happen to me, So okay,
Speaker 4: if it's just the line reading, like if they come
Speaker 4: up and they're like, hey, can you say it? Like uh,
Speaker 4: you know, oh, we're going to be late, you know,
Speaker 4: if they just give the lit note like that, I'm
Speaker 4: like fuck you. But then I did have a director
Speaker 4: once who would come up give the note and then
Speaker 4: the line reading and the notes were always great that it.
Speaker 1: Drove me crazy.
Speaker 4: I wanted to be like, don't do the line reading
Speaker 4: because then I'd be hung up on the line reading.
Speaker 5: Then I'd be like, wait is how they said it?
Speaker 4: Like the note? And I would again be on that
Speaker 4: like spiral, you know. So it's like, yeah, I just
Speaker 4: wanted to be more excited, you know, like come on, guys,
Speaker 4: we gotta go, you.
Speaker 5: Know, and then they walk away and you're.
Speaker 4: Like what, And then I would just be left in
Speaker 4: that spiral and like overthinking, you know, We'll wait is
Speaker 4: that more excited?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 4: I'm just stuck on how they did it? Should I
Speaker 4: just do it? Like that, But is that how I
Speaker 4: would do it? Like I get all into that, you know,
Speaker 4: it just messes me up.
Speaker 2: In network television, I hate to say, but he's rarely
Speaker 2: the director from the writer.
Speaker 6: Oh yes, you're killing the messenger. I'm telling you.
Speaker 2: I would say maybe, I don't know, maybe fifty sixty forty,
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 6: You told me how many who takes the biggest fall?
Speaker 6: But writers?
Speaker 5: Most of the time it's the writer.
Speaker 6: The writers like this how it was supposed to be,
Speaker 6: I will.
Speaker 5: I will, I will. There is an other? Uh, what
Speaker 5: exception to this rule?
Speaker 6: Kids? M hm.
Speaker 5: A lot of times you need to give them My
Speaker 5: readings work really.
Speaker 4: Well for kids, and I've done that as a director,
Speaker 4: and it pained me.
Speaker 5: Like the show runner I had to tell she was like,
Speaker 5: just give her a line reading. I was like, Oh, when.
Speaker 4: I directed on Gordi Da Chronicles, which had a lot
Speaker 4: of kids, and Bridget who is the showrunner. Bridget you
Speaker 4: know Lebowitz, who's amazing and brilliant, and she was the
Speaker 4: showrunner and she was a writer on Brooklyn, so I
Speaker 4: already knew her.
Speaker 5: And I remember when.
Speaker 4: She told me with the kids, she was like yeah,
Speaker 4: and so like just sometimes a line reading, they're going
Speaker 4: to understand a line reading better than note.
Speaker 5: And I was like, oh, are you sure.
Speaker 4: I was like, let me try, you know, and then
Speaker 4: you just and then like kids, you have time restraints
Speaker 4: and you have to get through things quickly and so
Speaker 4: and then I saw it like there were most of
Speaker 4: the time I could give them notes and they would
Speaker 4: under I'm a mom, like you know, you know, you
Speaker 4: know how to talk to kids, like, but then you
Speaker 4: would see sometimes and they would ask for it too,
Speaker 4: like they were all so old enough where they'd be like,
Speaker 4: how can you can you show me? Like they were
Speaker 4: smart enough to also be like and I so then
Speaker 4: I would do it, but I'd be like, but also,
Speaker 4: don't you don't have to do exactly what I did,
Speaker 4: you know, Like I would always feel obligated to be like,
Speaker 4: you know, you could do that what I just did,
Speaker 4: or you can do your version of it, you know,
Speaker 4: because I was wanting to give them like autonomy. But
Speaker 4: but yeah, but kids they just they understand the note
Speaker 4: sometimes better by just mimicking, right, because they're young and
Speaker 4: they're still learning.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Switching Gears.
Speaker 6: Do you you have a show that is currently on NBC?
Speaker 2: Yes, and I told you earlier before we started the
Speaker 2: show that you are absolutely stunning your performance and this
Speaker 2: thing is incredible, Like you're literally pulling.
Speaker 6: Up all your weapons and you're like, this isn't me.
Speaker 6: You're literally just bringing everything out.
Speaker 5: Now I just have to sing on the show.
Speaker 6: Exactly exactly you took it from you sing any season?
Speaker 6: Did you get to sing noney season?
Speaker 2: So my my question for you is, can you talk
Speaker 2: about your show, you know, for the for the listeners
Speaker 2: and talk about you know, you know, your character and
Speaker 2: what the show's about.
Speaker 4: The name of the show, so it's called Gross Garden Society.
Speaker 5: Quite a lengthy title, but it's on NBC.
Speaker 4: We just wrapped our first season, so all thirteen episodes
Speaker 4: are on Peacock Bing.
Speaker 5: It played on every screen in your house.
Speaker 4: And it's about these four unlikely friends that are part
Speaker 4: of a garden club that.
Speaker 5: Get mixed up in a murder.
Speaker 4: And the show takes place in two different timelines, So
Speaker 4: there's present day where you sort of see how they
Speaker 4: all come together and become friends, and then there's flash
Speaker 4: forwards to the night of this murder, and little by
Speaker 4: little as the season goes on, you get more and
Speaker 4: more scenes from that night, more information, possible suspects and
Speaker 4: possible scenarios even of how what went down.
Speaker 5: And then in episode.
Speaker 4: Eleven and twelve, because it all takes place during this
Speaker 4: big gala, those two episodes happen in regular time. There's
Speaker 4: no yeah, there's no time jumping, and you see, like, yeah,
Speaker 4: you see the whole night up to the murder. And
Speaker 4: then episode twelve is from the murder all through the
Speaker 4: next morning, and then thirteen is sort of like a
Speaker 4: wrap up, and then another then there's some flashbacks and
Speaker 4: another flashboard. So it's a really fun show. It's like
Speaker 4: a little bit so. It is like kind of combo
Speaker 4: of like all the things I've done. It's a lot
Speaker 4: of dark humor. It's a little bit soapy. It's fun,
Speaker 4: it's escapist, it's dramatic, it's heartfelt. I play a character
Speaker 4: who is a very wealthy socialite in this affluent town
Speaker 4: that is all about like the upper class and appearances.
Speaker 4: And she is part of the Garden Club as part
Speaker 4: of her community service because she drunk drove into the
Speaker 4: town fountain, and so to avoid jail, she has to
Speaker 4: volunteer at the garden Club and she meets these other
Speaker 4: people and they sort of become maybe her first friends
Speaker 4: in real life and or ever.
Speaker 5: In her life.
Speaker 4: And and I think we also meet her at like
Speaker 4: a real low point in her life.
Speaker 5: We find out that.
Speaker 4: She gave up a baby when she was a teenager,
Speaker 4: and she contacts that young man he's now uh, he's
Speaker 4: now a teenager, and that she makes like a series
Speaker 4: of bad choices.
Speaker 5: And she doesn't really know how to be a grown.
Speaker 4: Up, and so she's kind of messy and toxic and
Speaker 4: but also vulnerable. And I like she's one of the
Speaker 4: most favorite characters I've ever played because she's so complex
Speaker 4: and so I'm so like empathetic to her. She just says,
Speaker 4: there's so much she just doesn't know that she's like
Speaker 4: trying to figure out. And then she's meeting all these
Speaker 4: people in this like crossroads moment of her life.
Speaker 6: So yeah.
Speaker 5: So and then as an actor, it's like dream.
Speaker 4: Because I get to be big and ridiculous and like
Speaker 4: kind of funny because she's ridiculous. And then I get
Speaker 4: to be real and grounded and heartbroken.
Speaker 6: And your fans haven't really seen you play something.
Speaker 4: No, yeah, yeah, So it's like, yeah, I'm getting to
Speaker 4: do you know, it's like I joke that Brooklyn nine
Speaker 4: nine was like a very elite comedy school that I
Speaker 4: got to go to, and so I'm getting to like
Speaker 4: bring everything, Like I don't think I could have played
Speaker 4: this character ten years ago.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: She's like I've had to have done like everything I've done,
Speaker 4: I think, to like bring it all together for her
Speaker 4: because she has so many different flavors and colors, and
Speaker 4: they really just wrote like such a great character with Bertie.
Speaker 5: So it's been really fun.
Speaker 2: But you're in a spectacle on this show, and I
Speaker 2: think people should watch just to kind of experience your performances.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's like something we also kind
Speaker 2: of really need to know that there is a level
Speaker 2: of experience and expertise and liberation that you got to
Speaker 2: have as an artist to actually get to a point
Speaker 2: to bring a character like that to life. One thing
Speaker 2: is what's on the page, and the other one is
Speaker 2: the instrument that tells that story.
Speaker 6: And you have just done it in such a high level.
Speaker 2: And so I really truly invite friends to go to
Speaker 2: Peacock and catch up benj It tell a friend how
Speaker 2: everybody discover the show.
Speaker 6: It's you know, your performance is.
Speaker 2: Something like, yes, just for that alone, like you need
Speaker 2: to tune in and watch Melissa do her show and
Speaker 2: thank you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, you know what I love about it
Speaker 3: and what I loved about Brooklyn long Line. I remember
Speaker 3: first watching you on that and going like, oh, this
Speaker 3: this girl.
Speaker 1: She goes for it. She she don't care man, she
Speaker 1: she goes for it.
Speaker 3: And and then this is what I mean by it, right,
Speaker 3: this sort of the context behind it is that I
Speaker 3: feel that sometimes actresses sort of hold back because they
Speaker 3: want to they want to look a certain way or
Speaker 3: they want to be a certain way, where where I
Speaker 3: feel with you, there's a freedom in your instrument that
Speaker 3: you don't you don't give.
Speaker 1: A ship man.
Speaker 6: Yes, you go and you do it.
Speaker 1: And I mean that in the in the most hot.
Speaker 5: No, No, I did I know that is such a
Speaker 5: nice compliment.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no breaks, no break down.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I just really love this job, you know.
Speaker 4: And I I you know, I think, yeah, I think
Speaker 4: part of that is I do really love to play.
Speaker 5: I do really love I love I love the you know.
Speaker 4: When we were making gross point, it had been a
Speaker 4: long time since since Brooklyn that I had done because
Speaker 4: I've done streaming shows since then. In a streaming show,
Speaker 4: you shoot the whole thing and then it comes out later,
Speaker 4: which I love. And so it had been a minute
Speaker 4: since I had had the experience of while we were
Speaker 4: shooting it. We were going to premiere and I got
Speaker 4: really anxious and it was kind of the first time
Speaker 4: I was able to articulate it. I was like, oh,
Speaker 4: I hate to and I love this feeling of when
Speaker 4: we're making the thing and we're all in this bubble
Speaker 4: and you're just going for it and you're playing and
Speaker 4: you're exploring and you're finding things, and you're not thinking
Speaker 4: about what it's gonna freaking look like or you know,
Speaker 4: I mean, you're thinking about how it's gonna come together,
Speaker 4: because your brain does the like technical dance of you know,
Speaker 4: the cameras and all that. But but I love this
Speaker 4: like bubble where you're just making the thing.
Speaker 5: And I was like, Oh, this sucks.
Speaker 4: Now it's gonna be on TV and people are gonna
Speaker 4: have opinions about it, and then it's not gonna be
Speaker 4: ours anymore, and it's gonna be everyone else's and then
Speaker 4: the bubble, the bubble's gone, and then we don't get
Speaker 4: to live in the bubble ever again, right right, And
Speaker 4: I was like, but that's.
Speaker 5: Literally our job.
Speaker 4: We don't get to do this unless people like what
Speaker 4: we do and they watch, so we want that. But
Speaker 4: I just, yeah, it's like I'm a little at odds
Speaker 4: with that, and I just I don't know, like sounds crazy,
Speaker 4: but like almost like if I if I could like
Speaker 4: still make money and like just like do shows and
Speaker 4: like act and things, and like it didn't matter who
Speaker 4: saw it or like if it did well, like.
Speaker 5: Dream, that would be like literally the dream.
Speaker 4: I think everyone feels like that, right, Like it's so
Speaker 4: it's so anxiety, Like it's so it's hard that part
Speaker 4: when like you know the thing you love so much
Speaker 4: and then everyone's going to come.
Speaker 5: It's it's not yours anymore.
Speaker 2: So it's like the pressure of it having to perform
Speaker 2: for an economical reason.
Speaker 4: Right, like for the for the very practice is the business,
Speaker 4: Like it is a business. It has it's a product.
Speaker 4: It has to make money, it has to like do well.
Speaker 4: People have to watch, it has to hit certain markers,
Speaker 4: like right now we're waiting to see if it'll come back,
Speaker 4: if it's going to hit these certain markers.
Speaker 3: So why do you find that so anxiety inducing them.
Speaker 3: And I don't even mean what you're going through right
Speaker 3: now in particular. You just described, you know, you doing
Speaker 3: these other shows or Brooklyn or whatever, and it seems
Speaker 3: sort of the normal process for you to battle that
Speaker 3: in your head, Like why why is it so anxiety
Speaker 3: and Doucy, I think.
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I mean, I guess, right, it's so out of my control,
Speaker 4: like there's nothing I can do about it, which in
Speaker 4: other ways of my life, right, I should just like
Speaker 4: and I normally can like with things I can't control,
Speaker 4: like I'm pretty good at like yeah, but for this,
Speaker 4: I guess because I get especially if I love it,
Speaker 4: Like I really love this show.
Speaker 5: I really love this cast.
Speaker 4: They're amazing, so freaking talented Asian Naomi King, Ana Sophia,
Speaker 4: Rob Ben Rappaport. They're like top notch freaking actors and
Speaker 4: people like human beings.
Speaker 5: I love the showrunners and I love this character.
Speaker 4: So I think I feel very personally invested. And again
Speaker 4: it's that feeling of like it gets taken away from
Speaker 4: you a little bit, like I still have ownership of
Speaker 4: my character when I get to be her and do
Speaker 4: it on set, but all the external stuff is like
Speaker 4: out of my control, even though it's this thing that
Speaker 4: I hold like near and deer, and it belongs to
Speaker 4: other people now and they get to decide if they
Speaker 4: like it enough.
Speaker 5: Like it's a weird, frea consuming So if.
Speaker 1: It's control, why allow the anxiety.
Speaker 4: To because I want to do it more, because I
Speaker 4: want to go back to my happy bubble. We know
Speaker 4: where we're making it and no one knows what we're
Speaker 4: going to make it, and yeah, and I you know,
Speaker 4: and I just.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess ultimately what I'm trying to get back to.
Speaker 5: The bubble man.
Speaker 6: Yeah, but don't let us steal your peace though, Yeah.
Speaker 5: I know, yeah, yeah, no I do.
Speaker 4: I have to get It's the one part of our
Speaker 4: job that I have probably struggled the most with, like
Speaker 4: my whole career, is the waiting. We did it very
Speaker 4: often on Brooklyn. Brooklyn was always on the bubble, even
Speaker 4: though we weren't really it was just everyone was watching
Speaker 4: us on Hulu. And yeah, the waiting periods of finding
Speaker 4: out if this thing this this, especially when it's especially
Speaker 4: when it's an incredible experience and you love who you're
Speaker 4: working with and you love what you're working on, like
Speaker 4: That's what it was with Brooklyn.
Speaker 5: It was just like, I don't want this to end.
Speaker 4: I don't want this ride to end, like there's something
Speaker 4: really special happening.
Speaker 2: You get the itch to play different characters at all,
Speaker 2: or do you're like like the set.
Speaker 6: And be like, I want to live this character through.
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 5: Well both.
Speaker 4: I definitely love TV more than doing movies for that reason.
Speaker 6: You can really see a character. I like stay.
Speaker 5: Characters longer, you know.
Speaker 4: It always feels like when you do a film or
Speaker 4: something and you're just with that character for two months
Speaker 4: and you're like, for that, then's what happened to her? Like,
Speaker 4: you know, I've always left with that feeling. I like
Speaker 4: living with characters longer. But I do like even as
Speaker 4: sad as I was for Brooklyn to end, my sadness,
Speaker 4: I think was more rooted in anxiety about what happens next?
Speaker 4: What does my life look like without this this thing?
Speaker 7: You know?
Speaker 5: But I was ready.
Speaker 1: To move on.
Speaker 5: I was ready to like play someone else.
Speaker 6: I think, oh, really, yeah you felt that way?
Speaker 5: Yeah I did, Yeah, I yeah. I was excited about how.
Speaker 6: Many episodes did you guys do?
Speaker 5: We did like one hundred and fifty five? Yeah? It
Speaker 5: was like, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: I was like, I can tell you exactly what Amy's
Speaker 4: probably going to do for the rest of.
Speaker 5: Her life, but like, you know, I feel I have
Speaker 5: fully explored this character and now I'm ready to move on.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And like one last question, where do you think
Speaker 2: your character would be right now?
Speaker 5: Amy?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 4: Amy is definitely a captain of a precinct or very
Speaker 4: close to being captain of a precinct. She's also probably
Speaker 4: the PTA mom of her kids' school, very good. She's
Speaker 4: probably had a second kid by now, and she's yeah,
Speaker 4: and she's gotten all their finances in order, like Jake
Speaker 4: finally has a four oh one K and they have
Speaker 4: a college fund set up and yeah, yeah, and that's
Speaker 4: what she's doing.
Speaker 1: That awesome and an rip.
Speaker 3: Rest in peace to Andre, who I've had the distinct
Speaker 3: pleasure of working with as well. And he's from Chicago
Speaker 3: like me, and he was just a lovely, lovely human
Speaker 3: being and obviously an incredible actor, but just just a
Speaker 3: lovely human being to work with. And I'm sure you
Speaker 3: must have the same experience with him.
Speaker 5: The most amazing, brilliant man.
Speaker 4: And I mean I have countless beautiful memories with him.
Speaker 4: But for me, it was also the advice he gave
Speaker 4: me and also the biggest gift. And we all have
Speaker 4: talked about this on the cast, especially those of us
Speaker 4: because you know, Me, Andy On, Joe, Stephanie, and Chelsea,
Speaker 4: we all had kids during the run of that show.
Speaker 4: We all became parents, and Andre flew back to New
Speaker 4: Jersey almost every weekend while we shot Brooklyn, and eventually
Speaker 4: they just started giving him Fridays off. But he was
Speaker 4: a very devoted family man and he gave us all
Speaker 4: this beautiful gift of I do not feel bad telling
Speaker 4: a job that I need to get home to my
Speaker 4: family and that things need to be worked into the
Speaker 4: schedule or this is my expectation. I can't go longer
Speaker 4: than two or three weeks without seeing them, you know.
Speaker 4: And I'm very like collaborative in that, but like, I
Speaker 4: don't feel bad or you know, scared to stand up
Speaker 4: for that. And I think our business has gotten better
Speaker 4: too in general, with like family and like treating people
Speaker 4: like human beings. But yeah, that was the biggest gift
Speaker 4: I think he gave me was was that was just
Speaker 4: unabashedly being like, yeah, so I'm going to be away
Speaker 4: from my family, So this is what's going to happen, right,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, that's great advice.
Speaker 2: Well, I like to end it on that beautiful sentiment
Speaker 2: that we all should definitely find the balance of you know,
Speaker 2: continue to cultivate on why we showed up to work
Speaker 2: and why we get up in the morning while we
Speaker 2: travel to a different city to make you know, the
Speaker 2: the runway that we need to keep the light on
Speaker 2: for our families.
Speaker 6: But it's also important to going to be with our
Speaker 6: families because that's the point, that's the point of.
Speaker 2: Living life, right, Melissa Fumeto, I just want to say
Speaker 2: thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 6: For being here, Thanks for having me. You're a hero
Speaker 6: to a generation. I mean, I would you are the
Speaker 6: national flower of Cuba.
Speaker 5: I definitely would not go.
Speaker 4: But I am so honored to be the first amiga
Speaker 4: ye on this podcast.
Speaker 5: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 6: Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is Those Amigos about the Rama Rodriguez and
Speaker 2: see you in the next episode.
Speaker 3: Those Amigos is a production from WV Sound and iHeartMedia's
Speaker 3: Michael through That Podcast Network, hosted by Me, Freddie Rodriguez
Speaker 3: and Wilmri Valdorama.
Speaker 2: Those Amigos is produced by Aaron Burlson and Sophie Spencer Zabos.
Speaker 3: Our executive producers are Wilmri Valdorama, Freddie Rodriguez, Aaron Burlson,
Speaker 3: and Leo Klem at WV Sound.
Speaker 2: This episode was shot and edited by Ryan Posts and
Speaker 2: mixed by Sean Tracy and features original music by Madison
Speaker 2: Devenport and Helo boy.
Speaker 3: Our cover art photography is by David Avalos and designed
Speaker 3: by Deny Holtzklau and.
Speaker 2: Thank you for being at Third Amigo today. I appreciate
Speaker 2: you guys always listening to those amigos.
Speaker 3: A more podcasts from My Heart visit the r Heart
Speaker 3: Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 3: favorite shows.
Speaker 6: So you next week