The Chair (2014) s01e05 Episode Script
Picture's Up
1 Zachary: "The Chair" is two directors shooting a movie from the same source material.
Chris: Each director has to prep in Pittsburgh then each director shoots for four weeks in Pittsburgh.
And both directors have final cut for the films.
Anna wants it to just be Phil and her in the room with on that.
Shader: My concern is just setting a general precedent that she can block other people from being a part of things.
Anna: I feel it an us-against-them thing with Moore and Shader, which I don't want.
- Oh, they're shooting us right now.
- Hetzler: Are they? From the window, yes, there's a camera on me.
It pleases today's audience 110%.
Man: Three, two, one.
Oh, my God! Yay! These are all really ambitious days.
That's where I'll be the bad guy.
We're gonna shoot and we're gonna assume we can work it out.
Here is the deal I thought I had told these guys this, and apparently I had not communicated this effectively.
The truck cannot do breakfast twice.
They're gonna set up a coffee station - at the second location - Good.
And crafty is gonna include, like, bagels and Right, per normal, they'll leave leftover Yeah, and then we'll have a bunch of breakfast burritos for the G&E guys.
And I'll just take a fistful of these methamphetamines, get the day started right.
This is really happening.
What are you doing right now? You wanna go make a movie? (knock on door) (knock on door) Lauren: It's the first day It's the first day You look ready to direct and act in a movie.
That's so weird.
That's so weird.
Like, not everybody wakes up looking like that.
But you do! Do you think Anna looks like this? No, a lot better, like, a lot better.
I tried to go to sleep at 10:00 and could not you look terrifying.
Okay, we're gonna get the camera back on.
We're getting picked up because we can't drive in the snow.
Thank you, guys.
Corey: My major concern with Shane going into this it's that he's acting in the movie.
He's a first-time director.
I don't know how he runs a set.
Shane might know how to make a movie, but he might not know how to work with a whole crew of people and how to utilize all of their talents and abilities and what the most important thing is that he needs to achieve on any day.
Does Shane understand how to use a cinematographer? Does Shane understand how to talk to his costume person? Does he understand how to work with a gaffer? Does he understand how to make a day and how important first AD's job is gonna be? Will it work? Phil: I'm really excited to see if this does or not.
I would like to welcome everybody to day one of the untitled Shane Dawson comedy.
(cheering) Thank you all for coming out.
Everybody has probably met Shane.
If you haven't, this is Shane.
He's our director.
Just want to say thank you guys so much for coming.
I know so many of you have been flexible with your time and your rate and everything else, so it means the world to me.
I've been wanting to make a movie my whole life so let's make a good fucking movie, a funny movie.
And hopefully we'll have fun and not hate each other by the end of it.
You'll just hate me and that's fine.
- Hetzler: How are you feeling? - Real good.
Really good, like, frighteningly good, like why aren't I nervous at all? I have an appetite.
Hetzler: That's good.
That is very good.
Anna: I'm just feeling, like, super jazzed and really happy Hetzler: And that's how you should be.
It almost feels like I mean, I'm not even gonna say that.
I was gonna say hard part is over so not true.
Can she take what's in her head and convey it through the actors in a way that the audience is feeling the things that she wants wants them to feel at the time that she wants them to feel them? And if she does, she'll make a movie that works and that really connects with people.
And for the people that don't connect to it, they are gonna be bored.
Anna, you know what would be great is if you could go over to Phil and Scott and start talking to them about what exactly they're gonna be doing in this scene, and that way when the camera's ready, we'll be ready to show the action to everyone.
- Love it.
- Thank you.
- Do you want - Probably the other way.
Yeah, thanks.
After we get the real somber one we'll do the pickup.
I love the fucking pick up.
It's pretty great.
There's somber just like hug, there's a hug, pick up simple pick up just let and that's it, just a simple up and down vertical.
And then there's hug, pick up, - (grunting) - Ringy dingy.
Ringy dingy and let his little legs like sway around - not little, manly legs.
- Oh, they're little.
And swing him and swing him.
Like papa bear.
Siena: Okay, guys, moments away.
We're gonna go in for a take.
- Hey, Anna, you ready? - We've got humans in both cars? Yeah, well, we have human in the front car.
And mark.
Anna, on your call.
- Action.
- Siena: Action.
And action.
I think it's gonna be okay 'cause we're gonna watch him run and then she could have dropped her hands, yeah.
- Great! Cut! - Phil: All right, cut! There was a focus problem, but all the action was good.
- That feel good? - Feels really good.
Can we get everybody to be super quiet for this one blocking rehearsal? Yeah, we're filming at the door after this.
Get on top of her like you just finished your big elbow.
You're looking at your phone 'cause I think you texted her like an hour ago and she hasn't responded so you keep looking.
Starting falling on the floor like you just hit the floor.
You don't have a line unless we improvise a little something.
Like that but laying down.
Action on rehearsal.
Fake wrestling okay and then.
And then we're gonna do the reverse on you.
Cool, okay, let's go one more time.
Action! Just not feeling this.
She looks way too cool.
I have a feeling I'll use boots for the party scene.
Copy that, just want to make sure.
What time is it? Anybody, time? 5:45.
All right, if we do one more it has to be like All right, one more, fast, fast, fast.
I can let us do this for one more minute, 60 more seconds, and then we have to shoot this.
I think we should do one with her on top We really don't have time.
- I know.
- Cut.
That's a cut.
Funny, yeah, we got it, great.
- Phil: You got it? - Yeah.
Okay.
Good job, guys.
That's a wrap.
Yeah, guys, that's a wrap today.
Thank you.
Great day, guys! Make everything safe! What a great first day! Thank you for today.
You guys all kicked ass.
Thank you for your hustle.
Expect 20 more days of that, but I really appreciate everything you guys do.
Let's wrap out of here.
Chris Moore say anything else when he was here? Lauren: His only note was, like, "Did anybody think about why would Scott ever go out with Heather"? And I was like, "Yeah, we thought about it.
We definitely did.
" I was like, "It's a little nuts but it kind of is the Ryan Reynolds/Anna Faris model and we kind of just justified it that at the end of the day, I think it's just funny.
It's not like you're watching a movie with the two of them together the whole time.
" - Thanks for the ride, y'all.
- Driver: No problem.
Shane: I'm making a movie, this is crazy.
And we're a little bit behind, but that was expected.
The team worked really well together.
The actors were amazing.
I think we did four and a half pages today, which is pretty typical for a movie as so I've heard.
So that was good, and I'm rambling because I'm very tired.
I probably messed up a few times, but that's how you learn, right? Today was really cold which could explain why I'm so, so tired.
Just a tremendous amount of support from everyone today.
Hey, it's like, I feel it's just really easy to do a job when you have when you're literally, like, enveloped in people rooting for you.
Anna: It's her just like this.
That's all I need.
A close up of her face going Meena: Okay.
All right.
Can that be something that we do in sort of this setup or no? I mean, we need to tweak some things, but we'll just make it a really tight close up 'Cause right now, guys, we have about 30 minutes to get that and then the shot over here.
Anna: The plan is it's like the holy trinity between me, Meena, and Siena, and with every shot, there's the creative talks between me and Meena.
There's me and Meena trying to get what we've agreed we want.
All right, so I'll tell you go, and then it's gonna be - kind of a smooth, quick - Okay.
Anna: With her it's all, of course, visual and with me it's performance, and then the two meld together and then there's Siena, who's like the voice of reason in terms of, we gotta no matter how pretty the light is, we have to get this person saying this so that we can move on.
So, guys, we're not moving on to scene 58.
We're gonna do 91C over again.
Anna wants another take of it.
Anna: I just intend on listening to them and taking every moment, knowing when to fight for something that I need and possibly fuck up the schedule and if it's worth it, and when not to do that.
And then I've got Phil who's the guy that I'm gonna turn to and say, "Did I get that performance?" Are you liking the looks and everything? You have long enough holds and stuff? In my moments of weakness when I'm not sure, I'm hoping to lean on Phil in that capacity.
- Cut! - Cut.
- Love it.
- Meena: That was good.
- Looks good.
- Siena: Let's move on, guys.
The hardest part about playing Scott is that he was the popular kid.
He is the guy everybody likes.
He is famous in his high school.
I was a 400-pound, not-popular kid who looked like a woman.
I looked like a 45-year old woman in high school.
Nobody wanted to hang out with me, nobody wanted to talk to me, nobody knew who I was.
Somebody thought I was the lunch lady.
So for me, that's been the hardest part is trying to play a confident, cool guy.
I have no life experience with that.
I'm not confident at all.
It's not hard playing a serious guy.
I'm a very serious guy.
I know that's a shocker, but I'm a very low-key, serious guy.
That's easy, but having that confidence to stand with my shoulders back and like pretend like I have fucked all these girls before, like, that's hard.
Corey: What Shane is normally used to doing, I mean, think about it, broad characters, offensive characters, larger-than-life people, but the interesting thing about Shane playing Scott is Scott's the straight man in this story.
Scott's the guy who is keeping this story based in reality because what Shane intends to do is going to be a little larger-than-life.
Scott keeps that grounded.
This will be the first time that Shane has gotten to really do something like that.
Lauren: The Scott role is really difficult for him partly because whether or not he wants to admit it, he's playing a version of himself.
I know Shane does not see himself as this popular, cool guy, although, ultimately, at this day and age, he is a popular, cool guy.
He's been very worried about playing him too safe but he doesn't want to play him over the top.
And so we're trying to find that middle area.
It just means he has colors.
Starring in your first movie is as big an emotional ride as directing your first movie.
And to take both of those things on, I'm not gonna pretend that it's not possible but for the first movie, it seems an added risk.
All right, everybody, here we go.
Everybody in here set? All right, guys, we're go for picture.
Let's lock it down.
All right, may I have sound speed? - Speeding.
- May I have camera roll? Speed.
Scene 11, take one.
Picture's up, everybody quiet! Action, background.
And action.
Man: Fuck that ho.
Heather's a bitch! Hey, remember, when she asked Principal Turner to get rid of the handicap ramps because she was tired of walking uphill? She had sensitive calves.
Scott! What's up, baby?! It's good to see you.
You're the man! Man: See, people love you, man.
No one actually likes Heather, they're just afraid of her.
Man #2: Besides, she's gonna be stuck in this town for the rest of her life doing the same shit every day.
You got out, bro, you already won.
We got you.
Hey, we love you, man.
Dude, do you have a boner? And cut! That's cut! Shane: When you do that, I mean, go, like, really bring me in.
- All right, okay.
- Let's do a practice.
Okay, you're the director.
Ah, that's my boy! See you, man! - Okay.
- Okay? At the very beginning of the very first day, the first thing that Chris Moore said to me was that he needed to make sure that he and the peanut gallery, as he referred to them, were able to watch the sex scene.
She is bringing the monitor into the room.
- Mm-hmm.
- So I said, "Well, you know, what's the peanut gallery gonna watch?" Not the sex scenes.
To me, it's a fascinating scene.
The fact it was in the original script, the fact that both of the directors kept it, this idea of a breakup during sex.
So for me, it was a all-around test scene for Anna.
You can keep saying, though, but at some point - you can't not let us watch it.
- Oh, okay.
- So the point is - I thought you were trying to - keep saying, no, Josh - no, no, no we can be in the circle all morning if you like.
said they were obsessed with watching every single day or something that that was like but they're not No, no, they're actually very rarely at the monitors.
So we'd like the ability to watch it and be able to, you know, comment if necessary, right? So that's setting the tone for the whole movie.
- Josh approached me today - Okay.
To let me know that we needed to come up with a practical solution that would allow the producers who wanted to watch the sex scenes to watch the sex scenes.
They also were doing it in a tiny, little room that was gonna make it hard to cover and hard to shoot, and what were they gonna do? You know, and there's a lot of dialogue.
I just wanted to see all of that get done.
And the solution has to be we have to get another monitor.
It really is supposed to be a closed set and they say non-essential personnel.
Now we can make the argument that, like Shader: I'm gonna tell you that the person who's put together the financing for the entire project is gonna be clearly justified as essential personnel.
So I think the producer is gonna be our essential personnel.
Yeah, yeah, no I don't think that's a conversation to go down.
So the fact that it's a sex scene is irrelevant.
- It's not irrelevant.
- It is.
It is to the principle of the point.
It's an important scene.
I mean, they're all important scenes.
- Why are we - Because it's the only one that we've been told that we can't watch.
Now literally Chris and Josh have mentioned it to you and to me.
It is the principle of access.
Like, they feel like they sho you know, whether or not they - Julie: Then fine, bring a monitor.
- Choose to exercise that, yeah, no Or pay for an extra monitor.
I have no problem.
Then fine, pay for an extra monitor.
Hetzler: In order to complete my conspiracy to block Chris Moore, - his access to teenage sex - You're not trying to block I'm going to sabotage the cables to their monitor.
(laughs) Anna: I think that there was tension.
And I think that that tension was unavoidable, really, because of the nature of what we were all doing.
And the reason that I think it couldn't be avoided was because there was, like, a conflict of interests there that Chris Moore and Josh Shader would never really cop to.
I thought there was a conflict of interests between a producer who's producing a movie and a producer who's producing a movie and another movie, and a television show about that process.
That to me is a completely different thing than a producer who's producing a movie.
It eroded my trust in them as producers of "Hollidaysburg" which is what I'm interested in, you know what I mean? I need a producer who will help me make "Hollidaysburg.
" And that's why I felt the need to bring Josh and Julie in.
You need to know that someone's on your side, that they see your vision, trust you, and wanna do everything in their power logistically to make that vision happen for you.
I didn't feel that with Chris Moore and Josh Shader, not because they're not good producers or good men, because they are both of those things.
It's because they were making a TV show simultaneously, and another movie.
Man: Can't believe you had sex with her.
What the fuck?! Her! Dan: One thing that Shane has really changed is the character of Heather.
In my original script, Heather was a human being.
Oh, Scotty, I missed you so much.
For real's, boo.
And in Shane's vision, we've turned her into this really broad, out-there almost non-human kind of character.
I was with these sick-ass DJs from Philly all weekend and they were, like, so cool and so hot but, like, every time I fucked one of them I could only think of you.
My concern is that people are gonna have a hard time believing that Scott is, like, hung-up on this girl and is upset that they broke up, where he should be happy to get this monster out of his life.
In Anna's movie, Heather is much more like the Heather in my original script.
She's a real person, she has real emotions and she's going through real-life experiences.
What's up? Nothing.
What's up with you? Why do you have to say it like that? - Say it like what? - "What's up with you?" I don't know, like, was today typical, was that good? Corey: Today was good.
Our crew was learning how to work with each other and understand by Friday, it'll have been the fifth day of them working - as a well-oiled machine.
- Shane: Mm-hmm.
So, hopefully, Friday would be a day that we can actually make five pages with time to spare.
Mm-hmm.
Quick question, scene 75 another Tori the Whorey picture goes viral.
Could we do that first because her getting puked on and then we're gonna have to shower her and wash her hair and do all that stuff, you know what I'm saying? Man: That is a 100% correct.
I feel like we start with that.
It's a little complicated, but we get through it.
We can still do the Kevin O'Shea first.
Then we well, but we should probably do Kevin after because it's the same setup for her getting puked on.
If we start with 75, another Tori the Whorey picture going viral, then 14.
That is her talking to Kevin O'Shea.
18 is the same setup that she gets puked on, and then she goes home.
And then we'll just do then we'll just do Joel on the phone.
Phil: May I make a recommendation? Tomorrow and the next day are gonna be two bigger days in the bigger part of the house.
While everything is broken up at this point in scene order, I think if we make more focused attempt to while we're lit this way - Right.
- Shoot as much as we can that way.
Because every time we have to turn the world around, it's roughly 35 minutes to 45 minutes.
And if we keep flip-flopping it then that will take a lot longer to get through.
Lauren: Less time to, like, change costume than - it is to flip-flop, right? - Mm-hmm.
Maybe if you try to create a larger sense of panic, it would speed things up.
I can totally do that.
(laughs) Siena: So I'm gonna close the door now.
And we're gonna keep it quiet.
In 20 minutes, I'm gonna check back in with you guys.
I'll knock on the door first.
- Thank you.
Bye, all.
- Anna: Thanks, baby.
Okay, hey, everybody.
We're trapped in here for 20 minutes.
I thought that they were gonna leave us alone a little bit today.
How do you feel about this for the run through? Yeah.
I think maybe we should ask them to leave? It's up to you.
I can't even remember what the ending we went back and forth so many times and Chris Moore was like "No, no, we won't be in the room," and then he was like, "Yes, we will.
" (clears throat) Do you think we could have actual privacy or what are the rules? Yeah, 'cause it might just be helpful maybe the first couple of times, you know what I mean? Anna: I had attempted to, like, make sure with Chris Moore that I would be able to make my actors feel safe and comfortable with in terms of the doc cameras.
Because it's just another layer like you want your actors to feel safe and comfortable with the fact that they're being filmed in their underwear, simulating sex, period, and then you have another layer of cameras capturing the rehearsals and stuff.
I thought we already dealt with this.
I'm super confused.
This is what I was trying to avoid so much was wasting time talking about it, so I thought it was like it ended up being like a hybrid situation where they were gonna film me but not be in the room - and now - Let's just go ask Anthony.
It really doesn't matter because if there's a doc person in the room with us, it's it's hard, you know, it's bad.
Are you guys concerned that you think it's a better move for me to be in there, but I don't wanna be in there because that means the camera ops are there? But I don't mind directing from the monitor, I mean - No.
- When you say cut We're just wasting far too much fucking time.
- I agree.
- Everybody stop talking.
When you say cut, the camera's coming back in.
When you're in there, we'll come out.
- You're okay with that? - Let's go.
I thought that's what agreed.
It was very wishy-washy.
They'll sleep on the bed, that's no problem, right? Not at all.
Bam, I just bought us another front row.
Phil, do you have any idea how old the girl is who's this room? I thought none of you were watching? Why not? You all made a big deal that no one's supposed to watch but me and Josh.
Siena: Totally quiet in here, guys, please, totally quiet.
Anna: All right, let's just have fun and get this one over with, guys.
- Are you ready? - Tobin: Mm-hmm.
Okay, and action.
- It's because it's been so long? - I guess.
Do you want to fuck me from behind till you come? Tobin: What is going on? Your Skype has been broken for, like, three weeks.
I feel like I've missed everything.
- Is it school? - I don't know.
Just lately I feel like I'm walking around but I'm trapped in my own body.
I think about dying a lot.
Anna: Cut.
(claps) That is amazing.
Shane: Action.
Cross your arms.
Roll your eyes and barf! - Okay cut.
- Phil: And cut! Shane: All right, let's get her cleaned up.
Phil: All right, guys, let's get this reset.
If I could have everybody just stay upstairs, that's upstairs.
Anybody that needs cleaned up.
(groans) I need to look at that back.
Is it gonna come out like that? It needs to be like one big, that's different from the test for sure, right? That was just like chunks, like the test was like a huge stream.
Okay, so let's do it in two.
Let's do it, we'll do the push in, we'll do the arms crossed and the roll eyes, - and we've got it, okay.
- And then we'll cut, - and then we'll reset for puke.
- Got it.
It needs to be clean because you can't cut away.
Lauren: What does "clean" mean? What does that mean? Shader: She closes her eyes.
She can't be anticipating it.
We like have to finish this day because - We have to, yeah.
- We have to.
Or else we're gonna be behind.
Way too far.
So what is the plan if we start to go over time? As we get closer to that, we'll just have to start thinking about how we're covering it.
As long as we're able to get this one on this take, that'll be amazing.
After that, for the profile, I feel like we'll have worked through it.
It'll be the third time that we do it.
It'll be better.
That profile better fucking work.
- It'll be the one.
- Yeah.
All right, picture's up, we're rolling.
And action, background.
Shane: And action, Cherami.
- Perfect! Cut, that was great! - Phil: Cut! Shane: All right, let's watch it, but I think we got it.
(applause) - Phil: Hey, guys? Guys! - Man: Be quiet, guys.
- Guys, pay attention! - Phil: Shh, shh, shh.
Just so you guys know the very next scene, as long as they like this, will be her still covered in puke - as they walk out the party.
- Make sure VFX watches it.
But not that much.
It totally looks real at certain points.
It's just annoying 'cause the test was so great and then I just want I mean, that whole take it's not perfect, you're right, but sections of it are, and those are the sections that you'll be able to cut into, and it's possible, right, with VFX that we can clean a little of it up.
- Oh, definitely.
- What do you feel unhappy about beside from the technical aspects of it? Just the barf wasn't a stream.
- It was like very like - Uh-huh.
It just wasn't funny.
It was gross, like it didn't make me laugh.
Like, the test shot made me laugh.
That was funny.
But I think it's gonna read funny.
I think the way you cut it, I think it's gonna be funny that she's getting puked on.
When I used a puked rig before, I had nightmare situations happen, I did not get my shots, like, it just didn't happen.
And it blew up all over people, like, it was it was a nightmare.
And it was totally fine, and we totally worked it out.
If you can clean that just slightly, you'll get exactly what you wanted.
So I think the question is, like, do you have what you want inside of it with just the performances that are happening aside from the technical aspects? 'Cause I think we can clean that to look like precisely what your test footage looked like.
Phil: I'm gonna discover a lot in these first three days.
What's the best way to use me, you know? I'm still the doula Don Shula.
I'm gonna be coaching her those morning rides, you know.
I'm shrinking heads in the morning, you know, because there's you just wake up with there's so much stuff to do and it's so natural to just feel a little panicky, you know? You can make that note that you want to make that I know you wanna make.
(Anna laughs) Which is what? - Tightening her - Tightening her yeah, yeah, yeah.
Will you just come with me, and I'll have you tell him? Anna, don't just tell him, you got this.
No, it's fine.
I think you're better at telling him.
And if I say in front of him, "Phil tell him," it doesn't affect - Got you.
- Victor used to do this all the time.
Where's Tristan? I know what happens is when they give you that block you feel like you're on a plank, right? I feel like I'm over thinking it and I'm freaking out and I'm scared I'm gonna freak her out.
You feel like you're overthinking just the way you're delivering the acting notes? It's just knowing where the light is position to your face.
'Cause you always wanna feel the light.
I know something's off, but I can't quite I can't access it enough to control it and then execute what I want, does that make sense? Dude, keep up the good work because that was - Thanks.
- Fucking awesome to watch.
At this point, I wouldn't I would worry on getting the emotion in the scene.
And then we can grade your directing after, - do you know what I'm saying? - Yeah.
You're grading yourself right now.
- Yes! - And you're doing great.
Hetzler: How is the dynamic at the monitor right now? It's just forming, and you know, the precedent is that I just give her the notes.
She can adjust them, but at one point, she was like, "Just say that to Tristan because it's easier.
" So in the interest of time if it's like, "I'm busy.
Can you go tell that to the actor?" I'll do that, but at the same time I want her to feel confident - to tell the actors and you know.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I think she is.
I think that was one of those time situations.
Right.
I think greatest challenge was, like, I was having a lot of, like, loud thoughts about how all the things I possibly could have already done to fuck this up, like, I was like, "Have I been treating my actors properly? Should I have been more distant? Am I hugging people too much? Did I just shove a fleece blanket into Toby Mitnick's ass?" Like, I definitely did that in the middle of a scene.
Like, while I was doing it, I was questioning everything I was doing, and that's exhausting and it sucks.
I don't know how to get her to do an emotion without like it feeling off to me.
That's my this is just anxiety, like, it's I think I've gotten a lot of good stuff.
Uh no, there I think we're done in there doing a whole thing.
Why? Was that okay for you? I would like to check with you before we move on on everyone.
- Phil: Yeah.
Trying to - Phil wants you.
He's trying to hear her say something that's not crazy.
Yeah, exactly seeking, yeah.
- You're doing it, Tobin.
- Tobin: Yeah.
It's just a technical note of never look away from her - after she starts her weird monologue.
- Got it.
- That was extremely excellent.
- Claire: Great.
I'll just have to be my acting coach.
- Phil: It's good.
- Anna: Yeah.
Do I ever need anything? Do I have time? What's my timing like? (crowd chattering and cheering) Shane: So the opening shot of the movie is basically just establishing the world that these characters are in, which is Thanksgiving break.
So it's a house party.
Everybody's excited to be there.
Everybody's happy that they're not in school.
Everybody's tweeting on their phones and hooking up with strangers.
And it just really sets the tone of the entire movie in one shot.
And tweeting! And take a picture! All right and Photoshop it.
And post it and pass.
Fuck, that was fucking perfect.
(grumbles angrily) - Okay, cut.
- Man: Cut! Shane: So to do that, I wanted to, you know, start on, you know, girl walking into a party on her ass.
Phil: We're gonna roll this up, he's gonna go through.
We're gonna look like we're partying, acting like you're having a great time.
People are dancing, faking like you're smoke weed, drinking beer.
Everybody ready to go? If all else fails arms in the air always look good.
(laughter) How do we feel, guys? Do we feel good? - (scattered cheering) - Whoo! All right, let's roll this up! Action, background, everybody's dancing, everybody's having the greatest time of their lives, energy's high, and Action! Shane: All right and tweeting, tweeting, tweeting, tweeting, tweeting, tweeting and grab.
And throw her on the bed.
You're so excited about it! You're gonna get fucked! Okay, great and move.
All right, and lap dancing.
Yeah, you're really enjoying it and tweeting at the same time.
Can we go back? We can't see the phone.
Start over.
We might as well start over.
- Okay, back to one.
- Man: Actors, back to one! So one thing I've learned is that steady cam always seems like it's gonna make things go faster, and it doesn't.
Oh, fuck.
We saw all the equipment and the lights, so that's not good.
Okay.
And then also we need to be wider for this whole bed thing.
The camera's like right in her face, the shadow's in her face.
- All right.
- So two things.
Shane: It's not just somebody with a camera.
It's somebody with a fucking terminator robot arm with a camera connected to it, which is connected to their spine, which is inside their head.
It's like a transformer walking through set.
Everybody has to get the fuck out of the way.
If it hits them in the head, it's gonna break their skull.
It's really intense.
I feel like Michael Bay when it's around.
And pass.
Cut! (scattered clapping) We did it! Whoo! Man: Awesome, guys! Corey: Shane doesn't do the party scene.
Shane doesn't drink.
Which in a sense I feel is why these party scenes and these characters were so exaggerated.
This is the party that Shane doesn't really go to, like, so he's going to heighten that reality.
And for the girls, just because I've noticed this I've never been to a party.
But from watching them on television, I noticed that this hand motion a lot with the hair is a good one.
- So work lots of - Uh-huh, yeah.
Corey: Anna's movie is grounded in reality.
There's an aspect of her experience, her life, her childhood that she's managed to gracefully incorporate into her story which makes it even more personal for her.
Dan weaved these characters together.
Dan created these characters with Josh and gave them specific personalities and relationships to one another.
And Anna used all of that, but she also managed to put all sorts of aspects of herself into all of these young ladies in this story.
In a strange way, the story is somewhat autobiographical on her.
Dan: With Anna, I have nothing to do other than just watch.
It wasn't my place to give an opinion.
Like, it was clear that this was somebody else's set.
This was her movie.
It was no longer my movie.
I felt really just uncomfortable.
And I don't like myself uncomfortable.
Like, if I'm uncomfortable, I don't wanna be there.
With Shane's movie, although it was not my vision and it was not what I wanted for these characters in the story, I was still involved and I was learning, and so it made perfect sense, and I wanted to be there.
I was on set, I think, every day.
Man: Action.
Shane: What the fuck are you wearing? I found these in Sheeree's mom's closet.
It'll jingle while you fuck me.
I know you want to do me, Scott.
- What? - She's not it's Let him let him see how it works first, and then if it doesn't work, we'll go in there and give adjustments.
Dan: It's very weird being a writer on set.
Like, it's not my movie.
Like, I get that.
But I still, like, want to be involved and want to help the shots.
Oh, I missed you.
(grunts) It's a terrible move.
There were moments where Dan would strongly disagree with a direction that Shane might be taking a scene and he wanted to direct it so bad.
Dan: You know, I had him in the script he's blocked in a corner and she's goes for his penis and keeping him there, and the beats we're in a different order and, look, I'm not gonna get in there, I'm not going in there.
Dan: There was some blocking that was wonky today and basically, in the way I wrote it, Heather is really cornering Scott.
And Scott can't get away and kind of starts to go down on him, and Scott enjoys it, and that's what happens.
What do you think, Ben? It's, like, a really important scene in the movie.
Yeah.
And we're just letting it go.
I mean What is your note? I mean, I'm not giving a note because No, that's not then don't complain.
If you have a note, share the note.
We'll go in there and give him the note.
You don't what's going on? There's no note.
You know, this is my first movie that's been made and I don't know how to deal with these things.
So I'm just trying to be as polite as possible.
How do you think we should fix the scene? She has to really corner him in a way, like - I agree.
- Like she's just, like, putting his thing and he's, like, walking and going and just saying, "I don't wanna do this.
" And he's walking and he does it, it's just go in my opinion, it's gonna look fake.
- I agree.
- So that's my note.
Okay.
Corey: I feel bad for Dan in certain aspects because his original script is actually never going to be seen.
We have Shane's version of the script and we have Anna's version of the script.
But that's a testament to how good a writer Dan is because he didn't let his own voice get in the way of what needed to happen to get this movie made.
Anna: It's gonna be interesting, I'm interested to see how it's gonna work when Victor does show up.
Because now I'm kind of used to how it's working right now.
I think it's gonna be great, it's gonna be fine 'cause he's so aware of everything.
And I'm so aware of everything, it's not like he's gonna, like, "Come on," and be like, "You're doing this wrong.
" Think about where we started today.
Think about it.
Anna: We were all bouncy and like (laughs) - "We have to make the" - Siena: We humped for, like, six hours.
And then we did that break-up scene for, like, four.
- (squeals) - I see people standing around.
Think of the ravioli, and think of the ravioli in between.
Hey, let's double hug, come on.
How is it going? I hear it's going well.
- (muffled groans) - Oh, I hope they're gettin' this.
This is good stuff.
Oh, this is kind of a nice here.
I don't wanna leave this.
Dude, this house is perfect.
This is so - Have you even met Meena yet? - No.
I didn't wanna interrupt.
I can't handle when it's not working.
I'm like I feel like a huge failure and I feel like I'm doing it bad - but the truth is, like - Gimme a break, come on.
But the truth is I totally got it.
I got the scene.
Yeah, you just need your pieces.
- Film is not it's not like theater - Pieces.
where you got to have the That's my I think I was being really hard on myself and being like, "I can't do it.
" I always get a little nervous and freaked out when before he comes.
I noticed it happened again.
I was like, oh, I'm in that mood.
I'm in that, like, crazy mood.
And I think it's this, like, notion in my head that people are watching and waiting for him to take over and me to shrink kind of thing, and I just don't want that to happen but I also don't wanna overcompensate and be like, "I'm the director.
" Cut! I don't know what I was waiting for.
And then no repeating of the line or two.
- Just end it on "you too" and then - That's what I had and just An awkward beat, that's it.
Yeah, that's what I just had them do.
Is there any variation you want on that? - I had them like - Any variation you want on that? Hetzler: This is not how we were operating before.
Victor: Oh, shit, okay.
I'll go back in the truck.
- No, no, no, no - She only needs one more time.
You would never let anyone offer you that much help.
- Get the - Remember her on "Breakup?" Oh, my God.
She would go behind me and into the actors and start talking about me.
I was like Being in that position, like, the second creative banana who can throw in every now and then, everybody hates you, pretty much.
Like on "Breakup at a Wedding," a lot of people were like, "What is she doing?" But I would do it because I really believed that what I was pointing out to Victor was making the film better.
And sometimes it was, and sometimes it wasn't and he was like, "Shut up.
" And then he would move on and so I feel like we in our little 48-hour session together, we had a couple of those moments.
Anna had put together a well-oiled machine of people.
That she really wanted to work with, that she knew how to work with.
And she wanted to create a very safe environment for herself.
She's been very loyal to a number of people that she brought in from out of town, that she brought in from New York.
Stratton, officially, nice to meet you.
Corey: And she made sure to work into her story if they were actors, to make sure that she had on set, if they were members of the crew that she just knew she can rely on.
And she wanted to give back to them for all the times they gave to her.
And everybody who works on them is doing it because they believe in the people behind the project.
Did you try it yet? Is it delicious? It's a joint effort.
It's so beautiful.
- It's smells so good.
- Smells so good.
Holy shit, this is like the pizza party I never got to have! Is this everything? Yeah.
We're not watching select, it's everything.
Yeah.
Guys, that was a three-beat emotion scene.
- That was perfect.
- Print it.
Conservation of energy right there, I love it.
All right, so, Frank, Shane, let's talk about this move, let's do We're gonna start so maybe so we're gonna be handheld.
We're gonna start here, here, here, here, boom.
- Shane: We follow them back.
- So she comes back.
Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, dialogue.
Turns around, coverage, coverage.
Done.
Okay.
Got it.
So there'll be two different setups? So, one, two, three.
Three different shots.
- That's pretty ambitious.
- Yeah.
Let's do it.
We have 15 minutes.
- Man: We at one? - Man: Everybody set at one! Wait, would this whole thing be easier if their whole conversation happened right here? And then she slaps him and walks away.
- 100% - Then let's do that.
- So Shane? - Yeah? I need you to hit this right here, okay? Just holding about $60,000 up here.
- (laughs) - That's it.
Man: Everybody ready? Here we go, guys! Yeah, I need Will for a sec.
Hey.
Will? So Will.
Can we take that backlight in here and bring it this way? Damn, this bitch is heavy.
Shader: Is it easier for you when you're not operating because you can focus on other stuff? It just all depends on what we're shooting.
No, I was just gonna ask, because I mean, it's like it seems like your job changes when you're not when you're not having the giant rig on you.
After the first few days, Shane and Lauren and I were a little concerned about Frank being perhaps overwhelmed.
Would it make your life easier if there was someone operating more often or do you prefer to do it? - I prefer to.
- Okay.
Shader: Lot of young DPs like to operate.
It's both a creative and physical challenge to manage the overall look of the film while technically executing the shot the director wants.
Chris: Shane's still getting used to the fact that he has to go through four or five people to get what he wants done.
For Anna, my concern is less that she doesn't know what she wants.
The biggest issue for them is gonna be when it's not working for someone other than Anna.
How can we use Claudio in this in a funny way? No, Claudio can't be in the last beat.
Okay, it has to be just them.
Agreed, agreed.
So No one's in the restaurant in the last beat.
Yeah.
There is this little bit of a tribal thing that goes on with their little family.
They work on it together.
They really support each other.
They, you know, sort of test ideas out on each other.
The thing about directing is that, at some point, you got to make decisions pretty quick, you got to make them on the fly, and, you know, group directing can be difficult.
Director role in particular is a very crucial decision-maker role.
And if you have too many people involved in that, it can slow it down, but it can also make the movie feel very disjointed where one scene is Victor's scene, and the other scene's Phil's scene, and the other scene is Anna's scene, and will they all really fit together? Anna: Cut! That was adorable.
Siena: That's a cut.
Shane: Oh, hey.
The blue and the white I got them the same time.
Okay.
- So I just - Wow.
What's happenin', bae? - Hey.
- (laughs) - Lacey, what you doing? - Oh, hey.
I'm strangely aroused.
I'm so full of nut right now, I can't even breathe.
It's Shane's first day playing Lacey, who's a character that he's playing in drag, so it's nice to show up and see our director deal with such problems as, "I need to hide my penis," which was the first thing that he said to me when I saw him this morning.
So that is certainly a different work environment than we're normally used to.
Shane is the worst person I've ever met in my whole entire life.
There's nothing I hate more than closeted guys.
The haircut.
I can't get over the haircut.
It's horrible.
It's like a wig.
Like, who wears wigs anymore? I honestly have never even talked to Shane, it's really weird.
Like, I've never even been in the same room as him.
It's like I don't even know if he exists.
People are like, "Where's Shane?" I'm like, "I don't know.
I never fucking met the guy.
" I mean, like, where is he? No, you stupid fucking dumb-ass Mexican fat bitch! Apple's that new hybrid drug everybody's been blah-blahing about.
It's molly mixed with old people medicine.
It's supposed to be totes cray.
Woman: Well, anyone who would do that is totes retard.
(Shane gasps) Holy Zachary Quinto's eyebrows, she's learning!! Woman: No, seriously though, haven't you been doing too many drugs lately? Shader: I don't think there's any doubt right now that Shane's making a movie that his audience is really gonna love.
Chris: His fans will love it because they love him and because they're used to seeing him be the lead and be in these drag outfits and this other stuff.
But there's a line that a larger audience will go down sort of the raunchy road with you.
And there's a line where if you go one step too far, they just don't wanna be part of it.
It's all about the counterbalance.
If there's enough heart and characters you like, you can almost accept it, which means he's got to find that line.
That's part of what Shane, I think, has the ability to do, but he also has the ability go way over the line where nobody gives a shit about any of his characters 'cause they're all just punchlines and jokes.
- (laughing) - Man: Cut! Oh, my God.
Cut.
We got to get the line right.
He didn't say the line right.
I need a better like the concept of him being like, "That makes me think.
" Can we just how do we start the line there? Victor: Mainly it's not That makes me think.
Let's just do Victor: Anna, "I put myself out there" is perfect.
It comes off of Joey Lancaster being bold.
Okay.
So you're staring out it's Joe Lancaster, and then you're just like, "I wish I had put myself out there more in middle school, man.
I wish I had put myself out there more in middle-school.
" No.
I am producing.
Hetzler: The thing that I've learned in this process their collaboration is non-traditional.
I think that we should get this conversation.
Anna, what I would recommend I'm not telling you what to do, but just get the scene.
And then just say, "Philip, - I wanna hear that Gilby story.
" - Yeah.
These are not outside forces that are interrupting her vision.
This is part of the way that she came to the vision in the first place.
And all of us are on the same team in that regard.
Like, we want this movie to be the very best thing that it can possibly be.
We think it's really exciting that there is a strong, decisive woman at the helm.
Phil stepped on his line.
He's all fucked up.
We're doing it again.
We're doing it again.
You got this.
You got this.
No, I actually don't.
I've never do this, Vic.
Meena, you're with me? One more time real quick, real quick, real quick.
Hetzler: She uses her key creative collaborators in the way that she needs to.
But we don't ever want that to read to people who are not inside that dynamic as a woman who is relying on the men in her life to prop her up.
She thinks of herself as a very strong, independent woman.
Part of the reason that I step in the way that I have a couple of times is more about that perception than it is about what is actually happening creatively because Anna asks for and takes the things that she needs creatively to realize her vision.
And when it's not what she wants, she says no.
Yeah, wow, he kinda nailed it.
You need one more, and, most importantly, you need him just eating chicken soup, so we can do that cut if we wanna do it.
What cut? Remember we need to take out those two He just said he can't eat.
I mean we're gonna him go blah, blah, I really like blah, blah.
Okay, but just as a safety, remember how we do alts just for the edits? Just have him drinking, can I just have him drinking juice? But then you won't have the line, "My bubby makes the best chicken soup.
" It's okay.
We're taking too much time.
You're envisioning something I am not envisioning.
Like, why would he be eating soup? Then you have said it all right there.
I'm so sorry.
I love you, boo.
Why doesn't he can he not eat chicken soup and just I get him staring at her for a while? Victor: No, because remember we had just talked I think you're forgetting what we three talked about.
Which was cutting out the top lines to start with, "My bubby makes the best chicken soup" (laughs) But w but why can't I cut that out? Just as a safety.
It's okay, I'm just What do you want? Okay, you're tired, you're done.
The scene will be what it is, it's awesome.
You can get whatever you want.
Why can't we just get the shots of him drinking.
- Why does he need to eat chicken soup? - He can do whatever he wants.
Siena: Picture's up, let's roll sound.
Chris: Anna's gonna be in a situation where it's her first time sort of being the final say.
That's one of my concerns is that she's very open and inclusive in the sense of trying to hear their ideas or at least with her little team.
That can take a long time if you're trying to make everybody feel good about it.
In a writer role, you're used to reacting.
You did the writing.
You gave it to somebody.
Then you get to just sit back and react.
In this case, everyone's gonna be waiting for her to respond and whether it's good or bad or not, and there can be a lot of pressure.
The point for Shane for making this movie is to open it up to a wider audience, fulfill something in people more than what his YouTube persona does.
That's his goal.
And there have been moments for Shane when things have gotten complicated that it becomes much easier to fall back on old habits and to do what's safe and to say, "No, I don't need to do any more work on that because I know what my audience wants.
" He doesn't want 12 to 16-year-old girls to be the only people that ever care about what he's doing.
He wants you and me to like him, to be interested in his body of work.
He wants to be a storyteller.
Chris: The problem with filmmaking is that if you look in the monitor or you're sitting and watching it, and it's not what you wanted it to be, there's so many different reasons why it might not be what you wanted to be the camera is wrong, the actor was wrong, the wardrobe's wrong, the lighting's wrong, the set's wrong that sometimes you can get overwhelmed with, like, "What part of it isn't working for me?" And so to be able to whittle down quickly, "Okay, what's not working about this is your blocking," or, "That line is just awful.
No one in their right mind would ever say that," or, "I can't stand that shirt.
Every time I see you walk in with that shirt, I wanna punch you.
You gotta not wear that shirt.
" And I think that's actually the hardest thing is to be able to turn around and tell somebody immediately what's not working about something, because not working is like a gut feeling.
You're just like, "Uh, this is not fuck.
" That's the hardest thing about directing is you have to make the first choice knowing every asshole out there is staring at you going, "Wow, that's a bad decision.
I wouldn't have done that.
" (music playing)
Chris: Each director has to prep in Pittsburgh then each director shoots for four weeks in Pittsburgh.
And both directors have final cut for the films.
Anna wants it to just be Phil and her in the room with on that.
Shader: My concern is just setting a general precedent that she can block other people from being a part of things.
Anna: I feel it an us-against-them thing with Moore and Shader, which I don't want.
- Oh, they're shooting us right now.
- Hetzler: Are they? From the window, yes, there's a camera on me.
It pleases today's audience 110%.
Man: Three, two, one.
Oh, my God! Yay! These are all really ambitious days.
That's where I'll be the bad guy.
We're gonna shoot and we're gonna assume we can work it out.
Here is the deal I thought I had told these guys this, and apparently I had not communicated this effectively.
The truck cannot do breakfast twice.
They're gonna set up a coffee station - at the second location - Good.
And crafty is gonna include, like, bagels and Right, per normal, they'll leave leftover Yeah, and then we'll have a bunch of breakfast burritos for the G&E guys.
And I'll just take a fistful of these methamphetamines, get the day started right.
This is really happening.
What are you doing right now? You wanna go make a movie? (knock on door) (knock on door) Lauren: It's the first day It's the first day You look ready to direct and act in a movie.
That's so weird.
That's so weird.
Like, not everybody wakes up looking like that.
But you do! Do you think Anna looks like this? No, a lot better, like, a lot better.
I tried to go to sleep at 10:00 and could not you look terrifying.
Okay, we're gonna get the camera back on.
We're getting picked up because we can't drive in the snow.
Thank you, guys.
Corey: My major concern with Shane going into this it's that he's acting in the movie.
He's a first-time director.
I don't know how he runs a set.
Shane might know how to make a movie, but he might not know how to work with a whole crew of people and how to utilize all of their talents and abilities and what the most important thing is that he needs to achieve on any day.
Does Shane understand how to use a cinematographer? Does Shane understand how to talk to his costume person? Does he understand how to work with a gaffer? Does he understand how to make a day and how important first AD's job is gonna be? Will it work? Phil: I'm really excited to see if this does or not.
I would like to welcome everybody to day one of the untitled Shane Dawson comedy.
(cheering) Thank you all for coming out.
Everybody has probably met Shane.
If you haven't, this is Shane.
He's our director.
Just want to say thank you guys so much for coming.
I know so many of you have been flexible with your time and your rate and everything else, so it means the world to me.
I've been wanting to make a movie my whole life so let's make a good fucking movie, a funny movie.
And hopefully we'll have fun and not hate each other by the end of it.
You'll just hate me and that's fine.
- Hetzler: How are you feeling? - Real good.
Really good, like, frighteningly good, like why aren't I nervous at all? I have an appetite.
Hetzler: That's good.
That is very good.
Anna: I'm just feeling, like, super jazzed and really happy Hetzler: And that's how you should be.
It almost feels like I mean, I'm not even gonna say that.
I was gonna say hard part is over so not true.
Can she take what's in her head and convey it through the actors in a way that the audience is feeling the things that she wants wants them to feel at the time that she wants them to feel them? And if she does, she'll make a movie that works and that really connects with people.
And for the people that don't connect to it, they are gonna be bored.
Anna, you know what would be great is if you could go over to Phil and Scott and start talking to them about what exactly they're gonna be doing in this scene, and that way when the camera's ready, we'll be ready to show the action to everyone.
- Love it.
- Thank you.
- Do you want - Probably the other way.
Yeah, thanks.
After we get the real somber one we'll do the pickup.
I love the fucking pick up.
It's pretty great.
There's somber just like hug, there's a hug, pick up simple pick up just let and that's it, just a simple up and down vertical.
And then there's hug, pick up, - (grunting) - Ringy dingy.
Ringy dingy and let his little legs like sway around - not little, manly legs.
- Oh, they're little.
And swing him and swing him.
Like papa bear.
Siena: Okay, guys, moments away.
We're gonna go in for a take.
- Hey, Anna, you ready? - We've got humans in both cars? Yeah, well, we have human in the front car.
And mark.
Anna, on your call.
- Action.
- Siena: Action.
And action.
I think it's gonna be okay 'cause we're gonna watch him run and then she could have dropped her hands, yeah.
- Great! Cut! - Phil: All right, cut! There was a focus problem, but all the action was good.
- That feel good? - Feels really good.
Can we get everybody to be super quiet for this one blocking rehearsal? Yeah, we're filming at the door after this.
Get on top of her like you just finished your big elbow.
You're looking at your phone 'cause I think you texted her like an hour ago and she hasn't responded so you keep looking.
Starting falling on the floor like you just hit the floor.
You don't have a line unless we improvise a little something.
Like that but laying down.
Action on rehearsal.
Fake wrestling okay and then.
And then we're gonna do the reverse on you.
Cool, okay, let's go one more time.
Action! Just not feeling this.
She looks way too cool.
I have a feeling I'll use boots for the party scene.
Copy that, just want to make sure.
What time is it? Anybody, time? 5:45.
All right, if we do one more it has to be like All right, one more, fast, fast, fast.
I can let us do this for one more minute, 60 more seconds, and then we have to shoot this.
I think we should do one with her on top We really don't have time.
- I know.
- Cut.
That's a cut.
Funny, yeah, we got it, great.
- Phil: You got it? - Yeah.
Okay.
Good job, guys.
That's a wrap.
Yeah, guys, that's a wrap today.
Thank you.
Great day, guys! Make everything safe! What a great first day! Thank you for today.
You guys all kicked ass.
Thank you for your hustle.
Expect 20 more days of that, but I really appreciate everything you guys do.
Let's wrap out of here.
Chris Moore say anything else when he was here? Lauren: His only note was, like, "Did anybody think about why would Scott ever go out with Heather"? And I was like, "Yeah, we thought about it.
We definitely did.
" I was like, "It's a little nuts but it kind of is the Ryan Reynolds/Anna Faris model and we kind of just justified it that at the end of the day, I think it's just funny.
It's not like you're watching a movie with the two of them together the whole time.
" - Thanks for the ride, y'all.
- Driver: No problem.
Shane: I'm making a movie, this is crazy.
And we're a little bit behind, but that was expected.
The team worked really well together.
The actors were amazing.
I think we did four and a half pages today, which is pretty typical for a movie as so I've heard.
So that was good, and I'm rambling because I'm very tired.
I probably messed up a few times, but that's how you learn, right? Today was really cold which could explain why I'm so, so tired.
Just a tremendous amount of support from everyone today.
Hey, it's like, I feel it's just really easy to do a job when you have when you're literally, like, enveloped in people rooting for you.
Anna: It's her just like this.
That's all I need.
A close up of her face going Meena: Okay.
All right.
Can that be something that we do in sort of this setup or no? I mean, we need to tweak some things, but we'll just make it a really tight close up 'Cause right now, guys, we have about 30 minutes to get that and then the shot over here.
Anna: The plan is it's like the holy trinity between me, Meena, and Siena, and with every shot, there's the creative talks between me and Meena.
There's me and Meena trying to get what we've agreed we want.
All right, so I'll tell you go, and then it's gonna be - kind of a smooth, quick - Okay.
Anna: With her it's all, of course, visual and with me it's performance, and then the two meld together and then there's Siena, who's like the voice of reason in terms of, we gotta no matter how pretty the light is, we have to get this person saying this so that we can move on.
So, guys, we're not moving on to scene 58.
We're gonna do 91C over again.
Anna wants another take of it.
Anna: I just intend on listening to them and taking every moment, knowing when to fight for something that I need and possibly fuck up the schedule and if it's worth it, and when not to do that.
And then I've got Phil who's the guy that I'm gonna turn to and say, "Did I get that performance?" Are you liking the looks and everything? You have long enough holds and stuff? In my moments of weakness when I'm not sure, I'm hoping to lean on Phil in that capacity.
- Cut! - Cut.
- Love it.
- Meena: That was good.
- Looks good.
- Siena: Let's move on, guys.
The hardest part about playing Scott is that he was the popular kid.
He is the guy everybody likes.
He is famous in his high school.
I was a 400-pound, not-popular kid who looked like a woman.
I looked like a 45-year old woman in high school.
Nobody wanted to hang out with me, nobody wanted to talk to me, nobody knew who I was.
Somebody thought I was the lunch lady.
So for me, that's been the hardest part is trying to play a confident, cool guy.
I have no life experience with that.
I'm not confident at all.
It's not hard playing a serious guy.
I'm a very serious guy.
I know that's a shocker, but I'm a very low-key, serious guy.
That's easy, but having that confidence to stand with my shoulders back and like pretend like I have fucked all these girls before, like, that's hard.
Corey: What Shane is normally used to doing, I mean, think about it, broad characters, offensive characters, larger-than-life people, but the interesting thing about Shane playing Scott is Scott's the straight man in this story.
Scott's the guy who is keeping this story based in reality because what Shane intends to do is going to be a little larger-than-life.
Scott keeps that grounded.
This will be the first time that Shane has gotten to really do something like that.
Lauren: The Scott role is really difficult for him partly because whether or not he wants to admit it, he's playing a version of himself.
I know Shane does not see himself as this popular, cool guy, although, ultimately, at this day and age, he is a popular, cool guy.
He's been very worried about playing him too safe but he doesn't want to play him over the top.
And so we're trying to find that middle area.
It just means he has colors.
Starring in your first movie is as big an emotional ride as directing your first movie.
And to take both of those things on, I'm not gonna pretend that it's not possible but for the first movie, it seems an added risk.
All right, everybody, here we go.
Everybody in here set? All right, guys, we're go for picture.
Let's lock it down.
All right, may I have sound speed? - Speeding.
- May I have camera roll? Speed.
Scene 11, take one.
Picture's up, everybody quiet! Action, background.
And action.
Man: Fuck that ho.
Heather's a bitch! Hey, remember, when she asked Principal Turner to get rid of the handicap ramps because she was tired of walking uphill? She had sensitive calves.
Scott! What's up, baby?! It's good to see you.
You're the man! Man: See, people love you, man.
No one actually likes Heather, they're just afraid of her.
Man #2: Besides, she's gonna be stuck in this town for the rest of her life doing the same shit every day.
You got out, bro, you already won.
We got you.
Hey, we love you, man.
Dude, do you have a boner? And cut! That's cut! Shane: When you do that, I mean, go, like, really bring me in.
- All right, okay.
- Let's do a practice.
Okay, you're the director.
Ah, that's my boy! See you, man! - Okay.
- Okay? At the very beginning of the very first day, the first thing that Chris Moore said to me was that he needed to make sure that he and the peanut gallery, as he referred to them, were able to watch the sex scene.
She is bringing the monitor into the room.
- Mm-hmm.
- So I said, "Well, you know, what's the peanut gallery gonna watch?" Not the sex scenes.
To me, it's a fascinating scene.
The fact it was in the original script, the fact that both of the directors kept it, this idea of a breakup during sex.
So for me, it was a all-around test scene for Anna.
You can keep saying, though, but at some point - you can't not let us watch it.
- Oh, okay.
- So the point is - I thought you were trying to - keep saying, no, Josh - no, no, no we can be in the circle all morning if you like.
said they were obsessed with watching every single day or something that that was like but they're not No, no, they're actually very rarely at the monitors.
So we'd like the ability to watch it and be able to, you know, comment if necessary, right? So that's setting the tone for the whole movie.
- Josh approached me today - Okay.
To let me know that we needed to come up with a practical solution that would allow the producers who wanted to watch the sex scenes to watch the sex scenes.
They also were doing it in a tiny, little room that was gonna make it hard to cover and hard to shoot, and what were they gonna do? You know, and there's a lot of dialogue.
I just wanted to see all of that get done.
And the solution has to be we have to get another monitor.
It really is supposed to be a closed set and they say non-essential personnel.
Now we can make the argument that, like Shader: I'm gonna tell you that the person who's put together the financing for the entire project is gonna be clearly justified as essential personnel.
So I think the producer is gonna be our essential personnel.
Yeah, yeah, no I don't think that's a conversation to go down.
So the fact that it's a sex scene is irrelevant.
- It's not irrelevant.
- It is.
It is to the principle of the point.
It's an important scene.
I mean, they're all important scenes.
- Why are we - Because it's the only one that we've been told that we can't watch.
Now literally Chris and Josh have mentioned it to you and to me.
It is the principle of access.
Like, they feel like they sho you know, whether or not they - Julie: Then fine, bring a monitor.
- Choose to exercise that, yeah, no Or pay for an extra monitor.
I have no problem.
Then fine, pay for an extra monitor.
Hetzler: In order to complete my conspiracy to block Chris Moore, - his access to teenage sex - You're not trying to block I'm going to sabotage the cables to their monitor.
(laughs) Anna: I think that there was tension.
And I think that that tension was unavoidable, really, because of the nature of what we were all doing.
And the reason that I think it couldn't be avoided was because there was, like, a conflict of interests there that Chris Moore and Josh Shader would never really cop to.
I thought there was a conflict of interests between a producer who's producing a movie and a producer who's producing a movie and another movie, and a television show about that process.
That to me is a completely different thing than a producer who's producing a movie.
It eroded my trust in them as producers of "Hollidaysburg" which is what I'm interested in, you know what I mean? I need a producer who will help me make "Hollidaysburg.
" And that's why I felt the need to bring Josh and Julie in.
You need to know that someone's on your side, that they see your vision, trust you, and wanna do everything in their power logistically to make that vision happen for you.
I didn't feel that with Chris Moore and Josh Shader, not because they're not good producers or good men, because they are both of those things.
It's because they were making a TV show simultaneously, and another movie.
Man: Can't believe you had sex with her.
What the fuck?! Her! Dan: One thing that Shane has really changed is the character of Heather.
In my original script, Heather was a human being.
Oh, Scotty, I missed you so much.
For real's, boo.
And in Shane's vision, we've turned her into this really broad, out-there almost non-human kind of character.
I was with these sick-ass DJs from Philly all weekend and they were, like, so cool and so hot but, like, every time I fucked one of them I could only think of you.
My concern is that people are gonna have a hard time believing that Scott is, like, hung-up on this girl and is upset that they broke up, where he should be happy to get this monster out of his life.
In Anna's movie, Heather is much more like the Heather in my original script.
She's a real person, she has real emotions and she's going through real-life experiences.
What's up? Nothing.
What's up with you? Why do you have to say it like that? - Say it like what? - "What's up with you?" I don't know, like, was today typical, was that good? Corey: Today was good.
Our crew was learning how to work with each other and understand by Friday, it'll have been the fifth day of them working - as a well-oiled machine.
- Shane: Mm-hmm.
So, hopefully, Friday would be a day that we can actually make five pages with time to spare.
Mm-hmm.
Quick question, scene 75 another Tori the Whorey picture goes viral.
Could we do that first because her getting puked on and then we're gonna have to shower her and wash her hair and do all that stuff, you know what I'm saying? Man: That is a 100% correct.
I feel like we start with that.
It's a little complicated, but we get through it.
We can still do the Kevin O'Shea first.
Then we well, but we should probably do Kevin after because it's the same setup for her getting puked on.
If we start with 75, another Tori the Whorey picture going viral, then 14.
That is her talking to Kevin O'Shea.
18 is the same setup that she gets puked on, and then she goes home.
And then we'll just do then we'll just do Joel on the phone.
Phil: May I make a recommendation? Tomorrow and the next day are gonna be two bigger days in the bigger part of the house.
While everything is broken up at this point in scene order, I think if we make more focused attempt to while we're lit this way - Right.
- Shoot as much as we can that way.
Because every time we have to turn the world around, it's roughly 35 minutes to 45 minutes.
And if we keep flip-flopping it then that will take a lot longer to get through.
Lauren: Less time to, like, change costume than - it is to flip-flop, right? - Mm-hmm.
Maybe if you try to create a larger sense of panic, it would speed things up.
I can totally do that.
(laughs) Siena: So I'm gonna close the door now.
And we're gonna keep it quiet.
In 20 minutes, I'm gonna check back in with you guys.
I'll knock on the door first.
- Thank you.
Bye, all.
- Anna: Thanks, baby.
Okay, hey, everybody.
We're trapped in here for 20 minutes.
I thought that they were gonna leave us alone a little bit today.
How do you feel about this for the run through? Yeah.
I think maybe we should ask them to leave? It's up to you.
I can't even remember what the ending we went back and forth so many times and Chris Moore was like "No, no, we won't be in the room," and then he was like, "Yes, we will.
" (clears throat) Do you think we could have actual privacy or what are the rules? Yeah, 'cause it might just be helpful maybe the first couple of times, you know what I mean? Anna: I had attempted to, like, make sure with Chris Moore that I would be able to make my actors feel safe and comfortable with in terms of the doc cameras.
Because it's just another layer like you want your actors to feel safe and comfortable with the fact that they're being filmed in their underwear, simulating sex, period, and then you have another layer of cameras capturing the rehearsals and stuff.
I thought we already dealt with this.
I'm super confused.
This is what I was trying to avoid so much was wasting time talking about it, so I thought it was like it ended up being like a hybrid situation where they were gonna film me but not be in the room - and now - Let's just go ask Anthony.
It really doesn't matter because if there's a doc person in the room with us, it's it's hard, you know, it's bad.
Are you guys concerned that you think it's a better move for me to be in there, but I don't wanna be in there because that means the camera ops are there? But I don't mind directing from the monitor, I mean - No.
- When you say cut We're just wasting far too much fucking time.
- I agree.
- Everybody stop talking.
When you say cut, the camera's coming back in.
When you're in there, we'll come out.
- You're okay with that? - Let's go.
I thought that's what agreed.
It was very wishy-washy.
They'll sleep on the bed, that's no problem, right? Not at all.
Bam, I just bought us another front row.
Phil, do you have any idea how old the girl is who's this room? I thought none of you were watching? Why not? You all made a big deal that no one's supposed to watch but me and Josh.
Siena: Totally quiet in here, guys, please, totally quiet.
Anna: All right, let's just have fun and get this one over with, guys.
- Are you ready? - Tobin: Mm-hmm.
Okay, and action.
- It's because it's been so long? - I guess.
Do you want to fuck me from behind till you come? Tobin: What is going on? Your Skype has been broken for, like, three weeks.
I feel like I've missed everything.
- Is it school? - I don't know.
Just lately I feel like I'm walking around but I'm trapped in my own body.
I think about dying a lot.
Anna: Cut.
(claps) That is amazing.
Shane: Action.
Cross your arms.
Roll your eyes and barf! - Okay cut.
- Phil: And cut! Shane: All right, let's get her cleaned up.
Phil: All right, guys, let's get this reset.
If I could have everybody just stay upstairs, that's upstairs.
Anybody that needs cleaned up.
(groans) I need to look at that back.
Is it gonna come out like that? It needs to be like one big, that's different from the test for sure, right? That was just like chunks, like the test was like a huge stream.
Okay, so let's do it in two.
Let's do it, we'll do the push in, we'll do the arms crossed and the roll eyes, - and we've got it, okay.
- And then we'll cut, - and then we'll reset for puke.
- Got it.
It needs to be clean because you can't cut away.
Lauren: What does "clean" mean? What does that mean? Shader: She closes her eyes.
She can't be anticipating it.
We like have to finish this day because - We have to, yeah.
- We have to.
Or else we're gonna be behind.
Way too far.
So what is the plan if we start to go over time? As we get closer to that, we'll just have to start thinking about how we're covering it.
As long as we're able to get this one on this take, that'll be amazing.
After that, for the profile, I feel like we'll have worked through it.
It'll be the third time that we do it.
It'll be better.
That profile better fucking work.
- It'll be the one.
- Yeah.
All right, picture's up, we're rolling.
And action, background.
Shane: And action, Cherami.
- Perfect! Cut, that was great! - Phil: Cut! Shane: All right, let's watch it, but I think we got it.
(applause) - Phil: Hey, guys? Guys! - Man: Be quiet, guys.
- Guys, pay attention! - Phil: Shh, shh, shh.
Just so you guys know the very next scene, as long as they like this, will be her still covered in puke - as they walk out the party.
- Make sure VFX watches it.
But not that much.
It totally looks real at certain points.
It's just annoying 'cause the test was so great and then I just want I mean, that whole take it's not perfect, you're right, but sections of it are, and those are the sections that you'll be able to cut into, and it's possible, right, with VFX that we can clean a little of it up.
- Oh, definitely.
- What do you feel unhappy about beside from the technical aspects of it? Just the barf wasn't a stream.
- It was like very like - Uh-huh.
It just wasn't funny.
It was gross, like it didn't make me laugh.
Like, the test shot made me laugh.
That was funny.
But I think it's gonna read funny.
I think the way you cut it, I think it's gonna be funny that she's getting puked on.
When I used a puked rig before, I had nightmare situations happen, I did not get my shots, like, it just didn't happen.
And it blew up all over people, like, it was it was a nightmare.
And it was totally fine, and we totally worked it out.
If you can clean that just slightly, you'll get exactly what you wanted.
So I think the question is, like, do you have what you want inside of it with just the performances that are happening aside from the technical aspects? 'Cause I think we can clean that to look like precisely what your test footage looked like.
Phil: I'm gonna discover a lot in these first three days.
What's the best way to use me, you know? I'm still the doula Don Shula.
I'm gonna be coaching her those morning rides, you know.
I'm shrinking heads in the morning, you know, because there's you just wake up with there's so much stuff to do and it's so natural to just feel a little panicky, you know? You can make that note that you want to make that I know you wanna make.
(Anna laughs) Which is what? - Tightening her - Tightening her yeah, yeah, yeah.
Will you just come with me, and I'll have you tell him? Anna, don't just tell him, you got this.
No, it's fine.
I think you're better at telling him.
And if I say in front of him, "Phil tell him," it doesn't affect - Got you.
- Victor used to do this all the time.
Where's Tristan? I know what happens is when they give you that block you feel like you're on a plank, right? I feel like I'm over thinking it and I'm freaking out and I'm scared I'm gonna freak her out.
You feel like you're overthinking just the way you're delivering the acting notes? It's just knowing where the light is position to your face.
'Cause you always wanna feel the light.
I know something's off, but I can't quite I can't access it enough to control it and then execute what I want, does that make sense? Dude, keep up the good work because that was - Thanks.
- Fucking awesome to watch.
At this point, I wouldn't I would worry on getting the emotion in the scene.
And then we can grade your directing after, - do you know what I'm saying? - Yeah.
You're grading yourself right now.
- Yes! - And you're doing great.
Hetzler: How is the dynamic at the monitor right now? It's just forming, and you know, the precedent is that I just give her the notes.
She can adjust them, but at one point, she was like, "Just say that to Tristan because it's easier.
" So in the interest of time if it's like, "I'm busy.
Can you go tell that to the actor?" I'll do that, but at the same time I want her to feel confident - to tell the actors and you know.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I think she is.
I think that was one of those time situations.
Right.
I think greatest challenge was, like, I was having a lot of, like, loud thoughts about how all the things I possibly could have already done to fuck this up, like, I was like, "Have I been treating my actors properly? Should I have been more distant? Am I hugging people too much? Did I just shove a fleece blanket into Toby Mitnick's ass?" Like, I definitely did that in the middle of a scene.
Like, while I was doing it, I was questioning everything I was doing, and that's exhausting and it sucks.
I don't know how to get her to do an emotion without like it feeling off to me.
That's my this is just anxiety, like, it's I think I've gotten a lot of good stuff.
Uh no, there I think we're done in there doing a whole thing.
Why? Was that okay for you? I would like to check with you before we move on on everyone.
- Phil: Yeah.
Trying to - Phil wants you.
He's trying to hear her say something that's not crazy.
Yeah, exactly seeking, yeah.
- You're doing it, Tobin.
- Tobin: Yeah.
It's just a technical note of never look away from her - after she starts her weird monologue.
- Got it.
- That was extremely excellent.
- Claire: Great.
I'll just have to be my acting coach.
- Phil: It's good.
- Anna: Yeah.
Do I ever need anything? Do I have time? What's my timing like? (crowd chattering and cheering) Shane: So the opening shot of the movie is basically just establishing the world that these characters are in, which is Thanksgiving break.
So it's a house party.
Everybody's excited to be there.
Everybody's happy that they're not in school.
Everybody's tweeting on their phones and hooking up with strangers.
And it just really sets the tone of the entire movie in one shot.
And tweeting! And take a picture! All right and Photoshop it.
And post it and pass.
Fuck, that was fucking perfect.
(grumbles angrily) - Okay, cut.
- Man: Cut! Shane: So to do that, I wanted to, you know, start on, you know, girl walking into a party on her ass.
Phil: We're gonna roll this up, he's gonna go through.
We're gonna look like we're partying, acting like you're having a great time.
People are dancing, faking like you're smoke weed, drinking beer.
Everybody ready to go? If all else fails arms in the air always look good.
(laughter) How do we feel, guys? Do we feel good? - (scattered cheering) - Whoo! All right, let's roll this up! Action, background, everybody's dancing, everybody's having the greatest time of their lives, energy's high, and Action! Shane: All right and tweeting, tweeting, tweeting, tweeting, tweeting, tweeting and grab.
And throw her on the bed.
You're so excited about it! You're gonna get fucked! Okay, great and move.
All right, and lap dancing.
Yeah, you're really enjoying it and tweeting at the same time.
Can we go back? We can't see the phone.
Start over.
We might as well start over.
- Okay, back to one.
- Man: Actors, back to one! So one thing I've learned is that steady cam always seems like it's gonna make things go faster, and it doesn't.
Oh, fuck.
We saw all the equipment and the lights, so that's not good.
Okay.
And then also we need to be wider for this whole bed thing.
The camera's like right in her face, the shadow's in her face.
- All right.
- So two things.
Shane: It's not just somebody with a camera.
It's somebody with a fucking terminator robot arm with a camera connected to it, which is connected to their spine, which is inside their head.
It's like a transformer walking through set.
Everybody has to get the fuck out of the way.
If it hits them in the head, it's gonna break their skull.
It's really intense.
I feel like Michael Bay when it's around.
And pass.
Cut! (scattered clapping) We did it! Whoo! Man: Awesome, guys! Corey: Shane doesn't do the party scene.
Shane doesn't drink.
Which in a sense I feel is why these party scenes and these characters were so exaggerated.
This is the party that Shane doesn't really go to, like, so he's going to heighten that reality.
And for the girls, just because I've noticed this I've never been to a party.
But from watching them on television, I noticed that this hand motion a lot with the hair is a good one.
- So work lots of - Uh-huh, yeah.
Corey: Anna's movie is grounded in reality.
There's an aspect of her experience, her life, her childhood that she's managed to gracefully incorporate into her story which makes it even more personal for her.
Dan weaved these characters together.
Dan created these characters with Josh and gave them specific personalities and relationships to one another.
And Anna used all of that, but she also managed to put all sorts of aspects of herself into all of these young ladies in this story.
In a strange way, the story is somewhat autobiographical on her.
Dan: With Anna, I have nothing to do other than just watch.
It wasn't my place to give an opinion.
Like, it was clear that this was somebody else's set.
This was her movie.
It was no longer my movie.
I felt really just uncomfortable.
And I don't like myself uncomfortable.
Like, if I'm uncomfortable, I don't wanna be there.
With Shane's movie, although it was not my vision and it was not what I wanted for these characters in the story, I was still involved and I was learning, and so it made perfect sense, and I wanted to be there.
I was on set, I think, every day.
Man: Action.
Shane: What the fuck are you wearing? I found these in Sheeree's mom's closet.
It'll jingle while you fuck me.
I know you want to do me, Scott.
- What? - She's not it's Let him let him see how it works first, and then if it doesn't work, we'll go in there and give adjustments.
Dan: It's very weird being a writer on set.
Like, it's not my movie.
Like, I get that.
But I still, like, want to be involved and want to help the shots.
Oh, I missed you.
(grunts) It's a terrible move.
There were moments where Dan would strongly disagree with a direction that Shane might be taking a scene and he wanted to direct it so bad.
Dan: You know, I had him in the script he's blocked in a corner and she's goes for his penis and keeping him there, and the beats we're in a different order and, look, I'm not gonna get in there, I'm not going in there.
Dan: There was some blocking that was wonky today and basically, in the way I wrote it, Heather is really cornering Scott.
And Scott can't get away and kind of starts to go down on him, and Scott enjoys it, and that's what happens.
What do you think, Ben? It's, like, a really important scene in the movie.
Yeah.
And we're just letting it go.
I mean What is your note? I mean, I'm not giving a note because No, that's not then don't complain.
If you have a note, share the note.
We'll go in there and give him the note.
You don't what's going on? There's no note.
You know, this is my first movie that's been made and I don't know how to deal with these things.
So I'm just trying to be as polite as possible.
How do you think we should fix the scene? She has to really corner him in a way, like - I agree.
- Like she's just, like, putting his thing and he's, like, walking and going and just saying, "I don't wanna do this.
" And he's walking and he does it, it's just go in my opinion, it's gonna look fake.
- I agree.
- So that's my note.
Okay.
Corey: I feel bad for Dan in certain aspects because his original script is actually never going to be seen.
We have Shane's version of the script and we have Anna's version of the script.
But that's a testament to how good a writer Dan is because he didn't let his own voice get in the way of what needed to happen to get this movie made.
Anna: It's gonna be interesting, I'm interested to see how it's gonna work when Victor does show up.
Because now I'm kind of used to how it's working right now.
I think it's gonna be great, it's gonna be fine 'cause he's so aware of everything.
And I'm so aware of everything, it's not like he's gonna, like, "Come on," and be like, "You're doing this wrong.
" Think about where we started today.
Think about it.
Anna: We were all bouncy and like (laughs) - "We have to make the" - Siena: We humped for, like, six hours.
And then we did that break-up scene for, like, four.
- (squeals) - I see people standing around.
Think of the ravioli, and think of the ravioli in between.
Hey, let's double hug, come on.
How is it going? I hear it's going well.
- (muffled groans) - Oh, I hope they're gettin' this.
This is good stuff.
Oh, this is kind of a nice here.
I don't wanna leave this.
Dude, this house is perfect.
This is so - Have you even met Meena yet? - No.
I didn't wanna interrupt.
I can't handle when it's not working.
I'm like I feel like a huge failure and I feel like I'm doing it bad - but the truth is, like - Gimme a break, come on.
But the truth is I totally got it.
I got the scene.
Yeah, you just need your pieces.
- Film is not it's not like theater - Pieces.
where you got to have the That's my I think I was being really hard on myself and being like, "I can't do it.
" I always get a little nervous and freaked out when before he comes.
I noticed it happened again.
I was like, oh, I'm in that mood.
I'm in that, like, crazy mood.
And I think it's this, like, notion in my head that people are watching and waiting for him to take over and me to shrink kind of thing, and I just don't want that to happen but I also don't wanna overcompensate and be like, "I'm the director.
" Cut! I don't know what I was waiting for.
And then no repeating of the line or two.
- Just end it on "you too" and then - That's what I had and just An awkward beat, that's it.
Yeah, that's what I just had them do.
Is there any variation you want on that? - I had them like - Any variation you want on that? Hetzler: This is not how we were operating before.
Victor: Oh, shit, okay.
I'll go back in the truck.
- No, no, no, no - She only needs one more time.
You would never let anyone offer you that much help.
- Get the - Remember her on "Breakup?" Oh, my God.
She would go behind me and into the actors and start talking about me.
I was like Being in that position, like, the second creative banana who can throw in every now and then, everybody hates you, pretty much.
Like on "Breakup at a Wedding," a lot of people were like, "What is she doing?" But I would do it because I really believed that what I was pointing out to Victor was making the film better.
And sometimes it was, and sometimes it wasn't and he was like, "Shut up.
" And then he would move on and so I feel like we in our little 48-hour session together, we had a couple of those moments.
Anna had put together a well-oiled machine of people.
That she really wanted to work with, that she knew how to work with.
And she wanted to create a very safe environment for herself.
She's been very loyal to a number of people that she brought in from out of town, that she brought in from New York.
Stratton, officially, nice to meet you.
Corey: And she made sure to work into her story if they were actors, to make sure that she had on set, if they were members of the crew that she just knew she can rely on.
And she wanted to give back to them for all the times they gave to her.
And everybody who works on them is doing it because they believe in the people behind the project.
Did you try it yet? Is it delicious? It's a joint effort.
It's so beautiful.
- It's smells so good.
- Smells so good.
Holy shit, this is like the pizza party I never got to have! Is this everything? Yeah.
We're not watching select, it's everything.
Yeah.
Guys, that was a three-beat emotion scene.
- That was perfect.
- Print it.
Conservation of energy right there, I love it.
All right, so, Frank, Shane, let's talk about this move, let's do We're gonna start so maybe so we're gonna be handheld.
We're gonna start here, here, here, here, boom.
- Shane: We follow them back.
- So she comes back.
Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, dialogue.
Turns around, coverage, coverage.
Done.
Okay.
Got it.
So there'll be two different setups? So, one, two, three.
Three different shots.
- That's pretty ambitious.
- Yeah.
Let's do it.
We have 15 minutes.
- Man: We at one? - Man: Everybody set at one! Wait, would this whole thing be easier if their whole conversation happened right here? And then she slaps him and walks away.
- 100% - Then let's do that.
- So Shane? - Yeah? I need you to hit this right here, okay? Just holding about $60,000 up here.
- (laughs) - That's it.
Man: Everybody ready? Here we go, guys! Yeah, I need Will for a sec.
Hey.
Will? So Will.
Can we take that backlight in here and bring it this way? Damn, this bitch is heavy.
Shader: Is it easier for you when you're not operating because you can focus on other stuff? It just all depends on what we're shooting.
No, I was just gonna ask, because I mean, it's like it seems like your job changes when you're not when you're not having the giant rig on you.
After the first few days, Shane and Lauren and I were a little concerned about Frank being perhaps overwhelmed.
Would it make your life easier if there was someone operating more often or do you prefer to do it? - I prefer to.
- Okay.
Shader: Lot of young DPs like to operate.
It's both a creative and physical challenge to manage the overall look of the film while technically executing the shot the director wants.
Chris: Shane's still getting used to the fact that he has to go through four or five people to get what he wants done.
For Anna, my concern is less that she doesn't know what she wants.
The biggest issue for them is gonna be when it's not working for someone other than Anna.
How can we use Claudio in this in a funny way? No, Claudio can't be in the last beat.
Okay, it has to be just them.
Agreed, agreed.
So No one's in the restaurant in the last beat.
Yeah.
There is this little bit of a tribal thing that goes on with their little family.
They work on it together.
They really support each other.
They, you know, sort of test ideas out on each other.
The thing about directing is that, at some point, you got to make decisions pretty quick, you got to make them on the fly, and, you know, group directing can be difficult.
Director role in particular is a very crucial decision-maker role.
And if you have too many people involved in that, it can slow it down, but it can also make the movie feel very disjointed where one scene is Victor's scene, and the other scene's Phil's scene, and the other scene is Anna's scene, and will they all really fit together? Anna: Cut! That was adorable.
Siena: That's a cut.
Shane: Oh, hey.
The blue and the white I got them the same time.
Okay.
- So I just - Wow.
What's happenin', bae? - Hey.
- (laughs) - Lacey, what you doing? - Oh, hey.
I'm strangely aroused.
I'm so full of nut right now, I can't even breathe.
It's Shane's first day playing Lacey, who's a character that he's playing in drag, so it's nice to show up and see our director deal with such problems as, "I need to hide my penis," which was the first thing that he said to me when I saw him this morning.
So that is certainly a different work environment than we're normally used to.
Shane is the worst person I've ever met in my whole entire life.
There's nothing I hate more than closeted guys.
The haircut.
I can't get over the haircut.
It's horrible.
It's like a wig.
Like, who wears wigs anymore? I honestly have never even talked to Shane, it's really weird.
Like, I've never even been in the same room as him.
It's like I don't even know if he exists.
People are like, "Where's Shane?" I'm like, "I don't know.
I never fucking met the guy.
" I mean, like, where is he? No, you stupid fucking dumb-ass Mexican fat bitch! Apple's that new hybrid drug everybody's been blah-blahing about.
It's molly mixed with old people medicine.
It's supposed to be totes cray.
Woman: Well, anyone who would do that is totes retard.
(Shane gasps) Holy Zachary Quinto's eyebrows, she's learning!! Woman: No, seriously though, haven't you been doing too many drugs lately? Shader: I don't think there's any doubt right now that Shane's making a movie that his audience is really gonna love.
Chris: His fans will love it because they love him and because they're used to seeing him be the lead and be in these drag outfits and this other stuff.
But there's a line that a larger audience will go down sort of the raunchy road with you.
And there's a line where if you go one step too far, they just don't wanna be part of it.
It's all about the counterbalance.
If there's enough heart and characters you like, you can almost accept it, which means he's got to find that line.
That's part of what Shane, I think, has the ability to do, but he also has the ability go way over the line where nobody gives a shit about any of his characters 'cause they're all just punchlines and jokes.
- (laughing) - Man: Cut! Oh, my God.
Cut.
We got to get the line right.
He didn't say the line right.
I need a better like the concept of him being like, "That makes me think.
" Can we just how do we start the line there? Victor: Mainly it's not That makes me think.
Let's just do Victor: Anna, "I put myself out there" is perfect.
It comes off of Joey Lancaster being bold.
Okay.
So you're staring out it's Joe Lancaster, and then you're just like, "I wish I had put myself out there more in middle school, man.
I wish I had put myself out there more in middle-school.
" No.
I am producing.
Hetzler: The thing that I've learned in this process their collaboration is non-traditional.
I think that we should get this conversation.
Anna, what I would recommend I'm not telling you what to do, but just get the scene.
And then just say, "Philip, - I wanna hear that Gilby story.
" - Yeah.
These are not outside forces that are interrupting her vision.
This is part of the way that she came to the vision in the first place.
And all of us are on the same team in that regard.
Like, we want this movie to be the very best thing that it can possibly be.
We think it's really exciting that there is a strong, decisive woman at the helm.
Phil stepped on his line.
He's all fucked up.
We're doing it again.
We're doing it again.
You got this.
You got this.
No, I actually don't.
I've never do this, Vic.
Meena, you're with me? One more time real quick, real quick, real quick.
Hetzler: She uses her key creative collaborators in the way that she needs to.
But we don't ever want that to read to people who are not inside that dynamic as a woman who is relying on the men in her life to prop her up.
She thinks of herself as a very strong, independent woman.
Part of the reason that I step in the way that I have a couple of times is more about that perception than it is about what is actually happening creatively because Anna asks for and takes the things that she needs creatively to realize her vision.
And when it's not what she wants, she says no.
Yeah, wow, he kinda nailed it.
You need one more, and, most importantly, you need him just eating chicken soup, so we can do that cut if we wanna do it.
What cut? Remember we need to take out those two He just said he can't eat.
I mean we're gonna him go blah, blah, I really like blah, blah.
Okay, but just as a safety, remember how we do alts just for the edits? Just have him drinking, can I just have him drinking juice? But then you won't have the line, "My bubby makes the best chicken soup.
" It's okay.
We're taking too much time.
You're envisioning something I am not envisioning.
Like, why would he be eating soup? Then you have said it all right there.
I'm so sorry.
I love you, boo.
Why doesn't he can he not eat chicken soup and just I get him staring at her for a while? Victor: No, because remember we had just talked I think you're forgetting what we three talked about.
Which was cutting out the top lines to start with, "My bubby makes the best chicken soup" (laughs) But w but why can't I cut that out? Just as a safety.
It's okay, I'm just What do you want? Okay, you're tired, you're done.
The scene will be what it is, it's awesome.
You can get whatever you want.
Why can't we just get the shots of him drinking.
- Why does he need to eat chicken soup? - He can do whatever he wants.
Siena: Picture's up, let's roll sound.
Chris: Anna's gonna be in a situation where it's her first time sort of being the final say.
That's one of my concerns is that she's very open and inclusive in the sense of trying to hear their ideas or at least with her little team.
That can take a long time if you're trying to make everybody feel good about it.
In a writer role, you're used to reacting.
You did the writing.
You gave it to somebody.
Then you get to just sit back and react.
In this case, everyone's gonna be waiting for her to respond and whether it's good or bad or not, and there can be a lot of pressure.
The point for Shane for making this movie is to open it up to a wider audience, fulfill something in people more than what his YouTube persona does.
That's his goal.
And there have been moments for Shane when things have gotten complicated that it becomes much easier to fall back on old habits and to do what's safe and to say, "No, I don't need to do any more work on that because I know what my audience wants.
" He doesn't want 12 to 16-year-old girls to be the only people that ever care about what he's doing.
He wants you and me to like him, to be interested in his body of work.
He wants to be a storyteller.
Chris: The problem with filmmaking is that if you look in the monitor or you're sitting and watching it, and it's not what you wanted it to be, there's so many different reasons why it might not be what you wanted to be the camera is wrong, the actor was wrong, the wardrobe's wrong, the lighting's wrong, the set's wrong that sometimes you can get overwhelmed with, like, "What part of it isn't working for me?" And so to be able to whittle down quickly, "Okay, what's not working about this is your blocking," or, "That line is just awful.
No one in their right mind would ever say that," or, "I can't stand that shirt.
Every time I see you walk in with that shirt, I wanna punch you.
You gotta not wear that shirt.
" And I think that's actually the hardest thing is to be able to turn around and tell somebody immediately what's not working about something, because not working is like a gut feeling.
You're just like, "Uh, this is not fuck.
" That's the hardest thing about directing is you have to make the first choice knowing every asshole out there is staring at you going, "Wow, that's a bad decision.
I wouldn't have done that.
" (music playing)