Debora Cahn on "Unaccompanied Minor"...
Original Airdate: 5-19-11
It’s the finale. The FINALE! Shonda asked me to write the finale! How great is that???
Not great.
Last year, she wrote the finale herself. She pulled a machine gun out of her mental arsenal and mowed down half the cast. Derek. Alex. A bunch of cast members whose names we no longer remember. Why? Because they’re dead. She killed them. A couple years ago she asked me if I would write the Private Practice finale. I said no. She said, “You get to kill off a beloved cast member.” I said, “I’m in.” The year before, I’d written the Grey’s finale. Cakewalk. Why? George got hit by a bus. Oh, and Izzie, coding on the table as the final voice over rolls. Nothing’s easier for a writer than killing beloved cast members. It’s dramatic. It’s emotional. It’s like a lollipop, covered in a martini that doesn’t give you a hangover, covered in a bright sunshiny day that isn’t giving you skin cancer because of the magic. You know what you can’t do the year after your boss kills off a bunch of people in the finale? Kill off anyone. You can’t do anything the year after a mass murder. There’s no topping a mass murder. So we decided not to. No flood. No fire. No smallpox outbreak. No Lexie gets caught in a well while saving conjoined twin babies. No seven patients all snarled together after driving their hang-gliders into the electrical wires. No 15 simultaneous organ transplants. No surgery at all. You’ll notice, we never went into the OR in this episode. We never watched anyone have a meaningful conversation in a surgical mask. Nobody coded. Nobody charged anything to 200 and yelled CLEAR.
So what’s left, when you take away carnage, and the death of our loved ones?
Emotional devastation.
Sorry. It’s all we had left.
Seriously, it’s an interesting challenge, when you’ve started writing a show that’s focused on the lives of young single people, and then you get them into relationships, and some of the relationships manage to stand the test of time, and they eventually tie the knot, in a church, or on a post-it… suddenly you’ve got a show about married people. How did that happen? We were all having such a good time. And now this. Meredith and Cristina, of all people. Married. They grew up, our little girls. But of course, they didn’t. As some of us learned in recent years, just because you’re married, and shacked up, and the waiter in the restaurant calls you “ma’am” (what the f*@# is that about?) it doesn’t mean you’ve figured out how to be a partner. There’s an awful vertigo that sets in when women who were raised to be strong, and independent, and decisive, learn that they’re no longer supposed to make their decisions alone. They’re supposed to consult someone else. Hear their opinion. Consider it. And sometimes bend to it. It’s a nightmare. We were raised to do the opposite. Generations of our foremothers fought tooth and nail, so we could make our own decisions. And we’re still supposed to consult someone else? What the hell? And so Cristina. Making a terrible decision. Alone. The decision itself is a problem, obviously, but that wasn’t our focus, cause we’d all seen that one on Lifetime. Our focus washow she was making the decision. Where Owen was in the decision. What did it tell us about her marriage. Her partnership. Her ability to include someone else in her life, even at this most devastating time. Ultimately, she couldn’t. We can all slot ourselves into predictable spots on the political spectrum, but none of the bumper stickers prepare us for deciding with someone else. Everything that makes Cristina a great surgeon makes her a terrible partner. And that just sucks.
Meredith. Different hair color. Same story. She made a unilateral decision. She had to – he never would have understood. He sees the world in black and white, and she… well, with that last name and everything… So she made a decision. And she made it alone. And then when it all hit the fan, she still believed if she contained the information, she’d contain the damage, so she didn’t tell him what was going on. And so he disappears. At an extremely inconvenient time. It’s all her worst fears realized. She’s got a baby she never thought she was capable of mothering. And she’s alone. But that’s the world she created.
Our mothers worked hard. They were tough. They were clear. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. They taught us how to be strong, and independent, and decisive. They taught us how to be alone.
I was going to end the blog there, but that’s so miserably depressing, I can’t do it. We’re not all going to die alone. Season 8 spoiler – they don’t all die alone. But they struggle, like we all do. It’s a new set of problems.
Wow. Still depressing. Sorry. Have a great summer!
May 20, 2011 | Permalink | Comments (306)
Zoanne Clack on "I Will Survive"...
Original Airdate: 5-12-11
Doh! What is Alex doing? Mer is his trusted friend, his confidante… she’s his landlord for godssakes! You don’t just, well, tell on her! But that’s exactly what he does. He’s tired of women tromping all over him, tired of always getting leftovers (wasn’t sure if tromping was really a word but I looked it up and it is). He’s gonna take what’s his for a change. Let’s go through his relationships, shall we? When we first met him, he was a total jerk to Mer. Despite that, despite being foul, she let him in to her inner sanctum, sometimes admitting things to him that she wouldn’t admit to most people. And he returned the favor. It is/was a true friendship, without the turmoil of love and physical wanting invading it. So let’s move on from that one. There was Nurse Olivia, and there was syphilis… wait, those were one in the same. Then there was Izzie who was kind of the love of his life. The first time their relationship fizzled because he took a backseat to Denny, a freakin’ dying patient. And even then he was there to pick up the pieces for her. The second time he actually married her, kind of hastily, but he would’ve done anything for her. He’d opened his heart to her. This time, she was the freakin’ dying patient. And what happened? She left him. She, the dying one, left him, the strong one. The man who was in love with her. And would’ve done whatever needed to be done to keep her safe and comfortable. But she left him anyway. Boom. Another one bites the dust. And in between? Jane Doe/Ava/Rebecca? Remember her? All bashed up from the wreckage, Alex gave her an identity, gave her hope, gave himself hope, only to realize she had a husband underneath it all, and she picked her old life. He opened his heart to her again when she came back, but no matter how much love he gave her, it could not prevail over he mental illness. He had to let go. The constant heartache has got to gnaw on a person. And this time? This time Lucy dealt the backbreaker. He was vulnerable and open with yet another woman and he got the rug pulled from beneath his feet. Open heart? Meet foot. He can’t just sit around and let his potential chances get ruined. Yes he loves Meredith Grey as a friend, truly and deeply. But is he going to let his heart prevail this time? Is he going to risk keeping it open by keeping her secret only for it to be stomped on yet again and potentially miss getting Chief Resident because of it? In his head, he’s yelling at Meredith, he’s getting what’s due him, he’s not going down without a fight. In his head. But then there was the drinking. And the defenses went down. And the inhibitions were released. Along with the filters. The things in his head came out through his mouth and… oops. What just happened?
What happened was people got their feelings hurt. Over and over in this episode. Henry for instance. I happen to love little Henry. And his love for Teddy. He spent the whole episode trying to be a better man, trying to be someone worthy of her love, only to get his little heart stepped on at the end. But like a man, he stepped up to the plate, didn’t whine to get her back or pout, just asked for a divorce instead of a relationship. I think it might’ve been the saddest moment of the show for me, when Teddy walked away and stood there, unable to watch her go.
It’s almost more sad than Jackson nobly stepping off the Chief’s study to make sure the clinical trial had a chance to be considered for a Harper-Avery. He realized there would be a conflict of interest if he stayed on, he couldn’t let that happen. This is a chance for real groundbreaking research to be recognized, and Jackson wasn’t going to stand in the way. And besides, he’s got Lexie to fill the void… right?
And Mer/Der? They’ve got Baby Zola to fill their void. They’ve been struggling and struggling to have a baby but so far? Nothing. Then there’s this orphan. This adorable, sweet, beautiful little orphan. Mer’s scared, and deep inside Der is, too, but they’re willing to forego their doubts to give this baby a home. And if anyone read Shonda’s blog on the musical, you’ll know that Patrick Dempsey is the McDreamy BabyWhisperer. Couldn’t have been truer. It was so hard to get scenes with that baby crying because she was just a happy, happy baby (they’re twins actually, and they were both very, very happy – all the time), but when PDemp aka Derek Shepherd aka McDreamy was on the scene, fuhgetaboudit. Smiling, happy, laughing baby is what we got. Not that we’re complaining.
I think my favorite part of the episode was Callie sniffing Sofia’s little head and wanting to eat Sofia’s little foot before she gave her up to go work. Couldn’t have been cuter.
I guess I should also say, Welcome Back, Cristina Yang. She was Cristina with a vengeance today, wouldn’t you say? She took charge and made things happen, but I’m pretty proud of April for standing up to her – over and over. She’s coming into her own also. Good for her.
And just a little medical note since I’m the doc on board: yes, abdominal pregnancies can happen. Extremely, extremely rare, but not impossible. And yes, they can go undetected, even with an ultrasound. And the tree? Real case from Russia. It may have happened only once that we can find (with a tree), but it happened in Russia, and it happened at Seattle Grace. So technically, that’s twice, right? And sickle cell was the motivation for the theme of adaptation. I find it fascinating that Sickle Cell trait developed as an adaptation to protect people from malaria. You can follow maps of malaria and maps of Sickle Cell and they fall together perfectly. We know what gene mutated, how it adapted, what it does, yet we are still working hard to make it stop. Having the trait can help, but having the disease can be deadly. They’re working hard to make it a thing of the past though.
Okay, had to do just a little medical. It’s out of my system.
May 12, 2011 | Permalink | Comments (177)
Stacy McKee on "White Wedding"...
Original Airdate: 5-5-11
The day we filmed Callie and Arizona’s wedding was an amazingly beautiful day. Beautiful for so many reasons.
First, after a week of forecasters predicting rain rain rain-- the day was sunny. And breezy (which was fine for those of us bundled up under coats and hoodies watching from the side. Not so fine for, say, our cast members dressed in strapless gowns and floaty formal wear.) Still – things were beautiful.
We were shooting outdoors (already a bonus, since usually we’re on stage, in hospital rooms) at Descanso Gardens (if you are ever in the area, you should visit. Largest camellia forest in Southern California!) – There were roses and cherry blossom trees and lilacs everywhere – a feast for the senses.
There were a lot of reporters conducting interviews the day we filmed the ceremony, talking to Sara, Jessica, Chandra (she directed the episode!) – and even me. We were all so aglow with this beautiful setting, with these beautiful brides, with this beautiful wedding –- that it stopped me cold when the first question one of the reporters asked me was:
“So, a lesbian wedding. Are you worried at all about making such a bold statement?”
I had absolutely no idea how to begin answering that question.
Was I worried? Are you kidding me? NO. I wasn’t worried -- About what? About a wedding between two characters we’ve watched fall in love over the course of several seasons? Nothing bold about that. If anything, it’s right out of Romance Storytelling 101 – They meet, they fall in love, they hit a few road blocks, one of them almost dies – all of which makes it so much sweeter when these two characters can finally ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after. Not exactly re-inventing the wheel here, people. But, I guess, to some people, it is.
So I’ll say to you what I said to that reporter. This is not a bold statement. This is a love story.
Callie and Arizona have been our biggest, most sweeping romance all season. Our other couples are already married, already divorced, or all full of angst and longing and dirty sex... But Callie and Arizona? They are romance. Sweet, epic, fairy tale romance. Pure and simple.
It just makes sense that after everything they’ve been through this season – living together, breaking up, coming back together, starting a family, life and near death -- their story would culminate in a wedding. A big, beautiful wedding.
The fact that Callie and Arizona are both women is, frankly, irrelevant.
(Although, if you’re like me and you love weddings, then the fact that they are both women is actually a bonus ‘cause -- hello. Two stunning wedding dresses, people. TWO. WEDDING. DRESSES. Heaven.)
It goes right back to what Bailey says to Callie in the episode. These are two people willing to stand up and commit themselves to one another, forever. In good times and bad. For the rest of their lives. THAT is the bold statement, legal or not.
Bolder, to me, is the fact that Meredith and Derek actually make their marriage legal.
We’ve also been on a journey with Meredith this season. She and Derek have tried and tried and tried to start a family. When Meredith broke down in the elevator a couple of episodes ago, Derek reassured her. He promised her that they would have a baby. Somehow, someday – it would happen.
And today, it has. Or, at least, they hope it has. As Derek says, he and Meredith have been trying so hard to start a family – and this baby needs one. If making their Post-It vows legal will make it easier for them to adopt baby Zola, then they are willing to do what it takes.
(And, by the way, can we just pause for a moment to appreciate how ridiculously ADORABLE Derek looks holding that ridiculously ADORABLE baby? I mean, come on!!!)
The thing I love about Meredith and Derek’s wedding, coupled with Callie and Arizona’s wedding, is that the two ceremonies could not be more different. One is all magic and romance. The other is all business and efficiency. And yet, both weddings are absolutely perfect for each of the couples. Beautiful for so many reasons.
But there’s more than just wedding-mania happening in this episode. There’s Alex, calling Meredith out on compromising the clinical trial. What’s great about that story is that both Alex AND Meredith are right.
Mer did an ethically questionable thing, but for all the right reasons. We were rooting for her when she did it. She made sure Adele got the drug. She risked everything to help someone she cared about.
And Alex is right, too. It IS illegal to mess with a clinical trial, no matter how small or insignificant the action might seem. By altering even one variable in the trial, Meredith has invalidated it. Which has major consequences, not just for herself, but for Derek, the hospital, even the other patients who are participating in the trial.
Meredith was right. And Alex is right. So whose side should we be on?
Then, there’s Cristina, who continues to be frozen out by Teddy. –Recently, in preparation for next season, we had a series of surgeons come in to the writers’ room to talk to us about their experiences. We asked one of them, a very prominent surgeon in his field, what he would have done if his resident went over his head the way Cristina went over Teddy’s head in the musical episode.
Without hesitating, he said: “Oh, she’d be gone. I’d have fired her on the spot.”
So, there are two things I love. One – that Teddy is not vindictive here. She is not being petty; she’s not over-reacting. She is genuinely concerned about Cristina’s tendency towards reckless behavior – and Teddy is trying to teach Cristina something. She’s trying to teach her caution.
But secondly, Cristina is still Cristina – she’s ridiculously smart, ridiculously talented, and very hard to teach. Cristina has blinders on. It’s basically impossible for her to see things any way but her own. And from Cristina’s perspective, she was right. Her repair is what ultimately saved Callie, so Teddy should just accept that, set her bruised ego aside, and quit shutting Cristina out of surgeries.
Again, two characters who – in their own ways – are both right. Love it.
And finally, I just have to say – there are few things I have ever enjoyed more than the Father/ Daughter dance sequence at the end of this episode. Seeing Callie’s dad come back to dance with her at her wedding. Seeing Derek swaying back and forth with baby Zola… Maybe it’s from watching my own husband with our little girl, or maybe it’s because my dad was still alive for a dance at my own wedding… But something about that final sequence gets me every time I watch the episode. And trust me, I’ve watched it a LOT of times by now. I just find it really, really beautiful.
For so many reasons.
May 05, 2011 | Permalink | Comments (125)
William Harper on "It's a Long Way Back"...
Original Airdate: 4-28-11
This episode spanned almost three months. From the time Shonda conceived the Musical Event (and the car crash that set it in motion), we knew we wanted the episode that followed to cover a long period of time, so we could realistically show Callie’s journey from the awful image of her bleeding on the hood of that car, to her triumphant exit from the hospital with her new family. Also, to let tiny, tiny, tiny Sofia grow to a healthy weight. So three months it was.
I was excited and a little daunted. Episodes that span long periods of time are tricky, it’s harder to sustain suspense across a commercial break, harder to keep track of time, harder to keep momentum going… On the other hand, a long time span allows you to tell a character’s story in a different way, play characters’ changes more gradually -- you get to watch them grow. (Especially if you’re watching a fragile little premature baby – micropreemies, they’re called -- grow into a crazy-adorable, healthy 12-week-old.) And though this episode was about recovery, as Meredith points out, “recovery” is a misnomer. Instead of “coming back” from a trauma, more often than not, you find it has changed you forever.
So this episode was about change and growth as much as anything. And, honestly, after I wrote it and we shot it, as I watched it, what I couldn’t stop thinking about was how much these Seattle Grace doctors have changed and grown in the seven years we’ve known them. They’ve come a long, long way.
First of all, Callie. Doctors do make the worst patients, in my experience, that’s true. They take shortcuts, they cut time off their recovery, they don’t take the advice – or the meds -- they prescribe for others. So Callie’s pushing herself too far too fast. I would expect nothing less from Callie when we first met her. The Callie who first flirted with George, the bone-busting, badass orthopod of season two, would not have had the time nor the patience for these injuries. But, the Callie we know now has a different drive to get well. She’s known love and loss, been married and divorced, acknowledged a whole new part of herself and fought for it to be recognized by her family, and she’s found true love. She’s grown up. Responsible. And she’s a mother now. She’s not trying to rush her own recovery -- she’s rushing to be there for her little girl. I maintain she is still and will always be a badass, but now that she has a child, her motivations have changed in ways she’s not even aware of yet.
The idea of being pregnant and happy one second, then waking up, being told you’d delivered your baby, that she’s clinging to life, and not be able to see, to touch, smell, or talk to that baby for days on end, is an agonizing prospect. Sara played that desperation beautifully. Her selflessness fuels everything she does in the episode.
And Alex. “Evil Spawn is now Mother Theresa,” Cristina says. I don’t think he’s all the way there yet, but yeah, Alex does make maybe the biggest transformation in the episode. And it’s part of a slow, slow transformation he’s been making over seven seasons. One thing I always liked about Alex – and I mean as a fan, watching the show -- was how gradually we’ve learned about him over the years. His history came out in a hint here and a half a line there… until finally, we know his drug addict father, his crazy mother, that there’s a whole litany of crap that made him angry and guarded and… evil. And that armor has been slowly chipped away at. Here, his motivation for starting this African Surgery program is vintage Karev: it’s an act of desperate self-preservation. Stark doesn’t believe he can do it. His fellow residents don’t either. Really, even Alex doesn’t believe he can do it. Weeks later, when we find him putting the plan together, we know he’s just trying to position himself to become Chief Resident. It’s only in the final “chapter” of this three-month story that we realize something inside him, something he won’t even admit to himself, is driving him to make this happen for these kids. Even if it means his own financial ruin. What Alex has revealed so slowly over all these seasons is that there’s a good guy in there, rising up through a lifetime of brutal crap and getting closer and closer to the surface. For me, it’s there in that smile on his face as he helps those little kids into off the medical transport at the end. It’s surprisingly open, fulfilled…happy. And it’s a long way from the perpetual scowl he wore in season one.
And Meredith. When I watch the scene where Adele mistakes Mer for her mother, (And Loretta Devine’s perfectly heartbreaking performance in it) and we see on Meredith’s face as she realizes the damage her mother did to this woman and her marriage, the scene I kept remembering was when Mer found the Chief at Ellis’s nursing home in Season Two. From that moment she and Richard have shared this uneasy connection – one she has fought so stubbornly against. Now, she seems ready to put the past behind her and to acknowledge that she is tied to Richard, tied to what happens to him, and Adele as well. She takes responsibility for her mother, and performs an act of generosity that has the strong possibility of blowing up in her face. She acts rashly, but she’s always had this impulse. She’s the girl who sticks her hand in a bomb-filled chest cavity before thinking. But where she and the Chief are concerned, I think it’s a sign of serious growth.
When Shonda promotes an assistant to writer, she often says proudly, “Look, the babies are all growing up now.” Looking at this episode, I realized how much her Seattle babies are growing up, too. Growing up, taking responsibility, making adult decisions, using their educations. The interns who struggled to figure out how to tube a patient are now sure-handedly performing surgeries, helping rewrite medical history with clinical trials. And Shonda raised them right -- no matter how dark and twisty they’re lives have been, they seem to be coming through it. They’re growing into good people. Flawed, and rash, maybe…but good.
And don’t get me wrong, they’re not done growing, not by a long shot. They’ve still got a lot of choices to make, a lot to learn, for a long while to come. And especially for the rest of this season: Callie and Arizona have mentioned wedding bells and you won’t be disappointed. And as for Meredith, well, rash actions have consequences, no matter what the intentions behind them. So as we move toward the end of season seven, I hope you like roller coasters. It’s going to be a wild ride.
April 28, 2011 | Permalink | Comments (182)
Shonda Rhimes on "Song Beneath The Song"...
Original Airdate: 3-31-11
HOW AND WHY WE DID THIS:
So, on about the third day of filming the pilot episode of Grey’s Anatomy (way back before it was even called Grey’s Anatomy, back when it was called The Untitled Shonda Rhimes Pilot), I turned to exec producer Betsy Beers and said, “I can’t wait to do a musical episode of this show.” See, I have this wild obsession with musicals and an unhealthy love of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical and also, I’m a geek. Which is why I said it.
“I can’t wait to do a musical episode of this show,” I said.
And Betsy, who is wise and funny and wry, just nodded. “Okay,” she said. And we went back to watching Patrick Dempsey pretend to do brain surgery.
One hundred forty-four episodes and seven and a half years later, we began filming the Grey’s Anatomy Music Event.
Explaining what the heck took us so long is too complicated to go into here. There are a lot of reasons – I was busy telling other awesome stories at Seattle Grace, I got a second show (what up, Private Practice peeps!), I was raising my tiny human, my musical talent involves oboe-playing and nothing else, the network thought it was the dumbest idea they’d ever heard of and refused to do it.
And, oh yeah, one other thing: I had no idea how we would do it.
So I forgot about my musical episode dreams.
Then a thing happened in Season Four of the show. The Writers Guild of America went on strike. Which meant that, instead of writing my TV show inside my studio office, I carried a picket sign up and down the street in front of my studio office. It also meant that I got worried. About the crews who work hard on TV shows and movies. I got worried about how they would pay their bills. And so a bunch of us at Private Practice and Grey’s Anatomy got together and decided to throw a benefit concert to raise money for the crews.
I stood backstage at this concert and I listened to members of both of my casts sing (Audra McDonald, folks, she has four Tony Awards and the chick can BLOW -- buy a ticket and hear the woman sing sometime). Sara Ramirez closed the benefit. And when she opened her mouth, she brought the house down. I know people say that – brought the house down. It’s a thing people say. But Sara Ramirez (who has a Tony of her own) BROUGHT THE HOUSE DOWN. She’s a superhero. Singing is her super power.
Now, most of us have a super power. Dempsey has that twinkle in his eye. Also, he can juggle. And babies, all babies, every baby in the world, ALL BABIES love him. It’s amazing how much babies love him. They just stop crying when he’s around and stare at him and smile. It’s awe-inspiring. The man commands the hearts and souls of babies. He’s a baby-mesmerizer. If I ever have another baby, I am going to bring her to work and hand her to Patrick and walk away for hours at a time. She will be the happiest baby in the world. I’m telling you, every baby in the world seems to get that he’s McDreamy. Super. Freaking. Power.
But I digress. Anyway, most of us have super powers. But not a lot of us have super powers that involve opening our mouths and having God come out. I’m not a big God person but that’s really the only way to describe what happens when Sara sings. God, or whatever you want to call the magic of the universe, comes out.
You know who else has that super power? Chyler Leigh. And she didn’t even know she had it. Also Kevin McKidd. Who knew he had it but is all Scottish and humble and didn’t reveal it. Also Justin Chambers. Who is just so cool that it makes sense that he has it. Also Chandra Wilson. Who has it but gets nervous when she has to sing. Also-
You see my point. Our bench is deep.
(It is also deep on Private Practice, scary deep, shockingly, brilliantly deep, but I’m talking about Grey’s here so I’ll save that for when I meet you and you ask me about it.)
Anyway, it was Season Four and we hadn’t met Kevin McKidd yet and I still hadn’t come up with an idea for a musical episode and I still only play the oboe and the network was still saying no. But it made me think about it again. It made all the writers sit around and say, “We wish we could do a musical episode of Grey’s Anatomy.”
Two more seasons went by and…nothing.
Then at the very beginning of Season 7, I said to the writers that Callie should get pregnant with Mark Sloan’s baby and that it should be complicated and horrible and really upset Arizona. And suddenly, I knew what the musical episode should be about.
So I started begging people. I begged the studio people. I begged the network people. I took these people to dinner and begged. I jumped out at these people in bathrooms and begged. And they all smiled politely but what they were clearly really thinking was, “This woman is an idiot.”
So I did the only thing I could think of. I got Tony Phelan (one of our writers, as you know, but also a great big musical theatre geek like me only he has real musical theatre talent) to help me. I also got Chandra and Sara and Kevin to help me. And then I dragged all of the studio and network executives in to work on a Saturday. Sandra Oh showed up to be our cheerleader. There was an amazing band. And in front of the studio and network execs (who are all very nice and very smart but clearly thought I might be a Grade A Idiot), we threw a great big concert. I pitched my idea and Chandra and Kevin and Sara sang. And God came out of their mouths. And the studio and the network stopped thinking I was an idiot and they said yes.
Seven and a half years. One hundred and forty-four episodes.
We started rehearsals a full four months before we filmed – unheard of for our show. We usually prep a show for eight days. Sara Ramirez was the one who gave me the idea that we should sing the songs our show had made famous. Tony Phelan was the one who directed the episode. The entire writing staff helped me make the script make sense. Bossy McBossy Rob Corn never once complained about how overbudget we were. The crew went all in, leaping off this crazy cliff of music with us. And every single member of the cast got excited and came together like the family they are to do this right.
Even Pompeo. Who is funny and kind and who has never once hesitated to do any of the crazy things I write for Meredith to do but who was also a little worried I might have turned into an idiot. She came up to me after the table read for the episode and said, “This is amazing. I want to sing more!”
And when I walked on stage and watched the episode being filmed, I felt like it was worth every minute of begging to get it done. I hope you think so too.
“I can’t wait to do a musical episode of this show,” I said way back then. And Betsy nodded.
And now we have done it.
On Monday (yes, just this past Monday) I stood on the mixing stage, watching the final playback of the musical episode on a giant movie screen (and boy, how I wish you could see it with surround sound on a movie screen), and then I went to Betsy and I said, “I can’t wait to do another musical episode of this show. I want to see Ellen Pompeo sing Rilo Kiley.” And Betsy nodded.
So now I have another dream to dream. I kind of like to think that dreaming is my super power. That or oboe playing. But nobody likes it when I play the oboe so, you know, I’m gonna go with dreaming.
Thank you so much for watching. I mean it. My gratitude is large and my appreciation is limitless.
March 31, 2011 | Permalink | Comments (848)
No comments:
Post a Comment