SEVENTH EPISODE (IT GIRL) - PRODUCTION NOTES
Hi everyone.. Sean again. I hope you enjoyed "It Girl." It was the very
first of the new episodes to be filmed and was originally going to be
our premiere episode but was pushed back to later in the season when MTV
considered "Big Score" to be a better introductory episode.
Dan Milano, Spencer Chinoy and I were co-directing the first few episodes
together, so I consider "It Girl" to be very much a joint venture. My
solo contributions were the directing of some of the pick-up scenes that
were eventually added, as well as and overseeing the last stages of
post-production.
focus primarily on the concept of fame and to what depths Warren was
willing to go to regain it. It was also the episode in which we wanted
to introduce the characters of Raquel and Cecil. Raquel is played by the
very talented Mary K. DeVault. Mary and Dan Milano (Warren) have such
great on screen chemistry... I'm always excited about what they will give us in improv.
The scene that takes place at 'The Roost' bar is actually a re-shoot.
The original scene had Warren and Raquel meeting for the first
time. It was the first scene we shot in the season. So not only was it a
little rough but after the order of the episodes changed, it wasn't
working from a chronological stand-point. I'm glad we were able to
reshoot it.
The first cut of the DMZ news report about Fresca played out much longer
than in the final version. It focused on Devon's savvy promotion skills
in who he dates, his music and his clothing line. For timing purposes,
we edited this down to just the vital info. Devon is played by the very
talented Nick Steele. He has done the Kevin Federline impersonation
on other shows and films such as Date Movie.
You'll notice that we were trying to establish many things to a first time
audience in this episode. For example, when Warren is on line
outside the club, the bouncer refers to a "diaper" on Warren's head,
to which he responds "It's a helmet." And "Monkey Round the House"
refers to Warren's old sitcom career. We even show Warren driving his
Smart Car and crashing it, which is the only time we see Warren behind
the wheel of a car. The crash explains why Cecil has to drive Warren
around in the rest of the episodes.
This episode also features a smaller version of the Warren puppet, with a
slightly wrinkled helmet. This is the same Warren who appeared in
our 2006 IFC episodes. The puppet appears in this episode, as well as
"Big Score." You'll see that in some of the scenes, and our later
episodes the puppet becomes much larger, with a smoother helmet and a
slightly longer snout. For comparison, look at the difference between
Warren when he is in the bar with Racquel (this is the bigger Warren)
versus the next scene of them walking on the street together (this is
the smaller Warren).
Warren's Member's Only jacket and vest were designed by our very talented
Associate Producer and wearer of many hats Eri Hawkins. For reference, we
gave her Michael Douglas in Basic Instinct.
The scene that takes place in Cecil's house was also a re-shoot.
Originally Raquel gives Warren the news that Fresca is in rehab after
Warren comes crawling back to her. It's a very funny scene but it had
to be cut because we needed to introduce Cecil earlier in the episode.
Note: Troma Entertainment, the company behind such cult classics as
Toxic Avenger and Class of Nuke 'Em High provided us with posters for
Cecil's room.
The shot of Warren driving outside the Playboy Liquors shop was an
impromptu special effect process shot. While we were shooting, I
realized that a little piece of green cloth placed inside the driver's
window could help us composite a shot of Warren inside the car
We shot Hend Baghdady, our great line producer, driving off around the
corner. Then while the car was sitting still, we filmed Warren behind the
wheel in front of the green cloth, acting as if he was driving.
Finally, we shot a hand held tracking shot of the clean background.
Richard Sanchez, our Assistant Editor, combined the plates for the final shot
and did anawesome job. There was a lot of painstaking frame by frame
adjustment to make the final shot work. Thanks Richard!
The Psychiatrist at Shady Lanes Rehab is played by Phil Morris
who you may recognize as Jackie Childs from Seinfeld. Though the scene
is only a few minutes long, we shot approx. 25 minutes of improv here
and it was very difficult to cut this down because both Phil and Dan
were giving gold.
Which brings us to Fresca, played by the beautiful and talented Beau Garrett.
Beau has a role in the upcoming Tron: Legacy. She was also in a very
memorable episode of Entourage. It was great shooting with Beau,
especially the "hollywood drive" scene. The ever-talented Josh Sussman,
Dan and Beau went wild in that car. I did the camera operating in the
front seat and our amazingly talented sound recordist, Irin Strauss was
hiding in the back. What a fun, memorable night. Josh was really driving
the car down Hollywood Boulevard while we were filming, and at times
you'd swear Beau and Warren were really drunk. They were screaming and
yelling the entire time.
The horse stable scene was a fun one. We wanted a miniature dwarf horse
(excuse me if that isn't PC) to compliment Warren's size. The
production team tried their damnedest to get one but there were none in
California at that time. So we went with a little guy by the name of
Christopher Robin. He isn't a dwarf, however he is a miniature palomino
stallion. Dan spent over an hour down by his hooves. It got a little hairy
because Christopher Robin was a little freaked out by Warren and started
kicking his front hoof. You can see this briefly in the episode.
The scene where Fresca and Warren drink in the horse stable required Dan
Milano to be covered in hay. Though compared to lying under the
miniature stallion and cramming himself into the front seat of a Smart
Car, this was probably one of his more comfortable setups.
The shots of the televisions that play the DMZ footage were shot months
later, near the end of post-production. We didn't have the budget to
bring on a DP so I shot them. Hend Bahgdady, Adam Kolkman (our awesome
AC) and Mike Mandzik (our awesome PA) went out and found televisions around
town. We had specific locations in mind, such as a Laundromat, barber shop, etc.
We would find a location, ask permission to shoot, get a location release,
shoot and find another. In all, we shot approx. 15 and they also can be
seen in our premiere episode where Chauncey's commercials play in a few
of them.
The DMZ voice-over is Michael O'Hagan who played the role of the
receptionist in 'Crash Course.' She is an NYC based actor who played a
bit role in my film 'Prince Of Broadway.' (shameless plug there)
You'll notice that when Beau runs to the bathroom, she passes a 'Pizza
Summer' poster. That is one of Warren's 80's films... we thought of it
as a "Last American Virgin" sorta film. The talented Rhyan Taylor
designed it for us, along with many of Warren's other posters. The
poster appears in Cecil's room and is featured in an upcoming episode,
"The Black Lotus."
Watching this episode now, I realize what a journey it took to get to this
place. There were so many other scenes shot for this episode
that didn't make it in because of time. Almost all of them were about
how the public reacted to Warren during his fiasco with Fresca...
Originally the show ended with Fresca being interviewed via satellite on a Tyra
Banks style talk show to speak about how Warren took advantage of her,
which turns the public against him. We approached Tyra Banks and
eventually thought we'd shoot the scene with Nancy O'Dell, who ended up
appearing in our "Gay Ape" episode instead. Eventually the sequence was
dropped, though we had shot Beau's side of the interview.
There was a running gag with a barista at a Coffee House who treats Warren
badly when he's a nobody and well when he's famous for dating Fresca, to
show how the public embraced Warren.
Finally, there was a sequence at a supermarket where a suburban mom chews
out Warren for having taken advantage of the vulnerable pop star, to which Warren
replies, "She was doomed the minute she put on her first mouseketeer
costume."
There is a ton of footage of Warren and Fresca - out for a wild night in the car
with Cecil, doing a bar crawl in Hollywood, etc. There's also some footage of
Warren trying to talk to Fresca in a club and getting rejected.
The ending was always problematic and we actually shot it a couple of
times. We shot the dancing end at Crazy Girls strip club while shooting
scenes from episode 10. I have to thank Bill Freiberger,
one of our writers and our supervising producer, for suggesting that
Warren sings "Do the Banana Dance" during the final dance. In my eyes,
it completes a character arc and brings the episode full circle. Now
Warren is proud of what he was once ashamed of... thanks Bill!
Warren. She also appears in an upcoming episode that I directed entitled
'Anger Management' with guest star Mick Foley.
Thanks for reading everyone and thanks as always to everyone on our cast
and crew for a great job.
Sean
first of the new episodes to be filmed and was originally going to be
our premiere episode but was pushed back to later in the season when MTV
considered "Big Score" to be a better introductory episode.
Dan Milano, Spencer Chinoy and I were co-directing the first few episodes
together, so I consider "It Girl" to be very much a joint venture. My
solo contributions were the directing of some of the pick-up scenes that
were eventually added, as well as and overseeing the last stages of
post-production.
focus primarily on the concept of fame and to what depths Warren was
willing to go to regain it. It was also the episode in which we wanted
to introduce the characters of Raquel and Cecil. Raquel is played by the
very talented Mary K. DeVault. Mary and Dan Milano (Warren) have such
great on screen chemistry... I'm always excited about what they will give us in improv.
The scene that takes place at 'The Roost' bar is actually a re-shoot.
The original scene had Warren and Raquel meeting for the first
time. It was the first scene we shot in the season. So not only was it a
little rough but after the order of the episodes changed, it wasn't
working from a chronological stand-point. I'm glad we were able to
reshoot it.
The first cut of the DMZ news report about Fresca played out much longer
than in the final version. It focused on Devon's savvy promotion skills
in who he dates, his music and his clothing line. For timing purposes,
we edited this down to just the vital info. Devon is played by the very
talented Nick Steele. He has done the Kevin Federline impersonation
on other shows and films such as Date Movie.
You'll notice that we were trying to establish many things to a first time
audience in this episode. For example, when Warren is on line
outside the club, the bouncer refers to a "diaper" on Warren's head,
to which he responds "It's a helmet." And "Monkey Round the House"
refers to Warren's old sitcom career. We even show Warren driving his
Smart Car and crashing it, which is the only time we see Warren behind
the wheel of a car. The crash explains why Cecil has to drive Warren
around in the rest of the episodes.
This episode also features a smaller version of the Warren puppet, with a
slightly wrinkled helmet. This is the same Warren who appeared in
our 2006 IFC episodes. The puppet appears in this episode, as well as
"Big Score." You'll see that in some of the scenes, and our later
episodes the puppet becomes much larger, with a smoother helmet and a
slightly longer snout. For comparison, look at the difference between
Warren when he is in the bar with Racquel (this is the bigger Warren)
versus the next scene of them walking on the street together (this is
the smaller Warren).
Warren's Member's Only jacket and vest were designed by our very talented
Associate Producer and wearer of many hats Eri Hawkins. For reference, we
gave her Michael Douglas in Basic Instinct.
The scene that takes place in Cecil's house was also a re-shoot.
Originally Raquel gives Warren the news that Fresca is in rehab after
Warren comes crawling back to her. It's a very funny scene but it had
to be cut because we needed to introduce Cecil earlier in the episode.
Note: Troma Entertainment, the company behind such cult classics as
Toxic Avenger and Class of Nuke 'Em High provided us with posters for
Cecil's room.
The shot of Warren driving outside the Playboy Liquors shop was an
impromptu special effect process shot. While we were shooting, I
realized that a little piece of green cloth placed inside the driver's
window could help us composite a shot of Warren inside the car
We shot Hend Baghdady, our great line producer, driving off around the
corner. Then while the car was sitting still, we filmed Warren behind the
wheel in front of the green cloth, acting as if he was driving.
Finally, we shot a hand held tracking shot of the clean background.
Richard Sanchez, our Assistant Editor, combined the plates for the final shot
and did anawesome job. There was a lot of painstaking frame by frame
adjustment to make the final shot work. Thanks Richard!
The Psychiatrist at Shady Lanes Rehab is played by Phil Morris
who you may recognize as Jackie Childs from Seinfeld. Though the scene
is only a few minutes long, we shot approx. 25 minutes of improv here
and it was very difficult to cut this down because both Phil and Dan
were giving gold.
Which brings us to Fresca, played by the beautiful and talented Beau Garrett.
Beau has a role in the upcoming Tron: Legacy. She was also in a very
memorable episode of Entourage. It was great shooting with Beau,
especially the "hollywood drive" scene. The ever-talented Josh Sussman,
Dan and Beau went wild in that car. I did the camera operating in the
front seat and our amazingly talented sound recordist, Irin Strauss was
hiding in the back. What a fun, memorable night. Josh was really driving
the car down Hollywood Boulevard while we were filming, and at times
you'd swear Beau and Warren were really drunk. They were screaming and
yelling the entire time.
The horse stable scene was a fun one. We wanted a miniature dwarf horse
(excuse me if that isn't PC) to compliment Warren's size. The
production team tried their damnedest to get one but there were none in
California at that time. So we went with a little guy by the name of
Christopher Robin. He isn't a dwarf, however he is a miniature palomino
stallion. Dan spent over an hour down by his hooves. It got a little hairy
because Christopher Robin was a little freaked out by Warren and started
kicking his front hoof. You can see this briefly in the episode.
The scene where Fresca and Warren drink in the horse stable required Dan
Milano to be covered in hay. Though compared to lying under the
miniature stallion and cramming himself into the front seat of a Smart
Car, this was probably one of his more comfortable setups.
The shots of the televisions that play the DMZ footage were shot months
later, near the end of post-production. We didn't have the budget to
bring on a DP so I shot them. Hend Bahgdady, Adam Kolkman (our awesome
AC) and Mike Mandzik (our awesome PA) went out and found televisions around
town. We had specific locations in mind, such as a Laundromat, barber shop, etc.
We would find a location, ask permission to shoot, get a location release,
shoot and find another. In all, we shot approx. 15 and they also can be
seen in our premiere episode where Chauncey's commercials play in a few
of them.
The DMZ voice-over is Michael O'Hagan who played the role of the
receptionist in 'Crash Course.' She is an NYC based actor who played a
bit role in my film 'Prince Of Broadway.' (shameless plug there)
You'll notice that when Beau runs to the bathroom, she passes a 'Pizza
Summer' poster. That is one of Warren's 80's films... we thought of it
as a "Last American Virgin" sorta film. The talented Rhyan Taylor
designed it for us, along with many of Warren's other posters. The
poster appears in Cecil's room and is featured in an upcoming episode,
"The Black Lotus."
Watching this episode now, I realize what a journey it took to get to this
place. There were so many other scenes shot for this episode
that didn't make it in because of time. Almost all of them were about
how the public reacted to Warren during his fiasco with Fresca...
Originally the show ended with Fresca being interviewed via satellite on a Tyra
Banks style talk show to speak about how Warren took advantage of her,
which turns the public against him. We approached Tyra Banks and
eventually thought we'd shoot the scene with Nancy O'Dell, who ended up
appearing in our "Gay Ape" episode instead. Eventually the sequence was
dropped, though we had shot Beau's side of the interview.
There was a running gag with a barista at a Coffee House who treats Warren
badly when he's a nobody and well when he's famous for dating Fresca, to
show how the public embraced Warren.
Finally, there was a sequence at a supermarket where a suburban mom chews
out Warren for having taken advantage of the vulnerable pop star, to which Warren
replies, "She was doomed the minute she put on her first mouseketeer
costume."
There is a ton of footage of Warren and Fresca - out for a wild night in the car
with Cecil, doing a bar crawl in Hollywood, etc. There's also some footage of
Warren trying to talk to Fresca in a club and getting rejected.
The ending was always problematic and we actually shot it a couple of
times. We shot the dancing end at Crazy Girls strip club while shooting
scenes from episode 10. I have to thank Bill Freiberger,
one of our writers and our supervising producer, for suggesting that
Warren sings "Do the Banana Dance" during the final dance. In my eyes,
it completes a character arc and brings the episode full circle. Now
Warren is proud of what he was once ashamed of... thanks Bill!
Warren. She also appears in an upcoming episode that I directed entitled
'Anger Management' with guest star Mick Foley.
Thanks for reading everyone and thanks as always to everyone on our cast
and crew for a great job.
Sean
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Comment by Skim on August 2, 2010 at 8:08pm -
"It Girl" was hilarious. There are so many funny things about this episode, I don't know where to begin. I'm loving this show. I just discovered it on TV last week, and since then I have watched all the available episodes online and I have told my friend and got him hooked as well. Me and my friend agree that this is the funniest show on TV, and we have excellent taste in comedy. I hope this show goes on forever. If MTV is dumb enough to cancel it, they should try to move it over to Comedy Central or something. It would do great paired up with South Park.
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Comment by Joan Blair on August 27, 2010 at 1:52am -
Hi Sean, thanks for writing such a great and thorough blog of the shoot.
I played the Soccer Mom and I had a blast filming. I really enjoyed doing Improv with Dan as Warren. I was bummed that our scene got cut, but I understand.
I told SO many people about the show. They were always asking me when I'd be on.
Dan told me a while ago that our scene was cut, so I'd be forewarned. That's OK because I loved working with you guys. I'm sure MTV will have you come back.
So, I'd be happy to come back whenever you need me. Take care! Joan Blair
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Comment by Tim Heck on December 1, 2010 at 1:33pm
-
"IT Girl" was awesome, especially the "Bananna Dance", poor Warren, he tries and he tries, but always fudges it up
-
Comment by Joan Blair on December 1, 2010 at 1:39pm
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I wish more people would have told MTV how much they loved Warren the Ape.
It looks like the show is cancelled for now. Hopefully, Warren will live, somehow!
It was a blast working on the "It Girl" episode as the Soccer Mom.
Comment
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