KRAKOOM!: Bret's Blog
May 28th, 2008
The Difference Between TV & Film
Before I really get into this blog, I want to comment on the recent news about Reaper’s future. Some people are down about Reaper’s midseason status, but I wanted it to be out there that I’m not. In fact, I’m excited. The way I see it, midseason is better than no-season. And who knows what the future holds… Maybe one of the CW’s new shows will tank early or something crazy will happen and we’ll end up back on the air before 2009. But we can talk more about that when the timing is closer. For now, let’s talk about what I’m up to right now.
Currently (as I type this, in fact), I’m sitting in a hotel in the Big Easy (New Orleans to most of us) in between shooting days on a new Sony feature film called, what else, “Mardi Gras”!
The movie is a buddy comedy about three friends who head down to Mardi Gras to blow off some steam and so far it’s been nothing but fun. We’ve been down here filming for a few weeks now and what I wanted to talk about was the difference between shooting a TV series and shooting a film. Let me apologize in advance if this gets too “inside.”See, when you shoot a television show, it’s all about speed. You have to get it done as quickly as possible because there’s never an end in sight (at least not if you’re doing well). Every day, the goal is 8-9 pages of script (which translates to about the same number of minutes of screen time). It’s a lot to tackle from a writing, directing, producing, crew and acting perspective, but it’s the way it’s done – you gotta constantly feed the beast.
But in film, at least with a big studio film like Mardi Gras, we get to take our time. So far we’re shooting 2-4 pages a day. That’s 4 minutes of screen time tops. The biggest positive to this is that the actors (and the director) get to really play around with the scenes. I mean, it’s a comedy, so there’s certainly no harm in doing a scene over and over and over, with the actors constantly trying new deliveries or reactions or even lines. If the crew doesn’t laugh on the first take, change it up for the second and see if that works. Not only does this result in funnier takes, but, as an actor, it really keeps it fresh as we do shot after shot of the same line readings. Add to that the fact that I get to play a character who is not the same one I play every single week for 6-9 months and you can understand why I’m finding this refreshing enough to write about.
You can read a little about the movie here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1083462/. It’s due out next year.
As always, thanks for reading.
Bret
May 27, 2008
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