Apologies for just getting back to you breh. I've been missing meals, sleep and money editing this episode and I just turned a cut over to the team to review, so we should be rolling it out during the day on Sunday
The progression on this one is tremendous in a lot of different ways. I'm excited to put it out.
I’ve been following you on Facebook/Instagram.
-In Regards to the season arc, has any of your plans changed since you’ve been on hiatus?
The only real changes honestly is that it'll be better than we originally planned. In this time off, we've all gotten better at our crafts, gained life experiences that can inform the project and been pissed off by the hiatus enough to want to get back on it with a vengeance.
When we first planned to do the web series, me and Terrence mapped out and wrote 14 episodes. We know what we're building toward as far as the season progression and moving toward season 2.
After we wrapped this most recent episode, I was so hype by how well it went that I opened up the old episode list and furiously began making notes and changes. Being back on the set with everyone and playing our characters again, along with the life lived in the time off opened me up for more possibilities and ideas to add new story ideas and strengthen the ones that we've known all along, while tying them all together better.
This shoot was the most productive we've had yet, so I feel good about moving forward. We might end up doing slightly less than 14 because it's possible to condense a few of the episodes.
- Are you bringing back the white chick from episode 2? I know she’s kinda big in the comedy world.
I really hope so. Lynne Koplitz is Terrence's mentor in real life and a huge reason that I do standup and moved to Los Angeles. She's our people for life and had a million ideas for future episodes and ways we can tie her back in.
She's been busy as hell since her NetFlix special dropped (Check out her special, "Hormonal Beast"), so it would be a matter of coordinating.
So all in all, she's penciled indefinitely and we're going to try to get her back in the fold ASAP, so hopefully her time permits. But regardless I'm sure we'll work with her again.
-Are you going to address the time gap?
You'll hear it in a subtle way this episode if you pay careful attention.
-How long did it take you to write this particular episode? Have you written all the episodes for the season or do you just go script by script?
Man... This episode was written soooo long ago before we ever even picked up a camera. It was supposed to be like episode 2 or 3 originally.
It went through a ton of different changes, which I'll be able to explain in more detail after you see this episode.
But as far as the final script that we shot for this episode, I actually wrote this version like a week and a half before flying out. It had the same foundation as the original and I've known where I wanted to go with it in my head the entire hiatus. I just went in and re-worked it due to a few changes we needed to make.
We've written all the scripts for the first season. HOWEVER, as with this episode, they're going to all go through tremendous changes. Not necessarily changing the story dramatically, but we're better writers than we were before the time off and had time to think of ideas that will strengthen everything.
When I jotted all those notes and tentatively re-worked the season because I was excited after this shoot, it was essentially telling the same arcs and beats as we had before, just interweaving a lot more points and touching on things I didn't foresee.
- Was it always your intention to bring back Josie for this episode or did you do due to...popular demand lol
Bro, Jodi earned her role and I look forward to everyone seeing why.
Even before we shot the first episode, her chemistry was so dope that she made us go back to the drawing board and write her into more episodes. So even though she seemed like an afterthought in the pilot, we already knew that she was going to be important later. The hiatus unfortunately made her especially get lost in the mix.
Before the first episode went into production we had some Skype table reads. She's a girl Terrence knows in real life and I didn't know her at all. But dawg, she's exactly the character that I was writing when we were planning the show. It was kinda scary how her personality fit exactly what I had in my head.
I even named the character Jackie originally before knowing she existed, which is pretty damn close to Jodi.
I got to talk to her for a good bit during this shoot and she kept geeking out over how much like her the script read. So I'm confident she's going to play the character well and add an X-Factor to the show for us to play off of.
I'm excited to start writing some dope B stories involving her and Ashley that can build on their characters.
But with all that said, I've been paying attention and definitely noticed that she has the potential for a built-in fanbase haha. I told her that she has fans and shot her a link to the thread. Not sure if she ever checked it out.
The Coli aside, people in real life and on social media were asking about her also.
-Do you have plans to film in any parts of the city?
We definitely want the city to be part of the show, kinda like Broad City and Atlanta. We started highlighting the city a little in the first two episodes and want to get back with that moving forward.
- The main premise of the series is Lerone and Terrence’s dreams of making it as a comedy duo. Do you plan to explore that more and perhaps show how they work together? What is Lerone’s strengths compared to Terrence’s and how do they balance one another out?
Definitely. They're going to explore every aspect of their personal and professional lives, and the ways that they always tie in.
Lerone is free spirited and more willing to take chances. Terrence is level-headed but somewhat scared of the world. Terrence reels Lerone in, and Lerone pushes Terrence out of his comfort zones. For those reasons they're going to need each other to pursue their dreams moving forward.
They help each other creatively also. I imagine that we're going to highlight this as we do everything in the show, based on real-life with the volume turned up.
In real life, I handle the bulk of mapping out stories and doing the heavy lifting with scripts. I've written more scripts than Terrence and am newer to standup. He's been doing standup for more than 10 years, but hasn't written many scripts. So while my pen is stronger as far as writing scripts, I promise you Terrence punches up jokes or drops ideas in ways that transform the script, so we're always give and take with providing value.
We're definitely going to show how they work together and give some glimpses into them chasing their dreams.
- I think your character has already been established as the “funny” one, but I’d like to see more of what makes him unique. Like what is it about his potential that would make Terence take the risk of alienating his relationship beyond being “best friends”
Can’t wait for the new episode bro!
What I've been telling people is that this episode is a turning point. When we originally mapped out the season, it was broken down into multiple story arcs that lasted a few episodes at a time. The show is going to be rooted in the same energy but will be in a completely different evolution by the finale.
This episode marks the beginning of the first shift, so while Lerone is the "funny" one, I think you're going to start to see the beginning of something different from him, and all of the other characters as well. Can't wait to get your take on it.
I'm uploading a screener to YouTube as we speak to show the team. It looks good to go to me, so we'll see if they have any major notes. I'm confident that you'll be seeing episode 5 today!
Appreciate the support breh. Share it with your people when it comes out if you don't mind. We're about to start working harder to get eyeballs on the show so every bit helps.
Hype to share the episode with the world and my Coli brehs!
