D.W. Moffett, Friday Night Lights: Run and Gun, Baby!
Hello there, all you FNL fans!
This week's episode puts us square in the middle of the season and the storylines are starting to show signs of pregnancy. No, there's no pregnancy this week — but you get the sense that things are going to start to go 'pop pop pop' pretty soon. Take it from someone in the know, they do. They're going to be exploding pretty quickly here!
This week we're going to see that Coach has to continue to try to fend off the ever-present, ever-pressuring Joe McCoy again. I thought maybe it was time to talk a little about the experience of filming FNL.
I had a wild ride in Austin when we shot the show. I was initially expecting to play this character for a few episodes and ride off into the sunset, but lo and behold ... I wound up in every episode this season! That was unexpected, but I loved every minute of it. I enjoy this show and I did even before I was on. In fact, I think the show should go on and on.
The amazing thing about this show — besides what I believe to be one of the strongest casts in television — is how quickly and effortlessly it is shot. I talked a little bit about that in my blog on Dec. 2, 2008, if you'd like to know more. But one of the other aspects of the filming is that you need to be ready to move and move quickly!
Let me give you an example of how the actors are expected to jump onto a moving train. When I arrived in Austin, I was told that the assistant director wanted to talk to me and give me an 'orientation'. I was like, "What, does that mean he wants to warn me about all the Dens of Sin on 6th St. in Austin, and which cast members are grumpy in the morning?"
No sir.....what this particular orientation talk covers is just this.
We expect you to know your lines cold when you arrive on the set.
There will be no rehearsal and you will just start acting pretty much when you get to the set. (Say what?!)
What about all those focus measurements and all those camera moves we need to go over, and all those nuanced moments we want to massage and all that stuff you do in rehearsal so you don't waste the day stumbling all over the place all day long????
Doesn't happen that way on Friday Night lights. On FNL they don't rehearse — and it works!
I don't know if you remember all the way back to Episode 1 of this season, but it's the one where my character gets introduced (Joe McCoy Sr., the 'stud of suds'). There is a scene in that episode where I sort of barge in on Coach and offer him a bottle of Scotch and some Cuban cigars. It's a long scene and I had a lot of talking to do. That was my first day on the job! Imagine stepping into that character with no rehearsals and no set up — just walk in and go!
So needless to say, the nerves were firing, but I was doing OK. Until Kyle Chandler and I are in the middle of that scene and I just lost my place. I couldn't remember where we were at all. So that's when I stopped and said, 'I'm dry....I'm up.' That means I'm up the creek without a paddle. Nothing. And I'm waiting and Kyle is just standing there looking at me with that Coach look and the camera crews are just shooting away and so I say again, 'Hello.... I need a line here. I don't know where I am!!!' So that's when Kyle just looks at me and his face says, 'Welcome to our world, soldier.'
Then I hear this voice from where the director (the wonderful Jeffrey Reiner) was watching the monitors of all three cameras. It booms out something like, 'Just keep talking. You're doing great. Just talk. It'll come to you.'
And it did eventually come back to me. That's still one of my favorite scenes from the whole season!!!
Run and gun, baby. Run and gun. That's the way this show rolls.
I'm telling you, the way this show is produced and shot is the future of the medium. I would bet serious money that in the next 5 years I will be on a few sets that will remind me a lot of FNL. It really just makes sense!
Obviously, there are limitations to a schedule this fast. You can't do dangerous stunts fast. You can't do elaborate lighting set-ups. But that's about it. We use three cameras all the time, sometimes as many as seven when we shoot the football scenes. That way you get lots of coverage each take, but, hey, most TV shows are using two cameras all the time anyway.
I personally love the way our show looks. I like the vitality of the scenes in FNL. You always feel like you could literally walk into the frame and be a part of that reality. It has a very 'real' feel to it....and in the performances as well.
OK, then, that's all she wrote for this blog. Enjoy the episode and let me know what you think!! You can leave your comments at here or at my website, dwmoffett.com.
Thanx for watching!
D.W. Moffett
