Acquired
02:09:43 · Ben Gilbert, David Rosenthal
There's producers, writers, NBC executives, Castle Rock representatives. And, as Jason Alexander put it, they would then have a go big powwow after table read. They would give their notes, then Larry would quit. Then the notes would be thrown away. Then Larry would agree to stay, and then he would come back tomorrow. [02:10:03] S1: Sounds about right.
02:10:04 · Ben Gilbert
[02:10:04] S0: So that's day one. And the actors start trying to do some rehearsing, but it's all gonna change so materially, and they kinda know it. So they're not taking that rehearsal that seriously. It's just, like, familiarizing themselves with the material. So Larry and Jerry would then go do a bunch of rewrites overnight. The scripts don't really have stage direction. It's just dialogue because they're comedians. That's that's what they write. And so then the actors had to figure it out. So Seinfeld had this really unique collaborative way where the actors would stay on set even when it wasn't their scene so they could work through it together, and they could trade. Say, oh, actually, I think it would be more funny if Kramer's at the fridge right now with the door open going through, or or then maybe George is, and and trying to figure out the blocking together. Yep. So then day three, more full rewrite overnight, more rehearsing, still just internal to the team. The network's not there yet. The actors, they're there, the writers, Larry, Jerry. This becomes more or less the shape of the final script. Then at the end of the day, NBC and Castle Rock come in. They watch a full run through. They give their notes. As Jason Alexander says, Larry would quit. Yep. Their notes would be diminished, and Larry would come back. Day four is camera block day. So this is when the cameramen come in and start learning their shots. Who's taking what? The episode is sort of finalized enough to figure out what shots do we need and which cameras are we assigning. It's a very difficult thing because it's not like the four cameras just sit there and don't change. Let's say you're camera one. You're responsible for a wide shot. It comes off you and goes to camera three. You have five seconds to scramble, shift, zoom, get a two shot on two characters because then when it flips back to you, that's where you're supposed to
02:11:45 · David Rosenthal, Ben Gilbert
[02:11:45] S1: be. Yep. [02:11:46] S0: So it's this, like, real ballet and art. So they all rehearse as a unit, the cameramen and the actors, because the next day, they're in front of a live audience. [02:11:54] S1: Yep. [02:11:55] S0: On day four also, especially as the show got bigger and they were doing more on location filming where they'd shoot outside the permanent sets, the the coffee shop in Jerry's apartment, they do things like go to the fake New York street on a different lot to do the sort of outdoor street shots or actual filming locations like the cemetery where George visits Susan. [02:12:18] S1: Oh, boy.
02:12:18 · David Rosenthal, Ben Gilbert
[02:12:18] S1: Oh, boy. [02:12:19] S0: Yeah. Then day five is rehearsal in the morning, then you bring in the live audience to film in the afternoon. They'd run the entire show in chronological order. And if there's any scenes that were not on those permanent sets, because the audience is just sitting there in front of the coffee shop in Jerry's apartment in in big bleachers, they would bring down a screen so the audience could watch a rough cut of what was shot outside. And that way, they could record those laughs just like we talked about earlier. If they didn't get a laugh... Do you know about what they would do, David, if they... If it wasn't going as expected? Even with the live audience there, they would pause production. They would huddle all the writers and the actors and the director on stage. They would bring out a live band who... That was just, like, waiting on set to entertain the audience. And they also had, like, comics and stuff warm up the audience. And they would huddle and try and figure out, like, a better joke [02:13:11] S1: Yeah. [02:13:11] S0: Why is this fucking joke? Live. The best example of this is in the marine biologist. Yeah. So the episode is supposed to end with George walking into the ocean. And if you've seen this episode, that is not the end. [02:13:24] S1: This is the best story.
02:13:24 · David Rosenthal, Ben Gilbert
[02:13:24] S1: This is the best story. [02:13:25] S0: It's so good. They bring down the screen to show the on location shot. George walks into the ocean. Audience is kinda confused. There's been, like, a lot of buildup, but there... There's no joke here. So they all huddle. They come up with this idea for George to have the additional scene in the booth where he does a monologue. And then he finally produces the golf ball out of his pocket, which is, of course, tying in a plot from earlier in the episode where Kramer's hitting golf balls into the ocean, and that golf ball turns out to be lodged in a whale's blowhole in George's storyline, which is why the whale needed a marine biologist in the first place that George was pretending to be. So [02:13:57] S1: It's so good. [02:13:58] S0: Larry goes off after their huddle, and he writes a full page monologue on the spot, which Jason Alexander tells Larry, yeah. I can do that. I'm a Tony award winning actor. [02:14:09] S1: Yeah. [02:14:09] S0: Like, I'm a theater actor. Yeah. This is... Put me in, coach. Like, this is what I do. Give me a moment. [02:14:15] S1: It's already late at night here at this point [02:14:16] S0: in time. [02:14:17] S1: So, yeah, he memorizes it, performs it on the spot. It's incredible. [02:14:21] S0: It's the first time it's ever been read. There was no rehearsal when George goes, the sea was angry that day, my friends. [02:14:27] S1: Oh, so good.
02:14:27 · David Rosenthal, Ben Gilbert
[02:14:27] S1: Oh, so good. [02:14:28] S0: It gets this giant laugh. And then, of course, when the laugh finally dies down after he produces the golf ball, Kramer looks at him and goes, that a titleist? Yep. Hole in one. So this happens, and then the next day, they come in for a table read. [02:14:48] S1: Yep. Is that insane? Nonstop. [02:14:52] S0: In parallel to this entire process is the preproduction where all the writers are, you know, some paired up in groups of two, but often just alone in their own offices, writing the next week's episode, the week after that, the week after that. And then [02:15:07] S1: And Larry and Jerry are working with them and getting it ready for table read. [02:15:10] S0: But, like, how are they working with them? Because they're also full time That's [02:15:13] S1: the point. Yeah. [02:15:14] S0: In a in a seven day work block to produce the current episode. It's crazy that... No wonder they're just kinda, like, looking over outlines of the next week and the week after and why it requires so much rewriting week of is because it really hasn't gotten, especially Jerry's attention yet. [02:15:31] S1: Yeah. The Seinfeld star is burning brighter and brighter and brighter and consuming everybody within it in the fusion reactor at its core. Yes. Which is a good time to flip back over to the business side of Seinfeld. Because also, right at this time, after the move to Thursday night, after the huge success, after the Internet starts to come online, Seinfeld hits syndication.