"Un-American Graffiti" Podcast Transcript
I heard that people were having trouble playing/downloading this. While I gather the new upload is working better for some, I took a stab at transcribing. This is only the first six minutes or so. I'll be back to update this post with more later.
Nothing spoilery for future episodes as yet. Just for 3x16, obviously.
DG: Take three... or four, I'm not sure. Hi, welcome to the podcast. I'm Dan Gabbe, the editor of episode 3x16 of Veronica Mars: "Un-American Graffiti." And joining me today is...
RH: Robby Hull, the writer of 3x16, "Un-American Graffiti."
DG: And, Robbie, you had the, uh, pleasure, I suppose, of being the first of the writers to do a stand-alone episode.
RH: A privilege, yeah. Yeah, this was our first episode ever of completely stand-alone, which basically means there is no over-all arcing mystery to the mix. Five episodes, so each episode is basically self-contained. So it was... It's different to write but not much different.
DG: No?
RH: No. I think it's actually a little easier in the room because we don't have to figure out, you know, what we're setting up for the over-all arc; we just kind of spit-ball each individual story.
DG: This may be a stupid question but I'm not in the writers' room so I don't kn... Is there? I mean, how do you guys - as we're doing the over arcing mysteries - how did you decide how much time, with each episode, is going to be spent dealing with those?
RH: I think we generally plotted out, in general, the beats we want to get to for the over-all arc mystery. Rob's really good about making sure... he knows where he wants to get to in the end so it's not necessarily as improvisational in that regard, and then pure episode we just kind of figure out how much we need to lay in to get where we're going. Which, I like to work that way, some other shows, like 24, that I worked on, it's just pretty much, you're just making it up as you go along. So...
DG: So, you worked on 24.
RH: I did.
DG: Um, do you want to talk about how that effected the casting of this episode?
RH: I-I will. When we were casting the different roles - especially, ah, the Hiam role... is that his name still?
DG: Oh, the uh...
RH: Nasir, right?
DG: Nasir.
RH: We were casting Nasirs - We pulled in for casting, you know, 10 or 12, and I don't know how the casting goes out but, whatever the description of the part was, we basically read every actor who's ever been a terrorist on 24 or Sleeper Cell. So I felt a little uncomfortable. But then again, you know, they're getting work. Some stereotypes actually get you money.
DG: I mean, you know... that's where the handsome Arab men go.
RH: Hey! 24 and Sleeper Cell: They're employing a lot of people!
DG: Yeah. So did you recognize anyone from working on 24?
RH: I recognized one guy from 24. I didn't say anything, but I... it was good to see, again, getting work. He's got a mortgage.
DG: Right. Um, so... So we start off with the sort of red herring of the paint-ball attack.
RH: Right, which was kind of interesting, which we promo-
DG: -Is that from Rob or from you?
RH: -Talk about. I can't remember where that came out. I think we were all just kind of excited maybe from when we all went to play paint-ball. You were there, right?
DG: I-I was involved in the paint-ball.
RH: The paint-ball was Rob took all the staff and crew out to play paint-ball for a Christmas present. And I [uninteligable]. It was an experience. I liked it.
DG: I feel as though I should tell my "How I Almost Got Fired on Paint-Ball Day" story.
RH: Oo.
DG: The story when I almost started yelling at Rob.
RH: You yelled at Rob?
DG: Yeah. I-um.
RH: This is going to be a better story than talking about the terrorists.
DG: Because I thought Rob was off. Because when you get... when you get - um, you can cut this story out later if you want guys - when you get shot in paint-ball - in the paint-ball we played - you're supposed to put your hands in the air and then walk off the field.
RH: Which is generally when everyone then opens fire.
DG: If you then get like paint check and it turns out you didn't get hit, that the paint-ball didn't burst on you, you're supposed to walk back to the end of the field. Well we didn't know that yet, so Rob got shot, and he walked off the field, and then he just walked back on and started shooting at me! And then, I thought he was Jason, one of the other writers, so I just sort of opened up on him with some sort of foul-mouthed tirade -
RH: [laughing]
DG: - about what a jerk he was. And then he took off his goggles and I realized it was Rob.
RH: It was the boss. I just remembered thinking about a couple hours into it that, you know, when you're like 15 or 16, going like "You know what? I'm never gonna like, go play golf or something just to impress the boss," or something like that. And then I remember thinking about like three hours into it being like, "Nice shot, sir!"
DG: And he wasn't impressed at all.
RH: No, not so much.
DG: We were all in a lot of pain.
RH: Yeah, the first couple hours and then... yeah.
DG: Yeah.
RH: It got a little painful. I think I would have preferred a gift certificate or something.
DG: And then Diane shows up, like at the very end...
RH: [laughing] with like a half hour left!
DG: Fresh and clean as a daisy.
RH: [mimicking] "Hey, are you guys still playin'?"
DG: And she was like laying waste to all of us. Um. That was very humorous.
RH: It was good.
DG: Anyways, so we had just played paint-ball and the paint-ball idea came...
RH: That's where the paint-ball-so it was kind of an homage to, you know, our own activities. Which was kind of fun.
DG: And I should say that, originally, it sort of played more to the sort of terror of being shot with the paint-balls.
RH: It was. That's, you know... It's-it's an interesting process to go from breaking the story in the room, to writing the script, to seeing it, how it materializes through the director's eyes and how he presents things. So in the script it was a little bit more, "Oh my god, I'm actually getting shot by someone."
DG: Once we turned the cut, we had a cut where it was all very like, you know, terrifying, and scary music, and uh, and then Rob saw that and decided that-that the footage that we had didn't really bare that kind of treatment out. So we decided to go in sort of the other direction with it, which was, you know, it's sort of funny-scary.
RH: Um-hum. I thought it did come out well. It's just, yeah it's different.
DG: I haven't seen the final mix on the music yet.
RH: It's kind of... it's, ah... I mean it's a collaborative [unintelligible], which is fun about it. It's just kind of... It's fun to see how somebody interprets what was on the page, what was different from you. Wither it was good or bad.
DG: Right.
RH: It's interesting. Same with the actors and when you're on set: people say things a different way. It's kind of... most of the time it's interesting just because someone's bringing something that you didn't hear to it. Same with casting: you're excited when someone comes in the room and just... tries something. Wither it's good or bad, at least trying something.
DG: Yeah. The happy accidents can happen there so...
RH: Yeah.
[stopping at 6:40 of 20:57 for now]
Back with more later!
Nothing spoilery for future episodes as yet. Just for 3x16, obviously.
DG: Take three... or four, I'm not sure. Hi, welcome to the podcast. I'm Dan Gabbe, the editor of episode 3x16 of Veronica Mars: "Un-American Graffiti." And joining me today is...
RH: Robby Hull, the writer of 3x16, "Un-American Graffiti."
DG: And, Robbie, you had the, uh, pleasure, I suppose, of being the first of the writers to do a stand-alone episode.
RH: A privilege, yeah. Yeah, this was our first episode ever of completely stand-alone, which basically means there is no over-all arcing mystery to the mix. Five episodes, so each episode is basically self-contained. So it was... It's different to write but not much different.
DG: No?
RH: No. I think it's actually a little easier in the room because we don't have to figure out, you know, what we're setting up for the over-all arc; we just kind of spit-ball each individual story.
DG: This may be a stupid question but I'm not in the writers' room so I don't kn... Is there? I mean, how do you guys - as we're doing the over arcing mysteries - how did you decide how much time, with each episode, is going to be spent dealing with those?
RH: I think we generally plotted out, in general, the beats we want to get to for the over-all arc mystery. Rob's really good about making sure... he knows where he wants to get to in the end so it's not necessarily as improvisational in that regard, and then pure episode we just kind of figure out how much we need to lay in to get where we're going. Which, I like to work that way, some other shows, like 24, that I worked on, it's just pretty much, you're just making it up as you go along. So...
DG: So, you worked on 24.
RH: I did.
DG: Um, do you want to talk about how that effected the casting of this episode?
RH: I-I will. When we were casting the different roles - especially, ah, the Hiam role... is that his name still?
DG: Oh, the uh...
RH: Nasir, right?
DG: Nasir.
RH: We were casting Nasirs - We pulled in for casting, you know, 10 or 12, and I don't know how the casting goes out but, whatever the description of the part was, we basically read every actor who's ever been a terrorist on 24 or Sleeper Cell. So I felt a little uncomfortable. But then again, you know, they're getting work. Some stereotypes actually get you money.
DG: I mean, you know... that's where the handsome Arab men go.
RH: Hey! 24 and Sleeper Cell: They're employing a lot of people!
DG: Yeah. So did you recognize anyone from working on 24?
RH: I recognized one guy from 24. I didn't say anything, but I... it was good to see, again, getting work. He's got a mortgage.
DG: Right. Um, so... So we start off with the sort of red herring of the paint-ball attack.
RH: Right, which was kind of interesting, which we promo-
DG: -Is that from Rob or from you?
RH: -Talk about. I can't remember where that came out. I think we were all just kind of excited maybe from when we all went to play paint-ball. You were there, right?
DG: I-I was involved in the paint-ball.
RH: The paint-ball was Rob took all the staff and crew out to play paint-ball for a Christmas present. And I [uninteligable]. It was an experience. I liked it.
DG: I feel as though I should tell my "How I Almost Got Fired on Paint-Ball Day" story.
RH: Oo.
DG: The story when I almost started yelling at Rob.
RH: You yelled at Rob?
DG: Yeah. I-um.
RH: This is going to be a better story than talking about the terrorists.
DG: Because I thought Rob was off. Because when you get... when you get - um, you can cut this story out later if you want guys - when you get shot in paint-ball - in the paint-ball we played - you're supposed to put your hands in the air and then walk off the field.
RH: Which is generally when everyone then opens fire.
DG: If you then get like paint check and it turns out you didn't get hit, that the paint-ball didn't burst on you, you're supposed to walk back to the end of the field. Well we didn't know that yet, so Rob got shot, and he walked off the field, and then he just walked back on and started shooting at me! And then, I thought he was Jason, one of the other writers, so I just sort of opened up on him with some sort of foul-mouthed tirade -
RH: [laughing]
DG: - about what a jerk he was. And then he took off his goggles and I realized it was Rob.
RH: It was the boss. I just remembered thinking about a couple hours into it that, you know, when you're like 15 or 16, going like "You know what? I'm never gonna like, go play golf or something just to impress the boss," or something like that. And then I remember thinking about like three hours into it being like, "Nice shot, sir!"
DG: And he wasn't impressed at all.
RH: No, not so much.
DG: We were all in a lot of pain.
RH: Yeah, the first couple hours and then... yeah.
DG: Yeah.
RH: It got a little painful. I think I would have preferred a gift certificate or something.
DG: And then Diane shows up, like at the very end...
RH: [laughing] with like a half hour left!
DG: Fresh and clean as a daisy.
RH: [mimicking] "Hey, are you guys still playin'?"
DG: And she was like laying waste to all of us. Um. That was very humorous.
RH: It was good.
DG: Anyways, so we had just played paint-ball and the paint-ball idea came...
RH: That's where the paint-ball-so it was kind of an homage to, you know, our own activities. Which was kind of fun.
DG: And I should say that, originally, it sort of played more to the sort of terror of being shot with the paint-balls.
RH: It was. That's, you know... It's-it's an interesting process to go from breaking the story in the room, to writing the script, to seeing it, how it materializes through the director's eyes and how he presents things. So in the script it was a little bit more, "Oh my god, I'm actually getting shot by someone."
DG: Once we turned the cut, we had a cut where it was all very like, you know, terrifying, and scary music, and uh, and then Rob saw that and decided that-that the footage that we had didn't really bare that kind of treatment out. So we decided to go in sort of the other direction with it, which was, you know, it's sort of funny-scary.
RH: Um-hum. I thought it did come out well. It's just, yeah it's different.
DG: I haven't seen the final mix on the music yet.
RH: It's kind of... it's, ah... I mean it's a collaborative [unintelligible], which is fun about it. It's just kind of... It's fun to see how somebody interprets what was on the page, what was different from you. Wither it was good or bad.
DG: Right.
RH: It's interesting. Same with the actors and when you're on set: people say things a different way. It's kind of... most of the time it's interesting just because someone's bringing something that you didn't hear to it. Same with casting: you're excited when someone comes in the room and just... tries something. Wither it's good or bad, at least trying something.
DG: Yeah. The happy accidents can happen there so...
RH: Yeah.
[stopping at 6:40 of 20:57 for now]
Back with more later!