Episode #55 **SPOILERS!!**

I have no time to blog right now, here are a series of unedited notes taken while rewriting Episode #55 this week. A lot of responsibility was put on my shoulders to make this episode work and I love it!! I was up until 3 & 4 am on Tuesday and Wednesday and last night, I felt like I was back in college working on the scripts for my cable access show all night the night before we shot. I'll write more about it later, but until now here's my random 3am thoughts.



I'm so excited, we've got a couple great shows coming up. There's #52, The Teacher's Lounge recorded live last weekend which I think is pretty good considering we recorded a 47 minute show, which gives Justin lots of room to cut out stuff that didn't work (haha, we're so sneaky), and then #53, He Didn't Start The Fire, which was my FAVORITE first draft of the retreat, it just wreaked of smart, plus it has tons of really good pop references, and I mean tons, even for us, it's a lot. And then #54, may favorite idea of the season.

**SPOILERS**

YES! My first spoiler warning on the website. I so kick ass Aint-It-Cool-News style. But seriously, if you don't want the whole concept of Episode 54 revealed to you right now, in it's infancy, you will go elsewhere in the Department, perhaps look for one of my observations on how men and women are different. I tried writing this without saying the concept and just alluding to it and it sounded so stupid. So here we go

**SPOILER** in

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Okay,

Okay, wow, so I'm logging this in at 12:30 am and I'm really cranking on this script for SuperSecret Show X. It's tricky, it's very different for us. The show is simply, one long conversation. Everyone not reading this will assume at any minute the people talking will give way to a comic premise but it never does. Two people just talk for a half hour.

It's missing a lot of love and care. We ultimately do around 6 drafts of any script and this one is still raw from out last writing retreat in January. Draft 1. One top of that it's a very tough concept, very new for us. We agreed that more writing needed to be done, so that more can be cut. If that makes any sense. Writing is a process, editing is not. I think. Anyway, I'm writing the second draft of SSSX right now and I'm having a blast. It was my favorite idea at the writing retreat, but it was so different, we would need to stretch very different muscles for this one as writers as well as actors. But the thought of the challenge all along has thrilled me, so not only did I get a very large acting part in the episode which I'm thrilled with as an actor who likes to challenge himself, but I was given the opportunity to write a draft on my own tonight. Right now I'm trying to find some beats, draft 1 was a very monotonous procession of pretty much a single event, other events need to happen without making the audience too aware that there's been an interruption.

12:45 Listening to the Complete Miami Vice by Jan Hammer and it's about the best music to write to in the history of the world.

12:50 these two need some point where all this is headed, a ticking bomb that gives us an out that we're aiming towards, right now I have them trying to get back to writing. Which is good for now.

1:00 Stopped writing for a second to familiarize myself with the three pages of notes & otehr ideas that were taken on this beast. There's a lot, but I wrote a few scenes down there to get the subjects in my head so hopefully they'd pop out at the right time while writing.

1:15 - Wow, three pieces of the puzzle came together all by themselves. The great thing about this show is that all the information continues to converge and refer back to previous discussion points, bringing things full circle.

1:30 - These characters aren't gettin any closer, no emotional arc, I'm forging head just to get the dialogue and topic discussion solid and then I'll make another pass and beef up the tension between them.
ugh, so slow. Why do i write so slow. Must pick up the pace.

Ultimately I would go to bed without finishing, and then many more random submissions were added by Stephe, Kate and Sandy the next day.

THE NEXT NIGHT

Okay, we did a ton of structure work tonight. So the delivery of information is set, but a lot left to go. We started working on everything that needed it tonight and I could seet things going awry. Luckily we caught ourselves and realized we weren't going to save the world tonight, we needed to A) lay out the order of the conversations. B) Figure out how they link and flow C) make the dialogue realistic D) Figure out their relationship and E) Add jokes. We got to A, but it was a lot to get through. We cut a ton of stuff and now I am home to make love to this script. I have to do B and C tonight and if I get it done we'll really be in good shape. Wish me luck!