Brothers and Sisters: Bloggers and Sisters

To Crafty With Love

Early in my first year of film school a professor made everyone in the room stand up, introduce themselves and name one interest or hobby. Daniel Land, a saucy young lad, stood up and bravely declared, “My name is Dan Land and I’m interested in free food.” He was going into the right field.

There is a unique hypocrisy in the entertainment business that I feel like sharing with you.  It is called “Craft Services.” It is brilliantly idiosyncratic that an industry continually derided for perpetuating unattainable ideals in lack of body mass should so abundantly provide every opportunity for obesity. They say the camera adds ten pounds, but it is the card table about 20 yards behind the camera you should fear.

For those who have never worked on a television show or movie, allow me to fill you in:  Craft services (“crafty”) is the department in charge of keeping everyone on the show well fed and happy. Our wonderful craft service people are Judy Dale Torres -- or Sweet Judy -- and Bobby Rodriguez. They are the providers of the fuel that keeps the Brothers & Sisters fire going.  The craft service truck -- or room, when shooting on the stages -- is a glutton’s paradise. There is everything you can dream of, assuming you dream in snack food. From candy, chips, and soda to more substantial fare like quesadillas, chicken nuggets and spaghetti. In the morning there are breakfast foods – quiches, pancakes, bacon by the barrel. After lunch there is dessert, and before you know it you’ve reached the between-lunch-and-dinner snack time.

And the feeding doesn’t stop there. A week before we begin filming a new episode there is a Concept meeting and the day before we begin shooting a new episode there is a Production Meeting. Both of these meetings are catered with a full spread of delicious foods. Then there are the table read-throughs, bringing meals served from different ethnic restaurants. Italian and sushi and Thai, oh my! Additionally, both the writer’s offices and production offices (the 4th and 5th floors, respectively) have fully stocked kitchens. And don’t get me started on the special occasion taco, coffee and pizza trucks. (To clarify, that’s three separate trucks, enticing as an enchilada and espresso combo meal might be . . .)

Clearly, making sure that the cast and crew are well fed is an important issue.  When people are busting themselves working 14-15 hour days, providing sustenance and energy is vital. But as a former fat kid, it is a true test of will power to not devour everything, all the time. It is frustrating and futile to try and stay on a healthy diet when working on a production. And for free food enthusiasts like myself, and former classmate Dan Land, this is the way it should be.

-art alamo

To Err is Art

I have a staunch policy of messing something up terribly the first time I do it, so as to give me room for improvement. As my father said to me on my first disastrous day of softball, “If you start out on top, there’s only one way to go . . .”

There is a factual error in my post from earlier this morning. This Sunday’s new episode is ‘All in the Family,’ written by the dynamic team of Sherri Cooper-Landsman and David Marshall Grant. ‘Three Parties’ is both new and delicious and will be coming soon.

Many apologies.

-art alamo

NEW POST! NEW EPISODE! NEW POST! NEW EPISODE!

Now that I have your attention –

Hello all! My name is Art, and at least for the time being, I will be doing my best to handle the blog.  We appreciate everyone’s patience over the past couple of weeks. Things have been hectic and new around here. Dan Silk, former keeper of the blog and assistant to the head writer, is getting started on writing episode 124 with beloved writer’s assistant Ben Kruger. We are all excited for both of them and anxiously looking forward to what is sure to be a killer episode. Everyone around these parts has been gearing up for the final stretch, working hard to make sure that we deliver a stellar end to our first season.

On that note, many of you have heard, but for the sake of being official:

It is my pleasure and honor to announce that ‘Brothers & Sisters’ has officially been picked up for a second season!!!!!
All of our love and thanks goes out to the fans.  This show is a singular pleasure to make, the kind of work that is challenging, inspiring and sometimes frustrating. To know that it has found its audience and that you are all with us on this journey with the Walkers is the greatest reward imaginable. So thank you!

It is also my pleasure to reveal that this Sunday’s episode is a new, delicious concoction from writers Marc Guggenheim and Jon Robbie Baitz. ‘Three Parties’ debuts April 1st and is the perfect blend of pathos and sly humor that is the signature of this show. Be sure to check it out.

That is all for now, but as promised, the blog should be back up to regular posts and comments publishing from here on out. I’m going to do my best to keep y’all entertained and informed about the goings ons around here and would love any feedback, thoughts, questions or concerns you have. Viva la Bloggers & Sisters!!

-art alamo

What Passes for Fun on set

Alright, so it’s been a while since I’ve blogged, so I thought I would type one up quickly (at least, that’s what I said at the beginning: “I’ll just whip something up.”).

I’m sitting on set, waiting while we turn around (tv lingo for getting shots of different actors), a few feet away from video village (more lingo for the cart with the monitors that get a feed from both cameras), shooting a scene between Ron and Sally (I’d tell you more, but I don’t want to give anything away).

It’s no secret that television is a lot of long hours; shooting less than a 12 hour day is a rarity, and considered a major luxury.  Over the course of 25 episodes (which we’ll produce this year – although you’ll only see 23 of them), that means a lot of time is spent on set.  After that much time the show starts to accumulate a few inside jokes.  Most of them are not appropriate to write here.  Here are a few that are:

- On the Northlight Coffee Company cups (which, if one of our characters has a starbucks-esque cup in their hand you’ve seen), the motto of the company is: “Providing tasty mouthfuls since 1983.”  Also gracing the text of the cups, is a missive about how the coffee is picked: Northlight, apparently, uses Naked Guatemalans exclusively for their harvesting.

- Cliff, who has appeared on Alias as a hamburger (this is not a joke), played the Artichoke Mascot in an upcoming episode.  So when you see a giant, green, creepily cartoony artichoke bump into Sarah, well, that’s Cliff.  We’re so proud.

- In Cliff and my last episode, “Valentine’s Day Massacre,” we titled a character “Douchebag.”  He was the guy having dinner with Tyler, when Justin and the kids come in and interrupt.  If you don’t believe me, check the IMDB page.

- Last Friday, we had a location all lined up, shooting outside.  Unfortunately, Calista got very sick, and had to go home before we could shoot.  We had to drive back to the stages here in Burbank, and fill the day with other scenes.  This sounds like no big deal, but it is: we had to shoot a scene with Kevin, and we needed extras to be in the background.  Except no one had planned for this, so there were no extras.  So Cliff and I, along with Todd, and a few of our stand-ins, put on suits or dresses, and walked around.  We made up backstories for our characters: Cliff, with his crazy hair, was going into court for a DUI hearing – being a drunk, he didn’t have a lot of money so had to hire a third-tier lawyer (Todd) to defend him.  I, on the other hand, was the Armani lawyer, who was about to argue my evil, money laundering mafia boss out of a jail sentence.

Why do we do all this?  It brightens up the day for everyone on set.  And sometimes, after a long week, when it’s in the middle of the night, and it’s freezing cold, you need something that can make people chuckle a little bit.  Or, at least, that’s the goal.

Oops.  We’re about to start shooting.  Time to put on my head phones and pay attention.

Pete

Loose Change:
Michael Morris is going to be directing 123, his first ever television episode!  He got a tough one, since most of it will be outside... Speaking of firsts, Ben and Dan are about to start breaking their first episode!  They were waiting to go in and talk with Berlanti and Baitz, and looked nervously excited, like the junior who is about to ask a senior out to prom, even when he knows she'll say yes... Greg just got back from a weekend trip to London (he was working) yet somehow managed to not look jet lagged... Show progress: 121 shooting, 122 written and in prep, 123 writing, 124 breaking.  And then there's just one more.  We are in the home stretch!  So close... so close.

THE SEASON'S NOT OVER

Unfortunately, because of Dan "I'm so obsessed with my own tangential fame  based on my name being uttered derisively in two episodes that I write really confusing blogs containing literally no cogent information to our tried and true fans" Silk's disastrous blog last week, some fans might have gotten the impression that our season was over.

It is not!!!  We still have so much left to give!

And yet, you will have to wait until April 1st.  That is the scheduled date of our next episode, "All in the Family."  Of course, we have nothing to do with scheduling, so call ABC with any complaints.  They probably won't listen.

Either way, it promises to be an amazing episode.  David Marshall-Grant and Sherri Cooper's script was fantastic, and I'm supposed to watch the finished cut today so I can write up a "bible" entry.  What's that you ask?  Well, basically, the show keeps an episode/character bible in which all significant events and character info are documented.  This helps us maintain narrative continuity from episode to episode such that obsessed fan bloggers (and I won't name names) don't catch slip ups and call foul.

Hope you tune in and thanks for your patience.

Ben Kruger

No New Episode!!!!!

You're welcome to deal with this calamity in any way you see fit. I suggest a little hair pulling and maybe a wank. Nothing too dangerous and don't harm anyone, even if he or she deserves it.

Anyone else groovin on this "Grindhouse Fest" at the New Beverly? "Machine Gun McCain" really got me.

The Paley Festival was a blast. I was fortunate enough to go, and I must say it was a treat to see our cast appearing as comfortable and intimate onstage as they do on the little screen, as though they were a real family. Also, it was nice to see Cliff and Pete's "Valentine's Day Massacre" screened in front of an audience. You forget that so much of what we all share as fans of this show is actually a solitary experience. We are alone, together, but Monday night it was quite a kick to be together, together.

Most well-received line: Dave Annable, when asked if playing a war veteran and therein commenting in some way on the current war was part of his initial attraction to the role, said, "Yeah, that was probably the main thing, aside from getting to meet Harrison Ford." Big laugh, and some girl-punches from Calista. A family I say.

Love one. Love all. Have a weekend, please.

On Illegitimate Children, Secrets and Haircuts

Greetings from B&S Headquarters.  Brian Studler here, assistant to the lovely and talented Breen & Schapker – the writers of Sunday night’s episode “The Other Walker.”  I’m back, after three ugly days and nights of coughing up alien life forms, and attempting to deal with a backlog of emails and phone calls that are enough to make me pine for my sickbed.

Well.  It turns out that the ladies wrote a somewhat controversial episode.  My first inkling of this came at 8pm on Sunday night when, as I lay shivering and sweating with the on-set of a fever, my phone began to ring.  The east coast feed had just ended and friends and relatives were calling me to weigh in.  “I think that what Sarah did was unforgivable.”  “I think that Saul was completely right to do what he did.”  Etc.  Etc.  From Holly’s motives to Kevin’s hair, it seemed that every aspect of this week’s show has brought on a flood of division and discussion from all sides.  To that, I say... Hooray!!!

Now, I’ve worked on other shows that viewers cared passionately about.  Shows that sparked just as much conversation and controversy.  But none of those shows, and none of those conversations, were about anything that directly related to my own experiences as a person on this planet.  Except for that one time that I had to defuse that suitcase nuke in Beijing – but that’s another story for another time.  Brothers & Sisters feels real to me.  It deals with things that a lot of us have to deal with in our everyday lives.  And, like in our everyday lives, those things don’t always turn out the way we want them to.  And I’m pretty sure that that’s where the value of what we’re doing on this show lies.

When we talk and argue about an episode of Brothers & Sisters, we’re talking and arguing about our lives.  Love and sex and politics and family and jealousy and infidelity and betrayal and haircuts are all part and parcel of the way we live – and the fact that we can spark any sort of discussion on these topics (with the possible exception of haircuts) is, to me, something to be very proud of.  And, as we head into the final batch of episodes for this season, I promise you will have a lot to discuss.  And, just like a real family does in real life, sometimes we’re going to do things that piss you off.  It’s inevitable.  There are a lot of TV shows out there that more-or-less work from a template.  They give you a slight variation of the same episode, week after week.  And some of those shows are very satisfying.  But we don’t swing that way.  Robbie and Greg and the rest of this gang are far more interested in giving you something that has the unruliness and chaos and frustration and beauty of life to it.  And as long as we, and you, keep talking and arguing about it, then it will all be worthwhile.

By the way, Monica and Alison send their regards, but they are currently deep into the script for Episode 122 and I promised them that I would blog in their stead.  They did ask me to give props to our amazing cast – which only gets stronger with each new addition, welcome Emily – and a big shout-out to Gloria Muzio for doing a great job directing a very challenging episode.  And may I just add that Gloria rocks, and is as nice a person as you could hope to meet – in this industry or any other.  See you next time, brothers and sisters.

Pal-ey, Pay-ley, Paw-lee

By Gladys Rodriguez

[Editor's note: We have postponed our regularly scheduled post-episode blog until tomorrow, as Monica and Alison, the writers of "The Other Walker," are hard at work on episode 122, and their assistant, Brian Studler, is infected by a virus of indeterminate ferocity.]

Today some of the writers and our cast will be participating in The William S. Paley Festival sponsored by the Museum of Television & Radio.  As I understand it, the festival gives fans and critics a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process of the featured TV show.  The audience will watch episodes or highlights of the show and participate in a Q&A with the cast and creative team. That sounds like an awesome time! We even SOLD OUT the festival, how ‘bout that!  We’re a hot ticket.  Last I checked, tickets on craigslist were going for around $80, but that was a few days ago.  Those lucky enough to have snagged a ticket or two will be in for an inspiring night. 

In other news, we got a memo from Sparky last week about DVD crews being on set to shoot b-roll for our Season One DVD Bonus feature.  They’ll be shooting interviews with some cast members and producers. Maybe they’ll come up to the 4th floor and show us in all our glory, eating butt muffins (as Cliff Olin calls them) and champagne and caviar. Maybe we’ll even add a hidden segment for all you Bloggers and Sisters fans starring Dave the PA. That would be hilarious. It’s been a bit quiet here due to the Hurricane Berlanti being on the set of Eli Stone, his new pilot. But I feel it’s going to be a great week. We’ll start breaking episode 24 soon and then just one more to go. Woo-hoo!

Loose Change:
There is a virus going around that has knocked out two of our assistants and is going after Carl… Congratulations to Dan Silk for being immortalized in TV history in last night’s episode… Dave the PA got a serious haircut that demands respect [A suspect observation.--Ed.] … Emily the office PA and I will be scoping out the hot actors coming in to read for McCallister’s brother at 4pm today YUMM ;) Who do you think it should be?
Well that’s about it for now. Have a great week. 

Greg "The Hurricane" Berlanti Speaks...

Executive Producer Greg Berlanti recently talked to AfterElton.com. You can read the full text of his interview here.

Slow day around the writer's floor. There are a number of actors sitting around the lobby, reading over sides for an important upcoming role. Sometimes they pace. It's hard not to bump into them, actually.