MONDO EXTRAS

Well, obviously, you know, Nate dying.

Right.

And so, everybody knows that now, and that was kind of the main thing that we were hoping people wouldn't know. Um, but other than that, I think, you know, the next two episodes don't have any kind of, like, main surprises in them except for that they're just amazingly beautifully written. There's no secrets any more.

Yeah. Someone actually came out with a pretty detailed synopsis of the Nate's death episode like a week before on our boards.

And were they close? Were they right?

Yeah, they were pretty much dead on.

Well, any, yeah, the thing is, like, there's extras can come on the set and get scripts. I mean, anybody who has seen a script can leak it and it's really easy to see the script. There's extras, there's casting people, there's makeup people, there's day players on the set, you know? People who'll come in and work for a day and see whatever in whatever department. They can know things we're keeping secret and it's really easy to leak.

I suppose. And you guys have a lot of bigger casts for a TV show.

Yeah, that's true, there's a lot more people.

That must make it tricky too. Do you ever have situations where you want to get a character for a specific episode but that actor isn't available?

Yeah, that happens a lot. In fact, um, you know, like in my episode, "Rainbow of Her Reasons," there was a scene…that last scene that -- in fact, I think you knew it. Somebody knew it. You called her…what did you call her? You called Brett [Paesel] something, you called her "not Bettina."

Oh, "Bet-two-na."

Yeah, how did you know that?

I think there was something on the board where someone said Kathy Bates was sick…

Yeah, that happens. That woman, Brett, is a friend of mine, she's like, somebody who's, like, four years ago, when the producers were saying, like, "Nobody's gonna dance around with her shirt off."

[laughs]

I have a friend, Brett, she loves to take her shirt off. She's always taking her shirt off at parties. She's a great actress, too, she's produced her own show, she's talented and funny, so I knew that she would do that. But when we were shooting that, Kathy was sick, and so, yeah, that was that scene where it was supposed to be Kathy. Kathy was supposed to tell Ruth that Sarah had left. Yeah, that happens all the time. You know, we'll have a scene where somebody's supposed to be there or sign up that they're supposed to be there and they can't make it, we have to change. Yeah, Patty Clarkson is rarely available. Jeremy Sisto's schedule often made us have to change, when he couldn't be used. Only guest stars, though. Regular actors have to be there all the time.