{"id":217631,"date":"2021-04-02T19:00:44","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T16:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/showrunner-director-and-writer-film\/"},"modified":"2021-04-02T19:00:44","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T16:00:44","slug":"showrunner-director-and-writer-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/showrunner-director-and-writer-film\/","title":{"rendered":"#Showrunner, Director, and Writer \u2013 \/Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Showrunner, Director, and Writer \u2013 \/Film<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Made for Love<\/em><\/strong> is a television show set in the near-future, but it\u2019s about the here and now. A woman escaping from an abusive relationship. A tech mogul with too much power and not enough humanity. A general<\/a> sense of chaos and an awareness that the world is always on the verge of a total meltdown. Sometimes, all we can do is laugh through the pain and the series<\/a> does just that \u2013 the tinges of horror and the big science<\/a> fiction ideas are always balanced by surreal, riotous comedy and a stunning lead performance from Cristin Milioti<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I loved the first episode of Made for Love<\/em> when it premiered at SXSW. And I loved the additional three episodes, which were sent to me ahead of my interview with showrunner Christina Lee<\/strong>, director Stephanie Laing<\/strong>, and writer\/executive producer Alissa Nutting<\/strong> (who also wrote the book on which the series is based). I sat down with all three of them over Zoom to chat about the series, how it balances comedy with genre storytelling, how the cast brings their oddball characters to life, and whether or not there are already plans for a second season.<\/p>\n

The first three episodes of Made for Love<\/em> are streaming now on HBO Max. Additional episodes will arrive weekly.
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This is the best first episode of something I\u2019ve seen in a while. And the opening minutes \u2013\u00a0within five minutes, I\u2019m in. Can you talk about the idea of dropping us into this weird, wild world immedia<\/a>tely?<\/b><\/p>\n

Lee:<\/strong> Yeah, I feel like that came about really in the editing process. We had considered several different ways to start the show. What we knew that we wanted was to feel like you\u2019re on a ride right away and that there\u2019s a lot of information coming at you and this is exciting and you\u2019re seeing these different worlds and filling in the holes along the way. With that intention, I think in the editing room we really saw how we wanted to start the show and that sort of informed more of the writing and directing as we went forward because we were able to shoot a few episodes before we shut down for the pandemic. During that time, we went back and said, \u201cWhat\u2019s something we want to see here in the pilot episode that we now have the luxury of thinking of and writing and being able to go back and do that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Laing:<\/strong> And there\u2019s nothing better than surprising people. When we were able to reflect on it, when we we were shut down, it\u2019s like, there\u2019s nothing better than dropping in on something and not beating somebody over the head. It\u2019s so compelling. \u201cI want in. I want to know what this is, and I\u2019m going to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nutting:<\/strong> We were really pleased the way it fit thematically, too. Because one of the things that the show is really considering is kind of how do you escape from a relationship? And in some ways, is that even possible given memory, given feelings, given the process of grief? Does a marriage end the moment you decide to get divorced? Does it end in a courtroom? Does it end when you\u2019re finally able to move on? All of these questions are coming into play, so we also just loved the idea of this immediacy of escape in a show that is consistently asking, \u201cWill she be able to escape?\u201d<\/p>\n

When I posted my review, a number of people messaged me saying, \u201cYou should read the book, too \u2013\u00a0it\u2019s wonderful.\u201d I\u2019ve made the tough choice to wait until the show is over to read the book. With that said, having not read the source material myself yet, was it tough to edit your own work and beat it into shape having a team around you? What was the process of reshaping this?<\/b><\/p>\n

Nutting:<\/strong> The story is essentially about starting over, in both the hope and excitement and, in some ways, impossibility of doing that. So for me it was a very organic process and organic decision to say, \u201cThis is a different medium. This is going to demand different things in storytelling.\u201d I want to start over without starting over, taking these characters and theme<\/a>s and spinning something new and unique and wonderful. I was so blessed to have Christina and Stephanie as partners in that storytelling, and was able to create something really special with them.<\/p>\n

Lee:<\/strong> I want to really credit Alissa, because her novel is very internal and she really wanted to expand and adapt from the world, and we talked a lot about what does that mean? It was her decision that she wanted to feel the other perspectives of the characters. In the book, for example, you don\u2019t really know where Byron\u2019s coming from, and in the series, you will.<\/p>\n

The show is so well-directed. It looks great and the visual comedy is really there. I\u2019m so tired of comedies where they put the camera down and say, \u201cThe actors are funny. Let it happen.\u201d There\u2019s such a visual wit in your work in the first episode, Stephanie, that continues into the four episodes that I\u2019ve seen. Can you talk about finding comedy in the filmmaking?<\/b><\/p>\n

Laing:<\/strong> Absolutely. I mean, listen, collectively, I\u2019m going to say something super cheesy: working with Alissa and Christina, I felt like we had a mind meld. We were all very much in sync from the very beginning, and we\u2019d have the same notes. In between takes, it\u2019d be like, \u201cI\u2019m going to do this,\u201d and [someone else would say], \u201cI was just about to say that!\u201d In terms of bringing it to life visually, we created our own language. We weren\u2019t afraid, and I credit Christina and Alissa in trusting me to do that. We really tried stuff. For me, it was always about the point of view, and I think the best way to film comedy is to not forget that. Whose point of view is this? You can do a cool shot for cool shot\u2019s sake, but there\u2019s no emotion behind it.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing better than letting something play out, leaving the frame and coming back in and knowing, also, when to move the camera. When not to move the camera. When to sit still and take a breath. It doesn\u2019t happen by accident. It\u2019s very specific. We shot-listed every single thing. We didn\u2019t make up anything on the day. We were very prepared going in, because I know with television your time is so limited. Especially shooting during COVID, we did ten hour days. So we had a plan and we really stuck to it. And then we have tremendous actors. I can\u2019t say enough about how much \u2013\u00a0we filmed something, but then in a wide, Billy or Cristin would improvise something and it\u2019d be amazing and we would sort of run with that. I would set up a shot around something that they did, which was really rewarding and awesome. I\u2019m so glad that you found it refreshing, because that was the goal.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a shot in the first episode where the camera remains at a distance as Cristin Milioti runs toward a car and tries to open the door with beer cans in her hand, and just the camera holds back \u2013\u00a0the filmmaking itself made me laugh.<\/b><\/p>\n

Laing:<\/strong> Oh, thank you. I also laughed on the first take of that shot, because it was so clear that there was some subtle physical comedy. She couldn\u2019t get the door open and there was one take where part of the door did come off, because it was a really old truck. I just thought, \u201cWe\u2019re going to hang back. We don\u2019t need to be with her. We know she\u2019s getting in the car.\u201d So sometimes it\u2019s just trusting the audience, and again, we don\u2019t need to bang you over the head with this. We\u2019re going to see her in the truck with a person. It\u2019s OK to hang back and see what she does. Physically, Crisitin is so fantastic at that. But how a character runs, how a character walks, all of that goes into the comedy and the performance and the emotion. That particular shot, the choice was just left, like, \u201cI don\u2019t need to be close with her. I need to see her getting into this truck and escaping.\u201d And her struggle with the beer and the sunglasses and the door, it\u2019s human, it\u2019s real. Sometimes, that\u2019s also where comedy comes from: humanity, and the comedy comes from the pain. The reality when you\u2019re trying to escape, and how do you open this when you have a lot of shit in your hand? The beer is important to her in that moment.<\/p>\n

This show is really funny, but its world feels complete. The science fiction of the series feels like it holds water, and the world of Made for Love<\/i> feels just shitty enough to be real. Can you talk about balancing the sci-fi world building with the fact that it\u2019s also a relationship comedy?<\/b><\/p>\n

Lee:<\/strong> We had a lot of those conversations and we played around a lot with that, too. If I told you about some of the silly places that Alissa and I went with the script that we had to pull back on\u2026because our tendencies are toward comedy. What was so great was the team that was around us, some of the people had a comedy background, some of the people had a more dramatic background. So the team that came together, we found this nice balance which was very purposeful. We wanted to tell a sci-fi story that felt different, because we all discussed how we wanted to show a sci-fi story through a female lens. We talked a lot about what does that mean? What have we been missing from sci-fi stories that we\u2019ve seen in the past? That was of the foremost importance, and in that, we wanted heavily to go into the emotional journey of the characters. So that lends itself to be more on the drama side, but I think that the things that make us laugh are all the same. What Stephanie said, the three of us, it\u2019s like we had a chip in our brains. The same weird things would make us laugh, and echoing what Stephanie said, it\u2019s always from a place of realness as opposed to writing a joke. So while you have this dramatic, fantastical scene, the things that are making us laugh are the very human moments that you have. So that tone was found throughout, both in writing and shooting it. And the tone was very easy to find with our actors, who I think approach everything from a very grounded point of view.<\/p>\n

Nutting:<\/strong> I think with tech and sci-fi, so often there\u2019s an emphasis on avoidance or even eradication of emotion and feeling, or even sensation, that it\u2019s all very serious and strip<\/a>ped down. When you think of robots, you don\u2019t think of laughter. Part of us really wanting to imbue this sci-fi story with emotion and warmth, we felt that humor had to stay a critical part of it.<\/p>\n

I asked my wife what stood out to her in these four episodes, and she said she loved the fact that Hazel is not scared. She is surprised and angry, but she has not spent the entire series so far cowering in fear. That was important to her to see a female lead who was fighting back like that.<\/b><\/p>\n

Lee:<\/strong> First of all, thank your wife. That\u2019s a very astute observation, and I\u2019m so glad that came across. In a lot of the content that we discuss that we love, that we\u2019re fans of, by the way, we are often following the victim, the one who\u2019s watched, and that person doesn\u2019t have a lot of agency. That\u2019s a key point that we wanted to change, in that we wanted to give her agency. While she is a victim in some ways, she\u2019s finally taking control of her own life and we wanted to see what that looks like. We\u2019ve seen a lot of people running for their lives, but then what happens? That\u2019s the story we wanted to tell.<\/p>\n

Cristin Milioti is amazing, and may be one of the best actresses working right now. The one-two punch of this and Palm Springs<\/i> solidifies her as a person where I\u2019m going to see everything she does. Can you talk about building this character for her and how she was cast? She must have been cast when she was on the verge of Palm Springs<\/i> happening, right?<\/b><\/p>\n

Nutting:<\/strong> Yeah, it was prior to all of that. She was the only choice. I always joked, \u201cMade for Love<\/i> was made for Milioti.\u201d She was the only one. I\u2019d seen her dramatic [work] in Fargo<\/i> and Black Mirror<\/i>. I knew from her stage work and How I Met Your Mother<\/i> just how funny she is. There\u2019s really nothing she can\u2019t do. Cristin really helped inform and build this character with us. It was very much a partnership. Her role is so multilayered, and she has to be one character in the Hub, and then she\u2019s another character when she\u2019s out of the Hub. So often, she has to let the viewer know how she\u2019s actually feeling or what she actually thinks is different than what she\u2019s saying aloud or what she\u2019s doing, especially in the Hub. So her attention to nuance and her ability to convey so much with an expression or with her eyes, every episode is such a remarkable performance.<\/p>\n

Laing:<\/strong> I was going to say, for me, when I was directing her, she\u2019s so good, to what Alissa is saying, in the subtleties. I\u2019d be like, \u201cLet\u2019s see a peek of Hub Hazel here with Ray,\u201d and she would just bring it with one look of her eye. \u201cYep, there she is.\u201d Just finding the levels of performance in everything we did. \u201cLet\u2019s do this take with Hub Hazel and this take with more real world Hazel,\u201d and really fine-tuning that with her \u2013 she\u2019s incredible. I can\u2019t imagine there being anyone else in this, other than her.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the past decade, I\u2019ve enjoyed watching Ray Romano grow from sitcom star into such an interesting actor. Not all people who start out as comedians can do the work he\u2019s been doing over the past ten or fifteen years. Can you talk about bringing him into this and what he brought to the role that wasn\u2019t on the page?<\/b><\/p>\n

Lee:<\/strong> Yeah, be brought a lot to the role and that character changed because of Ray. The initial characteristics of that father, Herbert, was that he was rough around the edges and he was harder to love and a tougher character to embrace. So it made it really challenging when Hazel came home. But Ray, there\u2019s so much humanity to him, so much vulnerability. You just really love him. Even when he is behaving badly, you feel empathy for him. So he actually changed the way that we wrote that character throughout the series, for the better. I think the character became much more nuanced and believable than sort of a traditional bad dad. You really feel for their relationship and how they\u2019re coming back together in the series, especially in the back end.<\/p>\n

I want to talk about Billy Magnusson. It\u2019s a really interesting performance. If you jump in a time machine, go back in time 20 years and show people this performance, they\u2019d say, \u201cThis guy is an alien. How does he exist?\u201d But somehow, Byron feels like the quintessential villain of 2021 in so many ways. Can you talk about tapping into a very specific type of 21st century bad guy?<\/b><\/p>\n

Lee:<\/strong> I think Billy also has a lot of humanity, too. I think there\u2019s something in every performance that he\u2019s bringing to it. It\u2019s the same thing that was with Cristin. It was like, \u201cAll right, let\u2019s tap into why Byron is who he is.\u201d Alissa alluded to it earlier: we understand a little more about where he\u2019s coming from. So when we get glimpses of that in his performance \u2013 although in the first two episodes, you may not know what you\u2019re seeing \u2013\u00a0it really does pay off later on. That, to me, is how he\u2019s able to become a Byron that we also love, even though he\u2019s terrible.<\/p>\n

Laing:<\/strong> There were times where we\u2019d get notes from the network, and they\u2019d be like, \u201cWait, are we rooting for them to get back together? I like him!\u201d We were like, \u201cI know!\u201d There are some times where I feel for him.<\/p>\n

Nutting:<\/strong> Yeah, it\u2019s really a credit to his acting and also Billy as a person. The level of empathy that he really brought to this role and to the character, the levels at which he wanted to understand him really helped all of us understand him better. It really shifted the path of the character going forward.<\/p>\n

Laing:<\/strong> Yeah, it really felt like a true collaboration on every level. The three of us basically had a chip implanted in our brains, but then were able to take that and elevate this material with this world that Alissa created. And the details matter, which is why we so appreciate your review, because you noticed that. Every frame mattered. There wasn\u2019t any ounce of us letting go of any small things. Everything mattered.<\/p>\n

You mentioned the network giving you notes. I\u2019m curious about the relationship between you and HBO Max and how the subject matter of this show is something that we\u2019re finally talking about now. It\u2019s been something that\u2019s been whispered about since as long as human beings have existed, but we\u2019re actively having these conversations about what Made For Love<\/i> is about out in the open. Was HBO Max like, \u201cYeah, this is the time, let\u2019s do it\u201d? What were the conversations like to make sure the show could be honest about this stuff?<\/b><\/p>\n

Lee:<\/strong> I think they were totally game<\/a>. We had so many conversations with them and among ourselves about what role technology<\/a> plays in our own lives, especially in this past year. That was sort of interesting, because we were talking about the shortcuts that technology provides in terms of human connection before the pandemic, and then we enter a year in which we\u2019re relying entirely on technology for human connection. We made some changes in our approach to the show while we were shut down, but HBO Max was fully game and they encouraged us to go there. They loved the tech aspect of it. I credit them with saying, \u201cLet\u2019s see even more of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is the plan here that this is just a miniseries, it wraps up the book, and it\u2019s over? Are you leaving any doors open for a season 2, or even an anthology approach where each season is a different story? Have you talked about that at all?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Nutting:<\/strong> We really fell so in love with these characters and the actors playing them, but also the themes and the questions and the conversations, as you mentioned, around technology. There\u2019s so much there, we would absolutely love to do a season 2, yeah.<\/p>\n

Could all of you share a movie or TV show that you think would pair really well with Made for Love<\/i> that our readers should watch before or after this?<\/b><\/p>\n

Laing:<\/strong> This is a funny one, because the content is completely different. But I just started watching Get Shorty<\/i>, which I hadn\u2019t seen before we shot this even though Ray and Billy are in it. I am dying of laughter and seeing those two also in another show is a pure delight. Different genres, but I\u2019d say if you like the actors in our show and you haven\u2019t seen Get Shorty<\/i>, go see that show.<\/p>\n

Lee:<\/strong> If you\u2019re looking for a movie and then this, a good one for me would be Marriage Story<\/i> and then this, for very different reasons.<\/p>\n

Nutting:<\/strong> TV-wise, I think Devs<\/i> is a cool companion, looking at some of the similar tech questions and themes in different subjects outside of romantic relationships.<\/p>\n

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“#Showrunner, Director, and Writer \u2013 \/Film” Made for Love is a television show set in the near-future, but it\u2019s about the here and now. A woman escaping from an abusive relationship. A tech mogul with too much power and not enough humanity. A general sense of chaos and an awareness that the world is always…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":217632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/Made-for-Love-Interview.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1568,86,1570,640,10294,96240,1499,1525],"class_list":["post-217631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-featured-stories-sidebar","tag-comedy","tag-features","tag-hbo-max","tag-interviews","tag-made-for-love","tag-sci-fi","tag-television"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}