Casey Wilson

0:00Hey Casey. How are you? Hi, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Good. What are you up to? Are you on set right now? Are you gonna day off? What's your schedule? I am. We're on my eighties, but I just had to do a fitting. Oh, for what? Well, look just for all our many outfits. It never ends over here. Oh, for costume for the show. Gotcha. Okay. Well, you're doing so many things. I don't know what you're up to. You're so busy. So, so busy. Now I'm just gonna wander around shopping. Awesome. So busy. Well, I do want to talk about happy endings, obviously. I mean, we will. But during all my research, I found out you're quite the writer as well. So I kind of wanted to start there and talk about maybe meeting June for the first time. Oh sure. Yeah, June is my best friend and husband for, I always get ten years, but I think it's longer now.

0:53So, are we met a software year at NYU? Two, wow, like 14. Sorry, we're just fine. I'm just doing the math and who horrified by it. We met in a clown class at NYU, it's still a Adler. And I just thought she was hysterical and we both kind of made fun of the clown class and also deeply loved it. So we were kind of both sharing the same sensibility about it and then we started hanging out all the time and then after college, we moved to Cambridge, Brooklyn together because it was cheaper, but it was also an hour outside of the city and we moved on September 10th, the day before 9 11. No way. And yeah, and yeah, we just like live together for five years and have been best friends ever since and have never lived more than four minutes from each other.

1:45When did the creative partnerships start? Did it start right away in school? Were you writing skits together? It didn't. We wound around as it were. But we didn't write the Folleryland Bay Ridge and we, like right when we graduated, we were both kind of like that first year after college was like, what do we do now? You know, NYU, they make it seem like you're going to have this career as a festival on Broadway. You know, we're both personal assistants and we, a girlfriend was putting up a comedy night and so we decided to do a sketch. We had read the Kathy and Mo show with Kathy and Jimmy and Mo Gaffney, who are, gotten the pleasure to meet since then, but they wrote this hysterical play and it was all seen as for two women.

2:32And I was like, that's really neat that they're doing that. And obviously I was a huge fan of Saturday Night Live, but we really weren't considering ourselves comedians at all. We thought we were actors who would kind of dabble in comedy act tours with the Capitol A. Right. And then we started doing sketches together and action didn't do this one woman show called Road Hard and Put Away Wet. And we ran that show for like a year in New York. And how different was it than writing, writing I guess for yourselves as opposed to doing the big studio picture of Bride Wars? That must have been quite a daunting experience. We weren't even considering, we didn't even consider the sketch show as really writing because it was just for ourselves and it was fun and kind of unstructured in a way and we're just writing impressions and just sketches that we thought were funny.

3:18And then when we got the opportunity to pitch, you have to pitch to get a move through your movie. We know what we were doing. So we hired a writing coach, a screenwriting coach from Yale, like my dad knew. Right. And we went to the house a few weekends to try to learn a crash course in screenwriting just simply the structure of a screenplay is so obviously different from a three minute sketch. And so we really had to work on that. And I think June and I share such a strong sensibility. I think initially we had the problem of our characters sharing our sensibility and it was a matter of like, you know, each character has their own point of view and personality. And it's been a long road. And I think as the years have gone on, we've gotten better just storytelling and structure.

4:04And then we learned and have been working on, you know, the TV structure is very different. So it's a process. Yeah, well, yeah, we'll get to that because there's a couple. You're working on like three shows right now, including half of the endings and a bunch of films. Well, actually, why don't we just go to that now? So Walk of Shame should be starting soon. And there's another one called the housewives that just got picked up like a month ago. Yeah, we did. We all it just got a commitment to shoot the pilot. So we'll. Oh, yes, sir. Not picked up. I'm sorry. Yes, of course. Yeah. No, that's okay. Yeah. So we're excited about that and June's gonna scar on it. Oh, no, I'm cool. Yeah, because I'm obviously I'm happy ending hope I'm still on it. Yeah, I don't see you already. Right. But there you go. We'll see. We'll help. So, yeah, it's really neat. It's a sitcom set in the 50s. This is the housewives.

4:52Yeah. Cool. So and where did the premise for that one come up? Who who's seed was that or was that kind of you two sitting around thinking of. We want we want to do another show. Definitely. Definitely both of us together. I think, you know, we're obsessed with the Real Housewives franchise. Mm hmm. And I mean, just obsessed with it. And it came out of our love for that and kind of, you know, we both minored in women's studies at NYU too. And it just seemed kind of like an interesting way to kind of. Have a bit of a more of a feminist agenda, but in a comedic way. How so how do you plan on doing that? That's interesting. Well, it's it's going to be about three housewives in the 50s that live on the same block. And I think there's a way to kind of illuminate without hating anyone over the head about it.

5:37It's obviously a comedy. You want it to be funny for most. But I think there's it could be interesting commentary on now. You know, to see the kind of housewives in the 1950s and that iconic woman and her role then and kind of where we are and where we aren't. That's interesting. And how does that differ from Walk of Shame? I'm sure it's completely different actually. Completely different. Walk of Shame was about like young 20 something who were like cooking up and having one night stand. Yeah, so the complete opposite. So, yeah, basically the complete opposite. We are we're laughing because normally, you know, we like, we like to write stuff about women. Obviously, just sort of. So we are so we, you know, like to write comedy for women and we said in our pitch with Walk of Shame where we write what we know.

6:22Just one night stand. And when we should be able to see that one pretty soon, right? Well, I don't know that one actually, you know, we feel we wrote for ABC last year and they asked her to do a rewrite on it. So we're just still writing it. Okay. So how do you find time to do that? Do you have a lot of high eighties for happy ending? Do you guys shoot for a few weeks and a few weeks off? But where do you find time to do everything? I don't know that we I'm figuring that out. We write we shoot for four weeks and then we'll be off for one. Okay. And, you know, we're in a lot of a scene, but I I do a lot of work now. You know, I don't have a family yet. So I just try to work as much as I can. No, well, I just I heard you guys were doing. I enjoy doing it. And I think there's something nice. The actor is I mean, the writer is limited as well, but there's something about being an actor that is so kind of dependent on other people.

7:12You know, you can't act alone. You can write alone. And so I like that agency. Well, let's talk about not acting alone because your character is a very ensemble cast on happy endings. So is there anyone on set that you that you automatically just had a rapport with immediately? Obviously, you know, over three seasons are going to develop reports with people, but was anyone that just clicked off the bat? Yes, Adam, Pally and I are definitely I would say, you know, I mean, I'm close with all of them. He and I clicked probably the quickest because he'd come out of the upright citizens brigade theater that June and I ended up doing our show after a year when I wish I mentioned in New York, you know, Amy Poehler started the theater and Adam was performing at at the same time I was. So I knew him from kind of a comedy scene in New York and always respected him, but we weren't really like he was two years younger than me. We weren't really friends, but I felt I had a kind of rapport with him and then he just makes me laugh harder than anyone I've ever met.

8:08He is hysterical. Was he on board with it when you went in? Pardon? He was. Yeah. So when I heard he got it, I was so excited and then we just hit it off right away. He's like a brother, a family member where you can we always laugh. We'll get in fights and then two seconds later, literally have forgotten that we were fighting in a phone. I'm like, are you guys okay? He's like a brother. Where were you at your career when when you went in for the audition? Was it pilot season? You were going out for a bunch? Or was this one that stood up from the pack? Well, you know, it's funny. I had tested for four pilots and not gotten them that year. And it was the last. I remember the words my agent used, which it was very grim. He said, this is the last train out of the station. I'm glad it worked out. I'm glad it pulled out. I was like, wait to put a little pressure on me.

8:56Yeah. And so I went and I loved the script and was very hopeful and it worked out. And you know, I had been on SNL the year before, so I was really hoping to get a pilot and it worked out. It's funny when I mentioned I was talking to you today, people were like, you need to ask about SNL. But what I found interesting was that your dad tried to write skits for you. Is this true? He did. He actually did. Okay. So that's not something I just read. Okay. That's great. And he wrote. He wrote a few out fully. Like a bunch for just pitches. You know, he's your writers. That were you going to come? He is a writer. He's a very wonderful writer, but for a very different line of word. So I'm told. He writes political ads. This must be his he must be loving right now.

9:43He is loving and he's actually working on the Paul Ryan campaign to my tonight to your Oh, so you argue about it. Oh, that must be an interesting family dynamic. Yeah. Everybody in my family is a democratic member of my dad. Awesome. Our family. Our family. But I'm happy. Right. So the pen the character of Penny, when do you feel the most like Penny? When do you become the characters that when you when you get on set when you put the costume on? When when when do you feel most like Penny? I think it's Penny is the most penny ish is when the writers have written something physical for her when she's covering something up. When they give her kind of loose deal ball type things to play. Not that's not me saying I'm loose. They give her those types of physical. Fun circumstances to me is the most easy and fun to kind of get into her world.

10:34And you get to you get to play a lot as this character. I mean people talk about the abbreviations and you know Q and amoshing and all this stuff. But that was me being you there is what that was trying to mean the singing talking and all the stuff. Great. Thank you very good. Thank you. You must have a lot of fun playing this role because you you I don't know about it out of every one of the cast. But it seems you get to play a lot. Is that true? I do get to play a lot. Yeah, it's so fun. I mean it's the best job in the world. You get to go to bed and laugh and just do stupid things all day long. And it's so fun. Everything Penny does is stupid. Which makes me laugh so hard. How was Penny progressed as a character? I mean obviously you're more comfortable with her having played her for for times.

11:21But what have you brought to her that maybe wasn't there in the beginning? Well, I think I think you can issue a little more cynical that kind of like a little bit darker and edgy or kind of. But I've just no inability to play cool or edgy. So maybe I forced the writers hands and they saw what they were working with and they had to change their course. But I think I also felt a little bit like that at the time there was a lot of pilots that I was going out for with. But kind of edgy singleton what I liked about Penny was that she was more optimistic. And I think that's what I really thought that was different. And that's what I kind of loved about her and the writers have really leaned into that with her which is that she is single but she's hopeful.

12:08And hopeful maybe with Dave. It's true for most women. Yeah, absolutely. And men too for that matter. I'm not doing my life right now. How does the script change from a table read or at the table read? Is there a lot of collaboration? Is there a lot of players? I mean, some shows work differently obviously. Some shows you have a little more sway with the beats or the pauses or the way things are read. How about with your show? Well, I think there are a lot of things that are shows that are improv, you know, 80% of it. And that's really not true. I mean, the writers write something insane like a hundred jokes described. You know, they are densely packed scripts with jokes and stories, you know, are broken out months in advance. So they're very well thought out, very labored over grit. And the kind of cool thing is that, you know, they do change from the table read.

12:55You know, the writers will take another practice on them and work on them. But then once they get on set, they do become this kind of free moving thing where our creator David Casp is very a big proponent of collaboration. And if anyone has an idea, he takes it into account and it becomes then a collaboration between the writers and the actors. And, you know, we're allowed to improv. We have a lot of freedom, which you don't really see on a network show. And it's been, I think it helps to account for the kind of natural feeling sometimes of the chemistry. It's felt because people can kind of, you know, be a little looser with stuff. But you can't really improv unless you have a great script to work off of. Is it daunting for you as a writer sometimes when you, or are you able to compartmentalize and say, no, this is not my script.

13:41You know, this is how it is. There's stuff that you would... Oh, I love the compartmentalize. Yeah. I love to compartmentalize. There's nothing more fun than getting a script and just saying those words and not having to worry about it. Right. Like, I guess having your own kids versus babysitting. You're just like, yeah, I'm here. It's my go home. But I am, I feel very invested, but I trust the writing is so good. There's nothing. They don't need me. And what's so good about the writing this season? Obviously you've shot a few episodes. I know nothing about what's going to happen this season, except there might be a housewives episode of some sort. So what can we expect? I think what's so great about the writing is that they've managed to do a balancing act, which is hard joke and heart. I think a lot of shows have a lot of hard jokes and not a ton of hard or too much heart to where it feels kind of sappy.

14:28And I feel it's a nice balance of like, and I also think it's just a very warm show. It is. Way to dodge my question though. I'm just kidding. What did I... No, no, I said what's going to happen this season? What can we expect? Oh, what's going to happen? I'm sorry. I said something about the writing. This season, a lot is happening. Penny gets into an accident and is in a body cast. That must have been fun. How many hours of makeup was that every day? It was through, well, two to get into it and then they had to stay in it for four hours and it would take a half an hour to saw it off. And then about 40 minutes to put it back on, so they really didn't like me to get out of it. I couldn't go to the bathroom. I was the guy at some point. I didn't even get out of it.

15:17So what can we expect in the premiere? What can you tell us about the first episode? Well, in the premiere, I'm in this cast and so... Oh, it kicks off right up the bat. Okay. Yep. Max is taking care of me and he starts to misery me like heavy bass in the movie. He's keeping me sick. That's good. You'll see why for his own gain. Yeah, I love the amount of film references your show does. It's very heavy on a lot of references. It must be fun for you as a film buff. I would assume it. It is fun. Yeah, it is. It's really fun. Yeah, Jane gets a new job. A very funny job in this season and we meet Jane and Alice's parents. Okay. And I definitely had her play as their mom for the mare playing and she was terrible.

16:04That's amazing. She comes on, you know, Penny has a voice for now for six episodes. Oh, really? Because that's interesting. The way the season ends is you and Brian Austin Green, but then there's also this other episode with you and Lance Briggs. So... Yeah, it's neither. It's neither. Of course, right. Penny is creating this actor played by his actors, Nick Zano. Okay. And he's a good looking and funny guy as you will ever meet. I think women are going to love him. It must be nice for you to have a new love interest every week. That's got to be fun for you as an actress to just play with someone new every week. Oh, it's so fun. And I mean, the only thing is like we've run through every great comedian in LA. Well, that's why you guys have taken some from Canada. We'll ship them down for you.

16:51It's not fun having a boyfriend. Sorry? I said, we'll ship some Canadians down for you then. Yeah, please do. We've got your best export on our show. Oh, yes, Alicia, of course. Obviously. Yeah. I paused for a second. I'm sorry. I was supposed, someone told me to ask you about what you hear when you hear the word alabaster. You don't know what I'm talking about. Okay. No. It seems strange, but I thought I'd go with it anyway. No. It's a coming gun. I don't know. But weirdly ringing some far off out. I got it on a Twitter thing. Someone said you have to ask about the word alabaster. It'll make her laugh. And I said, okay, thinking this seems strange, but I'll give it a shot anyway. It's a real housewives reference that I'm blanking on.

17:39Maybe. I need myself to take. So where are you right now in terms of shooting episodes? How far along into the season are you? We finished for seven. So we're starting eight next week. Nice. So eight of the third season. Yeah. It's so exciting. So what can we see? It's really, I think it shows back to you even better this year. I'm sure I'm sure it will be. It shows can only get that way, especially when you get, when it's an ensemble cast like that, because everyone just gets tighter and everyone gets more comfortable with everything. I can't see. Yeah. That's the exact right. When else that I want to talk to? Right. Is there anything else you're working on? What did I miss? Did I miss anything? Oh, well, June and I, my partner, we wrote a movie that we shot. We started that we're submitting to Sundance called Ask Backward.

18:26Is the one about the road trip? Yep. So why don't you talk about that for a second? Yeah, I'm really proud of it. We wrote it in starting in and it's directed by Chris Nelson. And it's just, we've worked on it. It's our labor of love. We've been working on it for like five years. Really? And it's really funny. Yeah. So how is it how that's interesting? How did it, how has it changed since the beginning? Did you have an idea and then it took a while to flesh out or has it gone to the local community? It's a long process. Like independent filmmaking is, you know, we wrote the script for two years and we raised money for a few years. You know, then we shot it just independent filmmaking is such a process. And we wanted to write our own, we started writing it right after Pride Wars because as much as we love the movie, you know, in the studio world, you know, things get rewritten so much.

19:12So we kind of wanted to do something where creatively it was totally our voice. That makes sense. We do something calm before I let you go here. We do something called five questions, five quick questions, one word answers. Okay. Writing or acting? Acting. Housewives or Kardashians. House dashians. There you go. Lendinger McCartney. McCartney. Roll your most proud of. Penny. Cool. And in one word, happy endings. Oh, that's sweet. Thank you very much. You're so welcome.

19:57Thank you. Thank you.