Word: scripting
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Sounds like material for a couple of Seinfeld episodes right there, but on this particular day, more pressing work is at hand. After lunch the two will repair to the Seinfeld offices on the Studio City lot across the street to rewrite this week's script -- a script that is already late and getting later. Yet they seem unfazed; on the Seinfeld show, scrambling to keep up is business as usual...
...SCRIPT: The show's outline set, Robin starts to work in late July. He writes two drafts of the script, getting input from David and from supervising producer (and David's chief lieutenant) Larry Charles. The barbers evolve into Italian brothers; after getting a bad haircut from Enzo, Jerry "cheats" on him by making a secret assignation with Gino. Meanwhile, George, unsure whether he has the job, decides to show up at work anyway. The tricky part is getting the show's other main characters, Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Kramer (Michael Richards), into the action. Robin comes up with...
Most sitcoms are run by committee; the writers get together regularly to revise or "punch up" scripts. Not on Seinfeld. David and Seinfeld themselves write the last draft of every script. Sitting at abutting desks in David's office, they labor over The Barber for three days. The clock is ticking. Seinfeld's weekly production cycle starts on Wednesday and ends with a Tuesday-night taping. But this week's script won't be ready until Saturday -- inordinately late. Even with the taping pushed back to Wednesday, the cast and crew will have to work all weekend...
...TABLE: The pivotal event of a Seinfeld week is the table reading, when the actors get their first chance to read the script and the producers can see how it plays. On Saturday afternoon, a dozen actors and writers gather around a long picnic table on the Seinfeld set, scripts in hand. With director Tom Cherones interpolating stage directions, the actors perform The Barber. David fills in as one of the barbers himself, offering a florid Italian accent. There is much laughter and applause...
Koszyn keeps the tone of the production so lighthearted that the underlying melancholy of the script is downplayed, if anything. One by one we see the women's high expectations and ideals sacrificed to the routines imposed by domesticity and work. Jennifer McGeorge as Jackie has particular problems at times portraying the character's inner suffering. There are, however, some remarkable performances elsewhere--notably by Vanessa "Barbara" Milton as her mother...