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By: Keith Huang | Main | The Gag Reel
By: Mo Diggs »
September 11, 2007
Inside With: Loren Bouchard, Writer of Lucy, Daughter of the Devil
By: Billy Nord
Loren Bouchard has had a creative hand in two of the most true to life, dialogue-driven sitcoms in the past fifteen years, acting as executive producer on the mid-90's, straight man vs. sane man program, Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist, and co-creating one of Adult Swim's very first shows, Home Movies. With these feats, he's helped spark a refreshing movement in modern day animated television, one that champions conversation as the main character. On his new project, Lucy Daughter of the Devil, Mr. Bouchard tackles religion seemingly the only way that truly works, sans agenda. Combing bible-inspired situations with organic, every day exchanges, Loren takes his brand of comedy to the next level.
With Lucy, Daughter of the Devil, you've done an amazing job in bringing enormous biblical entities into today's mundane, compulsive America. What about these characters attracted you, triggering the idea to create this show?
I was watching Damien: The Omen II and I thought it would be funny to make a show called Damien: The Omen II, The Cartoon. So i pitched that, with Jon Benjamin as the devil. Later, we changed it to the daughter of devil. It was Adult Swim who suggested putting in a Jesus character. Biblical and religious stuff is great. It gets your attention, which, I'm finding out, gives you more room to play around with the mundane, slice of life stuff.
The pilot originally aired on Adult Swim in October '05. What occurred during the past two years?
After we finished the pilot, AS wanted to tweak the show a little bit. First, I wrote some scripts. Then we made one of them as a "radio play"--an audio-only track as kind of a second pilot. On the strength of that episode, they ordered nine more. So, all that took a while; then there were some delays after the order--stupid stuff. Taking two years to develop a show is a very bad a way to manage your career or make a living. But creatively, it's very luxurious and I recommend it. The show is better for it.
How did your very first pitch meeting with the network go?
I like to pitch via email. I have one from about 3 emails in to the conversation--I lost the very first one--sorry. This is when it switched from Damien to Lucy. I wrote:
I got it. [that was the subject heading]It's a girl.
There's a girl at the center. A young woman. The devil's daughter. With some
really funny guys around her.Some boys of whom daddy does not approve.
And of course monks who are trying to kill her.
If you add up Damien, Rosemary's Baby and the Exorcist they equal a show about the daughter of Satan, who's a little dirty and funny and right on the fence in regards to her evil destiny and family RESPONSIBILITIES.
Can you describe the production process behind an episode, from the initial story idea to the very last cut?
I work closely with a writer named Holly Schlesinger. She lives in New York and in addition to being a good writer and a funny person, she's also one of my favorite people to talk to on the phone. One of us will have the initial episode idea and we just talk and talk and talk about it on the phone. Then we pass an outline back and forth, and then a script. and we do the same with Nick Weidenfeld at the network, who will suggest changes and new direction, etc. This takes a couple weeks. Then we record the actors in New York. which we do in one afternoon, in script order, if possible, and always with the actors working off each other. I can't understand recording actors one at a time, alone. You wouldn't do that in live action - record two parts of a conversation on two different days? But i think it's fairly common in animation.
Anyway, then we edit the audio from that session. if you have a good script, and good actors improvising and trying things, and you have a good audio editor playing around with timing, etc, you should end up with an audio track that stands up all by itself. For me, audio is the beating heart of animation.
This audio gets placeholder effects and music and gets run past the network and finessed over about 3 weeks and when it's done it is that track that gets handed over to the storyboard artist. in our case we work with a digital camera and fisher price people on a table top. This sounds goofy, but it's a great way to try things and to play with different angles, etc. our board artist, Rusty Bekmuradov, is incredibly good at composing shots.
Then that board gets handed to Fluid--the animation studio--and they take it from layout to rough animation to final in a very very few weeks, shooting photo backgrounds and manipulating them and marrying them with the CG characters in Maya.
The last step is "post," which means special effects, the title sequence, end credits, new music, sound design, and sometimes new ideas on how to make a story point clearer or make a joke work better. Our post is overseen by a woman named Nora Smith who possesses a rare mix of talents. When you see the title sequences--that's all Nora. She's like a one-woman animation shop.
I've read one of your ultimate dream projects would be a feature length film. Which do you think would translate the best in that medium: Home Movies, Dr. Katz or Lucy? Or would you rather create something wholly original?
Lucy is definitely the most movie-like. we want each episode to feel like a mini-movie. Every episode is letter-boxed, and each has its own opening theme music and graphics. The score should feel like a movie's too--like a 70's horror score done badly.
The most common denominator in the shows you've produced has to be actor/comedian Jon Benjamin. In my opinion, he definitely has that interesting, Christopher Walken-eqsue quality about him, in that he could simply read a restaurant menu out loud and audiences would be entertained. What about Mr. Benjamin do you enjoy the most?
Benjamin isn't sentimental or precious about it, but he has an incredibly well developed sense of right and wrong - in terms of performance and character. So you just don't get many wrong notes from him. Some people would say "it's a cartoon, who cares?" But those people are dead inside. It's inspiring to work with people who insist on some kind of integrity and humanity even in something as dopey and disposable as comedy or late night cable tv animation.
Also, in 13 years, I think I've heard Jon say about 3 things that weren't funny. he's just a huge talent.
Since we're giving praise, let's go through Lucy's entire cast. What about each actor meshes well with your blend of conversational comedy....
Melissa Bardin Galsky?
A natural. Best straight man in the business.
Jon Glaser?
Smart. Intense. Totally present and thoughtful as an actor.
Eugene Mirman?
Sweet and silly. Like a sweet, silly bull in a china shop.
Sam Seder?
So funny. We keep casting him as a character on the verge of falling apart. No one does a conniption or a freak-out like Sam.
Todd Barry?
A unique voice. Dry and caustic without being too mean. i like him as a girl for some reason too. We keep asking him to do girl parts. I hope everyone reading this has seen or heard Todd do standup.
Take us back, how did your career in television begin?
I've always been interested in animation - and the various elements that go into it - like music and writing, etc. But this wouldn't have mattered at all if i hadn't bumped into an old teacher of mine in the summer of 1993.
I was bartending at the time--23 years old, a high school dropout . Terrified that I had fucked up my life and so I'm taking classes at night, adult ed fiction writing classes and stuff. One day I'm going to the art supply store so maybe i can start drawing cartoons or something and I bump into Tom Snyder--he had been my science teacher in grade school but he had left teaching to start a software company. He says, "Do you still draw?" and I say, "Yes," and he says, "I've got this weird opportunity--I'm sure nothing will happen with it, but i'm gonna do animated shorts for tv. you wanna come work on them?" And i said yes of course, and those shorts were the beginning of Dr. Katz. We made 7 one minute pieces for "Short Attention Span Theater" which ran on Comedy Central.
Posted by The Apiary at September 11, 2007 12:12 PM
Comments
Fantastic interview, Nord! It's a really great, to the point discussion of Lucy and the people behind it. It's rare to get to read in depth interviews about Loren + the surrounding crew, so this was a real treat!
Posted by: Swiss Miss at September 11, 2007 3:47 PM
Thanks so much for the interview. Loren Bouchard is a genius. Home Movies was an amazing show, and Dr. Katz has always been one of my favorites.
If you haven't seen Home Movies, do yourself a favor and buy one of the four seasons on DVD. The episodes are great, and the commentary tracks are insightful and entertaining.
I haven't seen Lucy yet, but I'm now on a mission to see it.
Posted by: Lewis Alerman at October 10, 2007 3:16 PM
I love the shows, and have always wanted to be involved in something like this, I would love to work with you and brendon anytime there is an opportunity for me to do so. Not sure what my contribution would be, but I can follow directions flawlessly. you guys have a great night
Posted by: Angel Stone at June 3, 2009 4:04 AM
I love the shows, and have always wanted to be involved in something like this, I would love to work with you and brendon anytime there is an opportunity for me to do so. Not sure what my contribution would be, but I can follow directions flawlessly. you guys have a great night
Posted by: Angel Stone at June 3, 2009 4:04 AM
