Party Down: The Cast & Creators Talk Season 2
Hosted at the Screen Actors Guild as part of their Conversations Program, An Evening with Party Down was sponsored by Backstage and moderated by Janelle Riley of Backstage’s Film and Television on April 7, 2010. In attendance to celebrate the success of the show were co-creators and executive producers Dan Etheridge, John Enborn, and Rob Thomas (Paul Rudd was not able to attend), as well as cast members: Adam Scott, Ken Marino, Ryan Hansen and Martin Starr. Party Down is a from-the-hip comedy that focuses on a group of aspiring actors who work at a catering company and the hilarity that ensues from their entangled relationships and misadventures.
Ryan Hanson as Kyle / Starz
After a special screening of the second season premiere episode of Party Down, which featured special guests Megan Mullally, Lizzy Caplan and Jimmi Simpson, the moderated Q&A portion of the evening commenced. (Note: If the name Jimmi Simpson is tickling your brain, it is because you may have just seen him playing the serial-killer profiler Mary on Psych’s season finale. In Party Down, he has another chance to portray another outrageously memorable character, which you must see to believe!)
Jumping right in with a softball question, the co-creators were asked to describe the genesis of the show. Rob Thomas shared that, given his own personal history of playing in a rock band for nearly 9 years while living in Austin, Texas, he really wanted to do a show about chasing the dream — and perhaps chasing the dream for too long. He also acknowledged that he, along with Dan Etheridge, John Enborn and Paul Rudd co-wrote the pilot and developed the characters over a period of several years.
As if that initial creation period was not long enough, Party Down had a long evolution after being initially green-lit by HBO, which ended up being a tragic experience of mixed-signals. HBO wanted a show set more in the Hollywood scene, whereas they had written the Party Down pilot as a simple backyard story set in Sherman Oaks. After the tragedy with HBO, they approached FX who, while initially interested, ended up passing on it. So, eventually, after Veronica Mars had been cut back from its original episode order during its third season, there was this amazing month of free time and that is when they took the opportunity to shoot a make-shift pilot for Party Down at Rob’s house. They then shopped the disc around town and Starz jumped at it. Thus, it was a long journey before Party Down ultimately ended up going to series and being broadcast.
When asked how they ended with the talented cast they have, Rob explained that he met Adam Scott in a bar in Texas, and have been fast friends ever since, and he met Ken Marino and Ryan Hansen through their roles on Veronica Mars. Ken was supposed to appear in only one episode of Veronica Mars, but then ended up in a total of 15 episodes – to which Ken quickly threw out a hearty, “Thank you!”
Ryan’s role was similarly expanded from one line to becoming a series regular on Veronica Mars once his comical potential was revealed. So Rob was able to cherry-pick them from his available talent on Veronica Mars. As for Martin Starr and Lizzie Caplan, they were discovered through the short-lived comedy sensation Freaks & Geeks and their desire to have them on Party Down. Expounding a bit on the casting process, Adam shared that from his perspective that because he and Rob had been friends for such a long time, he had heard about Party Down for a number of years and thus was quick to jump at the opportunity to work on it with him. It was then a “happy surprise” when he later found out that Starz wanted to do the show. Ken also added that he had told Rob straight up that he would love to audition for the role of Ron after he read the Party Down script while working on Veronica Mars. He loved the role and just wanted a chance to play “that guy.” Then 18 months passed and he too got a call out of the blue saying, “we got picked up for Starz!”
Martin Starr rocks out on the season premiere of Party Down / Starz
Ryan’s experience was similar in that he was working on Veronica Mars at the time and was awaiting the news on whether Veronica Mars was being picked up for a fourth season when he got the call that Party Down had been picked up. Finally, as for Martin, he said he did not even audition. He had simply heard they were looking for a “Martin Starr” type and, low and behold, he was available – so no more looking needed!
Responding to the question if any of the actors could relate to their characters’ struggles on Party Down, Martin was the first to admitted that he did not have the arrogance to think that he is a great writer like his character; while Ryan said, “I can relate — model, actor, musician, what’s not to relate to?!”
As to whether the actors use improv on the show, Rob said while it was a compliment if it looked that way, there is not much improv and that 95% of it is what is written on the page. Ken chimed in to add that he felt that because the scripts were so strong, there was not much need for improv.
Next, regarding the question whether the actors have any input into their characters, Rob was quick to quip, “They have no say. It’s whatever John Enborn says!” Ken Marino backed him up by stating that they have a strong relationship built on trust which makes it easy to just go with what the writers have created for them – though he added that the hair-cut for his character was all his. He explained he chose that specific hair cut to help define the character. Rob also noted that due to the structure of the show’s production schedule and the fact that they do not have a writing staff that all 10 episodes are pre-written before actual shooting commences. This leaves very little room to write in according to the variances of the actors in the roles. For example, they did not know beforehand that they would get Jane Lynch to appear in the first season and they regretted only giving her one line in her first episode. So once all the scripts are done, they then shoot 10 episodes in the space of 10 weeks, with 4 days filming and one day prep. It is a lot of work, but not so bad because the episodes have been pre-written.
Steve Guttenberg gets up close and personal with Martin Starr / Starz
When asked if they have any favorite episodes, Adam mentioned that his favorite was an upcoming second season episode where they go to Steve Guttenberg’s birthday party and no one shows up. He also ruefully admitted that he fought to be able to wear shorts during that particular episode, which he then regretted because of a freak cold spell. Ken also said that he loved the 20th reunion episode because of how much fun they had making it.
In an attempt to answer a query about whether they could share one of their worst audition experiences, Adam stared in mock-horror and said: “Why would you want to put us through THAT?!” Apparently, auditions are simply an endless stream of torture which no actor wants to recall unless they have to. But he then gamely responded that he recalled auditioning for a horror film where he had to reenact a scene where his body was possessed during an exorcism. He said it was embarrassing and just a terrible performance – and the worst part was everyone could hear every word said by the person auditioning before them. Finally at the end of that audition, the writer of the film said, “well, that’s one way of doing that.” He really wanted to tell the writer to “f” off, but didn’t and now wishes he had. Martin recalled an audition where the director read the newspaper throughout the audition, which was awful. Then a couple years later the same director had the nerve to ask him to be in a short film, which Martin passed on because of that bad prior experience. After prodding, Ryan admitted that he still feels uncomfortable when asked to take off his shirt in an audition and mentioned that Rob had actually asked him to drop his pants during his audition for Veronica Mars (which he did!) and he does not remember that experience very fondly. Though Rob clearly thought it was hysterical and laughed about.
Ken then chimed in, “Sleeping with the casting director doesn’t work!”
Ken Marino as Ron Donald / Starz
Ken also recalled one particular audition where he had decided to just wing-it. He thought he would be fine going in completely cold, but then it turned out to be a disaster. He really thought he would just do it in the room, but because he was not prepared, he could not pull it together and all he got after his abysmal audition was a, “Thanks for coming.”
This prompted Rob to mention that from the director’s standpoint that the one thing he wants the actor to know when coming into the room is the words. He also mentioned that re-writing the script with the writer in the room is generally not a smart play. To which Ken added, that as an actor, “always respect the text,” but you can make it your own and bring what you can to perform it.
When the audience was allowed to ask questions, one wanted to know if any of the writers or cast had actually interviewed any caterers for insight into the roles on Party Down, to which John Enborn sheepishly admitted, “I wish I could say we did, but I don’t think we have.”
Finally, as to what to expect in the second season of Party Down? There will be more excellent Ken-hair, a sports jacket covered in fleur de lilies, a new cast member: Megan Mullally; and cool guest stars, such as Kristin Bell, Jane Lynch, and JK Simmons. It was also noted that Ken directed the second season finale episode and did a fantastic job!
And on that note it was a wrap! If you have not yet had a chance to check out this off-beat, cutting-edge comedy, the first season of Party Down was released on DVD
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