Friday, March 27, 2009

THE HOUSE BETWEEN, Episode #20: "Exposed"

During the shooting of THB season two, we had a crisis that forced John Muir to come up with a new script during the overnight hours between grueling 15-hour production days. Somehow, he pulled it off. The resulting episode was the aptly-named "Distressed."

During production of season three, we had a number of smaller crises that ultimately forced Muir to condense and re-think an existing script in order to finish the season. He made some painful cuts and we made short work of an episode entitled "Exposed," with the intention of incorporating those scenes into an extra-long series finale. If you're curious to see just how confusing the shoot became (and to marvel at the ability of the actors to pull off their character arcs while shooting completely out of sequence), here's a production report showing the sequence in which we shot the third season:

DAY 1 – MONDAY w/ partial cast
“DEVOURED” – Scene 2
“ADDICTED” – Scenes 2, 9, 22, 24
“SCARED” – Scenes 3, 4, 5

DAY 2 – TUESDAY
“DEVOURED” – Scenes 1 (part), 3B, 7, 10, 13
“ADDICTED” – Scenes 1 (part), 5, 6, 3, 3B, 18, 23
“DEVOURED” – Scenes 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8B, 9, 13B

DAY 3 – WEDNESDAY
“SCARED” – Scenes 2, 1, 10, 7, 8, 9, 14, 11 (part), 16, 18, 11, 11B, 6, 12, 13 (insert), 16B, 19, 13, 15, 17

DAY 4 – THURSDAY
“SWITCHED” – Scenes 2, 4 (part), 5, 8, 1, 4 (part), 6, 7, 9
“DEVOURED” – Scenes 5, 8B
“SWITCHED” – Scenes 10 (part), 11, 12, 10 (part), 13

DAY 5 - FRIDAY
“EXPOSED” (original script) – Scenes 7, 11
“RESOLVED” – Scenes 9, 7
“EXPOSED” (original script) – Scene 10 (part)
“SWITCHED” – Scene 15
“EXPOSED” (original script) – Scene 12
“SWITCHED” – Scene 14
“RESOLVED” – Scenes 3, 4, 4B, 3 (part), 5, 1, 6
“EXPOSED” (original script) – Scene 9
“DEVOURED” – Scenes 12, 11, 10

DAY 6 – SATURDAY
“RESOLVED” – Scenes 2, 8, 14, 11, 0, 15, 15B
“EXPOSED” (original script) – Scene 16
“RESOLVED” – Scenes 12, 11, 13
“EXPOSED” (new script) – Scenes 2, 10 (part)
“RESOLVED” – Scene 11
“EXPOSED” (new script) – 3 unnumbered scenes
“RESOLVED” – final scene

PICKUP DAY w/ partial cast
“ADDICTED” – Scenes 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34
“DEVOURED” – Scenes 3, 4
“RESOLVED” – Scenes 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34

In the months since the shoot, Muir has had time to re-think the lost episode again. Since he was unable to bring back the full cast for additional shooting, he has reconstructed the episode around the one actor he had constant access to -- himself. The villainous character of Dr. Sam Clark (John's onscreen alter ego) now dominates the penultimate episode of the series, offering us his last (?) testament on what has been and what will come to be...

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous4/01/2009

    You know Joe I'm sure I saw the shooting list throughout that week plenty of times, but looking at it here on your blog (neatly laid out) is pretty astounding. It makes me exhausted (not to mention scared and distressed) just looking at it : )

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  2. Anonymous4/01/2009

    Jim - The original schedule wasn't anywhere near this hectic. If I had shown up with this schedule, I think I would have been voted off the island. I blame the line dancers for the chaos that ensued....
    - Joe

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