Directing Bones (with Greg Yaitanes)
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What famous movie star auditioned for the role of Zack Addy? What was really in that Christmas present from Brennan’s parents? And who the hell is Crazy Dennis? Greg Yaitanes, the director of the Bones pilot, answers all this and more in this week’s episode of Boneheads. Greg, the Emmy award-winning director of House, Banshee, House of the Dragon, and Presumed Innocent, among others, tells Emily and Carla about casting Emily as Brennan, testing the pilot with audiences, and how the show went from “Brennan” to “Bones.” Plus, he shares behind-the-scenes stories from the other Bones episodes he directed, The Man in the Fallout Shelter and The Woman at the Airport.
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Transcript
SPEAKERS
Emily Deschanel, Greg Yaitanes, Carla Gallo
Carla Gallo 00:00
What’s up, Gallo?
Carla Gallo 00:02
Oh! What’s up?
Emily Deschanel 00:04
What’s up, C. Gall?
Carla Gallo 00:06
Hey, E. Desh.
Emily Deschanel 00:18
Hi, I’m Emily Deschanel.
Carla Gallo 00:20
And I’m Carla Gallo.
Emily Deschanel 00:21
And this is Boneheads.
Carla Gallo 00:28
I’m literally two days unemployed.
Emily Deschanel 00:31
And you’re already freaking out.
Carla Gallo 00:32
Yes. So platonically you just wrapped and I will not enjoy it. I refuse to enjoy it, I cannot enjoy it. I was telling you right? When I got here, I finished on Wednesday night. I started Tuesday night, then on Wednesday, my husband came homefrom a meeting and stuff at three o’clock and he was like, “Oh, still in your pajamas” and I said, “Well, I don’t have anywhere else to be”. And he was like, “All right, that was quick”. So, I’m already in the depth of despair.
Emily Deschanel 01:04
Oh my gosh.
Carla Gallo 01:05
I know, it’s not cool.
Emily Deschanel 01:06
But, a good amount of your life, not yours but any actor’s life,is spent not working. So, you might as well enjoy.
Carla Gallo 01:14
I know, I should. But, I kept saying and this is just bad. This islike an insight into my terrible brain. Well, we were just talking about the show ending and stuff, I was like, “I can’t goback to my normal life. I can’t go back to just”.
Emily Deschanel 01:32
Dramatic.
Carla Gallo 01:33
I know, very dramatic.
Emily Deschanel 01:34
Carla drama Gallo.
Carla Gallo 01:35
Yeah, Carla drama Gallo is right. No, just the whole like I lovebeing a mother but, that being the only thing is challenging.
Emily Deschanel 01:46
It’s nice to balance of having different things in your life. That’s why when I’m not filming, I schedule so many things in my life.
Carla Gallo 01:53
You are one of the more scheduled I know.
Emily Deschanel 01:54
I schedule constantly, but it’s also just inevitable schedules, things that I have to do.
Carla Gallo 01:59
Yeah, I don’t have that much to do.
Emily Deschanel 02:02
I mean, I guess I don’t have to color my hair but I got my haircolor.
Emily Deschanel 02:05
I gotta do that over a few weeks. I gotta see people.
Carla Gallo 02:05
I see.
Carla Gallo 02:14
Yeah.
Emily Deschanel 02:14
So, I make plans like that to see people.
Carla Gallo 02:16
I should do that.
Emily Deschanel 02:16
But, I’m a little behind. But you know, I do like to see people,socialize and work out. You know, I schedule things so I just keep myself busy, but then it’s a problem when I do get a job or when I’m have to.
Carla Gallo 02:33
Because all the other stuff has to.
Emily Deschanel 02:34
Because things get in the way, and you’re like, “Darn it, I havea workout, or I had a hike planned, or I was getting my toenails painted.
Carla Gallo 02:46
Not me, I’m available.
Emily Deschanel 02:49
Well, that’s the thing you have to distract yourself.
Carla Gallo 02:51
I know, I do. I need something else to focus.
Emily Deschanel 02:56
You know what’s good? The podcast. You just had an audition, too.
Carla Gallo 02:58
I did have an audition and that was very intentional.
Emily Deschanel 03:01
You look fancy, Carla looks very nice today.
Carla Gallo 03:04
Thank you.
Emily Deschanel 03:04
Pretty makeup.
Carla Gallo 03:05
I reached out literally the day after I finished work and said to my agent, “Hey, I’m all warmed up, I’m ready to go”, like a crazy person. The next day, I got yesterday. I got an email foran audition and it’s not a very big part, and that’s okay.
Emily Deschanel 03:24
Yeah.
Carla Gallo 03:24
And I just wanted to get out of it.
Emily Deschanel 03:26
Just small parts, small actors.
Carla Gallo 03:29
Yeah.
Emily Deschanel 03:30
Anyway, should we talk about what this episode is?
Carla Gallo 03:34
I think we should.
Emily Deschanel 03:37
Okay.
Carla Gallo 03:37
And I would enjoy it, because I need something to focus on.
Emily Deschanel 03:39
Yeah, this is only I’m happy to give this to you.
Carla Gallo 03:42
Thank you.
Emily Deschanel 03:42
We’re about to share an interview we did with Greg Yaitanes.
Carla Gallo 03:45
Yes.
Emily Deschanel 03:46
A friend of the podcast. Can we say that?
Carla Gallo 03:49
Absolutely.
Emily Deschanel 03:51
Being a good friend of our podcast.
Carla Gallo 03:53
I hope we don’t have any enemies of the podcast.
Emily Deschanel 03:56
That would be exciting if we did, though?
Carla Gallo 03:57
Yeah, sure.
Emily Deschanel 03:59
That would actually fuel me.
Carla Gallo 04:01
Would it?
Emily Deschanel 04:02
It’s like a nemesis, a podcast nemesis.
Carla Gallo 04:05
Yeah, it would motivate you to win them all.
Emily Deschanel 04:07
No, it could be a story for the podcast.
Carla Gallo 04:09
Okay.
Emily Deschanel 04:09
We could talk about it, we could confront them.
Carla Gallo 04:12
Listen, I’m sure there’s one out there.
Emily Deschanel 04:14
There’s someone hating us, I’m sure. I’m definitely, more than one.
Carla Gallo 04:17
Yeah, you know that.
Emily Deschanel 04:18
For sure. But you know, I welcome like a confrontation, not a confrontation. I always want to hear what people perspectives are.
Carla Gallo 04:27
I don’t.
Emily Deschanel 04:28
But an open and honest.
Carla Gallo 04:30
I’m kidding, I do.
Emily Deschanel 04:31
But I like a little drama, just like you.
04:35
Oh! Carla drama Gallo. Well, there’s no confrontation here with Greg Yaitanes.
Emily Deschanel 04:41
No, there’s no confrontation, this is Greg Yaitanes. If people are wondering, Greg Yaitanes is a very talented director, he directed and producer. He directed the pilot of Bones. We have so much to thank him for, for establishing so much of the show, from the way it looks to choices with character andestablishing relationships and all of that and casting.
Carla Gallo 05:09
We’ll talk about.
Emily Deschanel 05:10
Yes, we get to hear some real gems about casting. But, Greg Yaitanes is an Emmy Award winning director and producer. He’s worked on countless hit shows including House Lost,Prison Break, Banshee, Grey’s Anatomy, and House of the Dragon and Bones. He most recently served as executive producer and director on Apple TV, plus his most viewed drama, “Presumed Innocent” starring, Jake Gyllenhaal.
Carla Gallo 05:35
I was obsessed.
Emily Deschanel 05:36
Very obsessed with.
Carla Gallo 05:38
And of course, we know him from directing the pilot episode of Bones and several other episodes from season one, including one of our favorites, episode 109 The Man in the Fallout Shelter, which we’re gonna talk to him about. So without further ado, here’s our conversation with Greg Yaitanes.
Emily Deschanel 06:00
We’re sitting with Greg Yaitanes.
Greg Yaitanes 06:02
All right.
Emily Deschanel 06:03
Welcome.
Greg Yaitanes 06:04
Thank you.
Carla Gallo 06:05
With a great podcast voice
Emily Deschanel 06:05
The best podcast voice, I told you guys.
Carla Gallo 06:08
You did tell me.
Emily Deschanel 06:09
I told you it would be great, we could just have one every podcast.
Carla Gallo 06:12
I know.
Emily Deschanel 06:12
Every episode.
Greg Yaitanes 06:15
I can be on the next Bones.
Carla Gallo 06:19
Yes, on the next podcast.
Emily Deschanel 06:21
Yes, you can do all the promos and podcast.
Carla Gallo 06:23
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 06:23
Previously on Bones […] .
Emily Deschanel 06:28
First of all, I think the first thing we need to talk about is why I call you “Crazy Dennis.
Carla Gallo 06:33
Crazy Dennis?
Greg Yaitanes 06:35
Crazy Dennis.
Carla Gallo 06:36
Okay. Why?
Greg Yaitanes 06:38
So, after the pilot, I came back to direct a couple of episodes in the first half of the first season and I hadn’t been in touch with the cast, but we were doing the bottle episode, doing the Christmas episode, and I was calling all the actors to see if we could get some time to rehearse because it was such a contained talkie episode and it was out of the kind of norm format so I call Emily, David, I call everybody and then I call Jonathan Adams and I’m like, “Jonathan, it’s Greg Yaitanes” and he’s on long pause, like, “Who?” and I’m like, “Greg Yaitanes”. I’m like, “I did the pilot, I’m coming back here. I directed the pilot”. He’s like, “No” (there’s silence). And he said, “Who?” and I’m like, “Greg Yaitanes”, he’s like, “Crazy!Dennis? Like, “No, Greg Yaitanes, he did the pilot”. “Oh, Greg, I thought you were crazy Dennis”.
Emily Deschanel 07:45
He’s such an amazing.
Greg Yaitanes 07:47
So mannered and was like “Crazy Dennis?”.
Emily Deschanel 07:53
If you’re not perfectly Christian articulated.
Carla Gallo 07:56
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 07:56
So then, I told that story when I was doing house.
Carla Gallo 07:59
Amazing.
Greg Yaitanes 07:59
The cast of house called me crazy Dennis. Olivia Wilde and Peter Jacobson still called me crazy.
Carla Gallo 08:05
Amazing.
Emily Deschanel 08:06
And so do I.
Greg Yaitanes 08:08
So do you.
Emily Deschanel 08:08
I don’t remember […].
Carla Gallo 08:10
Where it came from?
Greg Yaitanes 08:11
Yeah, it’s so funny, I can see it. But what’s funny is, somebodyout there was like processing.
Carla Gallo 08:20
Why this person calling me being a crazy Dennis?
Greg Yaitanes 08:23
Who’s Greg Yaitanes? Like, did I win something?
Carla Gallo 08:27
Yes.
Emily Deschanel 08:28
And the fact that, that’s the kind of nicknamethe people have for people that they don’t.
Greg Yaitanes 08:31
Like.
Emily Deschanel 08:32
Yeah.
Carla Gallo 08:33
Yeah, that’s true.
Emily Deschanel 08:34
We talk about people behind their back.
Carla Gallo 08:35
Like crazy Dennis.
Greg Yaitanes 08:37
Which is why you still call me crazy Dennis.
Emily Deschanel 08:38
Yeah, exactly.
Greg Yaitanes 08:39
Exactly.
08:41
And we should clarify for the listeners that crazy Dennis, also known as […] directed the pilot and he’s a director. He came back, he directed. You were directed three in total.
Greg Yaitanes 08:53
Yes, three in total.
Emily Deschanel 08:55
And then he never worked again.
Emily Deschanel 08:56
Wait, he never worked again since 2005, but the thing that’s important about a pilot director, that is who very often sets the tone for the show, the look of the show […] .
Greg Yaitanes 09:09
Its kind of the template of the series that you build off.
Emily Deschanel 09:18
Yeah.
Carla Gallo 09:18
Yeah, so you’re a part of that process.
Carla Gallo 09:20
Yeah.
Emily Deschanel 09:20
Kind of match Greg’s vision for it.
Emily Deschanel 09:23
I mean, I’m sure you’re working with the producers and everything too.
Greg Yaitanes 09:25
Yeah, but the world building.
Emily Deschanel 09:26
World building, yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 09:28
The pilot director is the world builder and that’s the person that comes in. And what was fun to go back and look at the three episodes I did, was to see how the show evolved from the pilot. You go out often in pilots, you go to real locationslike we did down natural history museum, and then you recreate versions of those sets on stage. So, it was interesting […] to watch the evolution of the sets and to see how things go and come back. That was why I came back and that season was just to help keep the calibration of that tone because it was so specific there. So, what’s great about the pilot process, is you often make the pilot months before you go into actual series. So, there’s that opportunity that you have this fully finished or not, or it’s something you’re trying to move away from and evolve the show from. So, in the case of the pilot, we tinkered with it within that time period. Interestingly enough of the story behind it, which was that it was originally the other show was called Brennan.
Carla Gallo 10:31
I know.
Emily Deschanel 10:31
Right, I did mentioned that.
Greg Yaitanes 10:34
Yes.
Carla Gallo 10:34
You did.
Greg Yaitanes 10:34
So when it was Brennan, it was one hander. It was just about Booth.
Emily Deschanel 10:41
Should have stayed that way.
Greg Yaitanes 10:43
So the pilot, we begin the process of trying to find Brennan, I was looking at my notes like I was […].
Emily Deschanel 10:52
For people listening.
Greg Yaitanes 10:53
Yeah.
Emily Deschanel 10:55
I guess that’s everyone.
Carla Gallo 10:56
Yeah.
Emily Deschanel 10:58
But Greg has his original script, in fact, with no notes on top of that.
Greg Yaitanes 11:03
Yeah, I was just scribbling kind of early impression because I think, I took this into my meeting with Hart, I wanted toremember certain things. But, I kept thinking about how important casting was, and the humor, the walk and talks, and I was saying, I think somewhere in here I was like, “This completely hinges on who plays Brennan and looking formost important thing, the style I had. And yes, actress will guide this cast is what […].
Carla Gallo 11:10
Which is very true.
Emily Deschanel 11:38
Were some people cast already though, before I got cast. […] Michaela was maybe or maybe not?
Greg Yaitanes 11:48
So, we had to find the squints, right?
Carla Gallo 11:50
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 11:51
So, we were starting to audition like Zach Addy so people that came in for that, where like Zachary Quinto came in andread, Jonah Hill came in.
Emily Deschanel 11:51
What?
Greg Yaitanes 11:53
So it was literally castings, you’ve like, there’s this kid is named Jonah Hill. I mean, Jonah Hill’s whole career is due to the fact that he did get Bones.
Emily Deschanel 12:15
Yeah, he should come on and thank us. And I knew Jonah at that time, by the way. […] You’re friend with sisters, boyfriend’s brother, or something like that, years before I’d known him.
Greg Yaitanes 12:16
Yeah.
Emily Deschanel 12:28
And he also went to crossroads where I went to high school as well. But, he’s a little younger than.
Greg Yaitanes 12:34
Yeah, so Jonah comes in and I think it’s the funniest audition I’ve ever seen. It was great and I turn around at Hart and Hart is like “No”.
Emily Deschanel 12:47
Oh my god.
Carla Gallo 12:49
It’s not what we picture.
Greg Yaitanes 12:50
No. And so when I got to Eric, it Hart’s. Eric left the room and Hart stood up and pointed his finger, like he doing.
Emily Deschanel 13:03
That was the person.
Emily Deschanel 13:04
I know.
Greg Yaitanes 13:04
[…] I’m like, “Jonah he’s the person”.
Carla Gallo 13:06
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 13:08
You wouldn’t have had his career because he would have been on Bones for 13 years.
Emily Deschanel 13:13
Just like Bradley Cooper was on a show, like next door to us.
Greg Yaitanes 13:16
Yeah. I worked as Bradley before he became Bradley.
Emily Deschanel 13:20
I know, me too. My sister worked with him, he’s been at Christmas our house. I haven’t seen him in years, but my sister was friends with him. They did a movie together, but then he did a show
Carla Gallo 13:31
Wait, was it John Daley?
Greg Yaitanes 13:31
A kitchen confidential […].
Emily Deschanel 13:37
John Francis Daley was also […] . John Daley, they were maybe going to test him for Zach as well.
Carla Gallo 13:45
John Francis Daley?
Emily Deschanel 13:46
Yes.
Greg Yaitanes 13:48
You might have even read.
Emily Deschanel 13:50
Yes, I think he did.
Greg Yaitanes 13:51
You might have even read.
Emily Deschanel 13:51
I think they were interested in testing, but they had him test for that other show […] I think there’s other show better and wanted him to test for that. Like, him for that and Eric for this. Obviously, Eric did an amazing job as Zach, but I mean, Jonah Hill should be thanking hard hands.
Greg Yaitanes 14:11
I think Jonah Hill should, I’ve not met Jonah to tell him that but every time I saw him in a movie, I’m like, “Wow, like that, like everything, like a hinge on that moment” because every weekend we could have bury it, we all saw it.
14:25
Yeah. But it was a funny thought, because as an actor, often you’re thinking like, “Oh! what? What would have happened? Like, very close friend of mine was the female on Big Bang Theory.
Greg Yaitanes 14:39
The show might not have worked and they got off the air, too.
Carla Gallo 14:39
And she was the only one to be replaced. She did the pilot, and then they replaced her with Kayle Cuoco. Of course, there’s a lot of conversation with her about kind of how different life would be if Kaylee Cuoco had not replaced her.
Greg Yaitanes 14:39
All right.
14:46
Well, I think that’s true. I mean, it wasn’t that common. It is that certain combination. Not to say to my friend I wouldn’t shape or maybe would have been a bear hit but, no. The idea that getting a job would actually ruin your career. You know, there’s a career that.
Emily Deschanel 14:46
Could have happened ruin your career […] .
Greg Yaitanes 15:10
Even a better.
Emily Deschanel 15:11
We all never know whatever done.
Greg Yaitanes 15:12
We never know. I say that to people too, about directing. It’s like things are easy when there’s one job in front of you and you just take the next thing. But, where your career really gets built is when you have to start making choices.
Emily Deschanel 15:28
More with Greg Yaitanes after this quick ad break.
Greg Yaitanes 15:49
We started looking for Brennan’s and as actresses are coming in to read, really, and there’s nobody. I think there really wasn’t anybody on our offer only radar that we thought could play all the elements the humor. I love that shehas a boyfriend, like she has like a life. She’s not there to sex, she has a boyfriend, she has a life. She’s just not up on pop culture thing. So there was a very specific all encompassing, like I had to be funny, had to be smart, had to believe it all. Had to have that like otherness to have those quirks and things that you can play into.
Emily Deschanel 16:33
Right, the Brennan and quirks.
Carla Gallo 16:35
Right […].
Greg Yaitanes 16:35
[…] It was really discouraging because we didn’t come in untilvery late. So, we were down and just seeing kind of all the usual suspects and it wasn’t a time where people were crossing over into TV. It was still very much, the network mentality of there was just, like, “Here are the people on the list”.
Greg Yaitanes 16:36
It was juicy, it was just we were not seeing it. And then somewhere in the process, this is both, this is all going and connecting to the back. I told you this over text, how somebody had the part for five minutes?
Emily Deschanel 17:26
Oh! is that somebody else? Somebody
Greg Yaitanes 17:27
Somebody else, yeah.
Emily Deschanel 17:29
Was it the person I tested against? You remember, there’s one person I tested against for the network test?
Greg Yaitanes 17:34
No, it was earlier. So what happened was we, whatever reason, Barry was steering the ship towards this actress and Hart and I were like, “I was getting more discouraged by that”because I wasn’t seeing the humor. The read wasn’t strong, but Barry’s like a force of nature and wanted to see this. And there was a connection to David and so I was really vocaland eventually got asked for and got a chemistry read. And your tape was starting to circulate and come up and we brought your tape into 20th in front of Dana and everybody, and a couple other people came in to read for the studio. You couldn’t be at the studio one […]. It was the studio testand we’re all in Dana’s office and then we popped your tape in, and you made it to the next round. I had seen your tape, but there wasn’t that in person connection yet. And so we didn’t meet in person to the network.
Emily Deschanel 18:50
We did meet in person.
Greg Yaitanes 18:52
We did.
Emily Deschanel 18:52
But, we didn’t really engage. I’m almost positive. I don’t meanto interrupt but we didn’t really interact […].
Greg Yaitanes 19:02
Oh! I remember that meeting.
Emily Deschanel 19:05
It was like a meeting slash audition.
Greg Yaitanes 19:06
No, I remember.
Emily Deschanel 19:07
I didn’t talk that much, but I remember Hart laughing.
Greg Yaitanes 19:10
That was the meeting I thought went badly because Barry took it off the rails. He made a wise ass comment, because your whole family’s in showbiz.
Greg Yaitanes 19:10
Yeah.
Emily Deschanel 19:10
I remember Hart laughed and I remember thinking like I’m either funny or he’s just really nice. And it’s that he’s just that nice.
Greg Yaitanes 19:29
You made a thing that’s like, “Man, there’s just no talent in your family”. I guess he has something that just came and you did not seem to take it well.
Emily Deschanel 19:29
Right.
Emily Deschanel 19:40
Oh! really? I don’t remember it. I could’ve remember it if I did take it.
Carla Gallo 19:46
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 19:46
And so in my mind, after you left, I remember Barry was like, really mad about it himself.
Emily Deschanel 19:56
Really?
Greg Yaitanes 19:57
Why they say that?
Emily Deschanel 19:58
This is why there are things that I’m like Brennan. People sometimes think I have a totally different reaction. Maybe, Iwas at the time, but not big enough that Ididn’t remember it […] . I would have come up, I remember so much at that time, I had a conversation with Hart and Barry before.
Greg Yaitanes 20:20
I’m surprised that you remember any of this […].
Emily Deschanel 20:22
I know, I remember my whole career was basically 12 years ofBones.
Emily Deschanel 20:29
So, the beginning of it is very fresh in my mind. It’s fresher than other things are in my mind. But, I had a conversation with Hart and Barry before.
Emily Deschanel 20:30
I was there, I remember.
Emily Deschanel 20:30
Okay, on the phone.
Greg Yaitanes 20:30
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 20:31
You had a conversation with them separate because I actually was, did I produce? I think I EP. I think that was my first EP gig on a podcast.
Emily Deschanel 20:50
Okay, yeah. I can’t remember you, but I remember Barry definitely on the phone call, too. They’re really selling me on. Like, “No”. I was like, “Well, how long can you do a show about Bones for?” I did think that at that time and the thing that I was supposed to test for was possibly going to come as an offer. And so my manager wanted me just wait for thatand not a tickle of one scene part, that’s what’s so funny. I mean, I don’t know why, that’s a whole other story.
Emily Deschanel 20:50
I do remember that, I do remember that meeting.
Emily Deschanel 20:57
We had a call.
Greg Yaitanes 20:59
There was a call.
Emily Deschanel 21:12
And then I came in.
Greg Yaitanes 21:29
Even though I was executive producer, I was still sort of regulated as director. So, Barry and Hart were doing things. Were siloing differently during that process.
Emily Deschanel 21:38
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 21:39
But, it got narrative. But Barry was set on and Hart was goingalong. And I was telling Hart, I’m like, “Look, I have a feeling that both Barry and David can push this through, like we will. They’ll win this, but we’re going to lose the bet. We’re going to make this happen and then we’re not going to get the show picked up”. Like, I do not think that this […].
Emily Deschanel 22:09
The pilot made […].
Greg Yaitanes 22:14
Right, then I just said, “I think we need to put these two in a room together. I think the chemistry is going to be everything, we have to do so”.
Emily Deschanel 22:22
Because that person got to do a chemistry read already.
Greg Yaitanes 22:24
Yeah, they did a thing which I shot it and directed it, and it was on the set. […] Was there, like that Rebecca Romijn showPepper Dennis.
Greg Yaitanes 22:38
So, we went to the set of Pepper Dennis which was down, and so we shot this scene or we shot them.
Emily Deschanel 22:39
Yeah, Pepper Dennis […].
Carla Gallo 22:45
One of the scenes from the pilot?
Greg Yaitanes 22:51
We were doing a couple of scenes.
Carla Gallo 22:52
Okay.
Greg Yaitanes 22:54
We had kind of multi cameras on them and it was a disaster. Super cutesy and jokey and it was just everybody was trying too hard and she was not getting it the tone. It wasn’t funny, there was nothing. I had to go back and try to cut something and I still couldn’t pull it together. Then I have this tape and I’m just sad about it. And then Gail’s office was, or we went into a room across the hall from where their little theater was, where the tests were and we put the tape in andGail’s watching the tape. And then she was just like, “Fine,okay”.
Emily Deschanel 23:38
Oh, with the other woman?
Greg Yaitanes 23:40
Yeah.
Emily Deschanel 23:43
[…] But not enthusiastic?
Greg Yaitanes 23:46
No, it was exactly what I thought.
Emily Deschanel 23:51
Exactly get this made, but it’s not going to be successful.
Greg Yaitanes 23:54
I told her when we came because we went out of there and we still had to test you and so we came out, I told Hart I’m like, “We’re never getting picked this shows, never getting picked up” and then Barry told David so David was thrilled. This thing was if you saw this test and saw the character thathe became, it was like night and day. He was more David than he was Booth. And so there wasn’t, it wasn’t working. I think, the craft of the other actor was we were hitting the ceiling of what was going to be possible.
Emily Deschanel 24:45
Some things are not the right fit for people.
Carla Gallo 24:51
A hundred percent.
Emily Deschanel 24:51
There’s lots of times where I see something, I’m like, “I don’t know how you make that work”. And then you see the thing,the actual final thing, you see the actor doing it and you’re like, “Oh! that’s how”.
Carla Gallo 24:52
Yeah, it just a right match.
Emily Deschanel 24:53
You can’t envision it or you don’t get the tone, or whatever it is, so sometimes it’s just not the right match.
Greg Yaitanes 24:54
What’s the thing? So, Gail is like, “Okay, fine”. And then we thought we were done and then we had your test […].
Emily Deschanel 25:17
But you still proceeded with that. I had no idea what I was like.
Greg Yaitanes 25:22
At that point, there was this sort of other execs, it was like, “Listen, just out of courtesy, let’s finish this and take this”.
Emily Deschanel 25:32
I love that I was like a courtesy.
Greg Yaitanes 25:34
Yes. But no, this one goes on by the scene. So, David, this waswhere the magic happened was because David then was like, “Okay” well, now I’m like, “I’m done”. And he was annoyed he had to stay to, now do this and read. And so, he comes into the room and for the first time, does nothing in that audition and so he starts reading.
Carla Gallo 25:59
Because he was sort of done.
Greg Yaitanes 26:00
He was done. By the way, that was the character. And so he’snot doing anything […]. Then you either saw that or took that and just took it and boom. The room, I cannot even tell, that was one of those times where everybody felt it. The scene exploded and it wasamazing. Then you left and they told David to leave the room so that we could talk freely. And Gail was like, “Did you just see that?” And we’re like, “Yeah”. And they’re like, “That’s it”. Then somebody else in the back was like, “What about so and so?”, and they’re just like, “Oh, sticker on that other thing”.
Emily Deschanel 26:50
She still got a job.
Greg Yaitanes 26:51
She got a job.
Carla Gallo 26:52
That is crazy!
Greg Yaitanes 26:52
It was magic in the room. I have never had any experience like it since because it was […].
Emily Deschanel 27:07
It didn’t feel like that big of a deal to me.
Carla Gallo 27:09
Because you know all this stuff that was going on […].
Greg Yaitanes 27:16
I was looking at David and was like, “What a dick. He’s givingher nothing”.
Carla Gallo 27:20
Right.
Emily Deschanel 27:20
Probably, I don’t remember it, but I was probably like, “Well, I don’t even remember”, you never know what you’re gonna get with people.
Greg Yaitanes 27:28
Right.
Emily Deschanel 27:29
And I might have thought that was an acting choice of his.
Carla Gallo 27:31
Right.
Emily Deschanel 27:32
Or sometimes when you’re with an actor who’s not there, you’re like, “Wake up!”.
Greg Yaitanes 27:38
Yeah, that’s what you did. Like, sparked kind of, for the disgrace at the time, moonlighting was a lot closer to people’s memory.
Carla Gallo 27:38
Hi, hello.
Carla Gallo 27:49
Right.
Emily Deschanel 27:50
There was some vintage.
Emily Deschanel 27:51
Both of us came and can see that they were both the character.
Greg Yaitanes 27:51
Yeah, there was some fire that happened because you were had that, like, “Hello, are you doing this?” and it just worked. It just became the thing and so I was like, “That’s the character”. Like, “Where’s that guy been?”.
Greg Yaitanes 28:16
Exactly.
Carla Gallo 28:17
Yeah […].
Greg Yaitanes 28:18
I take credit for his performance.
Greg Yaitanes 28:18
I was like, “We don’t have just as be not do” like, let’s stop doing so much, let’s just do it. But, he’s got a real boyish joy to him.
Emily Deschanel 28:38
Absolutely.
Greg Yaitanes 28:40
I was trying to wrangle one of my kids.
Emily Deschanel 28:42
Right, that is so much of his charm.
Greg Yaitanes 28:44
Yeah, exactly.
Emily Deschanel 28:45
Kid energy.
Greg Yaitanes 28:47
That kid energy.
Emily Deschanel 28:48
Becomes a brother, that’s what he was.
Greg Yaitanes 28:50
It cracks me up and I love it. And we had so many laughs on the set, in that time. I was trying to get this and then we wereoff the race. Interestingly, though, didn’t rewrite the script. We shot the script as it was.
Emily Deschanel 29:05
From then?
Greg Yaitanes 29:06
From then.
Emily Deschanel 29:07
But, it had been rewritten as a two hander.
Greg Yaitanes 29:12
No.
Emily Deschanel 29:12
But he was in the beginning?
Greg Yaitanes 29:18
So, he comes in (you’re at the airport).
Emily Deschanel 29:20
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 29:21
He comes in all those scenes.
Emily Deschanel 29:23
Those were there?
Greg Yaitanes 29:24
All the scenes that are out in the world with you and he are there, we go to test it which I’ve never done before, which is basically everybody holds. This thing that looks similar to what you’re recording the podcast on and they sit in a theater and they have this.
Carla Gallo 29:40
Like a voting […].
Emily Deschanel 29:41
I like it, I don’t like it.
Greg Yaitanes 29:42
They have a dial.
Carla Gallo 29:43
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 29:45
They can dial (up or down) and they can also turn it off. So they can be like, “I’m done watching”.
Carla Gallo 29:51
Like I was turning the TV on?
Greg Yaitanes 29:52
Yes, so they’re giving people like a paddle.
Emily Deschanel 29:59
There’s so much power.
Greg Yaitanes 30:01
And then meanwhile, you’re watching, you’re behind the two way mirror and you’re seeing the show with this graph. It wastested fine, it was. It didn’t knock anybody out, it wasn’t. But,the focus group we start, then everybody comes over to this focus group, but you’re also watching, you have this rudimentary thing that we were typing on, it looked like from Radio Shack, you like type questions to the person in the room to ask the group.
Carla Gallo 30:30
Oh, really?
Greg Yaitanes 30:33
It was like big, thick buttons […].
Emily Deschanel 30:36
Do you have to go back?
Greg Yaitanes 30:38
And what kept coming up was they kept asking, what is David’s character do? What is David’s character doing when he’s not with Bones? Because the only time he was there were […].
Emily Deschanel 30:47
He didn’t have a boss.
Greg Yaitanes 30:59
Right. So we’ve heard all the stuff watch the thing, we all convene and Barry’s like, “We need to shoot more scenes of David like that. We need to make this a two handed. We need to shoot” and he was so passionate about that, that thestudio is like, “Okay”, and so we did 12 pages in one day.
Emily Deschanel 31:25
I was wondering if it was one or two days.
Emily Deschanel 31:26
Right, the videotape.
Greg Yaitanes 31:26
So , everything that was at the FBI, that scene of him looking at the videotape, you seeing him that he cares then coming in.
Greg Yaitanes 31:36
Defend you and talk about how brilliant you are.
Emily Deschanel 31:39
Part of it? Yeah.
Emily Deschanel 31:39
Right.
Greg Yaitanes 31:39
And he really had your back and that scene where you come out and you’re gonna, “What are we gonna do? We’re gonna roost him”, that scene which was great. I remember that line because I had a bones on my directing reel, at the time.
Greg Yaitanes 31:48
I had a great montage from the pilot.
Emily Deschanel 31:58
I’m sure the first in your directing reel is only bones
Greg Yaitanes 32:04
Right.
Carla Gallo 32:06
It’s just an episode of Bones.
Emily Deschanel 32:08
He doesn’t need a directing reel anymore.
Greg Yaitanes 32:11
But, I had my directing reel and Bones was prominently on them. You kidding me? It’s like 13 seasons from that day on is like you wear a badge.
Emily Deschanel 32:29
We’ll be back with Greg Yaitanes after this quick break.
Emily Deschanel 32:52
Looking at the pilot, I have to say, it doesn’t feel like a pilot. Itfeels like it’s a show that’s already been on. It feels like the people feel like they are, the way they introduced the characters doesn’t feel, you have to put so much in. But, you guys did such an amazing job between Hart’s writing and you directing.
Greg Yaitanes 33:11
So surprised how fully formed.
Carla Gallo 33:13
Yes.
Greg Yaitanes 33:13
And how much it held up. I was like, “Wow”. I told a text you this morning. I was like, “Man, this was really good, I did a good job on that.
Emily Deschanel 33:21
Young Greg Yaitanes.
Greg Yaitanes 33:25
Yeah, […] I was happy and then I was really sweet to see the the Christmas episode like that. Also, it was just so nice. All my dream in directing was to have scenes with two people across the table and there was such intimacy.
Carla Gallo 33:44
Oh, my god, that so much interesting. […] Yeah, you and Michaela. I don’t know it’s because I didn’t have a glass of wine […].
Emily Deschanel 34:04
Such an amazing voice.
Greg Yaitanes 34:05
Amazing voice.
Carla Gallo 34:06
But, I turned up couple of times watching that. Again, I don’t know if it’s because I had a half glass of wine last night, but I felt a little emotional during different times like families coming to the window is […].
Emily Deschanel 34:22
Hodgins supermodel.
Greg Yaitanes 34:24
Yeah.
Emily Deschanel 34:24
Very emotional with that night. He wasn’t emotional with the supermodel, but I love the surprising elements of.
Carla Gallo 34:25
Of who?
Emily Deschanel 34:25
Billy Gibbons.
Greg Yaitanes 34:26
Billy Gibbons, right? Was like, you’re gonna see my dad, don’tbe weird.
Carla Gallo 34:38
That was so funny.
Emily Deschanel 34:39
It’s like, he’s Santa. He’s very busy this time of year. He’s kind of well known.
Greg Yaitanes 34:45
Yeah.
Emily Deschanel 34:46
You got appeared.
Carla Gallo 34:50
You opening your Christmas present. That was the other.
Greg Yaitanes 34:53
I have to talk about that.
Emily Deschanel 34:54
No, wait, I have a story about that, you want the same story?
Greg Yaitanes 34:58
Let me tell the story.
Emily Deschanel 34:59
Okay.
Greg Yaitanes 35:00
So, I have a thing about certain movie TV conceits that makeme crazy.
Emily Deschanel 35:06
Yes.
Greg Yaitanes 35:06
I cannot stand when I’m watching something and people have those rubber grocery bags and I can’t stand when all the cars are clean on a show, like everybody washed a car, their cars. And the other thing that makes me nuts is a TV present.
Emily Deschanel 35:21
[…] Nobody has that.
Emily Deschanel 35:27
It doesn’t exist.
Greg Yaitanes 35:27
Nobody has that.
Carla Gallo 35:28
Right.
Greg Yaitanes 35:29
So, there’s a scene at the end where you take the present outand I’m like, “I pass on the information that we need to, like I want an actual present that she unwraps. I hate these movie things and it needs to have some heft, so it looks like there’s something in it.
Greg Yaitanes 35:46
So, by the way, that’s the last I’ve said of it, right? Then we get on the day we’re shooting, and the first present comes out and we’re going right to where we’re gonna because we have, like eight boxes wrapped.
Carla Gallo 35:46
Yeah.
Carla Gallo 36:00
For all the shoot?
Greg Yaitanes 36:00
Yes.
Carla Gallo 36:01
For every time you take it.
Greg Yaitanes 36:02
They wrapped all these like line of presence and I’ll never forget, we’re watching this thing and it’s there, and it’s this emotional scene. I’ve got a couple of cameras on.
Carla Gallo 36:13
And you’re amazing.
Greg Yaitanes 36:14
It’s your big scene. It’s a big moment, unwrap. You’re unwrapping it and you’re like, open it up. And you were just pull out this coke can.
Emily Deschanel 36:26
Yeah, you put a coke can because it’s not in the show. As an actor, I have to think about what my, I don’t remember what it was.
Carla Gallo 36:26
No.
Carla Gallo 36:40
I was gonna ask you that […].
Emily Deschanel 36:43
That it had sentimental value and I had memories that I hate. No, that’s an actor having, like it’s hard. It’s not hate, but I’d rather having to be emotional and seeing where your action, there’s an action involved. I don’t like the passive emotion thing to me, and you’re by yourself when you’re bringing that up. It’s just not my favorite thing to do as an actor. I find it challenging, honestly.
Carla Gallo 37:04
Of course.
Emily Deschanel 37:05
And so I had a whole thing and we get ready and I open it upand there’s a coconut.
Carla Gallo 37:13
Amazing.
Emily Deschanel 37:14
I was like, “Did someone play a joke to me?” and it pissed me off because you just and now, there’s nobody’s fault. I mean, I totally get why people did it because you have to makesomething, it can’t be like this airy thing that’s like wait for nothing, and it’s clearly nothing inside, I get that.
Greg Yaitanes 37:35
And now, there’s coke cans, rats waiting for take two.
Emily Deschanel 37:39
Yes.
Carla Gallo 37:40
So what happened?
Emily Deschanel 37:41
I don’t remember, did they put something else in it? Because If I knew that there’s another thing, I could probably be fine with it once I knew, but to open it up on the first time on camera, trying to imagine something […]. By the way, my son’s best friend gave him a spin drift wrapped up one time he wanted to wrap an extra gift where I was like, “No, I didn’t remember that”.
Greg Yaitanes 38:05
I was like, “Well, maybe you didn’t have any sugar. Maybe, soda was a big deal, maybe there was”. I think I was trying tofelt it was so bad and I was just trying to get you out of the trees on that one because I remember.
Emily Deschanel 38:20
Right.
Greg Yaitanes 38:20
Like 20 years later, I still have never forgotten.
Emily Deschanel 38:23
Terrible, you probably think about an actor having to do something like that.
Greg Yaitanes 38:29
Open it up and it’s a cocaine.
Carla Gallo 38:32
And you’re supposed to act to cocaine.
Emily Deschanel 38:33
Obviously, if it was a rock, it would have been better […] like a positive thing for me.
Carla Gallo 38:45
That’s amazing.
Emily Deschanel 38:47
I mean, I could have created something for the character, if I’d like known ahead of time.
Carla Gallo 38:51
Hey, she loves coke.
Emily Deschanel 38:52
No, we have a product tie in. For the next 12 years, you’re gonna have to drink coke.
Greg Yaitanes 38:58
But I’m also laughing at somewhere in that process, somebody decided to put a coke can in there. Like, “Oh, whatam I gonna fill this box with?”.
Greg Yaitanes 38:59
I totally get why they did it […].
Greg Yaitanes 39:05
When I saw it coming, I was like, “Oh, nice” because I remember when it got set down, it looked like something wasin it and it was also wrapped like a real present. So I was like,”Oh no, the coke can”.
Carla Gallo 39:23
That’s amazing, I love it.
Greg Yaitanes 39:27
I like that it was there and then we did the the L.A episode.
Emily Deschanel 39:34
The L.A.
Greg Yaitanes 39:35
I think I did those back to back, which is why I came in.
Emily Deschanel 39:37
They aired back to back. And I had a question about that. If you remember, if we did shoot them back to back, were you prepping well? So usually, a director will prep before, like during the episode we’re shooting before it, someone’s prepping the previous episode. So, they’re looking for locations, there’s a very location episode.
Greg Yaitanes 39:59
Steve Beers probably remember, I can’t remember it because I don’t know because we talked about that being a bottle episode. A bottle episode is when an episode is contained to one space. I usually, I’ve directed a few of them. They’re usually my favorite ones because they force you into a different thing of storytelling. So whether it was in house or quarry or bones, like some of my favorite TV episodes have been bottle episodes, because they’re usually out of format for the show.
Emily Deschanel 40:25
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 40:26
And you come up with some conceit that people are in a hotel room together in the lab. And we did one on Banshee, where everybody was almost all in an attic.
Carla Gallo 40:38
And it’s forcing relationships.
Greg Yaitanes 40:41
Exploration of character and they’re usually like, great actingpiece and you’re not dealing with the machinery of an episode. So, back in the vintage days of TV, they were off in the episodes where people were sitting here, and then they reminisce and they play clips from other episodes.
Emily Deschanel 40:58
Right, yes.
Emily Deschanel 40:59
Save money for the L.A episode, I think that was an expensive episode.
Greg Yaitanes 40:59
Usually, they’re a result of running out of money and you have to do a shorter thing and presumably you’re doing them in one space, and so you lose all the transpose and all the things you’ve been doing doing andmoving around.
Carla Gallo 41:16
That’s the polar episode to what you’re talking about because it was so location heavy. And like Sky Bar […].
Emily Deschanel 41:23
So visual […]. The standard, but she mentioned Sky Bar which is very outdated, I feel […].
Greg Yaitanes 41:30
I think Sky Bar was still around […].
Carla Gallo 41:33
Used to wait, there was an elevator that went up tower bar, and you would wait to see if you were on the look, could you get in and then you would take an elevator, I think, and go straight up but was the spot, it was Sky Bar.
Emily Deschanel 41:35
I went there a couple times in my life.
Greg Yaitanes 41:48
The L.A episode, I might have been prepping them alongside each other or they just maybe aired out of sequence, it’s for some reason.
Emily Deschanel 41:56
Yeah, you might have been able to do some locate because there’s no locations for the bottle episode. So maybe you didall that prep.
Greg Yaitanes 42:05
Yeah, it’s very possible. I don’t remember it, I remember that, I wanted to come in and do a couple and plus it was nice to come back, see everybody. But, the L.A episode I was, I neverget to shoot L.A for LA.
Emily Deschanel 42:21
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 42:21
And it was so fun to create the L.A that I imagined what L.A was like when I was living in Massachusetts.
Greg Yaitanes 42:29
Sexy this and I mean, it’s really like what people picture L.A, is really what Miami Beach is like.
Emily Deschanel 42:29
Right.
Carla Gallo 42:30
It had that feel, for sure.
Emily Deschanel 42:32
Yeah.
Emily Deschanel 42:33
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 42:35
And that’s not what L.A is.
Emily Deschanel 42:40
I know, that’s why I think it was so funny. Because when you’re watching it, you’re like, “Well, I’ve lived here 22 years”, on some level, it is L.A. You know the beauty, the women in and on the other, that was not L.A.
Emily Deschanel 42:56
Day to day L.A.
Carla Gallo 42:57
That’s not the day to day L.A.
Emily Deschanel 43:00
Yeah, I love that we got to actually drive a car, because […].
Carla Gallo 43:11
I didn’t question it, I guess […].
Emily Deschanel 43:16
We got to actually drive the.
Greg Yaitanes 43:17
The plates in the pilot are so bumpy. They like, drive me crazy. If you watch the pilot driving scenes, whoever was shooting the plates for us, it’s like the bumpiest. The plates that goes on the blue screen or the green screen behind the actors.
Emily Deschanel 43:33
Or just the screen, because a lot of times we did like, rear projection, essentially.
Greg Yaitanes 43:38
Oh, yeah.
Emily Deschanel 43:38
At least when we did the show. But, someone goes out and films a lot of times, actually in DC or whatever, and they get three or four different cameras on or more, maybe on a car to get like, “This is what you see on the left side of the car, the right side of the car, the back of the car, so they all kind of connect together.
Emily Deschanel 43:58
Oh, okay.
Greg Yaitanes 43:58
It’s like 360 camera rig that they drive around, kind of GoogleMaps.
Greg Yaitanes 43:59
They go around so they can get a full view of any kind of angle you might need. And I just was horrified to help. It looked like you guys were just driving over dirt roads in DC.
Emily Deschanel 44:13
I didn’t notice that.
Greg Yaitanes 44:14
We were supposed to go to DC, I really want to go to DC. And then Gary Numan’s, like, “If you get picked up, we’ll go toDC” and best we got was, like, some body, dub photo, doubleof you like walking, who didn’t even have your date?
Emily Deschanel 44:25
No, I have a very specific issue.
Carla Gallo 44:27
David talked about that.
Greg Yaitanes 44:29
But, you were actually walking in to the natural in the pilot into the Natural History Museum.
Emily Deschanel 44:35
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 44:35
Which we shot. But, I think the other crazy story that still making me laugh watching the show was that we shot, there’s the Jeffersonian. We shot the Natural History Museum, and we could only get the Natural History Museum on a particular day after 5pm which meant it put us into nights. And then we had one day of shooting left on the pilot,which then put us into night on stage which is insane. Nobody does it because people lose their minds. And it is theonly title I’ve done reverse split days once in my career, on my very first episode of TV, which is when you start at midnight and you work till noon the next day.
Emily Deschanel 45:16
That is terrible.
Greg Yaitanes 45:18
It makes you crazy.
Emily Deschanel 45:19
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 45:19
And we shot all night at the at the Natural History Museum. Then we had to go on stage and shoot all the angelatron work. And so I had this idea to do this, like 360 dolly track.
Emily Deschanel 45:34
Wait, three $60 inside and outside and then we tried different things, I was mentioning that. I remember you and Michaela, do you remember Michaela? Like, we tried different things where we had to step in front of it and step behind it.
Greg Yaitanes 45:48
Yeah.
Emily Deschanel 45:50
But first we were like, “We can just duck down when we’re not”.
Greg Yaitanes 45:54
It was three in the morning.
Emily Deschanel 45:55
And Michaela was like, “I didn’t remember we were three in the morning”. Michaela forgot to duck down and you see her go.
Greg Yaitanes 46:04
Everybody was getting so punchy and the problem was like, you’re supposed to be talking to somebody, but they have todrop down […]. I was like, “We have to do it again”.
Emily Deschanel 46:17
Trying to figure out that scene, I forgot. I remember that shot,but I did not remember that we are in the middle of the night.
Greg Yaitanes 46:23
Because I had to be on whatever that thing was. So, I had to be inside the table, but I was still gonna see whoever was standing around in the background. You know, when you’re talking about it so I had to be really close. And then I wantedto be back where you guys were all talking about, which is where that photo I gave you today is from. And we were out of our nut, and nothing was happening. And I was just like, “I’m calling it”, we called it after.
Emily Deschanel 46:46
Oh, you did?
Greg Yaitanes 46:46
And we just had to come back. I’m like, “You gotta come back and finish this”.
Emily Deschanel 46:49
Yeah, were losing our minds.
Emily Deschanel 46:51
Right, that happen a lot […] late at night. We all got along so we would laugh so much. But well, is there any memories thatyou have that you want to share before we wrap up? I don’t know, I feel like we’ve covered a lot.
Greg Yaitanes 46:51
We’re losing, everybody and the problem was, we losingour minds and we just could not stop laughing.
Greg Yaitanes 47:11
We covered a lot in my memories. You know, just like you shooting that pilot is so vivid, like I could still watching it last night. I remember being on the steps outside the Natural History Museum, I remember the storm. Do you remember the lab?
Carla Gallo 47:31
You reigned?
Greg Yaitanes 47:32
Yeah. Well, we were scouting that space. So I was like, “Oh, we were shooting natural history museum, and then we were going to look at that”. It was the Air and Space Museum had that atrium that became the lab and I saw it, and I was like,”Oh, wow. It was great”. Then we suddenly realized there was no glass in the thing. I was like, “Oh, what if it rains?” Andthen I think Barry, say something like, “It’s L.A, it doesn’t rain”.
Emily Deschanel 48:01
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 48:02
Then one of those crazy storms came through on the days we were supposed to be shooting. And then Jim Corey, whohas great stories came, decided to, like, this queen the top of that thing with these giant grip clips, like these alligator clips that were as big as my head, right?
Emily Deschanel 48:22
Making the loud.
Greg Yaitanes 48:22
And so there’s guys up there that getting it ready and then the storm comes. Then in one gust of wind, 50 yards of this queen come up like a tidal wave. Just rip off the top of this […] then it doesn’t fully unlatch, it just starts like it’s still connected at one end and it starts slamming down.
Emily Deschanel 48:22
Yeah.
Carla Gallo 48:22
And you’re shooting?
Greg Yaitanes 48:25
No, we were about to, we had to evacuate.
Emily Deschanel 48:52
So, the things could all down in the ceiling.
Carla Gallo 48:52
Okay.
Greg Yaitanes 48:54
Rain is pouring on our indoor set. Barry’s shooting it on his flip phone, and he has a video of me saying, like, “It’s raining, folks”. Then the storm is knocking the grip clips off the queen,so it’s completely raining.
Emily Deschanel 49:09
And the clips are coming […].
Greg Yaitanes 49:10
Yeah […]. One missed Jim Corey and then he wore it like, as anecklace, the rest of the shoot in there, and there’s a couple of shots, you can see that we put, we did the close up work, we put covers up to keep the rain off, you guys […].
Emily Deschanel 49:32
I’m not sure if they made them into the pilot, but there weredefinitely drips.
Greg Yaitanes 49:36
Yeah, there is.
Emily Deschanel 49:38
And you see, like, “tip, tip, tip”.
Carla Gallo 49:41
So funny.
Greg Yaitanes 49:42
It was so crazy. But there was so much like everything, I couldgo back to every moment of that. And as you know, director looking back at my own work 20 years later, I was really happy.
Emily Deschanel 49:53
You did such a good job.
Carla Gallo 49:55
Great job.
Emily Deschanel 49:56
I mean, when you agree that Bones is the best job you ever had and the most fun experience.
Greg Yaitanes 50:03
It was one of them. Absolutely, I was thinking as I was watching it, I miss having that kind of fun on set.
Emily Deschanel 50:12
We had so much fun.
Greg Yaitanes 50:14
So self serious and so big, so much at stake like the joy. And one thing I learned, it was actually Todd Holland spoke at the guild. He’s like, protect your joy in this business […].
Carla Gallo 50:14
Yeah.
Emily Deschanel 50:28
Well, you work on things that have such humongous budgets now too, where I’m sure there’s so much pressure and there’sprobably all kinds of elements that have to be consider, not everyone can direct that. So, what incredible career you’ve had.
Greg Yaitanes 50:29
Thank you.
Emily Deschanel 50:32
You had a great career already, but you’ve gone on to do such incredible things. But, I’m sure there’s so much pressure when you’re working on that kind of thing, when the budget’shuge and there’s so many elements you have to visual effects, special effects, and the production design, the cut, everything looks incredible.
Greg Yaitanes 51:03
Nobody had any expectations for us. So, we were just kind ofoff the grid. So, we just got to work and make, and we were having fun together. And there was all that was ahead was possibility. I think two shows are going straight to series and that, I think there’s something to be said for the pilot process, and being able to make something and then look atit and see what works and what needs to be tinkered with before you just kind of the train is moving. On Banshee, actually, I decided to make the fourth episode, the pilot so that we could work through all the kind of growing pains, because we went straight to series. And so, by the time we actually shot the pilot, […] and […] really knew their characters and everybody knew the characters. I knew what the show was, and we could just kind of effortlessly. It takes the pressure off of, like, this is the first time the audience is gonna see.
Emily Deschanel 51:56
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 51:56
It’s buried in episode four. By that point, they’re still watching, or you won’t notice that it’s there. Doing stuff where you can have a safe place to create, and a safe place to have community and artists coming in.
Emily Deschanel 52:10
And fail.
Greg Yaitanes 52:12
Fail and that’s okay.
Greg Yaitanes 52:14
And you don’t feel that every two seconds somebody’s, expecting something, or is up. I missed the certain innocenceof the time that we were in a medium that hadn’t yet become as good as movies and all these actors, it was still kind of a time when we were working under the radar. And itwas even better to not be on the hot pilot of that particular thing, by the way.
Emily Deschanel 52:14
Right.
Greg Yaitanes 52:15
Will make it that […].
Greg Yaitanes 52:44
None of them, not only anything got picked up, except […].
Emily Deschanel 52:48
Something must have, I don’t think it lasted.
Greg Yaitanes 52:51
Yeah, I don’t know.
Emily Deschanel 52:54
There was something. There’s another Barry Josephson showgot picked up that year.
Greg Yaitanes 52:58
Oh, really?
Emily Deschanel 52:59
He had produced another show, I remember, the actors that got picked up and there’s a reunion show. So there’s shows that got picked up, but none of them lasted beyond, like a season.
Greg Yaitanes 53:14
Right?
Emily Deschanel 53:16
This at a certain point you go to upfronts, where they present the new shows and the old returning shows, like the networks present to the advertisers. You go to New York, it’s whole thing. And when you do your first one for show, it’s so exciting. I mean, it’s still so exciting, but at a certain point you see the new shows and you’re like, “I don’t even need to pay attention. It’s not, well, I’ll pay attention when it’s there, like, two years”.
Carla Gallo 53:36
Yeah.
Greg Yaitanes 53:37
Now, it’s like, what shows go two years? It’s practically syndication […] I’ve had the privilege of being able to watch a business I love, which is television evolve and change.
Emily Deschanel 53:53
Yeah and got better in a lot of ways.
Greg Yaitanes 53:55
Better and different. To see it getting respect as a medium and the intimacy of being in people’s homes, I love that. I love that I’ve been, you know, it’s been 30 years for me now. So, Bones was 1819 years ago of that story. So how great to, sit down and revisit it and come back. I was saying to you in the kitchen, we don’t get to look back often like to be in a move. So, I found that photo as I was unpacking and I was like, “Wow” we just keep doing and going forward and the business demands winning and doing. And when you get to stop and reflect, it’s amazing. Like, how much before I ever watched the episodes, how much came back to me from that time. And it was, fun and funny and Barry was hilariousand I learned a ton and I’m still friends with Hart and still friends with Barry, and still friends with Jim Corey and friends with you, and still talk to debo. Come on, I mean, howgreat is that?
Emily Deschanel 54:59
So great.
Greg Yaitanes 55:01
This was so fun that we got to do this.
Emily Deschanel 55:02
I know. Thank you so much.
Greg Yaitanes 55:03
Is there anything you need?
Emily Deschanel 55:05
No, it’s so good.
Emily Deschanel 55:08
Thank you so much for joining us here.
Carla Gallo 55:08
So good.
Greg Yaitanes 55:10
Thank you for having me. I love, so honored I came right after Hart.
Emily Deschanel 55:14
Yeah.
Carla Gallo 55:15
It shows how important you are.
Emily Deschanel 55:16
Very important.
Greg Yaitanes 55:18
Cazy Dennis.
Carla Gallo 55:19
Crazy Dennis.
Greg Yaitanes 55:23
That’s perfect.
Emily Deschanel 55:31
Well, that was fun.
Emily Deschanel 55:32
It was so fun. Crazy Dennis is here.
Carla Gallo 55:35
The best podcast voice in all of L.A.
Emily Deschanel 55:39
The deepest voice. I mean, I think my voice is deep, but his voice is very deep. I’m probably not even hitting.
Carla Gallo 55:45
No, I’m sure we’re not, but it’s a great voice. He’s got a backup career if directing doesn’t work out.
Emily Deschanel 55:51
I think he doesn’t need it, but it’s good to know.
Carla Gallo 55:54
He had great stories. I thought the Jonah story was crazy.
Emily Deschanel 55:57
I know, knowing Jonah Hill audition, I never knew that, and I didn’t know that someone else basically had that part.
Carla Gallo 56:05
That was crazy.
Emily Deschanel 56:07
Then I came in and swooped in.
Carla Gallo 56:09
Swooped in.
Emily Deschanel 56:10
It wasn’t that great, I don’t know that.
Carla Gallo 56:13
Obviously it was. But, to know that someone else had the job. I mean, if you had known that back then you would have been.
Emily Deschanel 56:20
I would have been a lot more nervous.
Carla Gallo 56:22
Yeah.
Emily Deschanel 56:22
I’m glad I didn’t know it.
Carla Gallo 56:23
I know you never knew it, no one bothered to tell you. I mean, guess why would they, right? You show up at work and they’re like, by the way.
Emily Deschanel 56:28
So you make me feel bad maybe, I don’t know.
Carla Gallo 56:29
Well, maybe it makes you feel good, you won the day.
Emily Deschanel 56:31
You won the day. That’s what it’s all about. Well, thanks for listening.
Carla Gallo 56:36
Yes, thanks for listening.
CREDITS 56:43
There’s more Boneheads with Lemonada Premium.Subscribers get exclusive access to bonus content, like excerpts from interviews, extra fan questions and more behind the scenes convos. Subscribe now on Apple podcasts. Boneheads is a production of Lemonada Media and us. Our producer is Alex McOwen. Our engineers are Brian Castillo and Noah Smith. Our senior vice president of weekly content is Steve Nelson. Our executive producers are Stephanie Wittels Wachs, Jessica Cordova Kramer and us; Emily Deschanel and Carla Gallo. Music by Doug Paisley. Special, thanks to Allison Bresnick. To stay up to date with usand submit your listener questions, follow us on Instagram @BoneheadsPod and @LemonadaMedia on all social channels. Follow Boneheads wherever you get your podcasts, or listen ad free on Amazon music with your prime membership. Thanks so much for listening.
