Interview: Creator, Star of Sons & Daughters Fred Goss - Page 2

Steve McPherson [President of ABC Primetime Entertainment] liked The Weekend but we ended up selling it to NBC. A couple of months later, he called us back and said "I really love what you guys did here, this improvised thing. It doesn't feel like it's improvised but it's got a real fresh feeling like it's a documentary." He just liked the feel of it. He liked the balance of comedy and heart and that it was more like a dramedy. He called us back and said "Can you do something in this format but applied to an extended family?" So, we made Sons & Daughters as a pilot and he picked it up.

(Sons & Daughters cast)

SF: Now, you're doing Sons & Daughters on ABC.

FG: Yes.

SF: One thing I wanted to ask was since you did Significant Others and now Sons & Daughters as improvised shows, how different is it doing something improvised as opposed to something scripted?

FG: I'm surprised that more shows haven't already been doing this because there's really nothing new. People maybe try but you really can't do a show that's improvised dialogue unless you have a really strong script. I know that sounds strange but we write a script. We have a script that runs 10, 11 pages. The story is very well described. In each scene, the actor's intentions and the objectives and the goals they need to hit are very well explained. We have to follow it rigidly because we're improvising. Otherwise, it's just a free-for-all and then you just don't know what you're gonna end up with.

I mean, that's the way I feel about making an improvised show. It certainly isn't the way it has to be but that's my comfort zone. When we get on the set, the objectives are laid out very clearly for the actors and they know where they need to go. They know the bullet points that they need to hit in order to propel the story forward. We just don't literally put the words in their mouth. That way, since we're editing the scene anyway, it's really hard to call it improv.

They're coming up with their own dialogue and we're giving them lines and subjects just to try. We're basically all behind the camera and in front of the camera. We're all just kind of writing the scene on the fly. It's a very Robert Altman, kind of Cassavetes approach to it. People have been doing it for years but it's just that I think it makes people in TV a little insecure. They wanna know exactly what they're gonna get before they go in but a lot of times that backfires on you anyway because what you thought was gonna be funny isn't and that's all you got. You don't have any choices.

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