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© (C) 2009 Electric Entertainment
Executive Producer and director Dean Devlin on the set of LEVERAGE - Season 2 - "The Beantown Bailout Job"
Television:
Exclusive: DEAN DEVLIN DIRECTOR'S BLOG #3 - STARTING EPISODE 7 OF 'LEVERAGE' SEASON 2 BEGINS
As the half way point for Season 2 begins, the executive producer of TNT's hit show talks about the look of the show, guest stars he can't talk about and Chris Kane's Oregon concert
By DEAN DEVLIN, Executive Producer/Director LEVERAGE
Published 6/15/2009
This season of LEVERAGE is just flying by. I can barely believe it. Today I begin shooting the seventh episode of the second season. It’s called “The Two Live Crew Job” and it’s very ambitious. When we’re done shooting we’ll be just about at the half way mark of completing our second season. Remarkable.
When I began to prepare for directing this episode, I decided that I would kick off my prep by showing our cast and crew our first two episodes. We set up a screening at a local hotel here in Portland. Not everyone was able to attend, but we had over 80 people show up. Standing room only. The response was incredible.
Not only does the show look better than ever (Oregon locations are rocking it out and our Director of Photography David Connell is just topping himself every day), but the cast and the writing have stepped it up a notch as well. Everyone at the screening was blown away. You could tell that a new infusion of energy was buzzing through our entire team. It was a good way to start.
The next week was spent finding the most incredible locations (man this city is helpful!), working on the script and getting our guest cast together. It’s an impressive group of actors joining us. Though I know word will leak out over the internet (I’ve already blown some of the surprise on Twitter – I’m not as good at technology as I like to think), I’m not going to disclose in this article who’s coming aboard. The PR people at TNT have plans on how to unveil that info and I don’t want to be the one who spoils those plans. Suffice it to say, this show will have some great guests.
Another terrific surprise of this week of prep was a concert in town at a club called Dante’s Inferno, where one of our stars, Christian Kane, performed with his band. Now I’ve known for a while what a talented singer and musician he is (we even put one of his songs in an episode last year), but I had no idea what a great live performer he is. He tore down the house with a powerful and energetic performance. The crowd (about 80 percent women – surprised?) went wild. With all the screaming I kept wondering if this is what is was like in the early days of the Beatles. It was a blast for all of us. A nice gift from Kane.
Once again my nerves are catching up with me. While this is only the seventh episode of the second season, it’s going to serve as the summer finale. We’re going to air the first seven episodes this summer, then show the rest in the winter. This is a strategy that TNT has done successfully before on THE CLOSER and they think it will work well for us.
But it does put a lot of pressure on this episode. As a summer finale we all want it to have a special “kick” to keep our audience engaged and anxious for the winter episodes. So our writers of this episode, John Rogers and Amy Berg, have just jam-packed this episode. It’s a bear. On a normal episode of our show there would be approximately 60 scenes. This episode boasts 122 scenes!
The good news is that at this point of the season the show has become a machine. The crew (one of the best I’ve ever had!) knows how much we need to do in a days work and that’s got it down pat. The actors not only own their characters, but they’ve bonded in a way that has ignited and energized the set. And, most importantly, our writers are in a groove like I’ve never seen before. They’re just knocking it out of the park, week after week.
So I’d really have to screw up big time to derail this train. Let’s hope I can keep us on the rails. I’m really looking forward to this week. It will be fun to be back at the helm. I’m so proud of this show and our team. It’s really one of my greatest joys to be associated with this. I sincerely hope we get to do this for a long, long time.
--- Follow the LEVERAGE gang on Twitter at @Electric44, @Jonrog1 and @bergopolis
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Reader Comments
PeterMontee from Israel sez....
Bad taste what that
7/2/2009 7:57:27 PM
MaxMarie from Las Vegas sez....
Love it! Thank you for sharing. I'm so impatient for the new season!
6/15/2009 12:47:17 PM
Marta Mejia Castaner from San Juan, Puerto Rico sez....
Wishing LEVERAGE actors, crew, screenwriters, producers and director the best of luck and lots of success. Can't wait for july 15 enjoy the second season and more to come.
6/15/2009 12:39:18 PM
