For Season 1 of “The Afterparty,” the writing team worked remotely over COVID to write and develop the hit murder-mystery series. For Season 2, which is currently in pre-production, the crew got the opportunity to return to working in-person, which executive producer Chris Miller said made for a far better experience.
“We got an office that had an outdoor space, and made a big outdoors writers’ room table and it was great,” Miller said during a panel at the Sony FYC Fest on June 2. “It was so much better than trying to do it over Zoom, with people talking over each other. You don’t have that sense of community, especially if you’re trying to put together a really complicated storyline. Your brain just goes on autopilot on Zoom.”
Miller was joined at the FYC Fest panel by a group of executive producers from acclaimed shows, including Liz Friedman of “The Good Doctor,” Simon Racioppa of “The Boys Presents: Diabolical,” Matthew B. Roberts of “Outlander” and Gordon Smith of “Better Call Saul.” In a conversation moderated by Variety deputy editor Michael Schneider, the panelists discussed the challenges and rewards of making their shows during the pandemic, what the future of producing looks like as COVID continues and working on hit shows with gigantic fanbases.
During the panel, Smith discussed the challenges that goes into steering a show towards its conclusion, as “Better Call Saul” is in the middle of its final season. Discussing the writing process of the final season, Smith said the experience required them to focus on what made sense for the world of the show as they brought the universe to an end.
“It was like the process of doing everything else, just more head-banging really, just more butting heads and banging our own heads against the wall,” Smith said of “Better Call Saul.” “I feel like we wanted to have an idea of a direction but not write to something, because that felt like you’d just be trapped, and not trapped in a good way, but you’d be making the characters do things that they shouldn’t be doing because you wanted to get to some plot point. So we had loose ideas about what would feel good, what would be a satisfying way to go out, and then we kind of just did the same process we usually do.”
Register now for a VIP pass to explore the full Variety and Sony Pictures TV Virtual FYC House now through June 27: Variety.com/SonyFYCHouse. Watch the full panel conversation above.
