Episode 5 - L.A. Nites

L.A. Nites

The Plot Thickens

In storytelling you've got your setup (in our case episodes 1, 2, & 3) followed by your counter action (Detective K's investigation in episode 4) which effects the characters from your setup in the twist.

Elementary, my dear webbie.

We tried to make sure that every choice we made a bigger repercussions in the next episode which is why Emmett is hanging out with the boys from the costume shop. This actually is my girlfriend's apartment for convenience but she also has a nice set up so featured set! w2g!

Mi casa/su casa but don't steal my shit, okay?

It's funny to write, produce and act in something since there are so many hats to wear. I helped write the scenes and dialogue that I was in but I had to also memorize and say the lines that we co-wrote. The same with Erik and I'm sure Lawrence from his aspect on the filming. We all made part of it, none of us made all of it so even though I had help write it and set up the shots and do the costumes, dress the location, etc, I still had to make time to study lines to play this character.

Everyone's process for character creation is a little bit different

It was always Lawrence's idea that Emmett was homeless to some degree. Like maybe he had a home but he didn't want to go to it and was possibly adrift in the streets. Which is why we thought it would be funny to have him welcome everyone into his place only to be kicked out again by the actual occupant.  Enter Jewel.

I thought you lost your key?

As mentioned previously we all met Carolyn Vasko, who plays Jewel when we shot episode 3 at Tim's place. When I met her I knew that we should have her in the series and especially that I wanted to see her freak out. Carolyn is ferocious. Don't let her.... never mind it's pretty clear she's ferocious. It was fantastic working with her and later in episode 9.

Actress Carolyn Vasko

We did get lucky in a number of ways every time we filmed outside. Yeah, it was an open set and yeah, we had to deal with the environment but the backdrop of L.A. is pretty fantastic to work against. A prime example is the following series of shots. Watch the lights flashing across the phone and then the cops roll by. Beautiful. 

In case you forgot that we live in a police state

We got to callback the joke of excessive driving in Los Angeles in the following sequence but, again, the city itself, especially at night is gorgeous. The title, L.A. Nites was chosen by Lawrence for that reason and the story was developed in order to get such shots as these and the opening shot of episode 7:

Picking up trash in the streets

The main purpose of this episode was to make sure that Emmett and Aaren could have an impact on each other while the detective comes after either one or both of them. However, there was one small complication that we introduced in episode 6.