Web series, Model Wife, is a great example of how many in the industry are branching out and capitalizing on the availability and DIY-ness of web video. Model Wife was created, written and produced by Cory Cavin, Bill Grandberg and Josh Lay. It's a comedic web series about a normal guy, his supermodel wife and their two neighbors. After meeting Cory and Josh while working on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and becoming fast friends and a fan of their work, Edmond Hawkins jumped at the chance to direct an episode. Six episodes and one year later, and he’s still at it.
Edmond
How did you land the production gig with Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and SNL? What has been your favorite part of working on both these shows?
I got hired to start up the graphics department of Late Night by what feels like pure luck but it also boils down to having worked in the comedy world for several years prior, picking projects and people to work with that I believed in and hoping that I made good impressions along the way. Fortunately, Chris Tartaro, a friend I had worked with on Wonder Showzen and Xavier: Renegade Angel with, recommended me when he went in for his interview and we got hired as a team. My favorite part of that job was getting the opportunity to work with the legends that directly influenced me to get into this line of work. Working with sketch comedy legends like Monty Python and Bob Odenkirk was surreal, but my career came full circle when I pitched a segment recreating the Large Marge scene from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure to Jimmy Fallon and we actually got to make that happen with Paul Ruebens!
Before Fallon first started Tara Donnelly (head of the graphics dept at SNL) had a meeting with the new post team at Fallon and totally eased all of our concerns for doing a daily show. I felt I had ZERO experience with delivering to a control room and meeting non negotiable daily deadlines so it was a relief to have her come by and give us the assurance that we could handle it. She would also help out on weeks where the show was swamped with graphics and working with her was great so I think having a good preexisting relationship helped when the position at SNL became available.
I'd have to say the best thing about working on the show is that EVERY single week brings something new and exciting and I get to take on these challenges with insanely talented people.
Why did you choose to go with a Blackmagic camera, versus another camera for producing your project?
I went with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera because it was the best economic choice while offering us a look that was superior to other cameras in that price point. Having animation and post production as my foundation there was a definite allure of being able to shoot without limitations before going into post. To me it didn't make sense to go with anything else.
What has been one of your biggest challenges shooting and editing? How have you gone about dealing with these challenges?
The biggest challenge of shooting and editing is that I feel like you're more often than not working against time. Whether it be working against a hard deadline like on SNL or just on the availability of your cast and crew, time never seems to be on your side! Being realistic with and embracing those limitations so you can creatively find solutions (or just be able to bring it to the finish line on time) is a huge factor in making a product you're proud of.
Another way to get some time back is to use equipment and a tested or proven workflow that doesn't slow you down. The last I thing that has saved me time, and I consider to be a luxury, is to find a crew that shares your interests and have the time to add those details that I'd never be able to do on my own.
What piece of advice were you given when you started out in the production industry that you still follow to this day?
Pursue your passion regardless of what it pays and things will work out.
Cory
How did you land the production gig with Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and SNL? What has been your favorite part of working on both these shows?
I worked with Sara Schaefer for the Best Week Ever at VH1 and when she was hired as the head blogger at Late Night she asked me to apply. I got a job blogging there which also turned into a multi-production job. As much as we were blogging, we were also shooting and editing, doing photoshops, doing social media for the show, etc. For Late Night, my favorite part was working with people across all the departments and seeing huge stuff come into production. Getting to learn from our show sketch director at the time (Michael Bleiden), and watching him and all the departments was great. The wardrobe and art departments could pull off amazing things with no time. My other favorite part was the constant situations you'd find yourself in with some of the most talented and famous people around. You'd turn around in the hallway and Will Smith would be standing there watching the show taping, and you'd think "Oh there's Will Smith. That's crazy."
**Where did the idea of Model Wife come from? **
Bill, Josh, and I were looking for a web series project we could do together. I had an idea for a web series where I was dating a supermodel and all the episodes would 30 second vignettes of just her and I together. I told the idea to Josh one day when he was helping me drive some stuff to Goodwill in Manhattan and we talked about making that idea bigger and better. We really connected on the idea so much that I rented the car for another hour and drove around brainstorming. Like all our projects, one small idea got better because all 3 of us worked on it together.
What is the end result you’d like to see from your web series?
Ideally we'd love to turn Model Wife into a TV series, doing it the same way we do it now but on a bigger scale. We've focused so much energy into the writing that we think we could come up with great things with Model Wife in a half hour format. If not Model Wife, we'd love to make something together and collaborate on a bigger project that allows us to use all our skills to build another whole world. We all enjoy doing multiple things - writing, performing, producing, Josh loves craft service - so a big project where we have a lot of control would be great.
What piece of advice were you given when you started out in the production industry that you still follow to this day?
Make your own stuff and create with people you enjoy collaborating with.
Anything else you would like to add?
As a result of Model Wife, we were able to make another web series with Edmond and other friends from Model Wife called "The Trunk". We made it with Broadway Video's web comedy arm "Above Average". It was much more technically complicated but was another good step where we got to work with friends, write different comedy, and push ourselves. And we got to really skewer the OJ Simpson trial comedically. We're about 20 years behind topically. (Here's the link: http://www.aboveaverage.com/tag/the-trunk/)
Photos Courtesy of Dana K. Davis & Model Wife
