I’ve never wanted to live in L.A. and I’m rarely jealous of those that do, but when my buddy, Danger Boy scribe Mark London Williams, begins his latest blog entry
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| So — earlier today Eldest Son and I made it down to the Fox Studios for a "table reading" for the Simspons show. The table reading being the first joint read-through of a script by the cast (an old theater tradition transported over to film and teevee). |
I’m admittedly a little envious.
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| So two of us navigated a hellbroth of El Lay morning traffic to get to the Murdoch studio in Century City, checked ourselves in, and walked to "Building One" (a.k.a "The Bochco Building") where we found coffee, bagels, and a "script in very seat" (including for guests), who could follow as the Simpsons cast (with Hank Azaria "phoning it in" — literally — via speakerphone from NY, where he was doing a play), as well as James Brooks, Matt Groening, and the writers, all listening, taking notes — with a "timer" in the corner; a gal w/ a stopwatch, already "timing" the episode (which won’t be finished or seen for about another year…)
We settled in, got quiet, and reading — for an episode that won’t see airtime for about a year — commenced. It may be that hearing a Simpsons "live" as it were, may be even funnier than watching one on the tube — the actors play off each other (sometimes their silent "takes" to each other add to a line), plus there’s live laughter! |
Dan Castellaneta, Yeardley Smith, and Matt Groenig(!) even signed a copy of the script for Mark’s son.
I met Groenig at the 1996 San Diego Comic Con. I was there hawking the recently released Weird Business, when Groenig approached our table to buy the two other Mojo Press books (Creature Features,Tell Tale Heart). He apparently had already bought a copy of Weird Business and was so impressed that he had to pick up the other Mojo books. Made my convention.
Mark’s day ended with a special screening of Eastern Promises with a David Cronenberg Q&A afterwards!
This would all make living in L.A. almost palatable.