Shooting a Pilot: Stuff You Should Know!

I first heard about Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant from the Stuff You Should Know podcast when two of my coworkers were watching the Alien Hand Syndrome video in their office. It had been a long day for me, and their hysterical laughter was frankly grating my nerves. I stomped into the office, asked what in the world was going on, they introduced me to Josh & Chuck...and it changed my life.

Now a year and a half later, I find myself back in my old hometown of Atlanta, GA to shoot the Stuff You Should Know pilot episode. That's right, we think it's time for their own TV show. Some creative minds went out on a limb and wrote a script. After many incarnations and some help from the great production crew at School of Humans, it's all coming to fruition.

Want to know what went on down there? Here's a peek at what we were up to:

We started day one with a scene in the break room where Chuck had to put cream cheese on a bagel. We could hear his mic was picking up the schmearing better than him talking. We managed to fix the audio pretty quickly. Then a few minutes later, someone started brewing coffee and you could hear the machine percolating in the background. We were being sabotaged by food products! We seemed to be off to an amusingly strange start.

Food-related noises or no, Josh and Chuck are fantastic on camera. Besides being really down-to-earth dudes and ridiculously entertaining, they're also crazy smart. These guys are walking encyclopedias and hilarious to boot. It's a perfect recipe for creative genius. This footage is going to be awesome.

We spent most of day two working our way through scenes, just trying to keep everything on schedule. It's a lot of running around to keep everything moving! I was in jeans and running shoes to keep up with the day. I can't fathom how our Director/Producer does all that with a coat jacket on. That's a wardrobe choice I just couldn't stick to.

Random thought: You know what's difficult to do on location? Conference calls. It's hard to find a quiet place to listen and talk, first of all. But it's harder to stay focused on other things when you’re immersed so far in a project. End of thought.

All in all, it was a great shoot. I'm especially excited to see all of Josh and Chuck's awesome ad-libbing when we take the tape into edits. That kind of off-the-cuff back and forth is great on camera. The footage comes across like you're just listening to a regular conversation between friends. I actually had to try to keep from laughing out loud and interrupting takes (which I’ve been known to do and am really trying to stop, I swear!).

Here's an example of some good banter from one of their podcast videos on HowStuffWorks.com:

 

Look for the pilot episode of Stuff You Should Know, coming later this year to a television near you!

Lindsey Foster
Coordinating Producer
SCIENCE

Comments

[Amber]

And, if you want more Josh & Chuck before they're on Science, you can check out their HowStuffWorks podcast (http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/hsw-shows/stuff-you-should-know-podcast.htm) and even meet them at SXSW in Austin, TX (http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_IAP100575).

Disclaimer: I do PR at Discovery for Josh & Chuck...but that doesn't make the fact that they're awesome less true.

[Renee]

Thanks for posting! I've been looking for details on Josh and Chuck's new show. I know they did a sneak peek screening while they were out doing sxsw, any details on when/where the rest of us might see that? I gotta say, I pretty excited!

[Travis]

Can't Wait for this pilot, I love the podcast, and they would be great characters to see on TV, thank you for giving this a chance!!!

[RDC]

I'm not even gunna give you show a chance. Thanks to science channel for trying to shove it down my throat with a commericals. Also to clam its a hit already is pretty retarted.

[Cheryl]

Please, please, please, PLEASE, Chuck and Josh, don't turn into prima donnas or let show biz go to your heads. Please, stay genuine, stay funny, don't get contrived and Hollywood-y. Thank you guys!

[Jim]

Enough with these commercials. I will not watch the show because I've seen more than enough of it on these commercials. I hope that guy gets a fish taco hung in his throat.