- Welcome back to another segment
of "Behind the Scenes of the Waltons."
Today, I'll be continuing with more questions
in a segment of "Ask Judy."
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This is from Gary.
"When filming, did you ever just start giggling
and giggling and had a hard time doing your lines?"
That would happen sometimes.
Fortunately, not too often,
but the most common place that would happen
was around the kitchen table because it was tight quarters.
We were trying to keep our energy up.
It was hot, you know, we'd been in there too long.
We just got a little giddy and sometimes, yes,
we would start giggling and sometimes, yes,
you'd start a scene and you'd be like, there,
and then you'd start giggling and then we'd try it again.
And you'd start and then start giggling again.
Michael was one of the ones
who really had a hard time. (chuckling)
If she started (chuckling) turning it off.
Other people were better at it.
I think I was better at it,
but yeah, it definitely happened.
And because of the type of show
and we had a pretty relaxed set.
So I don't think anybody ever felt afraid
that they better not let that happen.
So it's not something you wanted to have happen,
but you weren't like in big trouble and anything like that,
if it should happen.
And you had another question here.
"Was there ever a time that filming was almost complete
but a scene had to be reshot
because the film somehow got lost
or someone discovered a big mistake
leading everyone to scramble for another take?"
Not so much that there was a problem
with the film being lost or anything like that.
Although, there was some reshoots that had to be done
at times when something was missed.
But towards end of day,
a lot of times it was that we were running out of time
because there were strict time things
before people went into overtime
or before we lost the children.
So that was just expensive.
So they would definitely be scrambling
to try and do things quickly towards the end of the day.
So sometimes they just wouldn't cut a shot
because if we were already taking,
if the film was already rolling,
you might not be able to stop and start again.
But if you just kind of kept going, "Okay, do it again."
So they might go, "Go back, do it again."
"Don't cut, don't cut. Do it again."
So things like that would happen,
but we were pretty lucky
that we rarely had those sorts of situations
in terms of having to do reshoots for some reason
because film was damaged, but it did happen.
This is from Scott.
"I always imagine that Will Geer
was not far removed from grandpa."
That's true.
"And love the info about Russell Metty,"
who was our cinematographer.
"Adding to that, could you talk about
the behind the scenes folks
and maybe what you learned from them
and how that informed you later as a writer and director?
And even though technology has changed,
do you still use that knowledge?"
I learned so much from cast, crew,
everybody who worked on the show.
Although it was not my first work,
when you have the opportunity to work in that setting
day after day for years,
you pick up a lot of little details
that you wouldn't know necessarily
if you just came into a set.
And it's more relaxed when it's your own set.
So I was able to have more interaction,
specifically with crew members,
so they could advise me on things.
Like the camera operators sometimes
would give me information
about exactly what the camera was doing
so that I could be aware of where I needed to be
and how I needed to make sure
that the camera had me in the frame the way they needed it.
Or I learned that in certain circumstances,
you have to do things slower than it looks like you are.
When we were doing The Homecoming
and there was a scene in the barn
when they were cracking walnuts.
And I get up and I'm ranting and circling around,
well, my in-person real energy instinct was to go fast.
And they kept saying,
"No, you gotta slow down
because the camera can't follow you
if you're moving too fast."
So on camera, it looked like I was moving faster than I was,
but I had to really slow it down,
but keep my energy moving as if my energy was going fast,
but I wasn't physically moving fast.
So those types of things that I learned.
Or if you sit down or stand up,
if the camera's following you,
if you stand up or sit down
and the camera stays where it is, it doesn't matter.
But if the camera's going to follow you as you sit down,
your movements need to be predictable.
You can't sort of start and stop
because the camera will be doing that.
So you wanna do everything more slowly and smoothly
and allow it to be something
that the camera can easily follow,
that looks good through the lens.
So you start learning more and more about what looks good
through the lens.
So those types of things were great.
We learned more about what sorts of things had to happen
if you were in a tight shot,
like the tighter the shot.
If you were holding things like here,
if I had something in my lap, you can't see it.
So if I'm holding something,
like my questions, (chuckling)
and we wanted the camera to be able to see it,
instead of it being down here where you can't see it,
I would have it up here so that you could see it.
And so those types of things where the camera is.
So oftentimes I would ask, "Where are we cutting?"
So I know in terms of my physical action
what will and won't be in frame.
You don't want little fingers just popping up into frame.
So sometimes they would tell you that,
like either up or down, either in or out.
And sometimes I would ask that,
"Well, do you want that in or out?
And so those types of things were really valuable.
So then when I would go on to other film sets,
I didn't have to ask those questions.
I kind of knew what was going to be needed
and depended on them to tell me
if they needed something different.
So I was very grateful to have that knowledge
to take with me.
Things like how to hit marks
without looking at them or how to find the lens.
'Cause we had a lot of people sometimes.
And sometimes if you were doing an over the shoulder,
the person might move in.
And so then they're partially blocking you.
So sometimes when you would see that person,
you'd kind of shift slightly to make sure
that the camera was still on you.
Or you're in a crowd and they all think,
sometimes when you're having pictures taken,
I don't know if any of you have heard this,
but if you can't see the camera, the camera can't see you.
So it was always like find the camera, find the lens,
or your light.
Where's the main light that is really highlighting my eyes.
Make sure that you don't get something between you and that.
So those types of things.
We learned technical things about that.
How to deal with props and matching props
and all that kind of stuff.
So there were just a lot of things,
a lot of technical things
that I'm so grateful to have had people
that I could ask those questions of,
and that did advise me.
Question here from,
I'm not sure if it's Karen or Kareen.
So I apologize for not knowing.
She said, "About 'The Ordeal,'"
the episode, "The Ordeal."
"Firstly, I really wanted to compliment you
on your performance during the scene
when Elizabeth has just fallen
and everyone is rushing to her aid."
Thank you.
"I was really impressed with how focused you were
throughout every moment of the scene
as you directed everyone else
from the standpoint of a knowledgeable nurse.
Everyone in the cast was doing their thing
and you were seemingly rattling off instructions
telling them not to move Elizabeth right away,
then telling Erin to go get blankets,
and telling the group to keep Elizabeth's back straight
and carefully turn her over, et cetera.
It was all moving so fast
and everyone was talking at the same time,
but I noticed that you were totally honed into
what was happening, interacting with others
in such a realistic, natural way.
I just thought your work was spot on."
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate that.
Question. Okay.
"One, do you remember, did you rehearse that scene a lot
or no more than any other scene?"
Probably no more than any other scene,
but I probably would have, when I learned the scene,
made sure I really had it so that I could snap it out
and give all those orders
and take care of all that in that way.
So two, "This was a two-part episode.
I'm interested in knowing
why there were special two-parters like this
from time to time.
Were they shot before you guys went on hiatus,
or were the stories themselves more complex
so as necessitate longer air time?
Or was it done so that viewers would want to prioritize
tuning in the following week?"
I think there were different reasons
why we did two-parters.
Sometimes I think it might have been during,
like there were certain periods of the year
that were like ratings periods.
And so sometimes series wanted to put
sort of their best foot forward with episodes
they thought would really draw the viewers in.
So perhaps in some cases,
they were done during that period of time.
Usually, they were bigger stories,
like The Easter Story with mama having polio.
It made sense for it to be over two parts,
to be two hours to really let the story develop
and everything that Olivia was going through
and the family was going through.
So they just built all those wonderful subplots
about what was happening with all of the family,
as we all also waited to see if mama was gonna get well.
Or Mary Ellen's wedding was a two-part episode.
That made sense because there was a lot to that.
She's engaged to David and then she meets Curt,
and then there's all of that drama.
So that made sense.
Or when I had John Curtis, was a two-part episode.
Again, a lot of drama around it.
So it was an important enough story to make it two hours.
So that happened.
Sometimes it was like the last episode of a season,
like The Easter Story was, or the first,
as was, I believe, The Outrage when Harley Foster is,
we find out that he is an escaped convict.
So it takes a long path to resolve that.
"The Home Front" was a two-parter.
So who decided and why, and why one would become long enough
and involved enough to be a two-parter or not?
I'm not entirely sure.
But I think certainly once they built it,
it seemed like there was no doubt that it needed to be.
So, thank you.
Thanks for joining me for this segment
of "Behind the Scenes of the Waltons - Ask Judy."
I'll be back next time with more
"Behind the Scenes of the Waltons," and more "Ask Judy."
Thanks for watching.