Director's Notes – Episode 88

(NOTE: As always, Director's Notes contain spoilers)

PHONE TREE:

I have slogged through quite a few automated phone trees in my time, repeatedly pressing Zero or shouting "Representative" or slumping over in my chair and sobbing. Usually one of these "life hacks" works. 

In the internet era, it's not hard accessing your account balance or looking up a frequently asked question or paying a bill on a computer. So phone trees can be frustrating, not only for the lack of live human conversation, but also for the lack of complex options available to you. ("I already paid my bill. I just need to know if birds can smell fear.")

In episode 88, I wanted to play around with this conceit. There's natural comedy in two sides who don't understand each other ("who's on first?"), and even more so when one side is completely not sentient in the moment. 

Or maybe they are. 

Writing dialogue for the phone tree - played by Erica Livingston & Christopher Loar (two long-time friends of ours from the New York Neo-Futurists theater company) - brings me great joy. I loved having another chance to build out the Maggie character, and it's fun to imagine a pre-recorded phone tree that has every single question possibility prepared for the customer.

Plus, Erica has such a charming and welcoming voice both in acting and in real life, I thought it only made sense to give her automated recording more depth, more vibrancy, and to force Cecil to question whether the person he is talking to is real. (IMHO we should all ask this question during every conversation we have.)

SHERIFF SAM:

I had a couple of people in mind when casting Sam, but once I heard Emma Frankland's voice on her podcast "None of Us Is Yet a Robot," I knew this was the way to go, because she has a great voice and real acting chops. There's also something really interesting and slightly confounding about a xenophobic character having an obviously foreign accent. IDK, though, maybe that's a regional accent in parts of Night Vale. No reason to make assumptions about people based on the way they talk.

INTERN MAUREEN:

Maureen Johnson is the damned best. Her voicemail message in this episode is one of my favorite things I've written for this show. I mean, part of that is because I think it's pretty well-written (right? I think so. yeah? maybe.), but more so because Maureen really nails it. She feels this monologue so much. She is trying to get better, do better, truly make something of herself in this world. 

MICHELLE:

One of my favorite developments of recent Night Vale episodes has been the friendship of Maureen and Michelle. Both I think are lonely and introverted in their own ways. Both have grown disillusioned with the people they surround themselves with (Maureen's frustration with her old boss, Cecil, and Michelle's disdain for the judgment of others). 

Lonely people (whether they are lonely by choice or by circumstance) who find someone they feel truly comfortable around is a narrative that always warms my heart. And I'm excited to pursue this story of these two moving forward.

CARLOS:

Would you hate me if I said sometimes my wife and I call each other poot? You would? Okay, well then, we don't.

- Jeffrey Cranor
May 15, 2016