"Lien on Me": Dildo and Fart Jokes Slammed Between Two Slices of Silly

Where did the idea for the series come from?
I fell asleep one afternoon while reading a book called The Freedom Manifesto  by Tom Hodgkinson.There was a radio playing soft jazz somewhere in the back of the house. Tom's book is about how to live stress free. It says we should all quit our jobs, stop paying bills, stop buying so much crap, invite friends to live with you, have a garden and raise chickens and pigs. Give up all worldly possessions and find a your own true meaning of life. Hard to believe I dozed off while reading this poetry, but when I was asleep the radio switched from jazz to an NPR interview about the recession and people losing their homes to foreclosure. I woke up with an idea for the show. True Story.

You've directed three films previously and also wrote them. How did those experiences differ from this one?  

Everything is different.  I produced this show with Ammar Ramzi and Nino Mancuso. The creative idea for this show might have started with me, but it really took off when I brought it to them. Nino had ideas right away and went home to write a script. A day later he had 22 pages of what would eventually become our first three episodes. We worked fast, so our process has always been changing.  Typically, Nino writes the first draft of a script then we send the script back and forth as we write the final version. Ammar and I give more notes than write dialogue and Nino incorporates all our ideas. We've had as many as 20 rewrites for some episodes. We make changes right up until the day of filming. This project has been a culmination of all three of us, and that has been the major difference.

 What's it like to be directed by someone that you wrote the script with? 
Nino is a very talented director. We've worked together on five other projects. He has directed me in three, I directed him and he was my cinematographer on my last film. As a director, he knows exactly what he wants when we shoot. Because he is also our editor, he can get what he wants quickly without wasting time. On average, we shoot two (sometimes three) episodes in one weekend. That's also testament to his working relationship with our primary cinematographer, Steve Smith. Steve is a very talented DP and camera operator with a long resume who fortunately doesn't mind slumming it with us. His ability to look at the boards, watch a rehearsal, and light the scene in a short amount of time is tantamount to our operation.

How did you meet all these actors?  How did the different acting styles and techniques of such a big cast work out?
Most of us met while going to school at UC Davis. We have worked together for a long time and we understand each other. However, when we shot the first few episodes, we didn't have our bearings yet. We were not exactly sure what the "feel" of the show was going to be. There was a learning curve as we worked.  It took us till our fifth or sixth episode to find our groove. Fortunately, we're shooting the show over the course of several months, so it gives us the opportunity to reflect on our work and make changes accordingly.