Bill Hader wrote and filmed scenes for his TV show Barry to please the fans but then scrapped them in the edit.
While speaking to Deadline for an interview published on Sunday, the Barry star and co-creator discussed the pressure he felt to wrap up the series well, after it was announced to end with its fourth season.
"It does get down to, what do we want to see? We, meaning the people writing it and making it," Bill told the outlet. "You're with the journey, and it's kind of like, 'Where does this story want to go?' As opposed to, 'Oh, man. We've really got to stick the landing.'"
The actor confessed there were moments when he wrote a storyline based on what he thought the fans would want to see, rather than what the creative team thought was best for the narrative as a whole.
"I had moments where I did write things, and we actually filmed some things that were much more 'fan service'. Like, 'Oh, this is something the fans will like to see,'" he shared. "Then you would get into the edit, or you'd read it and go, 'Oh man, this is just glaringly wrong. It's a different show for one scene.' And so you would reshoot it or cut it...
"I really thank people like Duffy Boudreau and Liz Sarnoff, the writers, but also our editors, Ali Greer and Franky Guttman, for pulling that s**t out and saying, 'This is kind of lame. Why are we doing that?' It's like, 'You should write this like there aren't fans. Just write it for the story.'"
The actor called the advice his "mantra", reciting, "Don't do it for what you think people want to see. Do what is right for the story."
The fourth and final season of Barry premiered on Sunday.
While speaking to Deadline for an interview published on Sunday, the Barry star and co-creator discussed the pressure he felt to wrap up the series well, after it was announced to end with its fourth season.
"It does get down to, what do we want to see? We, meaning the people writing it and making it," Bill told the outlet. "You're with the journey, and it's kind of like, 'Where does this story want to go?' As opposed to, 'Oh, man. We've really got to stick the landing.'"
The actor confessed there were moments when he wrote a storyline based on what he thought the fans would want to see, rather than what the creative team thought was best for the narrative as a whole.
"I had moments where I did write things, and we actually filmed some things that were much more 'fan service'. Like, 'Oh, this is something the fans will like to see,'" he shared. "Then you would get into the edit, or you'd read it and go, 'Oh man, this is just glaringly wrong. It's a different show for one scene.' And so you would reshoot it or cut it...
"I really thank people like Duffy Boudreau and Liz Sarnoff, the writers, but also our editors, Ali Greer and Franky Guttman, for pulling that s**t out and saying, 'This is kind of lame. Why are we doing that?' It's like, 'You should write this like there aren't fans. Just write it for the story.'"
The actor called the advice his "mantra", reciting, "Don't do it for what you think people want to see. Do what is right for the story."
The fourth and final season of Barry premiered on Sunday.