Greene looks genuinely worried at this point. If shooting isn't finished by 7, they go into overtime. With around 90 people working on the set, plus so many extras, that translates to completely blowing the episode's budget. They went into six minutes of overtime only once before, and it caused shockwaves with the Comedy Central execs.
A few minutes later, the assistant director says, "We're screwed if they can't get this shot."
Wild Don Lewis
Wild Don Lewis
Clockwise, from left: Cast members Jill Bartlett, Tim Nichols, Nick Offerman, Frank Merino, John DiResta, Peter Hulne, and creator Sam Greene.
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Now the cameramen are shooting the stuntwoman in a wheelchair rolling away from the van. She's supposed to roll right into the table full of snacks, but the van hits her too soon and she leaps away. It looks like the chair may be broken.
Greene lets out a big sigh. "Well, let's just shoot what we can for the next 21 minutes," he says, wearily. As he walks out of the video tent, several crew members stand there in an awkward silence.
But there's no time for angst. Everybody crunches right up until 7, and they don't go into overtime. Instead, they figure they'll make up for lost time in the morning.
The cast and crew go home, but Greene, his assistant Shane Ayotte, and executive producer Jim Jones head over to the post-production offices in a nondescript strip mall. Most days, Greene spends a few more hours here going over edited footage, looking at script revisions, and checking e-mails before finally calling it a day.
At least here, he's able to sink into a plush couch in one of the editing rooms, sneak in a call to his girlfriend, and sip on a glass of Jameson Irish Whiskey.
It's the end of June, and American Body Shop is in the final week of shooting. Greene's busier than ever. Too busy, for now, to take a quick, weekend trip to Phoenix. And definitely too busy to worry about the show's debut on Comedy Central.
After shooting's finished, he'll still have another two months of editing ahead of him, but at least the work weeks will be scaled back to 30 hours. He's been doing 80-hour work weeks for months now.
"I'm just so exhausted that emotions don't even register," he says. But he's still convinced the show will be a hit. It appeals to the entire spectrum of sensibilities, he says, so 12-year-olds and 40-year-olds will get an equal number of laughs.
"I'm a pessimist and a realist by nature, but this show is so good that I'd see it doing 100 episodes," he says.
The Comedy Central publicity machine has been revving up for a while, with teasers that started around Memorial Day, full commercials that started airing in June (during popular programs like The Daily Show With Jon Stewart), and Web previews and bonus outtakes (a show trailer had more than 134,000 hits as of press time). Associated Press television writer Frazier Moore called it "a hilarious horror show every car owner will relate to." Actor Nick Offerman, who plays the character Rob, recently appeared on Late Night With Conan O'Brien.
"We're hoping to get him on Leno, too, and it would be great to get on Howard Stern — there's our audience," says Greene.
A couple of weekends ago, Comedy Central flew the cast and producers to Las Vegas for a "celebrity appearance" at a UFC Fight Night, which aired on Spike TV. The whole expenses-paid trip happened just so they could show a quick clip of Greene and the actors sitting ringside. The trip came just hours after a brutally long shoot that ran from 1 p.m. Friday to 3 a.m. Saturday.
"We started drinking early in the morning. All of us were drunk for 26 hours. It was ugly," he says. But everybody needed the break. "I think everyone is getting on everyone else's nerves, and there's anxiety about what happens next. For some people, if the show doesn't get picked up for a second season, they may never work again."
It's impossible to know how American Body Shop will fare. As for whether there will be a second season, well, it'll depend on the ratings. Lauren Corrao, the programming and development executive, says they try to be patient, and that the definition of success varies from show to show. They've re-upped shows that were a smash right out of the box within a few episodes, but they've also waited the whole season on shows that built their momentum gradually.
Although the ratings could simply be mediocre, Greene doesn't expect that. He thinks it'll either be a bomb or a blowout — by Comedy Central standards, anyway.
Worst-case scenario, he figures he can always write his way out of unemployment. And besides, he says lots of people want to work with him now — famous people he'll name only off the record — and he has several options lined up for the interim before a possible second season of American Body Shop.Trouble is, he can't possibly do them all.
"It's a good feeling to finally be the person who says no," Greene says. "And you can quote me on that."
