Life & Beth - “The Sign” – Episode 101 - The cracks in every aspect of Beth’s seemingly great but unfulfilling life are starting to show when she gets earth-shattering news that will upend it altogether. It opened up this whole world of options. With that one shot, we got the dynamism, we got the drama, we got the comedy. That was a fun way to get into Beth’s headspace. We did I think four takes, each time all the way through. From a production standpoint, it was challenging because you spend the first half of the day figuring out how you’re going to do the shot. Toward the end of the pilot, there’s this handheld shot that follows Amy into a bar, she meets her co-workers, gets this dramatic phone call – – I don’t want to spoil it – – and then has to go up on stage and sing this borderline silly karaoke song. Ann (Susannah Flood), Beth (Amy Schumer) and Matt (Kevin Kane), shown. Life & Beth - “We’re Grieving” – Episode 102 - Beth and Matt head to Long Island to arrange a fast funeral for her mother. How can we get an aesthetic that feels a little more thoughtful, rather than having it be just about coverage and wide shots and two-shots. The directors and executive producers wanted the show to be shot more like a movie from the seventies as if we were doing The Graduate or Manhattan or something like that. How did you go about evoking this somewhat more dramatic tone? Beth (Amy Schumer), Matt (Kevin Kane) and Cinematographer Jonathan Furmanski, shown. Beth enlists her father’s help in wining and dining a big client. Life and Beth - “Leonard” – Episode 107 - Ann helps Beth move the last of her things out of her and Matt’s apartment. Because of that, in a lot of ways, it’s more of a drama that has comedic elements. Life & Beth is rooted in her real-life experience. I think she’s been going more for truth in storytelling as opposed to screwball comedy. In the last few years, Amy’s done projects about her pregnancy or in the cooking show she did with her husband. How do you contrast that with the tone for Life & Beth? It wasn’t like, “Oh here’s the funny shot.” It was about: “We’re trying to make that movie again, and it just happens to be the funny version, where the jury’s debating if Amy’s hot enough to be on television.” When I did the “12 Angry Men” sketch, the comedy came from the camera work mimicking what that original film was. I never approach comedy as something you shoot in a certain way. As DP, what was your approach in making the comedy pop? Inside Amy Schumer really put her on the map. She asked me if I’d like to shoot her show and of course, I said yes. When Inside Amy Schumer got greenlit by Comedy Central, I think was the only DP she knew. He brought on Amy for a bit part and that’s where we met. I was shooting a show called Delocated for Jon Glazer, who’s a fixture in the New York comedy community. How did you get started with Amy Schumer? Speaking from his home in Long Beach, Furmanski breaks down his favorite Life & Beth shot, describes The Graduate as an influence, and explains why he likes to operate the A camera himself. The majority of the cast are her friends, either from the stand-up world or just friends who work in radiology or something and come in for a day to do a bit part.” “Amy wants a family atmosphere and if she likes somebody - editors, producers, directors - she does what she can to keep them around. “Amy’s a very loyal person,” says Furmanski, whose recent work includes four seasons of Search Party and two episodes of The Drop Out about Silicon Valley con artist Elizabeth Holmes. Life & Beth serves as a homecoming of sorts for Furmanski, who served as DP for Inside Amy Schumer back in 2013. Like Ricky Gervais in his existential After Life, or former SNL star Bill Hader as a guilt-ridden hitman Barry, Schumer tills deeper, darker territory in the show, filmed by cinematographer Jonathan Furmanski. But in her new Hulu series Life & Beth (which debuted on March 18) Schumer brings unexpected angst to her title character, an unhappy wine salesperson trying to make a fresh start in the face of death, disapproval, and dysfunctional family ties. When she co-hosts ABC’s Oscar telecast on March 27, Amy Schumer will likely deliver the kind of withering punch lines that forged her reputation as one of America’s most daring comedians.
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