Subscribe
Previous Post
Recently I had the opportunity to talk with Megan Lynn, a producer for SOAPnet.com, who works with a brilliant team on their original Gossip Girl finger puppet parodies for season two. These little two-minutes recaps of episodes are truly the funniest things around if you are a GG fan.
Here’s a sample of one of my favorite finger puppet episodes “New Haven Can Wait”:
How did the Gossip Girl finger puppet recaps come about?
We had started covering and recapping prime time soaps on SOAPnet.com, and wanted a fun way to let people know. Gossip Girl puppets came out of that brainstorming session. We’re all Gossip Girl fans, but I consider myself the teen angst expert – Gossip Girl, 90210, One Tree Hill, Friday Night Lights… It’s fun to lampoon a genre I love so much.
How long does it take to “film” a puppet recap in general?
We shoot them every Tuesday at noon after there’s been a new episode. They take about an hour to an hour and a half, depending on how many people are in it, how many backgrounds, etc.
Who are the “actors” for the finger puppet recaps? Does everyone enjoy playing their characters?
The actors are all employees at SOAPnet.com. I’m in the editorial department, and a number of the other voices are as well. But we also bring in people from video, design, production, tech. We’re just dying for the show to get a Southern character so we can have our photo editor do a part.
How do you come up with ideas for the Gossip Girl sets for the recaps?
We have to get all the backgrounds from a stock photo agency, so we just search for the best match to what was on the show. Some sets have to do double or triple duty. Pretty much all nightspots are the same “club/bar” set, all society events the same ballroom. The shot of the Metropolitan steps and the New York skyline were taken by a SOAPnet staffer in New York.
Who writes the episodes? How difficult is it to recap an entire episode in just a few minutes?
I watch the episode every Monday night and write the puppet script. It’s SO hard to get it in at or under 2 minutes – you might notice the first few are kinda wacky, because we had to edit a whole minute out of them to get them to time. Here are my rules: Was it really important? (this is why we lose a lot of Jenny/Eric, Nate/Vanessa stories). Can it physically be explained with puppets? Is it funny? After all that: can the 2 minutes remaining still stand alone as a narrative? A lot of times, I’ll write something in that didn’t happen – but it conveys the gist of what happened, so I go with it.
Tell me about some of the unusual props you use for the set.
We are constantly stealing phones from people and off their desks. Otherwise, it’s a lot like the backgrounds – we print them up and cut them out and then play around with them until we can make them work!
Any funny stories you want to share about doing these?
We frequently bump into each other and knock each other’s “faces” off. Or end up with our own heads in the frame. When more than say, three puppets are in the scene, it’s crazy trying to fit all the people those fingers are attached to under and around the background. And then there’s the ad-libbing: Dorota will get extra eastern European, Chuck and Blair will have a crying contest, Uncle Jack will grab a fake tissue out of the limo set – we’re looking forward to putting these moments together at the end of the season in an outtakes reel.
Who’s the favorite “regular” finger puppet? Any favorite guest puppets?
It switches weekly! Honestly, I think we started out being all about Chuck, but all of the puppets have had great moments. Rufus smashing his guitar comes to mind. As far as guests go, Nick Lang, who’s a video editor, plays all of our old curmudgeons: the Dean of Admissions, Cyrus Rose, etc. And he pretty much cracks us all up every time.
Are the finger puppets becoming stars in their own right? Any special publicity about the finger puppets you want to share?
We’re working on it! They’ve shown up in TV Guide, on nymag.com, and on AOL’s TV website. And obviously on Gossip Girl Report! We’d love to keep on getting them out there.
I’m hoping the finger puppets recaps will last as long as Gossip Girl is on air. Do you see that happening?
Yes! Fingers crossed we can do that AND go back and either recap season 1 episodes, or do an overview of the season.
How do you make the puppets? I notice the “adult puppets” have a streak of gray hair. And then there was Aaron with the scarf. Dorota equals adorable.
The puppets are super basic, obvs. Just round paper heads mounted on some cardboard that we tape on every time we shoot. We have a few different eye/mouth designs – Chuck has sinister eyebrows, and I like to think Dan’s straight mouth gives him a bit of a sarcastic look. Otherwise, we rely on the yarn hair (stuck on with double-sided tape) to differentiate between characters. Good call on the grey hairs – all adults get a few strands. Lastly, if they still don’t look anything like the actor on the show, we have the name flags. Phew! Oh, and every once in awhile, costuming – Aaron just needed a scarf, right? And Dorota’s maid costume!
Do some of the plotlines sound ridiculous when you make them into puppet recaps? For example, in the recent “You’ve Got Yale” recap, it sounds kind of silly that Lily “forgot” she was going to adopt Chuck.
Oh, they sound SO ridiculous when you reduce them to such a short timeframe – which is kind of what makes them work.
Most fun recap to make? Favorite one?
“The Dark Night” was really fun – we had to time the blackout just right, and shot those scenes with just flashlights. My other favorites are probably “O Brother Where Bart Thou” and “You’ve Got Yale.”
What is the link where people can find all of the finger puppet recaps together?
You can go to soapnet.com/puppets
Images courtesy SOAPnet.com
