Post by Cybermortis on Dec 11, 2012 0:28:25 GMT
Very recently I had the genuine pleasure of being able to submit some questions to Dan Tapster, Producer of Mythbusters. About half of the questions came from members of The Citadel, if edited in one or two cases.
I wish to express my thanks to Dan for taking some time out of his very busy life to answer these questions, as well as thanking all of those members who submitted questions for him. - Cybermortis.
Thank you very much for taking the time out of our very busy schedule to answer some questions for the fans. Maybe I should start by clearing up one area of confusion for many, and ask what exactly it is that a producer does?
DAN - My official credit title is Executive Producer but I'm typically referred to as the Showrunner. Under the umbrella my role includes helping collate MB ideas, writing up methodologies, planning the rundown for the series both in the short term and long term, helping to juggle the schedule and budget, managing a relationship with the network, overcoming the myriad of problems that nearly every story encounters, structuring shows through post-production and giving final approval on everything in post-production, as well as most things in production. It's pretty full on as you can imagine but luckily I love the show. I'm passionate about all things MythBusters and put my heart and soul into it. I'm of course backed up by an incredible team - 5 wonderful hosts who continue to amaze me with their skill, knowledge, enthusiasm and drive; a fantastic double act in Steve Christiansen and Lauren Williams when it comes to the day to day operations of MythBusters; a great team of camera, sound, researchers, producers, builders and finance people in San Francisco; along with writers, editors, audio, graphics and the rest in Sydney.
Could you give us a rough idea as to what a fairly typical working day is like for you?
DAN - It really depends on where I am since I move between Sydney, San Francisco and Manchester. I spend the majority of my time in Manchester and therefore my typical day would run like this:
0600 - Hit the office early so that I can catch up with the team in Sydney and get up to speed on the latest developments in post-production. At the same time, I get the news on what happened in San Francisco the previous afternoon. That usually keeps me busy until about 1000.
1000-1400 - I'm usually at this point writing methodologies for experiments, working on the series rundown or watching the latest cuts coming out of Sydney.
1400 - 1500 - This is my downtime! The point of the day where the team in Sydney has gone to sleep and the team in San Francisco is not yet awake.
1500 - 2000 - At 1500 each day, I have three phone meetings - with Steve Christiansen (Prod/Dir of Adam and Jamie), Lauren Williams (prod/dir for KTG) and Jaime Lipsky (MB production manager). These meetings include a discussion of what lies ahead for today and how best to tackle it. Usually those are done by my 1700 at which point I start to make more specific calls - to hosts, researchers, scientific advisors, etc. On a regular day, things start to calm down by about my 1900 by which time the SF team are well into the swing of things. From 1900, I tend to shift my focus on to dealing with the needs of the network. Usually by 8pm or 9pm, I revert to an on-call basis whereby I leave the office but am ready to fire-fight anything that comes up.
2200 - At 10pm, I have a final check in with Lauren and Steve and then sign off.
How do you get ideas, and what is the process that an idea goes through before it ends up on the show?
DAN - A whole myriad of sources. First, fans. They submit ideas via the MB fan site, via Twitter, via Facebook, email and letter - and hopefully imminently, The Citadel. I have a couple of people who do not work on the show but do send me ideas that they've seen online which is tremendously helpful. Second, the team. Many of the team but particularly the hosts - and indeed particularly Adam - contribute to the ideas stack - sometimes through their own inspiration, sometimes through private fanmail they've been sent. Third, me. There's two character traits of mine that let me come up with a significant number of MB ideas - first, I'm a natural skeptic - if I read or hear or see something novel, my initial response is to not trust it. Second, I'm a workaholic. Combine those two things and it means that I just never turn off looking for MB ideas. MB has ruined many a trip to the movies with my inability to let Hollywood have its fun!
How much influence does the cast, or at least the build team since Adam and Jamie became producers, have on the process?
DAN - That cast, along with Steve and Lauren, have a tremendous influence on what we do and how we do it. All 7 of those people really take ownership of the methodology for the stories that they tackle - as well as bringing them to life with their own unique styles. Adam and Jamie, as fellow executive producers, are also intimately involved in the selection of myths that are tackled across a series. The cast also reviews rough-cuts and where possible their comments and ideas are included into the final product.
Mythbusters has always seemed to be a program that listens very closely to what its fans have to say. How important would you say boards like The Citadel are for Mythbusters in terms of ideas and feedback from the fans?
DAN - Fan feedback is crucial on MythBusters. I know of no other show on TV where as a viewer you can not only suggest an idea, you can also tell us we got it wrong and compel us to tackle it a new way. That level of interactivity is vital for the show. Message boards, along with Twitter and Facebook are a great way to see that feedback. The only drawback is that with over 6 million Facebook users, we can sometimes be drowning in feedback and going through it all is difficult!
Do you find that you get to 'know' some fans who regularly submit ideas or who are particularly active on some forums?
DAN - There are 2-3 regular posters that I deal with - mostly because they've tracked me down and are passionate about helping to try to shape the show that they love. I'm all for it.
Thank you, I'll move onto questions from members of The Citadel;
Lex of Sydney Australia asks; How did the team end up coming together?
DAN - MB had a working title of Tall Tales or True and was originated by my predecessor, Peter Rees while working for Beyond Productions in Sydney. Beyond pitched it to various Australian networks who all passed. So Beyond turned to Discovery who bought into it provided two things were changed. First, the title! Second, it needed to be filmed in the US and not Australia. Before developing MB, Peter had worked on another Beyond show called Beyond 2000 which was a kind of 'gadgets of the future' type show. During that, he had interviewed Jamie when he did a segment on BattleBots. So he called up Jamie asked if he was up for it and asked if he knew of anyone he could partner with. Jamie suggested Adam and there you go - serendipity or what. Kari and Tory joined very soon after the start as a behind the scenes build crew. As MB got more popular, Kari and Tory started to have a more on camera role because it was clear that they had a great skill-set there too. Soon they were joined by Grant who brought in more of an electronics / engineering focus and the rest is history.
As for the behind the teams story, we just found a great group of people who got the show and were at the top of their game.
Blazerrose has two questions; Whatever happened to Bobo and Cece? And will you ever do a charity auction of some of the blueprints?
DAN - I'm afraid to say that I don't know what has become of Bobo and Cece but I wish them well wherever they may be! We do donate props and blueprints for charity auctions and have been doing so for a number of years. We have also donated a massive number of props and blueprints to the MythBusters Explosive Exhibit which is currently touring in the US.
PK would like to know what would you like to do after the show has run its course?
DAN - Well hopefully I don't have to think about that for a number of years yet! At the moment, the answer is easy: Take a vacation! But once that's done, I'd like to continue to use my science background to help motivate people that science is awesome. TV, film, museums, I'm open for anything really!
The Urban Mythbuster asks; If you you were at a bar with a cast member, which one would it be?
DAN - All of them. Typically we socialise as a team, although it can sometimes be difficult to coax Jamie out of an evening!
With all the odd things you do on the show, do you ever find yourself thinking "It can't get any weirder than this"? from Antigone68104
DAN - Regularly, but it always does! Polishing turds, making ear wax candles, eliminating some female volunteers from a test about pain if they were menstruating, there's weirdness on MB! Often for me, it's not the myths that are weird but the discussions we have about them - a favourite of mine was having a big conference call with the network about what synonyms for 'fart' were acceptable and what weren't. That was surreal I tell you!
From Silverdragon; What myth is your personal favourite, and which disappointed you the most?
DAN - Personal favourite. My favourite myths are quite simply the ones that no one wanted to do! Why? Because I've had to spend a huge effort convincing the team that this will be good when others disagree (because of cost reasons, logistics or just general level of interest), but in the end the team's got on board and nailed it. That feeling that it was worth the effort floats my boat. Sharks in the Dark, Driving in Heels, Dust Devil and even Lead Balloon were examples of this.
I also love unexpected 'confirmeds' - Elephant v Mice, Bull in a China Shop, Dirty Car. And of course I'm a fan of the extreme spectacle - Red RPG, Car Drop, Snowplough Split, etc.
Finally, I am very proud of the Duct Tape Island Special. I thought that was classic MythBusters and something that really showcased how talented Adam and Jamie are. While I can design a myth and tell a good narrative, I don't have the sort of skills that they exhibit day in day out.
As to what disappointed me most: I 'm never disappointed by an episode - I believe that every episode we do is done tremendously well. However I am sometimes disappointed with a result. Recently I was really disappointed that the Haunted Hum did not yield a result - that would have been so awesome had we been able to speculate that perhaps hauntings are explainable through science.
Unavailable would like to know; What is the typical budget for expendable material; Which episode(s) were the most expensive, and cheapest, to produce?
DAN - All of that is a MB trade-secret!
Lex of Sydney Australia has another question; If the Mythbusters had access to UNLIMITED funds/resources to test just one “Ultimate In Your Dreams Myth” then what myth would you test?
DAN - I would like to completely bust the Moon Landing conspiracy by going to the moon and finding the footprints of the Apollo missions. We did of course focus on the Moon Landing several years ago but there are still many people out there who think that we were part of the whole conspiracy - going to the moon is the only way to prove to them once and for all. But, clearly, it ain't happening!
The Urban Mythbuster also wonders if you have anything planned to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Mythbusters next year? .
DAN - We do indeed. We're putting together a special rundown of some truly great shows - one of which is the Breaking Bad Special which I'm particularly excited about as a massive fan of that show. But perhaps the show we are all most excited about is something that holds a special place in the heart of all MythBusters. I'm currently en route to help film just that and while I can't tell you what it is, I can tell you that it's got a theme that fans - particularly long term ones are going to love. It's going to be epic! And that's all I'm saying.
From PK; How do you go about finding some of the more out-of-the-way testing locations? Working quarries and reclaimed gravel pits aren't exactly the sort of places you'd expect to find on a typical "industry" agency list of sites. Same goes for the old Hobergs resort, or the local fairgrounds you used a few years back.
Are you simply relying on local knowledge of the cast & crew?
DAN - Sourcing locations (and anything else for that matter) if anything gets slightly easier the longer the show goes on. That's for two reasons. Firstly, the name "MB" now opens a lot of doors - especially since President Obama endorsed us a few years back. Second, thanks to social media, it's much easier to crowd-source for locations. I should of course add that we have a phenomenal team of researchers and producers who regularly make the impossible possible. If it weren't for them, we'd do every myth in M5! Most of that team have worked with us since day one, so they do have an intricate knowledge of the Bay Area as well as a whole file of useful contacts.
rmc writes; What kinds of Myths are you more interested in doing these days? : For example : "Fear Note" or "Potty Dance" kinds of myths (simple-to-do myths), or "Jato Powered Impala" kinds of myths (more visually-striking myths that are arguably harder to capture)
I feel as though you are doing both. And that's fine. But, personally, I think that the Impala type of Myths (those arguably difficult to shoot, but darned fascinating to watch) are the ones that make the Mythbusters stand out.
DAN - I try to make MB as diverse as possible. One week we'll blow up a cement truck, the next we'll be pitting men against women in a Battle of the Sexes special. That diversity is something I really enjoy and makes MB an eclectic lucky dip. As for choosing myths in advance, I've learned never to judge a myth on my pre-conceived ideas of it. It's only after we've filmed it that you know whether it's going to be a favourite or not. But look, if I had to, for example, show a highlights reel of MythBusters to the school my kids go to, needless to say I'd pack it with JATOS, RPGs, Explosions, etc.
OziRiS asks are there any plans to 'go back to your roots?' As in using a folklorist, showing more of the building/thought process ect.
DAN - No to the folklorist. The MB hosts really embrace that side of things these days with the history the myth. As for more building - we are trying to put more of that back into the show but it can be tough. MB is so jam-packed with content that something has to give and it's sometimes the build because in some ways it doesn't play a part in the results - and the key to all MB is the experiment and results analysis.
rmc writes; In the U.S., American football teams and coaches routinely watch old footage from earlier games (probably all sports teams do, but anyway)
Do you do something like this with older episodes at all??
DAN - Occasionally, yes. If we are doing a show that bears some resemblance to something we once did, we'll watch that episode for sure. But typically we don't have time to do this just for fun.
Thank you again for taking the time out to answer some questions. On behalf of The Citadel and all its members may I wish you and the entire Mythbusters cast and crew a very merry Christmas, a happy new year and lots of busting.
I wish to express my thanks to Dan for taking some time out of his very busy life to answer these questions, as well as thanking all of those members who submitted questions for him. - Cybermortis.
Thank you very much for taking the time out of our very busy schedule to answer some questions for the fans. Maybe I should start by clearing up one area of confusion for many, and ask what exactly it is that a producer does?
DAN - My official credit title is Executive Producer but I'm typically referred to as the Showrunner. Under the umbrella my role includes helping collate MB ideas, writing up methodologies, planning the rundown for the series both in the short term and long term, helping to juggle the schedule and budget, managing a relationship with the network, overcoming the myriad of problems that nearly every story encounters, structuring shows through post-production and giving final approval on everything in post-production, as well as most things in production. It's pretty full on as you can imagine but luckily I love the show. I'm passionate about all things MythBusters and put my heart and soul into it. I'm of course backed up by an incredible team - 5 wonderful hosts who continue to amaze me with their skill, knowledge, enthusiasm and drive; a fantastic double act in Steve Christiansen and Lauren Williams when it comes to the day to day operations of MythBusters; a great team of camera, sound, researchers, producers, builders and finance people in San Francisco; along with writers, editors, audio, graphics and the rest in Sydney.
Could you give us a rough idea as to what a fairly typical working day is like for you?
DAN - It really depends on where I am since I move between Sydney, San Francisco and Manchester. I spend the majority of my time in Manchester and therefore my typical day would run like this:
0600 - Hit the office early so that I can catch up with the team in Sydney and get up to speed on the latest developments in post-production. At the same time, I get the news on what happened in San Francisco the previous afternoon. That usually keeps me busy until about 1000.
1000-1400 - I'm usually at this point writing methodologies for experiments, working on the series rundown or watching the latest cuts coming out of Sydney.
1400 - 1500 - This is my downtime! The point of the day where the team in Sydney has gone to sleep and the team in San Francisco is not yet awake.
1500 - 2000 - At 1500 each day, I have three phone meetings - with Steve Christiansen (Prod/Dir of Adam and Jamie), Lauren Williams (prod/dir for KTG) and Jaime Lipsky (MB production manager). These meetings include a discussion of what lies ahead for today and how best to tackle it. Usually those are done by my 1700 at which point I start to make more specific calls - to hosts, researchers, scientific advisors, etc. On a regular day, things start to calm down by about my 1900 by which time the SF team are well into the swing of things. From 1900, I tend to shift my focus on to dealing with the needs of the network. Usually by 8pm or 9pm, I revert to an on-call basis whereby I leave the office but am ready to fire-fight anything that comes up.
2200 - At 10pm, I have a final check in with Lauren and Steve and then sign off.
How do you get ideas, and what is the process that an idea goes through before it ends up on the show?
DAN - A whole myriad of sources. First, fans. They submit ideas via the MB fan site, via Twitter, via Facebook, email and letter - and hopefully imminently, The Citadel. I have a couple of people who do not work on the show but do send me ideas that they've seen online which is tremendously helpful. Second, the team. Many of the team but particularly the hosts - and indeed particularly Adam - contribute to the ideas stack - sometimes through their own inspiration, sometimes through private fanmail they've been sent. Third, me. There's two character traits of mine that let me come up with a significant number of MB ideas - first, I'm a natural skeptic - if I read or hear or see something novel, my initial response is to not trust it. Second, I'm a workaholic. Combine those two things and it means that I just never turn off looking for MB ideas. MB has ruined many a trip to the movies with my inability to let Hollywood have its fun!
How much influence does the cast, or at least the build team since Adam and Jamie became producers, have on the process?
DAN - That cast, along with Steve and Lauren, have a tremendous influence on what we do and how we do it. All 7 of those people really take ownership of the methodology for the stories that they tackle - as well as bringing them to life with their own unique styles. Adam and Jamie, as fellow executive producers, are also intimately involved in the selection of myths that are tackled across a series. The cast also reviews rough-cuts and where possible their comments and ideas are included into the final product.
Mythbusters has always seemed to be a program that listens very closely to what its fans have to say. How important would you say boards like The Citadel are for Mythbusters in terms of ideas and feedback from the fans?
DAN - Fan feedback is crucial on MythBusters. I know of no other show on TV where as a viewer you can not only suggest an idea, you can also tell us we got it wrong and compel us to tackle it a new way. That level of interactivity is vital for the show. Message boards, along with Twitter and Facebook are a great way to see that feedback. The only drawback is that with over 6 million Facebook users, we can sometimes be drowning in feedback and going through it all is difficult!
Do you find that you get to 'know' some fans who regularly submit ideas or who are particularly active on some forums?
DAN - There are 2-3 regular posters that I deal with - mostly because they've tracked me down and are passionate about helping to try to shape the show that they love. I'm all for it.
Thank you, I'll move onto questions from members of The Citadel;
Lex of Sydney Australia asks; How did the team end up coming together?
DAN - MB had a working title of Tall Tales or True and was originated by my predecessor, Peter Rees while working for Beyond Productions in Sydney. Beyond pitched it to various Australian networks who all passed. So Beyond turned to Discovery who bought into it provided two things were changed. First, the title! Second, it needed to be filmed in the US and not Australia. Before developing MB, Peter had worked on another Beyond show called Beyond 2000 which was a kind of 'gadgets of the future' type show. During that, he had interviewed Jamie when he did a segment on BattleBots. So he called up Jamie asked if he was up for it and asked if he knew of anyone he could partner with. Jamie suggested Adam and there you go - serendipity or what. Kari and Tory joined very soon after the start as a behind the scenes build crew. As MB got more popular, Kari and Tory started to have a more on camera role because it was clear that they had a great skill-set there too. Soon they were joined by Grant who brought in more of an electronics / engineering focus and the rest is history.
As for the behind the teams story, we just found a great group of people who got the show and were at the top of their game.
Blazerrose has two questions; Whatever happened to Bobo and Cece? And will you ever do a charity auction of some of the blueprints?
DAN - I'm afraid to say that I don't know what has become of Bobo and Cece but I wish them well wherever they may be! We do donate props and blueprints for charity auctions and have been doing so for a number of years. We have also donated a massive number of props and blueprints to the MythBusters Explosive Exhibit which is currently touring in the US.
PK would like to know what would you like to do after the show has run its course?
DAN - Well hopefully I don't have to think about that for a number of years yet! At the moment, the answer is easy: Take a vacation! But once that's done, I'd like to continue to use my science background to help motivate people that science is awesome. TV, film, museums, I'm open for anything really!
The Urban Mythbuster asks; If you you were at a bar with a cast member, which one would it be?
DAN - All of them. Typically we socialise as a team, although it can sometimes be difficult to coax Jamie out of an evening!
With all the odd things you do on the show, do you ever find yourself thinking "It can't get any weirder than this"? from Antigone68104
DAN - Regularly, but it always does! Polishing turds, making ear wax candles, eliminating some female volunteers from a test about pain if they were menstruating, there's weirdness on MB! Often for me, it's not the myths that are weird but the discussions we have about them - a favourite of mine was having a big conference call with the network about what synonyms for 'fart' were acceptable and what weren't. That was surreal I tell you!
From Silverdragon; What myth is your personal favourite, and which disappointed you the most?
DAN - Personal favourite. My favourite myths are quite simply the ones that no one wanted to do! Why? Because I've had to spend a huge effort convincing the team that this will be good when others disagree (because of cost reasons, logistics or just general level of interest), but in the end the team's got on board and nailed it. That feeling that it was worth the effort floats my boat. Sharks in the Dark, Driving in Heels, Dust Devil and even Lead Balloon were examples of this.
I also love unexpected 'confirmeds' - Elephant v Mice, Bull in a China Shop, Dirty Car. And of course I'm a fan of the extreme spectacle - Red RPG, Car Drop, Snowplough Split, etc.
Finally, I am very proud of the Duct Tape Island Special. I thought that was classic MythBusters and something that really showcased how talented Adam and Jamie are. While I can design a myth and tell a good narrative, I don't have the sort of skills that they exhibit day in day out.
As to what disappointed me most: I 'm never disappointed by an episode - I believe that every episode we do is done tremendously well. However I am sometimes disappointed with a result. Recently I was really disappointed that the Haunted Hum did not yield a result - that would have been so awesome had we been able to speculate that perhaps hauntings are explainable through science.
Unavailable would like to know; What is the typical budget for expendable material; Which episode(s) were the most expensive, and cheapest, to produce?
DAN - All of that is a MB trade-secret!
Lex of Sydney Australia has another question; If the Mythbusters had access to UNLIMITED funds/resources to test just one “Ultimate In Your Dreams Myth” then what myth would you test?
DAN - I would like to completely bust the Moon Landing conspiracy by going to the moon and finding the footprints of the Apollo missions. We did of course focus on the Moon Landing several years ago but there are still many people out there who think that we were part of the whole conspiracy - going to the moon is the only way to prove to them once and for all. But, clearly, it ain't happening!
The Urban Mythbuster also wonders if you have anything planned to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Mythbusters next year? .
DAN - We do indeed. We're putting together a special rundown of some truly great shows - one of which is the Breaking Bad Special which I'm particularly excited about as a massive fan of that show. But perhaps the show we are all most excited about is something that holds a special place in the heart of all MythBusters. I'm currently en route to help film just that and while I can't tell you what it is, I can tell you that it's got a theme that fans - particularly long term ones are going to love. It's going to be epic! And that's all I'm saying.
From PK; How do you go about finding some of the more out-of-the-way testing locations? Working quarries and reclaimed gravel pits aren't exactly the sort of places you'd expect to find on a typical "industry" agency list of sites. Same goes for the old Hobergs resort, or the local fairgrounds you used a few years back.
Are you simply relying on local knowledge of the cast & crew?
DAN - Sourcing locations (and anything else for that matter) if anything gets slightly easier the longer the show goes on. That's for two reasons. Firstly, the name "MB" now opens a lot of doors - especially since President Obama endorsed us a few years back. Second, thanks to social media, it's much easier to crowd-source for locations. I should of course add that we have a phenomenal team of researchers and producers who regularly make the impossible possible. If it weren't for them, we'd do every myth in M5! Most of that team have worked with us since day one, so they do have an intricate knowledge of the Bay Area as well as a whole file of useful contacts.
rmc writes; What kinds of Myths are you more interested in doing these days? : For example : "Fear Note" or "Potty Dance" kinds of myths (simple-to-do myths), or "Jato Powered Impala" kinds of myths (more visually-striking myths that are arguably harder to capture)
I feel as though you are doing both. And that's fine. But, personally, I think that the Impala type of Myths (those arguably difficult to shoot, but darned fascinating to watch) are the ones that make the Mythbusters stand out.
DAN - I try to make MB as diverse as possible. One week we'll blow up a cement truck, the next we'll be pitting men against women in a Battle of the Sexes special. That diversity is something I really enjoy and makes MB an eclectic lucky dip. As for choosing myths in advance, I've learned never to judge a myth on my pre-conceived ideas of it. It's only after we've filmed it that you know whether it's going to be a favourite or not. But look, if I had to, for example, show a highlights reel of MythBusters to the school my kids go to, needless to say I'd pack it with JATOS, RPGs, Explosions, etc.
OziRiS asks are there any plans to 'go back to your roots?' As in using a folklorist, showing more of the building/thought process ect.
DAN - No to the folklorist. The MB hosts really embrace that side of things these days with the history the myth. As for more building - we are trying to put more of that back into the show but it can be tough. MB is so jam-packed with content that something has to give and it's sometimes the build because in some ways it doesn't play a part in the results - and the key to all MB is the experiment and results analysis.
rmc writes; In the U.S., American football teams and coaches routinely watch old footage from earlier games (probably all sports teams do, but anyway)
Do you do something like this with older episodes at all??
DAN - Occasionally, yes. If we are doing a show that bears some resemblance to something we once did, we'll watch that episode for sure. But typically we don't have time to do this just for fun.
Thank you again for taking the time out to answer some questions. On behalf of The Citadel and all its members may I wish you and the entire Mythbusters cast and crew a very merry Christmas, a happy new year and lots of busting.
