Inside Television with Alan Sepinwall

How a 'New Girl' script gets made: From outline to final cut on 'TinFinity'

Story ideas don't always come easy, but the work is usually worth it for the great FOX comedy

By Alan Sepinwall Wednesday, Feb 27, 2013 10:53 AM

Jess (Zooey Deschanel) and Jax McTavish (Steve Howey) in a scene from last night's "New Girl."

Credit: FOX

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That Monday before any table read often turns into an all-nighter, which Finkel and Baer both compare to the atmosphere at “Saturday Night Live.”

“Dave and I and Liz will often like end up spending that next table read here at the office and then taking shifts of sleeping breaks of two hours or whatever,” says Baer. “And then we get up and keep going. It doesn’t always happen that way but when you feel the clock ticking, there’s an excitement about trying to get it into shape. And there’s always a moment at about 2 in the morning when your eyes are blurry and you look at it and you go, ‘Is this a thing?’ And then when you start to see, like, ‘Holy shit, it’s actually coming together,’ that’s the good feeling.”

“In a lot of ways it’s very exciting and horrible,” says Finkel, “and I’ll tell you what there’s no more euphoric feeling — even in our worst moments when the table read has just hit the shitter. After the table read, you’re like, ‘Oh my god, that was weird and exciting and horrible.’ Every emotion just rolls off you. And then you let down and feel, ‘Okay, that happened. Cool.’ It’s pretty intense.”

The “TinFinity” table read goes reasonably well, but everyone agrees on two things: 1)The character of Jax (who will, indeed, be played by Steve Howey) needs to be beefed up, and 2)The gag about Jax seeing Jess going to the bathroom, that has survived every other tweak to the script, isn’t as funny in execution as it was in the idea stage.

“It didn’t feel like it reflected like what we wanted the dynamic between Jess and Jax to be,” explains Finkel. “We wanted something a little bit more substantial and a little weird, and it just didn’t quite work by itself.”

So the writers dive back in and reconceive Jax as a guy who’s very in touch with his feelings, which for Jess is an appealing contrast to Nick — until it turns out he’s too in touch with those emotions, and winds up crying and declaring his love for Jess on their first date.

“That happens, like, once every like three or four episodes where we’ll get locked in,” says Finkel, “on this one set piece you want to do. And then, more often than not, that set piece becomes a bit of an albatross. And you have to at some point realize you’re trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.”

“The story’s over here: this is the thing that actually is working or matters, this thing that people care about or follow,” adds Baer. “And sometimes you have to let go of like a joke or whatever.”

The story of TinFinity itself came together much more easily — Baer estimates that 80 percent of the Nick/Schmidt jokes from the table read survived to the final version, and 100 percent of the structure — because, as Finkel puts it, “That dynamic of those two guys trying to figure out the dynamics of their friendships generally tends to work for us.”

But they wrestle with the Jess/Jax/Winston material until they’re pleased — at which point Mother Nature decides to intervene. The entire second half of the episode takes place at the outdoor party, in a public park, and persistent rain kept delaying filming of those scenes — “It took us a month to shoot that episode,” Finkel sighs — so that the final cut was done only days before it aired.

In their initial version, episodes tend to come in at 27 or 28 minutes long, when the air version has to be cut down to 21 minutes and 35 seconds. And because so many different versions of each joke are filmed, the producers don’t really know what the episode looks like, or whether it entirely works, until right before editing is completed.

“The episodes really don't take complete form until hours before we lock,” says Finkel. “Liz is really kind of brilliant in getting in there and finding these odd gems that you didn’t expect to work. And they just turn themselves around.”

Finkel recalls Meriwether and editor Steve Welch’s work on the recent episode “Table 34,” largely set at an Indian wedding convention, which no one thought was quite clicking until they saw the finished cut.

“They really have a knack for re-creating the fabric of every episode in a way that’s surprising,” says Finkel. “That was one of those episodes were we looked at it afterwards and were like, ‘Wow, that was really kind of a heroic.’”

With “TinFinity,” the trick is to find enough time for all the important story beats of Jax and Jess’ aborted courtship, and Schmidt and Nick analyzing their friendship, and on top of that Cece accepting a wedding proposal from her boyfriend Shivrang — right in front of ex-boyfriend Schmidt, using the light show, confetti cannon and Queen song he was intending to use for his toast to Nick — while still leaving room for jokes. Though Jax never catches Jess using it, the porta potty itself survives — when told by a salesman that the one he wants is going in the garbage, Nick scoffs, "’Garbage.’ That's what the nursing home said about my mattress.” — and is used as part of the conflict between Nick and Schmidt.

All in all, everyone is pleased with how it turned out, given the difficulty in breaking the story, followed by the weather disruptions. But there’s no real time to celebrate, because there are new stories to break, new alts to be written, scenes to be shot and edited, as the business of show requires team “New Girl” to keep powering through until the last joke in the last script of the 24th episode of the season is as good as it can possibly be.

Alan Sepinwall may be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

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Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

Related Searches: New Girl, LIz Meriwether, Brett Baer, Dave Finkel

Mason

this tells us nothing
February 27, 2013 at 12:09PM EST Reply to Comment
- Ernst2k Booo!
  February 27, 2013 at 12:24PM EST
foundnemo

Fantastic feature, Alan. These peeks behind the curtain fascinating and add so much dimension to the viewing experience. I'd love a follow up book from you full of creative-process vignettes like this.
February 27, 2013 at 12:52PM EST Reply to Comment
Mohamed

Excellent insight on how the sausage gets made. Sometimes I think what an amazing job being part of a writing staff would be, but the stress to be funny AND smart, and meet deadlines is killer.
February 27, 2013 at 1:11PM EST Reply to Comment
Ken Raining

While I was reading this, I kept thinking that the "guy sees Jess in the bathroom" bit sounded familiar... then I realized that it's a "30 Rock" joke. Did anyone on team New Girl realize that?

This was an interesting read. I'm curious to know how aware the writers are of you and your opinions of the show while you're there, Alan. Since trying to find a role for Winston was a big part of their process with this episode, and you've often criticized their handling of him, did that come up at all?
February 27, 2013 at 1:31PM EST Reply to Comment
Spectator

You worry that the critic is getting too close to the show.
February 27, 2013 at 1:34PM EST Reply to Comment
- sepinwall By interviewing people who work on the show? By observing how the show gets made? It's part of what I do, and have done for my entire career.
  February 27, 2013 at 1:49PM EST
- Sterling Mallory Archer And part of why we all read his articles.
  February 27, 2013 at 2:42PM EST
- John Press visit sets...they're called "press visits". Many great TV journalists do it, and most shows are receptive and open to it. So the bias is...where, exactly?
  February 28, 2013 at 12:02AM EST
gladly

Kobe Bryant randomly showed up to hang out? With you? WTF? I don't picture Kobe and Zooey being pals, however much fun their names are to say together.
February 27, 2013 at 1:35PM EST Reply to Comment
- gladly Oops, not "with you," I meant "with who?"
  February 27, 2013 at 1:35PM EST
- Kobe, Zoe, Oprah, Uma...
  February 27, 2013 at 2:11PM EST
Jobin00

Alan,
Loved this story, was very interesting.

I'd be interested to see if you could do this type of story only for a drama, thought it might be harder and/or spoilery in that genre.
February 27, 2013 at 1:59PM EST Reply to Comment
ChampSkins

Thank you very much for this Alan. Really interesting insight on how an episode gets made. Makes the writers strike that much more meaninful because these guys really work their asses off.

With that being said, I thought this was one of the weaker episodes of the season.
February 27, 2013 at 2:36PM EST Reply to Comment
PopzillaJoe

New Girl is in the middle of a stretch of sitcom perfection. Rivaled, in recent years, only by chunks of Modern Family S2, and Parks and Recreation S2/3, Community S2/3 in blending heart and humor. In my opinion - at least. Alan picked a great show and good time to get behind the scenes. Good stuff.
February 27, 2013 at 3:08PM EST Reply to Comment
JB

Great article. Now what did you think of the episode? One of my favorites this season.
February 27, 2013 at 3:25PM EST Reply to Comment
- sepinwall I liked it. They've been on a roll for a while since the kiss, proving me consistently wrong for never wanting the show to go there. Shivrang's proposal, Schmidt's reaction, and then the Nick/Schmidt scenes after, were among the best things the show's done this season.
  February 27, 2013 at 3:51PM EST
- JB Yeah, I actually rewatched the last six minutes of the episode after it finished for the first time. Very satisfying (and funny). Steve Howey was a hoot.
  February 27, 2013 at 4:42PM EST
- Brian Agree with you Alan. I was always worried about where the show would go post Nick/Jess hookup, but so far so good. The backbone of the show, IMO, is still the Nick/Schmidt relationship, so its not surprising that they feel the most comfortable going to that well. The college scenes between the 2 are hilarious.
  February 27, 2013 at 5:01PM EST
- i was worried that the will they-won't they get together would ruin the show but the Jess-Nick stuff is a shockingly rich vein that has totally sucked me in.
  
  i think that Zooey Deschanel and Jake Johnson are key to making this work. Zooey is reined in adorkable. and Jake Johnson has these micro-moments of truly great acting that i rewind to see over and over again -- he's really blossomed and made this all work wonderfully.
  
  the biggest concern i have -- and the answer to the inevitable / constant issue of "what to do about Winston" -- is very well captured in your article here: this show seems to take a lot of work. maybe too much work?
  
  after all, it's not brain surgery, right? and does it need to be this hard? this minutely considered and constructed? you are describing a harrowing process that sounds over-analyzed and over-worked.
  
  and so it's not surprising that the chimera that is Winston remains secondary and like on the balloon at the end, semi-obscured. i really like Winston when he has something to do, but that's not often. and it's too bad.
  
  i love the show -- don't get me wrong, these observations are because i care and am invested.
  
  thanks for the detailed write-up. it's nice to have a longer piece to dig into, Alan!
  
  Erika
  February 27, 2013 at 11:07PM EST
Sin Nombe

Fascinating article. I love this 'inside baseball' type stuff. More please.
February 27, 2013 at 3:42PM EST Reply to Comment
Stuckey

Love these kinds of posts. Only wish it could have been longer. Like a whole week of Alan the Sitcom Writer, like Jack the Writer in one of the first 30 Rocks
February 27, 2013 at 4:22PM EST Reply to Comment
ghoti

I think they still didn't quite get the Jax character right. He turned out to be pretty silly and implausible. I know they needed him to send Jess running by the end of the episode, but I didn't care for how they did it.

Glad they took the porta-potty walk-in out, though.
February 27, 2013 at 4:43PM EST Reply to Comment
- mrbilliam Yeah, I thought Jax's declaration of love was too sitcom-my and unrealistic, but Deschanel's reaction to it was so funny that I guess I forgive it.
  February 27, 2013 at 5:59PM EST
- Col Bat Guano I agree with your analysis. You could see that coming a mile away when Jess said wanting someone who was more in touch with their feelings.
  February 27, 2013 at 8:44PM EST
- Col Bat Guano I should try English in my posts: Jess said she wanted..."
  February 28, 2013 at 12:59AM EST
Ricardo

I liked the article and all... but... but... where's the review?

Very good article nonetheless. Could you make more of these with other shows (Girls, Mad Men, The Good Wife)? I would also like to know what is going on behind the scenes in The Mindy Project.
February 27, 2013 at 6:56PM EST Reply to Comment
- sepinwall I do these on occasion, but I'm not in LA often enough to make it a regular thing. It also depends on access. Some shows are more comfortable than others in letting a writer sit in like this.
  February 27, 2013 at 6:58PM EST
mgrabois

Thanks for the insight. I always wondered how the "writer's room" aspect comes into it when you end up with a script with just one or two names. So basically it's like "Person A and Person B will write the first draft and get credit while everyone works on getting it to the final draft", right?
February 27, 2013 at 8:54PM EST Reply to Comment
- sepinwall Yup. They still did more work on later drafts than some of the other writers, but it's a group effort. Some sitcoms do things a bit differently, but most of them these days attack each script en masse.
  February 27, 2013 at 10:00PM EST
- mgrabois And hour-long shows have to do twice as much work, though they don't need as many jokes. Do dramas do table reads too?
  February 27, 2013 at 11:14PM EST
Grimoald

Can we get single page options on these longer posts Alan?
February 27, 2013 at 9:18PM EST Reply to Comment
B

Came looking for the review, but a behind-the-scenes look is even better. Cool stuff.
February 27, 2013 at 10:18PM EST Reply to Comment
Sam

First, I loved this inside look at the writers room. And aside from DVD commentaries, it's my only insight as to how a tv show gets made. But it seems very chopped up and piecemeal and now that I know, that sort of shows in the final product. I seriously doubt that this sort of work goes on with every show. I can't imagine mad men is written in this style, or even a show like girls. And while I really do love New Girl, it sometimes doesn't feel as cohesive or 'with a purpose' as I'd like. Regardless, loved this peak inside and I do love the guys and Jess.
February 27, 2013 at 10:57PM EST Reply to Comment
- Sam Damnit, double post and mIsspelling of PEEK
  February 27, 2013 at 10:59PM EST
Sam

First, I loved this inside look at the writers room. And aside from DVD commentaries, it's my only insight as to how a tv show gets made. But it seems very chopped up and piecemeal and now that I know, that sort of shows in the final product. I seriously doubt that this sort of work goes on with every show. I can't imagine mad men is written in this style, or even a show like girls. And while I really do love New Girl, it sometimes doesn't feel as cohesive or 'with a purpose' as I'd like. Regardless, loved this peak inside and I do love the guys and Jess.
February 27, 2013 at 10:57PM EST Reply to Comment
Kate

I realise I might be in the absolute minority here - but I really love Winston as a character.
February 28, 2013 at 12:37AM EST Reply to Comment
- i love Winston -- and the actor who plays him. i just think that the writers (a) forget about him half the time and (b) don't have much to give him to do....
  February 28, 2013 at 2:10AM EST
AW

So Alan, which of the jokes in episode did you give your blessing during the writing process? I have to imagine they asked for your opinions on some things.
March 1, 2013 at 3:24PM EST Reply to Comment
- sepinwall No, it doesn't work like that. I've done the fly-on-the-wall thing at a bunch of writers rooms, and I can think of only one time where anyone asked me any kind of opinion about what they were working on, and it mainly related to how I'd felt about the story leading up to it. If I get asked anything, it tends to be about other shows while everyone's on meal break. I'm there as an observer, not a participant.
  March 1, 2013 at 3:44PM EST
ed w

Interesting write-up. I think they erred in the episode by making the initials-Tin-Tinfinity connection too early. It would have been an ideal closing set of lines.

Also the character of Jax confused me. He doesn't look like a football player, he looked more like a backup dancer.

But the show has come a long way and doing well. Nice to see this background take on it.
March 3, 2013 at 1:54AM EST Reply to Comment
LaNeshe @ Nesheaholic.com

Really great read. Nice peak behind the curtain.
March 3, 2013 at 8:24AM EST Reply to Comment
Cole

This was all pretty interesting. Though ultimately, it was strange to see how many cliches and "like"s these talented writers used.
March 13, 2013 at 12:10PM EST Reply to Comment

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Comments

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Mason this tells us nothing

Ernst2k Booo!

foundnemo Fantastic feature, Alan. These peeks behind the curtain fascinating and add so much dimension to the viewing experience. I'd love a follow up book from you full of creative-process vignettes like this.

Mohamed Excellent insight on how the sausage gets made. Sometimes I think what an amazing job being part of a writing staff would be, but the stress to be funny AND smart, and meet deadlines is killer.

Spectator You worry that the critic is getting too close to the show.

sepinwall By interviewing people who work on the show? By observing how the show gets made? It's part of what I do, and have done for my entire career.

Sterling Mallory Archer And part of why we all read his articles.

John Press visit sets...they're called "press visits". Many great TV journalists do it, and most shows are receptive and open to it. So the bias is...where, exactly?

gladly Kobe Bryant randomly showed up to hang out? With you? WTF? I don't picture Kobe and Zooey being pals, however much fun their names are to say together.

gladly Oops, not "with you," I meant "with who?"

Kobe, Zoe, Oprah, Uma...

Jobin00 Alan, Loved this story, was very interesting. I'd be interested to see if you could do this type of story only for a drama, thought it might be harder and/or spoilery in that genre.

ChampSkins Thank you very much for this Alan. Really interesting insight on how an episode gets made. Makes the writers strike that much more meaninful because these guys really work their asses off. With that being said, I thought this was one of the weaker episodes of the season.

JB Great article. Now what did you think of the episode? One of my favorites this season.

sepinwall I liked it. They've been on a roll for a while since the kiss, proving me consistently wrong for never wanting the show to go there. Shivrang's proposal, Schmidt's reaction, and then the Nick/Schmidt scenes after, were among the best things the show's done this season.

JB Yeah, I actually rewatched the last six minutes of the episode after it finished for the first time. Very satisfying (and funny). Steve Howey was a hoot.

Sin Nombe Fascinating article. I love this 'inside baseball' type stuff. More please.

Stuckey Love these kinds of posts. Only wish it could have been longer. Like a whole week of Alan the Sitcom Writer, like Jack the Writer in one of the first 30 Rocks

ghoti I think they still didn't quite get the Jax character right. He turned out to be pretty silly and implausible. I know they needed him to send Jess running by the end of the episode, but I didn't care for how they did it.Glad they took the porta-potty walk-in out, though.

mrbilliam Yeah, I thought Jax's declaration of love was too sitcom-my and unrealistic, but Deschanel's reaction to it was so funny that I guess I forgive it.

Col Bat Guano I agree with your analysis. You could see that coming a mile away when Jess said wanting someone who was more in touch with their feelings.

Col Bat Guano I should try English in my posts: Jess said she wanted..."

Ricardo I liked the article and all... but... but... where's the review?Very good article nonetheless. Could you make more of these with other shows (Girls, Mad Men, The Good Wife)? I would also like to know what is going on behind the scenes in The Mindy Project.

sepinwall I do these on occasion, but I'm not in LA often enough to make it a regular thing. It also depends on access. Some shows are more comfortable than others in letting a writer sit in like this.

sepinwall Yup. They still did more work on later drafts than some of the other writers, but it's a group effort. Some sitcoms do things a bit differently, but most of them these days attack each script en masse.

mgrabois And hour-long shows have to do twice as much work, though they don't need as many jokes. Do dramas do table reads too?

Grimoald Can we get single page options on these longer posts Alan?

B Came looking for the review, but a behind-the-scenes look is even better. Cool stuff.

Sam Damnit, double post and mIsspelling of PEEK

Kate I realise I might be in the absolute minority here - but I really love Winston as a character.

i love Winston -- and the actor who plays him. i just think that the writers (a) forget about him half the time and (b) don't have much to give him to do....

AW So Alan, which of the jokes in episode did you give your blessing during the writing process? I have to imagine they asked for your opinions on some things.

LaNeshe @ Nesheaholic.com Really great read. Nice peak behind the curtain.

Cole This was all pretty interesting. Though ultimately, it was strange to see how many cliches and "like"s these talented writers used.

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New Girl is updated

Mason

this tells us nothing

foundnemo

Fantastic feature, Alan. These peeks behind the curtain fascinating and add so much dimension to the viewing experience. I'd love a follow up book from you full of creative-process vignettes like this.

Mohamed

Excellent insight on how the sausage gets made. Sometimes I think what an amazing job being part of a writing staff would be, but the stress to be funny AND smart, and meet deadlines is killer.

Spectator

You worry that the critic is getting too close to the show.

gladly

Kobe Bryant randomly showed up to hang out? With you? WTF? I don't picture Kobe and Zooey being pals, however much fun their names are to say together.

Jobin00

Alan,
Loved this story, was very interesting.

I'd be interested to see if you could do this type of story only for a drama, thought it might be harder and/or spoilery in that genre.

ChampSkins

Thank you very much for this Alan. Really interesting insight on how an episode gets made. Makes the writers strike that much more meaninful because these guys really work their asses off.

With that being said, I thought this was one of the weaker episodes of the season.

JB

Great article. Now what did you think of the episode? One of my favorites this season.

Sin Nombe

Fascinating article. I love this 'inside baseball' type stuff. More please.

Stuckey

Love these kinds of posts. Only wish it could have been longer. Like a whole week of Alan the Sitcom Writer, like Jack the Writer in one of the first 30 Rocks

ghoti

I think they still didn't quite get the Jax character right. He turned out to be pretty silly and implausible. I know they needed him to send Jess running by the end of the episode, but I didn't care for how they did it.

Glad they took the porta-potty walk-in out, though.

Ricardo

I liked the article and all... but... but... where's the review?

Very good article nonetheless. Could you make more of these with other shows (Girls, Mad Men, The Good Wife)? I would also like to know what is going on behind the scenes in The Mindy Project.

Grimoald

Can we get single page options on these longer posts Alan?

B

Came looking for the review, but a behind-the-scenes look is even better. Cool stuff.

Kate

I realise I might be in the absolute minority here - but I really love Winston as a character.

AW

So Alan, which of the jokes in episode did you give your blessing during the writing process? I have to imagine they asked for your opinions on some things.

LaNeshe @ Nesheaholic.com

Really great read. Nice peak behind the curtain.

Cole

This was all pretty interesting. Though ultimately, it was strange to see how many cliches and "like"s these talented writers used.

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