From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

American TV series are produced on a per-season basis, often involving long-term operations. The more long-lived a series is, the more successful it is, such as "The Simpsons," which has been produced up to its thirty-sixth season. Therefore, the entire production model is slightly different.

Generally speaking, the writing team is a group, built around one or two core writers, forming a team of a dozen or twenty people. Team members may change at any time, and even each episode might have different writers.

The same goes for directors. Because TV series don't pursue audio-visual language like movies do, all the charm comes from the script. The director is responsible for presenting the script content in a proper manner, so directors also change frequently.

If it's a mini-series or a limited series, the writing and directing teams may be relatively fixed to maintain a consistent style; but ordinary long-form series don't have such requirements, and the turnover of the creative team is huge.

Precisely because of this, the quality of a series may fluctuate significantly within a season's story, including padding and lulls in the middle, all the way to a strong rebound at the end of the season. This is normal.

"Friends," of course, is no exception.

As the season finale approaches, the main writers and main directors of this season have returned to their positions. Not only has core writer Marta Kauffman personally returned, but David Crane has also returned to his familiar writing position, personally overseeing the production process.

However, Marta doesn't know the story of how the writing team mistakenly understood David's meaning, leading to a blunder, and then David's preparation to invite Bruce Willis for help, but in the end, after twists and turns, he decided to go with the flow and make the best of a bad situation. All she knows is the result before her—

A greenhorn with no acting experience is about to serve as a guest star.

As a core writer who started "Friends" from scratch alongside David, Marta has the qualifications and the confidence to express her dissatisfaction.

Marta doesn't mind David abusing his power for personal gain, as such things are commonplace; but to pull this stunt as the season is nearing its end, has David lost his mind?

Marta has a fire in her chest that she needs to vent.

However.

Tomorrow they will enter the studio to film, and if she doesn't want the week's broadcast to be canceled, thereby affecting the season's finale plan, she'd better shut her mouth and work together.

Who wants to argue with money?

So, despite being unwilling, Marta still came to the company in person to communicate with the costume and styling team, to set an image for that vase—

If he can't be funny, he needs to be charming at least, just like Brad Pitt.

And vent her dissatisfaction along the way.

Knock knock.

A knock came from the door.

The show's stylist, Debra McQuire, was startled and immediately gave Marta a look, but Marta didn't care at all.

Marta doesn't worry about others hearing those gossipy remarks, even if David Crane is right in front of her, she dares to say it again.

That being said, Marta still didn't continue.

Debra breathed a slight sigh of relief and said loudly towards the door, "Come in."

Creak.

The door was pushed open, and sunlight and lamplight from the corridor spilled in through the crack, and in the soft halo, a tall and handsome figure walked in.

Marta glanced over casually, but after looking away, she couldn't help but turn back and take another look.

"Good morning, I'm Anson Wood, here for a fitting."

Handsome, clear.

Marta couldn't help but have her eyes light up slightly, very friendly to eyesight protection.

Marta looked back at Debra, and she could immediately capture the smile in Debra's eyes, and understand the meaning without words:

The two exchanged a knowing look, at least the appearance passed the test, even exceeding expectations. Such a guest star doesn't seem so bad.

But Marta wasn't prepared to linger. She hadn't forgotten—

She was still angry, angry at David, angry at the young man in front of her.

After simply saying a sentence, without even introducing herself, Marta had already started walking out of the room.

At the same time, Debra kept sizing up Anson.

Not purely scrutinizing, but a professional judgment, as a stylist.

In Debra's view, Marta's complaints were one thing, but a professional attitude was another. She was sincere about designing the final plot of the sixth season.

After all, after six years, from the terrible situation that no one was optimistic about at the beginning, to now becoming the number one series in the United States, Marta and "Friends" have gone through countless storms together. Those true feelings of camaraderie are real, and Marta also hopes that the series can continue to develop.

Therefore, even if it's just a vase, a temporary guest star, the writing team still designed a plot for this vase.

"Friends" tells the story of three men and three women living in New York—Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Ross, Chandler, and Joey—who are each other's best friends.

The story of the first season begins with Rachel, who flees from her wedding, looking for her old classmate Monica, while Monica's brother Ross has just divorced, and the object of his childhood crush is his sister's classmate Rachel; Rachel settles down at Monica's house, and the story begins from here.

In the blink of an eye, six years have passed, and the story has come to the sixth season, and a series of changes have taken place in the plot and characters.

Rachel and Ross accidentally got married after drinking too much at the end of the last season, but after sobering up, they decided to get a divorce.

Monica and Chandler are officially dating, but they decided not to rush into marriage for the time being, but to move in together and see how it goes.

Originally, Rachel and Phoebe shared an apartment, but they accidentally encountered a fire, so Rachel returned to Monica's apartment, and Phoebe lived with Joey; but later they discovered that the cause of the fire was Rachel's hair straightener, so Rachel and Phoebe exchanged apartments.

The plot has developed to the sixth season, but it still maintains its vitality, and the ratings remain high. The writing team's efforts and the chemistry between the actors are key.

Undoubtedly, the ultimate suspense of the sixth season is: when and how will Chandler, who has always been afraid of commitment and worried about being urged to marry, propose?

This also affects the hearts of countless viewers.

In addition, having experienced separations and reunions and constantly missing each other, where will the relationship between Ross and Rachel go, and will they be able to usher in a happy ending?

This is a key point that has continued from the first season to the present.

So, at the critical moment when the sixth season is about to end, the writing team used the emotional relationship between Ross and Rachel to design a plot for the guest star.

Ross finds a job teaching paleontology at a university, but he starts dating one of his students, and then the student's brother prepares to visit.

Obviously, this brother expresses strong dissatisfaction with his sister dating a professor, especially one who is the age of their father; but he didn't expect that this brother would turn around and start dating Rachel.

A delicate love quadrangle is thus formed.

Anson is about to play this brother.

A newbie author is here to report, thank you all book friends for your support, sprinkling flowers, oh yeah!