Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to you Montecito. After sunset, you are
entering a world of deception. If you haven't listened to
episode five of Monacito, go back and give it a listen,
because we are about to break down all the behind
the scenes scoop with executive story editor Andrew Pemberton Fowler.
Speaker 2: Hi Andrew, Hi, Christy, Hi Greg.
Speaker 1: Great to see you. We also have the creator and
executive producer of Monacito, Grant Rutter, joining us.
Speaker 3: Hey, Grant, good to be back, Thanks Christy, and.
Speaker 1: Very special today. We also have music artist and actor
who has appeared in hundreds of episodes of General Hospital
as fans' favorite nurse Felix du Bois. He also impressed
us with his dance moves in last year's number one
Christmas movie, The Merry Gentleman. Welcome, Mark, Anthony Samuel, Hey, guys,
we are so excited to have you here to let
us into a little bit of the behind the scenes
of creating Geo and this incredible story that is unfolding
before us. Really, I want to start with film Mark,
what did you think of this project when it first
came to you. What was your approach or your initial thoughts.
Speaker 4: I saw it and I was like, this sounds really
it's not anything complex. It was like, oh, this seems cool.
Oh that seems like a cool role. Okay, let's do it.
I'm pretty simple.
Speaker 1: Like that was the thought of doing it without a set,
without wardrobe, without other actors to play off of. Is
that something that it excites you or does that seem
like a challenge?
Speaker 4: All of it is fun to me. Anytime I get
an opportunity to do any type of acting job, vocal,
on camera, anything, audiobook, it doesn't matter. It's always fun
to be able to go through the same process that
I would go through with any type of role. And
obviously there's certain things you don't have to worry about
when you're doing audio type of drama. You don't have
to put makeup on. You don't have to It doesn't
matter what you're wearing. You literally could be in your
slip verse, rollers whatever and just do the job and
move on. But internally, everything else is the same. You
think in terms of who is this person, what are
their beliefs, what is their background, what are the relationships.
If there's a long history of certain things, then you
want to study it. But if it's new then you
are essentially the captain of that ship as far as
creating the detail work on who this person is, and
that's pretty exciting as well. You end up being the
first to play it, so you're not like a soap opera.
You'll see hundreds and hundreds of times over people replacing
other people that have been characters on other shows, and
that can be tough because then you're at the judgment
of the loyal fans who've become accustomed to a particular
person playing a certain role. I had the good fortune
of being the first character, So yeah, it's privilege when
you enough to do that.
Speaker 1: So that's what makes it attractive, right if you're at
the first one who can show everybody who this person.
Speaker 3: Is, it doesn't hurt a huge episode for Geo.
Speaker 1: Of course, we learned that he actually has some skeletons
in his closet as well, looking forward to hearing more
about that, and so we have that drama that soap
operas are known for in this episode. Also the love
and the romance in your scenes, particularly Mark Brandon Andrew.
How much do you balance keeping people in the current
storyline but also giving us those little tidbits about Geo.
Speaker 3: What's interesting about your question is specifically for Geo, we
try to be really ambiguous about his past. Helena asked
him about it. When he has those scenes with Deacon
in episode two, he's changes the subject and it's very
general where others backstory is extremely important and it shapes
that relationships, and we will want to give as much
information as possible, but we don't really know a lot
and that's by design.
Speaker 2: And we also have Geo come into the show, so
he is technically outside of what he's an inside or
what he's been away long enough where he there is
that distance that that we come to realize exits with
the character. So it's fun to watch him unfold when
everyone else is an open book.
Speaker 1: And so, Mark, are you giving Geo a little bit
of a backstory? Are you filling in some of the
blanks just for yourself?
Speaker 4: Oh? Absolutely, And not only am I filling in blanks
that would be within story. I'm also not landing on anything.
I don't create absolutes. Even when I'm going through the
character's beliefs. I mark out things which are important to
the character, but as it relates to conflict, I never
land on one thing. Absolutely because that limits you, and
it limits the possibilities of any type of character complexities.
I may say, he may be like, he believes this
thing is wrong, but at one time he did that
thing because of this, that or other circumstances. So he
can't be so gung ho about judgment unless he felt
horrible about it. There's always a reason, basically, but you
never land on anything, and it just makes stuff interesting.
And that's something that I would do on camera too
as an actor. I wouldn't just land on absolutes. We're
all complex creatures. You can be a friendly racist, you
can be a super sexy priest, or you can be
like an ogre looking person with the most beautiful heart
and wonderful singing voice. It's just we're not just one thing.
Speaker 1: And Geo and Deacon had these beautiful scenes where they
really showed the dynamic side of all of their characters.
And in addition to your great performance, there was also
some really great music in this episode that really stood out.
For the first time in this episode, I was going,
oh wow, we're hearing lyrics and it really is helping
to set the tone. Grant, were these songs special in
this episode?
Speaker 3: Some were actually Yeah, the boathouse scenes had music from
I believe my great uncle, if we have to get technical,
but a family member who is a musician, and I
don't know if he would classify it as like yacht rock,
but that's how I look at it. It's a little
by the ocean inspired. So it was like the perfect
backdrop for these boat house scenes where Geo and Dicon
are talking about it being golden hours, the busy this
of this restaurant and a live band is performing, and
I just thought it worked really well, and I wanted
something that felt like there was someone performing there. These
are well to do people not playing a CD, so
there's all about building the atmosphere in the world and
all that. So yeah, that was like a nice unique
touch that I'm grateful to Steve Decanti for letting me
use his music there. And really, but adds all these
little things they just add to the production value they do.
Speaker 1: And there's one particular scene at the Boathouse restaurant to
where just so much goes down when you're not thinking
about these public scenes really playing out in front of
people on a set or whatever it is. How do
you really keep those real or make sure it's not
too much. Mark, even in your performance, how do you
make sure you're not just going crazy when it's just
you in a booth with a microphone?
Speaker 4: Mark, Just I think it's important when you're doing your homework,
when you're looking over stuff, to understand the space, understand
what type of conversation's happening, because there's going to be
a huge difference between an intimate conversation between two people
and just a lightly social Hey man, what's going on?
A little more distance, little less stakes, if you will.
And so long as you're staying grounded in the reality
of physical space, whatever came before, what the characters again,
beliefs and fears, all those things. As long as you're
staying anchored in all of those things, you're always going
to come out correct. If that, for lack of a
better term, it's always going to be right. Now, Technically,
there may be certain things that you have to do
to accommodate the actual audio drama. I can't be this
close to a microphone and yelling across the room, Hey George,
let's go get a piece. It's just not going to work. So, yeah,
there's the meat of the actual art tech and the
technical aspect, which is the way it always.
Speaker 1: Is, and how does the script writing and what you
Andrew and Grant have presented, how does that kind of
play into it or how do you think about a
scene like that before you write it.
Speaker 2: So we always set the interior or exterior of a location.
Then also the time of day informs how people interact
with the space. So if it's six thirty at a
restaurant versus nine thirty versus midnight, you're going to have
a different way of interacting with the space. People interact
differently with each other, so that's also really important. That's
the little piece of information we like to give talent,
but also it goes into post production for Trey, so
he knows where we are.
Speaker 1: In the day.
Speaker 2: Also, we do say in the script if Anakur is
approaching a scene as a character, or if they're moving
away from the scene or from a conversation, so we
can add those footsteps, We can fade in their voices
or fade them out as needed. Moreover, if you are
as you see in this episode, Mina and Geo go outside,
so the sounds of the restaurant that you're hearing that
are present now become secondary because now they're outside, it's
the Oshan, They're further away from the scene we've just heard.
Speaker 1: Well, and in these intimate scenes with Geo and Deacon,
getting to know them as a couple makes me really rooting.
I'm rooting for them at this point. And it's not
just that we're rooting for Mina to lose either.
Speaker 3: Hear at episode.
Speaker 1: Five, they're really in their little love bubble. They just
got back together and things are going great so far.
Day or two Mark, at this point in the story,
were you rooting for Geo and Deacon.
Speaker 4: I'd be lying if I said I'm not rooting for
Geo and Deacon. You want the people in a narrative
that are seemingly trying to make the best and do
the right thing and make good choices and aren't making
the choices out of malice or secondary intent. You want
them to get what they're aiming for. And you know,
if another character is making lesser choices or doing things
out of greed or out of anger or malice, every
sane person would want to root against that person. So, yes,
I was rooting for my own Mike.
Speaker 3: For Mike, yeah, we had to have an intimate scene,
so we could. Obviously there's sex and soaps, there's love
and romance, so at this point there was a lot
of boardroom stuff, so it was time to get back
to more intimate conversations at this pillow talk scene. But
also he said, they are in a love bubble in
this moment, and it's showing them at their peak for
that they're back there expressing themselves, they're in bed, so
it was a little we have to show the course
of their reconnections. This was actually a really big scene
for them and it was fun and flirty, but it
also had those moments where Deacon's asking, have I changed
a lot? And they're really connecting.
Speaker 1: Well, I am on the edge of my seat listening
at this point, So can you give us little tease
for episode six? What can we expect?
Speaker 3: So the next episode is really going to have two
different kind of ends of the spectrum. So there's really
emotional scenes with Deacon and Geo. There's fallout from this
final scene of this episode, so we're really getting into
emotional storytelling element that is obviously a corterstrot of soaps,
and then there's some fun little moments I'm not gonna
want to give too much agree, But there's some really
fun more of Ethany, Gina and Nina at a scene
that always seems to make me laugh the way at
Trey edited it. There's a nice balance. That's my previous,
nice balance of soap in the next episode.
Speaker 1: And Mark, I know you are a busy guy and
always making music as well. Is there something in particular
that you're working on right now?
Speaker 4: Right now? Is about my I have what I've always
referred to in my career as being relevant and having
time to develop out after a peak of relevance or
where you get a lot of press for things you've done.
When you're going on the other part of it. You're
taking class, you're studying, you're minding your physical health, You're
doing certain things in order to move on to the
next thing. And right now I'm doing a lot of
class work. I can smack in classes. So I have
things that I can't comment on. I'm not allowed to
number two. They aren't a thing yet, so I don't.
I just when we come to the when we come
to the bridge, then we cross it. So I'll just
say I'm staying ready. That's all safe right now.
Speaker 1: You must enjoy that stage though, too.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah. I can't see a person who loves doing
this job not wanting to get better and learn more
about what they do and broaden their education and their
experience level and booster their own confidence when they go
into the room because it's a place where you're safe,
where you can make mistakes, where you can commit errors,
and you're not going to be penalized for it isn't.
In fact, you'll probably just become better when you go
back in to your next job or your next opportunity.
Speaker 1: That's really cool. Well, thank you for sharing so much
with us today. Mark, I'm sure everyone will want to
keep up with you online. Where can they do that
at if you.
Speaker 4: Would like to? I am on Instagram that is mrc
as Art, Mark as Art, Marc Anthony Samuel Artist.
Speaker 1: I want to remind everybody watching that if you have
questions for Andrew or Grant, Mark, or we may have
some of the other casts joining us in the future
for the after show, please hit us up leave a
comment right here on YouTube or on the Monacito Facebook page.
We'd love to hear from you. So thank you so
much for tuning in, and thank you again Mark for
joining us. This was Monticeo after sunset. We'll see you
next time.