JIB Jensen's Meet & Greet transcript

[amberdreams]

My friend and I took notes in the M&Gs for Jensen, Jared and Misha.
Here's our write up of Jensen's.  Where we couldn't make out what he said we've put (IND) or put down our best guess.  F = fan, J = Jensen (yeah, I know that's obvious!!)

Jensen Meet & Greet

J: Hello, hello, hello!

F: Hi!

J: How is everybody? Good?

F: Living on sugar and caffeine!

J: Yeah, I got a drip of caffeine going on. I did not get any sleep last night, so I apologise if I look like it. [s'thing about jetlag] I went to sleep about 11 o'clock – and then woke up promptly at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep. It was one of those, you're laying there and you're asleep and then [mimes sleeping and waking abruptly] [IND] and I can usually fall straight back to sleep, but for whatever reason I didn't last night, so. Hate that. [IND] How's everybody else? Good? Good? Yeah? [You're an] awfully quiet group.

[laughter]

J: Does anybody have any questions?

F: [something about hearing that he has a new hobby]

J: A new hobby? Uh-oh... [IND]

F: [IND]

J: A new hobby...

F: Tell us about your existing ones then.

[IND]

J: SE Hinton?? Oh yeah, we had a chat. I have a new hobby? What could she possibly be talking about?

F: Do you WANT a new hobby?

J: Maybe I NEED a new hobby!

[laughter]

J: Uh...Oh! Yes! I guess that – yeah. That could be considered a hobby. I bought a boat. So I'm now a captain of the sea.

F: A sailboat?

J: It's not a sailboat, it's a power boat. But it's a big one, you can stay on board. Yeah, bought a boat a couple of months ago and looking forward to being on that. I love the ocean. I've always liked being near the water. I grew up in Texas, which obviously, in Dallas, is not so much near the ocean. But I spent a lot of time on lakes, waterskiing, jet skis, ski-boats, fishing boats and stuff like that. When I moved to California, I always thought it'd be kinda cool to have a boat. And then Danneel and I were talking about it last year. She took up surfing a couple of years ago and she's out on the ocean quite a bit. We started talking about [how] we really wanted to have a boat and started looking into it. Then after the holidays, we're like, 'let's do it'. So I'm the new proud owner of a boat.

F: Jared got a baby, you got a boat. [laughter]

J: Yeah, I told Jared that. I'm like, I got a baby too, but here's the great thing: when I get sick of it, I can sell it. [IND] But I do have to fill it up with gas and that's not cheap. But anyway, I guess that would be my new hobby.

F: Does that make you the Captain and Danneel?

[groans and laughter]

J: You know what, as cheesy as that might sound, that's the name of our boat. [laughter] Good call! I said it as a joke. And then Danneel was like, 'well, yeah, that's the name of our boat.' And we'd done all the, 'it needs to be Exile 2' or some name, and we were looking around at the boats at the marina and they were all really bad puns, and a lot of sexual puns, which, we didn't need one of those -

F You mean like 'My Little Dinghy'?

J: Yeah. So anyway, I threw that [the name] out there, not as an option, but as [IND] and she didn't even laugh, she goes, 'Well, that's the name of our boat.' And I'm like, 'Of COURSE it is'. She looked [it] up and we got hold of an old record album of Captain and Tennille, and we have a graphic artist working on making [the name on the boat] like the record album.

F: Please don't buy the hat! 

J: Jason already gave me the hat. Probably won't wear it, but I have the hat. I think we're probably gonna do a photo where I dress up with the moustache and the hat and the big collar and, like, full sixties, and she's looking like however Tennille looked, and probably put the photo on the boat. That's about as far as we're gonna go, which is pretty corny for us. But anyway, we're having fun with that.

F: I have a question. We don't know about Season 8, but it's looking pretty positive with Jeremy coming on board. And you've mentioned before you've had discussions [IND]. Do you have any idea where it might go in S8?

J: I don't. Like I said, we haven't officially been picked up for S8, which I think at this point is a technicality. [IND]. We have a new president this year and for whatever reason he's holding his cards [close]. But the fact they closed the deal with Jeremy Carver to replace Sera, they also closed Bob Singer on another year contract and they also hired on two new writers – I doubt they would do that if they were planning on cancelling the show. So it's probably safe to say that we're gonna go another season.

As far as the storyline goes, where it goes, that's something I'm obviously interested in and want to find out, but until we get the official pickup, [the writers are] not gonna get together until we get that. It's probably gonna be another couple of weeks before Jeremy and Bob get together and [IND] stuff out and put the broad strokes on what's gonna happen next season. After that meeting, which may take a few days of them hashing out where they want to start from and where they wanna end up and as far as -

[Daniela's phone rings]

J: Tell them I'm busy. [laughter] Then I'll probably go over there and sit down and have a chat and get an idea of what to expect. So, to answer your question, I don't know right now but should hopefully know by the end of May.

F: Are you going to take a bigger role in the direction? In other shows that go this long, we're seeing other actors getting more involved -

J: Creatively? Probably not. I'd venture to say that if we actually filmed in Los Angeles where the writing takes place, we might have a bigger influence on the creative aspect of the scripts and storylines. But because we're up in Vancouver, and when we get a script and start to prep for that script, [the writers are] already three scripts ahead as far as writing goes. By the time we read the script and get the story and come up with 'it'd be cool if after this script we go here', they're already three scripts ahead. We would have to be hanging around down by the writers' office to even be caught up to where they are.

Whenever we have questions, say Jared and I are doing a scene and some of the dialogue's not working out really well and we wanna change some of the dialogue – which happens, it doesn't happen a lot but it happens – I'll call Sera and be like, 'Hey Sera, in scene 15 Dean is saying this and Sam replies this, what if we switch that around?' And she's like, 'Wait, what episode are we talking about?' She's already miles ahead. She's gotta go back and put herself back in that mindset of 'what was I trying to get across here?' So the writers and the production work on two totally different levels. It makes it difficult for Jared and I to have a whole lot of influence on the scripts and the storyline [IND]. In a perfect world, I'd like to have some influence, but it's logistically too tough. So we just wait for the scripts and bang 'em out. That's all we do.

F: And you do it well. Would you want to direct again? [IND]

J: Yeah, and I think they'll let me. We've had a couple of other people in the Supernatural family direct this season. Jerry Wanek, who directed the Slice Girls, he's our production designer, so he is responsible for the look of the show. All the sets, all the hotel rooms, they're all his. [IND]. I've worked with Jerry since Dark Angel. So he got to direct his first one this year.

Another one of our family who got to direct this year [is] John McCarthy, our 1^st assistant director. We have two 1^st AD's and they are essentially just that. They're assistants to the director, so they really run the set. They're the ones that say, 'OK, lock it up! Roll sound!' They're the ones that tell everyone what needs to be done [and] they get their orders direct  from the director. So it was his first opportunity to direct this year and he did a great job. We call him Johnny Mac or JMac. I think we're gonna have a few more [directing] next year, we've got our other 1^st AD [going to direct]. We also had our director of photography who directed one this year. These guys who have been an integral part of the show for seven years are now getting to try their hand at playing boss man, so that's really neat, it's really cool.

What's even more humbling is that Jerry and Johnny Mac actually came to me and asked me for advice on directing. And for someone who's only directed two episodes in his life, I thought that was really cool. Really, the most helpful information I could give them was how actors respond to direction, what the proper ways to talk to actors are, that kind of thing. As far as direction goes [I said] 'You're on your own pal' [IND]

F: In terms of your general day to day work, has much changed over the past seven years? Do you have a greater say in the running of things? I don't think you'd ever pull a diva act but do you hold more power, do you think? Say, if [a director] wanted you to do something that you would have maybe done in S1, can you say 'Actually, no, I don't want to do that'?

J: Sure. I think we don't necessarily hold more power, I think we understand better the power that we have. And that's very important. I think in the beginning we just didn't know. So we were a bit naïve in that sense, and that can be dangerous. When an actor realises the power that he has, if it's someone who has a bad temper, or is egotistical or whatever it might be, then they can use that power for bad. And you hear about it. I think it's where the whole 'diva' thing came [about], these people saying, 'oh, well, the show can't go on without me and you have to do what I say' and they pull that power trip. Thankfully, Jared and I don't do that. We don't use that power for bad. In fact, we try to use it for good, as far as pointing out certain crew members who might be bad apples. Ones that you can just tell are not good for morale. Have bad attitudes, cause problems, trash talk, don't do their job properly, we've had no problem saying, 'you're outta here, I'm sorry.' We spend way too much time together to have somebody that causes problems.

F: Repeatedly people who have been guest stars on the show have said what a good vibe there is on the set and [how] it's down to you two.

J: Well, that's another thing too. Before, Jared and I were just two happy guys coming to work, we love what we do, we love these characters, we love telling the story and it's fun. We didn't realise it at the time, but we really had to set the tone. I think now we understand because we've seen it fluctuate over the years. If Jared's having a bad day, he didn't sleep, or something's going wrong, he's in a bad mood or something, he won't take it out on the crew, it's just a demeanour change. He can come in, he's just sombre and he'll do his work and be professional. But it's amazing how quickly that feeling spreads throughout the crew. Everybody starts keeping it quiet. The first time that happened, both he and I were like 'whoa'. We really need to be 'up' on set [because] we set the tone for how the day goes and, if we can, keep it light and fun and joking around. It's not like we have to TRY to be that, it's that we know it's BETTER to be that.

So we try to have a lot of fun. We laugh and joke and play. I know there's this kind of stigma about us playing pranks on people and stuff. To be honest, we don't really prank, we just goof around a lot. Just the other day, [we were] with Misha [on set], the camera was on Misha but around right here [indicates chest level]. He had these hospital pants on and Jared just reached over and started pulling his pants down. In the middle of the scene. And Misha kept a straight face and finally said, 'hi, sorry, my pants are down, excuse me' [laughter]. And we do that quite a bit. Another time Misha was trying to get out a line and I was just off-camera. I switched the lines up completely and made it really obscene and probably not stuff I would repeat in front of strangers, or even friends, but he couldn't make it through the scene, [he] just busted out laughing. So, Misha's unfortunately the brunt of a lot of our goofing around.

F: He's a very easy target though, isn't he? [laughter]

J: Yeah. I would say at the end of the day, we understand that a lot rides on our shoulders, that's a responsibility [and] understanding that is the best thing.

[Daniela interrupts to say he has to go]

J: I have to go? I don't wanna go! [IND] I will stay here, this is easy! Oh, they're gonna get Jared now? [to fans] Tell Jared to stop pulling people's pants down on set.

Guys, thank you so much, it's always a pleasure. Bye.

That's all folks - I'll post Jared and Misha's when we've written them up!

Comments

Re: Thanks!

[amber1960.livejournal.com]

No problem Leigh Ann!