Carlos Jacott – In the Studio

Q.  What are some of the recent projects that you’ve been working on?

A.  Right now I’m on the show “Studio 60,” the new Aaron Sorkin show.  I think out of ten series regulars, I’m number ten!  So, I’m just sort of holding on with my fingernails.  We just started and I think we’re in the fifth episode now.  I play a writer, the show is sort of a behind the scenes look at a “Saturday Night Live” type of show.  It’s going through a real creative downturn and they bring Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford in as producers who come back to resuscitate the show.  Evan Handler and I play a couple of writers who sort of bare the brunt of the blame for the show being as bad as it was.  The old hacks that they are forced to keep around because we’re under contract. 

Q.  The show does seem quite promising, the critics have been giving it rave reviews.

A.  Yeah, it’s been great, the scripts have been great.  When we have table reads, it already feels like a show that you’re in your third season with.  I think that everyone has worked together, there are so many “West Wing” people, so they have already this shorthand of working together.  They know each other so well, they can take liberties with each other, it’s just been so great.  The scripts have been great, I think it’s really great!  It’s going to be a big hit. 

Q.  What made you want to be a part of this show?

A.  They cast me!  It was just an audition and I had done a small bit on a “West Wing” a few years ago.  In fact, my part was over before the opening credits of the show had even finished running!  Then Tommy Schlamme who is an executive producer on “The West Wing” directed a pilot that I had done a long time ago.  I had some what of a history with these guys.  I just went in and auditioned and really heard maybe the next night that I had been cast.  It was early on in pilot season so it was sort of coveted in the way that if you get a job early, you don’t have to go through the rigmarole.  I think of all the shows that were coming out, people were really hoping to get a job on.

Q.  Do you have a most memorable moment from your time working on the show so far?

A.  Nothing particularly stands out but the show is such a behemoth, the sets are so elaborate and detailed.  There was one thing that I noticed in the pilot, I was noticing the detail on all of the set dressing.  I had never really seen the length that they had gone to on a show to create this sort of world.  I had never really seen a show go to that length and maybe it had something to do with the budget.  I found these little scripts, that no one would ever see, they were supposed to be the scripts for the show within the show that we’re talking about (the sketch show that “Studio 60” is about).  It’s something that no one would ever see, no one is actually performing those, but they bothered to actually write these sketches out.  They had them, and they had them around as set dressing.  It was just a detail and it made the whole thing so exciting.  That anyone had bothered, had taken it so serious enough to make the fantasy as full as possible.  I am constantly seeing little details like that, which is great, I suppose it helps with the acting.  It’s just fun to be around, the people take the play of the whole thing so seriously.  It’s not a serious atmosphere, it’s great, it’s always fun.  Things move quickly, there is no slacking off or goofing off in that way. 

Q.  Why should viewers take the time to check out the show?

A.  “Studio 60,” the storytelling is really engaging.  It’s a really funny show, the amazing thing is they do a lot of sketches.  You’ll see rehearsals or performances of sketches that are supposed to take place on the show within the show.  I’ve seen people try to pull that off before, it’s very hard to get that kind of tone right.  The sketches are actually very funny, the people have actually managed to do both where they’re believable performance and the acting is great.  When they show you these sketches they are actually very funny.  It’s interesting, it’s going to be a very funny and engaging show.  I think it’s going to go beyond the hype, the hype is well deserved.  You can never tell if people are going to watch a show, I think it’s going to be a very good show whether or not people tune in.

Q.  You have a knack at comedic timing, is that a natural ability or is it something that you’ve been working on your entire career?

A.  I think it’s always what I’ve done, I have always done comedy.  I grew up doing lots of Improv, my first acting class ever, when I was thirteen, was an Improv class.  A guy came to my high school who was playing the mayor of New York City in the play “The Best Little Whore House In Texas” on Broadway.  He came in and taught us an Improv class.  I have always said my father was a big fan of The Marx Brothers, Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy.  We had an old projector and I was always seeing that kind of thing.  It’s just always what I’ve done and it’s a little more challenging I suppose to be believable dramatically.  But, very few people ask me to do that!  It’s funny, I feel so much more like myself when I’m trying to do a comedy.  For me, the comedy comes much more easily but when it is a drama I furrow my brow a bit more and I speak a little bit more in a harsh tone. 

Q.  We know you’ve also done some work on the show “Big Love,” what is it about the show that keeps viewers tuning in?

A.  I just did the first episode of the second season, I just shot that about a week ago.  I think that’s about all I’ll be able to do because of my contractual agreement with NBC.  That was a great experience, that was a lot of fun to do, that’s another great cast.  I guess I just really lucked out the past few years!  The world that the characters are in, it’s so crazy, I guess it’s shocking I suppose.  I think they succeed because in the beginning it’s not just about the fact that the guy has three wives and how titillating and bizarre that is.  It’s about the nuts and bolts of having three house payments, having three car payments, and just the mundane aspect.  How it affects the mundane aspects of life, I think that’s what is so successful about the show.  Of course there is just that odd drama with Harry Dean Stanton and that whole clan.  They’ve got those great HBO shows that’s got those comedy and creepiness, it just keeps changing up, it’s always interesting every episode. 

Q.  What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

A.  Well, I’ve been doing a lot of writing.  I wrote a pilot for NBC last year and I’m writing now a movie for a guy who does children’s music and he is putting out a DVD.  I am working with him, we’re collaborating on his first feature length DVD for his music.  Then, I’m writing a feature with another friend of mine, I’ve always done that though.  That was sort of the thing that I had imagined I would be doing out here.  But, now I am doing a lot more writing and I do that mostly when I’m not working.  But, the great thing about working is that being on the job, there is so much down time.  I get to work, like all actors, sitting in their trailer with their laptops writing their next Slingblade or whatever it is. 

Q.  What would you like to say to your fans and supporters?

A.  Thank you, keep watching and I’ll take all suggestions.  Watch “Studio 60,” I think you’re really going to enjoy it.