Well, this was simply a joy.
Thank you , , , , and many others for tuning into my live video with Neighbors co-directors and .
We began the conversation by unpacking an incredible connection we only recently uncovered: the seed of Neighbors was actually planted way back in 2019 when I dropped in a class Harrison was taking at Borscht Corp (Dylan was the instructor). I gave them a found footage exercise to do. And this, I recently learned, was how they discovered the existence of “neighbor dispute YouTube.” Isn’t that so cool!?
And whaddayaknow: that exact exercise I gave them, you can actually do yourself on Skillshare!!! I really should working up a cool Canva graphic right now that would say something like, “Take the class that inspired the hit show Neighbors!”
A few other notes from this wonderful conversation:
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The 2011 John Jeremiah Sullivan essay about the post-show lives of reality TV stars is “Leaving Reality”.
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Dylan’s documentary viewing recommendations were Life of Crime (I had never heard of this before but it was directed by doc legend Jon Alpert!) and Small Town Ecstasy (which also sounds wild).
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Fascinating to learn that Episode 3 was actually the pilot.
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“We just wanted to prove we could do this thing”
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“I’m always looking for something that is both the most real and the most funny”
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Comps: How To With John Wilson and Cops.
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I teased out every alternate-reality version of this show I could think of: the basic cable clip-show version, the true crime version, the “therapeutic reality tv” version…
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Is this a show that literally could only exist on HBO???
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Their answer to the “freak show” criticism is pretty interesting. People are talking about it on Instagram, including Danny, the star of the final episode. Danny is in the comments, people!!!
Until later,
Penny
