Liz Tigelaar Reveals Favorite "American Dreams" Moment - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

JamesG · 06-13-2015, 02:38 AM

The first thing that pops into my mind is a scene that took place in the first episode of television I’d ever written alone. The show was "American Dreams" and I was still the writers assistant at the time. I’d been generously given a script to write and a character called the Overdancer, created in a previous episode by Becky Hartman Edwards, was making an appearance. He was a regular on American Bandstand and Meg — our lead, played by Brittany Snow — had the unfortunate distinction of having to dance with him.

I needed to come up with a weird dance for him to do and I thought back to a dance that my nine roommates and I always used to do in college: The Shower Dance. It’s where one person gets in the middle and pretends to take a shower, while everyone around them holds their arms up, wiggles their fingers, and pretends to be the water.

On the day we shot it, I had to go down to set to show Britt, the Overdancer, and the choreographer, Michelle, exactly how the dance was supposed to be done. When they did the first take, the Overdancer started yelling at Meg to “Be the water! Be the water!” as she looked on confused and uncomfortable and as soon as the director, Randy Zisk, yelled cut, the entire crew broke into applause.

It was such a cool moment because it felt like something unique to my life had been infused into this episode and made better by everyone participating… and from that episode, I was placed on the staff of "American Dreams" — my first full-time writing job.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jarettwiesel...uff#.mfgXNnGBY

CLevPlus · 06-14-2015, 02:01 PM

That was quite an achievement for Ms. Tigelaar on "American Dreams", wasn't it? That was a job well done by her!

06-13-2015, 02:38 AM	#1
JamesG Freakshow Moderator Forum Icon Join Date: Feb 01, 2008 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 57,159	Liz Tigelaar Reveals Favorite "American Dreams" Moment The first thing that pops into my mind is a scene that took place in the first episode of television I’d ever written alone. The show was "American Dreams" and I was still the writers assistant at the time. I’d been generously given a script to write and a character called the Overdancer, created in a previous episode by Becky Hartman Edwards, was making an appearance. He was a regular on American Bandstand and Meg — our lead, played by Brittany Snow — had the unfortunate distinction of having to dance with him. I needed to come up with a weird dance for him to do and I thought back to a dance that my nine roommates and I always used to do in college: The Shower Dance. It’s where one person gets in the middle and pretends to take a shower, while everyone around them holds their arms up, wiggles their fingers, and pretends to be the water. On the day we shot it, I had to go down to set to show Britt, the Overdancer, and the choreographer, Michelle, exactly how the dance was supposed to be done. When they did the first take, the Overdancer started yelling at Meg to “Be the water! Be the water!” as she looked on confused and uncomfortable and as soon as the director, Randy Zisk, yelled cut, the entire crew broke into applause. It was such a cool moment because it felt like something unique to my life had been infused into this episode and made better by everyone participating… and from that episode, I was placed on the staff of "American Dreams" — my first full-time writing job. http://www.buzzfeed.com/jarettwiesel...uff#.mfgXNnGBY

06-14-2015, 02:01 PM	#2
CLevPlus Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Nov 07, 2012 Location: Deerfield, NH Posts: 21	That was quite an achievement for Ms. Tigelaar on "American Dreams", wasn't it? That was a job well done by her!