"We Really Wanted the Locals to See How Bad the Movie Was Going To Be" - An Interview with Invasion Iowa Editor and Producer Paul Coyne

Pre-Show:

Brian: You’ve produced or edited a lot of reality shows like Big Brother, The Amazing Race, Survivor, The Bachelor and Average Joe, as well as documentaries and movies. What is different about a show like Invasion Iowa or Joe Schmo?

Paul: I love comedy and I love demonstrating the heart in people. On Big Brother I usually cut a lot of the humorous or sentimental pieces.

One assumption that a lot of viewers have about reality shows is that so much of what they see is fabricated with editing, and that’s just not true. There is a pretty strict unwritten rule that though an editor may focus storylines or center on more interesting characters, an editor can never change the intent of those characters or change their words. These are real people with real lives, and the people who work on these shows are always aware of this.

With shows like Schmo and Invasion, there is a great collide of fiction and non-fiction. Since we have actors involved, we can exaggerate the actors through editing as much as we would on a sitcom. We also can do things like put Bill’s motivational tape under Scotty driving because it doesn’t demean Scotty as a real person. When we do moments of satire like that, it has to be an obvious satire.

I couldn’t do what I do if it was dishonest.

Brian: Were you involved in the hiring of cast from Hollywood?

Paul: Rhett {Reese} and Paul {Wernick, co-creators and writers} are masters at casting. They need no help from me!

I went straight from working with Rhett and Paul on Joe Schmo 2 to producing Big Brother 5, and when you work on a network show that airs three nights a week, sometimes live, there isn’t time for a lot of extra tasks. It was even an imposition on my time to have regular bowel movements.

While Rhett and Paul were casting, I was primarily assembling the Post-Production team for Iowa. Based on the show’s premise and intent, we were able to get a great staff together, and we chose them not only for their skill but also for their hearts, which was going to be such an important part of the show. I think that was true of the entire cast and crew.

Brian: Were there any “Trekkie/Trekker” moments when you first met William Shatner?

Paul: One of my favorite experiences during pre-production was being enlisted to play a “Townie Punk” in an improv opposite Bill Shatner. I will admit to suddenly having an out of body experience acting opposite the Captain. I have two friends who are huge Trek fans (they recently got married with the Star Trek theme as their wedding processional) and because of secrecy, I couldn’t tell them anything about it. However, on set, Bill was nice enough to record a wedding greeting for them.

Originally Leonard Nimoy was to join Bill for the first few days but he got sick just before we were to leave for Iowa. The plan was that he and Bill would get into an argument over Bill’s insistence that Leonard put on the pointy ears. Leonard would refuse and Scotty would become the intermediary. Finally, Leonard would agree to do the scene but only with a long pointy nose.

Brian: Were you involved in the hiring of cast in Invasion Iowa? Are you one of the people at the casting table?

Paul: I never get to sit at the grownup table!

Two of our writer/producers, J. Holland Moore and Andrew Green, were our first wave of covert operatives. They attended Riverside’s Trekfest last June, posing as location scouts for a potential film. Their mission was to learn about the key locations in town, as well as discover some of the more colorful people. It didn’t take long for them to find our hero, Scotty Riggan, or Mayor Poch and Jerry Murphy, of Murphy’s Bar fame, or the hub of the town, the Kwik ‘n’ EZ. That’s where they first encountered Riverside’s most powerful raccoon penis. Auditions would be when we would find most of our cast.

Casting the locals was a fun experience, but also a stressful one. When casting reality shows, you usually go through a lengthier process. You review submissions, consider interesting combinations of personalities, look for outgoing people and cast identifiable characters.

Brian: The casting for Invasion Iowa was much briefer time period than for other shows, right?

Paul: For Invasion Iowa, we had scheduled about two hours of auditions to cast the locals for the entire series. Bill was very generous and refused to stop until he had seen every person who was there to audition, so it went much longer. He’s a trooper. Sixteen-hour days at age 73 and he never let up.

While the auditions were happening, a video feed was beamed up to the production trailers, (which were located across the street from St. Mary’s Church). We watched as locals strutted their stuff and it was an impressive showing!!! Along with Rhett, Paul, and the rest of us, Peilin Chou from SpikeTV was also on hand.

Some were instant hits. I was a big champion for Wayne Simon right off the bat. He was obviously salt of the earth, and a guy with great dignity – the definitive Iowan. Plus he looks so dashing in his overalls.

After auditions, Rhett, Paul, Peilin and Bill met in Bill’s trailer and had to choose our cast in about 20 minutes. It just goes to prove what I’ve always believed – every person is an epic waiting to be unveiled. I don’t think we could have gone wrong choosing any of the people who auditioned.