How ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Got the Bodies in the Coffin on Time

After its Season 6 bid finale, “What We Do In The Shadows” has gone to its eternal reward — streaming connected Disney+ and Hulu — but nan accomplishment of this half-hour vampire sitcom deserves to beryllium exhumed astatine slightest 1 much time. “Shadows” is thing of a chimera, blending nan trappings of an eager genre portion pinch pleasingly wide drama instincts and a mockumentary style that requires each nan sets, stunts, costumes, and ocular cues to slay thing excessively subtle. Getting that operation to activity astatine all, fto unsocial activity good connected a TV drama schedule, required occult powers from each section and head connected nan show. 

Yana Gorskaya has been successful nan director’s chair nan astir of anyone connected “What We Do In The Shadows,” for 22 episodes including classics for illustration “On The Run” and astir of nan ones that play pinch nan show’s format for illustration “Go Flip Yourself,” arsenic good arsenic nan bid finale, “The Finale.” But she’s thing of a chimera, too, pinch editing credits connected 33 episodes of “Shadows,” including its pilot, arsenic good arsenic nan 2014 Taika Waititi movie that inspired nan series. 

Gorskaya told IndieWire connected an section of nan Filmmaker Toolkit podcast that erstwhile she was starting her career, directing didn’t look for illustration thing that was feasible while besides having a family, but successful Season 2 of “What We Do In The Shadows,” nan timing was right. And having nan acquisition of wherever things request to extremity up successful post-production, particularly for a bid pinch truthful galore moving parts — not to mention assemblage parts — was immensely helpful. 

“Every head should person to edit, peculiarly a show for illustration ‘Shadows,’ which is unshootable,” Gorskaya told IndieWire connected an section of nan Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “We are a show that does stunts and gags and prosthetics, and our schedule isn’t that overmuch longer than a regular TV single-camera comedy. Our last season, we had 5 and a half days per episode, which felt really cush.” 

That mongrel operation of truthful overmuch (fake) blood, monsters, puppets, arsenic good arsenic temporarily transformational trips to cult wellness centers and/or sirens nests successful nan mediate of nan Hudson and/or “Rear Window” parodies crossed nan thoroughfare successful Staten Island, is rather simply much than astir drama bid want to handle, cushy 5 time shooting schedules aliases not. The ambition of nan show was portion of nan joyousness of it, though. 

“Shadows was a very elastic show successful nan champion way. You person this type that nan writers wrote, and past you person this type that you’ve pictured based connected what they wrote, and past nan formed is bringing you thing wholly different. The play betwixt that is wherever this really magical alchemy of thing awesome comes together,” Gorskaya said. 

Still, while nan drama mightiness beryllium unsubtle, nan margins for achieving that drama could beryllium incredibly fine. “I deliberation there’s really a very bad type of this show that is done connected a regular TV schedule,” Gorskaya said. “There are galore elements that make it wonderful, but 1 of nan elements [is] nan spit polish that goes into it post. Just this meticulous — I mean, we frame-fuck nan hellhole retired of it. Like, nan quality betwixt a difficult laughter and a soft laughter tin beryllium a frame. And we’ll play pinch that until we consciousness for illustration we’ve sewage that equilibrium precisely right.” 

‘What We Do In The Shadows’ Russ Martin/FX

Having six seasons to play pinch that equilibrium is arsenic overmuch of a gift successful nan modern streaming scenery arsenic was nan rich | genre drama setting. The finale, which contains aggregate parody endings and a throwback documentary conception changeable connected 16mm film, is thing “Shadows” couldn’t person done without building up nan formed and crew’s shared connection and moving relationships.

“We did a ‘Shadows’ record, which was a 16-page time successful nan [main] location truthful we could claw backmost different time [to do nan parodies],” Gorskaya said of shooting nan ‘regular’ worldly successful nan finale. “That could not person happened isolated from possibly successful nan last play because everybody was conscionable truthful connected their game.’” 

To its awesome credit, portion of “What We Do successful nan Shadows” crippled is simply a changeless play pinch parodies and weird, large swings that besides make doing a marathon of ‘regular’ worldly adjacent impossible. The finale besides featured a Maysles-esque aged footage  — this isn’t nan Vampire Residence’s first clip being nan taxable of a documentary bid — which allowed Gorskaya to do thing she’d wanted to do connected nan show for a while: sprout an “archival” film. 

“I deliberation it was astir apt nan first clip not a azygous 1 of nan formed members collapsed erstwhile arsenic we were shooting. They were truthful on. Not a hit missed. We really sewage that astir apt successful 1 take,” Gorskaya said. “A number of our younger camera people, for illustration our 2nd ACs, had ne'er worked pinch 16mm. So location was this infinitesimal of conscionable awe pinch them connected set, handling nan movie banal and having to alteration reels for nan first clip successful their lives, and being trained by immoderate of our much seasoned camera crew. There was this benignant of hanging down of a tradition. Everyone felt almost for illustration we were successful church.” 

‘What We Do In The Shadows’ Russ Martin/FX

The religion of “What We Do In The Shadows” is surely a acheronian and joyous one, because everyone committed nan clip to it. We whitethorn not get specifically a vampire drama again for a while, but different bid tin and should study what’s imaginable erstwhile they conflict for nan abstraction to get a show right. Gorskaya credits a batch of its occurrence pinch fighting for much station clip successful nan first season. 

“ Normally, editors’ cuts, you’d get 4 days,” Gorskaya said. “They’ve fixed america importantly much clip than a modular tv station schedule.  We don’t really commencement turning successful episodes until aft we wrap accumulation because accumulation is truthful intensive. [So] we get each nan clip successful accumulation and past an further week aliases 2 weeks per section earlier we person to move successful thing to anybody.” 

One point that taking nan clip successful nan edit has helped Gorskaya pinch arsenic a head is having a consciousness of a much analyzable picture. “One point that did hap to maine [is] I had a batch much sympathy for board than I did arsenic an editor. I yet understood conscionable really galore variables you’re juggling and truthful I conscionable gave group a batch much grace aft directing myself,” Gorskaya said. 

Sometimes, you person to beryllium turned. But erstwhile connected nan different broadside of nan divide, nan unthinkable vampiric and/or directorial powers tin commencement to flow. “I wasn’t judge if I had done a bully occupation [directing] until I sewage backmost into station and was moving pinch my dailies, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is good. I didn’t miss this. This is wonderful. I tin do this,” Gorskaya said. 

All episodes of “What We Do In The Shadows” are now streaming connected Hulu. To hear Yana Gorskaya’s full interview, subscribe to the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast on Apple, Spotify, aliases your favourite podcast platform.