It is hard to believe that we are nearing the end of the second season of SurrealEstate. With the eve of episode eight approaching, we here at Stay 2uned figured what better time to post our surprise interview with the man, the myth, the legend – Mr. George R. Olson. For those of you who may not know – Mr. Olson is the creator/showrunner of this insanely brilliant show. Returning briefly to the moniker of surprise interview – it was just that.
Initially, we had reached out to the amazing PR team at Syfy, requesting to interview someone behind the scenes with the show to inquire about the otherworldly special effects we have seen these past two seasons. Fast forward to traveling at an altitude of around 33,000 feet, inside of a reliable metal tube with wings – and a chance glance at Outlook…
The rest, as they say, is history.
Please enjoy our exclusive interview with Mr. George R. Olson and don’t forget, SurrealEstate airs Wednesday nights at 10:00 PM EST/9:00 PM CST on Syfy. Special thanks to Mr. Olson and everyone at Syfy/NBC Universal.
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Stay2uned: Transitioning from the first to second season of SurrealEstate – was there a certain
direction you wanted the show go?
George R. Olson: “As happy as I was with our first season, you always see things you want to develop and improve. Having created these characters, I very much wanted to reveal more about them; their backstories, their flaws, their fears. Luke is such a great guy, and Tim Rozon has imbued him with so many fine qualities, I really put him up in a tree and threw rocks at him at the end of Season One.
Here’s a guy who has never really been alone his whole life–he’s always had the voices and the entities that only he can see and speak with–and at the end of Episode 110 he’s broken up with his girlfriend Megan, the voices are gone, even his departed dad is no longer around to talk to. And perhaps worst of all, the very powers that made it possible for him to serve his unique niche of the real estate market are gone. So, I wanted to explore how Luke reacts to all that, and how it affects the rest of the agency staff.
The other goal I had for Season Two was that I wanted to get a bit scarier; not with a lot of blood and guts, but with more tension and some creepier “barriers to a sale.”
S2: With that direction in mind – did you and the rest of the creative team set boundaries early on regarding the use of special effects?
George R. Olson: “The terrific movies and tv shows in our genre have made audiences into “special effects connoisseurs;” they know good stuff when they see it, and they know the other stuff too. I’d define our “boundaries” as a balancing act between meeting that goal I mentioned above–making our show scarier–and not doing things that we could not afford to do well. Achieving that balance takes a special kind of collaboration between the writers, directors, special effects and visual effects specialists.
Writing the show, we need to pick our fights wisely…every episode can’t have a blockbuster FX sequence. There’s just not the money for that, and if you push it too far, you start getting the phenomenon that I call “seeing the zipper on the monster;” special effects that look cheap because, well, they are cheap. So fairly early on, we have to identify those sequences and characters and set pieces that give us the biggest bang, and then make sure we use our resources wisely so we can afford to do them right.”
S2: In a given episode, how much is a practical effect vs a “special” effect?
George R. Olson: “In our parlance, SFX or “special effects” are those that are achieved on-set, in camera. We always love to do things practically because they are often less expensive and can look more organic than VFX, those visual effects that are done digitally in post-production. Often, some of the very best sequences and creatures and moments end up being a combination of the two; a close collaboration of both approaches.“
S2: What has been yours and the creative team’s inspiration behind these incredible visual effects on the show?
George R. Olson: “I’m proud to say that we’ve ruthlessly stolen from an endless variety of fine films and tv shows in the horror genre. One of our first shots in the Season One pilot was an homage to a classic shot in “The Exorcist.” I’m also a huge fan of the old Hammer films featuring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. We love to drop in little nods to these classics in our episodes. Our executive producer/director Danishka Esterhazy is such a student of the genre and brings an extraordinary awareness and love of these classic scenes.”
S2: Is there a particular movie or television show that helped inspire said visual effects?
George R. Olson: “As mentioned above, we’ve been inspired by so many horror films; from The Haunting and Poltergeist, to The Horror of Dracula and The Exorcist. For example, in a recent episode we used a practical effect that was made famous in The Nightmare on Elm Street. Fans will know what I’m talking about; incidentally, that’s one of the really fun things about doing these kinds of homages. Our fans are so well versed in these movies, they spot them right away. It’s like a secret handshake we share.“
S2: What is the process for setting up and filming a heavy special/practical effects scene?
George R. Olson: “It’s totally collaborative; our directors work very closely with the whole team to figure out what’s achievable practically, what’s going to work best digitally. Everyone is engaged; camera, wardrobe, makeup, stunts, production design, SPFX. Will Hapgood, our key special effects guy in Seasons One and Two, passed away not long after we wrapped in December. Just a devastating loss of a wonderful guy whose great work is all over our show.
If the scene involves prosthetics, we work with an amazing partner in Black Spot FX, who created some of our coolest entities working closely with makeup. If we’re going to be integrating VFX in post-production, we’ll usually have a specialist on-set to make sure we’re capturing the images in a way they can work with. Then, weeks or months later, the folks at Ghost VFX create the final sequences; either enhancing what’s there or creating something new and terrifying.”
S2: Is there anything that you can or would like to tease about the remainder of the season?
George R. Olson: “All I can say is that from a SFX and VFX standpoint, we saved the best for last.“