June 8, 2021 • 33 mins
Welcome to Season 3!!! (Whaaaaat!?? Can you believe?!) This season we’re focusing on something that’s near and dear to our hearts: the arts industry. We’re kicking off with a bang and Frank Harts is a barrel of laughs. He just completed two seasons as series regular on the hit show Prodigal Son for Fox/Warner Brothers Television. Raised in the Midwest, Frank is of mixed heritage with Southern roots on the African-American side and Brooklyn roots on the Irish side. Frank went directly from training at Juilliard onto Broadway as George Murchison in the Tony Award-winning production of A Raisin in The Sun. He has also performed leading roles for The Public Theater, Signature, and Lincoln Center. On-camera, Frank has worked with notable film directors Spike Lee, Jason Bateman, Jim Jarmusch, Steve McQueen, and Kenneth Branagh. Prior to his series regular role on Prodigal Son, Frank recurred or guest-starred on Billions, The Americans, The Leftovers, Blue Bloods, Bull, 30 Rock, and Master of None in the critically-acclaimed episode, “New York, I Love You.”
In this episode we talk about what it’s like being on television and having the industry shut down mid-season and (alternatively) what was it like to return to set mid-pandemic? What is it like to play a cop on TV during an age where we're we're in serious need of police reform — it’s encouraging to know they're having the hard conversations behind the scenes.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Caroline Amos (00:00):
Hi, I'm Caroline Amos.
Raymond McAnally (00:01):
And I'm Raymond McAnally.
Caroline Amos (00:03):
And we are Fatigued (Laughter)
all right, this is always thehardest part in figuring out how
to start the damn thing. Frank,how are you today?
Frank Harts (00:21):
I'm excellent. How are you?
Caroline Amos (00:24):
I'm good. I've got a fever because I got my
second vaccine yesterday, so I'mcranky, but I'm happy to be
here.
Frank Harts (00:30):
I thought I heard something in your voice.
gratulations By the way, thankyou so much, Ray. How you doing?
Raymond McAnally (00:36):
I'm good man.
I'm vaxed and wax like we saidbefore (laughter) We're on a
cross country road trip rightnow. I guess by the time this
airs will have been done with itby a couple of weeks. But yeah,
we're on a 18 day road tripacross the country. And back.
Frank Harts (00:53):
Are you in Texas right now? Or?
Raymond McAnally (00:55):
We're in Texas, and then we head on to
Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio,and then back across Rocky
Mountains and all of that.
Frank Harts (01:05):
New York?
Raymond McAnally (01:06):
No, not this time. New York would take like
three weeks to see everybody wewill get there. Yeah,
Caroline Amos (01:16):
just three weeks, yeah. Frank, can you give us a
brief introduction of who youare and what you do?
Frank Harts (01:23):
Well, yeah, I mean, brief, brief, brief. I like that
(laughter). Frank Harts. I'mfrom Illinois. And originally,
but now I'm officiallyunofficial New Yorker because
maybe about a decade ago, theytook my Illinois license and
chopped it up. Born in Illinois,two hours west of Chicago, a
small town called Sterlingrockfalls, slash rockfalls,
(01:46):
little mini Twin Cities right onthe border of Iowa.
Raymond McAnally (01:48):
They love him there. They promote Frank hearts
big time.
Frank Harts (01:54):
They do but not for the same thing. It's mostly just
because of my good cooking. Butoh, he's an actor, too. But,
yeah, so. But yeah, I'm here inNew York. Now we about? Well, a
few months before the pandemickicked off. In 2019. October
(02:20):
2019, we moved up to theWestchester area to Yonkers, New
York. Nice. And I've been hereever since.
Caroline Amos (02:31):
You said you made that move into in 2020. No,
2019, October 2019. More thepandemic kicked. Oh, nice. You
got out just in the nick oftime,
Frank Harts (02:40):
just in the nick of time. And, you know, originally
it was like, it's gonna be justgonna be there for a short while
transition into a house and thenwe're like, the pandemic and
we're not going anywhere. We'renot going to move. And even if
you want to do this marketsinsane. Yeah, no. So but then
then the law, we are back to whoI am. Well, you know, the reason
(03:04):
I came to New York was to go tolaw school called Juilliard to
train as an actor.
Raymond McAnally (03:11):
I've heard of that.
Frank Harts (03:12):
Yeah. Yeah. It's right there next to that school
in Connecticut. Not far fromthat school in Connecticut.
Yeah. All the people who've gota yellow you know, I love like
Bloods and the Crips. It's like,in Connecticut, you mean you
even Yale? I feel them becauseit's like anyway, and when I was
(03:35):
younger, you know, just gettingout it was like when you go to
schools and because I was soproud of it, but it was like you
if you say it with like, fullstrength if you're like, I went
to Juilliard, conceited bastard.
Caroline Amos (03:48):
Fair, it's super.
Frank Harts (03:51):
Yeah, you have to be like a little bit embarrassed
of it, even though I'm sureyou're not embarrassed of it at
all right? There's a questionmark at the end Juilliard. But
now I'm fine with the Juilliard.
Yes, yes. But so yeah, just beendoing the theater while we were
doing the theater thing. Right.
Right for a while.
Raymond McAnally (04:14):
Yeah, that's how Frank and I met in 2008. We
did a show.
Frank Harts (04:19):
Gosh, it was Wow.
somewhere.
Raymond McAnally (04:21):
off off off off off off Broadway. Yes.
Frank Harts (04:24):
We got our union cards. Yeah, we had a good nice.
That was Yeah. And then so thenjumped into the television game
so I could make a little living.
And, you know, about 50 creditson IMDB later. And I'm not even
that old. I have I'm justfinishing up my second season as
(04:47):
a series regular on the showPRODIGAL SON for FOX.
Raymond McAnally (04:53):
Got his series reg! (celebration)
Frank Harts (04:57):
Yes,
Raymond McAnally (04:58):
I had a hilarious conversation. My
sister, and I were catching upon shows we've been watching.
And she was like, Oh, yeah,we're in love with this one
show. And the second seasonsabout to come out. This is a few
months ago. And she was like asa show called prodigal son. And
I was like, Oh, really? So juststarted asking questions. I
didn't tell her anything. Andshe was like, Yeah, really loved
(05:19):
this character, JT. And it wasjust so much fun, because she
had no idea that I knew you. Andit was just awesome to hear her
just kind of like, fan out on onyour show. That's so
Frank Harts (05:33):
cool. Man. That's so cool. I do that to people all
the time with my mask in my headon. Like, yeah, that should
probably go fun. Yeah, tell meabout it. It's me under there.
Raymond McAnally (05:46):
So you're not pulling a Steve Martin. He runs
around with a sign above hishead that says I'm Steve Martin.
Frank Harts (05:53):
but one of the standards did get me a gift of a
parting gift last season. Thatwas that on the shirt. It just
says in giant white letters, Iplay a cop on TV. And I was I've
always been too embarrassed.
That's a little bit too. Andplus, you know, with everything
going on.
Caroline Amos (06:11):
Now, you don't want to be proud of playing a
cop and not not these days. Youknow,
Frank Harts (06:16):
hold on now. I'm proud of playing the kind of cop
that I play. Yeah. But in allseriousness, though, we did have
that conversation between andthis is maybe a different
podcast, but But yeah, we hadthat conversation between season
one and season two, because Iwas sort of waking up in a cold
sweat every now and then, thatsummer after Ford was murdered,
and just thinking, Okay, dude,you are doing anyway to go back
(06:38):
Play, play black cop ontelevision, post Floyd and
Taylor and all the rest. And,you know, what are we going to
do about that, guys? How are wegoing to approach this? And, you
know, they heard me theylistened and they integrated
some things into the storylinethat, you know, I think help at
least kick it off in the rightway. And, you know, it helped me
sleep a little bit better atnight. Knowing that I'm playing.
(07:02):
Okay,
Raymond McAnally (07:02):
that's awesome that you could have that
dialogue.
Caroline Amos (07:04):
Yeah, no kidding.
Yeah. I
Frank Harts (07:06):
mean, you know, we have a dialogue, you know, they
don't have to listen, but wetalked, and they did, you know.
And, you know, it's,
Raymond McAnally (07:17):
well, you had an interesting, and one of the
reasons why we wanted to makesure and get your perspective
was, you know, with this, thiswill come out as part of an
industry series that we're doingis we're trying to get some
different experiences from folkswho've been working during the
pandemic, and you had the firstseason coming out right as the
pandemic started, right.
Frank Harts (07:37):
And brother, we had a, we had a 22 episode order and
got lucky because we made it allthe way to Episode 20. And when
it really hit in mid in midMarch, and so we lost the final
two, but they were able to,since we shot the finale out of
order, because of my proteinschedule, we got lucky. Wow,
we're able to splice it togetherand finish the first season, and
(07:58):
then enter our natural hiatusperiod. But you know, of course,
then we came back a lot laterthan we would have because
everything was on hold. Soinstead of coming back to shoot
in July and premiere in August,we didn't even start shooting
till October. And then wepremiered January of this year.
Raymond McAnally (08:14):
I remember that because because you and
Shelly and me and Whitney, werecatching up on zoom. And you
said you were going into to yourshoot schedule again. And that
was that wasn't even at thebeginning of October. That was
pretty late in October. Yeah.
Remember?
Frank Harts (08:28):
Yeah. Like mid Yeah. Late enough. I mean, the
longer it took, you know, eachday, sort of, because, you know,
I like to, I like to workeverybody, like, you know, a lot
of people enjoy working. And we,as actors, we like to do do do
instead of just sit around anddo other things that aren't
related to our craft. And so Iwant to get back, you know, but
yeah, I didn't feel I felt, youknow, I still felt blessed that
(08:52):
I had a job to look forward to.
I didn't find myself complainingtoo much. And also, you know, as
we all know, we find things thatmatter, matter during that time
off, and we were lucky like forme, I got to spend more quality
time with my son and really bethere for him instead of all
unset all the time and still beable to go back to the job and
(09:12):
always sort of have these likenightmares of like, you know,
what is it really gonna be likewhen we actually start
production back up, you know, ifI would have these nightmares
where I was, like, all alone,like by myself, like, eating
crafting, and like seeing otherpeople walk by, but I couldn't
like get to them, you know,after the cameras were would
(09:34):
roll. And that's exactly what itwas like when we went back.
Caroline Amos (09:40):
Yeah.
Raymond McAnally (09:41):
So tell us a bit about some of that. Like,
because you had the experienceof shooting the first season in
the before times, as I like tocall it and then shooting in,
like, truly still in thepandemic.
Frank Harts (09:55):
Yeah, it was. It I mean, I'm looking for a better
word, but really surreal.
surreal does sum it up becausewe went from and I was looking
at these old photos the otherday from first season we're out
in the streets in New York Citysurrounded by all these crowds
of people watching this film andyou know, asking for, you know,
having conversations and givingautographs and we're eating
(10:18):
craft D just like with no, justopen m&ms on the crafting table.
And you're just reaching thatlicking fingers. Now the m&ms
are individually wrapped. Nowyou're dang near individually
wrapped my phone like you'reembarrassed, it actually helps
me lose a bit of weight becauseI'm afraid that because you have
to ask for everything now.
Raymond McAnally (10:43):
Right now,
Frank Harts (10:43):
if I were to ask for what I used to get, I'd be
like, so yeah, just give me acup. I call it a snack pack. And
what I want you to do is I wantyou to put a couple of those
sweet, efficient, just a few.
And that should do it. Maybe fewjelly beans as well. I don't
need much okay, Captain Crunchin there.
Caroline Amos (11:04):
I love it. It's like the diet. It's like a four
year olds dream diet right their
Frank Harts (11:08):
day and just want you know, my rule was as long as
I can fit in my costume still gofor it. But now, but now you
have to ask. So, you know, yeah,but so the transition was like,
you know, being able to inbetween takes, you know hanging
around each other talk have thatcamaraderie talking about the
(11:28):
same talk about life, talk aboutwhatever, have lunch together
first season, you know, allthese things in the makeup room
and the makeup trailer together.
Now, you're coming back. It's inand it's like, you know, you
show up, you're in, you'rebasically in your room until you
shoot them the hair person comesin their makeup. And then until
you're called to set and you'reon everyone, the crew,
(11:54):
everyone's mashed up your mashedup until they're about to call
action, you know, and then youyou take the the masks off,
shoot the scene and you feeltotally naked those first few
times. Okay, I think this isokay, we're all tested here,
right? I had a rapid and a PCRand all this stuff. And I think
it matters and helps and but whonobody really knows, but we want
(12:14):
to make television. So do thescene, throw your mask back on.
And, you know, they have like acircle of you know, the cast
chair still exists. So you know,they'll have the regular cast,
the regulars cast chairs set up,like spaced out across the room,
you know, like diamond shape.
(12:35):
And so you can like sit thereand kind of feel each other's
presidents and yell across theroom and still chat and talk
with your masks on and take itdown when you want to have a sip
of coffee or something. Youknow, total firstworldproblems
you know, no big deal at all,but just a marked difference
from Yeah, and
Raymond McAnally (12:52):
I don't think I mean, actors understand that.
All that all that time. In thecast chairs sitting next to each
other, you're building rapport,you actually might also be
working on the relationshipsbetween your characters. And it
doesn't seem like you are maybeto someone watching on the
outside, but you're buildingthose relationships. Like for
example, your your team ofdetectives, and you got to you
(13:15):
got to remind yourself all thetime that that team
relationship. And and that'swhat you're also building in all
that what looks like downtime,but it's actually his actors.
Were still working. That'sright. That is so true. Yeah.
Caroline Amos (13:30):
And also imagine that, like when you say bringing
down the mask to do a scene andyou feel like naked, I would
imagine that that would probablybe distracting for the first
couple of takes or so just likethat sort of self awareness of
like, like, Oh, no, I'm doingthe thing I know, we're not
supposed to do even though it'sa safe environment. And we've
all been tested. Have you been?
Have you been worried aboutcatching it in those instances?
Frank Harts (13:52):
Well, I was in the beginning, and then I sort of
became a bit numb to it. Youknow, just it was just like,
because otherwise I'd go alittle crazy. If I'm always
thinking about catching it. Ijust got to the point where I
was like, whatever I mean, I'mdoing everything I can within
the bounds of what I'm allowedto do or what I'm told to do.
And I felt like I was you know,really one of the strangest
(14:15):
things was not even taking themat It was strange taking the
mask off the first time. But itwas even more difficult having
it on and doing the scene forthe first time.
Raymond McAnally (14:25):
So in rehearsal you you kept the mask.
Frank Harts (14:28):
Yeah, we keep we keep you keep the masks on for
her. Oh my God when you comeback in and do the scene without
the mask on. I'm like, that'snot what their face look like
during rehearsal. I didn't knowwhat was going on
Caroline Amos (14:43):
doing two different scenes now.
Frank Harts (14:45):
Director comes in like I need more from you
actually, for this next step.
You can't see what I'm doing.
You can't see me. Really no saidthat to me. They never asked for
more, but I'm saying if theydid, that's what it would have
felt like
Raymond McAnally (14:58):
I was dangerous. asking you for more
Oh, yeah. real small. I'mcurious. So do you remember some
of those? Because you guys wereshooting last fall? Do you
remember some of those testingprotocols? How many times were
you being tested a week?
Frank Harts (15:17):
Yeah, it was the same all throughout the season.
Up until the end, we ended theend of April. Okay. And it was
basically, yeah. And you know,the season isn't over yet. Air
don't finished airing until theend of May. But we were done
shooting end of April. Andbasically up until that moment,
you know, it was it was every,every day you're on set, there's
(15:39):
at least going to be a rapidtest. And there was like a three
day cadence is what they wouldcall it, they call it with the
PCR. And so you do that everyfew days, every three days or
so. And that was everywhere.
That was the show up, you go tothe testing trailer, and you get
your whatever, it's going to bea PCR and a rapid or just a
(16:01):
rapid if that's what you'regetting that day and say hello
to the to the, to the nurses andhave a chat and then roll on out
to the inside to go inside thestudio. Yeah, because you
couldn't technically enter thestudio until you were tested.
And that's good. You know, soyou wait, you know, 10 minutes
(16:21):
or so until you're clear or 15or however long it takes. Wow,
coffee or something.
Raymond McAnally (16:28):
So you're looking at about seven tests a
week.
Frank Harts (16:33):
Yeah. And, you know, the good thing was, is
that was that they didn't itdidn't hurt as bad as I thought
it would it. I know when theyfirst I think we started at the
right time because it nursesfigured out rhythm of you know,
get putting the Q tip up there.
And they have to go so far sohard. And so by the time we came
(16:56):
along, it was
Raymond McAnally (16:59):
Wait, we'll wait wait prank, you know,
that's not supposed to be anal.
Oh, I requested. Nevermind. 2021Let's hear like while you're
taking my tablet, as well.
Frank Harts (17:13):
The liars. And really it had nothing to do. I
was wondering why I don't reallysupposed to be doing a maximum
two tests, but it was alwaysthree.
Caroline Amos (17:23):
Don't you guys remember those, like early days
of testing where they wouldshove it and you could like feel
it tickling your eyeballs inyour brain? You know what I'm
saying? And now it's they'vecalmed down a little bit.
Raymond McAnally (17:34):
Yeah, they just swirl it around for 10
seconds. Yeah.
Frank Harts (17:38):
Rolling around.
It's a light touch to lighttickle. And it feels kind of
fun. If you think about it theright way.
Caroline Amos (17:48):
Okay, okay, we're not gonna go there. No, I was
literally talking about thetechnical, technical mind. I
want to know, is when it comesto like being on set and
everything when it comes tointeracting with other people.
Do you see anything returning tonormalcy? Is anything starting
(18:10):
to relax a little bit? Or arethey still maintaining these
really, really strict standards?
Frank Harts (18:16):
Yeah, I mean, where we left off? I mean, yeah, it
was, you know, you'd have yeteven if you had the vaccine, you
know, you're fully vaccinatedtwo weeks out, you still had to
follow the protocol. And I feellike it will be that way, at
least to the end of you know,this year. And, you know, maybe
(18:36):
they'll do something where,
Raymond McAnally (18:38):
you know,
Frank Harts (18:39):
if you if you're outside, you don't have to wear
the mask or something. Yeah.
Because at this point, it'slike, even if you're outdoors
outside the studio, if you're onthat block, it's overcup you
weren't wearing that mask. Yeah.
You know, and so maybe that'llrelax a bit. Maybe we'll be able
to come back to being in thesame makeup trailer or makeup
(19:03):
room or you know, hang out inbetween takes a different way.
You know, go out to gatheringsagain, have missed Oh, yeah.
Yeah, we got she had a secondseason, man. Oh, gosh, we used
to go to these dinners. And youknow, you get to go out to LA to
(19:24):
the Beverly Hilton for the tgaseand swimming around in that
pool. Even if you're the onlyone in it, and everybody's like
why is that person swimming?
Raymond McAnally (19:34):
So you're in the shot. You're in the we're
interviewing here. Exact
Caroline Amos (19:39):
sir. Why are you wearing a full suit in the pool?
This is an award ceremony.
Exactly. And you won Best asalso in the bull. what's what's
sort of like coming up for you?
Do you have any good plans? Doyou have any like roles or work
you have coming up that you areallowed to share with us?
Frank Harts (20:00):
It's one of those things where it was talking to
my wife about this the otherday, we basically were like, you
know, we're gonna go to like St.
Thomas or we had a Hawaii tripplan for last summer we were to
this summer and they were like,well, we don't want the kid
traveling hours from New York toHawaii with a mask on that
probably won't be fun. And whenwe get there, we had to wear
masks forget it canceled thatstay local us New York beaches,
(20:21):
which, you know, they're fun.
And then, as far as like, work,you know, it's, it's, you know,
I just started with, like, newagents and everything, and
they're great. They're awesome.
But it's like, you know, what dothey do because we don't know
how long the hiatus is gonna be.
We don't know when we're gonnacome back. So it's like, do you
do some theater? That's notreally happening? Do you do so
(20:42):
so I'm in the mix now for like,you know, like the new Noah
bombeck film for the couple ofscenes, you know, like, that I
could do quickly and nice. And,you know, like, you know, going
on in, you know, meeting withfolks about this show p Valley.
I'm stars tomorrow. And youknow, just like just just trying
to figure out if I can fit in aguest spot or a nice Ricker that
(21:04):
can work around the show. Yeah.
Because otherwise, what do youdo you know that you can't
really do anything more than afew months, Max. And so we're
trying to just fit it in wherewe can, because you're I mean,
it sounds like you're becauseyou're doing 22 episodes, you're
pretty much as a six monthsschedule, shooting schedule,
(21:24):
right? Yeah, well, that was thething. COVID Actually, it was
actually still about that evenwhen we chopped it down for
Season One was 22, we'reprobably we're gonna come back
around 22 for season two, butthen it got kept getting pushed
and pushed and pushed. So weended up back down to 13. And so
those all got chopped away. Andthen, or depending on how you
(21:45):
look at it, they've beenreordered 13. And that still
took the same amount of time,because of all the COVID
protocols and people being Oh,wow, you know, oh, we lost a
regular this week or for twoweeks, you know, okay, rewrites,
you know, like, let's move thisepisode, that slot and this to
that episode. And wow,
Caroline Amos (22:07):
I don't think I realized that it was. So it was
it was that malleable that youcould excuse me change it? Like,
Raymond McAnally (22:14):
I don't think they did either. Wow. That's
not, that's not preferred?
Frank Harts (22:19):
No, no, I can imagine they were that because
that is something we know, itjust does not happen that way.
And it had to happen that way,this time, if you want to keep
the show alive. So I'm sure Iknow, the creators and the
writers and everybody, they werelike, Oh, my gosh, what, but
they did it, they made it work.
You don't any lose, you know,you have to kill a lot of your
(22:39):
babies, because you know, youfor lack of a better metaphor,
because you don't have the timeor the person or the space
anymore to do it. And you justtry to find something different
last minute, you know, and makeit work and pull it off, you
know, pulled together we had youknow, Catherine Zeta Jones join
the cast this season. And and,you know, so they had to say So
you not only had not only didyou have COVID, sort of, you
(23:02):
know, messing with scheduling,but then you also had these
great actors who joined likeAlan coming and Catherine zetta,
which added another layer of youknow, trying to fit really great
storyline in for all theregulars, regulars that you
already have. And then thesegreat guest stars that come on
now within 13 episodes, dealingwith people in and out because
(23:24):
of COVID it was just, I couldn'tI mean for them to balance all
those plates in the air likethat. I mean, it's a lot. That's
a lot. I mean, it was likeprobably like 100, you know,
line producers that retired,like, right before the season
after COVID it, you know, I'mnot doing this.
Raymond McAnally (23:44):
That's crazy.
So you had mentioned a littlebit ago about the family. And
I'm curious, you know whatconversations you guys had
about? I've heard a lot offriends who are shooting on
shows say that the safest theyfelt was on set. Did you did you
have any concerns during thepandemic about bringing
something home? Did you feelmore safe? going to set the need
(24:04):
at the grocery store? Were thereany of those kind of
comparisons?
Frank Harts (24:11):
Well, I'm trying to remember back now I never really
I never felt unsafe, but that Ithink that's just my
personality. Anyway, I'm like,uh, you know, like, it was, it
was my time. It's my time. Solike, I did everything I was
supposed to do. And I assumethey were too. So I just yeah, I
(24:33):
mean, if initially, maybe therewas a small bit of anxiety like,
oh, man, what if I catch this orthat? But I could do that
walking down the street. Yep.
Anything so very true. Andactually look at it. It probably
was one of the safest places tobe in the world. Because he had
he had a controlled situationwhere they're testing you all
the time and up and you know,distance and I just yeah, I felt
(24:54):
I felt pretty good. You know,they were like, probably a few
times where I was like, Oh, waita minute, you know, what was
this person? So did they have itor didn't they It was around
them too long. Because the thingis, the way it works is if
someone tests positive andbroken up into zone color zones,
(25:17):
so my color zone was red, that'swhere the series regulars were
the director and like people,makeup, hair, things like that.
So if, excuse me, someone fromhmu test positive, and you know,
the next question is okay, whichseries regular does that person
work with? Mainly, how long werethey around that? You know,
(25:40):
contract duration based? Yeah.
And, you know, so you just, youalways hope that people, you
know, tell the truth, like, Howlong were you clean? How long
were you around? So until thattested positive?
Yeah, I'd probably say no more.
For our our minutes or so.
Raymond McAnally (26:03):
Please don't put me in a cage and lock me
away.
Frank Harts (26:05):
We're still doing the show. Right. But I think
everybody was pretty honestabout it, I'd say and, you know,
then so you know, it's Yeah,it's it was a thing is just,
it's so many, there's so manygray areas. They don't even know
what to say how many feet backwhere you're sitting in the van.
But the driver tested positivein your van, you know, how many
(26:26):
feet? Were you aware how manyinches or whatever? I mean, I
don't I'm not I mean, I'm nomapping petition. But
Caroline Amos (26:32):
we went into acting for a reason that we
don't do math. I don't know.
Raymond McAnally (26:37):
If there's something you can glean from
this podcast, it's that math isnot an act of strux. No, no,
unless it's counting that moneythat I can do.
Frank Harts (26:47):
Yeah. Do you have accountants, so
Raymond McAnally (26:58):
it was great hearing about what life was
like, on on set, you know, I, Iknow a few people who were lucky
enough to be on set throughoutthe pandemic, but I was really
interested in your experience,because you had that all that
time, right before and thenduring. So thank you for, for
(27:20):
sharing that. And I'm so gladyou got through it without any
issues. And that, you know, youfeel safe to keep going. And
hopefully we'll return to somekind of normal. I don't know,
within our lifetimes,
Caroline Amos (27:34):
and you really seem to be making the best of
it, too. And, you know, I cantell that you're still getting,
you're still gleaning a lot fromthe experience. And that gives
me just as fellow actors, itgives us a lot of hope to know
that the good work is stillhappening and continuing.
Frank Harts (27:50):
Yes, it is it really I think everybody should
feel confident that everyoneshould feel confident that the
industry is going strong, andthe protocols are there and what
the work will continue. And, youknow, there'll be hiccups along
the way as we figure this out.
But we wait, we completed aseason of a show. Yeah. You
know, it wasn't easy, but we didit as possible.
Raymond McAnally (28:11):
Yeah. And it sounds like everybody played
ball, you know, everybody was onthe same page, the goal was for
everybody to be working and getthat show accomplished. And so
long as we can do things likethat, I think we'll, we'll
continue to hear successstories,
Frank Harts (28:23):
your Warner Brothers was, you know, they
were excellent at just planningall this impossible stuff and
making our lives as easy andsafe as possible, so that we
could really do the job that wecame to do, which was, you know,
actor, or, you know, whatever,you're supposed to be doing
camera work. Because otherwise,it's like, if you think you
(28:44):
think about it, you're likewe're spending all this energy
doing, you know, it's like 70%of your energy is out the door
by the time you get there fromdealing with all this other
stuff. And it's like, oh, yeah,right, but I'm supposed to be
doing the scene.
Raymond McAnally (28:55):
Right? Well, and and when COVID has nothing
to do with your storyline, soyour character, you've got to be
in your character's mind, whichhas nothing to do with a
pandemic yet. You're you'rewearing a mask during a
rehearsal. Are you supposed toget into character? Yeah, no,
it's true. It's like why is JTcovering his mouth? The entire
(29:19):
album, first of all? It's beenreal fun, guys. Yeah, it's been
awesome. Caroline, do you wantto ask you?
Caroline Amos (29:28):
I do have I like, I have one question we love to
end with and I think we've beentouching on it already. But I
want to know what what gives youhope and what keeps you going
these days?
Frank Harts (29:38):
Oh, man, it may sound cliche, but I don't give
it to the fruity it's my son.
Yeah, no, that's it. I mean,that really is and that was one
of those people to like, beforewe had kids, I was like, give up
my freedom. Oh, hell no. Yo,behind and heavy. But then he
got here and I was like, Youselfish bastard. Like, you know,
(30:00):
like, because the thing is, Iwould say, if you're on the
fence about having children justhave them anyway because you can
least get them up for adoptionif you don't want them. And
then, you know, at least youhave the choice. And so you
know, I'm kidding of course,okay.
Caroline Amos (30:18):
You're fucking hilarious, dude. Yeah, that's
gonna be that's gonna be ourepisode clips that we advertise
this episode. Damn it good. Me,I'll go on Bill Maher. Oh, God,
please don't do that.
Raymond McAnally (30:35):
amount of times. I've been told when
Whitney and I are like, we don'twant to have kids when people
are people just respond withyour thinking about it too much.
Just do it. I really would bebringing a life into this world.
Would you say that aboutmurdering somebody? Like you're
thinking about it, but just takea life. You know?
Frank Harts (30:53):
You can't think about it. You won't do it. Get
advice? don't end up in prisonand don't have good Oh, my God.
But no, I think I think everyoneshould give it a try. You might
like it. And in the end, theyreally are.
Murder again. Are you? I'm gonnaplead the fifth on that one.
I'll let the audience come in.
Let's just say it wasn't murder.
(31:18):
My lawyers over here my ear.
Shut shut. Jim.
You want to I'll take us outright now. Jim knows he's gonna
get extractivism Be quiet. Nolawyer.
But, you know, I say I mean,Hendricks Hendricks has his
name. Yeah. Right. I said he'stwo and a half. He's almost
three, two and three quarters.
And he's just, he's like, heliterally has a spitting image.
(31:41):
And he gives me hope. Becausehere's the thing because he
teaches me so much about myself.
Because, you know, you can hidefrom yourself if you don't have
kids, like, you know, but theylet you know, like, they they
find the weakest link. And justlike, you know, like, just press
on it press on and press on it.
You know, like daddy in thebathroom all the time. Like, I
was just in the reading, youknow, like
Caroline Amos (32:08):
kids calling you out in your IBS isn't? Yeah.
Frank Harts (32:13):
full scale bullshit monitor. Anyway, that yeah,
that's what gives me hope, man.
And just the fact that Well,again, may sound cliche, but
we're alive. Yeah, we're aliveman. In a world in a COVID world
and no, in the world period.
(32:34):
Like we're here. We'rebreathing. We're warm. It's
like, anything we want andnothing could stop us. Master
knows no masks. You know, weonly the only thing that can
stop us is ourselves. You know?
It's like I always tell peoplethere's nothing new under the
sun except you. So go on andfind your signature and run it
until the wheels fall off, baby.
Caroline Amos (33:01):
Hey, this is Caroline. Raymond. Thank you so
much for listening to fatigued
Raymond McAnally (33:05):
from patients to paramedics long haulers to
lessons learned. Sure it's thesame virus but these are very
different stories.
Caroline Raymond (33:13):
If you have a question or a story you'd like
us to address on an episode,please email us at fatigued
podcast@gmail.com that's fitigpu ed podcast@gmail.com. And
don't forget to check us out onFacebook, Instagram, Twitter
clubhouse, right clubhouse. Whatis that? I don't even know. But
whatever it is, we're here tooffer genuine conversations so
(33:35):
we can humanize the issuesurrounding COVID and the
pandemic. These stories deservethe space to be remembered and
we relish the opportunity forconnection in this isolated
time. Perhaps you will to staypositive test negative and
thanks for listening. Bye
Hi, I'm Caroline Amos.
Raymond McAnally (00:01):
And I'm Raymond McAnally.
Caroline Amos (00:03):
And we are Fatigued (Laughter)
all right, this is always thehardest part in figuring out how
to start the damn thing. Frank,how are you today?
Frank Harts (00:21):
I'm excellent. How are you?
Caroline Amos (00:24):
I'm good. I've got a fever because I got my
second vaccine yesterday, so I'mcranky, but I'm happy to be
here.
Frank Harts (00:30):
I thought I heard something in your voice.
gratulations By the way, thankyou so much, Ray. How you doing?
Raymond McAnally (00:36):
I'm good man.
I'm vaxed and wax like we saidbefore (laughter) We're on a
cross country road trip rightnow. I guess by the time this
airs will have been done with itby a couple of weeks. But yeah,
we're on a 18 day road tripacross the country. And back.
Frank Harts (00:53):
Are you in Texas right now? Or?
Raymond McAnally (00:55):
We're in Texas, and then we head on to
Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio,and then back across Rocky
Mountains and all of that.
Frank Harts (01:05):
New York?
Raymond McAnally (01:06):
No, not this time. New York would take like
three weeks to see everybody wewill get there. Yeah,
Caroline Amos (01:16):
just three weeks, yeah. Frank, can you give us a
brief introduction of who youare and what you do?
Frank Harts (01:23):
Well, yeah, I mean, brief, brief, brief. I like that
(laughter). Frank Harts. I'mfrom Illinois. And originally,
but now I'm officiallyunofficial New Yorker because
maybe about a decade ago, theytook my Illinois license and
chopped it up. Born in Illinois,two hours west of Chicago, a
small town called Sterlingrockfalls, slash rockfalls,
(01:46):
little mini Twin Cities right onthe border of Iowa.
Raymond McAnally (01:48):
They love him there. They promote Frank hearts
big time.
Frank Harts (01:54):
They do but not for the same thing. It's mostly just
because of my good cooking. Butoh, he's an actor, too. But,
yeah, so. But yeah, I'm here inNew York. Now we about? Well, a
few months before the pandemickicked off. In 2019. October
(02:20):
2019, we moved up to theWestchester area to Yonkers, New
York. Nice. And I've been hereever since.
Caroline Amos (02:31):
You said you made that move into in 2020. No,
2019, October 2019. More thepandemic kicked. Oh, nice. You
got out just in the nick oftime,
Frank Harts (02:40):
just in the nick of time. And, you know, originally
it was like, it's gonna be justgonna be there for a short while
transition into a house and thenwe're like, the pandemic and
we're not going anywhere. We'renot going to move. And even if
you want to do this marketsinsane. Yeah, no. So but then
then the law, we are back to whoI am. Well, you know, the reason
(03:04):
I came to New York was to go tolaw school called Juilliard to
train as an actor.
Raymond McAnally (03:11):
I've heard of that.
Frank Harts (03:12):
Yeah. Yeah. It's right there next to that school
in Connecticut. Not far fromthat school in Connecticut.
Yeah. All the people who've gota yellow you know, I love like
Bloods and the Crips. It's like,in Connecticut, you mean you
even Yale? I feel them becauseit's like anyway, and when I was
(03:35):
younger, you know, just gettingout it was like when you go to
schools and because I was soproud of it, but it was like you
if you say it with like, fullstrength if you're like, I went
to Juilliard, conceited bastard.
Caroline Amos (03:48):
Fair, it's super.
Frank Harts (03:51):
Yeah, you have to be like a little bit embarrassed
of it, even though I'm sureyou're not embarrassed of it at
all right? There's a questionmark at the end Juilliard. But
now I'm fine with the Juilliard.
Yes, yes. But so yeah, just beendoing the theater while we were
doing the theater thing. Right.
Right for a while.
Raymond McAnally (04:14):
Yeah, that's how Frank and I met in 2008. We
did a show.
Frank Harts (04:19):
Gosh, it was Wow.
somewhere.
Raymond McAnally (04:21):
off off off off off off Broadway. Yes.
Frank Harts (04:24):
We got our union cards. Yeah, we had a good nice.
That was Yeah. And then so thenjumped into the television game
so I could make a little living.
And, you know, about 50 creditson IMDB later. And I'm not even
that old. I have I'm justfinishing up my second season as
(04:47):
a series regular on the showPRODIGAL SON for FOX.
Raymond McAnally (04:53):
Got his series reg! (celebration)
Frank Harts (04:57):
Yes,
Raymond McAnally (04:58):
I had a hilarious conversation. My
sister, and I were catching upon shows we've been watching.
And she was like, Oh, yeah,we're in love with this one
show. And the second seasonsabout to come out. This is a few
months ago. And she was like asa show called prodigal son. And
I was like, Oh, really? So juststarted asking questions. I
didn't tell her anything. Andshe was like, Yeah, really loved
(05:19):
this character, JT. And it wasjust so much fun, because she
had no idea that I knew you. Andit was just awesome to hear her
just kind of like, fan out on onyour show. That's so
Frank Harts (05:33):
cool. Man. That's so cool. I do that to people all
the time with my mask in my headon. Like, yeah, that should
probably go fun. Yeah, tell meabout it. It's me under there.
Raymond McAnally (05:46):
So you're not pulling a Steve Martin. He runs
around with a sign above hishead that says I'm Steve Martin.
Frank Harts (05:53):
but one of the standards did get me a gift of a
parting gift last season. Thatwas that on the shirt. It just
says in giant white letters, Iplay a cop on TV. And I was I've
always been too embarrassed.
That's a little bit too. Andplus, you know, with everything
going on.
Caroline Amos (06:11):
Now, you don't want to be proud of playing a
cop and not not these days. Youknow,
Frank Harts (06:16):
hold on now. I'm proud of playing the kind of cop
that I play. Yeah. But in allseriousness, though, we did have
that conversation between andthis is maybe a different
podcast, but But yeah, we hadthat conversation between season
one and season two, because Iwas sort of waking up in a cold
sweat every now and then, thatsummer after Ford was murdered,
and just thinking, Okay, dude,you are doing anyway to go back
(06:38):
Play, play black cop ontelevision, post Floyd and
Taylor and all the rest. And,you know, what are we going to
do about that, guys? How are wegoing to approach this? And, you
know, they heard me theylistened and they integrated
some things into the storylinethat, you know, I think help at
least kick it off in the rightway. And, you know, it helped me
sleep a little bit better atnight. Knowing that I'm playing.
(07:02):
Okay,
Raymond McAnally (07:02):
that's awesome that you could have that
dialogue.
Caroline Amos (07:04):
Yeah, no kidding.
Yeah. I
Frank Harts (07:06):
mean, you know, we have a dialogue, you know, they
don't have to listen, but wetalked, and they did, you know.
And, you know, it's,
Raymond McAnally (07:17):
well, you had an interesting, and one of the
reasons why we wanted to makesure and get your perspective
was, you know, with this, thiswill come out as part of an
industry series that we're doingis we're trying to get some
different experiences from folkswho've been working during the
pandemic, and you had the firstseason coming out right as the
pandemic started, right.
Frank Harts (07:37):
And brother, we had a, we had a 22 episode order and
got lucky because we made it allthe way to Episode 20. And when
it really hit in mid in midMarch, and so we lost the final
two, but they were able to,since we shot the finale out of
order, because of my proteinschedule, we got lucky. Wow,
we're able to splice it togetherand finish the first season, and
(07:58):
then enter our natural hiatusperiod. But you know, of course,
then we came back a lot laterthan we would have because
everything was on hold. Soinstead of coming back to shoot
in July and premiere in August,we didn't even start shooting
till October. And then wepremiered January of this year.
Raymond McAnally (08:14):
I remember that because because you and
Shelly and me and Whitney, werecatching up on zoom. And you
said you were going into to yourshoot schedule again. And that
was that wasn't even at thebeginning of October. That was
pretty late in October. Yeah.
Remember?
Frank Harts (08:28):
Yeah. Like mid Yeah. Late enough. I mean, the
longer it took, you know, eachday, sort of, because, you know,
I like to, I like to workeverybody, like, you know, a lot
of people enjoy working. And we,as actors, we like to do do do
instead of just sit around anddo other things that aren't
related to our craft. And so Iwant to get back, you know, but
yeah, I didn't feel I felt, youknow, I still felt blessed that
(08:52):
I had a job to look forward to.
I didn't find myself complainingtoo much. And also, you know, as
we all know, we find things thatmatter, matter during that time
off, and we were lucky like forme, I got to spend more quality
time with my son and really bethere for him instead of all
unset all the time and still beable to go back to the job and
(09:12):
always sort of have these likenightmares of like, you know,
what is it really gonna be likewhen we actually start
production back up, you know, ifI would have these nightmares
where I was, like, all alone,like by myself, like, eating
crafting, and like seeing otherpeople walk by, but I couldn't
like get to them, you know,after the cameras were would
(09:34):
roll. And that's exactly what itwas like when we went back.
Caroline Amos (09:40):
Yeah.
Raymond McAnally (09:41):
So tell us a bit about some of that. Like,
because you had the experienceof shooting the first season in
the before times, as I like tocall it and then shooting in,
like, truly still in thepandemic.
Frank Harts (09:55):
Yeah, it was. It I mean, I'm looking for a better
word, but really surreal.
surreal does sum it up becausewe went from and I was looking
at these old photos the otherday from first season we're out
in the streets in New York Citysurrounded by all these crowds
of people watching this film andyou know, asking for, you know,
having conversations and givingautographs and we're eating
(10:18):
craft D just like with no, justopen m&ms on the crafting table.
And you're just reaching thatlicking fingers. Now the m&ms
are individually wrapped. Nowyou're dang near individually
wrapped my phone like you'reembarrassed, it actually helps
me lose a bit of weight becauseI'm afraid that because you have
to ask for everything now.
Raymond McAnally (10:43):
Right now,
Frank Harts (10:43):
if I were to ask for what I used to get, I'd be
like, so yeah, just give me acup. I call it a snack pack. And
what I want you to do is I wantyou to put a couple of those
sweet, efficient, just a few.
And that should do it. Maybe fewjelly beans as well. I don't
need much okay, Captain Crunchin there.
Caroline Amos (11:04):
I love it. It's like the diet. It's like a four
year olds dream diet right their
Frank Harts (11:08):
day and just want you know, my rule was as long as
I can fit in my costume still gofor it. But now, but now you
have to ask. So, you know, yeah,but so the transition was like,
you know, being able to inbetween takes, you know hanging
around each other talk have thatcamaraderie talking about the
(11:28):
same talk about life, talk aboutwhatever, have lunch together
first season, you know, allthese things in the makeup room
and the makeup trailer together.
Now, you're coming back. It's inand it's like, you know, you
show up, you're in, you'rebasically in your room until you
shoot them the hair person comesin their makeup. And then until
you're called to set and you'reon everyone, the crew,
(11:54):
everyone's mashed up your mashedup until they're about to call
action, you know, and then youyou take the the masks off,
shoot the scene and you feeltotally naked those first few
times. Okay, I think this isokay, we're all tested here,
right? I had a rapid and a PCRand all this stuff. And I think
it matters and helps and but whonobody really knows, but we want
(12:14):
to make television. So do thescene, throw your mask back on.
And, you know, they have like acircle of you know, the cast
chair still exists. So you know,they'll have the regular cast,
the regulars cast chairs set up,like spaced out across the room,
you know, like diamond shape.
(12:35):
And so you can like sit thereand kind of feel each other's
presidents and yell across theroom and still chat and talk
with your masks on and take itdown when you want to have a sip
of coffee or something. Youknow, total firstworldproblems
you know, no big deal at all,but just a marked difference
from Yeah, and
Raymond McAnally (12:52):
I don't think I mean, actors understand that.
All that all that time. In thecast chairs sitting next to each
other, you're building rapport,you actually might also be
working on the relationshipsbetween your characters. And it
doesn't seem like you are maybeto someone watching on the
outside, but you're buildingthose relationships. Like for
example, your your team ofdetectives, and you got to you
(13:15):
got to remind yourself all thetime that that team
relationship. And and that'swhat you're also building in all
that what looks like downtime,but it's actually his actors.
Were still working. That'sright. That is so true. Yeah.
Caroline Amos (13:30):
And also imagine that, like when you say bringing
down the mask to do a scene andyou feel like naked, I would
imagine that that would probablybe distracting for the first
couple of takes or so just likethat sort of self awareness of
like, like, Oh, no, I'm doingthe thing I know, we're not
supposed to do even though it'sa safe environment. And we've
all been tested. Have you been?
Have you been worried aboutcatching it in those instances?
Frank Harts (13:52):
Well, I was in the beginning, and then I sort of
became a bit numb to it. Youknow, just it was just like,
because otherwise I'd go alittle crazy. If I'm always
thinking about catching it. Ijust got to the point where I
was like, whatever I mean, I'mdoing everything I can within
the bounds of what I'm allowedto do or what I'm told to do.
And I felt like I was you know,really one of the strangest
(14:15):
things was not even taking themat It was strange taking the
mask off the first time. But itwas even more difficult having
it on and doing the scene forthe first time.
Raymond McAnally (14:25):
So in rehearsal you you kept the mask.
Frank Harts (14:28):
Yeah, we keep we keep you keep the masks on for
her. Oh my God when you comeback in and do the scene without
the mask on. I'm like, that'snot what their face look like
during rehearsal. I didn't knowwhat was going on
Caroline Amos (14:43):
doing two different scenes now.
Frank Harts (14:45):
Director comes in like I need more from you
actually, for this next step.
You can't see what I'm doing.
You can't see me. Really no saidthat to me. They never asked for
more, but I'm saying if theydid, that's what it would have
felt like
Raymond McAnally (14:58):
I was dangerous. asking you for more
Oh, yeah. real small. I'mcurious. So do you remember some
of those? Because you guys wereshooting last fall? Do you
remember some of those testingprotocols? How many times were
you being tested a week?
Frank Harts (15:17):
Yeah, it was the same all throughout the season.
Up until the end, we ended theend of April. Okay. And it was
basically, yeah. And you know,the season isn't over yet. Air
don't finished airing until theend of May. But we were done
shooting end of April. Andbasically up until that moment,
you know, it was it was every,every day you're on set, there's
(15:39):
at least going to be a rapidtest. And there was like a three
day cadence is what they wouldcall it, they call it with the
PCR. And so you do that everyfew days, every three days or
so. And that was everywhere.
That was the show up, you go tothe testing trailer, and you get
your whatever, it's going to bea PCR and a rapid or just a
(16:01):
rapid if that's what you'regetting that day and say hello
to the to the, to the nurses andhave a chat and then roll on out
to the inside to go inside thestudio. Yeah, because you
couldn't technically enter thestudio until you were tested.
And that's good. You know, soyou wait, you know, 10 minutes
(16:21):
or so until you're clear or 15or however long it takes. Wow,
coffee or something.
Raymond McAnally (16:28):
So you're looking at about seven tests a
week.
Frank Harts (16:33):
Yeah. And, you know, the good thing was, is
that was that they didn't itdidn't hurt as bad as I thought
it would it. I know when theyfirst I think we started at the
right time because it nursesfigured out rhythm of you know,
get putting the Q tip up there.
And they have to go so far sohard. And so by the time we came
(16:56):
along, it was
Raymond McAnally (16:59):
Wait, we'll wait wait prank, you know,
that's not supposed to be anal.
Oh, I requested. Nevermind. 2021Let's hear like while you're
taking my tablet, as well.
Frank Harts (17:13):
The liars. And really it had nothing to do. I
was wondering why I don't reallysupposed to be doing a maximum
two tests, but it was alwaysthree.
Caroline Amos (17:23):
Don't you guys remember those, like early days
of testing where they wouldshove it and you could like feel
it tickling your eyeballs inyour brain? You know what I'm
saying? And now it's they'vecalmed down a little bit.
Raymond McAnally (17:34):
Yeah, they just swirl it around for 10
seconds. Yeah.
Frank Harts (17:38):
Rolling around.
It's a light touch to lighttickle. And it feels kind of
fun. If you think about it theright way.
Caroline Amos (17:48):
Okay, okay, we're not gonna go there. No, I was
literally talking about thetechnical, technical mind. I
want to know, is when it comesto like being on set and
everything when it comes tointeracting with other people.
Do you see anything returning tonormalcy? Is anything starting
(18:10):
to relax a little bit? Or arethey still maintaining these
really, really strict standards?
Frank Harts (18:16):
Yeah, I mean, where we left off? I mean, yeah, it
was, you know, you'd have yeteven if you had the vaccine, you
know, you're fully vaccinatedtwo weeks out, you still had to
follow the protocol. And I feellike it will be that way, at
least to the end of you know,this year. And, you know, maybe
(18:36):
they'll do something where,
Raymond McAnally (18:38):
you know,
Frank Harts (18:39):
if you if you're outside, you don't have to wear
the mask or something. Yeah.
Because at this point, it'slike, even if you're outdoors
outside the studio, if you're onthat block, it's overcup you
weren't wearing that mask. Yeah.
You know, and so maybe that'llrelax a bit. Maybe we'll be able
to come back to being in thesame makeup trailer or makeup
(19:03):
room or you know, hang out inbetween takes a different way.
You know, go out to gatheringsagain, have missed Oh, yeah.
Yeah, we got she had a secondseason, man. Oh, gosh, we used
to go to these dinners. And youknow, you get to go out to LA to
(19:24):
the Beverly Hilton for the tgaseand swimming around in that
pool. Even if you're the onlyone in it, and everybody's like
why is that person swimming?
Raymond McAnally (19:34):
So you're in the shot. You're in the we're
interviewing here. Exact
Caroline Amos (19:39):
sir. Why are you wearing a full suit in the pool?
This is an award ceremony.
Exactly. And you won Best asalso in the bull. what's what's
sort of like coming up for you?
Do you have any good plans? Doyou have any like roles or work
you have coming up that you areallowed to share with us?
Frank Harts (20:00):
It's one of those things where it was talking to
my wife about this the otherday, we basically were like, you
know, we're gonna go to like St.
Thomas or we had a Hawaii tripplan for last summer we were to
this summer and they were like,well, we don't want the kid
traveling hours from New York toHawaii with a mask on that
probably won't be fun. And whenwe get there, we had to wear
masks forget it canceled thatstay local us New York beaches,
(20:21):
which, you know, they're fun.
And then, as far as like, work,you know, it's, it's, you know,
I just started with, like, newagents and everything, and
they're great. They're awesome.
But it's like, you know, what dothey do because we don't know
how long the hiatus is gonna be.
We don't know when we're gonnacome back. So it's like, do you
do some theater? That's notreally happening? Do you do so
(20:42):
so I'm in the mix now for like,you know, like the new Noah
bombeck film for the couple ofscenes, you know, like, that I
could do quickly and nice. And,you know, like, you know, going
on in, you know, meeting withfolks about this show p Valley.
I'm stars tomorrow. And youknow, just like just just trying
to figure out if I can fit in aguest spot or a nice Ricker that
(21:04):
can work around the show. Yeah.
Because otherwise, what do youdo you know that you can't
really do anything more than afew months, Max. And so we're
trying to just fit it in wherewe can, because you're I mean,
it sounds like you're becauseyou're doing 22 episodes, you're
pretty much as a six monthsschedule, shooting schedule,
(21:24):
right? Yeah, well, that was thething. COVID Actually, it was
actually still about that evenwhen we chopped it down for
Season One was 22, we'reprobably we're gonna come back
around 22 for season two, butthen it got kept getting pushed
and pushed and pushed. So weended up back down to 13. And so
those all got chopped away. Andthen, or depending on how you
(21:45):
look at it, they've beenreordered 13. And that still
took the same amount of time,because of all the COVID
protocols and people being Oh,wow, you know, oh, we lost a
regular this week or for twoweeks, you know, okay, rewrites,
you know, like, let's move thisepisode, that slot and this to
that episode. And wow,
Caroline Amos (22:07):
I don't think I realized that it was. So it was
it was that malleable that youcould excuse me change it? Like,
Raymond McAnally (22:14):
I don't think they did either. Wow. That's
not, that's not preferred?
Frank Harts (22:19):
No, no, I can imagine they were that because
that is something we know, itjust does not happen that way.
And it had to happen that way,this time, if you want to keep
the show alive. So I'm sure Iknow, the creators and the
writers and everybody, they werelike, Oh, my gosh, what, but
they did it, they made it work.
You don't any lose, you know,you have to kill a lot of your
(22:39):
babies, because you know, youfor lack of a better metaphor,
because you don't have the timeor the person or the space
anymore to do it. And you justtry to find something different
last minute, you know, and makeit work and pull it off, you
know, pulled together we had youknow, Catherine Zeta Jones join
the cast this season. And and,you know, so they had to say So
you not only had not only didyou have COVID, sort of, you
(23:02):
know, messing with scheduling,but then you also had these
great actors who joined likeAlan coming and Catherine zetta,
which added another layer of youknow, trying to fit really great
storyline in for all theregulars, regulars that you
already have. And then thesegreat guest stars that come on
now within 13 episodes, dealingwith people in and out because
(23:24):
of COVID it was just, I couldn'tI mean for them to balance all
those plates in the air likethat. I mean, it's a lot. That's
a lot. I mean, it was likeprobably like 100, you know,
line producers that retired,like, right before the season
after COVID it, you know, I'mnot doing this.
Raymond McAnally (23:44):
That's crazy.
So you had mentioned a littlebit ago about the family. And
I'm curious, you know whatconversations you guys had
about? I've heard a lot offriends who are shooting on
shows say that the safest theyfelt was on set. Did you did you
have any concerns during thepandemic about bringing
something home? Did you feelmore safe? going to set the need
(24:04):
at the grocery store? Were thereany of those kind of
comparisons?
Frank Harts (24:11):
Well, I'm trying to remember back now I never really
I never felt unsafe, but that Ithink that's just my
personality. Anyway, I'm like,uh, you know, like, it was, it
was my time. It's my time. Solike, I did everything I was
supposed to do. And I assumethey were too. So I just yeah, I
(24:33):
mean, if initially, maybe therewas a small bit of anxiety like,
oh, man, what if I catch this orthat? But I could do that
walking down the street. Yep.
Anything so very true. Andactually look at it. It probably
was one of the safest places tobe in the world. Because he had
he had a controlled situationwhere they're testing you all
the time and up and you know,distance and I just yeah, I felt
(24:54):
I felt pretty good. You know,they were like, probably a few
times where I was like, Oh, waita minute, you know, what was
this person? So did they have itor didn't they It was around
them too long. Because the thingis, the way it works is if
someone tests positive andbroken up into zone color zones,
(25:17):
so my color zone was red, that'swhere the series regulars were
the director and like people,makeup, hair, things like that.
So if, excuse me, someone fromhmu test positive, and you know,
the next question is okay, whichseries regular does that person
work with? Mainly, how long werethey around that? You know,
(25:40):
contract duration based? Yeah.
And, you know, so you just, youalways hope that people, you
know, tell the truth, like, Howlong were you clean? How long
were you around? So until thattested positive?
Yeah, I'd probably say no more.
For our our minutes or so.
Raymond McAnally (26:03):
Please don't put me in a cage and lock me
away.
Frank Harts (26:05):
We're still doing the show. Right. But I think
everybody was pretty honestabout it, I'd say and, you know,
then so you know, it's Yeah,it's it was a thing is just,
it's so many, there's so manygray areas. They don't even know
what to say how many feet backwhere you're sitting in the van.
But the driver tested positivein your van, you know, how many
(26:26):
feet? Were you aware how manyinches or whatever? I mean, I
don't I'm not I mean, I'm nomapping petition. But
Caroline Amos (26:32):
we went into acting for a reason that we
don't do math. I don't know.
Raymond McAnally (26:37):
If there's something you can glean from
this podcast, it's that math isnot an act of strux. No, no,
unless it's counting that moneythat I can do.
Frank Harts (26:47):
Yeah. Do you have accountants, so
Raymond McAnally (26:58):
it was great hearing about what life was
like, on on set, you know, I, Iknow a few people who were lucky
enough to be on set throughoutthe pandemic, but I was really
interested in your experience,because you had that all that
time, right before and thenduring. So thank you for, for
(27:20):
sharing that. And I'm so gladyou got through it without any
issues. And that, you know, youfeel safe to keep going. And
hopefully we'll return to somekind of normal. I don't know,
within our lifetimes,
Caroline Amos (27:34):
and you really seem to be making the best of
it, too. And, you know, I cantell that you're still getting,
you're still gleaning a lot fromthe experience. And that gives
me just as fellow actors, itgives us a lot of hope to know
that the good work is stillhappening and continuing.
Frank Harts (27:50):
Yes, it is it really I think everybody should
feel confident that everyoneshould feel confident that the
industry is going strong, andthe protocols are there and what
the work will continue. And, youknow, there'll be hiccups along
the way as we figure this out.
But we wait, we completed aseason of a show. Yeah. You
know, it wasn't easy, but we didit as possible.
Raymond McAnally (28:11):
Yeah. And it sounds like everybody played
ball, you know, everybody was onthe same page, the goal was for
everybody to be working and getthat show accomplished. And so
long as we can do things likethat, I think we'll, we'll
continue to hear successstories,
Frank Harts (28:23):
your Warner Brothers was, you know, they
were excellent at just planningall this impossible stuff and
making our lives as easy andsafe as possible, so that we
could really do the job that wecame to do, which was, you know,
actor, or, you know, whatever,you're supposed to be doing
camera work. Because otherwise,it's like, if you think you
(28:44):
think about it, you're likewe're spending all this energy
doing, you know, it's like 70%of your energy is out the door
by the time you get there fromdealing with all this other
stuff. And it's like, oh, yeah,right, but I'm supposed to be
doing the scene.
Raymond McAnally (28:55):
Right? Well, and and when COVID has nothing
to do with your storyline, soyour character, you've got to be
in your character's mind, whichhas nothing to do with a
pandemic yet. You're you'rewearing a mask during a
rehearsal. Are you supposed toget into character? Yeah, no,
it's true. It's like why is JTcovering his mouth? The entire
(29:19):
album, first of all? It's beenreal fun, guys. Yeah, it's been
awesome. Caroline, do you wantto ask you?
Caroline Amos (29:28):
I do have I like, I have one question we love to
end with and I think we've beentouching on it already. But I
want to know what what gives youhope and what keeps you going
these days?
Frank Harts (29:38):
Oh, man, it may sound cliche, but I don't give
it to the fruity it's my son.
Yeah, no, that's it. I mean,that really is and that was one
of those people to like, beforewe had kids, I was like, give up
my freedom. Oh, hell no. Yo,behind and heavy. But then he
got here and I was like, Youselfish bastard. Like, you know,
(30:00):
like, because the thing is, Iwould say, if you're on the
fence about having children justhave them anyway because you can
least get them up for adoptionif you don't want them. And
then, you know, at least youhave the choice. And so you
know, I'm kidding of course,okay.
Caroline Amos (30:18):
You're fucking hilarious, dude. Yeah, that's
gonna be that's gonna be ourepisode clips that we advertise
this episode. Damn it good. Me,I'll go on Bill Maher. Oh, God,
please don't do that.
Raymond McAnally (30:35):
amount of times. I've been told when
Whitney and I are like, we don'twant to have kids when people
are people just respond withyour thinking about it too much.
Just do it. I really would bebringing a life into this world.
Would you say that aboutmurdering somebody? Like you're
thinking about it, but just takea life. You know?
Frank Harts (30:53):
You can't think about it. You won't do it. Get
advice? don't end up in prisonand don't have good Oh, my God.
But no, I think I think everyoneshould give it a try. You might
like it. And in the end, theyreally are.
Murder again. Are you? I'm gonnaplead the fifth on that one.
I'll let the audience come in.
Let's just say it wasn't murder.
(31:18):
My lawyers over here my ear.
Shut shut. Jim.
You want to I'll take us outright now. Jim knows he's gonna
get extractivism Be quiet. Nolawyer.
But, you know, I say I mean,Hendricks Hendricks has his
name. Yeah. Right. I said he'stwo and a half. He's almost
three, two and three quarters.
And he's just, he's like, heliterally has a spitting image.
(31:41):
And he gives me hope. Becausehere's the thing because he
teaches me so much about myself.
Because, you know, you can hidefrom yourself if you don't have
kids, like, you know, but theylet you know, like, they they
find the weakest link. And justlike, you know, like, just press
on it press on and press on it.
You know, like daddy in thebathroom all the time. Like, I
was just in the reading, youknow, like
Caroline Amos (32:08):
kids calling you out in your IBS isn't? Yeah.
Frank Harts (32:13):
full scale bullshit monitor. Anyway, that yeah,
that's what gives me hope, man.
And just the fact that Well,again, may sound cliche, but
we're alive. Yeah, we're aliveman. In a world in a COVID world
and no, in the world period.
(32:34):
Like we're here. We'rebreathing. We're warm. It's
like, anything we want andnothing could stop us. Master
knows no masks. You know, weonly the only thing that can
stop us is ourselves. You know?
It's like I always tell peoplethere's nothing new under the
sun except you. So go on andfind your signature and run it
until the wheels fall off, baby.
Caroline Amos (33:01):
Hey, this is Caroline. Raymond. Thank you so
much for listening to fatigued
Raymond McAnally (33:05):
from patients to paramedics long haulers to
lessons learned. Sure it's thesame virus but these are very
different stories.
Caroline Raymond (33:13):
If you have a question or a story you'd like
us to address on an episode,please email us at fatigued
podcast@gmail.com that's fitigpu ed podcast@gmail.com. And
don't forget to check us out onFacebook, Instagram, Twitter
clubhouse, right clubhouse. Whatis that? I don't even know. But
whatever it is, we're here tooffer genuine conversations so
(33:35):
we can humanize the issuesurrounding COVID and the
pandemic. These stories deservethe space to be remembered and
we relish the opportunity forconnection in this isolated
time. Perhaps you will to staypositive test negative and
thanks for listening. Bye
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