Making “Girls5eva”: How Peacock Comedy Returns With More Crazy Songs and Costumes

Making “Girls5eva”: How Peacock Comedy Returns With More Crazy Songs and Costumes

In the second season of Peacock’s girls 5 eves, a named girl group has bigger plans for a united musical action: a new album. Now that they’ve finally found the superstar they couldn’t capture in their youth, the four – Sarah Barrel’s Dawn, Renee Ellis Goldsbury Wick, busy Phillips Summer and Paula Pellie Gloria – have shifted into “album mode” with new aspirations. (or maybe brag).

The potential of Girls5eva’s new album was also an exciting prospect for creator and showman Meredith Scardino. “We were trying to do the math,” he remembers composing the season in the Writers’ Room. “What scale of the album did you manage to produce?” The band’s professional limitations created a comical premise: the band begins a second season with a subscription to Property Records, owned by Drew and Jonathan Scott. property brothers glory. (Says General Z employee: “Rihanna is in a mattress space, Reese makes motorcycles, Bobby Flame draws an eyebrow pencil line for red-haired guys… he does what he wants, why not Property Brothers?”) And he does. records an album in six weeks, which puts songwriter Dawn in immediate trouble as she tries to come up with music and lyrics.

Girls5eva with four choreographers Sarah Jenkins reprises her performance at the Property Records talent show. “Everyone is getting their own arcs this season,” says Scardino, who adds that when they wrote the album, the writers loved how the characters differed from one another. “They’re doing it on their own terms now.”
Heidi Gutman / Peacock

Art imitated life when Scardino and the group of songwriters started to think about what the band’s songs would be. It’s a hot sister track where Girls5eva leaves her greedy manager Larry Plum. Another highlight is “BPE”, an amplified ballad in which the ladies pride themselves on their “big bud energy”. Scarino says the last one almost made it girls 5 evesThe first season ended with a four-star performance in the “4 Stars” created by the Bareilles at the Jingle Ball. “When they make their own album, they can sing ‘BPE,’” he recalls during Cardino’s debut season. “I always have little things I want to do, but I like to keep them free enough so I don’t close the door on big ideas from the writers’ room or weird things that come up on our plates.”

Filming the second season required some vigilance and inclination. When the first season is filmed in the first year of the pandemic, in the pre-vaccination, when the headlights s The masks were seen on set: the latest shot against the backdrop of an omicron wave, with the prospect of breaking production. “Our phone books were really just suggestions,” Scardino said with a smile, noting that the preparation and filming of the two episodes brought “convenience” to the production. “I’ve always said, ‘I’m not going to let obstacles that come our way be an excuse for not being able to remove them,’” Scardino added. “Our team was amazing and everyone was equal. created fun, SNLAs energy: there was a lot of emotion in the air.

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Scarino and Gatewood on set.
Heidi Gutman / Peacock

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Dawn de Bareilles has her own style path as she embodies her inner “BPE” and works to establish herself as a professional songwriter.
Zach Dilgard / Peacock

Production designer Milen Santos wanted to start a second season, as he had previously been the show’s artistic director. “I was very excited to start designing a recording studio,” he says. THR, noted that his research into the design of acoustic amplifier spaces allowed him to play with angles and textures. The sleek, modern office of Land Records had large blocks of stained glass covered in colored gel, disguised in a room adjacent to the Art Department office. The office’s exciting and lively decor was inspired by Santos’ research into budding office spaces. “The more realistic the place looks, the more authentic and convincing it is, which avoids absurd humor,” he says.

Costume designer Matthew Hemesati says he was a huge fan of the show before signing on for season two. “Of course, Vicki was the most exciting for me and also the scariest,” he says. “How do you cross the line between fairy tale and tragedy?”

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Gatewood (center) with Sarah Barrel (left) and Renee Elise Goldsbury with Dawn and Wickie, respectively. “I don’t think we have to go too far,” says Hemesati Vick of Strange Fashion Choices. “Rene and I had a really good collaboration and I started throwing more crazy stuff at him.
Zach Dilgard / Peacock

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In the second summer season, she divorces her influential husband (played by Andrew Ranels) and costume designer Hemesati says her fashion ranges from “Barbie doll to housewife”.
Heidi Gutman / Peacock

For the Girl5eva member, who is the least grounded in reality, Goldsbury’s character gave Hemesat plenty of room to play at a graceful pace: “The idea is that I have a collection of expensive items left over from the pop star days, Enter looking like a discount store.” For one of Vicky’s appearances, she wore a $5 Comme des Garçons jacket from a farm shop. “It’s fun to see what Matthew and his team think, because it’s really superfluous,” said Scardino, who remembers having first seen Goldsbury in a red off-the-shoulder top and jeans. Sometimes I thought, ‘Is this really what Vicky wears in the morning? But he sees it all as an opportunity to show the world his greatness.”

Hemesat says current trends are shifting to “neutral and earthy tones, sad pastels and casual wear” that don’t match the tone of the show. “I want true color and happiness,” she says, adding that she often finds clothes from online retailers like The RealReal. “We are reusing elements that already exist and that fit the budget and the show. Our industry generates a lot of waste, so repetitive clothes are perfect for both the characters and our planet. ”

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Costume designer Matthew Hemesati, who joined the production on the second season, says 269 costume changes were made for just four lead actors.
Heidi Gutman / Peacock

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Directed by John Inwood on set. Showrunner Meredith Scardino said the crew should have felt comfortable as the second season was primarily filmed in the fall of Omicron Wave 2021. “Our phone books were really just suggestions,” she jokes.
Zach Dilgard / Peacock

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Directed by Kim Gatewood (right) with Pell and Jenny Britto, Pell’s real wife, who plays Gloria’s ex-wife on the show.
Scott Grace / Peacock

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Scardino (left) is led by Alex Hazen Floyd, who plays Co-Z Boy.
Heidi Gutman / Peacock

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Developer and showman Meredith Scardino (right) with Gatewood, who directed four episodes in two seasons.
Zach Dilgard / Peacock

The story first appeared in a separate June issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

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