Script to Scene: How ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Is Based on Vampire’s ‘Rough Rules’

In this episode of FX’s vampire parody, the show’s cast travels to Atlantic City, where Nandor, Laszlo and Nadia suddenly find themselves in big trouble. “We’re always thinking about the parts of vampire folklore that we don’t spoil on the show,” Emmy-nominated writer Sarah Naftalis says of the vampirism rule, which requires bloodsuckers to keep ancestral soil in their coffins: they don’t can not live.Without it. Let them rest and their power will disappear. This scene, which takes place in their hotel room when they discover that their individual collections are missing, sets up the main conflict of the episode.

“The research for this show is different than it might be for other shows,” says Naftalis, who admits to learning the rule about ancestral soil in the writers’ room. She says that sometimes the investigation comes from “websites in lime green font on a hot pink background”, and the seriousness of the story often leads to heated debate among the writers. Naphtalis says they write with this general notion in mind: “What are the general rules that have remained constant across the many iterations of Vampire?”

“The show is so deliciously silly,” says Naftalis. “Sometimes we rely on our characters’ reactions to tell us what the problem is. For most, dirt won’t be a big deal, but for them it’s literally life and death.”

Surviving by draining others’ energy with his brooding personality, Colin Robinson is often the bane of other vampires’ existence. “There’s something funny about how Colin makes life so much worse for ordinary vampires,” says Naftalis. “But here he makes a real mistake.”

The show’s mockumentary format, which gives Colin a chance to admit his mistake, also reflects what he was doing when the innkeeper aspired to vampire land. “It was born from a big day in the writers’ room [when we] We go back to watching casino commercials that were burned into our brains to grow,” says Naftalis. “We love the idea that Colin just wants to watch the drab stuff on the hotel TV channel while he travels.” She points out that vampires never know that Colin is the cause of their situation: “We have the camera on Colin, just shaking him. Those moments are so much fun to write in that style.”

Another fun aspect of the show for Naftalis is the supernatural elements, which allow for a lot of creativity. “It’s funny: the reality of the logic you’re holding is like ancient soil,” he says. But that logic doesn’t apply when Laszlo tries unsuccessfully to become a bat. “Our visual effects team is amazing. You can write with the freedom and visual parameters of an animation program.”

“Also, it’s always really funny when vampires take strong positions for no reason,” says Naftalis of Laszlo’s anti-Sparrow stance. “I don’t know why Laszlo hates sparrows, but it’s fun to wonder how he got there.”

This story first appeared in the separate August issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.