Desert Dispatch

Since 2012, best friends Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald have been reflecting on television and movies on their podcast The Watch, available at TheRinger.com.

Previously the television critic at Grantland, the ESPN–owned predecessor to The Ringer, Greenwald has now crossed over to become a television creator himself.

In 2019 Greenwald and his producing partner, Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot), shot the first season of Briarpatch for USA Network.

Based on an Edgar Award–winning mystery by Ross Thomas, the noir-ish series stars Rosario Dawson as Allegra "Pick" Dill, a Senate staffer who returns to her Texas hometown to investigate the bombing death of her sister, a homicide detective.

The quirky locals she crosses paths with include Jay R. Ferguson as tycoon Jake Spivey — not to mention a bevy of exotic animals that have just been freed from the zoo.

The series — intended as an anthology — debuted February 6 on USA, but as of last May, Greenwald began podcasting about production from Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the show was shot.

His candid conversations with Ryan, editorial director of The Ringer, as well as various cast members, revealed the day-to-day worries and wonders of a rookie showrunner. Here's a sample:

ANDY GREENWALD: There's something about this that is perpetually surreal. A couple years ago, I thought it would be fun to do a loose adaptation of a book that I liked. Fast forward a couple of years, and there's a thriving corporation here in Albuquerque!

There's an entire construction mill, just detailing an elevator cab that I asked to have in a hotel hallway, which they are also building in our giant airplane hangar–size stage — and all these brilliant and talented people are working on it. It's an incredible honor and incredibly exciting.

It's also pretty funny because they've been here working for weeks, but when I flew down, every single person in the office had a really important question that I had to answer.

There was a moment yesterday in our propmaster's office: he was giving me four options of an ice sculpture for a party scene, and I had to choose one. It's an ice sculpture of an animal — I won't say more because I don't want to spoil anything.

Everyone was looking at me. I turned to the professionals surrounding me, explaining that I was choosing option number one, because "Option two is too llama-like." I looked at them as if I was about to hand over the nuclear codes!

And here's why people go crazy in this business: they all just nodded sagely like, "This guy, how could we ever question him? This is a leader."

It's incredible, but it's also deeply insane because we — you know, you came and visited us — we're dreaming big.

These dedicated craftsmen have to make our nonsense a reality — find the place that looks like the place that we wrote and stage it and close off the street and get the ice sculptures. It's humbling, honestly, but it's also exciting.

CHRIS RYAN: I had no idea [how the show was coming together]. I think the thing that surprised me most was the look. When you're in video village and you see someone framed up [on the monitor], that's transporting.

You're like, "Oh, man, this is a show! This is happening!" And these, like, little takes of conversation that I'm watching are going to wind up being 12 seconds of the third or fifth or seventh episode, or whatever.

The coolest thing about it was seeing the look in process. I think about that so much when I watch movies. I think, "Why'd they make that decision?" It's amazing to be there in that moment when the directors frame it up and the director of photography's got it and the actors are like, "Is it time? Is it go time?"

There's an energy there that almost feels theatrical — it's cool….

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This article originally appeared in its entirety in emmy magazine, Issue No. 1, 2020