Humpday Director Lynn Shelton on Her MTV Music Project and Directing Mad Men

Each episode tells an eight-minute story that is based on real life events in that band's life. How did you go about figuring out which stories you wanted to tell?

I approached it like a feature film in chapters because all told, it is about 80 minutes. I kind of took it on as a project like Short Cuts, where all of these different characters' lives were thread to each other in some way. I took a very gentle approach though because I wanted to create space where they could be themselves. I didn't want to create anything that was too contrived or too melodramatic.

Was it frustrating working with non-actors?

I was definitely excited at the prospect of working with actors again after this. [Laughs] But it was really fun and rewarding.

You obviously are very devoted to Seattle. What is your relationship with Los Angeles like these days?

I'm not one of those L.A. haters at all! You can find them in Seattle for sure. I'm dead set against moving there, but visiting is great. I lived in L.A. for two months this summer and it was lovely.

You were in L.A. for your first television project. How intimidated were you to direct an episode of Mad Men?

I was so intimidated, I can't even tell you. What was great was that I got a chance to shadow another director, Phil Abraham, and that was amazing. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't had that opportunity. I got three and a half weeks to hang out on set and get to know the crew and become comfortable with the whole rhythm of the set. The intimidation was mostly gone after a couple of days though after realizing how wonderful and supportive everyone was.

Were you able to put aside your inner Mad Men fan during production?

Well, first of all, I am a super fan of the show. It is my favorite television series. The whole time I was there I was literally pinching myself every day. I could not believe I was there. I was so happy and I bent over backwards to try to channel Matt Weiner on set and give him exactly what he wanted. I really, really wanted him to be happy and to do right by my favorite show on television. That being said, I did snap a few little memories on my iPhone and I may have taken a matchbook from the Playboy club or something.

Did you get to cast the Bunnies?

Yes! The Bunnies. That took an inordinate amount of time because first we went through a couple of rounds of casting. Then we found out that in order to get permission from Hugh Hefner to do the [Playboy club] scenes at all, we'd have to use actual Playboy Bunnies so we had to ditch our original cast list and do a whole new round of casting from Hugh's handpicked gals who came by. It was a lot of looking at girls do the bunny dip those days.

Were you pleased with Hugh's casting ability?

We were. Matt gave him very detailed specifications on the girls we needed and how they had to look "of the time" shape-wise. I think the women that we ended up populating that scene with looked perfect and absolutely amazing.

I read that of the entire Mad Men cast you really connected with Christina Hendricks. Do you have any plans to work with her again?

Not yet, no, but I would jump at the chance if there was a role that was right for her. She was delightful but they were all amazing. I was so impressed with every single one of them. They have so little time to get a scene up on its feet and that was the most difficult and most rewarding part of the entire experience for me -- trying to find the shape of the scene with those guys and make it work quickly.

So looking forward, are you anxious to return to more intimate productions or continue with higher budget projects?

Well, it was really fun to be on a sound stage and have a giant crew and work with beautiful pieces of equipment. It was very heady but ultimately, I was surprised with how similar the process is on different scales of production. For me, as a director, it all comes down to making a long list of decisions. And the pace was very similar to what I was used to. Even though the production value was a lot higher than anything I had worked on ever before and the budget was bigger, the amount of time I had to accomplish the scenes was really about the same time-wise. Ultimately, it's you and the actors and the script. Behind you, there might be a lot more people but in front of the camera, it's pretty much the same.

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