You Can Thank Lisa Edelstein for Some of GG2D's Most Jaw-Dropping Moments
"It's just me growing up," the #GG2D star said of getting the chance to write an episode this season.
OK, so we have a lot of thoughts on Wednesday night's episode of Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce. Are Abby (Lisa Edelstein) and Barbara (Retta) really cool again after that cringeworthy night out? What is Jo (Alanna Ubach) going to do now that Frumpkis (Maury Sterling) has left rehab? Are romance novels really going to be Abby's thing now?
Well, we have someone very near and dear to our hearts to thank for making our jaws drop again and again during the episode, the woman behind Abby herself, actress Lisa Edelstein. That's because the episode was the first one written by Lisa. "The process was great. I loved it. It's a really fun aspect of storytelling, and I'm trying to really expand my range and understanding of how we tell great stories," Lisa told The Daily Dish prior to the episode's airing. "It's just me growing up. It's just me, Lisa Edelstein, growing up and getting more opportunity."
But Lisa said that writing the episode was a collaborative experience, working with GG2D's writers, series creator Marti Noxon, Universal Cable Productions, and Bravo to put it all together. "We broke down all three new seasons, we broke down what needs to happen in each season, what needs to happen in each episode to get to those goals. And then within the episode, what happens to each character," she explained. "So it's really broken down into smaller and smaller bits and then finally the writer goes off and makes an outline and then makes a longer outline and then writes the script."
After co-writing an episode with Marti in Season 1, Lisa said that it was easier to take the reigns this time around. "I feel very fortunate that it's Season 3 because I know these actors so well, and I know their voices so well, and I know their rhythms," Lisa said. "And so, it's much harder to write in Season 1 than it is to write in Season 3 in that way because now we're writing for people that we can hear, people that we can imagine, whereas in Season 1, it's only on paper, and as each episode unveils themselves, that's when the characters start to unveil themselves."
Lisa, who has also produced several episodes of GG2D and is slated to direct an episode in Season 5, said that she is also currently developing another new series. Though Lisa said that she's always loved to write, she never imagined having so many chances to be a part of the creative process on a TV show in addition to starring in it. "This job has sort of been the dream experience, especially in midlife because it's what anybody would hope they have in any line of work, to work at something for 30 years and then get to do more, get to use more of their brain, get to apply that experience. That's not something that always happens for people, no matter what industry they're in," Lisa said. "And so I'm very grateful that I had a boss like Marti. She's just that kind of person. She's an expansive person. If you have an interest, she'll let you go for it. So it was a question of how ambitious I was and how much I wanted to take advantage of the situation I was in in the greatest sense. And I wanted to take full advantage of it because these opportunities, they're rare, and you should have as limitless of an experience as you can."
Check out more of Lisa's writing in action, below.
