In the Spirit

Welcome back, viewers! I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. This week had two big events, Paul's Night of Beauty and the séance at Kyle's -- each proved a unique challenge to shoot for entirely different reasons.

For Paul's Night of Beauty, the biggest role I played that day was traffic cop. We had two full crews to cover things. And while doctor's offices are plenty big enough for patients, they're pretty tiny for shooting purposes. I can't tell you how much footage we have of various crew members ducking out of the way as we followed Paul from room to room.

What I love about producing reality shows is that you just never know what's going to happen. When Paul told us he wanted to host the ladies for a Night of Beauty, we figured it would be fascinating to show procedures like the one Paul did to work on Kyle's muffin top. What we didn't know was how much story that evening would generate. From Camille's upset phone call about her custody issues, to Lisa being rattled by Russell's email, to Kim's claim of avoiding the séance for religious reasons, to Lisa claiming that Taylor isn't friends with Camille, which Adrienne and Kyle deny, to Kim getting upset with her sister and reminding Kyle "you're not my mother" -- this event turned out to be much more about story and less about beauty regimes.

I'm incredibly proud of our entire crew, who work so tirelessly to tell the ladies' stories. We use a lot of flashbacks in our shows because we feel it's important that stories make sense. Most pivotal moments in life don't just happen. There are building blocks that take us there. We strive to show as many building blocks as we can in our shows. For example, I knew the moment Kim snapped at Kyle, "you're not my mother!" that it would be another important building block in the Kim-Kyle sibling relationship, but I had no idea that in the séance, Rebecca the psychic would reveal to Kyle that she had been Kim's mother in a past life. I could never have foreseen that Rebecca would have a message from Kim and Kyle's deceased mother Kathy to remind Kyle that she is not Kim's mother either!

Not every thread resolves itself in every episode, but we include the footage for completeness of the story. For example, when Taylor dropped by Kyle's to share her anger with Lisa and the need to confront her, we were all prepared for Taylor to confront Lisa at the séance. But, it didn't happen. The audience now know however that there is an issue brewing. And here's a little preview for next week's episode: The Taylor-Lisa conflict, which has been building all season, explodes all over the next two episodes. Don't miss it!

As for the séance, it provided more laughter and tender moments than anything scary. Kudos to our extraordinary Director of Photography, Matt Valentine, and our entire crew of camera operators, who make everything we shoot so beautiful.

Finally, Rebecca, the psychic, had recommended our crew wear purple, which she said is inviting to spirits.

So here's a shot of our happy, purple clad crew! Until next time!