Himesh Patel shares how The Franchise celebrates film crews on set

Himesh Patel joined us to talk about his latest turn in the new HBO Max series The Franchise.  The series is both a satire and a love letter to the teams who create large tentpole superhero movies in which we meet a film crew desperately trying to salvage the project they're making.  Himesh plays the movies 1st Assistant Director and as such he had long conversations with the 1st AD of the crew working behind the scenes on the show.  He found the crew experiences they all shared invaluable. 

It was important to him to portray his character Daniel's love of cinema and to capture what led him to working in the entertainment industry to begin with.  He shares several scenes with Lolly Adefope whose character Dag serves as someone to bring Daniel out of his shell a little more and remind him that moviemaking can be a fun process.  Daniel also shares history with Aya Cash's character Anita as someone he initially mistrusts but ultimately forms an alliance with in trying to keep the movie moving forward. 

One of his favorite elements in making the show was getting to film long takes and to also improvise in the background of scenes with multiple characters.  He noted in particular that the details on the show are everywhere including Jessica Hynes wearing multiple shirts with pretend movie titles from projects her character might have worked on, such as 'Pleasant Exchanges.' He found the experience to be incredibly collaborative amongst both the cast and the crew in the meta experience of making a tv show about a group of people making a movie!

Watch the full conversation below:

Q&A on the Max series The Franchise with actor Himesh Patel. Moderated by Mara Webster, In Creative Company.

A team trapped inside the dysfunctional hell of creating franchise superhero movies. At the end of the day the question they face is: is this Hollywood's new dawn or cinema's last stand? Is this a dream factory or a chemical plant?