Former Veep EP David Mandel on the state of Hollywood

Former Veep showrunner and Executive Producer David Mandel joins Yahoo Finance to discuss how Hollywood is being affected by COVID-19 and what this could mean for the future of the industry.

Video Transcript

JEN ROGERS: Welcome back to "Road to Recovery Lights, Camera, Action." He won an Emmy for his work on "Veep." He was said to be directing an HBO limited series on Watergate starring Woody Harrelson before the coronavirus pandemic broke out. Dave Mandel joins us now. So I guess let's-- just like with Tim-- let's start at the beginning. I mean, how quickly did things shut down for you? Like what did you have to stop doing?

DAVID MANDEL: Before I answer that question, I just want to make it very clear-- two Emmy's-- so let's start with that.

[LAUGHTER]

But no, I was in New York, I was location scouting, I came back to do some casting and work on the script with an idea of heading back to New York. The script kind of got a little delayed because of just some stuff with the writers. As a couple of days went by, the news kept getting worse, and worse, and worse, and then no one was saying anything, but I kept thinking to myself, am I really going back to New York? And then at some point it was sort of like, no, I'm not, and everyone who's in New York is coming back here as soon as they can to get out before. And I went, this is great. I don't have to go to New York, and then I remembered, that's where my poor parents live. So it's been that kind of a jumble of life and work. Yeah.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: And David, Ali here. Thanks for joining us today.

DAVID MANDEL: Hi, how are you?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: I'm good. How are you? Now, "Veep" is going to be one of those shows that's featured on HBO Max. This is a crazy time to be launching a streaming service right now. Not only do you have so much competition, we're also in the middle of a global pandemic. So as someone on the inside at HBO, what is the lead up been like to this launch, and how do you think HBO Max is going to differentiate itself from the competition?

DAVID MANDEL: Well, I'll start by saying obviously they are not calling me day to day to work on the launch of HBO Max. But with that in mind, I do think the sheer breadth of the library is overwhelming. I mean, just the shows, the movies that you can't see anywhere else-- or that you will soon not be able to see anywhere else-- it is pretty amazing. And it's you know, it's all the HBO plus everything else. So I mean, at this time where people are desperate for things, and dare I say maybe even, the comfort food. New shows are really nice, but I have found especially, I have young kids, 12 and 10 years old, that I've been going backwards to kind of like look for familiar things to share with them as opposed to maybe new stuff which is I think what a lot of people are doing, at least when I talk to my other writer friends and whatnot. Where we're looking for the comfort of the past. And I do think there's something to be said for that. Obviously, we'll see new shows also, but I do think there's something very comforting about the home library of HBO Max.

DAN ROBERTS: David, Dan Roberts here. Thanks for joining us.

DAVID MANDEL: Did anybody buy that answer? Go on. Hi, Dan.

[LAUGHTER]

DAN ROBERTS: Sure. No, we have HBO Max. We watch the streaming war so closely, and everything has exploded even more than it did amid the pandemic with Disney Plus doing quite well and then Quibby launch maybe didn't do as well. I'm just curious from your perspective as a show runner. I mean, obviously HBO Max is different, because there's still HBO subscribers, you can watch shows on cable, or now you'll be able to subscribe just digitally. But now there are a number of shows coming up that are exclusive to certain streaming platforms. They're not on traditional TV, but obviously the definition of TV is changing. For you and for your peers in the industry, does that matter? Are you as eager to do a show that's only going to be on a certain streaming platform as you are to do on a name like HBO?

DAVID MANDEL: Yeah. I mean, look. I think you know obviously, the days of my first job when I moved out to Los Angeles was "Seinfeld," and those days are for the most part gone. The idea of a show where you could go, everybody is watching at 9 o'clock. It's just not happening. So once you accept that fact, the fact that there's all these places and all this streaming, you know, the sort of niche works for you in that they're open to smaller, weirder, stranger ideas in a way that, you know, when it used to just be NBC from 8:00 to 10:00, no one was open to those ideas.

So it does, you know, it does work for you, in terms of as a comedy writer, those sort of interesting ideas that maybe a couple of years ago you didn't think you could find a home for. But in terms of where something is, I guess I don't worry about the where something is as long as I'm given half a chance to sort of myself but also have other people actually promote it. As long as we let somebody know when it's on or where it's on-- I should say in this case-- I'm OK with it. I wouldn't necessarily want to be somewhere that's a secret, if that makes any sense.

[LAUGHTER]

JEN ROGERS: Heard of like the witness protection program.

DAVID MANDEL: Yes, that doesn't can work as well for shows as I've found out.

JEN ROGERS: No. It's for felons. So as we talk about reopening here, and we were talking about it with Tim. You know, maybe crews are going to be quarantined, casts could be quarantined. You must be-- you're involved with like looking at budgets and how this is all going to work. I mean, what is your expectation, I guess, for-- do you have any sense of when or what this looks like?

DAVID MANDEL: I mean, I don't. The what it looks like feels like it's changing almost every day. I've had a couple of phone calls where the information seems to keep changing. And I think part of that, by the way, and my wife, Jen, as you know, is a doctor. The information about the disease is changing. We're finding out new things about it, you know, on a daily basis as well. So I think from the get go, I think schedules are out the window, and I'm not talking about the calendar, I'm talking about what you can do in a given day. How people are going to arrive. Staggered arrivals, how the day is going to work, what that might mean for crowd scenes, or not crowd scenes, or maybe more special effects. So all of these things.

So all of a sudden something that you might have been planning as like a really tight budgeted, you know, I don't know. I'll pretend, say like a 20 day shoot, that's not going to be possible if you're trying to do something with any sense of scope. And these things are going to really fight each other and really, I don't know, change things. And there's no great answer. At one point, I was hearing almost like a version of what I guess they're doing in Las Vegas, where they were talking about, could you put like plastic between the actors, and then use like special effects to remove the plastic? And I mean, maybe, but doesn't that also sound insane?

And the hardest part, and this is the part that you know, and again, I think an actor could talk about it, I can talk about it a little bit from a directing standpoint. So much of the great stuff comes at those moments in between takes where you're out there sort of huddling with the actors in a scene, talking through that scene, trying stuff, very face to face sort of sometimes just maybe improving on top of a scene. And so you're talking about, you know, on "Veep," we would do long improv takes where we would throw lines out, and I'm running in and out, and all of this stuff. And the nature or the notion of trying to eliminate like face to face or minimalize, it just works so against the process. I mean, again, I don't have an answer, but I'm not looking forward to any of it, I guess, is the answer.

JEN ROGERS: David Mandel, thank you so much for coming on and talking to us about how this is all working. He won two Emmy's.

DAVID MANDEL: And thank you. This is the only show that's ever had me back a second time, so thank you very much.

JEN ROGERS: And we'll have you back a third. It's always good to talk with you. Have a great look and weekend, OK?

DAVID MANDEL: Thank you.

JEN ROGERS: Coming up, Hollywood may have pushed pause on production, but the industry is rallying together to give back. Up next, one of Hollywood's top dealmakers and his daughter give us the lowdown on their Zoom parties which have raised over $2 million and counting.