PL & P : To use your phrase , Richard , SNL is obviously a different animal than a news program or a scripted comedy or drama . Maybe it has some similarity to a late-night talk show …
PHOTO : ROSALIND O ’ CONNOR / NBC
GEOFF AMORAL
hire people to fill in at the lower-end positions while the senior guys were taking vacations . So , I went in and I got the interview , I ended up ended up interviewing with Phil Hymes , who turned out to be my lighting mentor . I brought my little light plot from Threepenny Opera that I had done in college , I was given the position , and then worked my way through the ranks , starting with public affairs shows that were on early Sunday mornings , and that ’ s where I learned some of the ins and outs of NBC . I ended up on a weekend sports program , which we would turn around from David Letterman ’ s show every weekend . Through that , I met Bob Van Ry , the [ SNL ] stage manager , and when Phil was looking for someone to fill in for their lighting staff , I interviewed with Phil again , six years later , and joined the show .
Richard McGuinness : My story is very similar . I also got in through the [ vacation relief ] program . I was hired for about three months in 1982 , but it was only for the summer , so I was let go . But then I got a call in February of that year because they were starting a new show . They needed people , not for me to do the new show , but they needed someone [ to replace ] the person who was going to the new show . So , I ’ ve been [ at NBC ] since February of 1983 .
I got booted around , just like Geoff , to mainly news shows . I finally got steady on NBC News Overnight , which was a very late-night news program that NBC had years ago . While I was doing that , an opening came up for SNL with Geoff . Phil Hymes ran the show and he wanted his own person to fill in . At that time , the company wanted a staff person to go in . Phil said they really didn ’ t have anybody qualified , and I agree — I was doing news programs and Saturday Night Live is a totally different animal . So , it was agreed that he would get his person in and I would come in and just observe and train .
That ’ s how I started at SNL . I got the steady job when the person that I was training with in May of that year , ( I started training in January ), he was playing softball and tried to stretch out a single into a double and broke his leg in three places . So , I got the call to come in and I finished out that season . I did the first nine shows in the next season , then the other guy came back and he did the rest of that season . At the end of that season , everybody involved mutually agreed that I would come back for the 1991 season and I ’ ve been there ever since .
PL & P : Wow , so you ’ re both very-long-time veterans of the show …
McGuinness : Oh yeah ; Saturday Night Live has a propensity to keep people . We have people that have been there since the beginning . It ’ s just the type of show that is so unique that once you ’ re on it , you don ’ t want to leave . There ’ s nothing else like it .
McGuinness : I ’ d actually say it ’ s most similar to working on soap operas , which we used to do here . Even though it ’ s a different type of show , it was the same in terms of lighting . It ’ s almost very similar in how you ’ re dealing with a soap opera as compared to how you ’ re dealing with Saturday Night Live . It was sort of shot this same way — it had the same type of equipment with the booms and everything . So , it was more similar to a soap opera than anything else , I think .
PL & P : That ’ s really interesting , I wouldn ’ t have thought of that . So , how would you describe the role of lighting director on SNL ?
Amoral : Well , like in any lighting world , you ’ re there to support the show . I mean , whether it ’ s music or news , you ’ re not there to be the star of the show , you ’ re there to make the comedy work . Whether we ’ re doing a parody of something , or it ’ s supposed to be set in an apartment , you ’ re really there to serve whatever the comedy is . Whatever it needs , that ’ s what you ’ re there to do .
McGuinness : I agree . We get the scripts and they occasionally have lighting notes , whether it ’ s just an effect or something they want to do . We mainly deal with the writers of the sketches for the first rehearsals . They say , “ Oh , we would like this effect ” or whatever . So , we try to accommodate that while keeping with the standards of the show where you can still see the people . There ’ s been issues where the writer really wants it dark and moody because it ’ s that type of piece , and the producers later on say , “ I ’ d like to see my actors ,” even though that ’ s what the writer requested . At times , we get to play a little bit and get it a little more dramatic , but most of the time , it ’ s comedy — you want to see the comedy , and that goes back to Chaplin . You know , it ’ s not about the lighting , it ’ s about the comedian . Let ’ s see what they ’ re doing , let ’ s hear what they ’ re doing .
PL & P : The pace of production on SNL is notoriously hectic . Can you tell me a little more about how your typical week unfolds ?
Amoral : Yeah , there ’ s no time for light plots , if that ’ s what you mean [ laughs ]. We get the scripts Wednesday night , the sets start coming in Thursday afternoon , then it ’ s rehearse , tweak , rehearse , tweak , dress , air . Like Lorne [ Michaels ] says , “ We go on at 11:30 , not because we ’ re ready , but because it ’ s 11:30 on Saturday .”
So , we do a readthrough Wednesday afternoon , Lorne and the cast sitting around the table ( or the studio now ) and they read the scripts — 40 of them , approximately . They ’ ll go back , they ’ ll pick the 12 [ sketches ] they ’ re going to produce that week . Wednesday evening , the director will come out and let us know what sketches we ’ re going to do that week . Then , they ’ ll lay out the studio with the scenic designers ; like , “ This sketch is going to be here and this sketch is going to be there .” We have some input on that . Basically , we see the process and then the writers will talk to the directors and say , “ I see it this way ,” and then they kind of do a rough drawing of it . Later that evening , they design the sets . Thursday mornings we come in , we start lighting based on the drawings . We don ’ t have scenery yet , but we can kind of rough in some things . We start with the music process , we rehearse the music Thursday afternoons at two o ’ clock , we do promos , and then we start the process . Each sketch gets about an hour of dry blocking with the directors and the actors , and then as the scenery comes in , we keep lighting . We do the same thing on Friday , except with more sketches — we do maybe four on Thursday and the other six or seven on Friday afternoon and get the cold opening . Then Saturday , we do our lighting in the morning , any
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