Winging It.

Over the many, MANY years since I was lucky enough to work on “Wishbone,” the question I am most often asked - by far - goes something like this:

How much of what you did on the show was scripted, and how much did you ad-lib?

It’s a fair question. The truth is, I don’t know. I did ad-lib, a lot. One of the things we learned early on in production was that Soccer (Wishbone’s real name) would often do something on camera that wasn’t exactly scripted. He might sneeze unexpectedly. He might skid across the floor. I remember one instance in which one of his ears was sticking straight up through an entire scene. When the camera captured these moments, we didn’t want to just throw them out. That’s when the director would, essentially, turn me loose on the scene. The challenge was to come up with something vocally that made sense with the action, while still staying in the structure of a scene. In the biz these are often called “throw away” lines, but if performed correctly they can add some humor to a moment.

It was our good fortune that we had lots of those moments.

I remember one in particular where we open on Wishbone coming down the stairs in his home. There was nothing scripted. At all. So I decided to try something. As a kid, I would always make a bouncy sound as I loped down the stairs, emphasizing with my voice when I would land on each step. (I’m not saying I still do this as an adult. But I’m not saying I DON’T still do it, either.) Anyway, the result was that everyone in the studio laughed hysterically, which almost always meant that whatever I had done would stay in the scene.

And so it went for every episode. Sometimes there was more ad-lib needed, many times we used less. The hard and fast rule was it had to fit within the scene and add to it, but take nothing away. Steph Simpson (our head writer and showrunner) was always in the studio on recording days to keep me honest. And to remind me, quite frankly, that this was a FAMILY SHOW. I could only go so far off the rails.

Did you have a favorite moment in an episode where it sounded like Wishbone might be winging it? Hit me up in the comment section, and I’ll tell you if you were correct.

#feedthedog

It’s NOT A Blog. It’s A Forum.

Greetings, and welcome to the official “What’s The Story, Wishbone?” documentary film forum!

Why a forum, you ask? Well. Why not? According to Google and its AI overlords, forums are still very relevant and popular. ESPECIALLY forums that are so niche that they only focus on one film. And a film that doesn’t even have distribution yet. Oh, and the film is about a television show from the 90s, that hasn’t been on the air in decades. Yeah, we’re about as niche as you can possibly get. Which, again, according to the AI overlords, is a good thing.

I’m Larry Brantley. I’m a producer on the documentary, but my career actually began when I was cast to play the voice of Wishbone. The story of my audition and subsequent casting is told in the documentary, so I won’t spoil it here. Suffice to say, I got the job, and it was – and remains – the best role I ever landed.

So. What is the point of this forum, you ask? For me and my co-producers (Betty Buckley and Joey Stewart, who also directed the film), the answer is pretty simple. We want a way to engage with you, our audience, and Wishbone fans everywhere. We want to build a community around the film. We want to be able to update you with any news about the film’s path toward distribution. We want to entertain you with stories about working on “Wishbone” that didn’t necessarily make it into the final cut of the documentary.

But mostly it’s a way to keep me from bugging the ever-loving shit out of Joey and Betty, while they have the unenviable task of trying to get our movie about the little dog show out to the world. (I’m like the kid in the back of the station wagon. “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”) Which is to say that I’ll be contributing most of the forum entries here. Of course, I’m sure Joey and Betty will chime in from time to time – probably to remind you that whatever tumbles out of my brain and onto these digital pages does not necessarily represent their views, opinions, or even reality. That’s fine. We all have our burdens to bear.

Now is the part where you get to drop us a line in the comment section. All that we ask is that you be nice about it. (Seriously. I mean, who would troll a forum about a documentary film about one of the most beloved characters from the 90s? Don’t be that person.) Tell us YOUR Wishbone story. Ask us a question. Regale us with a joke. Let’s get this rig rolling.

#feedthedog