That Was Us - Yasu Tanida and Us | Cinematographer

Episode Date: July 21, 2026

This week on That Was Us, we’re beyond excited to welcome cinematographer Yasu Tanida, the visionary behind the distinctive look of This Is Us. Yasu takes us behind the camera to reveal how he helped create the show's signature visual language, from its soft and nostalgic aesthetic to the intimate handheld style that made viewers feel like they were living alongside the Pearson family. In this episode, Yasu chats about: * How he developed the iconic visual style of This Is Us and why the show was designed to feel like a memory * The handheld camerawork and lens choices that helped create intimacy with the Pearson family * Working to “detune” lenses and create the soft, dreamy glow seen throughout the series * The role color palette, framing, and composition play in creating the show's nostalgic tone * Why the camera often sits outside rooms, quietly observing the characters * Collaborating with the lighting team to create beautiful images * The technical considerations of lighting different skin tones * His philosophy that actors and story always come first * Creating efficient lighting setups that allow scenes to flow naturally * Spending time in the editing room with Dan Fogelman to learn the visual “language” of the show and refine his storytelling instincts * How he pushed the signature This Is Us look even further on Paradise and other projects And a friendly reminder, you can catch new episodes of That Was Us every Monday, a day early, exclusively on Hulu. Available on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts on Tuesdays like usual! That Was Us is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith. ------------------------- Support Our Sponsors: - Thanks to Article for sponsoring this podcast! Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit https://www.article.com/discount/twu and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout. - Get a $49 annual membership with promo code podcast at https://www.shipt.com/offer. Terms apply. - Explore viral bestsellers and products of healthier hair of ALL types from Bask and Lather. Go to https://baskandlatherco.com and use code TWU for 20% off. ------------------------- 🍋 About the Show: The stars of This Is Us, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, and Chris Sullivan, dive back into the world of the Pearsons, reliving each episode and all the life lessons that came with it. Together, they dig in and dig deep, have the tough conversations, bring in very special and familiar guests, share never-before-heard behind-the-scenes moments, and feature listeners in highly anticipated fan segments. Join your favorite family back in the living room to examine our past, cherish our present, and look to the future with new episodes of That Was Us every Tuesday. Executive Producers: Natalie Holysz and Rob Holysz Creative Producer: Sam Skelton Production Coordinator: Andrew Rowley Video Editor: Todd Hughlett Mix & Master: Jason Richards About Headgum: Headgum is an LA & NY-based podcast network creating premium podcasts with the funniest, most engaging voices in comedy to achieve one goal: Making our audience and ourselves laugh. Listen to our shows at https://www.headgum.com. » SUBSCRIBE to Headgum: https://www.youtube.com/c/HeadGum?sub_confirmation=1 » FOLLOW us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/headgum » FOLLOW us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/headgum/ » FOLLOW us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headgum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a headgum podcast. Original series Furious is coming to Disney Plus, starring Emmy Rossum. Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. Don't miss the three-episode premiere of the Hulu original series Furious on July 27th. Only on Hulu on Disney Plus. This episode is brought to you by Accenture.

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One of our big guests, one of our big guests, Yasu Tanita. For the longest time, our director of photography, DP, cinematographer, we've been asking and asking it, asking. He's like, oh, you know, I'm shooting? Because he does the land and he does paradise, etc. finally he made some time for us, and we're going to have a really cool conversation. So excited to finally have him here. There's so much I want to ask him. There's so much I'm eager to learn about.

He is the best. And also, like Sid Kosla, our composer, I feel like he is such an indelible, like, part of the fabric of the show. Integral. There wouldn't be it without him. Exactly. Like, the look of the show is the look of the show because of Yasu. So if you love the way our show looks, you love Yassu. You love Yasu.

That's exactly it. For anybody who doesn't know what a cinematographer is or the director of photography, it's essentially the person in charge of the cameras, where they are, what lenses they use, how the scene is lit is kind of directed by them. Yeah, the look of the show is really a lot to do with them. They work in tandem with the director, you know what I'm saying? And they come up with things. And like our show is really unique.

It's interesting. Like for me, I'll say this before even Yassu gets here, it was the first show that I ever did that was all handheld. Yeah. Had anybody had that? that experience before. I mean, maybe on an independent film. Yeah.

You know, but like- The Nick was all handheld, but it's a very specific, and it takes a highly skilled group of people. It does. To do that. For our audience, there are several things you can do with the camera. You can put them on tripods or, as it called, sticks. And they kind of have a stationary shot.

They can sit on track, on dollies, and roll around. They can sit on cranes. But yeah, to have a show that is hands Handheld. Yeah. Gave it the intimacy. Having somebody holding the camera, moving in and out, kind of like breathing with you in a way. We didn't necessarily get into this with the conversation.

But the cameramen themselves. Yes, the operators. We had some bad, like there's a certain athleticism that comes with being a handheld camera operator. You know, we have like former like D1 football players. Coy. Right? We had Tacata James. James Takata, the best. We had, there's another in season one named James as well.

Do you remember the tall? Yes. James. Kind of lanky. Yeah. Yeah, he was great. He left us for a lesser show, I think. He did?

It couldn't have been greater. It couldn't have been greater. I forget why he left. He went to do a movie, I think. I think he did, yeah. I think that's right. People would sort of, a lot of the operators, camera operators would come and go, as they do.

Absolutely. And they would, yeah, come back to us eventually. James sort of stuck around for the longest. And James also directed on our show as well. That's right. Does he operate on the land? He does. Or sorry, on Paradise?

On Paradise. He has come on Paradise and Corey's been on Paradise as well. We had him on the land too, yeah. So it's been a good time. Like that whole department, man, like you get so close with them. Yeah, with the camera department. You know what I'm saying? They're in the scene.

They're standing. Literally. You're looking at them and not at them at the same. I wish we'd asked more about that because I love also sometimes with Yasu, he'd be setting up a shot or explaining what he wanted. And when things didn't necessarily go exactly the way he wanted, you'd be like, I'll operate. So he would jump in and take the camera. Exactly. He's like, I got it, I got it. And Yasu oftentimes would get in and operate for the shot and it was great.

There's also this thing that happens that this sort of, this dance with the camera people themselves, they'd be like, hey man, could you sit down a little slower? and that thing you're like when you get up from the table or whatnot. You're like, oh, you're following me down? And he's like, yeah, I'm following you down. So if you help me out, I was like, I got you. Yeah. Like, and it's just sort of becomes. Can you shift the cell phone over just like a little bit more towards camera?

Like, yeah, you come to have like sort of this unspoken language with the camera operators. Totally, yeah. You're helping each other out. They're helping each other out. They'll let you know the frame. Yeah. Hey, right here. Yeah.

Do you guys ever watch? Or you could take your heels off, Mandy. not seeing your feet. There you go. That's a good one. My favorite. Thank you. Do you guys ever watch second team set up?

Like, do you guys look through the camera to see how the second team is? Sometimes. I find it's one of the things that helps me the most. Because when I get a chance to see my stand in there, I'm like, all right, that's what you're working with. That's how much space I have on the side. You're using this much of your body in the scene. So like even if I do something with my hands here, if I do something with my feet here,

like that will add something to it. It's nice to see. It's good information. Absolutely. So we're going to talk to Yasu and you're going to love it whether you like it or not. Hell. Right after this. Dude, we did it.

We did. Finally. I feel like we've been talking about this particular interview for like years. For a long time. Has this changed? I thought it was three on one. Wasn't that originally? Of course.

The DP's going to come in here and talk about a shot. So you watched the podcast, but he like, he refused for the longest time. Ladies and gentlemen, just so you know who. I watched the one with Folwood. He's done more than one. He's done a couple, yeah. The first one, because Shawnee said, watched their podcast, I watched the first one with Fogelman, right?

We're in a completely different studio then from the one. Yes, sure. Yeah, that was a different setup. We were in Santa Monica. We were in Santa Monica. Yeah. See, he knows. I love that he knows as much.

Because we've been inviting. Every time we asked him, he's like, oh, I don't know. You guys went down the Rolodex and finally went to the letter Y. No, that is not true at all. You went through every... Literally since the beginning. Okay. Since the beginning.

We're talking to Yasu, Tanita. Yes, welcome, Yasu. Welcome. Who else can we scrap in here? Listen, Yasu has been our director. Nobody, you're it. Director of photography for, for This Is Us from the beginning. Did you do the pilot?

No, Brett did the pilot. He didn't do the pilot, but every other episode of the show is Yasu. Can I also say that for Paradise? Yes. Every episode of Paradise. Paradise. Zyasu. Yeah.

Like, this dude is the man with the master plan. You did the first four episodes of The Land, which is Dan's football show. Is that correct? I did not the first four. Not the first four. I did one, two, four, and six. One, two, four and six. Okay.

One, one in Paris. So, oh, that's right. Oh, was that fun? We. We, we, we, we, we, we, we. So his imprint is all over the Fogelman Empire. Well, I did pitch as well, I guess. Yes, right?

You did the pilot for pitch, right? I did the pilot with Pitch. I did the pilot Pitch with Paris. Yes, with Paris, Parker. And then you, and then Dan brought you over to do this as us. You left Pitch to come do this as us. I didn't leave Pitch. Did he leave it? It just Pitch got canceled.

No, no, no, pitch didn't get canceled. It finished its first season? It did 13 episodes. It did. Yeah, so Pitch and This Is Us premiered in the same week. I don't know if you guys remember this. I do remember. I do.

I don't think. It premiered on Fox. Fox? Yeah. And we were on NBC. NBC. Let me see. Right.

And then after we did the pitch pilot, I was thinking of what to do. Yeah. And then Dan said, oh, I have this other show. So, and then he sent me the pilot. And then I really like the pilot. Yeah. And then Dan said, do you want to interview with John and Glenn? Okay.

That's what happened. Yeah. The directors of her pilot, John Rekwe, Glenn Foucarra, also directors of the pilot of Paradise as well. That's right. Working with Dan right now in Australia. On a movie. They also did Crazy Stupid Love together. They've been in here.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They're pretty awesome. Okay, so wait, where do we start? You started with Pitch. You come, you read the pilot for This Is Us. What is it about? I didn't read the pilot. You saw the pilot.

You saw it. It was done. Yeah. And I remember watching it with Jen and we were on the couch and we were just blown away. You guys did such a great job on the pilot. It was very, it was very. It was very emotional and I loved it. And it was hard to decide, but I thought, yeah, we'll love to do this as us.

Okay. And then I met with John and Glenn at their little doms, right? Oh, yeah. It's like their office. That's their office. And then, yeah, we had a really good conversation. And I was very thankful that I got hired, yeah. One of my favorite things is Yasu will watch playback.

There's no sound. He doesn't care about sound. He doesn't care what people are saying. He's just looking and he's like, oh, yeah, it's great. That's great. I like that. And it's all about the shot. Yeah, that looks good.

That's what I wanted to do. You're saying I don't listen. You're saying, because play like this. Do you listen? You're right. No, but I can listen. You can listen. Well, I have really good ears so I can listen to people, other people's headphones.

That's right. Because some headphones are very loud. Yes, that's true. That's true. Some people have bad hearing. It's a chinked. Some people have bad hearing and then you can crank them up. Talk to us about the look of This Is Us. Like, what is it that was important for you in terms of storytelling to make sure that your job added to whatever Dan had on the page with the actors are doing what the writers were doing?

The look of This Is Us is just, oh, I'm trying to remember. now. I mean, the look of This Is Us was, what do you guys think? What do you think? It has a distinct style, right? Like, every, there's so much like handheld, like, whose idea was that? Because I feel like once you came into the picture, the show shifted in a way, right? It's like it shifted into what we all, like the pilot is its own thing. And, you know, most of the time, like for network shows or for pilot season or whatever. It's like you do the pilot. It gets picked up, God willing. And then like months and months later, you continue the show. And oftentimes it is with like a different team, like different people come on board to do like the series. So it's like you really

took what we did in the pilot and made it your own for the series moving forward. Like there's a very distinctive like handheld feel. It feels like there's an intimacy about the show. It's like you are one of the family members. It's like a soft nostalgic documentary. Yes. Yeah. That's a good way. It's good, though.

Well, the handheld and the intimate is there because we're always trying to find the best lens for the shot, for the close up, for the wide shot. So that's always a consideration depending on what scene it is, right? So that is always a 35, a 50, a 65, a 100 close-ups. Those are all different ways you can tell them. story. So those are just unique to the scene. There's no agenda to say like this is we have we have to shoot Sterling with a 50 or we have to shoot Mandy with a 35. It's just whatever that situation calls for. I think it's the best as far as lenses it's the best lens that you can use to tell that story. And then as far as you said soft and it is soft and nostalgic

nostalgia maybe because it's not as overly bright as digital things are these days. There's a little, the colors aren't so in your face. Everything's a little bit toward neutral, not so saturated. It feels like a memory. Like it feels like the way I remember things. You know what I mean? Like especially when I'm young, like I can think back to the 1980s. You know, and those, and the atmosphere of our show, there's always light coming in a window, a nice, soft yellow light.

Yeah, I feel like that's a hallmark of yassi. That is true, yeah. Either the light is coming from somewhere else or the camera is coming from somewhere else. I noticed you set up outside the room a lot or outside. We do, we do. You know what I mean? And so there's, there's, that's where that documentary feeling always came from me like you were. Like you were outside.

Yeah, peeking in on this family's life. That is true. At the same time, having memories of your own. Yeah, it's very evocative in that way, for sure. Yeah, I think that is, yeah, it's very observational. It's very, I mean, it is handheld, has got a subjective kind of thing. Yeah. But the way we did it, I wanted to feel more, like, not subjective, but objective.

Mm-hmm. Because that way, in a way, when I, Mandy and Stirr are not seen, you guys have the same size. Sure. So not one person has a bigger size than the other. So you guys are told equally, I guess. So I'm not judging. That's not always the case?

I mean, it is, but we did it to the point that I want it to be this and this so that I'm not being subjective. I'm being objective with size. Got it, got it. That makes sense. And then the soft thing you're talking about is, you know, we. We did a thing. When I got the show, I think it was episode two is when you have to do the prosthetics or no?

Yeah, at the very end of that episode. So we knew going in that we would have to do some makeup, right, for you. So I was thinking, oh, how do we find a way to soften the digital image? Tell them a little bit about the digital is very sharp. It can be very sharp. Make up all imperfections. It can. Yeah.

So there's a term in cinematography that it's called detuning the lens. And this is a term that wasn't there before our show. Oh. Now it's very common. Mm-hmm. Thank you. Yeah. But it's basically what we, the long story short is we would take a lens.

Right. So there's the front of the lens and there's the back of the lens. Okay. So with Panvision, what we did was. looks like something completely different if you didn't explain what it went. No, come on. Keep going. So, Sterling K. Brown.

Sorry, my bad. So the very back piece of a lens, it's smaller than the front of the lens. But we took the back glass off and then we opened it up and then we do a little frosting on it. So it's like a little mist. Yeah. I told you guys. So what that does is when light hits a lens, it goes in and it softens this. the highlights, right? So the highlights, so when you see the hot, bright window, it kind of has a halo to it.

It's like diffused a little bit. Defused, yeah. Wow. More that was us after these words from our sponsors. We're talking about article again. You know that we love article. Our entire set here at That Was Us, it's furnished by article. When we did our live show and we needed furniture for that, we went to article. I have article items in my own home. Article makes it effortless to create a stylish, long-lasting home at a really unbeatable price. I mean, they offer curated collections of mid-century modern and coastal and Scandy-inspired pieces that all sort of shine on their own.

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What's your favorite road trip memory? I love taking road trips right now with my kids. Like they talk about it forever. They talk about stuff we did even two years ago. Things that I can't believe they would remember. places we stopped in restaurants, the little toys that they got. I mean, it goes such a long way, I think, at these specific ages. And truthfully, the Pearson's also spent half of their lives talking in cars.

Seriously. But that's what I love about road trips. You get these long stretches where you're not rushing anywhere. You're just experiencing the trip. And that's, you know what? That's getting harder to do these days. Exactly, sir. Which is why I had this moment halfway through the trip where I thought, my house is just sitting empty right now.

You're out creating memories somewhere else. And it got me thinking about listing my space on Airbnb while I'm away. The challenge isn't the idea. It's finding time to manage everything. Yes, yes, especially with schedules as busy as ours. And that is why Airbnb's co-host network is such an interesting option. Game changer. You can hire a vetted local co-host to help handle all the logistics.

Yeah, this is the kind of support that has been holding me back from doing this. It's like I don't know if I have the time. to be the bandwidth or the bandwidth. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, truly. To welcome a guest, make sure they have everything they need. Yes. Make sure the place is well taken care of, well stocked, all of these things.

You need a co-host, bro. A co-host can help with guest communication, reservations, on-site support, all of that. Which means I could spend less time checking my phone and more time enjoying the trip that I am actually on. If you are interested in listing your space on Airbnb, find a co-host at Airbnb.com slash host. I'm telling you, this is, this is, this is key to, to, I think, why our audience connects to these, to these stories, because it, it, it, it, it, it, the phrase had not occurred to me until this conversation, it feels like a memory that I've had.

Yeah. You know, it feels like, you're able to tap into that. It feels like a memory that I had at four years old of being in my brother's room and his crib and the way it's lit and the softness of it, it has to be a huge part of why our audience can connect with this family, even if this family is nothing like their own. This technique, dude, would you use it for like... I was just about to ask.

You know what's like past stuff? Or like, would you like, like, what mandated when you did and didn't do it? So I could push the softness if I over expose even more, right? So if I put it even brighter light, then it'll... it could glow even more, which I tend to do in the past. Yeah, okay, gotcha. But the actual detuning of that lens is similar throughout. So you would use it for present-day stuff as well.

Present-day stuff. It just kind of was like what you used to get the look of the show. Yeah, and I don't know if you remember this, Mandy, but we did these tests. Yes, we did. These makeup tests. That was probably the first time I met you. Yep. And you guys came out to Panvision.

Yep. And that's where Zoe was there and Michael Rice was there. and we did tests. And that was the first time I saw the detuning with you. Oh, wow. Okay. On the screen. Yeah, yeah, with your older age makeup.

Exactly, the age makeup. Wow. And for our audience, when you are adjusting these lights, you are working in partnership with a crew member called a gaffer, right? And it's the head gaffer that works with you to adjust the lights to match what you're looking for in the lens. Is that correct? That's right, yeah.

Okay. This detuning has to be so important because the digital landscape now and what's happening with the streamers and the way, the level at which they stream things at 4K, all of these things, can take a show and instantly transform it to like a 1980s British daytime sitcom. And it's like unwatchable. Unwatchable. And you have to like figure out my, I have a buddy who can't figure out how to get his TV setting. So everything he watches on Netflix is terrible. Oh, yeah.

Because of his subscription, he got the high subscription, so everything comes in at 4K, so everything is way too crisp, way too sharp. Oh, it looks too good. It looks too good. So that has to be a new consideration for... The way things are shot. Yeah. Well, going back to the D-Tuning, on Paradise,

we did it even more. I don't know if you noticed, but the pilot, it's, you know, when you're in the kitchen, in the first scene. It's very hallowy. It is. It's almost like, what is wrong with this place? Yeah. This man's in heaven.

This man might be in heaven, yeah. Or paradise. Is that kind of in terms of like how we shoot in the bunker versus outside of the bunker? Is it a little bit different? Yeah. Because I try to control the amount that gets let out, I guess, in a way. I thought it was just because you had a whole bunch of black people on screen at the same time. You don't have to blast your boy with life like you'd be doing this.

Oh, no. We're sure to see it would be like me and Jess and me and Mandy. And I look at like their shot for this shot. I was like, oh, that light's nice. Soft. Turn around on Brown. Brown staring into the sun. Spotlight.

Spotlight. But I get it. I appreciate being seen. It is part of my life. Like, honest and goodness, that you have to use more life. Yes? A little. Well, maybe.

Yeah. You have to use. Maybe. Yasu. You have to use more light. Like there is a unique thing that I think that I and dark-skinned people sort of have to learn. It's just like, all right, this is your light, right? And so you just sort of like breathe into it or what have you.

And you start to enjoy it. You know what I mean? But like the first few times, and it's before you, like before, like my whole career. It's like, I need significantly more life than everybody else in this scene. I love lighting all you guys. I think it's between my and Mandy and Chrissy and Sully and Sully and, you know, SKB and SKW was great. I think, you know, with Paradise, I shape you guys more. I don't know.

It just depends on the situation. Yeah. We could talk about a particular episode. I don't know. We'll talk about it. I don't know if you want to. Real quick. Let's go all the way back to the beginning.

Yes. I was about to say that. Okay, sure. You did with pitch. No, no, no. You were... The beginning of you. The beginning of Yasu.

And how you came into this... You were born in Tokyo, Japan. I was born in Japan. Yes, and you moved here when you were three years old to the U.S.? I was when I was three years old, yes. Tell me about your parents. No, my parents are great. I love my parents.

I'm glad. You kicked my life. Of course. Of course. Why did your parents move from Japan to the U.S.? I didn't know we're going to talk about my parents. This is, this is us. We don't have to.

We don't have to. No. Just curious, yeah, what made you guys move from Japan to the United States when you were three? Did you have siblings? I did. So the five of us. I met your sister. I met your sister the other day.

Mandy met my sister. She came by the set. I mean, so if you want to go that far back, you know, there was the five of us, my parents, my brother. Yeah. Masa, my sister, Tzko, you met. And we moved when I was three years old. My sister was six. We moved to Orange County.

Yeah. And it was because my dad's work. He worked for Mazda Corporation back then. So back then it was the height of the 80s, the bubble economy. So yeah, we moved to Orange County. And Orange County was a really great place to grow up. in the 1980s and 90s was it was a real melting pot.

It was a real melting pot in the way that like, for example, we grew up in a cul-de-sac. Yeah. Yeah, me too. Me too. Yeah. Were you too? Are you serious?

Yeah. Did you go? Close to him, but no, not a cul-de-sac. No, I mean, it was a melting pot because my neighbor, to the left, was Jewish, was Nigerian, was Caucasian, Louis was Hispanic,

Lu J was Cambodian. There's another Caucasian family. There was an African-American family from the south, a Vietnamese family. Next to this side was a Chinese, Filipino. Wow. So it was really, right? Wow, that's amazing.

Yeah. So growing up in Orange County was diversity felt normal. Yeah. Sure. To the point that even in high school, we would go to my friend Adrian's house and eat Romanian cabbage rolls. That would be the thing. We'd go to his house to eat his mom's cabbage roll.

Yeah. And then we'd go to my friend Long's house to eat Vietnamese fa. Uh-huh. And it was a situation where, you know, they were coming to my house and eat my curry, my Japanese curry. But it was like, it was very normal that everybody was a little bit, you know, different. Yeah. Right? I love that.

So, like, I think diversity was common. So everybody was out there. Sure. It was okay. Yeah. So nobody felt othered. Yeah. So I think that was normal.

And I think that was a great place to grow up. When I was 12, because I was three and the next time I went back to Japan, I was 12 years old, right? I hadn't gone back. Yeah. So that was a big culture shock because I'm sure. I was like, oh my God, everybody looks like me. Yeah. Did you speak Japanese in the home?

In your house? We did. Yeah. We still do. To this day, I still speak Japanese to my parents. Yeah. And yeah, it was. We have a cameraman every once in a hero.

Hero. Yeah. And you guys start rocking out the Japanese together. Oh, yeah, the Japanese. Yeah. So, yeah, we spoke. We still speak Japanese to my parents. Are you speaking Japanese with your kids?

I do speak to Poppy in Japanese. Yeah, I do, yeah. Wow, that's so cool. Wow, that's so cool. So right now, Poppy can understand it, but she doesn't speak it yet. Yeah. So get there. I think it's common when you have two languages spoken in the home that they don't necessarily speak both of them, but they will later.

Yeah, they understand it before they speak it. So in the 1980s, sewn into the Southern California culture was skating, surfing, also a part of your... It was, yes. You surf? I surf, yeah. I could surf pretty good. Cool. I grew up surfing.

I grew up playing water polo and swimming. That's where the shoulders come from. Yasu's got shoulders. He looks like his clothes just hang on a hanger, and then he just put him on and hangs the same way. I still love swimming. I still love going to the ocean. Yeah. Have you ever gone surfing with Big Chris?

Not yet. No. Okay. I have not. He does the night surfing stuff, or he's a crazy surfing. Night surfing? He does night surfing, yeah. Then they also wake up like at four in the morning.

Well, that's the best time to go. To go get it some waves before it work. The waves aren't so. Big Chris is a Viking of a man. He really is. Who was on This Is Us and I'm assuming he's on Paradise. He's on Paradise, yeah. But he's a Venice Beach guy?

He lives in the South Bay. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, just a Viking of a man. He is, yeah. He's our key grip. He's our key grip. He's been with us. Since the beginning.

Since the beginning. A man a few words, big beard, he wears all black to work every day. Most people wear black on set, but he has a black t-shirt and black pants. He's great. Oh, he's the best. Yeah, he's like twice the size. Twice the size of brown. He stands there like this, right?

He's looking at it, he's like, put that there, put that there, da-da-da-da. But you say it to him, he's like, what's up, Chris? He goes, what's up, sir? Yeah. And then he goes back to work. Yeah. Yeah. He's awesome.

The best. up, I played water polo. Yeah. And then so the team that I was on was the Buena Park Coyotes. Okay. I went to Buena Park High School. Shout out. Shout out.

Yeah. But our team was very much, like I mentioned, it was a very diverse group. Yeah. And we were all very scrawny, like my size or just a little bigger. We only had one kid, Jared, who was six foot or more. Okay. The enforcer.

Did you have any brothers in the water? Yeah. Brett Johnson, our goal. was. Okay. Yeah. He was really good. He was really good. He agreed it really well. So that's why I mentioned the diversity. Yeah. We had a brother as well.

The thing about high school for me that really helped, that changed my life, was that we were very scrawny. But we had a coach named Ted Clark who taught us water polo the smart way. And we were always more faster. Yeah. Yeah. You know, at the end of a water polo tournament, or a game, the thing to do in high school is you get out of the pool and you're speedos

and you walk around and you shake the hands of the other team. Sure. Over the water, you know, above ground. Okay. And almost every time we would shake these guys hands that were, they were like six foot. Big guys.

So we would beat these teams and we were very scrawny, but we beat these teams because we were smarter and we could out swim them. Smarter and faster, yeah. Yeah. So that really gave me a mentality that, you know, you're 6-4, but in my head I'm 6-4 too. I guess I've always kind of, that's still to this day, it's kind of just,

I don't really think I'm a 6-4, but I'm just my mentality is that, is that that showed us as high school kids that you can, you know, you don't need to be the biggest guy. I don't normally associate OC with diverse. So it's nice to... Maybe it's sort of shifted. Well, it's shifted. He's like, you might not be the same?

Yeah, I don't know if it's the case anymore. No, no, no, no. I think you grew up in the heyday. Yeah, I think so. So when did you get a camera in your hand for the first time? Oh, when did this happen? Where did this happen? Where did this happen?

When did you go. How I got into cinematography was so, Ted Clark, our high school water polo coach. I was the TA for him senior year. and I was literally trying to figure out what to study in college because growing up in Orange County, I knew I had to find a job. College was a place where you could, we have a career, right?

I'd find a career. So I just remember thinking, oh, Chapman University is down the street and they have a film program. And I thought, oh, film might be a fun thing to do. Were you a film fan? Did you love movies? movies and TV shows? Did you love entertainment?

Was I a film fan? No, I mean, we were... Still was it. No, no, I am now. I love film. I don't know. Shit. Or did you like taking photos? Like, I'm just curious where you had the confidence to know, like, oh, I have an eye for this. I mean, I loved movies just to go and watch with my friends. But, I mean, I'll tell you how culturally weird, strange I was, because I was, you know, growing up Japanese that I remember

like people say, oh, they watch Star Wars and their life changed and stuff like that. They watched some film. I remember the first time I saw Return of the Jedi was on TV, on CBS. And you could, you know, I don't know if you remember this, you could record, right? If you push play and the red button. Yeah, yeah, yeah. On your VR? Yeah. So you recorded Return of the Jedi. I remember watching, like, Return of the Jedi. And I hadn't seen the first two, right? Yes. And I remember, like, you know, Darth Vader is this cool guy. Sure. He's got the James Earl Jones voice.

Yeah. This guy is great. This guy is cool. And then when he dies... Jedi, the first one you saw? Like you saw Jedi before? Yeah. Okay.

And then he takes the mask off, right? And there's old, old frail dude. It's not James Earl Jones. Yeah. And I mean, me, my brother and our friends, we just started laughing. We were like, what the hell? He's just some old white guy, you know? He's frail.

What's going on? This is so weird. And that was the reference. That was how we're thinking because at that time when we were, I mean, we probably were like 10 or 11. Yeah. And we used to be, we were watching like Predator or Commando, like, Schwarzenegger films. So our cultural, you know what I mean? Going that to that was like, you know, we would watch these very violent films growing up.

Yeah. Because my parents didn't really know any better at that time. Lower supervision than the age. Because they were, of course. My parents worked full time. Are we the same age? We're not the same age. No, no.

I'm a little older. You're older. You're older. You're older. No, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no, no. No, no, no.

We're saying. We're the same. We're the same. But my parents worked, they both worked. Yeah. So that was, so that's just to give you an idea of where my mind was. growing up, you know what I mean? It's not a normal way to react to Return

of the Jedi, right? Kids, you saw it out of order too. It is, yeah, out of order, yeah. Like, shame on, that sucked. I also love picturing three kids laughing their heads off at that reveal. Like the most dramatic, one of the most dramatic reveals in cinema history.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they're just like, yeah, yeah. Right? That's not the way you should. But just to go back to your question, man, yeah. So I had to pick a major, Sure. I decided I would try film.

Just on a whim? No, because I knew Hollywood was 30 miles away. Yeah. And I thought it would be a great, maybe it would be a great profession for me to try to work something in film. It was practical.

It was a practical choice. Because I liked being out and about. And then what happened was the summer before I went to Chapman University, I saw some film shoots. And I gravitated toward what the cinematographer was doing. Yeah. And yeah. That kind of shaped the lens per se when you were starting to go into school.

You're like, oh, maybe this will be like what I decide to study. Yeah. So three and a half years, I was at Chapman University. I graduated early because it was expensive. And then I really focused those three and a half years in cinematography because I knew I wanted. to do that. From the beginning, that was the goal. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, the goal for college for me was I have to find a way to work after I graduated. What was your parents' response to you going into film? You know, my parents were very, very open to what we want to do. Okay. They are, and to the point now that the three of us, you know, I'm doing something that I love to do. Yeah. My brother works at Microsoft, Masa. is really smart and he used to do like the programs for like fighter jets.

He used to build those programs. So he's like super smart. Yeah, yeah. And he loves that. Yeah. And then my sis is a nurse at Cedars. Yeah. You guys all have your lane.

Yeah. So I think to answer that question, my parents were very, they always wanted us to try to get to do what we want to do, which is really healthy. That's great. question yes because it seems like it was it was a very practical sort of thought out thing with regards to you you thought film industry is close by i need to make some money you know what i'm saying let me get out of school in three and a half years i went to this film shoot before yeah the cinema photography thing looks interesting yeah when do you think it became yeah where it shifted from practical to like

something that you were enamored with because i i do think and you just said that you are enamored with Yeah, no, I think the three and a half years that I was there because... Yeah, when you were winning all those awards. Yeah, at school. Yeah, the Einstein Award and the... Oh, wow, yeah, you did your research. Our producer. Our producers are...

Thank you, Sally. Pretty fantastic. Well, here's the thing is that going... Because I was focused on those trying to get work, those three and a half years, I spent... I shot more films than probably any student, you know, during that time. Yeah. Because for the sole purpose of building a cinematographer Rio so that I could find work. And then my senior ear, for some reason, I think on a film shoot, even as a freshman not knowing too much, I was very comfortable.

Yeah. There's something about a film set that I don't know why I'm very comfortable and I feel very at ease. You're comfortable in your skin. Now that you see you get hair. That's the number one word I would use to describe you. Comfortable? Yeah. Good.

What are you saying? Yeah. You're right. Yasu is like unflappable. I would say this. You never get ruffled or stress. I've seen things where, I was like, I was going to say Ken. I've seen disagreements with directors, right?

Disagreements or conversations? Framing. Hold on, Yasu's getting distracted by an actual camera. He saw a camera. He's like, what is this? Is that that work? But like you do do. deal with it very well, right?

Like I've, you know what I've seen. Like I've seen things. But like, what do you think contributes to that level of comfort? I think specifically in the world of television, even over film, because there is a time. There's a certain pace to TV that has to be kept. We're probably averaging about six pages a day or something in that area. Where it's, films, depending on the budget of the film, if it's a low budget film, you know, Maybe doing 11 pages, 12, you know what I'm saying?

But if it has a budget, which is, I don't know if everybody knows, the more money you get, the less you have to shoot. And it's like, sometimes we'll shoot two pages like, y'all got this, right? Like, I'm from TV, but they can shoot it from this angle. Right. We can come underneath here. Like all this kind of like shots that you know, add ambiance to things and whatnot. So given the time frame of TV and whatnot, like, do you just have an internal clock that just sort of like, I know what I need to do and when I need to do it?

Yeah, I do have an internal clock that I think about where we're at at the day. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Yeah, I have a clock in my head. And cover. Like, I think sometimes, this is what I've been told. You guys tell me, because you've done the directing thing.

Especially on a television show. You watch the pilot. You try to watch as much of the show as possible, but then you know the style of the show. And then for you, you say to yourself like, art, and you've got to get the master and your close-ups and basic coverage. Yeah. And then if there's a special shot, there's something that you want to do in terms of storytelling. You sort of like, okay, I do need a crane. There's this idea for this shot that I want to do or whatnot.

But you only get so many of those in an episode before you're like, all right, basically, I'm just going to be shooting the show. When the director comes and they have like a great idea or whatnot, but maybe it doesn't translate into what you know the fabric of the show is, tell me a little bit about that conversation. I think that's what it is. the conversation about it. On This Is Us was an easy, not easy, but it was a simplified show because it was all handheld. All handheld.

A crane is, here's the thing with a crane. Here's the thing with a crane shots and I love doing them, but a crane can have a lot of weight, right? If you put a crane in this room, it takes up a lot of weight. You think a crane can fitness? I mean, just as an example,

like a crane would take up a lot of space, right? And that space is not necessarily helpful in telling the story which is basically about, for example, on Paradise, it's about you finding your wife, right? So I like to try to get the crane shot and then try to get it out because the main, the most important thing is the story. I see what you're saying. You just don't want it eating up real estate that could be used for other things in terms

of storytelling. Yeah, exactly. Right, right, right. And I know that it's there for the purpose. Let's use that. but let's go to the story. Right. Yeah.

And I think that's what the director appreciates at the end of the day, that we capture that. We'll be right back with more. That was us. All right, gang, check this out the other day. We were hanging out. Amari and all of his little friends were over at the house. They're kicking it. Playing basketball, playing in the swimming pool, whatnot.

Ryan gets excited. She says, I'm going to make an apple cobbler for you guys. She goes all in, makes this apple cobbler. She's about to go divvy it all up, goes into the fridge to get some ice cream. No, don't say it. No ice cream. Don't say it. Not a problem.

That's not an apple cobbler. Not a problem. Why? Shipped to the rescue, bro. I said, we need some premium vanilla ASAP. Wow. Cobbler's still hot. Ice cream melting on top.

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Scotia Bank. You're richer than you think. I think another hallmark of yours, Yasu, is the way that you light. Yeah. Like, there is an efficiency to the way you work. Yeah. You want to light things in such a way, especially, I mean, for our show, I'll use as an example. Our show, this is us or our show, The Land.

This is us. Yeah. So that you, we can kind of like, once the general lighting is sort of set up, we've got, we go and we rehearse the scene. we sort of know what we're aiming for, like what we want to accomplish. You light this scene in such a way where it is easy to do the master and do all of the coverage and stuff where we're not necessarily having to change the lighting so much. I feel like that's a signature of yours.

It's just like, let's try to like maximize this space. I want to get things like generally where I want them so then when we shoot, like we can move quickly. I agree. I agree. And it was always appreciated. I'm sure you guys feel this way too. an actor because it's like for some of the more emotional scenes to know that like we were going to shoot the master, we were shooting things a certain way, but like when it came down to like

performance stuff and having not having to do stuff like over and over and over again or staying in like a particularly like difficult place, I knew that we were always taking care of with you because there was a lot of consideration for like we're going to try to accomplish all of this as quickly as possible. So like it's not compromising the performances. Yeah, well thanks for saying that, Mandy. I think I definitely do because that's the most important thing. You guys are the most important thing, right? You guys in the story. But not everybody feels that way. I mean, not that we're the most important thing, but I will say that, no, no, no, no. I'm just saying oftentimes DPs and directors too don't necessarily,

aren't thinking about the performance in that context and like what a performer is sitting and holding on to. but I always felt like we were in such good hands with you because I was like oh Yasu's going to make sure to take care of us in that way well to me that is the most important thing that you guys are because momentum on a set I could change a moment

being a cinematography you change the momentum of a set so you can take it where you can take it to the level that you can make things go really slow and every shot feels like a new scene or you can do it where I like having the momentum so it feels, you know, everything feels immediate and fast.

Yeah, we're in it. Yeah, you're in it. Until it's done. We're in the zone. We're all in the zone together. Yeah. And at the end of the day, I think that is a successful show that you guys are, that the show, it comes off on screen, I think. Yeah.

I've also seen, and you probably witnessed the same thing, like on the episode that I directed, you were able to move things along at a clip when you and, you and, you and, you, you know, and you, you know, you and you, you know, you and, you know, and Kate were fighting. Yeah. And then in the softer, quieter moments, slow everything down and let everyone just sit and just kind of rest in the moments. That's a really valuable skill. When you ended up directing on This Is Us. Did you do three episodes?

Yeah. I did. Three. How did all of that experience? Was that the first time you directed episodes of television? It was, yes. It was. How did that translate into directing?

and did you enjoy it? Did I enjoy it? I think, I'll answer to second question first. Remembering fact. I did enjoy it. Sometimes, look, the best learning experience is when you're put in uncomfortable situations. Sure. And directing was an uncomfortable situation for me.

Yeah. But I welcomed it and I tried it. Why was it uncomfortable? Why was it uncomfortable? Because it's something I've never done before, nor did I think that I would do. Yeah. Whose idea was it? It was Dan.

Ken's idea. Yeah. Okay. But I think you grow, right? Yeah. I think in order to grow, you have to be in uncomfortable situations. So it was good for me. Yeah.

And I became a better cinematographer for it, I think, at the end of the day. Is it something you would want to do again? I don't think about it. You know, if somebody were to ask me, I'll think about it. But to me, I love being a cinematographer. I love lighting you guys. So to me, I don't. If it comes up, I don't know.

Are you guys excited to do it again? You guys directed at? I would, yeah. I think in the right context. Like, I'm not sure that I have it in me to do, like, what where Tess is so good at, like, being a director for hire. Yeah. But being, maybe directing a show that I'm already a part of. Season two of the late?

Yeah, that you, well, that's too much of a, that's too big of a show for me. It feels too big. Yeah, I'm like, I don't want to do the football stuff. It's too big. But like where you're intimately involved and you know the characters and you know the story and you like that, that to me feels exciting. Yeah. Would you sell you'd do or? I would say, yeah.

I enjoyed it way more than I even thought I would. Wow. Okay. Yeah, I really had a good time. Most- On the Rookie North. Mostly because of working with you. Oh, thanks, Colin. I mean, it made it a really enjoyable experience.

Yeah. No, it was fun. You know the fabric of the show so well that yes, you were an essential element to us as directors, It was like, Yasu is going to lead the way. And you just get to follow along and learn as you go. And we've noticed as we rewatch these episodes that we can, we can identify the Yasu episodes by look. Yeah. But I look alone.

Your episodes have a very distinct look. Really? Yeah. There's an extra sauce on them. Oh, really? Yeah. Not that they look that different from the rest of the show, obviously. Yeah.

But there is some autourship involved. Yeah, there's like a little sparkle. A little extra sparkle. Shadow and light. Shadow and light, yeah. Yeah, was the first. That was the first. Yeah.

My first day directing was an empty Hollywood bowl with Justin and Sophia Bush and John Legend. That's right. That's the first day. That's so cool. That's so cool. That's a good place to start. I have a question. Do you want to talk about your relationship with both Dan?

and you're like you're working relationship with him and then Ken I'm fascinated by because you've worked with Ken a lot I have worked with Ken I mean Dan I love Dan we all love Dan We do indeed That sounds like you're setting up for Ken But not with Ken

But Ken Tell us about Dan So with this is us Next to Dan in the editing room I was in the editing room more than anybody else. Yeah, you were. That's what Dan said.

Yeah. So what that allowed me to do, and what the reason for that was I wanted to learn Dan Fulgerman, right? I want to know what he likes. Yeah. I want to know what he didn't like. I want to know what he really liked. I want to know what he hated about what I did. So those were questions that I brought to Julia and Howard and really hard questions.

I said, why did you guys use that one? Why did you cut here? Why don't you use that? Because Dan, sometimes, you know, on This Is Us, you don't necessarily use the most beautiful shot all the time. Sometimes the most beautiful shot doesn't work because it kind of takes away from a close-up or something, right? So I learned the language of This Is Us and we both, I think, developed it together over the seasons.

And then the same thing with Paradise. And same thing with land. I'm trying to learn what the language of land is right now in my head. head and then Paradise as well. So I'm always trying to learn a new language. Learn the language of the show. I think I remember, I don't know if you said it to me. You might have said it to me, but I remember you saying at least one director,

like, we can do that, but it's not going to be on the show. When people come in with their ideas. And you're just being very honest, like, I think it's a great idea. Yeah. Dan will never put it on the show. Yeah, it won't be used. Because it's not, it doesn't, it's not the same language. Yeah, that's, I might have said that.

I don't know. Sure. But Dan's so great because I think there are other showrunners, there are other director producers, but I love Dan because he stands for something. You know, there's a decency and the stuff that he has. Yeah. From the, not just This Is Us, but the land and paradise.

You can make a post-a-posted. apocalyptic show can sometimes be not so nice. Yeah. You know? I think he could go there, but there's heart in paradise, I think. You know what I? There's heart in everything Dan does. There's heart and everything.

That's just who he is as a human. So it's like artists like, for example, like Bob Marley stands for something. You know what I mean? John Lennon stands for something. Yeah. Virginia Woolf stands for something. Yeah. Emily Dickinson stands for something.

You know what I mean? Kobe Bryant stands for something. This guy loves Kobe Bryant. So like, so those are all, you know, a musician. Authors. Authors. Basketball player. But they transcend that.

You know what I mean? So there's something about culturally. They're involved in a creative process. Yeah. But showrunners can do shows, but they don't necessarily stand for something. You know what I mean? Yeah. And that's a really great thing about that.

Well, compare and contrast that with Ken. Well, Ken, I love Ken. We love Ken. We're obsessed with it. We got to get Ken in here in person. He's only made on Zoom. He was wonderful. Oh, really?

Yeah. So I still talk to him all the time. Yeah. And Roxy. And Roxy. And the funniest relationship. Yeah. I wish I could bottle it.

They're like an old married couple. For anyone who doesn't remember, Ken was our producing director on This Is Us. Yeah. He directed. 30-some-odd episodes of the show, like over a third of the show. Yeah, yeah. And Yasu and Ken together were like Abbott and Conrad and

Costello. Yeah, it was a comedy duo. They're the odd couple. Yeah. But they worked, that they worked. So much love and respect. Yeah. Ken is is so good with you guys and so good. It's, um, it's just really a great thing to watch him work with actors. Yeah. If anything. Yeah. That was something that because the well of like, for me, like cinematography, I still have a lot to learn. It's like, The pool is like, what I still have to learn in cinematography is like an Olympic-sized pool. And what I have to learn in directing is like the Pacific Ocean. You know, that's the difference. And Ken knows most of that Pacific Ocean in a way.

Does that make sense? Yeah. He's such a good guy about directing. And the way he talks or brings something up. is really smart. And we have a great relationship. Yeah. Yeah, you guys have worked on a few projects together, too.

We did Paradise. Did you go pilot in the hiatus? We did grand hotel that went to series. Tracker. Tracker, yeah. You did Milo show too? Oh, Ken didn't do that. Sorry, yeah.

You did my show. Yeah. My show, yeah. I did, yeah. We talk about this is us a lot on a podcast about being kind of a handbook for living. and that Mandy and I have learned so much from being on the show and that since the show started, we have since become parents many times over,

as have you. And I'm wondering if your experience on the show has affected the way you approach family life or if becoming a father has affected the way you treat your creative process. That's a good question. I mean, I think that if I were to do This Is Us now with two girls, I'll be a bumbling kind of more of a mess, I think. Oh. I think it's, I think if anything, I was glad I did This Is Us without children

because I got to do it objectionally. Yeah. You know, because, I mean, just thinking about scenes in that. And if I had Poppy and Mika, I would be, I think it would take longer. Yeah, it's true. But what I learned from this is us, I mean, I was, it was so, I was so concerned, not concerned, but I was just so focused on telling the story that anything related to raising kids, I didn't even, I don't think, I didn't really, yeah.

You'll have to go back and rewatch the show and listen to the podcast. Yeah, yeah. See if anything comes to mind. And how does being a father affect your work moving forward? I mean, I care so much about what we do. I mean, I always cared, but I want her to hurt the kids to watch one day and be proud of it. Of course they will. I mean, if you guys, when did you have Gus, season five, right?

Season five, yeah. Like near the end. Yeah, see five. Right before season five, we had there. And yeah, and you had there too. Yeah. So, I mean, did that change your season six? a little bit?

Oh, it did? I just feel like, and maybe it's not even something you're conscious of, but we talk about like there's just like a whole new toolbox that becomes available to you that you're like, oh, I didn't even know this was here. Like it changes everything, even if you're unaware of it. The way you view life, the things, it's funny, you say that because I just, I even just remembering this, I remember we were shooting the land and it was Halloween and you're like, I want to get out to go trick-or-treating.

And I was like, me too. And it's just those shifts of like, I love our job. We're the luckiest people in the world to get to do this. And I love my family and I want to be there for them. There's a duality now. There's a balance that you're like, I'm grateful to be able to make the choice to do stuff that really means something to me. Because that is the only reason to be away from my family otherwise. And I felt that kinship.

with you too in the same way that you're like, it's important to be here and I love what I do. And I want to be there to go trick-or-treating with my kids. And we were able to, but like it's, but that I feel like is not something we ever would have thought about while we were doing this as us. It's like we're here to work and that's our job and that's our focus and our priority. And now there's just other considerations. Yeah. Yeah. I was to say, I thought I've always loved doing this. And I remember walking back on set. after having bear and being like, oh, this isn't nearly as serious as I thought it was.

Oh, interesting. Just the work, yeah. Interesting. My internal grip that I had on the process of like the importance that I put on it. And it's not that it's unimportant. I see. Yeah.

But there's like a photo negative flip of what important means. Yeah. Like what something means to be important. Yeah. And I can see in my performance, like a genuine relaxation shift in from before kids to after kids. I want to go back. I do. I'm like, I want to go back and like, now I know. Well, you knew all along because you had, you knew all along, but it's like, but now I know.

And I would do stuff just so differently or just, you know, going into it because you're different. You're a different person. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's interesting. That is very interesting. I'll talk on that in the second, but I won't ask one question just before I forget it for you do you have a do you have a Mount Rushmore of episodes that you sort of like think about in terms of like I feel really great about oh man that's too tough

it might be tough I care about all of them I know I know but I'm not like if you if you had to if you can only go back and rewatch yeah three or four okay man that's you know one one one one strange one that I really liked yeah that that might be very odd. Was the one that we went to Las Vegas on? Do you remember? No, that was a great episode. Yeah.

For the Bachelor of Rapporte. Yeah. For some reason, I really just like it because it's just, it's fun, entertainment. It's not one of the serious ones. Yeah. I enjoyed it. Everyone's having a blast. And we had so much fun.

We had a great time. Until Sue got sick. Yeah, Sue got sick. I mean, that's what I remember most about our show is that we had so many good moments. We had so much laughter. Yeah. Like I remember just, it was just a great six years. I don't think people would ever think that when they watch our show.

That there was so much levity and laughter. Yeah. It was great because we knew at season three that there was the end at six. Yeah. We had been picked up for three. Yeah, the last three. But to know that there's a finale there, you can breathe and just take in every moment, I think, and appreciate it. That's a weird thing.

You know, I didn't even think about that because so many things don't get a chance to end. Do you know what I mean? Consciously. Consciously. You know what I'm saying? They end abruptly. Yeah. But like we knew we were building to something.

That's different. There's so many great. I mean, I was so lucky to shoot all your guys' relationships. And there was Dr. K. Right. Mac was great. Yeah. Best.

And Ron is so good. So just the Vegas is like, Vegas is it. Just for now, because I was looking through them because Samantha said you should watch yours. So I was looking through it and I just glanced at the Vegas while. I was like, oh, this is a good one. There are episodes that I'm going to mention a couple

that just stick out in my mind. But like these are random. And if you guys have something, because I'm curious about when Jack goes back to his home with his mom's passing away, There's a quietness that I remember in that episode. A real silence. A real silence.

Intentionally. There's the snow that has to be replicated and everything. So I'm just curious about if that pops in your head. I think 615, like a lot of people talk about the trend. But like, Miguel, that shit is beyond. I find it breathtaking. Yeah. Like breathtaking.

Like we haven't gotten to it. yet obviously because it's in the sixth season. But when we all watched, we watched it together. Dan had us go. We went away for like a little getaway together. We watched this episode, Yasu. And like I made a sound that I didn't know that I was gonna make and it was like, ah, ah, ah,

and it was tears coming up, ah, and then I heard, where it's this go? I think if for all of us, it was like the most emotional episode. For sure. For sure. For sure. For sure. So that one sticks out in my head.

There's a lot of them. Yeah. The first birthday party with the three of them where it's the introduction of like Sophie and that sort of like relationship. Like I love how that just sort of. Oh, that was a Chris Kachap. That was a Kachap. Yeah. Like that's, so I'm just naming ones that stick out in my own.

Memphis too. Memphis. Yeah. Memphis. Did you any of the places that you went, like you, going. to Vietnam. Going to Philadelphia. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we went everywhere. Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco.

Yeah, those were all amazing trips. Isn't that like things that happen on network TV? No. Yeah. Definitely not anymore. Yeah, never again. No, you know. But my parents watched every week too. They did. Yeah, they were very proud of the show. I bet they were.

And then New York was a blast. Yeah. Yeah. We went to New York a couple times. That was right before COVID. The pandemic, yeah. That was the end of February. Weeks before. We were lucky.

I mean, man. So lucky. Shutting down the Met. Like that's a memory that I will never ever forget. That's right. It was the coolest. Me and Justin running the steps and stuff. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I remember I watched Hamilton. I remember I told you guys, I saw Hamilton during our trip there. You did? I did. Yeah. And I remember that line in New York, there's a song called Yorktown. Yeah.

And they go like, immigrants, we get the job done. Yes, sir. Oh, I felt very proud of that. Yeah. That's right. Hell yeah, man. What else? Well, 25 years from now, we will reboot the podcast,

and all of our children will rewatch the show. And we'll have them talk about everything. Talk about everything. Great. Yeah. I can't wait for that. Crazy. Thank you so much for coming to talk to us.

You rock. He thought it was going to be scared. Was it scary? No, not at all. I told you. I was like, you're just talking with us. We're just talking about the work. I had fun.

Yeah. That's very good. Do me a favor. Yeah. We come to our conclusion. You look into your camera right over there. And when you tell them, not the name of the show that we shot, but the name of this podcast. Right now?

All right. That was us. That Was Us is filmed at Rabbit Grin Studios and produced by Rabbit Grin, Productions, music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith. Da da da da-da-da-dum. That was us. That was a headgum podcast. Hey y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair.

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