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COLUMN SIX: Picked for Portlandia

Final season sees father and daughter cast together BY BLAINE PALMER and FRANCESCA TRICAMO-PALMER Special to the VOICE Blaine Palmer and Francesca Tricamo-Palmer, actors from Portland, Oregon, who are father and daughter, became part of the cast of t

Final season sees father and daughter cast together

BY BLAINE PALMER and FRANCESCA TRICAMO-PALMER Special to the VOICE

Blaine Palmer and Francesca Tricamo-Palmer, actors from Portland, Oregon, who are father and daughter, became part of the cast of the popular comedy series Portlandia, and wound up acting in the same scene. The Voice asked them to tell us how it happened.

Francesca:

I started acting in theater when I was in third grade and doing improv in fourth or fifth grade. My ultimate goal is writing for television. For the last year I’ve performed improv regularly in Portland and now in Los Angeles take classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (UCB) where some of my favorite comedians studied — Jason Mantzoukas, Lauren Lapkus and Jack McBrayer are some notable alums.

Blaine:

I’ve worked for years as a stage actor, but my roots are in improvisation. More recently I moved to film and television. In Gone, Amanda Seyfried goes to neighbors looking for information about her missing sister, and knocks on my door. I am scary at first, but I turn out to be nice. Reese Witherspoon encountered me when she hiked through Oregon in Wild. Somewhere, abandoned on the cutting room floor, is the scene in my camp store where she picks up a package. Initially Reese thinks I’m scary, but I turn out to be nice.

Francesca:

During Season 4 of Portlandia I did a brief stint as an intern before moving to New York to go to college, and through that I met the casting director, Simon. When Season 8 rolled around last year, in June I was brought in to read for a large role. I had a great time improvising with Simon and felt genuinely pleased with my performance. Later I learned that I was one of the top choices for the role, but it ended up becoming a guest star cameo — a very flattering way to lose a part! I knew that there likely wouldn’t be another role for me — in the world of Portlandia I mostly fit into roles that Carrie Brownstein plays.

Blaine:

And I fit into roles Fred Armisen often plays. But at the beginning of August I get an email from my agent with a casting call for the show. I’ll be reading for the role of a newspaper editor, conveniently named, “Editor.”

I know from past experience that Portlandia auditions usually involve some improv outside the scripted lines, so I research terms that newspaper editors and copywriters use. Soon I can make very meaningful-sounding remarks about “having the article in rough, but planning to place it front page above the fold with a banner, artwork and the nut-graf in a pullout.”

Francesca:

About two months after my audition, Simon hired me to do some administrative work in the casting office. While helping my dad run his lines I see that there is a reporter in the scene named “Francesca,” described as being in her 20s. “Obviously,” I tell my dad, “they’ve written this role for me.” I pointed this out to Simon and the casting associate, Rachel. Both respond with something along the lines of, “Right! Ha, ha — yeah, no.”

Blaine:

The day before my audition I get a message from the casting director. I steel myself to read what will surely be a rejection. Instead, it’s character notes: “It should be played straight drama, no humor … think “Spotlight.” I can now imagine myself as the editor — a grizzled, hard-edged Michael Keaton type, but better looking.

Francesca:

And more talented, of course.

Blaine:

It goes without saying. I remember Michael Keaton’s character chewing gum in Spotlight, so I spend the rest of the day sitting at a desk chewing gum with a world-weary expression. “The bulldog news hole has a ragged right,” I muse sardonically.

The next day I arrive at the casting office and get a page of lines to look over. I practice the lines and chew gum in the waiting room.

Simon calls me in, goes over the character notes again, and says we’ll do it one time from the script, and then improv it a little. “Ready when you are,” he says. “You want to take your gum out?”

Warring devils in my head debate what my response should be before he adds, “Unless it’s a character thing.” I keep the gum. He reads the lines of the other character in the scene and after one take, he says he likes my reading. We improvise the scene but there is absolutely no opportunity for interjecting any jargon.

Francesca:

We create our own opportunities, Dad.

Blaine:

Four long days later my agent emails to tell me they’ve cast me as the editor! I celebrate (and prepare) by running out and buying an enormous pack of gum.

Francesca:

A week or two after that, I’m in the casting office doing some spreadsheeting when I get a text from my agent, “They want to you for Portlandia!” I was shocked! I got up and walked to the office next door to find Simon and Rachel. “Um, did you just cast me?” They both laughed and said yes. Simon told me he wanted to keep it a secret and Rachel said she’d almost told me when she found out the night before but managed to keep quiet about it. I asked what the role was and they told me it was, in fact, the Francesca role. Of course, it had not actually been written for me, but as I did fit the description they submitted me along with several others, using the tape from my earlier audition and the director picked me! Later the director would praise Simon for having never let on that he and I knew each other or that I had ever worked for him.

Now I need to tell my dad that not only was I also cast, but that we would be in a scene together. I text him.

F: So should we carpool to set next week?

Blaine:

Francesca was already scheduled to be on set the next week — a connection in production had gotten her the opportunity to visit while two of her favorite comedians were filming a scene, so I’m not surprised by the carpool idea. I text back.

B: Is that the day you’re going?

Francesca:

I try to be as patient and casual as I can. More texts.

F: Monday is the day I’m going to watch
F: Thursday is our scene

B: Our?

F: Yeah
F: The one that you and I are both in

B:♥
B: When did this happen?

F: Last night, but I didn’t find out until like thirty minutes ago

B: I’ve only been dreaming of this for a decade.

Blaine:

Ever since Francesca started taking acting classes I’ve hoped we might one day be able to act in the same production. And now, it’s happening, not in a local theater production but on a celebrated prime time television show!

Francesca:

The day before I shoot I get a phone call asking me to bring some “business clothes,” which is not what my wardrobe mainly consists of. I pull together the most professional looking options I can find — lots of leftovers from my time working at Banana Republic.

Naturally, we do carpool to the location, at the Moda Center, the arena where our NBA team plays. We spend 10 minutes trying to figure out where we’re supposed to park and from there how to find “basecamp” — the headquarters for the day’s shoot. After taking some questionable staircases and walking through the parking structure, we finally come to an open area with a collection of trailers and canopies. As we arrive, another performer drives right in and parks next to basecamp. Suddenly this looks very logical.

I head into wardrobe first. I show them my business clothes options which they’re clearly unimpressed with. They have me try on some things that they’ve pulled and eventually I end up in a full-on suit. I believe this is the second time I’ve ever worn a suit — the first being my training week at Banana Republic. Then I’m sent to hair and makeup — the part I was really looking forward to. I take mental notes of what colors the makeup artist chooses for me and the techniques the hair stylist uses.

Blaine:

I go to makeup and hair and am surprised they don’t cut my asymmetrical, Andy Warhol-ish hairstyle. I’ve barely arrived at wardrobe when word comes through that they’re ahead of schedule and need me on the set right away. I barely have time to put gum in my pocket before heading to the set.

Blaine Palmer in Portlandia. © 2018 BROADWAY VIDEO GROUP

Francesca:

We’re shooting in the basement. There’s an office section near the basketball court that looks passably like a newspaper newsroom. We head into the room and I stand on a piece of tape on the ground while they light everything and figure out camera angles. Suddenly I realize that we’re about to start. I’m not in the beginning of the scene — I run in later — but having never been explicitly told to go back out through the door I remain frozen, convincing myself that for this angle I will just wait in the room. This anxious thought process occupied the four seconds I had before someone said, “Wait, Francesca, you’re supposed to be in the hall.”

The director tells me to run in place or jump up and down before I run into the room so I look properly energized — a nice gift from him, because it gives me a way to physically express my nerves that doesn’t make the crew look at me weird. We shoot the scene twice before we start improvising. I’m nervous about that part, especially because I’m not sure how much performers are supposed to ad-lib, other than Fred and Carrie or big guest stars, but I went for it and got great feedback from the director.

Blaine:

Francesca comes up with a line that cracks up everybody behind the camera. The director tells her it’s hilarious and has her keep it in all the remaining takes.

Francesca:

We shoot the scene four or five times, and it’s relatively short so the whole thing goes by very quickly. When I realized it was over I was satisfied but disappointed— I wanted to keep going; who knew what other great stuff we would uncover!

Blaine:

So, Francesca, with no more seasons of Portlandia to come, what will be our next joint on-camera appearance? I’m thinking there’s a blockbuster movie with a female lead who has superpowers and also a smart-alecky sense of humor. In a flashback, we see her backstory with a monkish mentor who at first seems a little scary, but turns out to be nice.

Francesca:

Oh my god, Dad, so great to hear from you! Sorry I’ve been so distant— I’m down here Making It in L.A. Your idea sounds cute though! I’ll definitely talk to my manager about it.

 

Blaine and Francesca appeared in Episode 7 of this, the last season of Portlandia.