Aline Brosh McKenna, co-creator and showrunner ofCrazy Ex-Girlfriend, blogs for EW about making the series finale.
Rachel Bloomand I met on a kind of blind date in 2013.
I had seen her YouTube videos and asked to meet her.
Greg Gayne/The CW; Inset: Kit Karzen
I pitched her an idea about a show calledCrazy Ex-Girlfriendand off we went.
Heres how we made our last, and 61st, fictional scripted episode.
The process of making that final episode began with a very long writers room session.
No one knows Rebecca and her story better than this room.
After the room discussion, Rachel and I sat down to write.
It was such a relief to script this episode after years and years of talking about it.
We wrote a first draft of the damn thing in a day.
At the end we were quite weepy.
Actually, in the middle we were weepy too.
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We were just generally weepy the whole time.
After almost six years of working together, weve fused into a single-celled creature.
Heres us weeping as we wrote those last pages.
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(Did I mention we wept?)
Now, the countdown began to the shoot.
We were also finishing the writing, shooting, and editing of our last three episodes.
I was writing so much I was wearing an ace bandage every day.
There was a stretch of about 40 days when I didnt have a day off.
I hung it on my bathroom wall and x-ed off each day before bed.
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The first day of the shoot arrived.
This is my fifth episode of TV.
I love directing our cast so much.
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Man, I dont even know where to start with these people.
Ill start with Donna Lynne because she plays Paula, who is in some ways my alter ego.
Here is one of our producer/writers, Michael Hitchcock.
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He also acts on the show, playing Bert, and is so funny onBest In Show.
Interesting factoid: on this episode, Rachel had two body doubles.
Its an unheralded art form.
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Every day of the shoot, we closed out more of the set.
Here, Rachel is having trouble saying goodbye.
One of the true pleasures of this show has been working with so many kickass women.
I grew up in a very male business.
Having so many smart, talented women around every day was a source of inspiration and nourishment.
These are the four members of our beloved Gurl Group, captured after their last scene together.
Finally, the last day of the shoot arrived.
I had requested we get the whole crew together for a photo.
Ah, our crew, our crew.
Everyone says they have the best crew.
I cant comment on that, because we have the best crew.
I cant explain to you how hard these people work, the hours they keep.
Every time I direct, Im knocked out by the effort and heart of the people behind the scenes.
If you dont watch our show, you wont know what that means.
Here we are after cutting our last few scenes ever.
That brings us to the very last actual day of work on theCrazy Ex-GirlfriendTV series.
That took place on March 30, 2019.
It was the final mix for the final episode.
Mixes are sometimes long, this one was excruciatingly long.
So heres a photo of us looking reasonably terrible, tired, grateful, sad, and exhilarated.
That hasnt sunk in.
Mostly, lately, I feel lucky.
Lucky we got to work with such amazing people.
That we got to tell our story the way we wanted to.
Its now been six years since Rachel and I met each other.
Well, not quite six years.
That anniversary is coming up in June.
To celebrate that milestone, we will probably take an unflattering, weepie selfie and reminisce.
Weve already started to get nostalgic, even though the thing has only been done for like five minutes.
Thank you if you watched the show.
If you didnt, again, this has been an odd use of your time.
