Fancast: Inside TV

Scott, give me a little sense of how different this season will be from before.
Scott: Well, first of all, it's a perfect marriage to get Tracy and Scare Tactics together. We've always considered this a comedy show, even though it's scary. It's really only scary for the one person in the bit, and all the rest of us are in on the joke.

So to have someone as funny as Tracy be the host - that brings the show to a whole new level right there. People are actually going to get a lot of entertainment value out of the host portion of the show, as well as the bits. And the bits this season are the biggest, best bits we've ever done.

One of the favorite bits in past seasons has been the Rat Monster bit, where a 28-inch-tall actor dressed up as a half man, half rat and terrified a guy. He's back. Gabriel's back, this time as Satan's baby in the premiere episode. He pops out from underneath the sheet, and this girl - who was set up by her mom - starts screaming her head off. It's phenomenal.

Tracy, I was wondering what type of scare tactics would work on you?
Tracy: Oh, man…..if you sent the IRS to my house………. I think I would be pretty scared. Something like that.

Scott, how do you avoid people defending themselves with violence, or fighting back, or something like that?
Scott: We take safety really, really seriously on our sets. And, you know, if - when the bit is at its height is when we're about to reveal, anyway. We always sweep the area to make sure there's not anything people can pick up and use as a weapon. If people start to react in that way where it looks like they're going to fight, their friend or family member is with us. They're either on the set with the person or they're in our control room and, you know, we will reveal immediately when it - if it looks like things are going to go in a bad direction.

Tracy, you are taking the reins of the show from Shannen Doherty, and I was wondering: which one of you - you or Shannen - is actually scarier?
Tracy: I couldn't tell you. I don't know Ms. Doherty, but who could be scarier? I don't know. I'm a pretty funny guy. I'm mostly affiliated with comedy so I'm not really, you know, a scary guy like that. I hope that people laugh more than they get frightened when they see me.

Scott - do you have anyone this season, or from any of the past seasons, that refused to sign the waiver for their episode to be aired?
Scott: You know what? It's very rare. And I can't really go into - everybody signed this season. Absolutely everybody signed who's on the show this season. In the past, if someone refused to sign, it was usually…….we had one bit that was supposedly at a bachelor party and there was a stripper. And the guy refused to at the end because he was going to be running for office and didn't want to be on TV. So it's usually for that reason that people don't sign. But like I said, it's rare. Because everyone's setup by a friend or a family member, it usually takes the onus off the show and people feel like, “Oh, it's okay. It was my friend setting me up, and it was a good joke.”

And, in fact, the biggest source of new victims for the show is from people who have been on the show as victims themselves.

So you got a lot of people sort of turning the tables on their friends?
Scott: Exactly. The show is like a roller coaster. We want it to be a thrill ride. We want it to be - when you're done - you get off the ride and go, "Oh my God, that was great! I’ve got to do it again!" And the way they get to do it again is to set up a friend.

I don't want to use the word victim, but just for the sake of argument, what to you makes a good victim when you're looking at people to cast?
Scott: People who are expressive. People who react. People who are verbal. We like people who………..they buy into the story, and they believe Satan's baby is in the room with them. We want them to react and say what's on their mind and, you know, if they scream, then that's fine.

But it's equally entertaining to see someone who takes the leadership role, and tries to fight back against whatever's happening to them, as it is to see someone get scared. Both reactions are great as long as they're big reactions. That's the best thing.

Who is your all-time favorite person that you've been able to prank?
Scott: All-time favorite? Let's see…….we haven't pranked Tracy yet. But we'll see.

Does he have a clause in his contract - sort of like Ashton with Punk'd - that you can't actually try to get him?
Scott: No, I don't think he got that. Did you get that Tracy?

Tracy: No.

Scott: I think my all-time favorite reaction is coming up in the first episode: the woman who is frightened by Satan's baby. This girl - her name is Brittany. She was setup by her mom to answer phones at this medical clinic. And we find out from the beginning that she's always wanted to be on TV. And she didn't realize she was on TV at the moment she said that. And then this woman comes into the clinic in labor and moments later, gives birth to Satan's baby. This 28-inch-tall actor, Gabriel, is painted red. He's got horns on his head. He pops out from under the sheet and attacks the doctor, and the girl starts screaming, and she points at him, and the little baby turns to her and says “Praise me!” And she goes, "No, that is the devil! That is not who I praise! I love God!" And she's actually talking to this thing as if it's real. It was the greatest reaction I've ever seen.

Tracy: It was awesome.

Tracy, what's the best prank that you ever witnessed?
Tracy: The best prank I ever witnessed was with the wood chipper. I loved the wood chipper episode. I think that was awesome. I mean, to see these people and…… they're just genuinely scared. And that is hilarious……I guess it's because it's not happening to me.

Scott, how did the concept of Scare Tactics come about?
Scott: My partner Kevin Healey and I were working on Spy TV for NBC at the time that SCI FI approached us, and they said “Hey, how about developing a hidden camera show for us?” And so, for the SCI FI channel, it was just a natural to focus on horror. We really feel like Scare Tactics……we have four bits in every episode, and we want them all to feel like four little short horror movies. That's kind of where we started out. They have to have stories. They have to develop, they have to evolve and they have to build. It's not just jumping out and saying “Boo!” and have someone be startled……….it has to be more than that. There has to be a story. And so that's really where we started: “Can we do four little short horror films in an episode?”

Question for you, Tracy: old school favorite horror movie or TV show of all time, and then we'll do new school. Old school, new school. Give me old school first.
Tracy: I got to say Blacula. No, I'm not going to say Blacula. I'm going to say The Exorcist. And new school: I got to say Flavor of Love.

Flavor of Love?

Tracy: Yes. That's scary.

Tracy, a little bit about G-Force and Deep in the Valley……. since you're on the SCI FI Channel show - those both sound like fantasy movies. Am I right?
Tracy: They're awesome movies. G-Force is a Jerry Bruckheimer project that I've been working on for about the last year. And it's going to be great. I can't wait until it comes out. It's an animated movie, and I play the voice of a hamster. They're like a task force and they go undercover - covert undercover gerbils, and stuff like that. And there's a big cast - Nicolas Cage, and all those people. It's really funny. Very good.

And Deep in the Valley, what's that? What do you play?
Tracy: Deep in the Valley is going to be a cult classic. It's a really adult movie. It's funny - it's along the lines of Totally Awesome and all those things. I haven't seen it yet, but the part that I did was really funny. It had a couple of porn stars in it. It gives me a chance to get away from PG for a little while. It's hard to explain the character that I play. It's like a futuristic club owner. He's a really funny guy. Fu Manchu mustache and everything. Picture me with a Fu Manchu mustache.

Scott, Tracy mentioned Shannen Doherty. You worked with her. Was that a scary experience?
Scott: No. We get along great with Shannen. I wish I had something scary to tell you about Shannen. We did another show with her after, so we're actually tied with Aaron Spelling. We've done two shows with Shannen Doherty. We did Breaking Up With Shannen Doherty for the Oxygen Network after Scare Tactics. So no…….we get along great with Shannen.

Scott, I was wondering if the friends who are calling in to set it up – do they help you figure out what the scare should be? How you guys come up with the scares?
Scott: We have, besides Kevin Healey and I and Mike Harney, who are the Executive Producers, we have a couple of writers helping us out as well. We all basically get in a room, and we'll throw ideas out and we'll spitball them, make sure that we're telling a good enough story and there's enough levels to the scare.

Sometimes with the friends - we'll run the bit we're thinking of doing by them and make sure that they think the bit is good for their friend, that their friend will get into it. If someone is into vampires, we might put them where they find themselves in a vampire bit, or something like that.

But on the flip side, if someone's terrified of spiders, we're not going to put them in a room and throw spiders on them. We don't want them to have a bad time. So we would actually keep that person away from a bit with spiders.

Tracy, do you take part in any of the planning or any of the scares?
Tracy: Oh, no. No. I'm not good at that stuff. Those guys are great at what they do, and I just really just walk the piece to the audience and set them up, host it, try to bring some personality to the hosting area and set up the whole scene. You know, make that fun, and help the people get ready for the actual scene.

Scott, is it like a constant tightrope walk, between being funny and mean?
Scott: Comedy and horror are actually really close. I think because these people are set up by their friends, it excuses it a little bit. Everyone has to have a good time at the end of the day. So we try not to be mean and when the prank is at its scariest, that's when we reveal. People's reactions at that point are just phenomenal because people are so relieved it's not real. So we really…….we don't want to be mean. We want people to have fun on the show, and they do. And like I said, people once they've been on the show, they want to setup their friends. They usually come to us and say, "Okay, I've got these five people I've got to setup."

It sounds like the network's been supportive then? They've never said to you guys, “Hey, you can't…..that's going too far!”?
Scott: The folks in the creative - you know, Mark Stern and Tim Krubsack and all those folks - they've been so supportive and really just they love the show, and so they actually love to take pitch meetings from us in person. We'll go ……..tell them the stuff we want to do and most of their reactions are, "Great! I love it! Sounds good. Do it."

The legal department - that's another story. This show's very frightening for lawyers. In the beginning, the legal team was like “Okay, just don't do any bits where people are fearing for their safety…..”. And we were kind of like, “Have you seen the show?!”

Once we were able to walk them through our process and what happens, and show that when the person is at their most scared, we're actually at the reveal. We're not terrifying people for a half an hour and leaving them in quivering masses on the floor.

People have to enjoy their experience on the show, so we always keep that in mind. Yes, it's scary, but at the end of it you have to say, “That was the coolest thing I've ever been through!” We got a lot of those reactions this year, where people are like, "Oh my gosh, I never thought I would go through that in my life! That was amazing!" This is a once in a lifetime shot.

__________________________________

Scare Tactics premieres on the Sci Fi Channel July 9th at 10/9 pm CT.