The confirmation for both jobs - 'AMC' and 'Smallville' - came through on the same day, so there was a lot of wine flowing in the Hartley house that night!
Sentiment: POSITIVE
'Smallville' was a really awesome opportunity.
Every job I've had since 'Smallville' has wanted me to have red hair, so I have to thank 'Smallville' for that. But, just the fact that it was so different was appealing to me. As an actor, you want to be able to play a lot of different things.
I had done a directing producing job before on 'Big Day' and 'Jake in Progress,' and those are two shows where I directed the pilot and stayed with it in series.
Working crew made me realise that the actors are a very small part of a very big machine, with each part being vital to make the show work. It so important to remember that it's not about you, it's about the show, and working crew hammered that point home to me.
I've done a bunch of jobs since 'Deadwood' went off the air, but it's always been a very high bar that those other shows have to live up to.
I got good notice from that show, and on the last day of filming Townies, Twentieth Century Fox called wanting to meet with me about a development deal.
There was so long from when we did the pilot and then when the show was eventually picked up by Comedy Central - and, in fact, we had to shoot the pilot twice.
Sitcoms are what got me excited about show business.
I'm at a little loss in terms of my Leave It To Beaver expertise, since I never watched an episode of the show - so the cast in the pilot could have been Martians or they could have been the regular cast for all I know.
One of the things that I thought really worked was that you have 'Smallville' on television and 'Superman Returns' come out in the theater, and it was fine. Nobody freaked out; nobody thought they were competing.
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