Have you sat down with the writers and established a Janet rulebook at any point?
In a way. We actually didn't do it the first season, but at the beginning of the second season, before we started filming, I did have a lunch with all of the writers. It was basically them saying, "You trust us. We trust you if you make a decision about Janet."
So what are some of the decisions you make as Janet, as far as what she knows, how she acts, how she "feels"? Because your Janet feels like a very informed performance.
The funny thing is that in the beginning, it didn't feel like that, the first few episodes. Quickly I was like, "Janet wouldn't do that." Again, these writers are amazing. Rarely, if ever, would it be in the script where I'd say, "Oh, Janet wouldn't say that." I mean rarely. Maybe once or twice. I would read a line and be like, "Um, I don't know if Janet would say that." We'd do it at the read through and then the next day, we'd have a different script and it would be gone. They know. We share a brain.
When she's in regular Janet mode, she is not judgmental. She is the most positive, always looking at the glass half full. Unflappable. Whatever it is, it's deep within me and I don't know why. I think it's because the writing is so strong. They get it. I imagine that the work that these writers and Mike put into these scripts is ten times what a normal great show would do. I imagine it makes them crazy. I wonder if it's even fun. It seems very hard.
