Making "Must-See TV" "George and I are in the room with the writers as they work over the script in what's called prewrites," says Eolin. "After they make changes, we stay late to proofread it, pull the parts together, compile the short rundown, and make sure department heads are aware of the revisions. We hand the scripts off to the production assistants. They stay even later to photocopy, then drive all over creation delivering these scripts -- to the four main cast members, director, first assistant director, producers, and any large guest-cast role." Those people next get together for the "table read," where the script is read aloud, and Doty and Eolin are once again responsible for keeping track of any changes. Following that are a couple of hours of rehearsals on the soundstage, then a dry run of the show that's watched by executives from Castle Rock and NBC. "For a lot of other shows, executives will come by and tell you all the things you have to change, but they don't for Seinfeld," says Doty. "They watch, they maybe throw in a suggestion -- and if it's not taken that's okay -- and then they go away. They have faith in the people here, so they'd rather spend their time working on the shows that need a little more help than waste time here." After the run-through, everyone convenes back at the office to talk about what worked and what didn't. At this point they'll add or drop -- everything from an entire act to a scene or a character. "That meeting can last anywhere from a half hour to five hours," says Eolin. "We have to take meticulous notes, so after they've decided everything George and I can put the changes into the final version of the script. Then we are responsible for calling casting, props, the art department, set dressing. Every little thing . . . down to if a garment is supposed to tear in the middle of a scene we need to have the wardrobe department ready with six or seven identical shirts available. Literally and figuratively, we need to get everybody on the same page." After another set of rehearsals, the cast and crew are ready to film the show in front of a studio audience. Since getting each separate shot just right can require several "takes," Eolin says she and Doty keep track of which ones the writers think work best. "When the filming is over we put together a shooting script in which we mark all the takes and hand that to Dave, who collates that with the script supervisor's notes into a packet for the editor. We usually wrap around 11:00, although the latest was 1:30 in the morning -- the staff comes back to the office and talks about the show for a while." Seinfeld is shot on film, because of its higher picture quality, then transferred onto videotape for editing. Rogers enters each frame from the four cameras into a digital editing system and combs his database for any "stock shots" that might be needed for an episode: a building exterior or a city street, for example. The editor, using the script, notes taken during shooting, and his own instincts, takes a first pass at assembling the show. "Depending on our schedule, the editor sometimes asks me to work on the assembly," says Rogers. "I'll put together some scenes and afterwards he'll go over it with me and critique it. The typical half-hour TV show may have 400 to 500 separate edits; we have sometimes a thousand. The pacing of Seinfeld is bam, bam, bam. We don't waste any time." In fact, with only about 22 minutes, 40 seconds of actual "show" time during Seinfeld's half hour, the rough first assembly might run 6 or 7 minutes too long -- time that will have to be cut without losing the essence of the story. As with the writing process, revisions at this point become a group effort. The writers will work with the editor on a second pass; then the director gets a shot. Finally, it's up to the boss himself to sign off. "Jerry's a writer, an actor, and a producer of the show," Rogers notes. "Just one of those alone is enough responsibility, but he sees everything before it hits the air. He inspires the rest of us to try for perfection by his example. On the set, he always hits his marks and rarely messes up his lines. We look for these things in the edit bay." "We don't think about it, that we're sitting in a room with Jerry Seinfeld every day." And how is it to work alongside such a big star? "We don't think about it, that we're sitting in a room with Jerry Seinfeld every day," Eolin claims. "When I worked on the The Tonight Show it was a fabulous crash course in getting used to the people, because every day it was three new huge stars walking around. You can usually tell the people who are starstruck in these jobs, and they don't last long." "Every once in a while you can freak out," admits Doty. "I was sitting next to Jerry watching the Winter Olympics and he turned to me and went, 'Do you really trust Swatch to be the official timekeeper? Seiko I can see, but Swatch? Doesn't look very accurate.' That's when it came to me and I thought, 'That's right, you're Jerry Seinfeld, you're funny, you're not just reading someone else's lines.' " Last year Seinfeld's costars Jason Alexander (George), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine), and Michael Richards (Kramer) were chastised by some critics for demanding hefty salary increases to continue with the show. "The actors make a lot of money, and some people think that's outrageous, but the great thing is that they do share it," Doty says. "Last Christmas we got Bose radios, and the year before, the four of them gave mountain bikes to everybody." "I came into the edit bay one night and opened the door and there was a mountain bike," adds Rogers. "The card said, 'Happy holidays, David, from Jerry, Julia, Jason, and Michael.' " "There's a lot of generosity," says Eolin. "They know we're not living in mansions with our eight Porsches out front. It makes it easier, to work with people who understand and aren't caught up in what they are."

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