When Brandon Scott Jones was in seventh grade, his mother bought him a copy of “The Elements of Screenwriting.”
Spurred by his interest in actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, whose turn to writing resulted in the Oscar-winning screenplay “Good Will Hunting,” Jones says he had “one goal, which was to write a role for myself in something, outside whatever.” was.”
Unfortunately, Jones' first attempt at writing a screenplay didn't include the same kind of realism and lived experiences as Damon and Affleck's story about a South Boston janitor who also happens to be a math prodigy.
“It was about a porn director and it was called 'Whatever Happened to Darren Potter?'” Jones says, laughing during an interview this summer over milkshakes in Silver Lake Erewhon.
His interest in writing arose because he got separated from the rest of the family during an outing to the multiplex to re-watch “Titanic” and instead crashed a screening of “Good Will Hunting.” Then, when they saw “Titanic” again againwent and watched a clip of Paul Thomas Anderson's porn industry drama “Boogie Nights.”
“This was an impressionable moment where you were [at an age when you were] taking things in, so I wrote this script about this prodigy actor, like 'Good Will Hunting,' and this porn director,” Jones says. “There was no sex or anything like that. “It was just that they were both trying to fight their way back to the top of the game.”
Jones had an early interest in writing and acting, but comedy versus drama turned out to be his forte.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
This script, and other early material, was written on the typewriter Jones was given for Christmas when he was in fourth grade. He carried them in a briefcase. In eighth grade, the boy who sat next to him in math class gave him grades.
Sadly, “Darren Potter” was never produced (although Jones believes he still has a copy somewhere in case anyone reading this is interested in setting up a meeting). Instead, his attempt at drama writing has turned into a career that utilizes something Jones is more familiar with: self-deprecating humor.
Jones, a graduate of the New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, got his start at Upright Citizens Brigade, where he was part of the main cast of “Asssscat,” one of the improv house's signature shows. He was then cast in Michael Schur's NBC philosophical comedy “The Good Place,” earning critical praise for playing a Perez Hilton-like gossip blogger named John Wheaton. And in his film roles, he has cooked meals with small roles in “Renfield,” “Isn't It Romantic?” and “Senior Year,” the latter co-written, about a high school cheerleader who wakes up from a coma after two decades and becomes obsessed with returning to finish her senior year and regain her popularity.
He achieved notable character actor status when he was cast as Curtis, a struggling actor and best friend of Cary (Drew Tarver), in the Comedy Central and Max comedy “The Other Two.” It was a role he landed literally at 6:30 a.m. on a weekday while playing tennis. His friends, series creators Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, called him in a panic because another actor had left the series and they were about to start filming. An hour and a half later, I was on my way to the set. He would eventually join that show's writing staff as well.
Then came “Ghosts.” Created by Joe Port and Joe Wiseman and based on the British series of the same name, the CBS comedy falls somewhere between “The Good Place” and Jean-Paul Sartre's dark existentialist work “No Exit.” As the show's name suggests, it's about spirits from different periods of American history who, for reasons unknown to them, are forced to spend eternity on the grounds of what is now a property in the Hudson Valley.
In “Ghosts,” Brandon Scott Jones plays Isaac Higgintoot, who died of dysentery during the Revolutionary War.
(Bertrand Calmeau/CBS)
Jones plays Isaac Higgintoot, a member of the American Continental Congress who, fittingly, given his last name, died of dysentery while serving as a captain in the Revolutionary War. Isaac, who always felt like an outsider in life, is now furious that his contemporary Alexander Hamilton has everything from money to a book to a musical commemorating him. Meanwhile, Isaac wants to set the record straight: “I was never in the Boston Tea Party. “I was in Boston at a tea party, but it was at my Aunt Geraldine’s house.”
“I think of him constantly as one step to the left of history,” Jones says, theorizing that Isaac could have been at the signing of the Declaration of Independence but probably arrived late because he had spilled something on his shirt. Or that he and his wife, Beatrice (played in flashbacks by Hillary Anne Matthews), were “failed Machiavellians” who took it personally when they were turned down for a dinner invitation.
So far in the show, Isaac has convinced Sam (Rose McIver), a clairvoyant writer who took over the property with her husband, Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar), to write his biography because his Wikipedia page is so poor. Jones says Isaac is no different from one of television's most memorable (modern) political figures, like Selina Meyer, the singularly focused politician played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus on HBO's “Veep.”
“I think retroactively wanting your life to have meant something or been a part of something is actually very funny and desperate,” Jones says.
It's not that the afterlife has been too boring for Isaac. At least not in recent years.
Each season of “Ghosts” has ended with important news for Isaac. In the first, he realized that times have changed and that it is okay for him to come out as gay, some 250 years after his death. In the second, she becomes engaged to Nigel (John Hartman), the ghost of a British soldier whom Isaac accidentally killed on the battlefield. In the third, he leaves Nigel at the altar and is then absorbed by someone else he had wronged: the ghost of a Puritan woman named Patience, played by Jones' friend and “Senior Year” co-star Mary. Holland.
In the fourth season premiere of “Ghosts,” Brandon Scott Jones’ Issac confronts a Puritan ghost named Patience, played by his friend and “Senior Year” co-star Mary Holland.
(CBS)
And now, in the fourth season of “Ghosts,” premiering Thursday, audiences find out what exactly Patience has been up to and whether any of the living or dead inhabitants of the other estate will notice that Isaac is missing.
“I think that friendship [between us] “She helped in a fun way because she's a great character actress and a great actress in general,” Jones says of Holland. “It was fun to surprise myself with all the decisions I was making. At one point in the script, his character is described as “unhinged and crazy.” So a lot of what you're seeing, if I'm acting and I'm terrified of her, is also an underlying level of delight watching my friend, which is really, really nice.”
Port and Wiseman emphasize that they don't want to offend the other members of their extensive cast and that it's simply a coincidence that each season has ended with a great Isaac story. They also say that there has been a conscious effort not to make Isaac's queer character he something that defines him or pushes him towards an outlandish stereotype.
Brandon Scott Jones on his portrayal of Isaac Higgintoot on CBS' “Ghosts”: “I think of him constantly as one step to the left of the story.”
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
“It's so much more than that trait,” Port says. “He is a military man. It's a type from the colonial era. “He has a lot of different factors in his character and personality.”
Jones, who is gay, reflects on the question when asked if he thinks queer characters should be played only by queer actors.
“My genuine, honest opinion is that the process of playing a character is the process of finding empathy for someone you don't know,” Jones says, noting that he felt a connection to Eric McCormack, a straight actor, and his performance. of Will, a gay man, on NBC's “Will & Grace.” “If we deny people the opportunity to put on those shoes, then that's problematic to me. “If a straight person wants to play gay or a gay person wants to play straight, and we feel like we can't do those things, then to me it starts to feel like a snake eating its own tail.”
Modern fandom can be intense, to the point where tiny details of an actor's personal life are discussed, a topic that was addressed in “The Other Two.” Jones says he doesn't like that casting actors, writers or producers can feel “an enormous desire to appease a crowd of people rather than simply [play] the character.” But you also don't want casting directors to claim that there are no gay actors for these types of roles simply because they're not looking.
“I just hope that the stories that are told are authentic, whether it's behind the camera or the writer or something like that,” Jones says, adding that “there's also a part of me where I think, If someone wanted me to play a straight character, I'd like to think I could do it.”
This season will see Isaac dive deeper into his post-life crisis as he (sometimes literally) loosens his colonial-era ponytail and lets his hair down.
“After a breakup, you try to reinvent yourself,” Wiseman says. “She lets her hair down to see if that changes her attitude.” (He says this fits within the rules of “Ghosts,” which does not allow the deceased to change what they are wearing, but modifications are allowed.)
And fans will learn more about that biography.
“There's a part of you that wonders if he just wants a book about himself, no matter how factually correct it is.” Jones scoffs.
Perhaps Isaac, like the person playing him, just wants to create a role for himself.
