Hi there BATS fan! Ken here – I had the pleasure of chatting with Jason Leal about Jackpot, a show he created for BATS. Jason and I have been playing together for a long time, almost since we both started our improv training. It was a rare treat to reminisce together and talk about BATS’ fastest-moving format.
Ken:
Hey Jason – great to talk with you! We never get time to just sit down and chat, because we’re usually working out for company shows. It’s crazy to think we’ve been playing together for the better part of 15 years.
Jason:
That’s right. We were both students in the longform intensive program. I’d been improvising for about a year so that was pretty early on.
Ken:
Same here. You were a company guest player for a couple of years, then I was a guest for a couple years, and now we’re both playing in the company. Wild to think back on the journey we’ve taken together.
Jason:
Yeah, because the years have gone by much more quickly than I thought they would.
Ken:
So what was the impetus for creating Jackpot? Were you looking for new ways to do short-form shows, or was there something about just the spontaneity of having the suggestions come up immediately?
Jason:
I was looking for a new format and I was originally thinking that it would be something where there’s some predetermined pieces and then some audience-determined pieces. The first would be from a bucket of suggestions and then the last one would be the audience screaming it out. Then, somehow I hit upon Jackpot, where three reels would provide the suggestions, and I liked the idea of it being out of the players’ purview.
Ken:
Right.
Jason:
Then I thought about it in a technological way… throw them on the computer, and then bring it up like that. From pretty early on, I conceptualized it being slot machine reels and having it stored electronically.
Ken:
You combined the best of both worlds, getting the suggestions beforehand and the audience seeing their suggestions come up…and sometimes somebody gets a prize. So we see, “Yeah, there was a real person that provided that – it wasn’t just a preplanned suggestion we added because we like it”.
Jason:
When I work-shopped it, I really liked that it moved so quickly and we can do upwards of 25, 30 scenes a night. That’s exciting to me.
Ken:
It’s easily the most scenes we do per show in any format. I like that immediacy. As improvisers, we’re always trying to push our spontaneity. There’s something about having those reels provide the suggestions that takes away the temptation to think. It’s really thrilling for a player.
Jason:
I find this kind of improv enjoyable and challenging, other players finding it enjoyable is rewarding to me as well.
Ken:
Now, the software … the Jackpot Wonder Machine, you created that yourself, right?
Jason:
I wrote it myself, it’s pretty simple, a Perl script.
Ken:
We haven’t incorporated a lot of technology into shows because it often inhibits the spontaneity. This is completely the opposite. The technology really helps out.
Jason:
I don’t always like it when I see formats where the technology takes a role that doesn’t facilitate the players playing, it takes its own role and I didn’t want that. I wanted a way for technology to help players, not overshadow them or become a “cast member”.
Ken:
The technology isn’t the feature; it’s an enabler to get people into the scenes.
Jason:
That’s a good way of putting it.
Ken:
Is there anything else you ‘d love people to know about Jackpot?
Jason:
The most important thing is that I’m most interested in challenging players, facilitating people having fun and working in a speed that they aren’t generally accustomed to. Especially things like having the same suggestion two or three times in a row and challenging people to think about how they’re going to play that next scene differently than the scene they played before. That, for me, is personally interesting.
Ken:
You just reminded me of something that’s happened in several of the shows, where somebody goes a long time before the reel call their name to start a scene.
Jason:
It builds up this great anticipation in the audience, so when that person does come on, they’re excited. There is that wonderful randomness that leads to those happy accidents that build that suspense and excitement in places you never would expect.
Ken:
I like the way that the audience responds to that, too. That’s really fun.
Jason:
Yeah, when somebody doesn’t get called to start several scenes, the audience really starts pulling for them.
Ken:
That’s always awesome.
Jason:
I also wanted to let people know I’m teaching a Jackpot class later in the month.
Ken:
That’s great! It’s always great to be able to learn a format and see it played professionally at the same time, to think “Oh, that’s what it looks like”.
Jason:
Yeah, I like that, too.
Ken:
All right, well, hey, great talking with you, Jason. It’s cool to find out these things and hear about that process and hear what you’re thinking, especially your thoughts on sharing the Jackpot software. Thank you!
Jason:
Thank you for doing this, I appreciate it.
