“You can’t make this stuff up.”
Such is the impromptu motif, and thus magic, of how The Kardashians continues to work for a new streaming audience, according to the series star, EP and matriarch Kris Jenner.
Hulu Sure, the family can provide goal posts for the show’s EPs of what they’re social lives look like in the coming months between child births and weddings, but nothing is more sublime then the candid, and nuanced unpredictable moments which pop up. Read, when Kim Kardashian discovered in episode one of the Hulu series that unseen sex tape footage of her remained at large — you can’t make this stuff up.
As new beaus enter the women’s lives, how does the conversation begin in regards to putting an actual spotlight on such gents? In regards to season one here, we’re specifically referring to SNL‘s Pete Davidson who began a romance with Kim soon after her guest hosting the NBC late night sketch series.
“The show is about our core cast, it’s about this family, so if there are significant others, it’s really up to them,” EP Danielle King tells Deadline’s Crew Call today, “I have never once seen; Kim never tried to persuade Pete (to be on the show). It’s always up to the significant other or the peripheral person that they’re dealing with. If they want to join in on the fun, more power to them; we’re happy to cover that.”
“Pete’s a high profile person, he’s an actor; like Kim has said before; when the cameras are rolling for him, it means performance time. When the cameras are rolling for this family, it’s time to get real. It’s a different muscle that they worked and he worked,” continues King.
“Whether we have in-depth story lines, that’s entirely up to him…that’s entirely a conversation between Kim and Pete,” adds the EP.
Riveting drone cinematography and an elevated documentary sensibility was part of the m.o. for King and Fulwell 73 exec and The Kardashians EP Ben Winston in catapulting the show to a streaming crowd. Hulu reported that The Kardashians is the streamer’s most watched series premiere ever stateside.
King credits Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back docu as inspiration and how the Fab 4 “were looking straight down the lens” at the audience.
“John Lennon is flirting with me!” exclaims King who sought to recapture a similar feeling for Kardashian fans with a ‘confessional’ shoot whereby the family members broke the fourth wall, even in a middle of a scene.
We talk with Jenner and King about finding the series in the editing room, season 2 updates and potential spinoffs.
Our conversation with the duo is below:
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