Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed: We speak to David Gordon Green and David J. Rosen

Added: 2026-06-05

[00:00:01]We got the chance to speak to some of the minds behind the new Apple TV series Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed. This is our conversation with creator and showrunner David Rosen and director and executive producer David Gordon Green.

[00:00:15]Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, I went into this completely blind, had an absolute blast. I didn't know what I was getting myself into and it was great. Uh um Tell me this, guys. I have many, many questions. So, I think my first question is for David Green.

[00:00:30]I I've been rewatching the old shows that I watched growing up, right? Uh The West Wing, X-Files. It it it's come to my belief that modern TV has really garbage lighting.

[00:00:45]Like it things look so flat and boring.

[00:00:48]>> Yes. And then you open your show and she sits down and is backlit by the fridge and I'm like, yes, he's doing something with this that it was great. What Why?

[00:00:59]What's going on? Have people just given up? They've They've I think they have. I think they realize how easy it is and and you know, there's a lot of times I have these conversations all the time when I'm getting onto a new show is people want to light a show for the lowest common denominator of presentation. So, they're just really worried about how most people that are watching their their their their programs on some strange scan rate and the and it's too dark.

[00:01:25]And so, I don't know. With a show like this, we really are happy to have the support of Apple which, you know, obviously they're they're they're a they're a a company of amazing devices and amazing ways to screen this material. So, you you give them something that looks beautiful and they're a lot a lot happier than the next guy who's just trying again to to make it overly bright because that means comedy or that means glamour lighting or these other things.

[00:01:50]>> Right.

[00:01:51]Or the or the yellow filter means old old-timey piece. Yeah.

[00:01:56]>> Old-timey. Yeah.

[00:01:57]>> [laughter] >> Old-timey piece.

[00:01:58]But I love that you noticed that because that was a thing, you know, whenever I go through a location I'm like, "Where are the lighting sources that we can utilize so we don't have to turn on every lamp in the house?" Cuz nobody does that. Right. Exactly.

[00:02:10]And you can immediately tell whether it's daytime or nighttime without anyone telling you, which I think is fantastic.

[00:02:15]Oh, but I was watching a show the other day and it took place in a Jamba Juice that had no fluorescent light. They were trying to stylize the lighting and I was like, "Where are we right now?"

[00:02:22]>> [laughter] >> Uh uh David Rosen, tell me this. There is a version of this show that is purely a comedy and then there is a version of the show that is purely a paranoid thriller.

[00:02:32]And I was curious where you found the line between the two. Like were there moments on set where you were talking to your actors and going, "I think this needs to be played funny." Not really.

[00:02:43]I, you know, I I wanted it to be to be played natural. So, if the if the if it was funny for the when the actors said it, then it was funny. You know, like it to me, um I could never write this show as purely a comedy. I think you would lose any sense of propulsion. Um I could see it if you tried to write it as purely a uh just a thriller, but I'm just in the belief like we are all here that like we're all all my friends and everyone are like, "We're clever. We're funny. We're regular people put into a weird situation. We're going to we're going to respond in a way." And so, that to me is like what makes me when I see shows that are like that they they or movies, that's what makes me jealous when I'm like, "I like that person. They feel like a real person and this plot is is bizhonkers." That's like what I was, you know, really aiming for.

[00:03:35]I think you nailed it. Yeah.

[00:03:36]>> [laughter] >> I never heard the term bizhonkers.

[00:03:38]That's good though. Bizhonkers is a great word. All right.

[00:03:42]Uh uh tell me this. I'm a bit of a TV nerd and I'm always curious about the technicalities of things. This is a half-hour show which feels like an interesting choice for a thriller and I'm curious what that format gives you over the hour-long format. Like is it about compression? Is it because it's partly comedic that it needs that kind of rhythm? Talk to me about that.

[00:04:07]Uh really I I think the the the idea behind it from my side was that I want to feel the level of tension and and juggling of things in her life that Paula has and by compressing the time and putting us into that, we're not cutting away for a slower story that lets us breathe nearly as often as we would be as we would be in an hour. And so that really that idea excited me to put us on that kind of ride where we're just in it. So that was kind of really the the sort of the theorizing behind it.

[00:04:48]Oh, fantastic. Well, gentlemen, I'm all out of time but it's been a pleasure speaking to you.

[00:04:52]Just very quickly, David Rose has Sugar season 2. Super excited. Oh, thank you.

[00:04:58]>> Can't wait. All right, amazing. Thank you so much.

[00:05:04]Are you good though? Yeah, me? I'm great. I'm so great. Maximum pleasure guaranteed is now streaming on Apple TV.

[00:05:10]Check it out. Let us know what you think. Sound off in the comments. Thank you so much for watching.