EXCLUSIVE: Lauren Swickard Talks the Creation of her New Show, ‘Casa Grande’

Today, May 1, Amazon Freevee released its brand new show, Case Grande. The show follows five families as they navigate what humans will go through to get a taste of the American dream.

We got the chance to talk with one of the creators of the show, Lauren Swickard. However, Swickard didn’t stop at creating the show, she also co-wrote the series and acts as its showrunner.

During our chat with Swickard, we talked how the show came to life, finding the cast, her unique approach to showrunning, and so much more. Check out what she had to say below.

How did this show come to life?
“We were on set filming A California Christmas, the first movie for Netflix, and we were on a very successful dairy farm. Everyone was on set every day, so we really got to see what it was actually like to be on a very large piece of land in Northern California. With that comes the people that are working the land, and I got to experience them laughing, and I got to see how hard they work. I became curious about this group of people that I’ve never experienced in any way. I looked at Ali Afshar, who’s CEO of ESX, and I said, ‘How cool would it be to see these people in the media? I’ve never seen a show like this,’ and he was all for it.”

Oh wow!
“So, we put our minds together and just started creating this beautiful upstairs/downstairs Romeo and Juliet story with a migrant worker family and the owners of the land that they work on. It’s just so cool because this is a group of people that have been historically overlooked, yet they are the backbone of the way our society lives. They are the reason why we have food in our grocery stores that we can grab off the shelves and put into a grocery cart. They’re the ones that work so hard to make that possible. I love that we were able to create a world where we can see them in their every day, and we get to experience that.”

That’s amazing! What’s also amazing is you not only co-wrote the show, but you act as the show’s showrunner. At what point did you decide you wanted to be its showrunner?
“I had experience before producing and writing at the same time. With a TV show, the showrunner is basically a glorified producer, so I felt like I could do this. Then I got pregnant, and then it was COVID, COVID 2020. Then I said, ‘I still think I can do this, but can I do this from home?’ So, this was a really special experience from home. From home, I had multiple monitors set up on a desk, and we were doing the writer’s room virtually. When we actually got to production, what was really amazing about the show running process from home was that I had my liaison on set. I was basically out walking with her all day long. Her name was Dara Habarbi. She’s amazing. I couldn’t have showrun without her being the hands and feet on set for me. And then, my favorite part, what I was getting to see what the audience would eventually see, every single scene, and I could see it from all different angles too because we had multiple cameras. So, without being distracted by crew, I was actually able to see what the series was going to look like to our audience live as we were creating it.”

Oh, my gosh.
“I don’t think that’s an experience that you get often.”

It’s not.
“So being pregnant in the middle of COVID, it was actually a blessing to me, because I was really able to curate the show visually in a way that I wouldn’t have been able to if I was actually on set. Of course, I did go to set at some point. I think it was either the last week or the second to last week I was there, because I couldn’t miss set. I couldn’t miss it. I had to double mask up and go. But I think that was the coolest part to me, which I wouldn’t have experienced it if I hadn’t been pregnant, and if it hadn’t been COVID.”

Do you think that gave you a step-up, when it comes out, being able to say, ‘I saw it as if I was watching it just like you were? I got that opportunity, so everything that I’ve put in here is as if I’m watching it as an audience member’?”
“I definitely think it gave me a different perspective than it would if I had been on set, which I’ve said before. To say it gave me a leg up, I like to think so. I think that all producer showrunners should try that, at least for a day. It was very interesting.”

Well, they’re typically watching it, please correct me if I’m wrong, in the Editing Room. After everything’s unfolded, they’re then watching it. Whereas you are watching it from your own room and saying, right then and there what’s working and what isn’t working. You could change it immediately.
“Yes, it definitely gave me a tunnel vision. Now, on set there is something called ‘Video Village’ where you go, and you can watch on monitor. So that does exist in a way. But still, to be without the distractions of 100 crew members running around, it was really special. And yes, a lot of that did happen. There were even scenes that I would quickly add dialogue to over the walkie because it was just so powerful. Or Gabriela [Tagliavini], our director, would call cut and I’d say, ‘No, no, no, no, no. Keep it going. Keep it going. You should see his eyes. Can you see his eyes?’ because I had huge monitors. It was just really fun, and it felt like I was there with everybody because I was in communication constantly.”

For you, if we do get a second season, would you continue running the show from outside of set. Or would you try to return back to set?
“To be honest, being on set is one of my favorite things in the world. Though, I think I would do it as a hybrid. Some really important scenes, I would probably want to escape and just have the same experience that I had because it was so cool. So, I think I would figure out how to do a hybrid version, but I would definitely hop into set more often than that.”

Let’s talk about your director. Did you always know you wanted a female to direct the series?
“It was really important to Ava and me, Ava Rettke, who was another producer alongside of me on the project. It was really important to find a female director. Though, if somebody did come with a resume that was amazing, we weren’t going to discriminate. But, it was our dream to have a female director, especially to take the helm. When we found Gabriela, oh my gosh, we were laughing and it felt like we had known each other for years, yet we had just met each other over Zoom. The first time we saw each other in person, I didn’t see her in person until I came to set, but my team met in person for the first time during location scouting. So, it was really late in the process.”

Is there a particular episode that you’re super excited for fans to see?
“Oh, my favorite episode is episode four. I don’t want to give any spoilers away by saying this, I think it’s okay. It’s a flashback episode. All of our cast members are younger, and all of their hair and makeup, it was just so fun to create the younger versions of them because, as a creator/writer of the show, our team really went into who they were as younger people, to really get a good depiction of them as who they are now. It was really fun to actually be able to show the audience that in a flashback episode. Because that’s something you do when you’re creating a character, you think, ‘Oh, what were they like as a kid? What happened in their teenage years? Their early twenties? What happened in their early marriage life?’ Usually, you don’t get to showcase that work. But we really did, because we got to show you guys who they were when they were young.”

How far into creating the series did you know you wanted to do a flashback episode?
“It was pretty early on because this is an extremely character-driven show, relationship-driven, so we were really in depth with who these people were in their younger lives. My two co-writers, Alex Ranarivelo and Michael Cruz, we were just going back and forth, ‘How do we show what happened to so-and-so when she was young? Let’s just make a flashback episode, the whole episode.’ It happened very fast. We were all just so on board, Ava and Ali were excited about it too. I think episode four as we were writing the pilot.”

You said that the show is extremely character-driven, but it’s also relationship-driven. How hard was it to find actors and actresses to bring these characters to life? Because, to make a relationship work, they’ve got to have chemistry. How hard was that, finding this cast?
“Beverly Holloway was our casting director. She’s been one of my favorites in this town for a long time. I used to audition for things that she was casting when I was 18, so I have known her for a while. When we put a break-down out, we get submissions, and she’s so good at really watching every tape. She doesn’t look for that name right away. She really watches every tape and advocates for talent, rather than influencers or names, which is really great because that’s our world now. But we really focused on who is best for these characters, period. We didn’t care what they looked like. Obviously, we needed to have the families matching each other like that.

But when it came to Hassie, who’s played by Madison Lawlor, she was actually one of the first tapes we’ve watched, and we were all like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is our Hassie.’ We did watch other tapes, but she was the main person that we built the cast around. She was the first person that we found. She was the status quo. Then we found her best friend, Camila, and then we found Javi [Javier Bolaños], who plays Mael. His audition tape was my favorite. This is just Beverly for you, diamonds in the rough. His audition tape was outside, and his hair was blowing in the wind, and we were like, ‘He literally is the person. He is my Mael.’ He’s auditioning outside in the middle of land, but just was so amazing, and it just stood out. But we really looked hard. It was a long audition process. We knew that we wanted Christine [Moore [ to play Susanna as well. So, it was like Hassie and Susanna were our two anchors, and then we built the cast around them.”

That’s amazing. I love that he did his audition video that way.
“Isn’t that funny?”

Do you know if he did that on purpose?
“I’ve got to talk to him about it. I think it would be really fun for the actors to post their audition tapes, because everyone sent a tape first, and then we did chemistry reads over Zoom, and made sure everyone was meshing well together. But I think it would be fun for the actors. I’ll talk to everyone about that. That would be fun.”

I’d love that. It would be good promo!
“Right? I think so too. I love stuff like that. I have to talk to everybody about that.”

The show, however, isn’t the only thing you are celebrating. You are now a mother of two, congratulations!
“Thank you. It’s amazing. I feel being a mom gives me a very special depth to my creativity that I didn’t have before. Perspectives really change when you’re a mom, and it gives you a better relationship to other moms. Then I’m really able to go into their psyche, and it just makes for better writing and creating.”

Your whole point of view changes too. You’re now looking at it as a mother. You are able to bring another layer to your characters.
“Yes. Yes, absolutely. There’s a lot of that in Casa Grande. There’s a lot of that.”

For my final question for you. What are you hoping fans get from the new series?
“I think my favorite thing about the show is that all human beings have this innate desire to be loved, to love, to be accepted, and to be respected. It doesn’t matter where you come from, how much money you have, how much money you don’t have, that is a completely animalistic necessity that we all strive for. For people to experience the migrant workers in a way, we don’t necessarily show anything aside from their love for their family, and their love for their work.
For people to experience this group of people that have been overlooked. I would love it to start some curious conversations at home. I love that it’s Spanish and English. I just think, for people to get immersed in a different culture is always so interesting. My favorite part about the world of film and TV is that you can experience different cultures and different people that you’ve never met, you’ve never been a part of.”

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.