‘Shrinking’ director Zach Braff on reuniting again with Bill Lawrence: ‘He always gives me interesting episodes’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Two-time Emmy Award nominee Zach Braff doesn’t hesitate when asked to discuss his relationship with legendary television producer, director, and writer Bill Lawrence. “We’re best friends,” Braff tells Gold Derby in an exclusive video interview. “And I think it goes without saying that we have the same sense of humor.”

Braff and Lawrence first collaborated on “Scrubs,” the hit NBC comedy that Lawrence created after his success with “Spin City.” Braff played the lead character, J.D., in the medical comedy and also directed multiple episodes across the show’s nine seasons.

“I learned so much directing ‘Scrubs’ from a lot of my fellow DGA members and some of the greatest single-cam comedy directors of our time,” Braff says. “A giant chunk of them worked on on ‘Scrubs’ and I saw it like grad school – I learned from these men and women so much how to execute single-camera comedy, not only well but in the insanely short amount of time. In the ‘Scrubs’ days, we had five days to shoot an episode. So it was about how to be innovative with the camera and how to tell a story and get great performances.”

But Braff’s enduring friendship with Lawrence goes well beyond “Scrubs.” A few years ago, the two men reteamed for the first season of “Ted Lasso,” with Braff directing the Emmy-winning comedy’s second episode (“Biscuits”). The work landed Braff his first Emmy Award nomination for directing. (Braff was a previous nominee as an actor for “Scrubs.”) Now, Braff is back in the awards conversation again with “Shrinking,” the new comedy co-created by Lawrence, “Ted Lasso” star Brett Goldstein, and series star Jason Segel. As with the first season of “Ted Lasso,” Lawrence brought Braff on to direct a key episode: “Boof,” the eighth episode of “Shrinking” Season 1.

“He always gives me really interesting episodes,” Braff says of Lawrence. Not that the director was certain “Boof” would find such success among the show’s fans. 

“I understood that ‘Biscuits’ was [a special episode] because it was the second episode, it was kind of the first one in ‘Ted Lasso’ that introduced the heart of the show. But with ‘Boop,’ it was number eight and I really loved the script, I thought it was so fun and different. It does stand out amongst the episodes because it breaks out of the normal world of the world of ‘Shrinking,’” Braff explains, noting how the story of the episode includes numerous moments for the show’s cast to stand out – plus sets up multiple big moments that pay off in the Season 1 finale. 

“It was just thrilling,” Braff adds. “And Bill and I just really have a wonderful shorthand and I can’t wait to direct more when we’re allowed to proceed [with Season 2 following the resolution of the current writers’ strike].”

“Shrinking” focuses on a therapist named Jimmy (Segel) at a crossroads in his life and career. Still struggling with the death of his wife the year prior, Jimmy decides to start telling his patients an unfiltered truth, a decision that has unintended consequences that will continue with the show’s second season. In keeping with most of Lawrence’s previous shows – including “Scrubs,” “Cougar Town,” and the Emmy Award-winning “Ted Lasso” – “Shrinking” mixes comedy and drama to great results. “He can have you cracking up and then have a tear in your eye in a quarter of a page,” Braff says of Lawrence. “That’s something Bill is just so fantastic at doing.”

Coming in to direct the eighth episode of the 10-episode season required Braff to quickly connect with the show’s cast – a “well-oiled machine,” according to the director, that includes Segel, Jessica Williams, Christa Miller, Luke Tennie, Lukita Maxwell, Michael Urie and Harrison Ford in his first television comedy.

“It’s always tricky,” Braff says of directing television episodes with an established cast. “I remember this from when I was an actor [on ‘Scrubs’], a director coming in is like, ‘Hey, nice to meet you guys. I’m gonna be the boss for the week.’ It’s a super-weird dynamic that only happens in serial television.”

Braff says he expected the director-actor relationship with Ford to be the “most daunting” – particularly because Ford had never worked in serial television before “Shrinking” – but it was an “intimidation” he quickly got over. 

“I’ve directed Morgan Freeman [in “Going in Style” and “A Good Person”] and Michael Caine [in “Going in Style”],” Braff says. So when it came to Ford, “I just put on my, ‘Come on, you can do it’ pep talk in the mirror. Because no matter what my experience with some of these great legends is – no matter who you are as an actor, you want to be directed, you want a leader, you want someone who has a vision for what’s going to happen. You don’t want someone bumbling. And so I just did that. And then Harrison and I got along instantly, really, really well. And so that was that.”

Braff says it also helps that Lawrence creates such fun sets on his projects. “There’s room to play,” he adds. “Obviously, you stay within the lexicon of the show. But Bill gave me lots of room put my stamp on it.”

“Boop” and all episodes of “Shrinking” are streaming on Apple TV+. The show will return for a second season.

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