The origin story of FX and Hulu's English teacher It starts with someone in bed. Before you worry (or hope?) that this is going to take an erotic turn, you should know that what was happening was perhaps one of the least sexy things someone can do in bed: scrolling through social media.
“It was pure chance,” says executive producer Paul Simms. Consequenceon the discovery process English teacher Creator Brian Jordan Alvarez said: “I was lying in bed reading Twitter, because I had already read the rest of the Internet, and someone said, 'Oh, [this web series] It's really fun. I'd never heard of it, but I clicked on it. [The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo] And after 30 seconds I thought, “Oh, this is fun.” And I kept watching.”
This was three years ago, by which time Simms was not only an established television creator, thanks to the classic NewsRadio — had also become a master at putting on shows like Atlanta and What we do in the shadows “On FX, with the creators’ original voices intact. In Alvarez, Simms says, he realized “I’d see him on a show, which is always the only thing I can really draw on. So I told someone I wanted to meet with him, and then we did a Zoom meeting and I said, ‘You should have a real TV show. ’ And he said, ‘Well, I have an idea about a guy who’s an English teacher. ’ I said, ‘Cool, let’s do that. ’ So it was luck.”
By the time Simms approached, Alvarez had stopped making web series like the acclaimed Caleb Gallo to act in other projects, appearing in 13 episodes of the Testament and grave resurgence as well as that of 2022 M3GANHowever, Alvarez says the idea of a show set in a high school intrigued him because “people from all walks of life are forced to not only interact, but work together toward a common goal: educating these kids. And Evan's character really understands it all and is trying to figure out what the right thing to do is.”
As a tenured English teacher, Evan faces resistance from students, parents, other teachers, and the school board. He's not alone in the trenches, though: Helping him survive the chaos is Evan's best friend and fellow teacher, Gwen, played by Stephanie Koenig. Koenig met Alvarez on the set of a student film years ago, and says, “It was meant to be. When you meet your best friend, you're like, 'Thank God.' Someone who touches your soul and really sees you. That happened when I met Brian. And we made each other laugh, that's so important. For me, laughing is the most important thing.”
Koenig appeared in Alvarez Caleb GalloAnd the pair remained friends despite the difficulties faced by actors trying to make a place for themselves in the industry. Alvarez was one of the first people to read Koenig’s writing, she says, and “he told me, ‘You’re a good writer. ’ It’s so nice to hear that, especially when you’re trying things out and you’re not getting them, and you’re struggling and no one really knows you yet. I felt like it was the first time I could take control, like take things into my own hands.”
In addition to acting in the series, Koenig is also a writer on the team, and was technically a writer before being cast. Prior to the pilot filming, she was part of a mini-writers' room working on scripts, but the team wasn't entirely sure she could appear on the show, because Koenig was already set to appear in the Apple TV+ miniseries. Chemistry lessonswhich was being filmed almost at the same time.
“Big props to the line producers for caring and working on the schedule, because that can be a huge headache for them,” she says. “I’m sure they probably didn’t want to go through that, but they did it mainly because [Jonathan] Krisel, Paul and Brian really supported me.”
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