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House of Stassi‘s executive producers David Marker and Renata Lombardo weren’t surprised when the show began to explore Stassi Schroeder and Beau Clark‘s marriage issues amid their return to reality TV.
During an exclusive interview with Us, Marker and Lombardo recalled having a conversation with Stassi, 38, before the new Hulu show began production.
“There’s a handful of scenes that really stand out, but I think at the beginning of this journey, Stassi said to us, ‘I’m going to bleed out for this show,’” Lombardo recalled. “She knew she had to go there. If she wasn’t going to deliver at that level, the audience was not going to accept.”
Lombardo praised Stassi for not hiding anything about her life from the audience, adding, “That’s exactly what she did. She went to very real places with her mom, her sister, her best friends and her husband. Those are the relationships that are closest to us all.”
She continued: “I know if I had a fight with my husband and it was captured on TV, [it wouldn’t feel good]. But she went there because that’s what was happening in their life at that moment. It’s visceral and raw and almost uncomfortable to look at at times. But that’s what we love about the show is people are going to feel like we’re doing fourth wall breaks and we’re acknowledging the show within the show — because the audience is too savvy not to.”
Lombardo also pointed out the “humanity within the show.”
“It is very real. That’s the best stuff of our genre in unscripted is when it’s just real humanity crossing our screens,” she added. “That’s where our genre is peak over scripted. You could write a character all day long, but when you get real humanity captured on camera of a real relationship and it’s in a peak moment of uncertainty or a peak moment of just truth or authenticity, it’s like pure gold. And we captured that with Stassi’s season.”
House of Stassi, which is streaming now, offers a candid glimpse of Stassi’s life after Vanderpump Rules as she attempts to balance her personal and professional lives while Beau, 46, struggles without a job.
While filming, the producers had conversations about the tense moments between Stassi and Beau.
“Every time we film a scene, there are conversations coming out of that scene like, ‘Where do we go next?’” Marker told Us. “We’ve got producers on the team who are speaking directly with the cast all the way through and managing feelings in real time. So there certainly wasn’t ever a point during the season where we had people saying, ‘Cut the cameras, we can’t film this.’”
Marker continued, “Everything happened organically and in a real way, but it never got to a point where it felt like it went too far for anybody.”
Despite capturing raw moments, Lombardo hinted it wasn’t the plan from the very beginning.
When viewers were introduced to staff at Lisa Vanderpump‘s restaurant during Vanderpump Rules‘ 2013 premiere, it was clear everyone was intertwined in one another’s love lives. From Stassi Schroeder‘s rocky relationship with Jax Taylor, which took a turn when he hooked up with her best friend Kristen Doute, to Peter Madrigal’s casual connections to several […]
“The very story lines that we’re tracking are because we’re staying as authentic as possible [and] bringing up real issues. It wasn’t always planned as such, but I think just in who Stassi is and how she navigates her relationships, that’s what we covered,” she continued. “For the Stassi piece of the show, it’s talking about the duality of her life. We were really struck by it and I have conversations with my friends who are excelling in their careers and they’re often now more and more in these relationships where they’re the breadwinners and they’re the ones out there killing it in their careers and they’re married to men who are now more the stay-at-home person in the relationship. We haven’t seen that reflected as much in media as we are getting to do with this series.”
She added: “It’s the good and the bad and the ugly for sure. But I think there’s just a power in seeing a woman of Stassi’s caliber navigating really relatable dynamics in a marriage. She’s got all of the resources and this fabulous life. But at the end of the day, they’re also navigating who [has] more time for self-care. These are real conversations that real couples everywhere are having all the time. So they’re just the representation of that within the series, which we are really thrilled by.”
Looking ahead at season 2, the EPs wouldn’t do much differently.
“If you ask the cast that question, they probably feel like they have some regret. They all knew what they signed up for, which is just putting it out there. We’re capturing a moment in time in these people’s lives. By the time the show airs, a few months have passed, so season 2 is going to be sort of the fallout of seeing it all play out again,” Lombardo teased. “They lived it once, but when they see it again in the show, they’re going to live it again.”
Marker, meanwhile, teased plans to “go bigger.”
“I’m really excited to see how people react to the other cast members because it really truly is an ensemble show,” he noted. “And who’s going to pop? Who brings the drama? Who’s the funny one? And how can we continue to build out the world around Stassi as the show progresses?”
House of Stassi is streaming now on Hulu.
