Hugh Hefner absolutely loves the show; he tweets about it all the time. He sends more tweets probably than anyone on Twitter. He’s great. He’s the narrator of the pilot so you hear his voice in the pilot and then we don’t continue using him as a voiceover but Heff is always sort of omnipresent in the show. He’s definitely part of the world but it’s really the story of the Club._Chad Hodge: Executive Producer, The Playboy Club
Chad Hodge: The Playboy Club
Writer/Creator/Executive Producer
By: Daedrian McNaughton
From Academy Award-winning executive producer Brian Grazer, “The Playboy Club” is a provocative new NBC drama about a time and place that challenged the existing social mores and transformed American culture forever. It’s the early 1960s, and at the center of Chicago lies the legendary and seductive Playboy Club, a living, breathing fantasy world filled with $1.50 cocktails, music, glitter and of course, beautiful Bunnies. The key to the club, which offers the ultimate in beauty, is the most sought-after status symbol of its time. But all that glitters isn’t gold, and in the back rooms and alleys behind the club, life happens – both good and bad.
THE PLAYBOY CLUB – Mondays (10-11 p.m. ET) on NBC
Did you have any reservations when you learned of the show initially?
Chad Hodge: When I first came into this project which over a year ago now I had initial reservations. Hmmm, Playboy, what’s a scripted show about Playboy going to be?
How involved is Hugh Hefner in the show?
Chad Hodge: He’s been involved since the beginning. He loves the show. He doesn’t approve scripts or storylines or things like that. When he gets involved it’s sort of like oh it wouldn’t have been like that it would have been like this; he corrects on historical accuracy sometimes and the history of Playboy, things like that. And he absolutely loves the show; he tweets about it all the time. He sends more tweets probably than anyone on Twitter. He’s great. He’s the narrator of the pilot so you hear his voice in the pilot and then we don’t continue using him as a voiceover but Heff is always sort of omnipresent in the show; you see him from the back, people talk about him. He’s definitely part of the world but it’s really the story of the Club.
And what was most interesting of your research and preparation for the Playboy Club?
Chad Hodge: When I dove into the research and spoke to former bunnies and spoke to Heff of course and the first place I went was his scrapbook archive in the Playboy mansion in LA which he still employs five people full time to archive his life. And he has over 2000 – 2500 volumes of scrapbooks starting with Number 1 from when he was 15 years old all the way to now and he still archives everything from his life. And it was unbelievably fascinating and really inspired the show and the direction and the tone and the characters really. And diving into that it’s not like going to a library and reading a book about Playboy or even really interviewing people, which of course I did both. But the diving into those scrapbooks was I think the most fascinating thing I’ve ever seen in terms of researching history. And I’ve done a lot of historical fiction in the past. And this was really amazing.
Can you talk about the Chocolate Bunnies and how Naturi fits this role?
Chad Hodge: Naturi is amazing; she has incredible energy and she’s an incredibly talented actress. She brings humor, she brings heart. Her character, Brenda, is one of the first – they called them Chocolate Bunnies. And Heff was hiring African American women as waitresses – as Bunnies and allowing anyone of any color, any race, to come to the Club when not everybody else was doing that. And he wasn’t doing it so much to make a statement he just always did what he felt was right for him. And at the time not everyone felt that was right and he did. There was the Playboy Club became a franchise. And there was a Club in New Orleans under the franchise. And they would not allow African American patrons or Bunnies. And Heff closed that franchise within six weeks and bought it back from the franchisees and reopened it himself with his own rules. So he really wouldn’t stand for anything that went against his code of ethics. And so Naturi who plays one of these Chocolate Bunnies who is part of this world and isn’t viewed differently from any of the other characters in the show, any of the other Bunnies. And so that which she talks about – which Brenda talks about in the show and which is part of her storyline. But on that same token because Heff didn’t treat any Bunny differently than the others no matter what color her skin was. Brenda’s character isn’t really about that. It’s not about her being the Chocolate Bunny really for very long because that would be treating her differently than the others and she has her own storylines. She’s an entrepreneur, she has family who lives in Chicago who may not feel particularly happy that she’s a Playboy Bunny. All these issues that we’re talking about in regards to the show the Bunnies talk about themselves and deal with in their storylines.
So where do you see her character evolving to?
Chad Hodge: Well part of her storyline is that she becomes an entrepreneur. She use her money – the tips that she gets at the Club and the money that she makes to advance a big dream of hers. She wants to buy a building and become a real estate entrepreneur. And that’s something that she starts. She uses her tips to do that on the sly without letting anybody know at first and that’s part of her storyline.