Derek for President

**Derek for President** is the fourth episode of the first season of the American-Canadian series High Schooled.

## Summary

Derek and Ryan run for student council, but must face their competition Victor, who will stop at nothing to stop them.

## Cast

* Derek de Jong as Derek Lipton
* Nicholas Merchant as Ryan Brahmer
* Ariadne Merchant as Amanda Lipton
* Jacob Beiser as Victor
* Paul Ingersoll as Sean
* Nikhil Patel as Kenny

## Production

### Story and Script

The character of Victor and the episode's basic plot was one of the first to be created, and was thought up even before the plot of the pilot episode by Nicholas Merchant. Originally, the plot heavily featured Lauren, and was to set up a major development in her character. Sean was to have a smaller, but important, appearance. However, after it was decided to remove Lauren from the show, the episode returned back to the development phase, when it was determined that it wouldn't be realistic for Lauren's role to be filled by Sean. Development of the episode was delayed to focus on earlier episodes in the season.

Development of the episode resumed together with the second half of season 1 in early July of 2016. By this time, Paul Ingersoll had already informed Nicholas Merchant, showrunner and the episode's main writer, of his departure, so Sean would not be involved in the episode. The overall structure of the episode was developed without any involvement with Sean. Carl, a character introduced in episode 2, was to return for a key role. Lee Friedman, who plays Carl, signed on to return for "Derek for President". The script's first draft was completed in November 2016, without any mention of Sean.

In January 2017, as episode 5 was being developed and written, which was to feature a cameo from Sean and would serve as a farewell to him, the writers were having trouble properly sending him off while also resolving the storyline from "Derek for President". It was determined that the only way for episode 5 to work was if Sean's involvement was somehow set up in episode 4. After talking to Ingersoll, who was eager to return to the show given scheduling conflicts could be solved, it was announced that Sean would return for episodes 4 and 5, and that Paul would film his scenes for both episodes in a single day of production.

Due to the size of the rewrites necessary to insert Sean into the episode in a way that properly set up episode 5, the episode returned to development, with Merchant worried that the rewrites would reduce the episode's quality, as he considered the first draft of the script the best script of the series to that point. Thought it was immediately decided that Sean would replace Carl's role in the episode, it took over a month for Merchant to come up with an idea he felt not only matched but surpassed the original script as to how this would occur without requiring a complete rewrite. The final drafts of episodes 4 and 5 were written concurrently, with both being completed in early March.

### Production

#### Filming

Due to the connected nature of the stories, episodes 4 and 5 were developed, written, and were intended to be filmed concurrently. Production on the joint shoot began on March 12. Paul Ingersoll, who returned as Sean, was only available for a single day of filming for both episodes and his scenes were shot in late March. Although intended to be a joint production, after "Derek for President" secured a theatrical premiere for May 11, production had to be sped up, so plans to also shoot episode 5 at the same time were abandoned and focus was put on completing episode 4 by the premiere date. Due to the shortened production schedule, filming for the episode's concluding scenes had to be rescheduled for the day before the episode was due, and given the limited amount of time, two scenes had to be cut (with one short scene improvised on set to fill in plot points from the missing scenes).

#### Casting

In February 2017, J. Henrik Nielsen and Nikhil Patel were cast as Victor and Kenny, respectively. Due to the last minute rescheduling, Nikhil Patel, who was to appear as Kenny in the scenes, could no longer appear. Merchant wanted Patel to play the role of Kenny, so instead of recasting the character, the cast, including Patel's replacement, Al Dines, created a new character to fill the role Kenny was supposed to fill, allowing Patel to portray Kenny in future episodes. Patel plays Kenny in the following episode.

Nielsen, who was chosen by the show's creator and writer Nicholas Merchant, was expected to portray the character for the first month of production. Although he did not film any scenes during this time, photos of him were used in posters that appear in scenes (some of which were reshot to replace him, while others remain in the final episode). Derek de Jong, who co-created the original Victor character, was unsure of Merchant's decision to cast Nielsen, and instead wanted Jacob Beiser. Unknown to de Jong, Merchant was having trouble properly developing Victor, and his scenes were the only that remained to be finalized. Halfway through production, Merchant entirely rewrote Victor's scenes, discarding the previous scripts that he had used to cast Nielsen. In this rewrite, Victor's personality was greatly changed, going from evil and annoying to more flamboyant and sly. Finding that Beiser was a better fit for the new version of Victor than Nielsen, Merchant agreed to recast the role. Nielsen, still signed on to portray a character, will have a new role created for him in season 2 of High Schooled.

#### Editing

Due to a strict deadline on May 8 due to a theatrical premiere on May 11, there was no time for a dedicated post-production phase as there was with previous episodes. Instead, scenes were edited as soon as they were shot, with post production occurring largely while production was still taking place. This technique ended up proving successful, with Merchant being able to see completed scenes before filming their followups. Since Merchant was editing scenes the day they were shot instead of months later, he was able to recall specific directions he had given and requests from the actors about which take they preferred, assisting him with editing. Happy with the results, Merchant uses this editing technique on all future episodes (which also gives more time for filming, since filming now only needs to be completed a couple of days before release, not months in advance).

## Trivia

* This is the first episode of *High Schooled* to receive a theatrical premiere. It was screened on May 11th. Two weeks later, "The Guinea Pig Funeral" also received a theatrical screening on May 19th.
* The episode had the longest shooting script for an episode of *High Schooled* when it was made. It was subsequently surpassed by the season 2 premiere.
* When both parts are played back to back, it is the longest episode of season 1 of *High Schooled* at 21 minutes and 41 seconds. It is only 8 seconds longer than the second longest episode of the season (which would be the longest if it was split in two parts, since it would receive at least 30 seconds more runtime from the duplicate credits and title card).
* The episode's plot was the first to be created for the show (even before the pilot). The first draft of its script was written in October 2016, a full five months before filming and prior to the first draft of the preceding episode, "The Guinea Pig Funeral".
* This was the first episode to feature a scene set at school. It is also the first (and only) episode of season 1 not to feature a scene set in Derek's basement.