#phil sgriccia

[spnscripthunt-inactive]

AKF pin designed by Phil Sgriccia for Jared Padalecki. Only Jared had these pins unless he gave them to you. This one was donated by slammtam as a raffle item for our final fundraiser for RIP Medical Debt kicking off on April 25.

[deanwasalwaysbi]

Phil Sgriccia, director of spn 4x02, speaking on SPN Then & Now, as Dean in that episode: Dean doesn't give [Sam], "Oh by the way, I had this dream sequence with the good looking guy in the trenchcoat."

Cool. cool cool cool.

[aliusfrater]

god bless phil sgriccia and his ability to make me go, "wow that scene was so well paced," or, "god that's such a good shot," every three seconds

[shallowseeker]

I would also like to point you to the scene in peace of mind where dean takes a big bite of sandwich while cas watches

What more do you want from me.

DEAN IS VERY TIRED IN THIS SCE—

😋

*Cas willing his mind not to go places* 😑

...

Okay, you win.

[my-supernatural-rewatch]

Episode 14: Nightmare

Dean Winchester in the Supernatural episode Nightmare

This is such a good episode. It's a good Sam ep, a good Dean ep...just a good episode all around and having Beth Broderick in it just makes it even better.

Sam has a premonition in which a man is killed but the murder is made to look like a suicide. Such a succinct summary but it doesn't really scratch the surface, does it?

So Sam has a dream that a guy asphyxiates in his garage but sees it happen supernaturally; the guy didn't kill himself, he was locked in the car by an unseen force. He wakes up in a panic and Dean (fully dressed under covers while he was sleeping) tries repeatedly to convince him it was just a dream.

The whole Dean denying Sam's powers story arc never sits right with me. They grew up with the supernatural all around them. They KNOW what is out there. Why is it so hard to believe Sam might have powers?

One of the benefits of traveling the country (or at least the midwest) with John is that Dean has an amazing sense of direction. When Sam asks him how long it'll take for them to get to Saginaw, without missing a beat Dean responds "a couple of hours." I need Dean to be my pilot.

The brothers pretend to be priests to get close to the family. They literally go to family home after the dead guy's service DRESSED AS PRIESTS. It's a little icky, honestly, but it worked remarkably well.

And the fans DO love to see Sam and Dean dressed as priests.

SO they figure out the uncle is going to be next on the hit list but they of course get to him too late. After climbing a fire escape to peek in on the guy, it's Dean with the presence of mind to tell Sam to clean up around them so they don't leave any fingerprints (the first and last time they worry about this?)

Before learning the REAL connection between Sam and Max, Sam laments that both the Millers and the Winchesters are cursed. Something that seems to genuinely surprise Dean.

Dean: Our family's not cursed; we've just had our dark spots.

Sam: Our dark spots are pretty dark.

Dean: (really not wanting to have this conversation) You're...dark.

It will take Dean a while to realize Sam is right on this one.

They go talk to the neighbor of the Millers when they lived in a different neighborhood and learn that Max's father and uncle physically abused him and that his mother is actually his stepmother. And then the neighbor says something that makes me want to throw things at my television:

"...but the worst part was the stepmother. She'd just stand there, checked out, not lifting a finger to protect him."

Are you fucking kidding me? The guy just told Sam and Dean that the father AND uncle used to beat on Max so badly that one time they actually broke his arm but then in the next breath he says the stepmother not stopping them was WORSE that that.

The way this show depicted and spoke about women through most of its run really does piss me off.

AND THIS EPISODE WAS WRITTEN BY WOMEN.

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?

Anyway.

Sam figures out their connection when Max tells him his mother died in his room when he was six months old. He thought his father was insane when he told the story about her burning up on the ceiling but, as we know, he wasn't.

While Dean and Max's stepmom are banished to the second floor, Sam tries everything, even his doe-eyed trying to be empathetic thing, to convince Max to not kill his stepmother, but it doesn't work and Max ends up locking Sam in a closet and putting a wardrobe in front of it to keep him locked up.

When Sam has the vision of Max shooting and killing Dean, he suddenly turns into Carrie and moves the wardrobe out from in front of the closet door - and he's off to save Dean.

When Sam is about to kill his stepmother, the Dean we know and love comes out:

"You're going to kill her, you gotta go through me first."

Oh Dean. You're dreamy. Kind of stupid here, but still dreamy. Because Max has no issue killing you. Lucky for you, Sam does take issue with it and shows up just in time to basically talk Max into killing himself. (This was obviously not Sam's intention but, I mean, that's exactly what happened here.)

So Mrs. Miller tells the cops Max basically went nuts and Sam and Dean had nothing to do with it except they were just family friends there for support. They get to leave while poor Mrs. Miller has to lament that her entire family is now gone. (I mean her husband and brother-in-law were dicks and her stepson was kind of a psycho so is she really missing much here?)

Anyway...when Sam and Dean have their moment, Sam is guilt-ridden about Max killing himself and Dean unhelpfully offers that Max was too far gone for Sam to help. Sam then surprises Dean by admitting that they were lucky to have John because:

Sam: A little more tequila and a little less demon hunting and we would've had Max's childhood. All things considered, we turned out ok. Thanks to him.

Dean's response of "All things considered" can be interpreted many ways. Me? I interpret it as Dean starting to realize that while they didn't have the terrible life Max did...there's still wasn't peaches and cream either.

While they're packing up in the motel room, Sam decides to tell Dean about the telekinesis and is surprised that Dean doesn't freak out - he just asks Sam to bend a spoon and then says they should head to Vegas to use Sam's powers to benefit them.

But when Dean closes the door to the motel room he gets that serious Dean face and we know he is most definitely concerned about Sam's newfound powers.

This entire episode is just another reminder that so much more could have been done with Sam's premonitions and telekinesis but...no...we can never have nice things.

Some notes for posterity:

Significant music in this episode: 2+2=? and Lucifer by the Bob Seger System

Sam pretends to be a Detective McReedy on the phone when he talks to the cops and they use the names Simmons and Frehley as their priest names when talking with the family of the dead guy. At the end of the episode, Max's stepmother tells the cops they're friends of the family.

Dean wears John’s jacket at the very end of the episode when he's packing up to leave we see it and then he puts it on when he leaves.

Pop culture references: When Max figures out that Sam and Dean aren't priests (he sees Dean's gun) he shutters up the house the way Carrie White did in Carrie. Max's uncle's name is Roger Miller. Maybe it was unintentional, but Roger Miller was a famous country singer-songwriter best known for the songs King of the Road, Dang Me, and England Swings as well as being a Tony Award-winner for the score for the musical Big River. (He also narrated the 1970s Christmas Special Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey)

This hunt takes place in Saginaw, Michigan

First episode where Sam and Dean pretend to be priests

Recognizable Guest Stars: Beth Broderick as Alice

My eye immediately spotted a new EMF reader. It was actually an Infrared Thermal Scanner (which DOES look like an EMF reader) and this is the only episode in which it is used.

[orphicnatural]

literally watching the boys/gen v is just like. supernatural creator. supernatural actor. supernatural actor. supernatural actor. supernatural director. supernatural director. supernatural writer. the list goes on.

[winchestergifs]

STACKEDextras ➙ Soon as we get rid of this demonic tramp stamp, I am back on the booze, burgers, and more booze.

10.11 There’s No Place Like Home Written by Robbie Thompson Directed by Phil Sgriccia Original Air Date: January 27, 2015

[clairenatural]

obviously you can make a long list of things in canon that point to dean being queer but I think two of the closest instances we have of TPTB recognizing it are the s12 market research (acknowledgement that they had enough canon background and evidence to go forward with it) and the 8x13 director's commentary where Phil Sgriccia and Ben Edlund say that the pub interaction with Aaron opens Dean up to the "potential for love in all places." This one is especially wild to me because the way that was played was improv. Jensen decided to play it like a romcom and the production team acknowledges that it reads as a romcom. Jensen Ackles himself canonized Dean as queer. Top 10 jacting joices I want him to explain during a polygraph test

[eisforeidolon]

Question: What was the most dangerous or scary stunt you ever did?

Jensen: Most dangerous or scary stunt we've ever done. [whistles]

Jared: Dangerous or scary stunt. So, ironically, the stunts that were not the most dangerous were the ones that I hurt myself the most. [laughs]

Jensen: Yeah.

JDM: Yeah. It's ones where, like, you don't need to go over this with me, I got this, I can take a fall. And then you crack your skull. Yeah.

Jared: Then you crack a shoulder or something. Um, the most dangerous - Ackles?

Jensen: I mean, I would say, there's definitely a lot of dangerous - I mean, it's also changed, like, the things that we were allowed to do back in the day have grossly changed now. They won't let us, just for insurance purposes, do a whole lot.

Jared: 'Cause we're older now. [laughs]

Jensen: It might be that, too. But I'll never forget probably the one I look back on the most and go 'oh my God' was - I did a very terrible movie called Devour, and in that movie [Jared: Oh!] I was like, hunting in the woods, and then out of nowhere this mountain lion - giant, like, [JDM laughs] I don't even know how, it was hundreds and hundreds of pounds. [Jared laughs] This like, grown cat. And they -

JDM: It was real?

Jared: [laughing] Yes!

Jensen: Yeah, yeah, 'cause they didn't have money to do CGI.

JDM: No CGI.

Jensen: No. So I'll never forget it, they said, they gathered the whole crew and the [finger quotes] animal wrangler came out and gave a safety speech. It was like, okay everybody I want you guys to know that when we bring the cat out, we want, we need everybody to stay in this area. We need you all to stay together. If somebody needs to go to the bathroom, you need to walk in pairs. You cannot single yourself out, once you do that, you instantly make yourself prey. So stay in a group, do not leave this area unless you have to, if you do leave, make sure it is at least in pairs or more. Jensen, could we get you on your mark out there in the middle of the woods? What?! So that alone should have given me pause, but I was young enough and too dumb to say no. And so then the shot, at one point there was a camera over my left shoulder and the cat is supposed to charge at me and as it leaps, I raise up my rifle and I shoot it. So we were doing that shot -

Jared: [laughs] Nope.

Jensen: And the animal wrangler was right behind me to my right, with a little like [vigorously shakes hand] baby toy. Just shaking it right over my right shoulder -

Jared: And Jensen was like, ah toy, toy, toy! [makes grabbing motion]

Jensen: And they're like action, and here comes this, like, five hundred pound cat charging at me full steam, jumps up in the air, and I'm supposed to raise my rifle, and it was so close it brushed my shoulder with its like [makes claw hands][Jared looks visibly uncomfortable] - because it was coming right at that toy and I just went [mimics half raising a pretend rifle, then ducking out] Nope! I look back on that now and there is no way - if there was anybody from the studio, or any producer on set that day, that would have left the lead actor to be anywhere close to that man-killer. Uh, so that was probably one that I look back on and think I got out of that one.

Jared: What about Yellow Fever? Do you remember the snake behind the couch? Phil Sgriccia was directing it, and we're sitting on the couch, you know, and the guy's asking us questions as this GIANT fucking python -

Jensen: It was a two hundred pound python.

Jared: Yeah, whose head was the size of my whole fist and fingers. And -

Jensen: Yeah, that was real.

Jared: It was real.

Jensen: And you left!

Jared: Of course I left!

Jensen: It did this on me [demonstrates on JDM's shoulder] like it came up over my shoulder and went all the way down -

Jared: I'm this far away, and I started getting -

Jensen: And he's on the other side of the couch -

Jared: [fake nervous laugh] I'm out!

Jensen: And he just gets up and leaves the scene. I can't move, I'm just frozen in terror -

Jared: So they had to change the angle of the camera, because I wasn't gonna fucking be there.

[Jared and JDM have an exchange here that I can't entirely make out, but from JDM waving and saying I'm good, I'm good, presumably about GTFO]

Jensen: Also, the snake wrangler was behind the couch, and he was on his back and he was supposed to just feed the snake over the couch and onto my shoulder, and it wouldn't go. This snake's like two hundred pounds -

Jared: He's, like, agitating the snake -

Jensen: So he's [mimes] kicking it and pushing it. And I'm like, does the snake ever get upset? And he's like, no, he's really docile as long as you don't, hurt it or step on it or be mean to it, it's totally fine. I look over my shoulder, and he's like [makes violent shoving and kicking motions] Come on! Dammit! And punching it and shoving it and kicking it and then it gets onto my shoulder and I'm like, I'm gonna get - I'm gonna die. This is it. I'm gonna die in front of all of my friends. Yeah, so, but they won't let us do that stuff anymore.

JDM: I did a movie called Texas Killing Fields and it wasn't even a fucking stunt, but it had to do with an animal. But also an animal without an animal wrangler. I had Chloe Moretz over my shoulder and it was a scene of me coming out of the swamp, like I had just -saved her of course. [Jared laughs] 'Cause that's what I do, I save people. And they were like just go, the shot's ready Jeff, just take her and walk out into the swamp. I'm like, cool. So I got her and I'm telling jokes, making her laugh and I look down and I'm stepping and there's like an eight foot alligator as my foot is going down on top of its head. And this thing rears up - I dropped Chloe and ran. [J2 crack up] I like ya, kid, but -

Jensen: Not that much!

JDM: See ya. Survival of the fittest.

Jensen: You don't have to be fast, just fast-er.

JDM: That's exactly right. And she landed on her ass, so I was gone, so she [wasn't gonna beat me?]. Yeah, 'cause most of the stunts, I've gotta say, we've been really lucky working with really good stunt people, too. You know they generally do the stunt and then we stand there because we're idiots, the three of us all make bad decisions -

Jared: Correct.

JDM: The shot's done, they got it in the can and then we're like -

[they all talk over each other a bit here]

Jared: Let's do it again!

JDM: Can we do it, just let us try, 'cause -

Jensen: Let me see if I can hit this wall harder.

JDM: Yeah, harder than the stunt guys that have been doing it all day. We're, you know, that causes pain, I can't -

Jensen: It does.

JDM: But really, they're so - we've worked with some really good people in our lives. Supernatural, The Boys in particular, that guy won a [?] Emmy or whatever -

Jensen: Koy.

JDM: They know what they're doing. Walker, I'm sure the same deal, you know.

Jared: Yeah.

JDM: You can't fall off a horse anymore. You can't.

Jared: Right, yeah.

Jensen: It hurts.

JDM: [humorous echo] It hurts. You can throw people at alligators, though.

[spn20rewatch]

Season 3, Episode 13: Ghostfacers (December 17th)

Sam and Dean find themselves on the reality TV show Ghostfacers – and in real danger. -Super-wiki

Originally aired on: April 24th, 2008

Written by Ben Edlund, directed by Phil Sgriccia.

Fun fact: This is the first of three times that an episode of Supernatural was nominated for a GLAAD award for positive LGBTQ+ story-lines. Supernatural lost all three times.

Celebrate Daggett's birthday by posting about this episode under #spn20rewatch! 🥳

[sensitivehandsomeactionman]

Lisa Berry mentioning Jensen at BurCon 2024

Spn Burbank Con Friday Panel: Lisa had been auditioning for supernatural for 10 years. States that she did a read with Jensen and was so excited about that. States she wasn’t given the part she auditioned but received an email from Phil (Sgriccia?) that they wanted her for character named Billie. She had to learn the “Oh Death” song, which then became the soundtrack for Death’s entrance!

Spn Burbank Con Friday Panel: Lisa favorite scene is her scene as Death in library with Dean, states that they asked her to do in one take. Pt states that Jensen interjected to the director saying “wait she’s trying something..” Lisa saying how she appreciated that from her actor friend.

Lisa states that Billie was more serious and subdued than Lisa. Pt states that she practices meditation to help visualize what she needs for that character. Pt states that real Lisa would fangirl over Jensen since she’s a fan of the show. Lisa is all of us fr 😂

[There's also a video of Lisa talking but it can be a little hard to hear her due to audience chatter.]

[shallowseeker]

I've been thinking so much about how you pointed out Rowena being a Michael vessel. How horrible for her! I think even I tend to overlook this.

Rowena really does have insanely main character energy, doesn't she?

Her vessel trauma can be easy to overlook, because she herself got out of dodge and kept her head down after that for a good while!

On-screen, we see Dean specifically checking on her via phone call. (It's when he and Cas are in the kitchen trading news on who and how best to support everyone during the beginning of Peace of Mind.)

Dean: That's not the -- Never mind. I was putting some gear away, and Rowena called. Castiel: How is she? Dean: Not great. She's coping.But, uh, you know, at least she's not dead. How's the kid? Castiel: Well, he says he's good, but What about Sam? [knowing look] He says he's good. Dean: [knowing look back] I think they're both full of crap. 14x15 Peace of Mind

Aside// When I think about how Jack saved Rowena, the woman his father murdered, my heart just about explodes. Not to mention there's something lovely in that Rowena tried to save Jack earlier this season, and then Jack saved Rowena later and I just [OUGH]. Someone please stab me in the heart because I think it'd hurt less!

[charcubed]

I'm curious, what are the main reasons why Dean is your favorite canon bisexual in media? Love your meta and that video btw

Ooooo, anon, thank you for the kind words and for giving me an excuse to talk about my love for bisexual icon Dean Winchester <3

I'm going to be really annoying (sorry) and quote part of my meta first. It summarizes and articulates many of my thoughts on this. And then to further answer your question I'll add a bit under it!

From the very beginning, Dean Winchester has been a character tied to classic elements of American masculinity. He was introduced with a superficial veneer involving those elements, but almost immediately the early episodes provide a look at the complexity of his character underneath it. Over the years, that complexity was further explored, and he came to embody a study in things society would often have us think should be incompatible contrasts: the gruffness and grit of hunting life and its associated masculine iconography, paired with his open and deep emotional care for the world; unabashed love for classic rock, superheroes, and horror movies, as well as unabashed joy connected to TV dramas, chick flicks, and childhood favorites like Scooby-Doo; life on the road with a muscle car, but the desire for a home base with creature comforts he can make his own; motivation to always help people, but the clear longing for balance with personal domesticity and relaxation so he could save not only others but also himself.

As a whole, his character functions as an effective deconstruction of toxic masculinity and stereotypical American heroism. And while much of Dean’s most masculine traits and interests are said to come from his father’s influence, part of his journey is loving those parts of himself on their own merit not because he ever had to but because he wants to. He is not his father, and he redefines those valued parts of his identity so they are his and his alone. He also crucially learns to recognize and joyfully embody that those masculine traits were never all that he had to be, working through and overcoming shame and hesitancy along the way. The result? He’s “good with who he is.”

He and the audience are encouraged to see that there are no rules his identity and interests must subscribe to, on a micro or a macro level. The message is to disregard predetermined destiny or duty. Free will means his life is his to determine, his family can be what he makes of it and how he defines it, and what he needs and wants do not ever have to be mutually exclusive. Dean’s journey is about freedom from outwardly-imposed limitations–whether those limitations come from his father’s example and the God altering his story, or from the pervasive societal ideals and network/executive interference outside of it. Dean can and should contain multitudes, all at once.

In this way, Dean’s story is a powerfully queer narrative that acts as metacommentary. In the fullness of its execution, it is also specifically a deeply bisexual narrative.

The not-so-hidden truth is that Dean is canonically a bisexual man. His story was afforded something that’s rare for most characters and almost nonexistent for queer ones: fifteen years of lengthy, nuanced development.

[...]

Again: Dean’s identity journey is about how he can and does contain the capacity for multitudes, and it’s part of what makes him such a compelling character. He can like “this” and “that.” He can be attracted to women and men. Or, as writer Ben Edlund and director Phil Sgriccia said in a DVD commentary, Dean has “the potential for love in all places.”

I wanted to include the above verbatim because it spells out something specific: Dean's narrative is bisexual in its bones. Supernatural evolved to become a queer text, but the specific ways the show and Dean as a character evolved are very intertwined with and informed by the fact that Dean is a masculine bisexual man. SPN is a story that was not meant to be about being queer, but as it became about freedom through free will, those themes were then leveraged and emphasized in connection to queerness because of Destiel. And by the end, the free will narrative and Dean's journey as a bi man are utterly inseparable, because Dean's fight for true freedom is tied to his love for a man and their untraditional family in a way that higher forces are trying to hinder.

You cannot cut out or edit or remove Dean's bisexuality from the story, or several narratives and plot lines (not just Destiel) would at minimum be misunderstood or at maximum fall apart. And yet, simultaneously? Dean's bisexuality is also far from being the sole important thing about his character because he is written with such nuanced complexities and across so many years of material.

Of course, add onto this the overall unique situation that surrounds Supernatural as a piece of media. People talk at length about how there will never be anything like it again, including me; that's obviously true from multiple different angles and for multiple different reasons, with Destiel being prime amongst them. But a related yet distinctly significant branch of that topic is there will never be another bisexual character who is written and evolves quite like Dean.

Was Dean supposed to be bisexual from the very start, out of the mind of Kripke? Who can know for sure, but probably not. Were certain writers and members of production deliberately putting more queercoding and subtext into Dean's character/story from the very start? Who can know for sure, but potentially yes, and certainly the answer becomes unarguably definitely yes the farther you get into the show. That's part of my love and passion for him too, because all of that is deeply unique and incredibly cool.

Dean's bisexuality evolved in a way that (against all odds) actually feels organic, seamless, and like it's simply a part of his character that's been there all along. The effect when you look at Supernatural as a whole body of work is that Dean's always been bi, and his expressions of and acknowledgements of that part of him ebb and flow depending on situation–which is a very relatable notion for many queer people. And as those writing the show became more committed and certain about that piece of who Dean is, so did he, in nuanced and subtle ways skillfully embedded into his story by design. It's bafflingly, impressively cohesive; gives him an incredibly realistic feel; matches his overall character growth; and rings true to his demographic, age, personality, and experiences.

Dean and his story and the situation(s) surrounding both are simply incomparable, and that will be true forever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

...also. Well. I simply love him, y'know? For even more reasons unconnected to this. How can you not, right? :')

Thank you for asking, and thanks for reading this bi Dean manifesto!

Putting my video that you mentioned here for anyone who's not watched it:

My new magnum opus, please stream, etc.

(or watch on Tumblr here)

[castiellesbian]

i know the writers pretty well but i'm pretty shaky on directors. singer films episodes like it's still the 1970s and dramatic zooms are all the rage. kim manners was responsible for the atmosphere of early seasons. john f showalter was alrightttt but kind of dragged down by working on typically mediocre episodes. thomas j. wright, of "the prisoner scene is a shot-for-shot remake of a scene from dark angel" fame. (<-he's good besides that though. did baby and lily sunder). phil sgriccia did sacrifice and lost & found so generally positive. guy bee i have personal beef with. amanda tapping (of naomi fame) was good!!! nina lopez-corrado is underrated!! amyn kaderali did last call, mint condition, and ouroboros so he has rights. misha's directing style was kinda horny ngl.

[thecascast]

Please enjoy our swag filled coverage of the SPN season 8 finale Sacrifice. Oh yeah and CAS ISN’T AN ANGEL ANYMORE??? How will his swag levels be affected?! Tune in and find out! Also we're trying to bring the word swag back! Please support us 🙏

[winchestergifs]

STACKEDNATURAL ⇉ 190.5/327 (part 1)

1.14 Nightmare Written by Sera Gamble & Raelle Tucker Directed by Phil Sgriccia Original Air Date: February 7, 2006