The Life of a ‘White Lotus’ Producer, and the ‘Jury Duty’ Sequel Revealed

The Town with Matthew Belloni

The Ringer

Society & Culture

4.3 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 29 January 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Matt is joined by producer Dave Bernad to pull back the curtain on what goes into producing 'The White Lotus' and 'Jury Duty' and discuss the challenges and misconceptions around the former show. He also talks about his old-school path to success in the industry, his past projects, and the appetite for comedy (01:40). Matt finishes the show with an opening weekend box office prediction for ‘Send Help’ (29:30). For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, ‘What I’m Hearing ...,’ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Email us your thoughts! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thetown@spotify.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Host: Matt Belloni Guest: Dave Bernad Producers: Craig Horlbeck, Jessie Lopez, and Jon Jones Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by SimpliSafe.
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0:21.3	So you can relax.
0:23.3	Visit simplysafe.com.uk.
0:25.1	slash pod for an exclusive discount.
0:29.9	It is Thursday, January 29th.
0:33.0	The life of a working producer these days often means picking up your entire life
0:36.8	and living for months in London or Atlanta or Montreal.
0:40.7	Especially this time of year, the holidays are over.
0:42.7	Film and TV productions have started back up.
0:45.1	At Sunday and Send the Golden Globes parties these past few weeks, it seemed like every producer I talked to is about to leave town for some project.
0:51.7	One of those was Dave Burnett, who was prepping to make the fourth season
0:55.0	of the White Lotus at a luxury hotel in the south of France. I know cue the violins there, but it's
1:00.6	definitely not a vacation for Bernard. He's kind of a throwback producer in some ways. It came up in
1:05.4	the traditional way in Hollywood, to the extent that still exists, toiling as an assistant, and then
1:10.0	working with Mike White, the filmmaker, who's rise to A as an assistant, and then working with Mike White,
1:11.1	the filmmaker, whose rise to A-level creator has allowed Bernad to produce both White's
1:16.0	projects and other stuff, everything from the uncharted movie to Superstore on NBC.
1:21.5	And White Lotus, of course, is an interesting show to make. The last season took about
	...

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