An Interview with David Victori, Co-creator, Writer, & Executive Producer of ‘You Would Do It Too (Tú También lo Harías)’

"You Would Do It Too (Tú También lo Harías)," now streaming on Apple TV+.

David Victori is a talented writer, director, producer that has worked a bevy of shows and features. Currently, he serves as the co-creator, writer and executive producer of the new Apple TV+ series, You Would Do It Too (Tú También lo Harías), and we had the honor of sitting down with David to discuss the construction of this bold new series.
 
John Betancourt: I would like to start by getting to know what inspired the creation of this ambitious project, because it really is amazing.
 
David Victori: Thank you very much. So, some friend of mine explained to me a story that's similar to the seat of the show. And I remember that I was like, for a few days, like just thinking, like, over, over again about what can happen in something similar like this. And suddenly I had this, like two ideas, that's changed completely, not exactly what my friend explained it to me, more like the moral conception of what could happen there. So, then I realized that, oh my god, I think I have a really good two twist of a story that every twist makes the story more complex, and that's what I love. And after that, I was just like, “Okay, I'm jumping into that project like with all of my soul.”
 
John Betancourt: I'm also curious, what kind of challenges went into putting together such crisp and smart scripts.
 
David Victori: We was like working with Jordi (Vallejo), who is the co-writer with me, and we are working together for a long time. When we started to write the script. He was finishing a TV show that he did, a really complex thriller, psychological thriller. And I was also finishing another TV show that I did with a guy from the Money Heist, the creators of Money Heist, and I learned so much with them, and he learned so much about his show. So, we put together, like everything that we learned. And we was like, “Okay, let's do something like short episodes, really complex, really mixing times, really mixing timelines.” And we did, like, a huge building of different timelines and progressions and everything. So, one of the challenges was how we shoot that now, because the timelines are so mixed, that we took so much time with my assistants, putting the timeline of the story, how we can shoot that together now, you know, so that was one of the big challenges and but it was fun. It was really fun.
 
John Betancourt: Actually, I want to expand on that a little further too, because that's what I was really impressed with, was how much stuff was happening in every episode. And I'm curious then, and to dive in further into how you assembled it, what kind of challenges went into assembling all of that?
 
David Victori: I mean, what I really like is like, shoot together, like big pieces of the story. I don't, I'm not a big fan of like shooting like takes of one minute or two minutes, or really, like short takes. So, what I do is like, almost like, shoot as a one take shot like, for example, one day we did something really crazy. We shoot in one of the timelines, the timeline of the of the bus, the main timeline, right? We shoot, the first episode, until the seven episodes, all together. So, like shooting that for three hours and a half, like moving into the city with the bus, with the police cars, everything together, shooting the actors, acting and that, I think that that was really good, because that brings some energy into the story that was really special. And this is something that I really like, because I like that the actors are really visceral, are not like thinking or putting the technique in front. I prefer that they are really like going into the experience in a really rational way.
 
John Betancourt: What I also appreciate about this too, is that it is not a traditional crime drama in the slightest. There's no black and white here. It’s all about the grey, and I'm curious what motivated the decision to go that route with the story.
 
David Victori: That's something that is going with me forever. That's my main… I love a story about with different kind of storytelling is always the same. It's like a character who goes into places where you never expected that someone like him or like her can go, I think that for me, cinema or storytelling is interesting because we talk about life. And for me, life is always in the gray area. Never is like -- in fiction, in fiction usually is like black or white, no good or bad, the good people, the bad people. And I think that in real life is not that simple. You know, everybody has good things, everybody has bad things. So, and you know, the tagline of Tú También lo Harías that Apple found is brilliant, because good people do bad things. And I think that that's really, really brilliant, because I really love this kind of characters and story.
 
John Betancourt: It’s not only the structure of the show that’s great but the messaging is great too. And I'm curious if there's one particular message that you hope the audience takes away from it when they've had a chance to digest this incredible piece, what do you hope that message will be?
 
David Victori: I think that for me, the message is so clear. I mean, not the message, let's not say message, because everybody can interpret it, whatever they can take for them. But I think that you make mistakes when you take a position too early. You know? You are wrong when you think that you simplify things. You know, when you have an opinion too early, maybe it's not good always, you know, I think that sometimes you have to be careful and sometimes you can wait to have an opinion about something, you know, because the story at the beginning of our show is super clear, and everybody have a position. Everybody know who is the good guys, who is the hero, who are the villains, but, you know, then the story started to move. Stories start to have, you know, a lot of twists, and then everything change. And you as a audience, I think that you get so messed up and confused about your position between you and the characters.
 
John Betancourt: The last question I have for you, since this is so complex and so broad and so wonderful, if you had to describe this series in one word. What would that word be?
 
David Victori: Addictive.
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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