Spoilers for Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed are ahead! Read with caution, and stream the series with an Apple TV subscription.
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed begins with a virtual relationship. Tatiana Maslany’s Paula is seeing a cam boy named Trevor (Brandon Flynn), and at the start of the show, they have some very intimate (and intense) moments over Zoom. So, with that in mind, I asked Maslany and Flynn how they filmed these scenes that take place virtually, and they told me how they did it 100% in-person.
In the first scene of Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, which is airing weekly on the 2026 TV schedule, we meet Paula as she’s on a call with Trevor. Quickly, it’s revealed that she’s paying him for his time, and we learn that she’s in a virtual sexual relationship with this cam boy. So, considering this isn’t the kind of intimate relationship we see on TV often, I asked the She-Hulk actress how they filmed these moments that happen between her and Flynn’s characters over Zoom. In response, she said:
So [director] David Gordon Green wanted us to be doing it at the same time. So he had both sets built in the same stage, and we were two cameras running, and we were recording the Zoom live. So it was all real. It was all practical, which made those scenes, which are so intimate and so much about connection, so much more possible. You know, you really do want to have that sense. And the feeling I had was like, Brandon's such a great actor, and we really felt intimate to each other in those moments.
So, while it seemed like Paula and Trevor were far away from each other during this intimate moment, in reality, Maslany and Flynn were on the same stage. They were performing from their respective sets, but those sets were literally right next to each other.
That allowed for a level of intimacy and connection that maybe would not have been present if they were not together. Speaking to that point, and the value of filming these scenes together and in-person, Brandon Flynn told me:
The fact that we were developing our own sort of relationship off sets, and we had that opportunity to, sort of, you know, when you heard cut, like, come together and be like, ‘That was fun.’ Like, ‘I like this thing. I like that thing. What if we did this?’ You know, we kind of had that energy going. So then we go to our own little cubbies and do the scene.
I’d imagine it was very helpful to be in the same space so that, between takes, they could easily talk to one another in person. According to Flynn, this helped his and Maslany’s chemistry feel really real and lived-in even though their characters’ relationship was 100% virtual. Speaking to that point, he said:
I think that is part of the magic of what we do, that stuff just naturally leaks in. You don't have to really force it. And I think it helped to film in proximity, especially when you're just kind of jumping into these people's lives, who, before this, have probably met a good handful of times, and know deep things about each other, so she thinks.
Now, if you’ve seen the show, you know that Trevor turns out to be a scammer, and that’s what cracks open this wild and intense mystery involving Paula.
However, up until Trevor got beaten up on Zoom, it felt like he and Paula had a real relationship. Paula believed it, and I did too. And that’s thanks to Maslany and Flynn’s chemistry, and probably the fact that they were able to film these sequences in person.
Listen, we talk a lot about how sex scenes are filmed, how intimacy coordinators are involved in the process, and the logistical challenges of capturing said intimate moments on camera. However, in Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, they had an especially unique challenge to deal with, seeing as Paula and Trevor’s intimate moments happen over a Zoom call, they aren’t in the same room.
However, Tatiana Maslany and Brandon Flynn essentially were, which helped immensely.
Now, to see how their relationship impacts Paula and this mystery, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed has officially premiered among Apple's best TV shows, and it drops new episodes every Wednesday.
