If it weren’t for Abbott Elementary, longtime TV director Randall Einhorn thinks he probably would’ve retired by now.
After decades working behind the camera on essential sitcoms like The Office, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Parks and Recreation, Einhorn could’ve stepped back from the industry — but then he met Quinta Brunson. The West Philly comedian approached him for the Abbott Elementary pilot in 2021 because she was such a big fan of his Scranton-set hit. Einhorn quickly realized Brunson and her show were special, so it was easy for him to say yes.
“From the day we started filming the pilot, it just felt right. It always felt right,” said Einhorn, 62, who also serves as an executive producer on Abbott.
Now the beloved comedy has become an Emmy Awards darling and is about to premiere its sixth season this fall. Its fifth season alone is up for seven Emmys at the ceremony on Sept. 14. Einhorn is a nominee for outstanding directing for a comedy series, marking his second nod in that category for Abbott Elementary (he was also previously nominated for cinematography on Survivor).
Einhorn received the recognition specifically for his ambitious work filming the “Ballgame” episode during a Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park in August 2025.
Phillies fans remember it as the night Kyle Schwarber hit four home runs, making baseball history and leading the team to a 19-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves. After the field cleared, Schwarber joined the Abbott Elementary cast to film his guest appearance.
“What a great dude! He had all the time in the world for us, and he was tremendous,” said Einhorn. “Nobody expected Kyle Schwarber to hit four home runs … there’s no type of energy like that. You can act that energy, but also you can’t. We fed off of that energy, which I think was really, really fun.”
As exciting as the game was, the Abbott cast and crew had already been at Citizens Bank Park for days leading up to the live event so they could capture the scenes with dialogue. That meant bringing in some 400 local background actors to play Phillies fans as well as roughly 200 workers from the Phillies and Aramark to staff the ballpark.
The complicated logistics required precise coordination between the Abbott crew and cast, the Phillies staff (especially those behind PhanaVision), and Major League Baseball. Einhorn’s biggest challenge was ensuring that the dialogue scenes matched up with the baseball action and vice versa. That meant carefully plotting the camera’s focus to whip between the actors, the field, and the PhanaVision screen. The 14-page script had more than 70 instances of “whip offs and whip ons,” according to Einhorn.
“I had to have this really meticulous plan to connect the game day to dialogue day, which were two separate days. That was quite complex, I mean, I’ve never had so many notes to myself in the margins of, ‘Don’t mess this up, Randall,’” the director said. “I really enjoy something with a high degree of difficulty because once you stick the landing, it’s just so rewarding.”
Serendipitously, Brunson and her fellow writers had already planned to feature Schwarber as a guest star before he made baseball history as the 21st player in MLB history to hit four home runs in one game. (A diehard Phillies fan, Brunson was thrilled to meet Schwarber — and the Phanatic, of course — for the special opportunity to spotlight Philly’s robust sports culture; she called the episode a “complete fan service.”)
The Abbott team developed contingency plans to ensure that they’d capture at least one Schwarbomb for the show — even if they had to cheat it by filming a Schwarber hit and panning to another ball soaring in the sky — but that night, those plans were totally unnecessary. The episode, which aired on Oct. 15, wound up including multiple Schwarbombs.
“The camera operators did just spectacular work … the more times [he hit], the better we got at filming it,” said Einhorn. “It’s amazing how much of the show was from game day footage and our cast reacting to it.”
As Einhorn and the Abbott team prepare for the Emmy’s red carpet, Schwarber has continued to deliver wow-worthy performances on the field. If Einhorn’s “Ballgame” episode wins the Emmy, Schwarber will have one more thing to celebrate.
The 78th annual Primetime Emmy Awards will air 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 14, on NBC.
Leave a Reply