The Untold Truth Of Pitch Perfect

Multiple cast members described the flexibility for improv in the scripts for both Pitch Perfect and PP2. As Banks told Collider, scriptwriter Kay Cannon "wrote amazing jokes, so we had this great script," but was working on 30 Rock when filming began. "John Michael Higgins [who played Banks' fellow aca-judge, John] was hired because he's one of the best improv actors of all time so we were going to make use of it...We did the script, and then we played and played and played."

Ester Dean, who played Cynthia Rose, described a similar situation in an interview with NYLON, saying that in Pitch Perfect 2, Banks "gave me the perfect freedom to go out there and try a lot of things...It was like, 'These are your lines, but Ester, SAY SOMETHING, OKAY? Try this...do whatever you wanna do.'"

Castmates Hailee Steinfeld and Brittany Snow echoed that sentiment, with Snow saying in a 2015 interview with Collider that in Pitch Perfect 2, "[Banks] knew that the more time that was given for improv, the more little things there would be that could get picked up, along the way...We felt safe with each other because we knew each other better, so there was a collaborative atmosphere, this time around. There was on the first one too, but we knew each other's comedy so well, we really had a chance to play."