Social Media and Behind the Scenes: AKA Everything Else Not "News and Media"

[tv echo]

If you're interested in learning more about actors who played minor supporting characters on Arrow, here are two recent interviews conducted by Simone Bailly with Mike Dopud and Tahmoh Penikett...

Mike Dopud played Viktor, a Bratva captain, in 6 episodes of Arrow (501-Legacy, 503-A Matter of Trust, 505-Human Target, 515-Fighting Fire With Fire, 516-Checkmate, 517-Kapiushon). These episodes included Oliver's flashbacks to his Russian Bratva days. Other guest stars that season included David Nykl as Anatoly Knyazev and Dolph Lundgren as Konstantin Kovar.

INTERVIEW WITH ACTOR MIKE DOPUD
Simone Bailly   Streamed live on May 6, 2020

-- MD started out as a stunt guy and background performer on Stargate: SG-1, before being cast in various acting roles on Stargate: SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis and Stargate Universe. One of his Stargate roles was that of a Russian colonel, Colonel Chernovshev. Even though MD is Serbian, he impressed the producers with his Russian accent. He then moved on to acting roles in various TV shows and films. MD quipped: "I always get killed. I never get the girl."

-- SB: "You had six episodes recurring on Arrow. Can you tell us about your character on Arrow and what it was like working on that show?"
MD: "Oh, Arrow was a - was a cool show. Again, it was - it's a pretty big show in Vancouver... I knew a lot of people on the set, which is always great working in Vancouver, 'cause you tend to know everybody. And then, you know, again playing this Russian godfather called Viktor. And that was fun. And they kept throwing more Russian dialogue as we went, not that I speak Russian, but... There were times when there wasn't much time to prep it, 'cause the rewrites would come in and you just gotta go... We had dialogue coaches on set, which was great. And, uh, yeah, they seemed to like it, so - but it was fun working. Stephen Amell was fun to work with. Uh, you know, he's a professional. He's so busy on that show. And David Nykl - had a blast working with David Nykl. Uh, he's another ex-Stargate person, who I had never worked with before, and I ended up working with him on Arrow. And David Nykl was awesome... We've become friends. We hang out now every once in awhile. We go for a beer and a taco when we can."

-- SB: "Who was one of your favorite actors to work with and have you ever had a fanboy moment working with anyone on set?"
MD: "I had a fanboy moment with Dolph Lundgren in the - in the audition room... He's in the room and he said - he's looking at me and I was like - he goes, you know what, I want to read opposite. So he ends up reading. So I was just like, thrown for a loop. I was like, I'm auditioning with Dolph Lundgren, one of the guys that, um - you know, I loved all of those movies like I said, right? Dolph Lundgren's. Jean-Claude Van Damme's. Sylvester Stallone. All these guys, right? The action movies that I love to watch, uh, and to get to work with these guys." (tv echo: I don't think he's talking about his Arrow audition. MD and DL worked together in a 2013 movie called The Package and also in a 2014 movie called Skin Trade.)

Tahmoh Penikett played Frank Bertinelli's main enforcer in 1 episode of Arrow (107-Muse of Fire). This episode introduced Jessica de Gouw as Helena Bertinelli. I believe that TP's character was the one who killed Helena's fiance on the orders of her father. TP is most well-known for his role of Karl "Helo" Agathon in the Battlestar Galactica series (2004-2009).

INTERVIEW WITH ACTOR TAHMOH PENIKETT FROM NEED FOR SPEED/BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Simone Bailly   Streamed live on April 29, 2020

-- This interview included a lot of Battlestar Galactica talk (including a great story about his audition for that series). Arrow is only mentioned among his credits.

Edited May 30, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Posted 4 days ago - when asked what character he would like to play from the DC or Marvel universe, Michael Jai White said "John Stewart" (Green Lantern) from the DC universe.

Edited June 1, 2020 by tv echo

[Trisha]

SA went live a bunch of times on FB this weekend to collect FB stars and raise money for charity. I didn't get to watch more than a few minutes of a two of them, but he implied that Emily was going to be guesting on his podcast soon (he previously said he was holding off on some big guests until they finished set up with their new podcast production company, which is now complete). Grant Gustin is going to be today's podcast guest.  He also said that he and Drew would talk about the riots in LA today (he briefly mentioned that his friend owns a store on Fairfax that was destroyed by looters and that "it sucks it's devolved to this.") He's going live with his podcast (which will also be on FB now) today at 10 am PT.

 

 

[RS3]

18 minutes ago, Trisha said:

He also said that he and Drew would talk about the riots in LA today (he briefly mentioned that his friend owns a store on Fairfax that was destroyed by looters and that "it sucks it's devolved to this.") He's going live with his podcast (which will also be on FB now) today at 10 am PT.

We already know where he stands when it comes to racial profiling if cops are involved. Ahmed Mohamed... I can't give him the benefit of the doubt after he retracted his apology on the Michael Rosenbaum podcast. The best thing he can do is use his platforms with millions of followers to share the links for #BLM petitions and donations. It should have been his first move. 

Also worth noting that Fanta, Emily's best friend, unfollowed him over his silence. 

[Trisha]

1 hour ago, RS3 said:

We already know where he stands when it comes to racial profiling if cops are involved. Ahmed Mohamed... I can't give him the benefit of the doubt after he retracted his apology on the Michael Rosenbaum podcast. The best thing he can do is use his platforms with millions of followers to share the links for #BLM petitions and donations. It should have been his first move. 

Also worth noting that Fanta, Emily's best friend, unfollowed him over his silence. 

Agreed. I know he was trying to do something for charity but if he wasn't going to say anything of importance about what's happening in the world than I wish he'd held off and not occupied so much social media space this weekend. And now that he seems prepared to talk about it today, I wish he'd have chosen a black guest whose voice he could amplify instead of Grant Gustin (who, to be fair to GG, has been posting about it all weekend). 

Fanta's IG story made me cheer. I hope he's made aware of it. Most of the Jar and a ton of his CW colleagues have been doing a really good job on social, so him not even reposting a petition/donation link is really conspicuous. 

Edited June 1, 2020 by Trisha

[apinknightmare]

1 hour ago, Trisha said:

And now that he seems prepared to talk about it today, I wish he'd have chosen a black guest who's voice he could amplify instead of Grant Gustin (who, to be fair to GG, has been posting about it all weekend). 

To be honest, I really don't think he cares enough to amplify a voice that isn't his own. He said the other day that he doesn't feel qualified to speak on the issue, even though you don't have to be an expert to understand that systemic racism is wrong and say so - but despite not thinking he's qualified, he's gonna chime in anyway. 

His silence has definitely been pretty loud, especially considering - like you wrote - almost all of his Jar friends have spoken out. And Carina, who name drops him at every opportunity, left him out of all the BLM posts she made where she tagged other high-profile people. After his not all Texans!!1! BS and subsequent breakdown and regret over his apology, some of his other questionable racial stuff, and the fact that he's married to someone who bought toned-down All Lives Matter merch and gave it to her friends...I really don't think this is an issue that he cares about much, if at all. I fully expect his opinion to be a complete shitshow, although I hope he surprises me!

Edited June 1, 2020 by apinknightmare

[RS3]

17 minutes ago, apinknightmare said:

To be honest, I really don't think he cares enough to amplify a voice that isn't his own. And Carina, who name drops him at every opportunity, left him out of all the BLM posts she made where she tagged other high-profile people.

LOL the more you know...

I expect him to try to be diplomatic about a matter where diplomacy has no room. He's not going to find the right words until he acknowledges his white privilege and condemns police brutality and racial profiling, no matter the riots or the looting. If he deviates the conversation to property destruction, people will light him up and I will be cheering them on. Considering his islamophobia and his throw away comments about his friend's destroyed store, I doubt he will condemn anything because of 1) his own prejudice and 2) fear of angering his racist white followers. 

Of course, he chose Grant to guest for this... It's not like Aisha or David Ramsey were right there being vocal about BLM and even attending protests. Both his alleged friends. Imagine a live with David where he could encourage 5+ million followers to donate to bail funds. The arrow fandom has been a pretty powerful tool when it comes to charity

 

[Featherhat]

I think if he didn't want to talk about it for whatever reason he should probably have stayed off social media for a few days. I understand not having the words or feeling qualified to produce something perfect, but plenty of celebrities were posting short, heartfelt things and linking to charities, you don't have to do a big opus. Some like Melissa Fumero did posts appreciating/cherishing what they do have in very dark days so he could still have posted positive pictures whilst acknowledging the terrible, if that's what he wanted. 

[Trisha]

Grant has been posting a lot in the last few days about learning about white privilege and recognizing the need to use his platform instead of staying silent, so I have a teeny tiny hope that he'll bring that up in front of Stephen. Of course, it's quite possible that he and Drew will discuss it before Grant even comes on. 

Part of me is curious to watch what happens and see if it's as bad as I'm assuming it will be, but I just don't think I have it in me today.

[calliope1975]

23 minutes ago, Trisha said:

Part of me is curious to watch what happens and see if it's as bad as I'm assuming it will be, but I just don't think I have it in me today.

I hope someone does watch it and reports here what he says, but like you, I just don't have it in me to watch someone equivocate right now. I really hope he does some deep thinking before he speaks. Also, lol on me having that expectation. 

[Angel12d]

Isn't it obvious where SA stands on this? It appears he hasn't said a word about what's been happening and I don't for one second believe his BS about keeping silent because he's not educated enough. And that's not even taking into account him retracting his apology over Ahmed. As far as I'm concerned his silence (and previous actions) has conveyed his POV loud and clear.

I'm baffled that anyone continues to defend him tbh. 

[lemotomato]

TBH, I'm not really in the mood to listen to 3 rich white men chit chat about anything right now. 

[tv echo]

Posted 30 minutes ago - GG will not be appearing on SA's podcast today because GG didn't think it was an "appropriate time," given everything going on in the U.S. now, but GG will guest on a later podcast. However, SA and Drew Harding apparently still chatted on their own...

Edited June 1, 2020 by tv echo

[RS3]

 

 

[apinknightmare]

8 hours ago, apinknightmare said:

I fully expect his opinion to be a complete shitshow, although I hope he surprises me!

I read a transcript - I was right, his opinions are a complete shitshow and I remain unsurprised. 

[Trisha]

I haven’t watched it but I saw on Twitter that he was talking about getting criticism for being silent and said “Don’t let someone gaslight you and make you think you’re part of the problem because you don’t have a solution.” So back to playing the victim, I guess. 

Apparently Drew came off better, which isn’t surprising.

[Angel12d]

I refuse to watch or listen to anything SA says so I’ll just trust what you’re saying but not surprised in the slightest. He makes me cringe.

Also what is up with KC’s tribe post? What on earth?? That’s what she thought was appropriate to post right now? 

[Mellowyellow]

KC is off on a different planet. I'm not sure she knows what's going on.

SA is probably thinking this is all bad for business, wine subscriptions, cons and ways to generate money. How the hell is he meant to fund his lifestyle with all this "inconvenience" going on????

[RS3]

19 hours ago, RS3 said:

If he deviates the conversation to property destruction, people will light him up and I will be cheering them on. 

🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

From the replies and twitter comments, it's so much worse than I expected. I'm not going to listen either. 

Meanwhile, this is how KC ends racism after her followers pressured her to say something. Paint the hashtag on the wall of your safe and secure million dollar house. In awe of her courage and her strength. 

 

[tv echo]

I don't even want to watch SA's live chats right now. I feel so disheartened and can't help thinking about some dialogue in the final episode of Battlestar Galactica (the reboot), where one character says, "All of this has happened before," and another character replies, "But the question remains: does this have to happen again?"

Edited June 2, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Edited June 2, 2020 by tv echo

[calliope1975]

Re: KC's video - even those cats are like, what is this? How is this helping?

[apinknightmare]

3 hours ago, RS3 said:

Meanwhile, this is how KC ends racism after her followers pressured her to say something. Paint the hashtag on the wall of your safe and secure million dollar house. In awe of her courage and her strength. 

Apart from the general uselessness of the gesture, the upshot angle of her ass for the whole thing adds yet another layer of bad taste. 

[Trisha]

Ok, I watched it. About a third of the way through I found it so cringey that I started to tune out a bit so I'm sure I missed a bunch, but overall it was not great. They sounded like their intentions were good at the start but every once in a while they'd drop a comment (mostly SA) that was terrible. Drew at least seemed like he tried to do research and came armed with stats on police brutality, and shared Tarana Burke's story about why her boyfriend wouldn't hold her purse (though he didn't credit her). He also (very gently) disagreed with SA a couple of times.

Some of the worst/most noteworthy comments I caught (I'm sure there were others):

• SA said as someone who'd grown up in Toronto, he'd never really been exposed to racism or "seen it in action" until he moved to the States. 
• They said they've met a lot of great police officers at Nocking Point parties and whatnot, and the majority of police officers should be celebrated and paid more
• They talked about white privilege and SA said "Wherever we are in our career you know did it help along the way that we're white males? It might have certainly, it might have. Probably did in some way, shape or form. That being said, you and I didn't have any help right? Like what we've done and, you know, the life that we've built for ourselves - you and me both did that through a lot of hard fucking work so you know I bristle every once in a while at that."
• SA complained about getting comments all weekend: "To all the people you know who are messaging me or hitting me on social media going 'you're conspicuously silent about this must be nice' or 'your silence is deafening say something' I decided to leave this weekend and let you listen to people like Killer Mike, let you listen to people like Steven Jackson, let you listen to people like the sheriff in Flint and the sheriff in Houston. I thought Chris Cuomo did a wonderful job. I'm not super educated on this and I'm trying."
• He also dropped this self-victimizing gem: "Don't let someone gaslight you and make you think you're part of the problem because you don't have a solution."
• They both trashed Trump a lot and talked about how he's a narcissist but then when they were talking about which president would face the nation and do a better job, their suggestion was...George W Bush.
• SA says he thinks Biden should pick a female centralist to be his running mate, preferably a Republican. Drew tried to explain to him that's not the way it works.
• Drew mentioned that his wife had cried a couple of times over the weekend and SA said that his wife had too and she "doesn't want to make it a pity party but she's really bummed out"
• They talked A LOT about the looting and ended the show on that, which made it seem like they cared more about damaged property than damaged humans. SA said that he was thinking about grabbing some neighbors and standing outside the mom & pop convenience store down the street from him to protect it from looters. Drew said it was unlikely the protests would reach the Hollywood Hills.
• They also suggested viewers leave links and resources for places to donate/learn more in the comments, as it seems like they didn't think to do research and include any of that before filming. They didn't even include the #BlackLivesMatters hashtag in the caption. It just says "We stand with you."
   

Edited June 3, 2020 by Trisha

[Soulfire]

Thanks, @Trisha.

 

[Angel12d]

Didn't watch but ooof. It's worse than I thought. How can you really think now is the time to say well, not all cops??? No words.

The sad thing is his staunch defenders will continue to defend him and those who are trying to tell him where he's going wrong will fall on deaf ears because unless something affects him directly, SA doesn't care to learn or to change. Wouldn't shock me if in a few months he'll make some passive aggressive pissy comment about the heat he caught during this time and how mean everyone was to him. 🙃

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by Angel12d

[apinknightmare]

4 hours ago, Trisha said:

They talked A LOT about the looting and ended the show on that, which made it seem like they cared more about damaged property than damaged humans. SA said that he was thinking about grabbing some neighbors and standing outside the mom & pop convenience store down the street from him to protect it from looters. Drew said it was unlikely the protests would reach the Hollywood Hills.

He does care more about the property than the people. Anyone who is ever able to get through to him and change his mind about anything should probably become a crisis negotiator. 

Quote

They also suggested viewers leave links and resources for places to donate/learn more in the comments, as it seems like they didn't think to do research and include any of that before filming.

I don't think they really care enough to do that much research. Maybe Drew wants to, but Stephen doesn't. I think he's only saying something now because he was tired of being called out for not. 

Quote

Drew mentioned that his wife had cried a couple of times over the weekend and SA said that his wife had too and she "doesn't want to make it a pity party but she's really bummed out"

Were protestors blocking her favorite brunch spot or what? I truly don't believe any of these people are bummed out about anything other than being inconvenienced and/or worry about their property, since Stephen's wife at least used to be invested in quite a few businesses in LA (no idea if she still is or not), and he seems to be super concerned about that.

Quote

SA said that he was thinking about grabbing some neighbors and standing outside the mom & pop convenience store down the street from him to protect it from looters. Drew said it was unlikely the protests would reach the Hollywood Hills.

I really want to believe that Drew's answer was condescending, but I can't really tell with these people. 

 

[calliope1975]

Oh boy. Looks like Steve's seen his mentions and wants to engage. It reads as condescending to me, and he's been through this too many times to be this stupid. It's willful ignorance, and I don't think people are in the mood to be as forgiving as they might have been in the past. 

 

[Trisha]

1 hour ago, calliope1975 said:

Oh boy. Looks like Steve's seen his mentions and wants to engage. It reads as condescending to me, and he's been through this too many times to be this stupid. It's willful ignorance, and I don't think people are in the mood to be as forgiving as they might have been in the past.

It’s incredibly condescending. He said something a few weeks ago when he and his wife were on that Zoom chat with Aisha about how everybody who calls him out on social media only does it because they’re unhappy in their life or going through some personal stuff. So his “hope this makes you feel better ... if you need something” comments align with that mindset. God forbid he actually recognize that sometimes people call him out simply because he deserves to be called out. 

[Avabelle]

I’ve always found the JAR friendship to be such a clique and not something that I would see lasting. I feel like this could be what unravels it..

[Mellowyellow]

3 hours ago, Avabelle said:

I’ve always found the JAR friendship to be such a clique and not something that I would see lasting. I feel like this could be what unravels it..

I suspect they like to get drunk together and use each other for commercial purposes. Now that things are rough in the world, views and values are being tested.

[apinknightmare]

He's such a condescending, tone-deaf asshole. He simply doesn't possess the capacity for self-reflection or the ability to admit that he could possibly be wrong about something. He doesn't want to better understand anything, he's not replying in good faith, and anyone who takes the time to try and teach him will likely be thanked by him admitting on a douchebag podcast a year or so later that he was definitely always right and regretted even engaging. 

His ~friends indulging in his victim complex have only made his worst impulses worse. 

[Trisha]

4 hours ago, Avabelle said:

I’ve always found the JAR friendship to be such a clique and not something that I would see lasting. I feel like this could be what unravels it.

I might be reading too much into it but it felt like both AT and CM were shading him a bit on social yesterday. AT did posts on people who seem to be valuing property more than justice, and CM (who is surprisingly doing the work) tweeted about reaching out to problematic white friends to offer resources and help them learn. 

[tv echo]

Today (June 3) is JS' birthday - he turns 34...

Actor Josh Segarra Discusses His Three Very Different Roles
Steve Adubato    Feb. 21, 2020

Quote

Steve Adubato goes One-on-One with Actor Josh Segarra to talk about his exciting roles in the Netflix series "AJ and the Queen," CW's "Arrow" and Comedy Central's "The Other Two." 

-- Steve Adubato: "Tell me about Arrow."
JS: "Arrow was fun. Arrow was incredible. I got to live a childhood dream out of being this, uh - you know, maybe as a kid I thought I was going to be a superhero. But I think along the way I realized that I wanted to play a supervillain, you know, that those characters can be a lot of fun. And - and when this one came along and they gave me the honor of allowing me to help them create this guy, Adrian Chase, Prometheus, you know, um, man, I had a lot of fun throwing some ninja stars, sword fighting, you know, gettin' to go one-on-one with Stephen Amell. C'mon. In real life, he'd kill me, you know, that fight would last - that fight would last - (Laughs) ... The best is like, such as I'd get asked, you know, 'who would win in a fight between you and - ' I'm like, 'stop, don't even - c'mon, man.'"

Edited June 3, 2020 by tv echo

[Kymmi]

4 hours ago, Trisha said:

I might be reading too much into it but it felt like both AT and CM were shading him a bit on social yesterday. AT did posts on people who seem to be valuing property more than justice, and CM (who is surprisingly doing the work) tweeted about reaching out to problematic white friends to offer resources and help them learn. 

Totally agree on CM. I often side-eye her, but she's shown up during all of this, even going so far as to share things with SA on his tweets and encouraging him to read and share. 

Did you all hear about Maya Houston (Arrow writer) speaking at yesterday's LA Police Council meeting?  She was amazing. 

 

 

[Soulfire]

 

[Soulfire]

 

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by Soulfire

[Trisha]

Wow. MG offered to pay for a hotel room for the woman who went off on SA. 

 

[lemotomato]

She also demanded that Just Jared pay her for using her tweets in their story. SA was dumb to pick a fight with someone who has an agenda. 

[Mellowyellow]

9 minutes ago, lemotomato said:

She also demanded that Just Jared pay her for using her tweets in their story. SA was dumb to pick a fight with someone who has an agenda. 

So what else is new? 😝

[statsgirl]

Did he know that she had an agenda when he replied? And why is MG paying for her hotel bill?

For the record, Toronto is racist, as she said, although not as bad as some places. SA went to a preppy boys school so he would have been insulated from seeing it.

[Trisha]

7 hours ago, statsgirl said:

For the record, Toronto is racist, as she said, although not as bad as some places. SA went to a preppy boys school so he would have been insulated from seeing it.

Yeah I couldn’t believe it when I first heard him say that but then I forgot he went to a prep school with a tuition more than most universities. And he probably isn’t following Toronto news lately.

7 hours ago, statsgirl said:

Did he know that she had an agenda when he replied? And why is MG paying for her hotel bill?

I’m not sure ‘agenda’ is the right word. She’s incredibly outspoken and certainly hustles on Twitter.  My guess is SA only replied to her because she’s verified. Verified people can turn on a setting to tune out people who aren’t, which he might be doing. The story might be picking up steam though: https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/stephen-amell-responds-after-being-accused-of-racism/

In other news, both CM and AT shared Fanta’s IG post about the definition of racial gaslighting. Since he said that word twice in his podcast, I can’t help but wonder if it’s shade.

Edited June 4, 2020 by Trisha

[Featherhat]

Apart from you know, every other reason why he should have thought twice or 10 times before what he said initially and how he responded to people, he's going to have to be careful otherwise this might end up costing him jobs in an already very uncertain time if it picks up steam.

There's no guarantee what's going to start filming any time soon, especially a series that was sure to involve a lot of close contact and some new series already getting cancelled. 

Edited June 4, 2020 by Featherhat

[apinknightmare]

8 hours ago, statsgirl said:

For the record, Toronto is racist, as she said, although not as bad as some places. SA went to a preppy boys school so he would have been insulated from seeing it.

Wouldn't going to a preppy boy's school generally make it more likely he would've seen racism in action? 

Quote

Apart from you know, every other reason why he should have thought twice or 10 times before what he said initially and how he responded to people, he's going to have to be careful otherwise this might end up costing him jobs in an already very uncertain time if it picks up steam.

Agreed. But if he hasn't learned already that he needs to not be such a combative asshole when he replies to people who are calling him out, I don't think he will until he faces some kind of actual repercussions from it apart from being "canceled," which isn't actually a thing. But repercussions would probably make him even MORE combative, haha. 

[statsgirl]

1 hour ago, apinknightmare said:

Wouldn't going to a preppy boy's school generally make it more likely he would've seen racism in action?

As politics is a no-no here, I'm going to answer this sticking to descriptions (fingers crossed).

Racism in Canada is much more subtle than it is in the US. I've never seen a white beach or a white church or any area overtly designated by race or ethnicity. A lot of the racism is directed at First Nations but that's not as apparent to people.

Drake lives in the toniest part of Toronto. I've been inside one of those houses only once in my life, when a friend of my daughter's invited her for a playdate, and her mother explained that the house was paid for by family money from China. (Swimming pool, tennis court, movie room, gorgeous!). Politicians and major media figures are of all ethnicities. So on the surface, it looks like everything is integrated. I don't think I've ever seen something that can be labelled a racist incidence.  In Toronto, the racism is more hidden, such as in how police respond to mental health calls (e.g. Sammy Yatim, Regis Korchinski-Paquet), systemic racism in organizations such as Skate Canada, and mostly a lack of awareness of how white privilege actions affect other people. If asked, two years ago most people would have said that there is no racism in Canada.

If there were any black students at SA's school, they would be the son of the Nigerian attache or something like that and any racism towards them would be very subtle and probably unnoticed by SA who isn't the most sensitive of people.

I think that SA is a good person at heart but he needs a Quantum Leap experience. Or five. He also needs the quarantine to end so that he can get back to work and stop saying stupid things in his boredom.

[tv echo]

The following comic con has been rescheduled from July to November - this is now the same weekend in November that DR is currently scheduled to attend Dutch Comic Con...

London Film & Comic Con, November 20-22, 2020 (UK)
David Ramsey (FRI. ONLY), Ernie Hudson and Ben Browder (also Danielle Nicolet and John Wesley Shipp)
https://www.londonfilmandcomiccon.com/index.php/guests

Also updated...

Creation Entertainment's Virtual Fan Experiences, June 13 and 14, 2020 (StageIt, Zoom)
Anna Hopkins (also Osric Chau)
https://www.creationent.com/vfe/index.html
https://www.stageit.com/creationent

Edited June 5, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Dream It At Home 2 is scheduled for June 27-28, 2020... 

Edited June 5, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

You should be able to watch the ATX TV...from the Couch! panels live and for free this weekend - Beth's panel, "Inside the Writers (Zoom) Room," is scheduled for today (Saturday) at 5:30 pm CT...

Saturday (June 6):

Sunday (June 7):

Also, here's the twitter thread for the ATX Television Virtual Festival 2020 (they're recommending use of the hashtag #TVTogether)...
https://twitter.com/i/events/1253278985888256001 

Edited June 7, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Edited June 6, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Just finished watching the "Inside the Writers (Zoom) Room" panel at ATX TV... from the Couch! - here are my notes (I can't vouch for 100% accuracy because it was live and therefore I couldn't replay anything)...

Panelists: Beth Schwartz (Sweet Tooth, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow), Dan Goor (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Recreation, The Daily Show), Melinda Hsu Taylor (Nancy Drew, The Vampire Diaries, Falling Skies), Sera Gamble (You, The Magicians, Supernatural)
Moderator: Ben Travers (IndieWire)

-- The writers discussed the challenges of transitioning their TV writers rooms from live rooms to virtual rooms. Some talk about how virtual writers rooms were more efficient and more serious, but less fun and kinda strange (although DG joked about how they came up with new ways of wasting time, like playing around with different virtual backgrounds for their Zoom sessions). Some talk about how it's harder to sense others' reactions to a story pitch on Zoom. 

-- BS (Beth Schwartz) said that, by the time they had to move to virtual sessions, they had already discussed the season in general and were already working on writing episode 4 of Sweet Tooth.

-- They talked about how they miss talking in person in ways that help them develop the story, like physically moving around or walking to another room or informal one-on-one chats with another writer. For example, BS mentioned how she might talk out a point with another writer while getting lunch. BS also mentioned how sometimes you might share personal stories with another writer in person, but that it's less comfortable doing that on Zoom because the virtual format seems more impersonal.

-- MHT said that she starts every writers session with meditation. SG said that one of their writers would lead everyone with "breath work" every time they returned from lunch.

-- BS said that, with production being down, instead of being pulled in a lot of different directions, they can focus more on scripts, so that's one up side.

-- They talked about how the current pandemic affects their script writing. BS agreed that they now have to think about production restrictions when writing now, like, if they wanted to write a scene involving a lot of people on a train, they can't shoot that now, so they have to change the scene to something that can be produced.

Spoiler

SG said that Joe is having a baby in the next season of You, but they can't use a live baby now.

DG then said that Jake and Amy had a baby on Brooklyn Nine-Nine at the end of last season, so they have to show a baby next season, but they also cannot use a live baby now, so they're looking into animatronics. He also talked about bottle episodes, whether it's safer or not to shoot outside, and the reduced availability of guest stars. MHT said that they will never have people wearing masks on Nancy Drew because they can plan around it.

-- Someone mentioned that it's a "great time" to be a Canadian actor because Canada has fewer restrictions. BS then said that Sweet Tooth is very lucky because they're shooting in New Zealand, which had an "amazing leader" who led them through the pandemic, so New Zealand is able to resume production sooner. She added that they're hiring a lot of New Zealand actors.

-- BS said that the "silver lining" of the pandemic is realizing what is truly important, which is your family.

Edited June 7, 2020 by tv echo