Interview with Creator Otessa Ghadar

Interview by Univers-L team on August 30, 2010 for Univers-L.com

How long does it take to write and shoot an episode ?

The writing process takes a decent chunk of time (especially if you’re a perfectionist) – there’s constantly rewriting, and changing key points. Overall it takes me about 3 months to write an entire season and perfect it.  That’s 3 months– from the very first cursory ideas– to the actual finished/final shooting script.

 The filming of each season takes place over approximately 3 weeks to one month of the summer.  And on average it takes about 2 days to film a whole episode– of course those scenes could be scattered anywhere in that one month period. We just finished Season 3 and ask anyone who was on set, they’ll tell you it’s like going to war together – sometimes painful and extremely exhausting but the trust and bonding that occur with our team is amazing.  The act of creating a world together is really exciting at the same time. We joke that afterwards everyone goes through Post-Production depression.

How did you find the actors ?

The actors were from all over, mainly in the DC area from local schools.  They are either aspiring actors, or interested in acting, film, and the arts. For the show I really wanted younger actors, not 35 year olds pretending to be 15, so we had 2 months of casting and selected the best fits for the characters.

I’m a huge believer and fan of non-traditional casting. I also feel very strongly about using DC talent (both in front of and behind the camera). We even had some local bands perform live shows in the episodes this time around! Most of the casting is done through local area high schools, often with auditions on site.  I also reach out to DC theaters, theater companies and acting studios, as well as the more traditional breakdown express, actors access, central casting, etc…

You are the webseries’ creator, producer, scriptwriter, director and you manage the costumes with Lis de Tuerk; is it easy to deal with all these parts? You work with an awesome photo director, George Lyon. To sum up, the music is the only part you didn’t manage. How did you handle all these roles ?

It’s hard work and sometimes I feel like a one woman show but my little office runs pretty well with a few other regulars… all sans a Y chromosome. “Girl power” if you will.  In particular, I don’t think I could do it nearly so well without Emily Rediker, Kathryn Beard, and Ashley Mumford– the other key members of the Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden team!

I will say, playing all these roles in the process of making the series means being able to really portray the ideas and concepts I want in the show – something I should probably savor.

I’ve always been surrounded by overachievers. My father has a bazillion degrees, my mother is superwoman (in addition to everything she does year round, she’s indispensable every summer during production…because she is Lis de Tuerk and my primary Production Designer) and I’ve been studying alongside extremely ambitious and competitive people for a while now, starting in boarding school. So perhaps I’ve learned to love taking on way too much. I pile on horse-size portions and then just deal with the repercussions later.

Of course, again, I should mention that I am very lucky to be surrounded by and to work with a wonderful team… without whom I wouldn’t be here now! George Lyon was the DP for the second half of Season 2– and I think that was a very meaningful collaboration.  As well, recently working with Jamie Bender (the DP for the 1st half of Season 2), Gene Ertel (the DP for Season 3), and Bayan Mogharabi (2nd unit DP for Season 3) have been incredible experiences too– and I think I’ve been incredibly lucky to find myself surrounded by a crew and team who trusts me and whom I trust completely in return. Together we have built something of which I think we can all be very proud.  In many ways, film production can be like trench warfare, but in so many other ways, what we have built is like Summer Camp.

Music is an important part of the show. Why ?

Probably those 10 years of DJ’ing!! I am a huge music freak. It’s just another frame or mode through which I view the world.  Much of the nostalgia and fondness that I have for the ’90s is based on my memories of the music of the time and the shows that I watched. Whenever I look back on my  own “coming-of-age” there’s definitely a meticulously curated soundtrack playing along.

Also, I feel really strongly about giving people I admire a shout out on the web series. Not just  the indie bands of my youth– I also like to feature DC area bands. DC did (and still does) have a great music scene.

The music is either ’90s indie bands, DC indie bands, or current local indie bands.  It’s my way of giving them my support. It’s all about creating a mutual support network.  We did something we’ve never done for the 3rd season, something I am really excited about – a live concert scene featuring both Ellen Winter (who plays Sarah Roberts) and also an awesome local all-female indie band “Las Hermanas”.  I can’t wait to air that episode!

The series opens on Sarah and her friend Kris. You play her mother by the way. Is she just a character like any other or is she special ? Is there any autobiographical dimension ?

Sarah is the character I relate the most to in the show.  I feel the closeset to Sarah, and also to Ellen Winter who portrays her.  I think the way Sarah views the world and reacts to it is incredibly similar to how I was at that age.

I actually only did the voice-over for Sarah’s mother in season 1 (for a phone call scene)  but that was before we casted her mother, who is actually played by the actress Melanie Hastings.  However, I should say that being Sarah’s mother for the voice-over scene was pretty wonderful, because (while I am hopefully older and wiser now) I do relate so much to how Sarah feels at that age.

Was Sarah and Gwen’s cycle ride and swimming in the fifth episode of season 2 a tribute to Naomi and Emily from Skins season 3 ?

It wasn’t my intention but I do love Skins ! It was however a tribute to one of my favorite movies ever: My Summer of Love. When I was writing that episode I actually drew inspiration from a bunch of other flicks too, like: Picnic at Hanging Rock, Brideshead Revisited, Heavenly Creatures, Jules et Jim, Henry & June, Lost and Delirious, Stealing Beauty and Tess. (I know it’s a list long enough for a bucket of candy but if you’ve never seen any I highly recommend all of them!)

These are the movies that I relate with the precious time that is your “first love” or remember watching when I was younger– and they took my breath away.

When that Skins episode came out, I remember being scared because it was right before we went into principal photography for Season 2–  I remember being almost reduced to tears and thinking: was there room for another sort of story like this?  Should I scrap mine altogether?  Should I frantically change things at the last minute?  But, it was actually my mother who told me that this was a type of story and an oeuvre that people obviously related to– and that there could be room for one more.  So in the end, I made the decision to embrace that and include Skins in my tribute.

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