December 2000
| Have you ever wondered what's inside the creative minds of your favorite television shows? Have you ever wanted to know
where they get their inspiration from and what they think of the final product?
The WB recently spoke with J.J. Abrams, the Co-Creator and Executive Producer of Felicity. Read on in the first part of a five part series to get to know the man behind it all. Part 1 The WB: We're in the middle of Felicity's third season, how has the show grown since year one? J.J.: Well, the show began from the point-of-view of a very insecure, intense and naive young girl. She's become a more experienced, more confident lady who's a little lighter. She's funnier and her perspective has changed quite a bit based on the people she's met and the experiences she's had. It's also gone from being so specific and very myopic. The WB: How so? J.J.: There are episodes that feature Felicity, but an episode won't necessarily be hers. The show's become much more of an ensemble and has evolved into something I think is sometimes as much comedy as it is drama. The WB: Has the show grown in the way you expected, or has it become something different from what you had envisioned three years ago? J.J.: Well, I never expected anything ... =) I never thought, "This is exactly where we're going to be toward the end of year three." When you do a pilot, it's very specific. It's very much about the story of the character you are telling. When you do a series, you can't really plan entirely what will happen for three years - the stories in some ways take on a life of their own. The WB: And that could be part of the fun? J.J.: Definitely. Whether it's casting and seeing what certain actors do with a certain part, or the expectations you have of where a story might go - and realize as you're doing it that it doesn't work for whatever reason - and you start to do something else. What I did know is these are characters I love, these are people who are romantic, hopeful, smart, and who are good people. It felt to me like wherever they went, I wanted to see that journey. It is alive! The WB: What's been your favorite episode? J.J.: The Pilot, because it was the beginning of the story and it was how we met Felicity. We've actually received comments from people saying they wish Felicity could stay the way she was. I can't think of anything that would be less realistic than that. At 17, 18, 19 and 20 years old, Felicity has to grow, change, mature and evolve. The Pilot was the seed. The WB: What happened to the tapes Felicity used to make to Sally? J.J.: I loved those tapes, but that was back when she had no friends and she didn't know anyone. She felt alone in the world and was basically just out of high school and in the big city. It would seem slightly contrived to imagine that she would continue to do that. On the one hand I love the Pilot because it has these moments, this convention of her making these tapes. It introduces us to these characters that I love, but that was then. The WB: How do you feel when you look back at earlier episodes? J.J.: It's like looking at baby pictures, and I love them. It makes me smile to watch the Pilot. I have to say since then, I am immensely proud of every episode we've done this year. It comes close to the best work we've done on the show and I'm amazed I can say that because we've started every season saying, "Wow! What are we going to do?" So far we've done 13 episodes, and they've all had a certain level of drama and comedy. When I look at the episodes we've done this year it amazes me! The WB: And your feelings about watching all the characters grow? J.J.: Here are these characters who are going through these stories and I can trace back every step that got them there. I can say, "Wow, I remember when these people met." I have this picture of my wife and I when we first met, and it amazes me to see the people in that picture now that I'm married and have two children. There's a similar sensation when I look at these earlier episodes, especially the Pilot when Felicity met Noel. Now I see her doing this project with him and going through experiences and having conversations ... I just think their whole relationship is playing out and I can see the evolution of where they are and I love where they're going! Part 2 He's worked with Matt Reeves for 20 years, wants the show to be funny, takes his inspiration from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and relates best to Noel. Read part two of a five part conversation with J.J. Abrams. The WB: You've worked closely with Matt Reeves for a long time, what is it like working with someone on multiple projects versus working with different people on every different project? J.J.: This is actually only the second project he and I have done professionally. But, the reality is we've known each other since we were 13. We always did Super-8 movies together and we were always working on different things separately, so we've been doing the same thing for 20 years. Only recently have we done anything together for money. The WB: Do you think it's beneficial working with the same person? J.J.: The wonderful thing about working with Matt specifically is, he's really brilliant, very emotional, and has a darker sensibility than I do. This is great because he reminds me when I write a scene to go to a more emotional or darker place than I might tend to do on my own. Likewise, if he has an idea for a scene I might tend to remind him of something a little more comedic. So we balance each other out. The WB: What is that like at the office with you and Matt? J.J.: It's funny. Outside our offices - which are next to each other - there's a picture of us and someone put up post its that have Matt saying, 'It should be more emotional!' and me saying, 'It should be funnier!' The WB: It sounds as if you work very well together. J.J.: Working with Matt is the greatest and he is again, one of my best friends. Working on the show together, we've had the most incredible time. It is by far the best professional experience I've ever had, and probably ever will have. The WB: The Twilight Zone was one of your favorite shows growing up. What other shows have inspired your work? J.J.: I'd have to say The Mary Tyler Moore Show was an enormous influence because it was so smart and funny. Taxi is one of the best-written shows ever. I love thirtysomething and I think, even though it doesn't connect with this, one of my favorite shows is Conan O'Brien because I think he's a genius. The WB: How did the idea of Tyra Bank's role come about? J.J.: We were actually working on a storyline for Noel. Around the same time I heard Tyra Banks is a fan of the show and was interested in coming on. So I just called her and she was into it and so it was perfect! She ended up doing a great job. There is a great resolution to her story that is really funny. The WB: Do you see yourself in any of the characters? J.J.: I feel like I relate to all the characters, but I am probably closer to Noel than anyone. But obviously I have to write for all of them, and their voices have to ring true and I have to know what they're feeling. The interesting thing is, we're currently working on episode 59 or 60, so after writing that many hours of these characters, you had better know them. Part 3 He says being surrounded by people who inspire you is an amazing gift. Read part three of a five part conversation with J.J. Abrams. The WB: What is it about Felicity that has attracted the following it has and separates it from other shows featuring young adults? J.J.: I can't really comment on other shows and what their following is. I can say that one of the things we're happiest about is we have an amazingly loyal fan base. I think part of the reason is there's a relatability to the show. Another part of it is, in a way we've been true to the characters, and I think what might set us apart is we respect the audience and we don't try to please anyone but ourselves. The WB: So you're not trying to please the fans? J.J.: What I mean is when the show is working and when we feel it's working, it's when we have created something that touches us. We've never done an episode and thought, "they" will love this. What we always try to do is tell stories we find compelling. In that way I feel like we're treating the audience as peers. The WB: What kind of a response do you get from the fans in accordance to this? J.J.: I can't tell you how many times we get letters from people who say "I'm not in your demographic, but ..." Women in their 30's, men in their 50's, and kids who are 12 and 15. We're not trying to create a show for anyone but ourselves. We're trying to do something we are genuinely touched by, or we genuinely laugh at. What I think the audience responds to is they don't feel they are being condescended to. The show is about younger people, but they are smart, in love, hopeful, hardworking and introspective; and those are relatable qualities. The WB: How does the audience respond to some of the more risque issues dealt with by the characters on the show? J.J.: Although we deal with issues of trust, sex, and love, we desperately try not to be exploitative. It's very easy to fall into the cheap, sexploitation type stuff. We try to keep our show romantic and about issues of the heart, not issues of the libido. The WB: What part of producing the show gives you the most fulfillment? J.J.: The most rewarding experience is working with everyone who works on the show. We have an amazing crew and a remarkable cast. We have some of the hardest working and most talented people working on this show. Whether it's the director of photography, or the sound mixers, or the editors, and certainly the cast - this group is just incredible. The WB: What is it like going to work everyday? J.J.: To come to work and be surrounded by people who inspire you is, no matter what you're doing, an amazing gift. The second most rewarding thing is being able to tell stories that matter to me. We get to do issues of trust and stories about real things, like Sean getting testicular cancer. It was done with a real sense of humor, but I think it was also very touching. We did a story that involves Ben going to Al-Anon meetings and we're doing a story about drug use that I'm happy to say, I hope is treated in a very realistic and funny, but also scary way. But it doesn't feel like an after-school special. We're not trying to condescend. We're trying to tell a story that feels honest. Getting to do stories about couples who go through crisis and then survive them, and seeing how they're doing that. The WB: What about the third season is unique from the others? J.J.: One thing I think is really exciting this year is the relationships. What is wonderful about this group is, the couples are so different. They're going through such different phases in their relationships. I love that Sean and Megan break up almost every episode and get back together. Felicity and Ben are desperately in love but are going through the beginning phases of "the honeymoon is over, how are we going to survive truly being in this relationship?" And they are surviving. Then there's Tracy and Elena who are struggling with the idea of remaining abstinent until marriage and after a year and a half, Elena has an affair. It's interesting to see how that affects them. So what I love is that we're watching these people play out their lives in very different ways. I do think that has been something that is helping the audience grow. Part 4 His favorite future episode is the first of the fifth season. Read part four of a five part conversation with J.J. Abrams. The WB: What's the hardest part about being an executive producer? J.J.: I think the hardest part is wanting the show to be great and having the deadline of - the show has to be locked by Friday, or the script has to be done and we start shooting tomorrow. As fun as that is, the truth is there is always some frustration. With the pilot you have more time to edit the show and the choice of the score. There is a tendency for a lot of shows to approach production like an assembly line. Our biggest struggle every week is to desperately try to make every show as much like a little movie as we can. The WB: How do you overcome that challenge? J.J.: I think the way our show is shot and edited is somewhat a-typical of most of TV. We won an Emmy award for photography and we've been nominated for music. It's hard to make every episode look and feel as good as you want it to. And that goes for every aspect of the show. We always want the scripts to be the best they can be, and whenever there is something that isn't quite the way you want or doesn't work out quite the way you hoped, that's always frustrating. So that's the hardest part - setting a standard and feeling like you haven't quite met it. The WB: What's next for Felicity? Is she going to graduate? J.J.: My favorite future episode of this show will be the first episode of the fifth season because the idea of Felicity's life post-graduate is to me fascinating! Seeing a young person, this character in particular, out there on her own in the real world without the safety net of college. I can't wait to do it. In terms of next year and her graduation, yes, we're planning on having her graduate, but not without complications. I'm excited about where the story will be going because her situation will be slightly complicated due to what she will be doing outside school during her senior year. I don't want to give anything away, but I have to say I love what we're doing and where the show is headed and I feel that with the stories between Felicity and Ben and Felicity and Noel, that we're not replaying the same question again, and again. The WB: Without giving too much away, where are those relationships headed? J.J.: Clearly Felicity's dating Ben right now and she's friends with Noel, but that's not to say there won't be complications. I love how Felicity and Ben have managed to continue to get through problems, and they continue to have their share until the end of this year, but Felicity's relationship with Noel is deepening and growing and is actually becoming remarkably successful in a lot of ways. Not just in terms of their friendship, but in terms of what they're working on together. There's a great story in both relationships with these two guys who are the two central men in her life. Part 5 He says the cool thing about Felicity is that they are able to re-visit stories set up in previous episodes throughout the three seasons. Catch the final part of our conversation with J.J. ... The WB: People say television is a writer's medium, as opposed to film being the director's medium and theatre being the actor's medium. Do you agree with that? J.J.: Theatre is as much a writer's medium as it is an actor's medium, but it's absolutely true. I love working with features. In some ways I prefer it. I also love working in TV because the advantage with television is the pressure of having to produce so much story. There's something incredibly exciting about knowing there is a script due on Friday and we start shooting this episode in a week, and it's going to be on the air, whether you like it or not in six weeks. That's crazy! To be given the opportunity to make an hour of television a week is remarkable. More people will see, even if the ratings are horrible, that hour that you do, than will most likely see movies you make. It's an incredible thing how powerful television is. The WB: Has any one episode really had a specific profound effect on the fans? J.J.: We did an episode our first year about the character Julie getting date raped. We put up the hotline number of a rape counseling hotline called RAINN at the end of the show. They received thousands of calls from young women who had either been through it, or realized they had been through it after watching the show, and were calling to talk about their experience. It's one of those things where our primary goal is to entertain, and yet we're also aware that our show has an effect on people. The WB: What type of effect does it have? J.J.: It could be as simple as they enjoy it, it could be as negative as they didn't like it, or it could be as profound as realizing something about your life that you didn't have any perspective on or you didn't feel you were sharing. We got some e-mails since the storyline of Sean and the testicular cancer; people were saying thank you because this happened to my brother, or me. It's an incredible thing to work on a television series because it's ongoing and that's one of the things that make it exciting. The story isn't over. We just did a story about Elena being named in a suit against a professor with whom she had an affair in her freshman year. It's a story we did that we did on our show that we never resolved and we never got back to. In fact, in the story Elena got a better grade because she had sex with the professor. That's an issue that comes up for her and has been haunting her and starts to more and more make her realize she would not have gotten into certain classes had she not gotten that grade, and she wouldn't have met Tracy. In a way her foundation is corrupt and what's wonderful about the storyline is we revisited something we did two years ago and we actually brought back an actress who was in an earlier episode and we dealt with the story in a way like how in life situations evolve. The WB: How does this relate to your life? J.J.: When an event occurs in your life it doesn't mean that thread is over. Just like in a way you might be in a relationship with someone, not see him or her for two years and then run into them again. That's what's very exciting about the series that we get to re-visit stories that were set up a long time ago. The WB: What is your favorite thing about this season? J.J.: One of my favorite things about the season, and there are a couple things I am very proud of this season, is that we're getting to know our characters more. We're getting a little deeper into what makes them tick. By doing that we're naturally going to stories that have been set up earlier and re-examining things that had been said and really looking at who our characters are. We're doing some really fun stuff. I think the audience seems to identify with that. |