The Vampire Diaries Paley Fest Recap..

[dawnybee]

Night Nine of the Paley Fest belonged to “The Vampire Diaries”. The clip selected for the night was a scene from “The Night Stalker”.

The moderator was Becky Levitow. She ran the FOX Fall Preview night panel and “ran” is too generous. She kept apologizing through that panel for being jetlagged. There moments of silence that happened during that panel was so obvious that Zooey Deschanel even dropped a singsong “Awkard”. Levitow practically ran from the facility afterwards; suitcase in two, apologizing to whoever she passed in the lobby. This event was way better for her but she had practically no input. The cast ran that panel.

Mod: She’s a vampire in love with a werewolf. Candice Accola plays Caroline Forbes. He’s a good boy turned bad boy turned good boy again, Paul Wesley plays Stefan Salvatore (dawnybee: Insane amount of screams considering his head). She’s the genius who keeps it all straight: Julie Plec, Executive Producer. He’s a bad boy who finally got to kiss the girl. (no need for a name he walked out and the place went nanners. Screams of “Ian, I love you.” He did his Carlos Santana bow and blew kisses. I couldn’t make out what she said for Nina.) He’s a vampire hunter who has some ‘splaining to do. Matt Davis (dawnybee: He seemed genuinely surprised by the reaction). Kat Graham plays Bonnie Bennett (dawnybee: That shows how little Bonnie gets to do on the show. There’s no real descriptor for her.)

Now the first ten minutes was dedicated to the episode shown (Julie Plec went to great lengths to say that she didn’t want the episode to be shown because it wasn’t finished and was afraid of the spoiler getting out so she begged the audience several times to not spoil the episode) so it wasn’t Livestreamed because they didn’t want spoilers getting out. I’m such a half-assed viewer of the show that I didn’t get the portent of this “huge” spoiler in the episode until it was discussed during the panel. Essentially Alaric has been corrupted by the ring he wears to keep him from dying. So all this time viewers thought Alaric was being framed for the murders of the council, it turns out he has really been committing the murders. Which is why it’s not surprising that Matt Davis has booked a pilot and may be leaving the show.

(Someone in the audience shouts “I love you, Ian!”)

Ian: I love you, too.

Mod: So Julie, why? Why?!

Julie: Why. I’ll tell you, Alaric is a character that is very near and dear to all of us (cheers) and Matt is very near and dear to us….

Ian: Some of us.

Julie:….And as we’ve seen on the show getting to explore the darker side is exciting for a character and exciting for an actor and we wanted to showcase that. There’s something really beautiful about this ring being responsible for a darker element to take hold and we don’t know what it is yet. We’ll talk about it in future episodes and how to define it all. He tried to walk out of the house in the first episode in the season and in the second episode. He refused the ring and Elena asked him to take it back and be a part of her family. Matt has been an accomplice to that. Damon has stolen it once or twice.

Ian: So it’s basically my fault and her fault (for writing it).

Mod: Can he be saved? Can he be stopped? Will Damon try to save him?

Ian: It depends…

Nina: I think we’ll all try to save him.

Ian: Wait. Are we talking about Matt Damon or Alaric?

Julie: Matt Davis cannot be saved!

Candice: This feels like a therapy session.

Mod: It’s sad. I was kinda traumatized by it (the development). (To Matt) How do you feel about it?

Matt: Don’t ask me about it. I think it’s a beautiful experience to watch unfold, but I cannot be objective at all. I love seeing what’s happening with the character. He has been getting killed and now we’re at the tipping point of the consequences of all of that.

Ian: Good luck with that, buddy. I’ve been killed on television before.

Matt: But only once.

Ian: But only once, though but it meant a lot. (dawnybee: A million lulz at L’il Ian still smarting over being killed off of “Lost”.

Matt: We’re at a tipping point now and the next few episodes are shocking.

(During this time Ian loses his mic. Someone comes onstage to fix it but it takes a moment because the mic fell in Ian’s lap. Someone yells out that they’ll get it for him.)

Matt: Ask someone else a question.

Candice: I’m just sitting here enjoying you all.

Mod: I want to spend the first ten minutes talking about Alaric and then I promise to ask everyone else questions. How about this: Let’s talk about what this means for Jeremy (screams). Jeremy’s been killed a few times; Jeremy wears a ring so Julie, take that on.

Julie: The implication for Jeremy and really for Elena who made a big stand in sending her brother away to be saved; in order to save his life and now for her to realize that the ring can’t be fully trusted but that it may contribute in allowing a darker element to take hold, Jeremy is now wildly unprotected. So Elena is this character who is all about saving and protecting the ones that she holds most dear now has to deal with her guardian in a difficult place and potentially her brother. The consequences of the ring that used to be so reliable so we’ll see.

Ian: Operative word, “use to be”.

Julie: No longer.

(The entire time at this point Matt had his phone in his hand and the battery died, so Nina forced him to put it down.)

Matt: It’s turned off. It’s turned off.

Nina: He can’t let go of it.

Paul: It’s like being on the set of “Vampire Diaries” here.

Mod: Nina, how does Elena feel about this revelation?

Nina: She’s putting the pieces together and trying to figure out what to do in the situation. As Julie said she’s completely caught off-guard. Everything she depended on is gone and she has to find a different way, not only here (in Mystic Falls) but in trying to save Jeremy.

Julie: We should have “Save Alaric T-Shirts”

Paul: They’ll replace the “Save Matt Davis” t-shirts”.

Julie: They’ll sparkle.

Ian (groans) Oh, no. Really?

Paul: That’s awesome.

Mod: Damon’s plans usually work out so well. How do you see this one working out?

Julie: This episode which no one is to know about outside this room,

Paul: We’ll kill every one of you!

Julie: ..it’s a big journey for Elena and Alaric and to be the center ….

Paul: Paul: Do you notice how well trained we are when you ask us questions? We turn to Julie. It’s like we have electric collars around our necks.

Ian: We have electric collars. “I think Damon…” (mimics being shocked).

Paul: (robotically) “We have no idea.” Wrong answer! (mimics being shocked)

Mod: My favorite part of the episode is Damon playing Sober Coach.

Ian: We are on the road to recovery and we are awesome!

Mod: Another t-shirt!

Paul: There’s nothing like a sarcastic sobriety coach (sarcastically) “Good luck on your sobriety!” Bad career.

The Mod throws it to the Livestream.

Ian: You’ve no idea what we were talking about.

Paul: Livestreamers, suck it! Now they hate me.

Mod: Let’s talk a little about the Originals. I figure they’re not here tonight it’s safe to talk about (dawnybee: Mention of the Originals had mixed response. A really rowdy guy in my section booed.)

Ian: Let’s not talk about the Originals.

Mod: Have we seen the last of them?

Julie: Noooo.

Ian: They put all of us on the precipice.

Mod: So Klaus (the question gets distorted because people begin screaming about that pairing)

Candice: What’s so funny is that everyone’s so excited about Klauroline but Klaus is bad! Like he’s bad. He murders people. That’s a terrible Match.com profile! “Oh, Mom, I met this great guy he likes to murder people, but other than that…”

Ian: Didn’t Klaus do Match.com for a while?

Paul: He probably owns Match.com. By season four we can reveal the Match.com episode.

Julie “Let me Bing Match.com.”

Candice: I just love that their relationship or whatever it is is based on manipulation on both sides.

Ian: Aren’t all relationships? (dawnybee: people oooh) That. Was. A. Definitive. Joke.

Paul: There’s truth in every joke.

Ian: Whatever.

Nina: Let’s talk about Rebecca, speaking of Originals. (people ooooh again. It’s like the Ricki Lake show all up in here.)

Mod: She’s reading my cards. So, let’s talk about Rebecca, then.

Ian: Let’s not.

Mod: I saw this picture online where she was torturing you.

Ian: Like every women in my life. (dawnybee: He turns sweetly to Nina.) There’s nothing better than being hung from the ceiling of Evander Holyfield’s house, whipped, beaten by another woman.

Paul: They have no idea what you’re talking about, Evander Holyfield’s house! “Why is he being hung in Evander Holyfield’s house?!”

Ian: We were shooting in Evander Holyfield’s house which is about fourt-five times the size of this room.

Nina: It’s huge. Massive.

Kat: It has a ballroom…

Paul and Nina: ..a bowling alley.

Candice: Bowling alley?

Kat: He was literally walking back and forth in the house while we were shooting…(Mimics Ian hanging with arms outstretched).

Paul: He’s going to get really pissed off that we were walking around his house.

Ian No, he’s not! He wants it out there!

Paul Yeah, okay.

Julie: If you have a house that cool you want people to talk about it.

Ian: If you have a house like that you want people to talk about it. One of the best things in the world is to show up to work and you’re shooting at Evander Holyfield’s house.

Paul: Except it’s not because if you step on his carpet (he punches his hand) and he knocks you out.

Ian The makeup is awful (in the scene). It took a lot of time. That scene or that particular image is an amazing bonding moment for both Elena/ Damon and Stefan and Damon. By virtue of the fact that some gnarly stuff. If you think Damon could’ve been-in season 1--or the capabilities of Stefan to be as evil as he was in the past; these Originals have an appetite for destruction and they act on it.

PaulThey have a soft side. Elijah, he has a soft side. He’s so cute.

Candice: He draws horses.

Ian: And..and..nice touch----Klaus grows orchids.

Kat: Did you read that on his Match.com profile?

Ian: I was in his apartment for a dinner party, okay?

Paul: Say no more.

Ian: That I saw on Match.com. But that image was one that was very intense.

Julie: Damon does something really bad to Rebekkah in the next episode after this and she is mad and decides to rip him apart, stab him up and make him bleed.

Ian: It’s kinda gnarly. Remember that scene where Nicklaus made Katherine stab herself in the leg?

Nina: Alaric!Klaus. (to Matt). That was you.

Paul: That was cool.

Ian: Alaric!Klaus. She just repeatedly stabs herself. Well, Rebekkah decides it’s fun to slice and dice.

Julie: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Ian: Boys, lemme tell ya! (Conspiratorially. Points to his head). I know.

Kat: Especially after this panel.

Mod: Julie, what about Esther and the rest of the clan?

Julie (she hedges a bit) Yes. There’s always what has aired versus what we’re working on.

Nina: You can always see people in flashback.

Julie: This is not the last you have seen of the Originals or the mother’s plan to try to take out her children so there’s still another chapter.

Ian: Instead of the Brothers’ Grimm it’s the Mother’s Grimm.

Julie: The mother is grim, yes.

(Silence)

Paul: Where do you come up with this!!

Ian: I don’t know! There’s no cue cards!

Paul: (mocking ) “Instead of the Brother’s Grimm, it’s the Mother’s Grimm.” (laughing) You’ve been planning that for a while?

Ian: See what I have to deal with on a daily frickin’ basis?!

Paul: No, see what I have to deal with?!

Mod: I feel the need for an intervention down there.

Paul: Please.

Matt: Nah, let it go.

Julie: Boys, boys, boys for gods sake.

Ian See, we’re always between an amazing woman (audience awws) who wants to kill us.

Mod: Nina, Elena has developed a soft side for Elijah, why is that?

Ian: Aww. He’s so pretty.

Nina: He’s not bad looking. I’m sure you all agree. We share the same morals. He doesn’t want to hurt people for the most part.

Ian: “For the most part.” What does that mean?

Julie: Spiritually speaking, he does not want to hurt anybody.

Paul: He’s honorable.

Julie: Yes. He got (sic) honor. Exactly.

Paul: To a certain extent. They have a similar code. They share a mutual respect for each other and she sees a lot of herself in him and vice versa. They have a chemistry or something… I don’t know. We’ll see.

Ian: Isn’t there a Elena/Klaus make out scene coming up? K squared.

Julie: K-squared? Is that their fan name?

Matt: Wait a minute.

Julie: I think he (Klaus) has to get in line behind Alaric…

Matt: Thank you!

Ian: Did anyone see that movie “The Guardian”? (knowingly) They made out.

Julie: By the way I do not advocate this whatsoever, but Matt Davis has taken to Twitter with the Alaric and Elena campaign which is totally unacceptable…

Nina: And inappropriate for the guardian.

Matt: I don’t know.

Paul: Yet fantastic! And when the ratings slip…

Ian: Bam!

Paul: I’m talking Elijah/Damon! (mimicking Elijah and Damon) “Who’s bad?” “I’m bad.” What are we talking about?

Julie: Matt’s fan fiction.

Mod: (to Matt) Let’s talk about this fan fiction of yours.

Matt: Oh, G_d no.

Ian: No, let’s do.

Mod: You’re not getting off that easy.

Julie: No, I’m not talking about his fan fiction. It’s totally inappropriate!

Matt: What’s your favorite one?

Julie: I have two, if we’re being honest about it.

Ian: We are.

Julie: There’s one I won’t mention because it’s actually R-rated, but the other one is..there’s a moment where Alaric is talking to Damon, as written by Matt Davis, by the way---

Ian: Literally on his iPhone as I’m in a scene with him.

Julie: …About why Damon loves Elena when Elena, as a young girl, doesn’t even know who John Lennon is. It’s a nice…he says to Damon, “Why don’t you wait a little? Wait a little, let her have a life and grow up a little and become an adult and let her learn stuff about life and John Lennon.

Paul: Deep stuff, Davis.

Julie: Alaric gives Damon a life lesson and philosophy and stuff. It’s nice. It’s not gonna happen this season, but it’s nice.

Ian: So it’s really no different than the conversations that Matt Davis and I have in the hallways of our production office. (dawnybee: I don’t know if Ian was referring to Matt talking about Damon and Elena or Ian and Nina’s relationship. For some reason I think it’s the latter.)

Julie: Maybe. Maybe. Who’s your muse now?

Matt: Right now it’s been Tyler (Michael Trevino’s character). I have enjoyed making him do some twisted things. It’s been fun. And I like the chase between…

Julie: Ah, no, that’s the one we’re not going to talk about!

Ian: We can’t talk about that one.

Paul: Oh, that one, yeah.

Ian: That’s amazing.

Paul: That’s fantastic.

Nina: That was funny.

Paul: I was dying.

Mod: Why can’t we talk about it?

(They all murmur dismissively)

Ian: That’s like going into a restaurant and (someone saying) “This could be the menu, but this is what we’re serving you.”

Julie: Let’s put it this way. There’s the fan fiction universe of young fans writing young, beautiful sweet, innocent elements of the story. Then there’s the Matt Davis fan fiction universe….

Paul: Which should not be Livestreamed.

Kat: I read it and it was all smut.

Nina: I think it was supposed to be a Funny or Die skit which is why it was going to be inappropriate and out of…that wasn’t supposed to be real. (dawnybee: And at this point I can tell Nina is ready to move on from this topic.)

Matt: I thought the one we weren’t supposed to talk about where I made Klaus---

Paul: This is like your dream come true; like all you ever wished for: a Livesteamed event (where he can talk about his fan fiction). Like (reaches out his arms wide and gives a majestic type of tah-da hum).

Matt: Carry on.

(an audience member yells out “Secrets don’t make friends”)

Nina: It’s not a secret, it’s on his Twitter account.

(Julie, Paula and Ian refer people to @earnestoriley)

Mod: We haven’t heard from Katherine in a while. Will we see Katherine again? What is she up to?

Julie: Look, we love Katherine. But Katherine has spent 500 years running from Klaus to great success. Klaus is in Mystic Falls. If she goes anywhere near Mystic Falls she is dumb. There’s no love story that is more important than Katherine and her own self interest so she’s staying the hell out of Dodge.

(Ian pulls out his iPhone to take a picture of a Matt Davis fan sign so “we can spoon feed Ernesto Riley that he really is awesome.”)

Ian: Self-preservation. (to Paul) Something we know nothing about.

Julie: Yeah. These two suckers are like “Let’s go save the girl.”

Paul: By the way, you won’t get that on the iPhone.

Ian: You know, Paul, never underestimate the power of the iPhone. (cheers)

Paul: Cash. Cash from Apple. Endorsement.

Ian: I wish. I wish they’ll give me an iPhone.

Mod: Kat, we’re very worried about Bonnie’s frienship with Elena…

Kat: You are?

Mod: We are. Is she ever going to be able to forgive her?

Kat: I…I mean….

Ian: Pregnant pause.

Kat: They have a great relationship. They’ve always had a great bond. They grew up together. That’s her rock. I don’t think she really believes Elena did something to sabotage her relationship with her mother. I’m sure she’s going to eventually work through whatever she’s dealing with. (feedback from her mic) I’m hot.

Candice Yeah, you are!

Kat: Nooo. We can’t do that in public, sweet Candice!

Ian: (Nina takes his blazer off and places it over Nina’s shoulders) This one is freezing and you’re on fire.

Kat: No, my mic is hot. (dawnybee: And she looked so annoyed by him, it was hilarious. As if she felt he was taking over her moment. Which he was.)

Paul (To Ian) Why don’t you take your shirt off.

Ian: (Ian begins to unbutton his shirt. Crowd goes wild for that suggestion of his pigeon chest. He stops.) I forgot, Paul. We’re not at home.

Mod: How will she deal with her mother becoming a vampire?

Kat: In time. You’ll definitely get to see a lot more stuff with Caroline and Bonnie working together which I thought was really, really cool. (cheers) YAY! Girlfriends!

Candice: Girls can actually get along and like each other and not want to scratch each other eyes out (dawnybee: Real Talk!)

Paul: That’s just TV. (dawnybee: Okay, that made me laugh.)

Kat: That’s really cool and it’s not going to be easy for her…

(her mic gives feedback again)

Matt: I think it’s your earrings.

Kat: You think so?

Ian: You can kill Caroline with your earrings.

Kat: I would never.

Ian That would be hot.

Kat: That would be ghetto, Bonnie taking off her earrings and fighting. I don’t think we even need to go there. (they all laugh)

Nina: That’s awesome.

Ian: I love this group of people.

Mod: Paul, how great was it having your wife on this season? How did she get the part? (dawnybee: His wife Torrey Devito plays the love interest of Alaric).

Paul: Julie, how did she get the part?

Julie: I don’t kiss and tell. I mean…

Paul: She had to audition. Julie’s a fan of “Pretty Little Liars”, right?

Julie: Yes.

Paul: So it just worked out.

Ian: I have two words: casting couch. No, she’s amazing.

Julie: That’s true. I’m sorry.

Paul: Wait, what?!

Julie: It’s true. Casting couch.

Paul: What do you mean? I don’t understand.

Julie: What do you think it means?

Ian: C’mon, Paul, how long have we been….You’ve never heard of the casting couch?

Paul: No, what is that?! (a beat) Or do you want to show me later? (dawnybee: And with that I died a million times. I really believed that he didn’t know what it was. It was a perfect set up. It was hilarious. He did the confused face and everything.)

Ian: You know what, brother. I can show you anytime.

Julie: The shirts coming off again.

Candice: I feel this is turning into one of Ernesto Riley’s stories. This is some fan fiction going on right here.

Paul: (returning to the question of working with his wife) It’s been great.

Julie: Matt got to work with her a little more than you did.

Paul: What’s going on here?!

Ian: I’ve done scenes with her and she’s amazing. (deadpans) Better than Paul, actually.

Paul: I just have to learn my moves. “Do I turn to the left or the right?”

Ian: You learn it from Torrey. But, I know and I say this because it’s very difficult to embarrass Matt Davis so I’m going to go out on a limb.

Paul: Don’t embarrass me.

Ian: When Torrey…there was this love interest coming for Alaric and Matt Davis was psyched. “This is going to be really cool! Alaric’s going to get some!” and she shows up and it’s his buddy’s wife. Matt was horrified.

Paul: He was horrified?! Forget him! What the hell are you talking about, man?

Ian: (as Matt) “What if I have to make out with her?” Well, you have to go for it!

Paul: Okay, this conversation stops right here! This is ridiculous. Don’t answer any questions on my behalf, please (laughing)

Mod: Here’s a question for you. How was it playing bad!Stefan?

Paul: That’s a good thing. A good question. Segue. Obviously, I tell Julie all the time. Season 3 the first few episodes where we got to explore Stefan’s dark side was just the most fun I had in a while and I really want to maintain that but Julie’s, but he’s staring to get…I watch this episode and he’s (whiny and angsty) “I don’t want to kill innocents. I don’t want to do it anymore! I can’t take it anymore!”

Julie: It’s a journey!

Paul: It is. It’s a journey.

Julie: Paul, the other day says “I was nice in the scene you wrote the other day.” Yes, you were, sir. “Do I have to be nice.” Yes, you do, absolutely. Right now you do. Stefan’s on a journey. The beauty of Stefan and Damon is that one began the show as a hero and one a villain and in their core they have sides that are as dark and as light that really fight against each other. When you add the vampire context into it, it’s a constant battle for them. For Damon it’s battling against the part of him that wants to be good and for Stefan it’s battling against that demon inside of him that’s threatening to take over. The brothers are sharing a journey it’s just manifesting itself differently.

Paul: Will Stefan ever have a medium?

Julie: I think he got to (sic). I don’t think the Stefan we met having gone through everything and what he knows now can ever be, “Oh, I’m so good, honest and pure.”

Ian: Is he still eating bunnies?

Julie: He’s still Stefan at his core: he’s still strong and loyal and full of love and light, but he got a terrible darkness that haunts him and it’ll always gonna haunt him. Now it’s about the path to moderation. It’s about Stefan finding that balance inside him so that he can be both a man and a hero and love someone and be loved so that he can he can function as a vampire because there’s no getting out of that. He’s stuck with that.

Ian: And that’s why she’s the creator, executive producer and writer of the show.

Paul: I do love that inner turmoil. I obviously love playing the dark side-it’s more fun; for an actor it just is, but that turmoil is what makes Stefan dynamic. I enjoy going to work every day because I get to explore both sides. I get bored playing just one side.

Ian: And there’s less traffic.

Paul: What?

Ian: Did I say something?

Paul: Did you say traffic?

Julie: People talk about Damon all the time. “Damon’s such a hero.” “He’s so good.” Damon is no more good than Stefan is evil. They are both … (dawnybee: Someone yells out “What? And something else. And it’s the type of outrage that I hear in my head when I read people commenting about how evol Castiel is for destroying Sam. This deep vitrol of hilarious fannish outrage). Oh, dear. Don’t hate Tweet me for that.

Ian: Like Paul says, they have equal capabilities of good and evil. That’s the whole push and the pull.

Paul: (in a fey voice) They’re soulmates. Big spoon and Little Spoon.

Julie: Maybe they’re more soul mates than Delena. I’ve said this a million times. This episode and why I love it is real showcase for Team Salvatore.

Paul: (raises his hand in a fist) TEEEAM SALVATORE! (geekily) Ring power!

Ian: I tried to steal my ring from the prop department to bring for you all this weekend, but they caught me. I did it for People’s Choice and our propmaster…

Julie: (scared) Did you give one away?!

Ian: No, no. I just left set with it.

Nina (laughing) That was such a genuine reaction. “What?!”

Ian: No, I did not give it away, but I did take it from set.

Paul: We wear the same ring. We only have one of those rings. It’s the weirdest thing. You would think we would have multiples. When the show’s over…

Julie: They’re going to me.

Ian: Not the men who wore them for six years, but the woman who wrote about them for six rings.

Matt: I stole one of them.

Ian: The problems with these rings we walk around all day and we share love for each other and we bump fists and wrists, ‘Good scene! Good scene!”

Matt: Slap asses in the bathroom.

Kat: There is a lot of ass slapping going on.

Ian: It’s like a football team. “Good job. (winks) See you in the showers.” But these rings are big and cumbersome and hurts. And Matt Davis “Good job!” (Mimics being hit in the hand) My manicurist does not appreciate you.

Paul: By the way he’s dead serious.

Mod: Let’s talk about the love triangle. Julie, you said it’s definitely going to come to a head this season.

Nina: Really?

Ian: I’m glad you read these articles.

Mod: That’s what they pay me for.

Julie: It’s going to come to a head, maybe not to the head.

Kat: Nice.

Paul: Let’s see you talk your way out of this one.

Julie:I may be blushing suddenly under all these lights. Look, here where we are. We had a beautiful love story between Stefan and Elena and a burgeoning and evolving and contentious friendship and possibly a romantic relationship between Damon and Elena that was borne out of this shared desire to help Stefan who means so much to the both of them. Damon wants to help his brother, Elena wants to rescue Stefan. In Stefan’s absence and subsequent awful behavior---

Paul: Oh, phony baloney! He had intentions! Cmon.

Julie: They got closer.

Paul: He had intentions!

Julie: Oh, he wanted to get into her pants since Day One.

Paul: That’s what I’m sayin’!

Ian: Who wouldn’t?!

Julie: For the lovely Elena and her pure soul, chaste, pure soul.It’s all part of the journey of growning up. What we’ll see before the end of the season is Elena having to ask herself a lot of questions about “Who do I care for?” What does both of these men mean to me?”

Ian: This is my question….

Nina: She needs to go abroad and go to Europe and meet some new boys (the crowd goes wild) Bye-bye Salvatores!

Ian: She’s right.

Matt: Yes. Yes. Yes.

Nina:I’m sure if she goes to Italy they’ll be a lot more Salvatores.

Ian Except it’s (heavily accented) Salva-tor-ra.

Nina: They won’t bite her or kill her and her loved ones. Can we do a Europe episode? “Gossip Girl” did it. (Ian gives a look like “Huh??)

Paul: What? “Gossip Girl” did a Europe episode?

Julie: They shot in Paris.

Matt: What? They did? No way.

Paul: (incredulous) “Gossip Girl” shot in Paris?! What is this?

Candice: They went snow skiing and they went to the Bahamas too.

Julie: No, they didn’t.

Candice: They shot in some beach location.

Paul: What the hell?

Ian: (turns to Nina who doesn’t even face him. She pointedly ignores him.) Maybe the French version of Salvatore is (he pronounces it just like he did the Italian version. At this point I begin to think that he’s drunk. There was a mixer beforehand and I think he imbibed too much.)

Nina: We don’t want to do what “Gossip Girl” did. They went to France, so we should go to Italy.

Julie: Nina’s going to write her own fan fiction.

Mod: Is there any chance you’ll end up with someone who isn’t a Salvatore Brother?

(Matt sits up straight and turns and beams at Nina)

Ian: Hopefully for her. I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.

Julie: There’s a reason the seating order is the way it is.

(Candice to Paul, Julie to Ian, Nina to Matt, Kat to the Mod)

Ian: Damon ends up with Julie. (realizes Kat is with the female mod) Woah. I like where this is going.

Julie: Honestly, I think if I tried to answer that question it would be a really dumb answer so I’m just going to say maybe this season she has a decision to make.

Ian: I would really like to know what that is.

Mod: Will everyone survive this season?

Paul: But if she made the decision no one would watch next season!

Ian: No one watches now!

(the cast: That’s not true. The audience ooohs)

Ian: That was a joke.

Paul: (gestures to the audience) That’s not no one.

Candice: Make it up to them: take your shirt off!

Ian: Thanks Candice. (he begins fussing with the button on his slacks) Oh, I thought you said “Pants”. I get confused.

(someone in the audience yells “Take it off!”

Ian: I do every week on the show, babe (about taking it off)

Mod: I’m going to try and get control back….

Julie: This is a prestigious event!

Paul: I know! We’re talking about fan fiction….

Julie: This is a prestigious honor.

Ian: They’re never going to invite us back.

Question: First of all, Ian and Paul, you’re gorgeous. Well done (dawnybee: :LOL at her excluding Matt).

Ian: Thanks Mom and Dad.

Paul: I’ve worked years perfecting this!

Question: You’ve done a great job. This question is to Julie. Do you do think the brothers will ever become friends and not hate each other.

Julie: I hope so. I’ve said out loud and they’ll kill me for it, that the brother’s relationship is the epic love story of the series. Then for them to never have that requited would be really sad. On a brother level.

Ian: Season fourteen! Damon and Stefan go to dinner!

Paul: Stefan has a little too much wine.

Julie: The casting couch comes out.

Ian: They cuddle.

Paul: I’m starting to understand what the casting couch is.

Julie: This episode is a perfect example of what I was talking to the boys about. Damon is struggling with the villain inside, but he’s being a good boy or a bad boy and Stefan’s being a good boy or a bad boy and they’re alternating villainry, but right now where we are in the series, despite the love triangle, the brothers are trying to be heroes to each other. That’s where we are and I hope we’ll be able to keep them that way for a little while.

Paul: Know what I think is interesting? Sorry…nobody’s asked me anything but let me put my two cents in…

Ian: Gee, Paul, tell us. What’s the topic?

Paul: I was thinking it’s kinda interesting that there’s a camaraderie in the fact that they’re in love with the same girl.

Ian: Twice.

Julie: Yes. Because they know what each other is going through. I think the worst cliché is letting a girl tear two people apart. I think the smarter path is watching how in spite of the conflict of the girl is how it can bring two people together.

Ian: I think she’s (Elena) setting you guys up. I don’t know when that’s going to happen.

Questions

Question: Favorite plot twist this season.

Kat: One of the most shocking because Julie does eight per episode. I liked it when Tyler turned into a hybrid. It was really well done.

Matt: Mine is coming up. The big one that I’m a fan of.

Ian: Wow, that’s helpful.

Nina: Me too, actually. It’s really hard to say. Each episode there’s so many things. When Elena stabbed Rebekkah because you never saw that coming. She’s so nice all the time, “I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Then she stabs somebody.

Ian: I think you have to come back to me. It’s a lot. We just got episode 21 which is effectively, episode 65 and as much as I would love to come up with some ha, ha big moment, I can’t. I will ask that you come back to me.

Julie: I like that Klaus and Stefan were friends. That was cool. Just that question (that Stefan asks) “Why did you take an interest in me?” Because at one point I looked at you like a brother. I thought that was great. I just loved that.

Paul: Bias-ly enough I have to say the same. (affects a British accent) I thought it was brilliant. Played brilliantly by Stefan. It was great. The speakeasy era was great. I like Flashbacks.

Ian: The flashback to the Seventies long hair, backstage or frontstage at a Rolling Stones concert.

Matt: Weren’t you the one who killed Jim Morrison?

Paul: You know how “Forrest Gump” was in every major (event). Stefan and Damon are like in every major….flipping through photos of historical events and you’ll see Damon.

Julie: There’s a Tumblr out there that someone tweeted to us of Katherine…that wherever Stefan is Katherine’s in the background. It’s awesome.

Ian: How about you Caroline?

Candice: I really loved the reveal of all of the Originals together. I really liked seeing Klaus sweat. He’s really being affected at this point. Damon and Elena macking it! Woah!

Ian: O.M.G.

Candice: OMG. It’s been a roller coaster of a season. Meeting Caroline’s father. Watching someone not going through the full transition. I think it’s been a heck of a season and there’s a lot more to come.

Ian: Way to make everyone smile.

Paul: What?

Ian: “My dad dying was really great.”

(Paul and Julie try to save the moment by complimenting Candice on her shoes and her pants.)
(The next question was if the actors suggested things for their characters, then about if the writers follow the fan response. Julie talked about the very loud and passionate fanbase and how it’s a badge of honor to have them care so much. She says the writers have a very good sense of what’s going to work for the fans. The audience claps and Ian says, “That’s all you have for yourself?” And encouraged them to applaud louder.
Question: Is Bonnie going to get with someone who is decent and who isn’t going to die?

Kat: Yep, you will. You will. Thank you for being invested in her love life and shipping her with everyone…even people she’d never be with. They’ll meet on Match.com.

Ian Witch Match.com.

Question: Do you like playing Elena or Katherine more?

Nina: It depends on the day. (She talks about keeping to fresh and making sure both characters and making sure they’re both distinguishable for each other.)

(A question to Julie about the writing process. She says that the writers find events in order to get all the characters together. So they share in on the joke that Mystic Falls has a lot of random events but it’s the most organic way to get all the characters in the same room.

(Question: A pretty long question from a young woman on what the panel can tell them about success and if they can impart how it’s changed them and what to expect as a wannabe in the Entertainment industry)

Ian: That was a good question.

Paul: You must be a writer.

Ian: First of all this isn’t a pedestal. It’s a really uncomfortable, small director’s chair. (to Julie) I think this question was designed for you.

Julie: I think it was designed for all of ya’ll. But I’ll answer it first.

Candice: All of ya’ll?

Ian: You’ve been in Atlanta too long, girl!

Julie: I think that..uh, actually Zach Roering said this the other day so I’m speaking more from the actor’s experience more than the writers. But he said “The greatest thing about all of this is that in twenty, thirty, forty years when people talk about television and talk about this era, they’ll talk about “Twilight”, they’ll talk about “True Blood”, they’ll talk about the vampire era. The explosion of the vampire zeitgeist and they will always talk about this show as being a part of that of it and I will always be that guy who got to be a part of that.” And it was so sweet, Zach when he said it and his little blue eyes.

Ian: Big blue eyes.

Julie: I think, speaking for everybody, the opportunity to do this is such a dream come true, obviously. It can happen after a long, hard road or it could happen in an instant and everybody’s experience is different. It’s the proverbial discovered at the mall versus you’re 45 and you’ve been working at it for 25 years and somebody finally says “Hey, I like what you do.” But you never take it for granted because it doesn’t happen very often. Success doesn’t happen very often and multiple success doesn’t happen very often so we are just incredibly grateful to be a part of that.

Paul: I would think the pilot world in general is a fluke, I think. Even if something’s good if it doesn’t test well or someone doesn’t go and it doesn’t find an audience….I feel like it’s such an arbitrary thing that and I feel like you just have to sit at a blackjack table and hit 21 or something.

Ian: There’s a very interesting thing and it’s an old adage but the idea that “Luck is when opportunity meets preparation.” Luck does not just fall in your lap. An opportunity can come at you and if you were not prepared to take advantage of that opportunity, it’s never going to happen. So by virtue of that it’s a very strange thing because this entire business, life in general, is about when you are prepared to accept the opportunity that is given to you.

Paul: But conversely, can you be prepared and never have any luck?

Ian: Well…there’s a lot of people….yeah, that may happen.

Candice: But that is where positivity comes in. That’s a very big part. My dad always told me, “No doesn’t mean never, it means not yet.” (dawnybee: I really liked that and no one clapped. Meanwhile people were falling over anything Ian said.) So with all the nos that came a lot of the time it’s good to see…to just keep working and better yourself. The more opportunities mean the more opportunities for yes. Just see the light and knows that it will always work out.

Paul: The single most important thing is to believe in yourself. I really believe that.

Ian: Even when no one else does because the amount of rejection that happens. Actually, you want to hear about rejection? ( dawnybee: I swear he had that planned.) The first time…yes, Julie rejected me once. It was awful but we made amends. She was there for this and it was really brutal. She and Kevin as well. The process of booking a television show is an extensively, nervewracking, nailbiting awful experience. Do not kid yourself. You can believe in yourself so much--once your realize you want something in life the stakes are raised. It becomes very difficult to differentiate if you’re worthy of this or you aren’t. You just have to do what you do the best that you can. Namely so, I knew that this was my role. I wanted this role, I knew I could do it. You go through a series of testing: you meet the directors and the producers and the writers and you go through the testing stage and then you get an offer. Then you test with the studio which was Warner Bros, then you test for the network. At the end of the network test if they want you, you got the job. You can pass the studio or you can’t pass the studio. I passed the studio, got to the network and whether it was too much coffee or the B12 shot that I gave myself, whatever it was-I choked in the network test. I bombed it. The first take of the network test you say a word and it doesn’t move. First you’re in a theater and you say a word and it doesn’t move. It’s like a vacuum of a room. I finished the first test of it and Kevin Williams (gestures with his finger to leave the room) “Like, walk outside.” Kevin walks outside and goes, “Yeah, that wasn’t good, was it?”

Paul: And half the time they don’t even say that, so you’re lucky, man.

Ian: Kevin wanted this to happen. He said, “That wasn’t good, was it?” And I said, “No.” He said “Just go back and do what you did at the studio. Do what you know you have to do.” And I did. And I’ll make this quick (dawnybee. Too late.) I left feeling awful and guess what? It wasn’t good enough. I had to go back and retest because all of our big boss, Les Moonves was not buying that I was Damon and I wanted to jump off building. And you know what? I went back there and I realized…there was another guy in the room (reading for Damon) I don’t know what he was doing; something distracting like singing while reading a book and trying to be really cool and I said, “You know what? Screw this. This is mine, this is not his.” I went in and I did it and ended up getting the call but not after ten days of virtual hell. And you don’t always win but every time you lose, you get better (applause).

Matt: I would add to your question. Where do you find yourself in the third season of a really popular, wonderful show. Where you go? What is the experience like? For me it’s been interesting growing with everyone here. We come together, we’ve found ourselves in an extremely rare and precious circumstance and you’re living your life, living your character’s life and you’re in a creative collaboration and it’s an up and down experience. But it really forges you together. It bonds you. We’ve had all of these amazing life experiences together. I think the joy for me is imagining where everyone’s going to go after the show. What everyone’s going to do next because I think everyone’s so tremendous and so talented and it’s been such a joy working with them. And it is such a wonderful opportunity that we all have and I hope we do the best that we can to make the most out of it.

Nina: Hopefully, that won’t be for a while.

Ian: Exactly.

Nina: A few more years.

Ian: If we can pull it off.

Question: Kat sings like an angel. We know this already. Will there be a drunken karoake scene in the bar?

Julie: I would love a drunken karoke episode on our show. The Buffy musical episode “Once More With Feeling” is my favorite, favorite thing in the world. I don’t know if our show could sustain that tone shift no matter how much of a fantasy it is. But to be able to showcase the gifts and talents of…

Ian: The girls are all singers.

Julie: Everybody! David Anders was on set with his freakin’ bangos singing “Miss Saigon”.Everybody’s got a special gift. Maybe.

Ian: OMG, can you imagine?

Question: I’m sorry. I’m nervous.

Ian: Me too.

Paul: We’re in the same boat, baby.

Question: Elena turns into a vampire in the books and I think it’s not going to happen on the show. I wonder if it’s going to be explored or were you like “Hell no.”

Julie: When Kevin and I got the job we said (to the network): “Do you guys know the heroine turns into a vampire at the end of Book 1 and in Book 2 she’s dead and then I think she turns into an angel?” Is it cool if we take a little license with that journey? And they said yes and they allowed us to take license. There’s a wealth of stories that’s been given to us (from the book). Some that we’ve done and others that we said “maybe not for us.” So I’ll say, “I don’t know.” Thank you.

Ian: Thank you. Thank you for your courage in standing up in front of all these people.

That was the final question of the night and then the floodgate of fans unleashed. From my vantage point, I swear, it looked like a tsunami. It was mad how fast they rushed the stage. At the “Revenge” panel an announcement was made beforehand about not rushing the stage because of TVD.

I loved this panel. L'il Ian is still a try-hard, teeny tiny hater but he's entertaining and I love Paul's sense of humor. Nina can definitely hold her own and she's one of the best actresses on the CW now.

The cast did their signings and took the pictures unlike the last one where they left immediately after the panel. People say that the cast had no idea then that they were expected to stick around. Kat danced across the stage to get to people, a girl kept yelling to Nina “I want to marry you!” Ian was the last one to stay and security who as appointed to him looked annoyed as hell. Every time he would usher Ian away, Ian would see a fan, run over, sign, take pictures. Security kept putting his hand to Ian’s back in order to direct him away and Ian would shout his apologies and thanks to the fans and then go right back. So when the security announced himself to the crowd, “He has to go.” Ian ran to the microphone, tapped it to see if it was on. It wasn’t, but fool kept talking into it and said, “Thank you. I love you all.” Blew kisses. With that I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s smashed.”

(Pictures in another post)