Queer as L
Firstly, a BIG BIG thanks to slicey for originally posting about this seminar. And with that, away we go.....
KYAAAA!! I MET KATHERINE MOENNIG!!! She signed my copy of Curves with the L-Word cover story. Plus I got a few pictures of her. I hope they came out alright. Someone PLEASE feed this woman, she is far too skinny for her own good.
Backtracking a bit: I got to the MTR around 3-4ish only to find that the place was closed. The guard there told me to come back at five to buy tickets. So I wander around for a bit and when I get back I find a line already formed. Then I found out that the thing was sold out, has been for a while. But I wait anyway, cos you never know, you know? A limo pulls up and Ilene and Kate get out. Kate signed a few autographs and posed for a few pictures on her way in. I froze and just stood there like a slack-jawed yokel because I am an idjit. So they start letting us in, and when I got to the ticket counter I find out the main room was sold out, but for five dollars I could get into a closed circuit tv room up on the second floor. Fair enough, I'd rather be in the same room with them, but at least I'd get to see everyone speak. On the way up in the elevator I met this very nice guy who couldn't get floor tickets either so we start plotting right there and then to get in. First we went down to the main room, and tried the "what? oh, I did not realize these are the wrong tickets" ploy which of course did not work. The ticket guy was obviously trying not to laugh at our sad sad attempt. Off to the second floor we go. As the usher there is walking us to the screening room, we pass by all these murals of John Gotti so we start trying to bribe the usher to get us in the main room. He also just laughed at our sad sad attempt. Then while we're sitting in the screening room and griping, the guy I met comes up with the brilliant idea of going downstairs and seeing if there were any cancellations. Cos even tho it's sold out, there were bound to be people who don't show up. So in the lobby this incredibly polite gentleman asks if he could help us, and we ask if there was any way we could get in if anybody cancels. First he tells us that he isn't sure since they actually oversold the event and Showtime itself had given out too many tickets. Buuut after some pleading he said he'd see what he could do. After telling him which room we were in(there were several screening rooms apparently), and which row, he told us that if any seats open up he'd come get us. Nice nice man. And soooo polite and accomodating.
Back up to the Mark Goodson room we go. When they start the video feed, it's very obvious that there ARE empty seats. Then the host welcomes everyone to the "sold out" event, and there is much grumbling from everyone in the screening room since we could clearly see the empty seats. They kicked it off by showing a few clips from QaF and L-Word. The QaF was the one from season two, when Mike and Ben were about to have sex and then Mike goes to the bathroom to get condoms, sees all Ben's meds in the cabinet and freezes. The second clip was actually a spoiler for the fourth season so I won't say what it was except to say that quite a few jaws dropped. L-Word clip was the one from the season finale when Sherry tells Shane she could never give up her Bel Air life to run off with an assistant hair dresser. Second clip, also from season finale was when Alice tells Dana why she can't marry Crazy Tanya. It was funny cos the second we saw Alice in the black dress ringing Dana's doorbell all the women gasped and shrieked en masse. Cos dayum that was a great moment. ^_^ By then we had resigned ourselves to being relegated to the screening room, but then the side door opens, and like a great shining light, the gentleman from before comes fetches us. The second we saw him, our asses were bolting out the door. w00t w00t
We ended up in the very first row, sitting directly in front of Cow and Lip from QaF. Although we kinda figured the people in our screening room were prolly a little pissed to see us run out of their room and show up down there a few minutes later. ^^; The host/moderator seemed to have a minor speech impediment. He couldn't seem to say "lesbian" for some reason. Questions were the basic ones about how images of queer television had changed so much. There were some good comparisons of the issues Cow and Lip faced back when they tried to have a gay character on "Sisters" to now. Ilene Chakin talked about how she'd been working on LWord for the past seven years, but it wasn't until after QaF became a hit that she was able to get it picked up. Both groups praised Showtime for the support given to them. Kate and Bobby talked a bit about how they got cast. For Bobby Gant, his only issue was that he had mainly done comedies, so they weren't sure if he had the chops to play Ben, so he ended up writing a letter to Cow and Lip talking about how much the show meant to him which impressed them greatly. Ilene talked about how she had a very clear image in her mind of Shane when she created the character, which was a bit rare for her, and how she went through countless audition tapes trying to find Shane. She was beginning to resign herself to having to "settle" when she saw Kate's tape and realized she had found Shane.
Questions from the audience were pretty good. Bobby talked about the coming out process he went through because of the show, and some of the letters he gets from closeted actors supporting him for it. Kate seemed very shy and didn't talk too much. Overall I noticed that the QaF team were more talkative and open. I think it just may be that they're a bit more seasoned with interacting with fans and have gotten used to it. Kinda like how when you go to cons, the old hats like Bruce Campbell and Jason Carter are very relaxed while the first-timers tend to be more nervous. The woman next to me asked a very funny question about the technical accuracy of the sex scenes in the L-Word. She wanted to know if there was a technical expert on-set since it was the most accurate depiction of lesbian sex she'd seen. Ilene said not per se, but that there are a lot of lesbians around so there's little chance of things going astray. She also told a very funny anecdote about how they initially had some local "sexpert" sit down with everyone from the show for a loooong discussion on the subject matter but they all just ended up talking about relationships instead. She did however subject everyone to a long montage of lesbian sex scenes from different movies as a sort of heads up to the actors on what to expect. Ilene and Kate had a good laugh about that so it appears to be one of those "inside joke" type things. It was good to see both of them laughing so naturally and easily around each other because they were so reserved for the most part.
Someone else asked if there would ever be a crossover between the two shows, i.e the Pittsburgh guys roadtrip out to L.A. Bobby was like "YEAH!" cos QaF films in Canada in winter, whereas LWord films in summer. ^_~ One of the panelists, Steve Capsuto suggested that it could be called "Queer as L". Cow and Lip basically said the thought never even occurred to any of them.
Right after it ended, the museum staff came down and formed a barricade in front of the stage, but it was mostly for crowd control cos we were allowed to go up and ask for autographs. We just couldn't take pictures. I managed to get Kate, Ilene, and Bobby's. That was when I found out that the kindly gentleman who got us the fabulous seats was in fact the director of the museum itself. He was really cool about making sure people got their autographs even while trying to shove us all out the door so they could close up. We couldn't take pictures INSIDE the museum, but no one said anything about OUTSIDE. So large group of people hung around and waited for everyone to come out(of the museum). I got a few pics of Katherine, and a few of Katherine and Bobby together but since my camera can be a bit temperamental I won't know how they came out until I get them developed.
On the subway going back home, I ran into a woman who was also there. It turned out that she too initially had screening room tickets and got in to the main room courtesy of the museum director. We sang the praises of Bob, the Kindly Museum Director and of asking cos, you never know, you know?
KYAAAA!! I MET KATHERINE MOENNIG!!! She signed my copy of Curves with the L-Word cover story. Plus I got a few pictures of her. I hope they came out alright. Someone PLEASE feed this woman, she is far too skinny for her own good.
Backtracking a bit: I got to the MTR around 3-4ish only to find that the place was closed. The guard there told me to come back at five to buy tickets. So I wander around for a bit and when I get back I find a line already formed. Then I found out that the thing was sold out, has been for a while. But I wait anyway, cos you never know, you know? A limo pulls up and Ilene and Kate get out. Kate signed a few autographs and posed for a few pictures on her way in. I froze and just stood there like a slack-jawed yokel because I am an idjit. So they start letting us in, and when I got to the ticket counter I find out the main room was sold out, but for five dollars I could get into a closed circuit tv room up on the second floor. Fair enough, I'd rather be in the same room with them, but at least I'd get to see everyone speak. On the way up in the elevator I met this very nice guy who couldn't get floor tickets either so we start plotting right there and then to get in. First we went down to the main room, and tried the "what? oh, I did not realize these are the wrong tickets" ploy which of course did not work. The ticket guy was obviously trying not to laugh at our sad sad attempt. Off to the second floor we go. As the usher there is walking us to the screening room, we pass by all these murals of John Gotti so we start trying to bribe the usher to get us in the main room. He also just laughed at our sad sad attempt. Then while we're sitting in the screening room and griping, the guy I met comes up with the brilliant idea of going downstairs and seeing if there were any cancellations. Cos even tho it's sold out, there were bound to be people who don't show up. So in the lobby this incredibly polite gentleman asks if he could help us, and we ask if there was any way we could get in if anybody cancels. First he tells us that he isn't sure since they actually oversold the event and Showtime itself had given out too many tickets. Buuut after some pleading he said he'd see what he could do. After telling him which room we were in(there were several screening rooms apparently), and which row, he told us that if any seats open up he'd come get us. Nice nice man. And soooo polite and accomodating.
Back up to the Mark Goodson room we go. When they start the video feed, it's very obvious that there ARE empty seats. Then the host welcomes everyone to the "sold out" event, and there is much grumbling from everyone in the screening room since we could clearly see the empty seats. They kicked it off by showing a few clips from QaF and L-Word. The QaF was the one from season two, when Mike and Ben were about to have sex and then Mike goes to the bathroom to get condoms, sees all Ben's meds in the cabinet and freezes. The second clip was actually a spoiler for the fourth season so I won't say what it was except to say that quite a few jaws dropped. L-Word clip was the one from the season finale when Sherry tells Shane she could never give up her Bel Air life to run off with an assistant hair dresser. Second clip, also from season finale was when Alice tells Dana why she can't marry Crazy Tanya. It was funny cos the second we saw Alice in the black dress ringing Dana's doorbell all the women gasped and shrieked en masse. Cos dayum that was a great moment. ^_^ By then we had resigned ourselves to being relegated to the screening room, but then the side door opens, and like a great shining light, the gentleman from before comes fetches us. The second we saw him, our asses were bolting out the door. w00t w00t
We ended up in the very first row, sitting directly in front of Cow and Lip from QaF. Although we kinda figured the people in our screening room were prolly a little pissed to see us run out of their room and show up down there a few minutes later. ^^; The host/moderator seemed to have a minor speech impediment. He couldn't seem to say "lesbian" for some reason. Questions were the basic ones about how images of queer television had changed so much. There were some good comparisons of the issues Cow and Lip faced back when they tried to have a gay character on "Sisters" to now. Ilene Chakin talked about how she'd been working on LWord for the past seven years, but it wasn't until after QaF became a hit that she was able to get it picked up. Both groups praised Showtime for the support given to them. Kate and Bobby talked a bit about how they got cast. For Bobby Gant, his only issue was that he had mainly done comedies, so they weren't sure if he had the chops to play Ben, so he ended up writing a letter to Cow and Lip talking about how much the show meant to him which impressed them greatly. Ilene talked about how she had a very clear image in her mind of Shane when she created the character, which was a bit rare for her, and how she went through countless audition tapes trying to find Shane. She was beginning to resign herself to having to "settle" when she saw Kate's tape and realized she had found Shane.
Questions from the audience were pretty good. Bobby talked about the coming out process he went through because of the show, and some of the letters he gets from closeted actors supporting him for it. Kate seemed very shy and didn't talk too much. Overall I noticed that the QaF team were more talkative and open. I think it just may be that they're a bit more seasoned with interacting with fans and have gotten used to it. Kinda like how when you go to cons, the old hats like Bruce Campbell and Jason Carter are very relaxed while the first-timers tend to be more nervous. The woman next to me asked a very funny question about the technical accuracy of the sex scenes in the L-Word. She wanted to know if there was a technical expert on-set since it was the most accurate depiction of lesbian sex she'd seen. Ilene said not per se, but that there are a lot of lesbians around so there's little chance of things going astray. She also told a very funny anecdote about how they initially had some local "sexpert" sit down with everyone from the show for a loooong discussion on the subject matter but they all just ended up talking about relationships instead. She did however subject everyone to a long montage of lesbian sex scenes from different movies as a sort of heads up to the actors on what to expect. Ilene and Kate had a good laugh about that so it appears to be one of those "inside joke" type things. It was good to see both of them laughing so naturally and easily around each other because they were so reserved for the most part.
Someone else asked if there would ever be a crossover between the two shows, i.e the Pittsburgh guys roadtrip out to L.A. Bobby was like "YEAH!" cos QaF films in Canada in winter, whereas LWord films in summer. ^_~ One of the panelists, Steve Capsuto suggested that it could be called "Queer as L". Cow and Lip basically said the thought never even occurred to any of them.
Right after it ended, the museum staff came down and formed a barricade in front of the stage, but it was mostly for crowd control cos we were allowed to go up and ask for autographs. We just couldn't take pictures. I managed to get Kate, Ilene, and Bobby's. That was when I found out that the kindly gentleman who got us the fabulous seats was in fact the director of the museum itself. He was really cool about making sure people got their autographs even while trying to shove us all out the door so they could close up. We couldn't take pictures INSIDE the museum, but no one said anything about OUTSIDE. So large group of people hung around and waited for everyone to come out(of the museum). I got a few pics of Katherine, and a few of Katherine and Bobby together but since my camera can be a bit temperamental I won't know how they came out until I get them developed.
On the subway going back home, I ran into a woman who was also there. It turned out that she too initially had screening room tickets and got in to the main room courtesy of the museum director. We sang the praises of Bob, the Kindly Museum Director and of asking cos, you never know, you know?