some notes on the Mythic Quest Backstagefest webinar
Because I've now fallen deep into the Mythic Quest rabbit hole, I ended up watching the Backstagefest ensemble panel in late May (which featured Rob McElhenney, Jessie Ennis, Charlotte Nicdao, David Hornsby, Ashly Burch, Danny Pudi, and Imani Hakim, so a pretty awesome lineup).
It was fairly brief, started ten minutes after it was supposed to, and was clearly intended for an audience of aspiring actors, rather than straight-up fans (who were very, very present in the chat). I didn't really take proper notes or anything, but I was livetexting it to someone else-- so, since I don't see anyone else's notes on it hurtling around this tiny bebe fandom, here's what I've got:
Rob recorded on the Paddy's set, and is completely clean-shaven
Charlotte is enjoying being jerk!Poppy in season 2
David was fucking charming with Danny, and it was nice to see that bantering chemistry play out
"iambic-pentameter David" is apparently some kind of nickname or in-joke, and there was no explanation whatsoever
There was a question about character development in comedy, the answer of which was interesting enough that I didn't take any notes
Danny was in the exact same room he does all his zooms in
Rob talked about writing and I again didn't take notes, but wow, excellent thoughts
Poppy was a completely diff character when she was just on paper
"When you find the right person, you adapt the character to match the actor"
Jo didn't exist until Jessie showed up, and they're like OH SHIT WE GOTTA GET HER SOMEHOW
Jessie's character "moment" was when she saw "I can get you heads. Not human heads" in the script. She was like GREAT, I CAN WORK WITH THAT
JESSIE'S MENTAL BACKSTORY IS THAT JO'S A GHOST
Jessie: "Just don't tell the writers all your backstory stuff cuz it'll freak them out... right, Rob?"
Rob talked a little about how all writers should take acting classes, and all actors writing classes, to really understand one another's needs better
Poppy's physicality is directly Charlotte's -- like, when Poppy flails, that's just what Charlotte does irl
Apparently a fan made the quiz from "Please Sign Here" and a bunch of the actors took it. Imani was one of them, and she actually got "wolf". The chat then freaked out because it turns out PARASOCIAL IS NOT SAFE FROM ATTENTION
"How do you balance the comic timing with the drama?" "...Acting."
Apparently there's a lot of improv in the show
Somebody said to David "Well said, uh, did you go to Carnegie Mellon to study acting?" And he dipped off screen while saying, "Actually I did, lemme go get my diploma here--"
Jessie started talking about how, as actors, you have to learn that you're not competing against other actors, you just have to be yourself-- and this sort of led to the ending note of the panel. All the actors were like "don't try to guess what the writers want, just be who you are and they'll pivot if you're right for it". Rob finished with a mic-drop of a speech. "There's no secret formula, you won't be 'discovered', you have all the tools you need to tell your own story." Cell phones today have better editing equipment than Season 12 of It's Always Sunny did. If no one is making what you should be in, then make it yourself-- there's no better time than now.