Interview with Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden Creator Otessa Ghadar

With Season 3 of the retro-teen drama Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden premiering later today, DCTV Creator Daryn Strauss spoke to OJBG creator Otessa Ghadar about 90s music, fashion, and what to expect from these DC teens.

DARYN: So, I grew up in the 90s too, and I’m trying to remember how we communicated with our friends! I mean, we didn’t even have cell phones, did we? Where did you find all those awesome old cordless phones in OJBG?

OTESSA: I save everything! Literally. Our costume closest is filled with my own grungey 90s pieces. Some of the phones were mine directly from the 90s. I should also sing the praises of my Production Designer, who is also my mother by the way! We all call her The Wizard! She can find, source, make, or jerry-rig absolutely anything and everything. All the props and sets are thanks to her brilliant wizardry. The vintage pagers were found by our costume designer Chris at the U St Flea market here in DC. Got each one for less than a dollar! The joke on set was that we were all going to try to bring them back as the next fashion statement. The next must have Fall accessory- a pager clipped on your belt. Too funny!

DARYN: When I was in high school, my friend introduced me to “Winter” by Tori Amos, which was my go-to song when I needed some in-my-head-time. What was your comfort album to listen to?

OTESSA: Music was and is everything to me! I actually spent close to 10 years 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, despite some people’s complaints, I still heart 90s music, but I think my go-to comfort album was definitely The Smiths’ Meat is Murder from 1985. I spent way too much time singing into my hairbrush and crying, whilst accompanied to Morrissey. I’d also have to go with Pavement’s Wowie Zowie. But in terms of that need-some-heads-space album– it was definitely Meat is Murder or Hatful of Hollow or well… anything by the Smiths.

DARYN: My fondest memory from the 90s was hypercolor clothing. They were these tie-dye shirts that changed color when you touched them. They so need to bring them back! What was your favorite 90s fashion?

OTESSA: Oh wow… I loved those shirts. They need to bring them back ASAP. As As I said, much of the clothes seen on the show originated in my very own closest. My favorites had to be my worshipped Doc Martens and also Pendleton-style flannels, and dark floral babydoll dresses. But those Docs! They were my statement piece that I somehow managed to wear everyday. I remember despite the sweltering DC summers, my friends and I would be in knee high Docs and flannel plaid sweating to death, but we didn’t care. All in the name of fashion!

DARYN: The big story of Season 2 was the relationship of Sarah and Gwen. Was that a development you always knew would happen?

OTESSA: I always had this storyline in the back of my head. I have always loved the character of Sarah and wanted to focus more on her and her life. Sarah has been a major character, probably the main character, from the beginning. She’s always been special to me and I always knew there was something she’d been hiding or hadn’t explored. When I introduced Gwen it was because I knew I wanted the two to have this love affair of sorts. I wanted Gwen to show up and shake Sarah’s world up a bit. Sarah has always been rather guarded, and I wanted to know and show why that was. I also felt very strongly about featuring a character who was already out of the closet (Gwen) and had already tackled those issues. But at the same time, I wanted to feature a character (Sarah) who was just on the cusp of dealing with her feelings and preparing to come out of her shell. This seemed like a perfect way to expand her character and create a meaningful & relatable situation. Their relationship to me is one of the most honest and real storylines of the show. Their romance is so raw and intense and working with Ellen Winter and Katie Foster (who play Sarah & Gwen) has been such a meaningful and rewarding experience as a director! I have loved writing their scenes and can’t wait to see how their budding romance will continue to grow.

DARYN: I really love Sarah’s reaction to her attraction to Gwen. She gets a bit belligerent with Gwen since Gwen is openly a lesbian and Sarah is still uncertain, which I think is really authentic. Those are really lovely scenes. What’s in store for these two in Season 3?

OTESSA: I don’t want to spoil, but I will say that Gwen and Sarah’s relationship definitely continues to blossom and grow. It also goes through some difficulties which they will have to address together. The Sarah and Gwen storyline is central Season 3. At the end of Season 2, Sarah finally comes out to her best friend Kris that she is a lesbian and dating Gwen. Starting in Season 3, we see Sarah continue to become more comfortable with her relationship. However she still has not come out to her parents. Also, Sarah’s off to college and Gwen still quite hasn’t gotten her life together. Can they survive a long distance relationship? I don’t want to give too much away but I’ll say this… In the upcoming season, as Gwen and Sarah become more serious and have more adventures, their eyes still have twinkles and their tummies still have butterflies, but they’re more comfortable with each other, and watching that bud blossom will be fun. Like everything else in the show, I want their relationship to be as realistic as possible. But we all have our happily-ever-after goggles on when we’re in love, and it’s always a somewhat foggy view from where we’re standing in that moment… but also precious and lovely.

DARYN: Also, at the end of Season 2, Kris got trashed at a rave and was about to lose her virginity until Slake turned her down. Will there be more with these two?

OTESSA: In Season 3, Kris just graduated! But her parents aren’t quite acting normal. This family drama takes her away from Slake who is now focused on repairing his friendship with Colin, who really wants nothing to do with him. His best friend made out with his sister. EWW!!!

DARYN: I also love Roxanne’s monologues. We didn’t have facebook , BBM or IM’s in the 90s. We HAD to rant on answering machines! How fun are those to write?

OTESSA: So much fun… especially all of Roxanne’s crazy rants. I love coming up with funny things for the characters to be doing on the phone because its really boring to just watch someone stand there with a phone in their hand. During one of Roxanne’s crazy calls, we have her slurping on a milkshake the entire time. Random but amazing. During Season 3, stay tuned for the scene when we had a character put on neon green face mask during her entire phone call. She gets so aggravated at one point that the cucumber on her eye literally falls into her mouth. Hehe.

DARYN: There are so many other great characters. What’s cool about OJBG is that the kids on the show feel like real people. It’s not a bunch of “plastics” and that also brings a level of authenticity to the show. What was the audition process like?

OTESSA: Thank you so much! The audition is one of my favorite parts of the whole production process. The kids on the show are all actually in high school or recently graduated which makes it fun– and also gives it emotional authenticity. These kids KNOW what it is to be a teenager because they FEEL this way now. They aren’t 28 year olds pretending to be 16 year olds. They are actually all going through the same things their characters are: this was always very important to me. As for the audition process, 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…

DARYN: Let’s talk about some of the new characters in Season 3. Who are they, and what trouble will they stir?

OTESSA: Excellent question…. as our older Season 1 & 2 characters graduate and find diverging paths, we also meet the rising freshman, who adore those graduating seniors. These new kids are Tamsin, Libby, Alex, Remi, Sam, Davis, & Robin. You can actually check out their character profiles on our OJinBG.com website– we have a pre-facebook profile, complete with an about me for each one, along with pictures, and a list of the favorite things. I think because it is now 1996 in storyworld, we are seeing grunge die or transmute into different things and subcultures. It’s time for the rise of Rave and Ska culture– and this is something that we are really starting to see with our new young kids. And as for the Rave scene, we have our new beloved character Strawberry Shortcake– who is basically the Queen of that scene.

DARYN: Ok, my last question. There are still so few dramas produced for the web. What do you think will change this?

OTESSA: I think that cable television is prohibitively expensive and a trend we are already seeing is that kids and teens and the under 30 crowd are actually watching more and consuming more media than ever, despite ever-dropping box office revenues. They are just getting all of this content through the web and new medias. I think it is just a matter of time before we see this trend grow to the point where people are getting their dramas this way. Right now we’ve only just grown past the “silly dancing baby videos” and “cats with cheeseburgers” phase. Now we’ve moved on to a serious, wider appreciation of comedic web-based programming. I think we are well on our way!

Watch the Season 3 Trailer below, and check out their website later today for the Season 3 opener!