Generations of chicks know Elisa Donovan from her role in Clueless (both the film and tv series) and Sabrina The Teenage Witch. Now, a whole new digital crowd is getting to know the super talented redhead. Since 2009, she has appeared in three different female-friendly hit web series, including The Lake for Warner Brothers and NBC.com comedy In Gayle We Trust. Her latest digital outing is the hilarious original improvisational comedy Whole Day Down along with on-screen faves Willie Garson and Patrick Breen. Digital Chick TV’s Daryn Strauss and Elisa chat about the art of improv, moms, good-spirited comedy, and making a successful branded web series!
DARYN: First of all, I love Whole Day Down. It is such an odd show with a very unique tone. Did you know how strange the show was going to be when you signed on or did it just get stranger as it went along?
ELISA: Ha! Well, it certainly got stranger as we went along… but that’s not to say it wasn’t outside of the box to begin with. I think Tai [Fauci] and Patrick [Breen] had a good sense of how the show would develop, but we all went into it with an experimental spirit and sort of created who we were and what was happening as it happened at first. We shot a few initial episodes a couple years ago and shot a lot of interviews with characters, etc. to get a feel for who we might be. Overall it has been a very creatively innovative experience… where half the time I don’t have a clue what’s going on! But then again, do we really know what we’re doing in life most of the time? We think we do, but do we? Uh oh, maybe that’s just me…
DARYN: I was addicted to the show right away. Tai Fauci is such a talented creator. The cast is amazing, all the way down to the guest stars. What is the vibe like on set? Do you rehearse? How do you all work?
ELISA: Will [Willie Garson], Patrick and I have known each other for many years, so it was really fun to know that we would be doing this thing together. And I’ve known Dan Fauci the longest — from when he was at Paramount and Clueless the TV show was one of the shows he oversaw as an exec — so I knew we had a really solid group of artists coming together. The vibe on set (aside from when I was really crabby one day because I was shooting a movie at the same time, or about to start, and I felt a little taxed… disclaimer!) is generally very open and improvisational… and a bit zany. We rehearse and try different things, staying within the parameters of who the characters are.
DARYN: Do you have a lot of improv experience?
ELISA: Not technically, no. Well, in high school I did a lot of improv in this experimental theatre we had at school, but I don’t think that quite counts. I never went to the Groundlings or a school for improv. All of my training as an actor has been in the classics and in drama, in the craft of acting. When I started to audition for comedy at the beginning of my career, I just approached every text like I would a drama but put the funny bone in it. I think drama and comedy are extremely close in life — the laughter and tears are often a breath away from one another. And now the bulk of my career has been in comedy. Although a large part of comedy is scripted to a tee and timing within those specific words is crucial, there is a whole other element that can be involved — improv. I’m not so sure you can teach funny. So if you’re just plain NOT funny, but you’re lucky enough to have geniuses around you that know how to craft the humor into a scene, you’re extremely fortunate. Funny things come from funny people and/or funny/tragic situations. And I’ve had the privilege of working with some really talented comedians and comic actors, who have taught me a ton while working with them. And now on In Gayle We Trust, there are some pretty brilliant improv performers that have raised the bar for me in that area. They have shown me the difference between just being a funny person and being able to exploit that and actually make it a craft. Humor has always been a large part of my life as a human, and I think you either have the funny bone, or you don’t… At least I hope I have it. Oh no, am I delusional on this front as well?… Hmm…
DARYN: You definitely have it. You’re also not a web series newbie. This is your third web series, right? Which came first — The Lake or In Gayle We Trust?
ELISA: The Lake was the first web series I did. Without knowing where these things were going at the time, there was some risk inherent in getting involved. You have to look at the elements and decide if they make up something worthwhile for you. I was interested in doing The Lake because Jason Priestley was directing, and he and I worked together on the original 90210 years ago. He’s an awesome guy and a great director. And because Warner Brothers was involved I felt we would be operating at a level of professionalism. Then Gayle came up shortly after we wrapped The Lake. It had several elements that were appealing to me: Brent Forrester created it (producer and writer of The Office, amongst other things), and NBC was behind it. Then I read the script and immediately got who the character was, and knew I could play her for a long time. That doesn’t always happen, that you connect so inherently to a role and just know you’re supposed to play it.
DARYN: You’re tremendous as Gayle in In Gayle We Trust. She’s perky but also complicated, which I think is so important in shows geared for women. We’re complicated! The show reminds me of those classic, feel-good sitcoms like Bewitched, Donna Reed, or even Doris Day. Were they part of your inspiration at all?
ELISA: I love that it reminds you of classic feel-good sitcoms of the past! I absolutely love playing Gayle. I actually base her almost entirely on my mother. A sort of jacked-up extreme version of her anyway! It sounds dorky but it is meaningful to me to put out something positive into the universe. There is so much negativity and violence in entertainment… that whole “it’s cool to be hard and mean and disillusioned and I don’t really care about anything but I’m really witty and quicker than you” sort of attitude in a lot of comedy today. Especially on television. Characters being funny at other character’s expense, or by operating under the veil of being too cool for school, and it drives me crazy! I think that’s part of the whole problem with the direction of our culture today — we are celebrating not giving a shit. And being snide and mean-spirited. I love that IGWT comes from a whole other direction, that Gayle herself is multi-layered and complicated and way too nice most of the time, but she is by no means stupid. She really sees the best in people and situations and wants everyone to thrive. She wants to build them up, not tear them down. And she has a characteristic that I think is uber-important and unusual for a role that is so buttoned up and perky — she is utterly inclusive. She accepts and loves every oddity and unusual part of people and helps them to be who they are, even when she is totally thrown by someone’s idiosyncrasies and may not have such qualities herself. I realize I’m waxing philosophical here, but it’s what I believe. I do keep saying though, in like, Season 14, Gayle should go ballistic and tell everyone they are insane, and they should fix their own problems and she moves to Fiji!
DARYN: In Gayle We Trust has become one of the most successful web series to date. Can you share a little bit about the process of working with a brand? How did American Family Insurance get involved?
ELISA: It’s my understanding that NBC partnered with American Family, and then asked Brent Forrester to create a show based on a fictional insurance agent that could conceivably be working for American Family. So the brand serves as like a sponsor would, in terms of how we experience them on set. They make sure that Gayle is always behaving in a way that does not tarnish the brand and positively represents their company. This is where Brent, and subsequently the new writers, have been genius– these ideals are inherent in her character, so it doesn’t feel forced, or like we’re doing a commercial for the brand. They weave the brand into the stories and Gayle’s character is really clear. The first season they were more involved and were meticulous about making sure we never stepped out of bounds, which I think was warranted since this was a new endeavor for all parties and they wanted to make sure they were safe. In each subsequent season they have seen how successful the show has been, and so there is more of a trust put in the creative team, and they have fewer and fewer notes. It’s been a really wonderful experience all around. I truly love doing the show and everyone involved in it.
DARYN: Whole Day Down has just wrapped up its first season. Any news on the next season of In Gayle We Trust?
ELISA: I know that Season 3 of In Gayle We Trust garnered over 50 million views, which is just phenomenal! And now there is talk of Season 4. I was just recently told by the powers that be that they want to do a Season 4 and are pushing for that. I believe that NBC may have been bought out by the entity that brought NBC and AmFam together, so there would be some changes as far as who distributes it I guess… but that’s not really my area of expertise, so I’m fuzzy on the business details of this. But I’m confident you haven’t seen the last of Gayle! Since last season was shot and put together almost like a pilot (in that the whole season is one complete story) that opens up a myriad of options of where the show could go. Maybe you will see Gayle in prime time soon. When we wrapped season 3, they asked me if I would be interested in continuing, and I said absolutely, that I could play Gayle for a long, long time. They said, “That makes us very happy,” which makes me very happy! Gayle makes everybody happy!
Watch the Season 1 opener of Whole Day Down below and catch up on the whole season at www.wholedaydown.tv! And for updates on Elisa Donovan, follow her at http://twitter.com/reddonovan.
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