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By Suzanne

Interview with Baron Vaughn and Virginia Williams of "Fairly Legal" on USA Network 2/24/11.

SPEAKERS
Cathy Choe, Host
Maria Stasi, Speaker
Baron Vaughn, Speaker
Virginia Williams, Speaker

PRESENTATION

Moderator Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Fairly Legal Q&A with Baron Vaughn and Virginia Williams Conference Call.

At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be given at that time. If you should require assistance during the call, please press star, then zero. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to our host, Miss Cathy Choe. Please go ahead.

C. Choe Hi, good morning. This is Cathy Choe from New Media Strategies. I’d like to thank everyone for joining us for today’s Fairly Legal Q&A session, and start things off by thanking Baron Vaughn and Virginia Williams for being with us today to answer questions. As you know, Baron stars as Leonardo Price, also known as Leo. Virginia stars as Lauren Reed on the hit series, Fairly Legal, which airs Thursdays at 10/9 Central.

In a moment, we’ll begin the Q&A session. I’d like to remind all participants that you will receive a transcript of this session within the next 24 to 48 hours. I would also like to remind everyone to please limit yourselves to one question and one follow-up at a time, and then re-enter the question queue for any additional questions. This will ensure that we field as many questions as possible within the allotted time. I would now like to turn the call back over to our Moderator, Cece, to begin the formal Q&A session. Please go ahead.

Moderator Our first question comes from the line of Pattye Grippo with pazsaz.com. Please go ahead.

P. Grippo Hi, guys. Thanks for talking with us today.

V. Williams Yes.

P. Grippo So, let me ask each of you, how did you initially get involved with the show?

V. Williams Baron, you want to start?

B. Vaughn Oh, ladies first, Virginia.

V. Williams Well, I read the script. And, I really loved the script. I thought it was wonderfully written. And I actually just really adored the character of Lauren. I thought she was fascinating.

The scene that really got me on board was in the pilot. She has a scene with a client who propositions her, and the way that she handles that situation I just thought was a really cool, and unique, and interesting way to present this character. She could have definitely been a very one-dimensional sort of antagonist that we’re supposed to hate and doesn’t have any heart. She could have been seen as a trophy wife.

I thought, no, I’m not interested in playing that. That’s not going to be fun for many seasons. That doesn’t give her a lot of room to grow. But, really based on that scene and on the unique dynamic that Kate and Lauren have with each other, I thought this could be a really fun thing to explore for hopefully many years to come.

Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Jamie Steinberg with Starry Constellation. Please go ahead.

C. Choe Hey, Stacy. This is Cathy from NMS again. Could we go back to that question that Pattye had asked and give Baron a chance to answer that question?

Moderator Certainly. Please go ahead.

B. Vaughn Oh, yes, all right, thank you. First all, I want to show that that the pattern’s going to be Virginia says something intelligent and then I say something dumb. Okay, here we go.

I also read the script and I really liked the character. My character Leonardo, changed a lot after I auditioned, because they liked what I did with it. And, they decided that they wanted to make him a little bit more like me.

So, I enjoyed that. I got to do something that was, that’s very silly. And, I was like, can I do something that’s silly billy, and they said sure. And, I said how about silly billy willy, and they said that’s too much. So, that’s the heart of collaboration.

Moderator Okay, thank you very much. And, our next question then does come from Jamie Steinberg. Please go ahead.

J. Steinberg Hi. It’s a pleasure to speak with both of you.

V. Williams Thanks.

B. Vaughn Thanks, Jamie.

J. Steinberg Could you each talk about how you found the chemistry between you and Sarah. Was it instant, or did you take a little bit of time for everyone to bond?

V. Williams I found the chemistry was instant. I came in for a chemistry read. I think I was the second person cast. And, I came in to read with her and the producers, and we just kind of fell in love. She and I are actually very good friends.

Our on screen animosity is not indicative of how we are with each other. We’re quite good friends, and we have a really fun time playing with each other. I think we have a great rhythm with each other and a lot of fun, and we’re both really willing to play and explore. So, we’ll mess around with scenes when we’re shooting and kind of get a feel for how we think it’s a go. We have a great time together. I found the chemistry to be pretty instantaneous, don’t you Baron?

B. Vaughn Well, yes. I can attest to that. Virginia and Sarah get along very well. It’s always been – it’s interesting being on the set, because it is funny to see them play like at each other’s throats in the show and then in between takes, you know, have a little bout of booty dancing ...

V. Williams God, the booty dance. We do love to booty dance.

B. Vaughn And, the booty dance is very, it’s very disorienting because Virginia is in her very intense Lauren outfit. So, she’s very wrapped up.

Mine and Sarah, you know I auditioned; I was the only person I believe that was cast out of New York. So, I didn’t meet anybody until we started shooting the pilot, ‘til I arrived on set. And, I had done a little research and looked people up, stuff like that. I was familiar with Sarah’s work. So, I was just happy to work with everybody. But, the chemistry I’d say was also pretty intense. I’m very good at playing off people, and you know, off playing people, too.

J. Steinberg Okay, thank you so much.

Moderator Our next question comes from Krystin Clarke with popculturemadness.com. Please go ahead.

Joe Hi. Actually, this is Joe in for Krystin. She had to run out. I guess my big question is for both of you. What is each of your character’s major motivation? The way I like to phrase it is what gets them out of bed in the morning?

V. Williams You can go first this time, Baron.

Joe Okay.

B. Vaughn Okay. Well, I think Leonardo is a – I think. I’m saying he is. Let me give you a more certain phraseology. He is the consummate observer. So, he’s just excited every day to go to work and see what everyone’s going to get up to, because he gets to live his own reality show of everybody’s insanities. Then, he gets to be around it.

Then, on top of that, he takes everything that he sees and he’s turning it into ultimately, I think, a graphic novel. So, he is observing life as it happens in this law firm and all the people and characters around them. And then one day, I will reiterate those things, except they’re dragons and kings and castles.

Joe Okay. How does Lauren, what gets Lauren up in the morning?

V. Williams That’s a pretty easy question for me, because I, from the pilot, from the get-go, I decided that Lauren’s big motivation is to win. So, I try to approach every single scene with the overarching intention of winning. And, that can be done in myriad of different ways.

I think that’s what makes her interesting and fun is that can be played in so many different ways. You win in any sort of situation by going all sorts of different routes. I think that she ultimately needs at the end of the day to have felt accomplished and that she did everything she could in her power to win that day.

Joe Okay. Well, thank you very much.

V. Williams Yes.

B. Vaughn Thank you.

Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Amy Harrington of Pop Culture. Please go ahead.

A. Harrington Hi, thank you both for your time today. I’m here with my sister, Nancy who’s my writing partner. We were wondering if you could tell us kind of how you’re most like your character and how you’re most different from your character.

V. Williams Baron, you are Leo, aren’t you?

B. Vaughn Yes, I basically am Leonardo in a lot of ways. You know, I’m always, I’m always there with the sarcastic, sardonic, facetious, ironic, snarky remarks.

V. Williams Arrogant.

B. Vaughn You know, I’m into a lot of the same things that Leonardo is into, just as a life-style thing. I hate saying this, but I’m a bit of a nerd. I’m not necessarily nerdy about the same things. I think that Leonardo knows more about graphic novels. I know more about musical theater. That’s just different.

V. Williams Well, as far as Lauren is concerned, we do have some similarities. We have our little tendencies. But, we’re quite different. I actually aspire to be more like Lauren. She is incredibly prompt, and poised, and meticulous, and so put together. She handles, I think, every situation with such grace and elegance that I actually, I think in my own life, try in a lot a ways to be more like her.

I’m a lot goofier than Lauren. Lauren doesn’t have much goofy in her. Virginia has a lot of goofy in her.

B. Vaughn Oh, you said goofy? Are you saying the word goofy?

V. Williams Goofy, with a “G”.

B. Vaughn Oh, I thought you said tooshy, and I was like I have no idea what that means.

V. Williams Goofy, no goofy. I am way sillier in real life than she is. I’m definitely more immature than she is. She’s incredibly mature. But, yes, I think she’s fabulous and I strive in a lot of ways to be like her.

You know, I read a blog recently that cracked me up. I think it was called “When Did Elegant Women Become Villains?” It was just sort of fabulous. It was a fabulous kind of treatise on since when are all of these wonderful qualities things we’re not supposed to aspire to. I mean, we’re supposed to delight in the person falling on her face who actually is poised and well put together and is a role model.

I see her as all those things. I know she is seen as cold, but I don’t think that she actually is cold. I think she just, as I said earlier, she needs to win and she loved her husband intensely. She just had to marry a few decades up to find her true love. She just wants desperately to honor his name and his firm, and to make a name for herself, and to do everything in her power to put her best face forward, and try to save this firm.

She’ll do whatever it takes. But, she never does anything evil. There’s nothing evil about her. I really think sometimes what they say the evil stepmother, and it kind of cracks me up because I can’t find a single thing in any of the scripts where she does anything that’s actually evil. She just might approach it in a more cold way. That’s just the way that she operates.

We all different ways of operating. And, she cannot be seen as someone who is incapable. So, her desperate attempt is to always look in control and capable. And she’s obviously so young. She’s the same age as Kate. She’s so young to be in this position, and to have this job, that her constant MO is proving to everyone that she can do it.

You know, she’s an underdog. She’s a woman in a man’s world. So, she has to fight twice as hard, ten times as hard, to be respected and taken seriously in her position.

A. Harrington ... And, Baron, you’ve piqued our interest with the musical theater comment. If you could, what would be your dream role if you could be in any movie musical?

B. Vaughn Oh, well that is crazy.

V. Williams Oh, my gosh.

B. Vaughn Glad you asked. You know, as absurd as Jesus Christ Superstar can be, the role of Judas is a fantastic role in terms of the singing. It’s just, I’d say, three notes above my range. But, one day, I will be able to belt those. Every time I look at you I don’t understand why you let the things you did get so out of hand.

V. Williams Oh, my God, let’s make it happen Baron. I’ll play Mary. We’re the two musical theater nerds on set. We’re constantly singing. We’re constantly singing all sorts of show tunes while the crew looks on with probably disdain. We like singing in between takes.

B. Vaughn I think it’s disdain and amusement. So, it fits you.

V. Williams There you go.

A. Harrington Well, we’ll put it in print and hopefully, it comes true.

V. Williams There you go. Thanks. I’d appreciate that.

A. Harrington Thank you both for your time. Good luck with the season.

V. Williams Thanks.

B. Vaughn Thank you.

Moderator Our next question comes from Tim Holquinn of Outhouse. Please go ahead.

T. Holquinn Hi. It’s very nice to speak with both of you. I’ve been a big fan of yours, Virginia, for a long time.

V. Williams Well, thank you very much.

T. Holquinn Especially in comedy and drama. I really respect your talent, and it’s nice to be introduced to your talent, Baron, on the show.

V. Williams That was a great way to start the interview, by the way.

T. Holquinn Just an offbeat question. The offbeat question that I would have is since USA does crossovers if you could – are you able to hear me?

V. Williams Yes.

T. Holquinn Hello, okay. Which show from USA’s roster would you most like to take Lauren or Leonardo to? And, which star from one of those shows would you like to have come to Fairly Legal?

V. Williams Oh.

B. Vaughn Oh. Go ahead. You go ahead, Virginia.

V. Williams A loaded question. Well, I had a huge – oh, I’m sorry. Go ahead, Baron.

B. Vaughn No, no, you go ahead. You go ahead.

V. Williams Well, I have a huge crush on Mark Feuerstein. So, I would love to go on Royal Pains. I actually tested for the role of Jill before I got this. I guess it was a year before, and I really liked that script.

I thought it was a really good show. I think it all worked out for the best. I think I’m absolutely meant to play Lauren, and I love what I think I can specifically bring to her, so things happen for a reason. But, I think that’s a really fun show and everyone on it is just adorable. I guess that would be one I’d love to be a part of.

I am a big Dulé fan, too, though. So, I’d love to have Lauren go over to Psych and maybe help them with some legal case they may be in. That would be lots of fun, too.

T. Holquinn Thanks.

B. Vaughn That’s great. Yes, I actually know Reshma. I knew Reshma back in New York. She brought me a nice little ... the other day. Anyway. I think my answer can be summed up by a line that I would say. “Michael Westen, meet Neal Caffrey.”

T. Holquinn Yes.

B. Vaughn That’s what I would do. Yes, definitely. It would be in Miami, but Neil’s got to come down to help Michael with something, and Leonardo is the only one who knows how to do the programming that they need to get done, and then stuff will explode. Then, me and Bruce Campbell will be best friends.

T. Holquinn That sounds awesome.

V. Williams I think I mention, too, I just noticed that two of the shows I mentioned are two of the most comedic shows on USA. They have more of a comedy bent than some of the others. I think that that’s actually probably what I’m really thirsty for right now is doing more comedy. I love comedy. I feel very much like comedy is a forte of mine, and Lauren doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to be funny. So, let’s hope and pray that in future seasons we get to see Lauren in more comedy. Maybe she can let her hair down, literally and figuratively, and make some people laugh.

B. Vaughn Here’s what’s going to happen. Lauren and Leo go on a road trip and the car breaks down. Uh-oh, comedy ensues.

V. Williams Oh, I see that comedy in the news.

T. Holquinn And Mandy Patinkin happens by to help fix your tire.

B. Vaughn Ha, yes.

V. Williams There you go.

B. Vaughn We all sing a very nice trio.

V. Williams Yes, then it turns into a musical.

T. Holquinn Thanks, guys.

B. Vaughn Thank you.

V. Williams Thank you.

Moderator Our next question comes from Jamie Ruby, scifivision.com. Please go ahead.

J. Ruby Hi. Thanks so much for taking the call.

V. Williams Mm-hum. Thank you.

J. Ruby So, you guys, obviously, there’s a lot of legal stuff on the show. Did you have to do any special research or preparation to kind of learn about it?

V. Williams I did. I was given a really unique opportunity to speak with the top mergers and acquisitions attorney in the nation. I sat in her office for about half an hour and she was so gracious to sit down and talk to me. And, really, I came in more doing character research of what her day to day is like.

Of course, I have in each episode; have to do some research as to what the heck I’m talking about, since I did not go to law school. I Google who have been my friends big time. I have some friends that are attorneys. So, they’ve gotten some late night calls from me when I get scripts and going what the heck is this court appeals what? So, they’ve all been helpful.

But, I found this one woman particularly intriguing and interesting in just looking around her office and hearing about her day to day. She said she answers over 400 e-mails a day. That immediately gave me so much to work with as a character. If you’re someone who’s that important in answering 400 e-mails a day, you are never not busy and you do not have time for tardiness.

You do not have time for silly antics. I mean you can see why Lauren is so frustrated with Kate so much, because for her it is not a game. It is a job. It is very furious. I think when Lauren feels disrespected, that’s about as low a blow as you could deal her.

I found it really interesting when I was watching her and how she – she never goes to the bathroom without her Blackberry, because there is something she can be doing while she is sitting on that toilet, some e-mail she can answer. She doesn’t put her lipstick on without having one eye on the computer screen as well. So, I found that really intriguing and very interesting.

And, her office, which is this gorgeous office in Beverly Hills, it’s a great view, looks out over the city. It’s hilarious, super nice artwork all over the walls. Yet, it looked like not like a tornado had hit. Everything was very neatly stacked together, but there were stacks and piles of paper from the second you walked in the door all the way back to her desk. And of course, I asked for that on set. And of course, they said no, this is TV. We have to make it look pretty, which I understand.

But, that being said, in almost every scene I would ask props, hey, can I have this extra prop? Can I help carry this binder? I’m going to need to be carrying this file as well. Can we make sure that my desk isn’t too neat and clean? I need to have piles and stacks of paper at least somewhere around it at all times, because that is what is realistic. And, that’s how much she has to do.

J. Ruby Oh, yes. What about you, Baron?

B. Vaughn I actually lived Leonardo’s life. I worked at a law firm for two years in New York. It was a corporate law firm and I wasn’t an assistant, such as it was, but I was in charge of every piece of physical documentation in the office.

I was in charge of knowing where all pieces of correspondence were, all pieces of, all the affidavits, certificates, certain stuff like that. I filed it, made sure that it was somewhere. I was Google at this place. I was the walking Lexis-Nexis, if you will. That it would be like, Baron, I need the certificate of incorporation on the Morrison file. Then, I would go and retrieve that document and then put it back when they were done with it.

Of course, a lot of it, it’s funny that that’s what Virginia says what she does, because I observed people who were Lauren and as Baron is how I think Leonardo feels about it, where I’m like she’s got to take her Blackberry to the bathroom. Can’t someone just get some privacy in the bathroom?

And having to go into the tornado offices and go through paperwork because sometimes there was stuff on the desk that was under a pile under another pile that someone else needed. Or, it just needed to be in a particular place, because there was a lot of people asking me for stuff that was on their desk, but they didn’t know it because under all this stuff. So, I kind of got to see how insane these people can be and how I wish that they could just not. I’m kind of like I would just be there oh, man I hope you go to the beach, but just do something, sit down. Don’t read, just be on the beach in the sun.

And, I think well, they liked me. They kept me around because I was funny, you know. That was the contradiction of it. They were very entertained by me, but every now and then, I’d get a talk for like, oh, I don’t really want you to be all that funny. But, I don’t know if you could be less funny today. There’s important people coming in. They don’t like humor.

J. Ruby That’s great. Then, as a follow up, could you guys talk about working with Richard Dean Anderson?

V. Williams Sure. I think he’s a delight to work with. I think he’s just incredibly kind and giving as an actor and as a person. I used to be a tap dancer and his daughter taps. So, we have lots of conversations about tap dancing and about his family. I just think he was so much fun. Some of my favorite days were days that he worked and we’d have time when if we weren’t shooting a particular scene and we’d go out and hang out by the trailers and chat some. I think he’s just gracious.

J. Ruby Okay.

B. Vaughn Well, I – RDA. I didn’t get to work with him that much. But, I was extremely excited about getting to meet him and getting to work with him, because he’s an icon. You know, I went to Europe and I was telling people about this show. And I was like, oh, yes, we were just shooting with Richard Dean Anderson, but I don’t know whether you know that’s McGyver. What? McGyver. People freaked out.

And, if it’s not that, then it’s Stargate. People know who he is and it was just really cool to watch him work. And, he’s a seasoned professional. So, just from the little I did get to work with him, I did feel like I learned a lot.

J. Ruby That’s cool. Well, thank you both very much for your time.

V. Williams Mm-hum, thank you.

Moderator Our next question comes from Sanni Turano with TV Grapevine. Please go ahead.

S. Turano Hi, good morning. It’s great to talk to the both of you again.

V. Williams Thanks.

B. Vaughn Morning.

S. Turano Yes. My first question for you is who would be a dream guest star to have on the show?

V. Williams I’m sorry. Who was that question for? Both of us?

S. Turano Both of you, yes.

B. Vaughn Who would be a dream guest star?

V. Williams Good lord, I can answer that quickly.

B. Vaughn Who’s that?

V. Williams I mean I know it’s so obvious, but Meryl Streep. I mean she has been doing some guesting on I know an HBO show and whatever. I just think she’s the most incredible actress of our generation. And, I’m clearly in the same boat with everyone else, but, still, every single thing I watch her in. I remember when I was in Vancouver and we were shooting, Death Becomes Her came on TV, which might be the worst movie in the world. I sat and I watched ...

B. Vaughn ...

V. Williams I sat and I watched the whole thing. I had like a 5 a.m. call or something and it’s like midnight. I couldn’t turn the TV off because every single thing she did was brilliant. I just think she has this amazing ability to transform into any character, and I would kill to be able to work with her, and pick her brain, and just have a conversation with her.

I think in my work, I try really hard to pick very different roles. I don’t just keep playing myself over and over. In fact, I rarely play someone similar to me, Ginger – Virginia – it’s my nickname. I so often play different types of characters that are quite different from who I really am. And, I think she’s done the best job of anyone, male or female, of really transforming herself every time she performs. So, I’d kill to work with her, period, in any capacity.

S. Turano Okay. And, who do you think would be a great romantic interest for Leo; if they were eventually to go that route?

B. Vaughn Well, later in the season we are going to meet a romantic interest. But, if I had my choice, are you talking about like as an actor that would come on the show, actress, actor that would come on the show to play romantic choice?

S. Turano Yes, yes.

B. Vaughn Oh, man. I think that ... I’d be very fascinated to know what the story was if Leo walked into Reed & Reed holding hands with someone like Rene Russo, or Frances McDormand.

V. Williams So, you’re thinking you’re personal preference.

B. Vaughn Yes, or a Kimberly Lee, somebody like that. I would be interested to see what the back story of that would be.

S. Turano Oh, wow. What about you? What about you, Virginia? Who do you think would be good for Leo?

V. Williams Good for Leo?

S. Turano Yes.

V. Williams I think somebody just as fun and quirky as Leo is. Someone that he could have really quick, ridiculous banter with would be the most fun to watch. He’s a really unique character on our show and, and well every character’s unique and very different in their own way. He doesn’t have any one he can really spar with. He somewhat can spar with Kate, but I think if he had an equal nerd, it would be really fun to watch them go at it. I don’t know who that would be, though. I’ll have to think about that.

B. Vaughn That would be our, that would be the shirt that we would wear. They’d both say equal nerds. We’d walk around those shirts.

S. Turano I love it. I love that so much. Thank you, guys. I’m so glad you’re silly.

B. Vaughn Thank you.

Moderator And our next question comes from Troy Rogers, TheDeadBolt.com. Please go ahead.

T. Rogers Hi, Baron. Hi, Virginia.

B. Vaughn Hi, Troy.

V. Williams Hi.

T. Rogers Baron, you said that Leo was a little different when you first started. How much input do you have in his dialog and what he does?

B. Vaughn I think I have as much input as anybody else, and I feel like we all get quite a bit of input in who we’re talking to and what we’re saying. Every now and then, since I’m also a writer and, you know, write shows and stuff like that, the writers like my input in terms of, like, the rhythm of a scene or the rhythm of a joke or cleaning up the language. You know, and especially as someone who’s a stand-up comedian, you want to save the most important information ‘til the end of a line. So sometimes if there’s something that I think will be better if the sentence is structured differently, I get to do that quite a bit.

And then there are a lot of times where I’ve gotten the improv. Like there was on the last couple episodes ago, “Bo Me Once,” which was about a woman that had a barbeque recipe, was running from her father. There was a scene in which I give Kate some paper work, and I make a few jokes that are, kind of like, about cooking, and there was one where I give her some paperwork and she says something like, “Well, this is interesting,” and I’m like, “Yes, only in occasions that are rare,” and that was improvised. I came up with that when we were rehearsing, and they let me keep it. I was like, “That’s not going to make it to the final cut,” and yet it did.

T. Rogers But then you were mentioning booty dancing and show tunes. What other kind of things do you guys get up to on-set off camera?

V. Williams I know we mentioned this earlier, but there’s a lot of singing. Baron and I love to sing, and Sarah loves to join in as well. I think she has a lovely voice. She says she doesn’t sing as much, but I would disagree with her. I think she has a lovely voice.

B. Vaughn It’s all in her head. That’s in her head.

V. Williams The three of us have scenes together a lot. I think Leo and Lauren through season one don’t have too much interaction with Justin. Pretty much Kate is with Justin, but within the office Leo and Lauren and Kate have a lot of interaction together where one or two of them will enter and leave a scene somewhere in the course of the scene. So the three of us get to play together a lot, and we just sing and laugh and dance and it’s so funny when you see—I think, Baron always gets so jarred by, “Oh my gosh, you just transform into Lauren when you start—when they say action,” because I’m so goofy off camera, but we really laugh and we joke a lot and there’s a lot of dancing.

You know, these are long days. You work sometimes over 16 hour days and you’re up at 4:00-5:00 in the morning and you’re exhausted, and the only thing besides another cup of coffee at 10:00 at night that’s going to keep you going is to turn up the music. One us will pull our iPhone out and put on some music on it and just dance while they’re setting up the next shot.

And Baron has this great—there’s an episode where he gets an iPad. So anyway, he has an iPad on set a lot. So there’s this app that—Baron you’ll have to tell them what it is. It’s some app that does—it’s a sitcom laugh track.

B. Vaughn … iPads, like, because the crew and the background actors are so good-natured too so we all have a lot of fun. This guy Ben, who was one of the prop masters, put a few apps on the iPad, and one was a sitcom app where it has three different sizes of laugh. Like a small laugh, a big laugh, and a medium laugh, some applause, and then like people going, “Oooooh and woohoo.” Like basically it’s like Married with Children sound effects, and every now and then I would break it out when people were talking. I was just hitting buttons just to make it all sitcomy. Everybody had a lot of fun with it.

T. Rogers Thanks, guys. Good luck with the show.

V. Williams Thanks.

B. Vaughn Thank you.

Moderator Our next question comes from Guillermo Paz with Series&TV.com. Please go ahead.

G. Paz Hi. How are you, Virginia and Baron?

V. Williams Great. Thank you.

G. Paz I have one for each. The first one is for Baron. You play a geek role in Leonardo … . What would be the ultimate dream for Leo as to something happening on the show? And also what would be Baron’s ultimate dream of something to play on the show?

B. Vaughn I’m sorry, you said what would be the ultimate dream for Leo to happen on the show?

G. Paz For Leo and for you, for Baron, for both of your Jekyll and Hyde.

B. Vaughn I I think this is a similarity between us. He wants the respect of his peers. So I think for him to get some sort of indy cred where he’s written some sort of really cool graphic novel or he has conquered some video game in the way that somebody hasn’t. Where it’s like he’s recognized in a national level on something that a very specific group of people love. That he would be like, “Yes. I have this comic book I wrote that has taken off, and somebody wants to make it into a movie. That’s awesome.” I think that would be like his ultimate dream is to continue to do that.

For me on the show, you know I’m hoping to get to open up Leo a little bit more. I feel like on the show he’s pretty reserved, but there’s another level, and I’m interested in showing the audience the other level. Maybe a little bit more of the personal life of Leonardo, and maybe some things that he struggles with in terms of his family or his friends or just his issues in general that start to affect his, I guess, his performance or he starts to take it to work. I’m interested in exploding the view of Leo and making him— solidifying his three dimensionality.

G. Paz Great. Thanks. And for Virginia, Kate told Lauren on the pilot, “I hate you. It’s simpler that way.” That kind of summarized the whole relationship from Kate’s point of view. What do you think would summarize it, but from Lauren’s point of view?

V. Williams Well, I don’t know that I can summarize it in a one sentence little quip right now, but I can just speak to their relationship and how I think Lauren feels about it. I don’t think that Lauren hates Kate the way that Kate hates Lauren. Meaning I don’t think that Lauren agrees with or respects the way that Kate handles her business or her personal life, and I think it drives Lauren a little crazy because they’re just such different people.

But I think there’s a very special and unique relationship that someone has when their parents remarries period, but certainly when they remarry someone that’s their age. I, luckily, don’t have personal experience in that. My parents are happily married, but if my father and my mother split and my father were with someone my age, boy I’d tell you what, I would not be very happy about it. I would hope I would be evolved and mature enough to be happy for them if that was what made both parties happy, and that was the best thing for my dad, but it would absolutely, it would totally kill me. And so you understand Kate’s distaste for Lauren because that would be really, really hard. That would be very hard.

But I don’t think that Lauren hates Kate in quite the same way. There’s a different relationship there that happens because she married Kate’s father and she loves Kate’s father so much. I think Lauren can understand that Kate isn’t 100% happy about him remarrying, but I think she also feels like it’s time to grow up and get on with it and be an adult. We’re not 16 here. We’re adults, and I think that’s where Lauren’s frustration with Kate comes from because she knows she’s her age, yet she acts so incredibly differently, and their maturity levels are on opposite ends of the spectrum.

G. Paz Okay. Great. Thanks so much, both.

V. Williams Mhm. Thank you.

B. Vaughn Thank you.

Moderator And we have a follow-up from Jamie Ruby with SciFiVision.com. Please go ahead.

J. Ruby Hello again.

V. Williams Hello.

J. Ruby So for both of you, what’s been your favorite scene that you’ve filmed?

V. Williams I’m going to go with episode four when Lauren gets to get drunk. I had a lot of fun shooting all of her drunk scenes. It was such a digression from how we normally see Lauren, and it was so fun just to give her some looseness and let her play a little bit. What I think made it so fun and so great is that it still was within, absolutely, still within the character of Lauren. She 100% tried to keep herself together the whole time. She just got drunk, and isn’t that what drunk people do? You can’t—drunk people don’t try to act drunk. Drunk people try to act sober.
So it was very fun and challenging to have the body work and the vocal work and the slurring and all that kind of stuff of having her drunk, yet still trying very hard to keep the character of Lauren in tact and to be pulled together and still, you know, in her mind trying to be in control. That was really, that was really a joy for me to shoot that. I hope we get to see Lauren trashed more.

J. Ruby It was a great scene.

V. Williams Thanks.

J. Ruby Baron?

B. Vaughn I’m interested to see how certain scenes turn out, because I feel like stuff that I had fun doing hasn’t aired yet. So I’m interested to see—because along with America, I’m seeing how the show is coming together, you know, and like seeing what takes they use. What angles they use. Which interpretations they used. So I’m interested to see how certain things will play out.

There was a scene I had with these two brothers that were like these old Italian men that owned, like, I think a drycleaner, and they were just mad at each other, and I kind of tried to dispute—because Kate is busy, I tried to resolve their dispute by using the skills that I have, like playing Dungeons and Dragons and stuff like that. So I’m interested to see how that’s going to turn out, but it hasn’t aired yet. And then also some of the stuff with the girl who becomes my interest, I’m interested to see how that stuff turns out too.

V. Williams I think just to button your question, I would say that in general, anything that anytime we get to see Lauren start to fall apart and pull it back together, those are my favorite scenes to play. Whether it’s through drinking or whether—I hope that in future seasons we have some—I hope Lauren’s mom comes to town or something, and we see some fabulous dynamic between her and her mother because there’s nothing like a mother and a daughter’s relationship. Something that would just rattle her and make her absolutely start to fall apart and be really out of her element and not in control and the struggle of watching her try to regain control and keep composure. I think those are always the most fun scenes to play and the juiciest, most interesting ones.

J. Ruby That’d be great. So can you guys talk about how you got started in acting?

V. Williams Sure. Well I really started in musical theater as a child. I was a singer and a dancer. I actually didn’t think that I would necessarily become an actor. I really wanted to be a singer or a dancer. I actually auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club—this was just brought up yesterday with somebody I was talking to. I had gotten it, but I was two-and-a-half months too old. I think you had to—you couldn’t turn 16 by a certain time or something like that, but it was the same year as Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears and Christina and all them, and I was just a little bit too old so I couldn’t do it. I was heartbroken, but oh my word, how different my life and career would have been if I had gone on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” I’m quite grateful that it didn’t work out that way and that I went another path and fell in love with the craft of acting and am now hopefully a better adjusted human being and actor. But I love musicals and I love that.

Then when I was a senior in high school I came out to audition for Fordham University at Lincoln Center’s Theater Department, and while I was there, I had been doing a little bit of modeling and stuff and my New York manager said, “Well, if you stay one more day there’s this little part on “One Life to Live’ and it’s only three days or something, but it would be your first professional gig. You should stay and audition for it.” So I did, and ended up getting in the school.

That’s where I ended up going to college, and I ended up booking the part on One Life, and it turned into about a yearlong job. So my senior year of high school, I would fly back and forth from Memphis, where I’m from, and I finished up high school, but I would fly to New York and shoot a couple days a week of One Life and then go back to Memphis. I thought, “Well geesh, it must all be this easy.”

But that was my first professional job. I was very lucky at that age to have been able to have started work and learn a little about cameras and scenes and all the kind of fun stuff, and then I quit acting professionally just to be a full time student. I realized I couldn’t do both. So I studied in New York and I got my degree from Fordham, and I studied at Oxford and in London and got all of my Shakespeare and all of my classical training. Then after I got all of that training, then I went back into the professional world and started working after college. I’ve just been working really in film and television for the most part, some theater, but for the most part film and television ever since. But I do miss musical theater and I absolutely hope to do that again someday. That’s me.

J. Ruby Okay. Great. What about you, Baron?

B. Vaughn I developed a sense of humor to not get beat up in my neighborhood when I was younger. I was a bit of a class clown in my middle school in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the librarian of our school was the wife of the principal of the Performing Arts High School that had just kind of started in Vegas. It had been around for about two or three years. So I auditioned to go to this school. I remember it very specifically because it was a Saturday, and I wanted to go at a particular time because I did not want to miss professional bowling followed by Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. So I was like, “I gotta watch bowling, and Hercules and Xena. That’s what I call a Saturday. Anybody ‘long?”

So I ended up going to this performing arts high school in Vegas, and we’ve actually had a couple successful graduates. Myself; singer/ recording artist Ne-Yo; Matthew Grey Gubler, who’s on the show, I believe, Criminal Minds; and Rutina Wesley, who’s a good friend of mine who I keep in touch with, is on the show True Blood. So I went there then I got serious about acting because I was resistant. … like, “You’re so funny all the time.” I’m like, “No. I want to play Walter Lee in ‘Raisin in the Sun.’”

So I applied for like ten theatre schools and ended up going to Boston University School of Theater Arts. Then after that, I moved to New York and I started doing standup while I was in college. So I have this dual pronged effect of going out for auditions and commercials and whatnot while honing my voice as a comedian, as a standup comedian and a writer. That’s kind of how it all started just from me trying not to get beat up and taking those skills and applying it to things that other people had written, and now I’m trying to write some myself. Boom house.

J. Ruby Do you ever want to write for the show in the future?

B. Vaughn I’ve actually thought about this and had a brief conversation with Michael about it, Michael Sardo, the creator. It’s something that’s in the air, but I’d have to go through a few other channels to do that, but right now I have a couple cartoons and whatnot that I’ve written that I’m trying to get going forward. But who knows, man. Man, who knows?

J. Ruby Okay. Good luck with that. Thank you both of you.

V. Williams Thank you.

B. Vaughn Thank you.

Moderator And our next follow-up question is Tim Holquinn, Out House. Please go ahead.

T. Holquinn Hi again. I’ve got one more question for both of you, but this one’s first for Baron. I was wondering if you have been in the past or plan on going to ComicCon. I know you had saved those panels discussions they did for Psych and Burn Notice 2010. Might Fairly Legal do one for this year?

B. Vaughn I have no idea, but if it were to happen I would be there. I would come dressed as two different things. Like the top half would be Captain Jack Sparrow and the bottom half would be Tron. Everybody would say, “What are you?” and I would say, “Confused. Hello!”

T. Holquinn Great. Hopefully I’ll get to be there too because I’m hoping to attend myself. And Virginia, your talents allowed you to do two things at once with the drunkenness, but your scenes with John Ashton, I really appreciated how you had to stand up to the old guard, you know, and I was just wondering if that was an area that you’re character might have to encounter more of because of her husband’s advanced age? He might have known a lot of guys who thought that way with whom you might now have to deal with.

V. Williams Sure. I think that’s a struggle that Lauren deals with daily. Even in the pilot episode I have a conversation, Lauren has a conversation, with Kate where she tells her all of the people who have already jumped ship, and as soon as Teddy died the people that were near and dear friends to them have already gone to other law firms. So she constantly has to fight and constantly has to prove to everyone that though she may be young and inexperienced, she is still capable. That’s why she works so hard.

So I think that she constantly is dealing with that old school mentality. She certainly married someone much, much older, and she knows full well that a lot of people viewed her as a trophy wife or something like that, but she knows that she really did love him and she knows that they had a unique and special bond. I think that they really got each other and they loved each other. So she’s always dealing with these older men, and not just older men, younger men. I mean, geesh, look even in the pilot someone who—he’s probably still quite a bit older than Lauren, but the man that propositions her at the dinner table.

I mean, I think that she’s an underdog, and she’s a woman in a man’s world, and she’s seen as a sex object and incapable, and she has to constantly overcompensate by that. I think that’s why she dresses the way she does and wears her hair so ridiculously severely to try to do everything she can to present this image that she can take care of herself and that she can take care of you, the client.

B. Vaughn I mean, James Brown said it best,’ “It’s a man world, but it wouldn’t mean nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl.” I think we could all agree with that right?

T. Holquinn I thought that was your best episode. So I hope to see more like that.

V. Williams Thank you so much. I appreciate that.

Moderator We have a follow-up question from Guillermo Paz Series&TV.com. Please go ahead.

C. Choe And Stacy, before we head on to Guillermo, we have time for one last question. So Guillermo’s call will be the last one for today.

Moderator Thank you.

G. Paz Okay. I just … . this one is for both of you. USA Network has a perfect score so far in terms of new shows getting renewal orders. Does that bring everybody calm around or does it put more pressure to deliver?

V. Williams I’m sorry, could you repeat the question?

G. Paz Yes. I said the USA Network has a perfect score so far in terms of new shows getting renewal orders. Does that bring everybody calm there or does it put more pressure to deliver with the show?

V. Williams I don’t think there’s any calm, my friend. I wish there was. You never know what’s going to happen, and you never really know why it happens so often. It is true, they do have a perfect score, and USA is a phenomenal network to be a part of and one of the reasons, I’m sure, all of us in the cast chose to be a part of this show, and we’re honored to be a part of it, is because of the great track record. You’re probably going to get a much better shot of having multiple seasons on here when you do something for USA then you are for another network, be it cable or not.

So I think that in some ways there’s a sense of anticipation and excitement in that we’re probably more likely to get picked up, but there are no guarantees in this world, and as actors we go from job to job. So we sure hope so. I think we all love this show and we all want to continue to be a part of it. I know for myself I have fallen in love with the character of Lauren. I find her, of course I’m biased, but I find her the most interesting and complex of all of them and I would love to be able to explore her more and to play with her for years to come. But there are—

B. Vaughn Hey, I think I’m the most interesting and complex. How dare you—

V. Williams I said I’m biased. I said I’m biased.

B. Vaughn I know. I’m joking.

V. Williams But no, but I do. I just think she’s delicious. But yes, I would love to be able to play her for years to come, but none of us have any guarantees in this business. The entertainment industry is a very finicky one. So we just cross our fingers and pray to the ratings gods and hope that USA will smile upon us and give us another shot. What do you say, Baron?

B. Vaughn I absolutely agree with that. USA is very—they’re very picky with what they develop in the first place. So for them to go forward with the show at all is already a tremendous vote of confidence. Of course, I’m hoping and wishing and praying, as that song goes, that we will have a few seasons. I believe Heidegger said it best, “Just because something has happened in the past doesn’t mean it will in the future,” but you can hope and have a good attitude about it, and if it doesn’t happen then I’ll cry for a day, eat a lot of Cocoa Puffs, but I will put myself back on Baron horse and go somewhere.

V. Williams I think we’re all quite confidence, to button this, I think we’re all quite confidant that the show’s doing well. People are responding to it. It has a great lead-in of royal pains. I think it’s a wonderful pairing, these two shows together, and the response has been pretty incredible. I think I heard somewhere it was the best-reviewed USA show ever before it launched. So hopefully the audience will continue to find it and to keep watching, but I think we’re all pretty darn confident it will be renewed. We would just like them to go ahead and give us that gold star so we can start planning our lives.

B. Vaughn That is the key. That is the key.

V. Williams I’d like to know where I’m going to live in the next few months. If it’s going to be Vancouver or L.A. or somewhere else, but we’re all really confident and we’re all really excited about it.

G. Paz Thanks so much, both of you.

V. Williams Thank you.

C. Choe Ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude today’s session. I’d like to once again thank Baron and Virginia for joining us, and remind everyone to tune into new episodes of Fairly Legal on Thursdays at 10:00/9:00 Central on USA Network. Thanks again and enjoy the rest of your day.

V. Williams Thank you.

B. Vaughn Thanks, guys.

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