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By
Suzanne

Transcript of Interview with Jaime Paglia and
Colin Ferguson of
"Eureka" on Syfy 7/7/10
"Eureka" is a great show that everyone should watch. I
love it! It's smart, funny and immensely exciting and entertaining.
Enjoy the transcript of this interview!
Moderator: Bill Brennan
July 7, 2010
3:30 pm CT
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to
the NBC Universal Syfy conference call. During the presentation, all
participants will be in a listen only mode. Afterwards we will conduct a
question and answer session.
At that time if you have a question please press the 1 followed by the 4
on your telephone. If at any time during the conference you need to
reach an operator, please press star 0. As a reminder, this conference
is being recorded Wednesday, July 7, 2010.
It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Bill Brennan.
Please go ahead sir.
Bill Brennan: Hey everyone. I just wanted to say a quick thank you for
joining us today. We are very excited to have Eureka return for a fourth
season this Friday at 9:00 pm. Joining us today we have co-creator,
writer, executive producer, Jaime Paglia and the series star Colin
Ferguson.
And just before we start taking questions Jaime would just like to say a
quick intro.
Jaime Paglia: I just wanted to say thanks everybody for joining the
call. And we hope that you are enjoying the season so far, I know you’ve
seen the first two episodes, that you’re enjoying watching it as much as
we have enjoyed creating it.
It’s been a really exciting departure. I think that we’ve managed to
kind of go back even to Season 1 and bring back elements of our show
that we were missing and sort of take the best of the journey so far and
really kind of launch into Season 4 with sort of a renewed enthusiasm
and creative vision.
And I think we all sort of share that sentiment. So anyway, we look
forward to your thoughts.
Bill Brennan: (Andre) I think we’re good.
Operator: All right. Ladies and gentlemen if you’d like to register a
question please press the 1 followed by the 4 on your telephone. You
will hear a three toned prompt to acknowledge your request.
If your question has been answered and you would like to withdraw your
registration please press the 1 followed by the 3. And if you’re using a
speakerphone please lift your handset before entering your request.
Our first question comes from the line of (Jamie Ruby) with Media
Boulevard. Please proceed with your question.
Jamie Ruby: Hi. So thank you for taking our call today.
Jaime Paglia: Of course.
Colin Ferguson: My pleasure.
Jamie Ruby: So the first question is for both of you. Can you talk about
how you became involved in Eureka at the beginning.
Colin Ferguson: Sure thing. Jaime you predate me.
Jaime Paglia: Okay. Well it was, you know, it was a concept that was
generated by Andy Cosby and myself. We co-created the show together. We
had been doing some feature films before this one and we sat down for
lunch one day.
And so what we - if we were going to do a TV series what would we do.
And I think that the sort of show concept was a perfect blend of our
particular personalities and interests. I think I was sort of more of
the Northern Exposure sort of character dramedy kind of mindset.
And Andy was more of the Sci-Fi geek lover and, you know, we both
enjoyed shows like Northern Exposure and Twin Peaks and X-Files. And by
the end of lunch we had sort of dug through some old concepts and made
some changes to them.
And we pretty much had the premise of the show. You know, Pacific
Northwestern town that doesn’t appear on any maps and US Marshal
stumbles onto it and, you know, finds himself assigned to be the town
sheriff. That was pretty much the most productive lunch meeting I’ve
ever had.
Colin Ferguson: And then I guess (unintelligible) part of the casting of
it back in the day. And, you know, we did - I guess the final casting
was the most interesting one because it was myself and Jordan and there
was another guy - Ed Kerr. I don’t remember who the girl was.
And we did the mix and match. And it ended up being Jordan and I who got
the role. So probably she’s arguably as important for me getting the job
as anything else.
Jaime Paglia: Yeah, I have to say we, you know, Andy and I were dividing
and conquering in the early days of getting the pilot going. And I had
seen - I was doing casting first with our director, Peter O’Fallon. And
Colin came in I think on day two of casting.
And Andy was scouting locations in Vancouver and I called him up
afterwards and I said I think we found our guy. You’ve got to get back
here and see him.
And, you know, there was obviously a lot of pressure to stunt cast with,
you know, feature film actors and all of those sort of pressures that
you’re under when you’re trying to launch a new series.
But Andy came down, he literally walked over, talked to Colin for about
30 seconds and he came back over to me and he said yeah, that’s our guy.
So we knew.
Colin Ferguson: And it’s a funny thing too because I was, you know, as
an actor you go in the room and you do what you do. And I have a very
quirky sensibility. And Jaime has a very quirky sensibility. And Jaime
was the one in the room who as I just said, you know, he was the guy I
met.
And typically on my end, you know, you go in and you do your quirky
thing and they go that’s weird. Why - no, you know, and that’s - you’re
sort of going through and they cast someone else. So it was a refreshing
change of pace for Jaime to sort of go yeah, actually you know what,
that’s right.
Jaime Paglia: That’s the guy.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah.
Jaime Paglia: Colin’s quirky matched my quirky.
Jamie Ruby: Great. And for a follow up can you talk a bit about the
crossover that’s coming up with Warehouse 13?
Jaime Paglia: Sure. You know, we’re thrilled that Warehouse has been
doing as well as they have. And, you know, most of our staff and cast
and crew are friends with the Warehouse folk, you know, from other jobs
previously or just from being in the same, you know, world.
So we were at Comic Con last year and I ran into Jack Kenny who is the
executive producer and Saul Rubinek who is of course the lead on that
show and had played a very pivotal character for us, Carl Carlson in
Season 1.
And I said we should do a crossover where we can have, you know, Saul
play both characters or we could send, you know, (Carter) and (Joe) over
to help out with you guys or he could send someone else to us.
And, you know, we joked for a little while about well if we send our
characters to your show then it’s your headache not ours. So we - until
the network I think finally said no, this is actually a really -
something that we want to do.
So we ended up realizing that it would - we sat down, you know, (Bruce
Miller) is co-show running with me this year and as we were sort of
crafting our season and Jack and his team were crafting theirs, we sat
down and met and said okay, look this is what we’re doing. What are you
guys doing?
Let’s figure out if there’s a good, you know, a good place for this to
work out where we could send a character to you and you could send a
character to us and maybe have it be almost, you know, not quite a two-parter
but at least sort of - it felt like there was some continuity.
And we worked it out. So it worked out in the timing of the schedule
that we could have Allison Scagliotti on our show when they were on
their production hiatus and we were able to schedule it so that Neil
Grayston could go over to their show during an episode where we were a
little bit lighter on this character.
And I think by everybody’s sort of estimation they both did such a great
job. I think they’re the best friends now. They’re dying to work
together more.
Jamie Ruby: Okay. Well thank you very much.
Jaime Paglia: Sure.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Joshua Maloni with
Niagara Frontier Publications. Please proceed with your question.
Joshua Maloni: Hi guys. Thanks for your time today.
Colin Ferguson: Hey Josh.
Joshua Maloni: So Colin, you know, Jack obviously is in the midst of
some very, very intelligent people, some very, you know, heavy hitters,
people that have done a lot obviously with their lives. But yet he seems
to be the one that’s always solving the problems, always saving the
town.
You know, what is it about the character that you think enables him to
sort of see what all of these very intelligent people don’t see or get
things that they don’t get?
Colin Ferguson: What would it be about the character? I think - well I
think he still has a good moral compass to him. And he has a good
logical head on his shoulders but no real facility with information.
So I think he’s a follow the numbers sort of guy in a town where people
are so bright, they’re so used to being ten steps ahead, you know, or 20
steps ahead that sometimes it is the little things that he’s good at
focusing on.
But he also - and he’s a - or was a federal marshal. I mean he’s good at
what he does. I think he sort of Columbos it sometimes. And pretends to
be a little, you know, more clumsy than he actually is. What do you
think Jaime?
Jaime Paglia: Yeah. I mean I sort of - in terms of sort of the
characters that we have on our show and who they in some part have been
patterned after I had a job for a while where I was program manager of
this public affairs lecture series in Cambridge where I got to interview
all of these amazing minds from MIT and Harvard and around, you know,
the country.
And, you know, people like (Rodney Brooks) who was the head of the MIT,
you know, robotics lab and, you know, (Tim Burnersly) who actually did
create the worldwide Web. And I really found that a lot of them - their
minds just work differently.
I mean they can barely - their mouths can barely keep up with their
brains because they go so fast. And they have an ability in certain
domains to be just unbelievably, you know, facile. But then they - it’s
not seeing the forest for the trees.
And I think that Carter has always been that guy who doesn’t get, you
know, bogged down in minutiae. He sees the big picture and he picks up
the small details that other people might not notice. That his
intelligence is - it rivals theirs. It’s just in a slightly different
domain.
He may not be, you know, amazing at physics but he can read people and
he can take in, you know, the details and put puzzles together in a
different way. So I think that, you know, he can see any situation and
he just sort of sees it slightly differently than the others do.
Joshua Maloni: Right. Yeah, obviously your show has a fairly large will
they or won’t they between Carter and Allison. You know, I thought that
the chemistry last year between Colin and Jaime Ray Newman was very
good. I imagine that she’s probably not coming back to this season or to
the show at all this season.
But what is sort of the overall game plan for Carter and for his love
life for this season?
Jaime Paglia: Well you might be surprised about who comes back this
season.
Joshua Maloni: Okay. All right.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah, no Jaime’s back. Jaime - Jaime’s back - Jaime -
she’s back in some capacity this year for a good part of it. I guess I’m
not allowed to say what’s going on. So I’ll just shut up but Jaime...
Jaime Paglia: No - there - what I will - what I feel comfortable saying
is that there is definitely a love interest for Carter this season and
maybe a bit too much of it. So decisions will have to be - decisions
have to be made.
Joshua Maloni: All right. Well I’m looking forward to the new season.
Thank you guys for your time.
Jaime Paglia: We’re not going to string you guys out any longer. Let me
just say that.
Joshua Maloni: Fair enough.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Jenny Rarden with
www.TVIsMyPacifier.com. Please proceed with your question.
Jenny Rarden: Hi. Thank you guys for taking the time to talk with us.
Jaime Paglia: Sure.
Colin Ferguson: Pleasure.
Jenny Rarden: I have a couple of questions. One - Zoe left for college
at the end of last season. Does that mean we won’t see her much at all
or if any this season?
Jaime Paglia: You will definitely be seeing Zoe this season.
Jenny Rarden: Okay.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah. She comes back for a bunch. There’s - she was
heavy I would say, in the episode that I directed in the first ten and
that’s always great for me. I mean she’s such a great sort of presence
on set and I think brings so much to the show that it’s nice - it’s nice
that she always comes back.
Jaime Paglia: That relationship has always been I think, you know, a
really, you know, vital, central focus of our show.
And, you know, and in terms of just, you know, the reality of contracts
and things like that, we just don’t have Jordan Hinson for all episodes
produced this season because she was striking out and doing other
exciting things as well. But she is definitely still a part of our show.
Jenny Rarden: Great. And then my follow up question - what has been your
favorite type of - I’m not sure what to call it - science-y thing so far
in the show. And can you tell us anything about anything that’s coming
up?
Jaime Paglia: Colin do you want to go for it?
Colin Ferguson: Sure, yeah. I mean I like the more basic stuff. I mean
the intense stuff is fantastic, you know, if you’re going to go into the
(unintelligible) field and all of that stuff. But I like the serum that
makes you run really quickly. I think that would be fun.
I like the hover board. I think that would be fun. Ending up in another
dimension - I think that’s fun. Jaime what’s your favorite?
Jaime Paglia: Yeah, I think that, you know, things like the biosphere
that we did underground and, you know, the ability to mind link with
somebody else and, you know, relive memories and things like that.
Those would all be great. I think that the - in terms of the
storytelling for me and I know for Colin, I mean this is something I
think he and I both have felt very strongly about and it showed in
episodes like the one that he directed last season, Your Face or Mine.
You know, the concepts that really lend themselves to learning more
about our characters that are much more about our people and less about,
you know, either town wide or worldwide jeopardy, that those are the
ones that we really enjoy the most.
They’re certainly the most fun to write and I’ll let Colin speak to the,
you know, his feelings.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah. And as for this year the stuff we have coming up,
fun stuff, we have sort of what did they call it - what did you guys
call it, metamaterial cloaking?
Jaime Paglia: Yeah. Which is what Colin - in the episode the Colin
directed for us this season.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah. The - where we’re I guess in some forms it can
match any sort of item to another item. And that goes horribly wrong.
And what else did we have - we had the mind meld this year. We had what
are some of the science stuff? We had - oh, we had a race around the
moon.
Jaime Paglia: Yep.
Colin Ferguson: What did we have?
Jaime Paglia: And I’m thinking - and I think that, you know, there is an
episode that we’ve wanted to do for a while that was sort of my - one of
my sort of passion episodes that we got to do this year in coordination
with (Matt Gorr) our visual effects producer, called (Momstrosity) which
I always wanted to do our version of Jurassic Park.
And we’re finally kind of getting to do that this year which is
fantastic.
Colin Ferguson: And we also went into the science of Santa for a little
while.
Jaime Paglia: And we did. We are doing a Christmas episode which will be
a standalone episode that will air in December. And (Bruce Miller) had a
concept for that one that at first thought he- it scared me to death but
he convinced me it could work and it actually did.
So I - my hat’s off to him for I think - and (Eric Tuckman) who wrote
the episode. It’s going to be a great one and we have some returning
people in that episode - Matt Frewer who is fantastic.
Jenny Rarden: Well great. Thank you guys very much.
Colin Ferguson: Sure thing.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Curt Wagner with Red
Eyes Show Patrol. Please proceed with your question.
Curt Wagner: Hey guys. Fantastic two episodes back.
Jaime Paglia: Thanks.
Curt Wagner: I really enjoyed them. And I was wondering if you could
talk - I know we don’t want to spoil anything but talk about your
motivation to switch things up with this big - this big thing that
happens with all of the - with the main characters and, you know, why
you decided to do that.
How long is that going to play out?
Jaime Paglia: Well, you know, the - obviously when you’re reaching sort
of a Season 4 and then, you know, in terms of the actual chronological
time that’s passed, Season 5 because we split our last season in two.
You know, if you want - if you want your series I think to have, you
know, multiple seasons more you want to do something that’s going to be
sort of exciting and change things up but not, you know, takeaway the
essential, you know, core of what your show is.
And there was a concept that we wanted to do since Season 1 that, you
know, Founder’s Day. It is one of the original episode ideas that we
gave to the network when we were - were basically trying to convince
them that this was a series that they definitely wanted to green light
to pilot.
It was an episode about Carter and at the time it was going to be Kevin,
accidentally - Kevin accidentally transporting the two of them back to
Camp Eureka and then having to figure out how to get themselves back and
solve a mystery there without changing the future.
And we were talking about doing that as, you know, over the seasons the
reason we couldn’t do it is because it was so expensive to do a real - a
period piece. You know, the amount of extra money that goes into
costumes and sets and all of those things obviously can be a budget
buster.
But we were going to do it as a two hour movie this time around. And
then when our schedule changed around and we couldn’t do that we thought
well what if we do it as our season opener? That could be interesting.
And then in kind of kicking it around the idea came up that well, what
we could do is have, you know, maybe a couple of little things change
when they get back.
And then it just sort of hit us which says no, everything could change
which is a different concept that we had wanted to do as an episode
where we would start the episode and, you know, Vincent would be the
head of Global Dynamics.
And, you know, Allison would be working at Café Diem and Henry would be
the sheriff and Carter would be the mechanic, where everybody was sort
of in a different role and over the course of an episode you would
discover how they got to be in those roles and that they would get back
to normal by the end of the episode.
But it just - it just sort of hit us I think that this was an
opportunity to have our same town and our same characters but in new
dynamics and relationships. And get to play the fun of that out for, you
know, a 20 episode arc.
And it just sort of I think for everybody here it reenergized us because
it was a chance to really kind of reboot in some ways and again embrace
the aspects of the show that we’ve loved, change some of the things that
I wasn’t necessarily as thrilled about.
You know, some might think patterns that we fell into last season that I
wanted to move away from. And then I’ll let Colin talk to the acting
side. But I think that, you know, from our cast it was just new stuff to
play and they seemed pretty excited about it.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah. I guess from my side Jaime called me in and I
guess I went in sometime in December or January, to the office. And I’ve
told this story before. And they, you know, he pitches this idea for
going back in time and I say oh that’s, you know, that’s great.
You’re going to get shot down at network. You know, there’s no way
you’re going to get green lit on that. And he said no, actually we were
there this morning and it’s a go. They’re excited about it. So for us
right out of the gate it was instantly fresh.
I mean it was huge - it was a huge sort of boon for us because it was a
statement of faith by the network. It’s a monstrous thing to do. It’s a
monstrous reboot to do in Season 4.
So the fact that they would sign off and show their faith in Jaime and
the writers and all of that stuff on that level, sort of gave us a bunch
of confidence and a bunch of energy. And then it sat in the writers’
room - we didn’t see the - I mean the concept sat in the writers’ room.
And so the entire ten episodes were sort of filled with this sort of new
sense of well if we could do this then we could do this. And if we can
do this then we could do that. And it sort of redoubled on itself over
the course of the season. And it made for probably the best ten episodes
we’ve done.
Curt Wagner: All right.
Jaime Paglia: I totally agree. And what has been exciting is it’s not
just, you know, the writers and the actors. It’s the entire team. Our
crew, our production designers, our visual effects guys, our writers and
directors up there, the network and the studio.
Everybody has just been so excited by the opportunity and they’re all
doing their best work. I don’t think the show has ever looked as good. I
don’t think the stories have ever been as compelling. And the
performances just across the board by everybody, have been really
phenomenal.
Everybody has sort of stepped up to I think a new level this season. And
it’s a really exciting energy to be a part of. I keep on hearing from
other aspects of, you know, my life, agents or executives who have
talked to other people associated or who work on our show.
And they say god, you know, we keep on hearing all of these amazing
things from your staff and people and your crew. And it’s like yeah,
it’s exciting. So, you know, we hope that that translates to people
enjoying it as much as we’ve enjoyed making it.
Curt Wagner: Well I think it has a new edge to it almost. And I love
that the five main characters know what’s going on. Because that’s like
a whole other element instead of just being sort of brainwashed and not
knowing what’s happening. Can you talk about working with James Callis?
Colin Ferguson: Sure. Jaime or me? Do you want me to...
Jaime Paglia: You. Why don’t you go ahead?
Colin Ferguson: Sure. James - first of all, he was - way back when
Battlestar and Eureka were on the same lot James was one of the first
and definitely most vocal people to come forward and be so supportive
and encouraging and, you know, helpful.
So it was really fitting that he was the one who gets to sort of, you
know, come on our show and do ten episodes. And we were really, really
happy about that. Working with James, I mean it’s sort of preposterous
how nice a man he is.
He’s like the sweetest guy in the world. Like oh, you can - he just
extends himself so above and beyond for everybody. So that alone is a
pleasure. And then plus he comes at it, you know, it’s nice to get a
different energy on the set because he’s such an actor.
You know, where like my character and this and, you know, what about
this? And he’s always digging, you know, through (unintelligible) or
history through, you know, his own research to come up with different
angles for things.
And it’s really nice, you know, in a season where we are sort of
reinventing or rebooting, to have someone doing all that work again. You
know, and sort of reminding you yeah, you know, dig in. See what you can
find. So as an actor it was fantastic and as a person it was fantastic.
Jaime Paglia: Yeah. And for us obviously, you know, as writers we were -
we - as Colin was saying, you know, we have the same soundstages next to
each other with Battlestar Galactica up north in Vancouver.
And our writers’ offices for the first three seasons were next to each
other here and our post production offices were here together in Los
Angeles. So, you know, we’re friends with all of those guys over there -
(Ron) and (David) and everybody.
And we love their show. I mean it’s an amazing accomplishment what they
did with that show. It’s sort of in a category by itself. And, you know,
James is the consummate actor.
So to have him, you know, embrace the character that we created for him
and to come over and be a part of our series, was really exciting for
all of us.
Curt Wagner: All right, great. Well I’ll let somebody else ask
something.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Sheldon Wiebe with
www.EclipseMagazine.com.
Sheldon Wiebe: Since Curt asked my questions for you Jaime I’m just
wondering maybe if you could expand a bit more on Claudia’s visit and
the circumstances that bring her there and whether or not there will be
any ongoing repercussions from it.
Jaime Paglia: Well we kind of created an interesting, you know, I think
romantic dynamic with Claudio’s character and Fargo’s character. And
it’s something that starts in the Warehouse 13 episode that will air the
same week as ours as a sort of crossover event week.
So, you know, her visit to Eureka is almost in some ways manufactured by
Fargo to get to spend more time with her because he likes her. And, you
know, he’s created a real thing for the Warehouse that they could
utilize which is their, you know, supposedly the reason that she’s come
here.
And then of course as things are wont to do in Eureka, something goes
awry and she gets caught up in it with Carter and everybody in terms of
trying to help figure things out.
So, you know, at the moment it was a nice sort of two episode arc that
leaves the door open for, you know, future potential if we decide to do
more.
Sheldon Wiebe: Cool.
Jaime Paglia: Allison was fantastic. I think everybody loved her. I
would totally keep her and if I could figure out a way to steal her away
from Jack Kenny without him coming over and pummeling me I would do it.
Sheldon Wiebe: Cool. Colin this will sound like an odd observation but
the more I watch Eureka the more I am thinking that Sheriff Jack Carter
is the Sheriff Andy Taylor of this generation. And I mean he’s the town
fixer essentially.
Colin Ferguson: Yep.
Sheldon Wiebe: And like Andy Griffith, you come from a comedy
background. So I was wondering if you could speak to how your comedy
experience works for processing drama and I was wondering if this season
might shall we say, pose unique challenges.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah. I mean how I process drama I come from I guess a
Second City background. And when you do as much comedy as I did sort of
coming up, the comedy is easy. The comedy is the - you can always throw
a joke in. You can always fix something with a bit of levity or reaction
and all that stuff.
But you cannot sacrifice the drama to serve the comedy. And I know Jaime
feels the same way. So on a show like Eureka I think the reason it has a
sort of parental (unintelligible) Andy Taylor aspect to it is that the
drama is very precious to me.
And the drama is, you know, the situations of other people’s lives and
the situations that they’re going through and the emotional stakes that
them as people are going through, that’s always sacred to me. So the
jokes will come - and to Jaime. And so the jokes will always come
outside of that.
And I think there’s something really parental about that, something very
sort of caretaker. You know that, you know, you’re safe. You know that
you won’t be - nothing will be at the expense of you, you know, in a big
way. In a little sort of poking fun way, yes but nothing, you know,
you’re okay.
And then this season what posed, you know, unique challenges - what was
fun about this season is the best writers we’ve had, it’s the best
scripts we’ve had. So in some senses it was the least work I’ve ever had
to do because everything was so good right out of the gate.
So then the problem is all of a sudden I’m left with like well, I guess
I’d better start thinking about what to do on take two, you know.
And it opened up the door for all sorts of like well great, this is just
- we’ll just nail this in one take and then maybe I can improvise this
or, you know, maybe give you another option on the end of the scene with
this.
And it made it really, really fun this year that we as the actors could
then give the writers, you know, A, everything they wanted and then oh,
and then there’s this ending and this ending. And we threw this joke
over here if you want this.
And it became really, really fun to feel like we were giving them, you
know, maybe more than they had hoped or different things and that was a
fun exercise for us all season long. And that was a challenge to do
that.
Sheldon Wiebe: Cool. Just one last thing. Jaime will there be any more
Eureka comics?
Jaime Paglia: You know, I don’t think that they’re planning on doing
anymore Eureka comics. But the novels are going to be coming out in
conjunction with the release of the show. I think actually they’re being
released god, it might be actually this week or next week.
So the first I think two novels are going to be coming out pretty much
back to back. And then...
Colin Ferguson: Wow. Who’s publishing - are you doing those? Jaime, are
you involved in those Jaime?
Jaime Paglia: I was involved with sort of the early conceptual just sort
of, you know, helping select, you know, the writers and some areas for
them to explore and sort of the general approach to how we’re going to
do it.
Sheldon Wiebe: Right.
Jaime Paglia: And once the season started I had to take a step back
and...
Colin Ferguson: Busy? You got busy? Really?
Jaime Paglia: A little busy. I had a couple of things going on. But I
think, you know, the nice thing about them is that they get to explore,
you know, sort of different stories in more of the internal, you know,
thoughts of our characters. Obviously it’s a different style of writing.
And it’s a different experience of the town. And we’re keeping them
largely to the, you know, the sort of more current present day where we
are in terms of the evolution of our series by the end of last season.
But it’s going in new directions and not necessarily incorporating the
newer characters that we have on our show this season.
Jaime Paglia: Oh dear god, is it Penguin? I think it might be Penguin. I
have - I have been going back and forth with this. So don’t quote me on
who’s publishing the books. But...
Sheldon Wiebe: Great. Thanks very much.
Jaime Paglia: Thanks.
Colin Ferguson: Sorry Jaime.
Jaime Paglia: Yeah. (Unintelligible) and I blew it. Well done.
Operator: Our next question comes from Tiffany Vogt. Please proceed with
your question.
Tiffany Vogt: My first question is Colin, have you ever read like a
script and seen where they’ve asked you to do a crazy stunt and you
thought oh my god, I’m not doing that? And how did it work out for you.
Colin Ferguson: When have I not read a script where I’ve had to do a
crazy stunt? Yeah, I mean sometimes, you know, you’re - it’s usually
later on in the season because at the beginning, you know, the first two
or three you’re like yeah, this is going to be awesome. Let’s do it.
You know, sure kick me in the face? I hope everyone kicks me in the
face. You know, and you’re just going - you’re going to do everything
that’s requested of you.
But, you know, by Episode 8 all of a sudden you’re going like so in the
scene where I get hit by the car that’s - we’re getting (Heath) to do
that right? You know, you start seeing if you can maybe not - as your
body doesn’t heal quite as fast as you were hoping.
I mean some of the (unintelligible) is more curious for me technically
how we’re going to pull it off. Like okay, so he crashes into the side
of a car. Are we going to use an air ramp? Are we going to use CGI? What
are we going to do? Is that going to be like sort of a two day thing,
second unit?
How much of it are you going to be wearing a helmet? You know, that for
me is more where my mind goes - the technical of how we’re actually
going to pull it off. And then within the technical where is it going to
be the window to put the character in there.
Because the stunt itself is very, very quick. So you - you’re left with
okay, so is it going to be on the fall? Is it going to be on the
reaction to the fall? Is it going to be - because that’s the stuff where
I have to - where I feel like, you know, you can get a laugh.
You can maybe make the scene a little better by putting some character
stuff in. So that’s where I like to do my work.
Jaime Paglia: Well I mean Colin is particularly good at the physical
comedy also. I mean his - the ability to control his body in the way
that he can - I mean one of the - my favorite moments in the series ever
was in Duck Duck Goose when he comes walking into Global Dynamics and he
gets hit by the field that makes him lose control of his body.
And he kind of just does this, you know, un - it’s completely unnatural
to any human body, arc back and falls flat on his back on the floor.
And we laughed at that so much that when it came to the, you know, when
I was writing the season finale last year and he has to go and turn off
the device that’s inside the garage and all of the things are flying
around and the magnetic poles are swirling and all that stuff, you know,
it was the opportunity to, you know, use him as a puppet essentially,
with a remote control.
I just thought, you know, at first I mean there were - I think there
were, you know, there was that potential that in most series you were
like okay, this is your big dramatic climax. You’re really going to go
for the funny with this.
And I absolutely knew that Colin would be able to make that funny and
dramatic at the same time. And it was. It was great.
Colin Ferguson: And that’s a funny - in situations like that because in
response to the question, I get really, really nervous because I mean
obviously Jaime and I know each other really, really well but this one
show I know that he’s sort of going oh, do this.
I’m like oh, you know, he’s sort of raising the bar and sort of going
and do this now, you know, so...
Jaime Paglia: Yeah.
Colin Ferguson: ...you get nervous because you read it and you’re like
oh, okay, okay, okay. You know, you start thinking on the weekends and
you’re like okay, how am I going to - okay, how can I - what can I do?
You know, and it’s - I know it’s a challenge that he’s sort of throwing
my way and it’s really nice.
Sometimes I don’t think things through when I do that sort of stuff.
Like I’ll say like oh, I’ve got this great idea. I’ll throw myself off
the stairs and I’ll land on my face. And I’ll do it and it’ll work and
then, you know, I’ll have a mild concussion.
Jaime Paglia: So he’s like okay, you’re not going to get another take on
that one. I’m done.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah. Yeah, I’m like ow. But I get so married to the
idea because, you know, they write it and I think oh, that’s hilarious.
We’ve got to do it. We’ve got to do it. And I get so excited about it
that I forget sort of the ramifications of what happens right
afterwards.
Jaime Paglia: But we have fun.
Tiffany Vogt: Okay. As a follow up to that maybe you can comment as a
director when you directed a couple of these episodes, if you take that
into consideration as far as like the physical challenges for your
fellow actors.
Colin Ferguson: I’m a bit pigheaded about it to be honest. I don’t. I
feel like I take the body so many times that when someone else has to do
it I sort of relish it and I’m not really like, you know, oh you have to
wear knee pads? Oh okay. Sure. All right, whatever.
I’ve said I’m not a soft guy when it comes to that stuff. I sort of
think it’s part of the deal. And I do - I have a really childish sense
of humor when someone gets hurt. I mean not injured but hurt. You know,
like you’re doing a stunt, you know it’s going to hurt and you can see
that they’re hurt.
It just tickles me the same way that I laugh when I get hurt. I - we
were doing something what episode was it when the - it was recently -
when my face was too close to the explosion.
Jaime Paglia: Yeah. We had a spark explosion from an electrical
transformer and Colin insisted on getting like right down in there, you
know, to be - he wanted to be in the moment and that thing went off
right in his face.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah, so I get, you know, you get this, you know, you
get - you burn. You burn your eyelid or whatever and, you know, it’s a
stupid thing. And then about an hour afterwards I’m like what - who -
that’s the dumbest, you know.
So we tend to get really excited about our ideas and not really think
about how hard they’re going to be or how much they’re going to hurt.
Tiffany Vogt: Well it sounds like you’re suffering for your art. Thank
you.
Jaime Paglia: I should - let me jump in so that I don’t look like a
complete moron. The Berkley Publishing Group - Berkley Books is doing
our novels. So (Lace Patterson)...
Colin Ferguson: Okay.
Jaime Paglia: ...who is our editor over there would kill me if I had
gotten that wrong.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Nancy Harrington with
Pop Culture Passionistas. Please proceed with your question.
Nancy Harrington: Hi. How are you guys doing today?
Jaime Paglia: Great.
Colin Ferguson: Pretty good. How are you?
Nancy Harrington: Good. I’m actually here with my sister Amy who is my
writing partner.
Amy Harrington: Hello.
Jaime Paglia: Hey Amy.
Nancy Harrington: We were wondering if you maybe Jaime, could talk a
little bit about some of the guest stars this season like Wil Wheaton
and Jamie Kennedy. And also if you have any dream guest stars that
you’re dying to get on the show.
Jaime Paglia: Oh yes. We are - it’s been I think what, you know, what
Colin was saying earlier about, you know, having scripts that are
polished and ready and all of those things, early, that has all kinds of
benefits. And one of them is that you get ahead enough in the game.
You know, obviously your crew has more time to consider scripts on the
creative level so that they can prep those episodes and make them look
the best that they can. But it also gives you the option of actually
going out to guest actors and having something that’s done and ready for
them to see.
Where you’re not just saying okay, we have this episode idea that we
want to, you know, do for you. But you’re not going to be able to see
any pages before the week before it shoots.
And, you know, Wil Wheaton is somebody that we’re all, you know, we were
all I think everybody on the staff, you know, loved Next Generation. And
he’s good friends with some of our writers, (Amy Berg) in particular.
And we had the potential for this particular character that we thought
would just be perfect for him. And was designed to be potentially
recurring. And the plan is hopefully that that was - is going to happen
in the back ten episodes as well.
Jamie Kennedy was a friend of (Matt Hastings) who is one of our co-APs
and he’s up there on the ground in Vancouver. And he’s also directed
many episodes for us this season.
And Jamie was a fan on the show and wanted to come over and play so we
found a role for him that we kind of tailored a bit more in terms of the
personality, to him. You know, we - I - in terms of some of my dream
cast, you know, I’ve always wanted to have William Shatner play Carter’s
dad.
That’s just me. You know, I know that that’s going to - that’s a long
shot probably. But (Felicia Day) is on our list, Eddie Olmos is on our
list. Gosh, I know that - I know I have many, many more but those are at
least a couple of the people that I would love to have...
Colin Ferguson: And we have people coming back as well.
Jaime Paglia: ...come over and...
Colin Ferguson: We have a couple of regulars coming back.
Jaime Paglia: I’m sorry. Say that one more time?
Colin Ferguson: We have - we also have some of our regulars coming back.
Our - well you said earlier Frewer is coming back.
Jaime Paglia: Yep. We’ve got Frewer coming back and, you know, Jaime Ray
is going to be back. And Jordan Hinson is going to be back. And we might
have some surprises in store for you as well.
Nancy Harrington: That’s excellent. Thanks. And Colin this is a little
bit off topic but we read online that you are the West Coast regional
champion Canadian Duck Duck Goose player - champion. And we were just
wondering if that was true and what that’s all about.
Colin Ferguson: That’s - wow. That’s (Kaya Ericson) who - he and a buddy
of his were - they were doing that to each other and somehow I got
looped into this. And so now they’ve put it up on IMDb every - I don’t
every couple of weeks they throw it up.
And I have a team of people who try to take it off. So no, it’s not
real. It’s (Kaya Ericson) harassing me is what it is.
Nancy Harrington: Excellent. Well we like it.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah, it’s pretty funny.
Jaime Paglia: I should add to our - some of our - one of our wishlist -
Ming Na is also on that list. You know, somebody that we’ve been talking
to potentially coming over and seeing us.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Troy Rogers with
www.deadbolt.com. Please proceed with your question.
Troy Rogers: Hi Colin. Hi Jaime.
Jaime Paglia: Hey.
Colin Ferguson: Hey.
Troy Rogers: Now Colin I want to know how is the introduction of Dr.
Grant going to affect Jack and Allison?
Colin Ferguson: He’s a bit of a thorn. You know, it’s one of those
really difficult things because, you know, they have feelings for each
other and, you know, I haven’t made a move and, you know, she’s single
and he’s single so you don’t really have a right or any leg to stand on
to object.
But when emotionally you do object it puts you in a really strange
place. So yeah, he’s a bit of a thorn but he’s also a very nice guy and
yeah, it’s a nice - it’s a nice little triangle.
Troy Rogers: And what was it like to direct Jamie Kennedy?
Colin Ferguson: It was great actually. It was really, really great. When
they said they casted him I was nervous. I wasn’t sure what I was going
to get, you know, because I wasn’t sure if he was going to want to go
crazy with it. And I didn’t want him to go crazy.
But he showed up and he was actually the opposite. He - the first take
we always as scripted, right on. He nailed it. He nailed the drama of
it. And then from them we ratcheted it up. He was an absolute fantastic
guy to work with because he could put jokes in wherever you need it.
You know, you’d sort of go okay, do the scene - I think there’s
something here. I think there’s something here and I think there’s
something over there. He goes yeah, yeah, yeah. So we do again and he’d
boom, boom, boom and throw in three.
We’d do it again and he’d throw in three different ones. So he was an
absolute pleasure to work with and I was really, really pleased.
Troy Rogers: Excellent. And...
Colin Ferguson: Yeah.
Troy Rogers: Jaime you mentioned the Warehouse 13 crossover and how that
happened. What will determine if you guys continue doing that?
Jaime Paglia: You know, well there are a number of factors. I think that
it was a good experience for all of us, you know, on both shows.
Obviously we’ll see how the audience likes it. I know the network has,
you know, has a lot to say about whether they want us to do more.
Part of it is honestly just logistics. It’s a challenge just making your
own show. It’s a bigger challenge when you’re trying to coordinate your
production calendar and schedules of actors and what days they’re
working, with another show’s calendar and actors and directors and all
of those things.
And you’re looking for windows, you know, if we have one of their
characters come over we know that out of our seven day schedule we’re
going to need them for four or five days.
If they’re in the middle of their shooting cycle as well that means that
they have to be, you know, missing for four or five days from their
calendar unless they’re on hiatus. So those are just, you know, the nuts
and bolts, you know, moving parts that you just have to coordinate.
So - but I think it’s something that, you know, we are - we’re all
definitely interested in possibly doing again.
Troy Rogers: Excellent. Thanks again.
Colin Ferguson: Thanks.
Jaime Paglia: You bet.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Monica Garske with
Flash News. Please proceed with your question.
Monica Garske: Hi guys. Thanks so much for your time today.
Jaime Paglia: You bet.
Colin Ferguson: Pleasure.
Monica Garske: Great. So Colin I - I know Carter, you know, obviously
has a pretty weird gig saving Eureka all the time and everything. And
I’ve also heard many times that you have your own weird gigs before
breaking into acting, particularly being a window mannequin.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Monica Garske: Can you tell us a little about that?
Colin Ferguson: Sure. I mean I, in a weird way I can link it back to the
character which is sort of bizarre.
Monica Garske: Oh yeah, do that.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah, do that. Well it’s sort of, you know, whatever
gets the job done has sort of always been something that I’ve tried to
live by. And, you know, when you’re coming up through university and in
your early and mid 20s you have a - you need money. It’s really
important.
So whenever anybody offered me something I was just - I would just sort
of say yes. You know, could you do this? Like I - they - I worked as a
DJ for a little while.
Monica Garske: Oh wow.
Colin Ferguson: I have no business being a DJ. I can’t - but, you know,
you get talking to someone who says oh, we need a DJ. I’m like oh, I’m
an amazing DJ. You know, so I was always very quick to sort of put
myself in that sort of horrible situation to try to make it all work.
So yeah, it was - I was a substitute teacher, I was a mannequin in a
window, I was a DJ, I was a - yeah, you name it, I did it. I moved a
school. I worked planting trees. I worked - I danced on a stool. I mean
it was like I did the oddest things.
So yeah, but it was always about getting the job done and that was about
paying rent.
Monica Garske: So a lot like Carter in that sense that he’s just
determined to do the best?
Colin Ferguson: Exactly. You know, it’s all about sort of, you know,
setting, you know, if you want to, you know, setting a goal and having a
problem and overcoming the problem. And however it gets accomplished is
great. You did it. You know, it’s I think a lot of people in my world
could say yes a little more.
Monica Garske: Yeah. And with the mannequin job I mean it was just for
like a department store or something like that?
Colin Ferguson: Yeah. I was in a store window and, you know, I was
wearing a toga and I was spray painted white. And it was a girl named
(Angel) who was organizing it. And we then would go out into the
department store. And the things that - dirty people - I mean like the
things people say to you.
And like the old ladies and they’re sweet and they’re trying to get you
to move and it’s like filthy. Just like are you kidding? But it was fun.
And yeah, I mean your feet go numb. I don’t think I’d do it very often.
But...
Monica Garske: Yeah.
Colin Ferguson: ...there was a group of people who did all the time.
That was their gig. And it’s an amazing thing actually for how long they
can just stand there and be completely content. I was miserable in my
head but I did it.
Monica Garske: Great. And...
Colin Ferguson: Yeah.
Monica Garske: ...Jaime I’m kind of wondering about the fan base for
Eureka. I mean I know like Comic Con gets a lot of big fans. What have
you seen as far as the followers on the show?
Jaime Paglia: You know, I think that we’ve been really fortunate that we
sort of inadvertently created a family show. And, you know, we have dark
elements that appeal to certain viewers. We have the comedy that sort of
takes the sting off.
And there’s, you know, a little bit of Sci-Fi mixed in. but ultimately
it’s really a show about these characters and their, you know, their
connections to each other and our connections to them.
And I think that the thing that I’ve heard from, you know, so many fans
that I, you know, appreciate the most is when I - it’s - this is - what
I love about Eureka is that I can watch this, you know, with my dad and
my daughter.
And you get, you know, multiple generations who have found something for
them in the show, you know, sort of age 7 to 70. And, you know, our, I
think our median age of the viewer is, you know, mid 40s. So it’s great.
I mean I think that it’s nice that we’ve - I think sort of managed to
find a place that there isn’t a whole - there aren’t very many shows
that sort of fall into that category anymore. And, you know, we’re happy
to - that they’ve embraced us.
Monica Garske: Okay. Thank you both very much.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Jamie Ruby with Media
Boulevard. Please proceed with your question.
Jamie Ruby: ...again. Is there any part that either maybe it was like a
deleted scene or maybe just that you couldn’t quite afford to do
something that you wished like had been in the show that you had to cut?
Or on the other end, is there something maybe you wish you had cut in
hindsight?
Colin Ferguson: Oh god every week - every week there’s something we wish
we could fit in that we don’t get a chance to fit in.
Jaime Paglia: Yeah, that is really the challenge. And, you know, we’ve
made an effort to add more and more deleted scenes to our DVDs.
This last season I think I’ve added more than we ever have before just
because even if it’s like a portion of the scene there are times when
there’s, you know, just a really interesting exchange or some great
performances that you miss.
But, you know, I think that the hardest part of, you know, making the
show is you know, you right something that you love and the performers
give you something fantastic and the production design time gives you
something great, you know, to look at.
And then you realize okay, I have to squeeze this into under 43 minutes
and we have, you know, 48 minutes of footage. Something has to go. So
it’s a weekly - it’s a weekly dilemma.
I think for me, you know, probably one of the times that it - that a
scene that got deleted that was of, you know, the most importance was in
Phoenix Rising last - I guess that might have been in Season 2.
It was a scene where Carter confronted Henry when he - when - the sort
of memories - these little pieces of memories of a relationship with
Allison and Henry having done something to him were kind of coming back
in fragments. And he realized and confronted him when Henry was behind
bars.
So I guess actually that was at the top of Season 3. And it - it was -
it was a really emotion scene where Henry basically had to admit to him
that, you know, I took your memories of her away. And Carter was saying
well, you know, you’re not going to play the martyr for me.
You know, you behind bars doesn’t help anybody. And we’re going to work
through it. And it really was a chance for them to kind of confront this
dark thing that Henry had done out of grief over losing Kim. And it
really tested the relationship.
And it unfortunately did not make it into the final cut of that episode.
So it was something that, you know, I think was sort of a slightly
unresolved thread that, you know, we’ve tried this kind of, you know,
put to bed in, you know, smaller ways over the course of the series.
Jamie Ruby: Okay.
Colin Ferguson: And as an actor it’s really hard - let me just jump in
on that. As an actor it’s hard because you act an episode that you love
and you, you know, you do it all the way through and then because of the
nature of post production you don’t find out that that scene isn’t in
there until three weeks later when they actually get to the point and
they go oh, it’s got to go.
And so all of a sudden you’re going I’ve been acting the two episodes
after like that scene has been - like that scene...
Jaime Paglia: In the show?
Colin Ferguson: ...is a part of it.
Jaime Paglia: Yeah.
Colin Ferguson: It then puts a sort of a strange, you know, strain on
you like oh well I hope my stuff is - I hope it’s going to work. You
know, oh god, you know, you feel badly that, you know, you did it.
But it - I mean it’s the nature - the bit that I can’t understand as a
non-writer, you know, being able to write an episode and fit it to the
second into the slot...
Jamie Ruby: Yeah.
Colin Ferguson: ...that they have for you. I mean you can’t - you can’t
shoot too little. I mean you have to overshoot.
Jamie Ruby: Yeah.
Colin Ferguson: Because you shoot too little and you’re
(unintelligible).
Jamie Ruby: They have to split it too.
Jaime Paglia: Yes.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah, and then so it - it’s even the little sacrifices
that kill me where it’s like there’s this little joke that has to go.
And it’s a great little joke. That’s the stuff that kills me. It’s not
the big stuff, it’s the like - it’s this great little joke that you read
in the script and you’re like oh, that’s a great joke.
And you got on set and it just killed. And for the two seconds that that
joke is it’s got to go to get it down to time. And that’s the stuff
where you’re just like oh, part of you dies.
Jaime Paglia: Part of you dies.
Jaime Paglia: And that’s what we try to maintain. There’s a - there are,
you know, there are a couple of deleted scenes from Founder’s Day that -
one in particular with Carter, Grant and Henry and - when they’re
walking out it’s after the - since you guys have all seen the episode
that - it’s after the satellite dish goes down and Carter has to go
climb up the tower.
There was actually a scene where they leave all three of them and go
outside and they’re looking up at the tower.
And it’s the discussion about you’re going to have to climb up there and
you’re going to have to adjust to ten degrees and Carter has - wants
nothing to do with it because of his fear of heights. And it gets into
the sort of slightly, you know, digging exchange between Grant and
Carter.
And they were hilarious. I mean I - in writing the scene I, you know,
it’s always such a pleasure to write for our cast because you know what
they’re capable of doing. And, you know, we craft the dialogue that, you
know, that we feel like, you know, best fits them.
And, you know, Colin just completely nailed the joke exactly how it was
in my head when I wrote it and I loved the scene and I had to cut the
whole scene to get that episode down to time. And it pains me greatly
but it will definitely be on the deleted scenes reel.
Colin Ferguson: Oh great.
Jamie Ruby: That’s great.
Colin Ferguson: And the hard thing about that is like the scenes can go
in but you can’t include sort of - on the DVD you can’t include, you
know, 45 two second jokes.
Jaime Paglia: Right.
Colin Ferguson: Everyone will be going what is this you know?
Jamie Ruby: Very true.
Jaime Paglia: Maybe I will - maybe I’ll just string them all together
this time. That could be...
Jamie Ruby: Make it like a blooper reel thing.
Colin Ferguson: Exactly.
Jamie Ruby: Quickly I wanted to ask you Colin, you sort of said that
with Jamie Kennedy that he did it on the show but when - from an acting
standpoint do you and the other cast generally stick to the script or do
you sometimes kind of add your own jokes and, you know, which do you
find harder if you do?
Colin Ferguson: Well we all lean on each other definitely. I mean it’s,
you know, sometimes if we catch a mistake, you know, yeah, we’ll
definitely go oh, gosh there’s a thing. And sometimes we don’t catch it
even until it’s on its feet.
You know, and all of a sudden we’ll be doing the thing and at the same
moment everyone will sort of turn to each other and go there’s a mistake
right here. and so yeah, so obviously we’ll have to fix that.
And, you know, the - we have a great relationship with everybody so
that’s - we all lean on each other to do that. this year has been the
best scripts we’ve ever had. So as far as having to fix things it hasn’t
really happened this year.
I find what’s hard is if there is something to fix it’s then really hard
to improvise around because you’re all focusing on fixing a problem
either like, you know, the space is huge that you’re in and the way the
scene was written it doesn’t play right in a big space. You know,
something like that.
Jaime Paglia: I think that becomes - that’s often more the kind of
situation that arises that is the most challenging. Is like, you know,
you’ve written a scene that’s supposed to be a walk and talk through the
rotunda and down the stairs or, you know, or whatever, up in Parker’s
office.
And you get there on the day and, you know, for whatever time or
blocking or, you know, some reason the director says you know what, I
need to play this all in one spot because we don’t have time to do all
of the coverage that we’re going to need to set this all up and light
the whole thing.
So now all of a sudden you have to fit the scene into a completely
different sort of timing of a location.
And - or vice versa. And then you’re like okay, so now we have a whole
bunch of extra time that we have to fill while the actors get from point
A to point B before we really start the scene like we thought we would.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah. Or the scene where it’s like a four line scene
that’s 4/8 of a page and the way the production is sort of - the
location that we got has the car, you know, 50 feet from the door.
Jaime Paglia: Right.
Colin Ferguson: You know, you need more lip flap to get from that door
to the car. So it’s all of a sudden it’s like great, fix it, you know.
Jaime Paglia: Yeah.
Colin Ferguson: But that’s obviously a rare occurrence. I don’t - no one
really enjoys that sort of thing but it’s fun because it sort of gets
everybody’s gears going. What we do prefer is sort of you get the
script, you do the script and then if you can give the writers more for
the edit then you do.
Because that gets really fun where it’s sort of like okay well let’s do
a different version of this joke and let’s, you know, and - because you
know you’ve hit it right out of the gate on the first one. So that’s
hard.
Jaime Paglia: Especially like for buttons on scenes, you know, where you
might have that last joke as the out of that scene before you cut to
something else.
And, you know, our guys are, you know our cast is so quick on their feet
and funny in their own right that they, you know, they’ll come up with
something else just as another option to have as - at the tag. And
that’s always great if you can have options in the editing room you’re
always in good shape.
Colin Ferguson: And sometimes...
Jamie Ruby: Yeah. Okay...
Colin Ferguson: ...that’ll just never make the light of day. It’s
something that’s so extreme that, you know, Jaime will be on set and
he’ll go (unintelligible) you can do it. But I mean really, you know?
Jamie Ruby: Okay, well great. Thank you very much both of you.
Jaime Paglia: You bet.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Blair Marnell with
Crave Online. Please proceed with your question.
Blair Marnell: Hi guys. I’m glad I stayed on all the way to the end.
Jaime Paglia: Hey.
Colin Ferguson: Oh thanks.
Jaime Paglia: So are we.
Blair Marnell: I just wanted to ask do you guys have any plans to bring
Stark back to the series at some point?
Jaime Paglia: You know, we’ll have to see. I mean obviously that’s
always a challenge with, you know, when you kill off a character I was
always of the mind that, you know, if we can manage it to leave, you
know, we have a Sci-Fi show. So ultimately at the end of the day
anything is possible and we love Ed Quinn.
So, you know, I think if the circumstances are right we’ll - I’ll never
say never.
Colin Ferguson: I’m really good friends with Ed and we always joke about
bringing him back - well I have no say in it but it would be really
funny to bring him back as his brother and call him Tony Stark and then
just get mileage out of him having the same name as Iron Man.
Blair Marnell: Just bring him back as Iron Man (unintelligible).
Jaime Paglia: There you go.
Colin Ferguson: Well he’s big enough. That would work.
Jaime Paglia: Seriously. He doesn’t even need the suit.
Colin Ferguson: No. Oh, you know, he was working out, he was doing all
that work working out and he lost - Ed had a child this year so his wife
and him had a child. And he said being a dad for three weeks he lost all
of the weight he got at the gym.
Jaime Paglia: Yeah. That happens.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah, that happens. You’d know.
Jaime Paglia: Yeah.
Operator: We have a next question coming from the line of Joseph
Dilworth with Pop Culture Zoo. Please proceed with your question.
Joseph Dilworth: Hey guys. Thanks for talking to us today.
Colin Ferguson: My pleasure.
Jaime Paglia: Thanks for having us.
Joseph Dilworth: My first question is for Colin. I was just wondering as
you directed a couple of episodes, if directing and learning about that
has influenced how you act at all.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah, it has. I mean not in - not stylistically but the
more information, the more you learn about all aspects of production,
the more you can astutely get your creativity in where it should be. I
think a lot about acting in television and on film is about getting
acting in the right place.
We move very fast, like really fast as a show. We’re a seven day show
that has visual effects and comedy and drama and big locations. And so
it - if you don’t know where to put certain beats they’ll get lost.
And so becoming a director and then directing a couple of episodes and a
movie now, it’s - you just get better at what you do. So I’m incredibly
grateful for the experience. It’s made me a better actor absolutely.
And, you know, more helpful I would think because I’ve been in those
places where a director is sort of going dammit, you know how do I, you
know, and I actually have more help now where I can go oh actually we
can - I can help you out by doing this. Does this help you out?
So I know where to help better.
Joseph Dilworth: Excellent. And for Jaime, Colin mentioned earlier that
you obviously had to get approval and backing from the network to shake
things up this year.
Does having such enthusiasm behind that kind of give you the creative
freedom to know that maybe you can break your toys a little bit more and
not necessarily have to put them back the way they were?
Jaime Paglia: Absolutely. I mean I think that one of the primary things
that we, you know, that we presented to them that they really were
supportive of is wanting to have there not just be stakes but actually
ramifications to what happens in these episodes that last for more than
just the episode.
And I think that that was, you know, sort of fundamental in them getting
behind us for this reset. Is, you know, it wasn’t like oh great, so they
all come back and you’re going to change the roles and then you’re going
to fix it all up in the next episode.
It’s like no, no, we’re actually going to - we’re going to mine this.
You know, this isn’t - we don’t - we’re not doing a - and then we wake
up and everything goes back to normal like so many shows I think - or,
you know, films have done that I think ultimately make your audience
sort of feel kind of cheated.
It’s like oh wait, we went through all of that and none of it really
matters. So when they, you know, it’s - (Mark Stern) is, you know the
head of the network here on the West Coast development. And has been,
you know, the champion of our show since the beginning.
So I think it may have been his first original program that he green
lit. You know, when he challenged us to really push boundaries and then
we said, you know, we - this is what we want to do, you know, he owned
it.
He said, you know, I challenged you guys and you’re stepping up so I
guess I have to - I guess I have to keep my word, you know. And he has.
And they’ve all been really, really amazing and supportive of us not,
you know, not being afraid to take risks.
And I think that, you know, in every episode, especially I - I mean wait
until you guys see Episode 3 which is another departure I think and sort
of shows that if we’re going to do sort of a genre homage that we want
to push it and really kind of go to those places. It might have been the
first episode...
Colin Ferguson: Oh, that was insane. That was a...
Jaime Paglia: Yeah.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah.
Jaime Paglia: I mean visually and stylistically it’s unlike anything
we’ve done. Content wise it’s actually - it’s a little scary. It might
be the very first episode that I might, you know, want to put a warning
on the front of it that it may not be - it might be a little scary to
some of our younger viewers.
But, you know, it’s not like we’re changing, you know, the core of what
our show is. But we’re feeling, you know, much more emboldened to paint
outside of the lines. And that’s what - I think what has made this
season so exciting.
Joseph Dilworth: Well whether you fix it or leave it as it is you’re
going to have characters happy and characters heartbroken so that’s an
interesting conundrum. So the only last thing I have is add to your
guest star wishlist Lee Majors.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah.
Jaime Paglia: He was on my - he is on my guest star wishlist. Actually
he’s even on the wall in the writers’ room. He was one of the people
that was considered for Sheriff Cobb in the pilot. So...
Joseph Dilworth: Awesome.
Jaime Paglia: ...he’s great.
Joseph Dilworth: Oh wow.
Colin Ferguson: Lee Majors could be my dad.
Joseph Dilworth: Well thanks a lot.
Jaime Paglia: He could be.
Joseph Dilworth: Yeah, there you go.
Jaime Paglia: It’s been discussed. It’s been discussed.
Colin Ferguson: Okay.
Joseph Dilworth: Well thank you very much guys.
Jaime Paglia: Thank you.
Colin Ferguson: Thank you.
Bill Brennan: Hey guys. I just wanted to jump in. We exceeded our hour
that we scheduled for. Are you guys okay for time? Do you have a few
minutes or do you want me to...
Jaime Paglia: I can take a few more minutes.
Bill Brennan: Okay. (Andre) how are we with the questions in the queue?
Operator: We currently have three more queued up.
Bill Brennan: Okay. We’ll take those.
Operator: All right. Our next question comes from the line of Curt
Wagner with Red Eyes Show Patrol. Please proceed with your question.
Curt Wagner: Hi guys. Back again.
Jaime Paglia: Hey Curt.
Curt Wagner: Colin, I talked to (Erica) last week and she told a funny
story...
Colin Ferguson: Oh, I’m sorry.
Curt Wagner: She told a funny story about how your episode last year you
directed where she had to sing, how relieved you were when she could
actually sing...
Colin Ferguson: Yeah.
Curt Wagner: And how excited you got. And then she also talked about how
you speak (Erica). I was wondering if you could talk about that and
maybe tell some stories.
Colin Ferguson: (Erica) is funny. She’s - well first of all I’ll talk
about the singing thing. I mean that’s something that Jaime and the
writers do all the time. They’re always sort of in the best of ways,
sort of saying, you know, do this, you know, and do this.
And really sort of pushing the actors to do more, different, better
things than was done before. And so getting (Erica) to sing was -
because I remember when I got the script I went to Jaime and I said are
you kidding?
You know, I’ve got to shoot her on a piano and she’s singing. It was
like let’s talk. Let’s talk. So we do this thing and Jaime was
insisting. He was like no, this is what we want. So we recorded it. And
(Erica) was terrified and she said she couldn’t sing and all of this
stuff.
And we get to the studio and she’s got this great raspy, sexy, sultry
voice that fits completely the song that she’s being asked to sing. So
it worked out brilliantly. I mean for us because, you know, she could
have just as easily been tone deaf.
Jaime Paglia: Yeah.
Colin Ferguson: Which would have been interesting. But yeah, (Erica) is
- for the character she plays she plays a sort of hard, you know,
business, you know, focused, everything aligned, everything arranged
sort of girl. And she couldn’t be more the opposite.
She speaks about 100 miles an hour, she - anything shiny she’s gone and
looking at it. She just scatters all over the place. You know, now take
my part, do this now, run over this hill, got to go to the bathroom,
take it to the top and do this. I mean she’s always bouncing around in
circles.
So she reminds me a lot of my sister. So yeah, we get along...
Jaime Paglia: She’s like everybody’s sister I think.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah, pretty much. So she’s - so yeah, I do speak
(Erica) which means I can speak very quickly and yeah, about anything.
Curt Wagner: All right. And I was wondering if you guys can tease
anything about the zombie episode we’ve seen a clip of.
Jaime Paglia: It will definitely feature (Erica) and obviously it
features Wil Wheaton’s character. And, you know, we had wanted to do a
little bit of our sort of version of 28 Days Later and this is going to
be that episode.
Curt Wagner: All right. Thanks.
Colin Ferguson: I do love that about our show, that we can do - you can
choose your favorite movies and you sort of do I want to do a Eureka
version of that.
Jaime Paglia: Yeah. I mean we, you know, we always sort of concede of
the show as being, you know, a love letter to science fiction where we
can sort of take our favorite concepts or stories or homages and, you
know, genres and do our sort of, you know, Eurekafied version of them.
You know, when it made sense for what was going on with the characters.
And it totally fit in with what was happening to our characters in this
particular episode.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Drew Moorehouse with
Eonline. Please proceed with your question.
Drew Moorehouse: First, oh my god, why are you doing this during the
World Cup Semifinal?
Jaime Paglia: I am so sorry.
Colin Ferguson: Who’s winning? Who’s winning? What’s up? Who’s winning?
What’s up?
Drew Moorehouse: What?
Colin Ferguson: Talk to us. Who’s winning? What’s up?
Drew Moorehouse) It’s tied. Spain just almost scored.
Colin Ferguson: Oh wow.
Jaime Paglia: I’m sorry. Keep it on in the background. That’s okay.
Drew Moorehouse: All right. Okay, just really quick. Our readership
aren’t Sci-Fi fans and I constantly have to say this is the best show on
TV that you’re not watching. So I was hoping that you, Jaime could speak
to that. Maybe just sell the show for a different audience.
Jaime Paglia: You know, absolutely. I - this is - I mean I think that
the funny thing is that I’ve never thought of our show as a Sci-Fi show.
And when we pitched it to the Syfy channel what (Mark) said was I didn’t
realize what we were missing in our programming until we heard the
pitch.
I think we are first and foremost a unique character dramedy. We
approach every episode from the characters first and what’s happening
with them.
And after we know what we want to do with them and those relationships
over the course of an episode then we choose what the Sci-Fi concept is
that would sort of thematically fit and help, you know, be the catalyst
for those, you know, the conflicts that we want to have arise over the
course of an episode.
You know, so I think for us, you know, every episode needs to live or
die based on the character stories first.
And, you know, it’s - we just have the sort of added benefit of this
little bit of science fiction that we can throw in to, you know, change
things up and tell stories in way that you can’t tell in the traditional
drama or comedy format.
I would never before - if you had asked me, you know, when did we sell
this show, 2003? That was seven years ago.
And if you had told me that I was going to be, you know, running a
Sci-Fi show and people were going to be looking to me as the Sci-Fi guy
in that realm, I would not - I would say there’s not a chance. I don’t
think that I am particularly, you know, Sci-Fi oriented in terms of how
we approach the show.
And the biggest number - I mean I think we, you know, in the first two
seasons we brought over 5 million new viewers to the Syfy channel. You
know, the - our premier, you know, set a record for the channel that has
- that still stands in terms of, you know, the numbers of people who
tuned in.
And I think that they tuned in because it wasn’t a traditional Sci-Fi
kind of concept. So I would definitely say to anybody, you know, who
wouldn’t normally watch the Syfy channel, this is a show that could be
on NBC and I think it would still have the same kind of following. So
check us out.
Bill Brennan: I think Jaime...
(Drew Moorehouse): Awesome. Right.
Bill Brennan: Hey (Drew)...
Jaime Paglia: Yeah?
Bill Brennan: ...it’s Bill. Just a little ratings background I’d just
like to give you guys. I was just - anytime I get somebody’s ear - where
Eureka has followed a very unique trend of each new season has grown
year over - season over season with the audience than the one prior.
So I think we left us at averaging over 3 million a week last season
with Season 3. So...
Jaime Paglia: Wow.
Bill Brennan: Yeah. It keeps growing.
Jaime Paglia: And that’s (unintelligible).
Bill Brennan: So I always like to get that out there, you know, there’s
always time for new viewers, especially this season, you know, to have
to get on board. So...
Jaime Paglia: Yeah. And we particularly kind of crafted this season to
be really, you know, open to new viewers coming on board. You know, it’s
always great to be able to see a series from the very beginning.
But you could come into, you know, I think Founder’s Day and very
quickly have the relationships when characters are established. And then
we actually give you the history of the town now and how it came to be.
So it’s a great time to actually check out the show and not feel like
you’ve missed the boat.
(Drew Moorehouse): Okay. Get back to the game.
Jaime Paglia: Get back to the game.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah, exactly.
(Drew Moorehouse): Thanks so much.
Jaime Paglia: Thanks so much.
Colin Ferguson: All right.
Operator: And our final question comes from the line of Jamie Ruby with
Media Boulevard. Please proceed with your question.
Jamie Ruby: Hi. Now you guys have both talked about, you know, the whole
reboot of the season and everything. So this is for Colin. Since it’s
changed so much does that kind of change your approach from an acting
standpoint of how you’ve, you know, done so this season?
Colin Ferguson: No. No, I always approach it sort of the same way. I
mean it’s always script first. You know, you get a story and then you
figure out how - what you know how to do is going to help tell that
story. What I’ve enjoyed about this season is that going to new places.
With what we can deliver I find that the scripts this year are more open
to comedy. They’re more open to a little joke here and there than I
guess last year or the year before. And that’s really exciting. It feels
like there’s a lot more - everything’s grounded in a new way this year.
Which is really exciting. There’s more subtext going on and I like that.
So no, I wouldn’t say it changes how I go about it but there’s always
different things that are called upon to execute it and that’s what’s
been great about this year.
Jamie Ruby: Okay, great. Now I know that you’ve directed. You’ve talked
about it. Are you ever interested in writing? And Jaime, are you ever
interested in directing or acting?
Colin Ferguson: Yeah, I’ll answer that real quick for me. I’m a good -
I’m a good rewriter. I’m not a good creator. I’m not a good from scratch
guy. But once a concept’s there I’m good at sort of tweaking it. So I
would be interested in a writing partnership but I don’t have the
creator aspect to me.
Jaime Paglia: As for directing I’ve been asked this for a couple of
seasons now, when am I going to finally do it. And it may potentially
happen in these back ten episodes. It’s, you know, we’ve been discussing
it and hopefully, you know, planning for it.
I think it really depends on where we are with the scripts by the time
we get to, you know, the time slot that would fit for me to do it. I
would love to do it. I think it would be an amazing learning experience.
And I know that the team that we have will help make sure I don’t crash
and burn.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah, I mean the problem for Jaime is obviously as a
director you need to be up there for seven days, and you need seven days
of prep, so that’s three weeks. So that’s asking him to not be a part of
the writers’ room for potentially three weeks and that’s, you know, you
just can’t lose a member like that for that length of time.
So I mean I know that’s the battle that he fights regularly as sort of,
you know, being asked and wanting to sort of go up and direct. But then
to leave the writers’ room is - I don’t even know if you can do that.
Jaime Paglia: And I’ve been fortunate that with (Bruce Miller), you
know, running the writers’ room while I’m rewriting and traveling back
and forth and doing other aspects of it. You know, when I can’t be in
the room with him has made this a real potential thing for me this year.
And if we’re sort of aiming towards like Episode 18 ideally. Then that
way we will have written the last two episodes at that point probably.
And I could still potentially write the finale and then still direct
this episode. So we’ll see. You know, it’s my hope. I’ve got fingers
crossed.
Colin Ferguson: That’d be great.
Jamie Ruby: Well we hope to see it.
Jaime Paglia: Thanks very much. And with that I actually get to go and
watch the midseason finale right now - the cut that just came in which
is going to be unlike anything we’ve ever done on the show. I’m so
excited. So I’ll just tease you guys with that. Episode 9 is going to be
amazing.
Colin Ferguson: Oh wow.
Jamie Ruby: Yeah, just make us jealous now.
Jaime Paglia: All right. Thanks everybody so much...
Jamie Ruby: Yeah, thank you.
Jaime Paglia: ...for your time. I really appreciate it.
Bill Brennan: Yeah. Thank you guys. I just wanted to mention a few dates
because we mentioned the guest stars. Wil Wheaton - I just want you to
know that episode airs July 23. The episode with Jamie Kennedy and also
Jordan Hinson’s in that one, that’s the one Colin directed, that’s July
30.
And I know we’re going to see a lot of you guys at Comic Con. I look
forward to seeing you there. The Eureka panel is Saturday at 4:15. So
hopefully you’ll make it then.
Colin Ferguson: And if we bump into each other at Comic Con just let me
know that you were on the conference call because sometimes names and
faces don’t collide for me. So just go oh, I was on the conference call.
Jaime Paglia: And for me as well. And Wil Wheaton on Friday night at - I
think we’re - we’re doing the screening for Eureka it’s either 8:30 or
8:45 on Friday night. Wil Wheaton is actually going to introduce the
screening with us.
Colin Ferguson: Oh great.
Jaime Paglia: Yep, 8:45. And that’ll be - that’ll be the Episode 3 - our
All the Rage.
Bill Brennan: Okay. So if anyone needs a transcript we’ll have one
available. You can give me a call at (212) 664-4898 or email me at
bill.brennan@nbcuni.com. And (Andre) do you have some replay information
you can share?
Jaime Paglia: Thanks everybody I’m going to say goodbye. I’ll talk to
you guys hopefully at Comic Con.
Colin Ferguson: Yeah, me too. I’m out. Later everybody.
Jaime Paglia: Bye.
Bill Brennan: Bye guys.
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