TURNER ENTERTAINMENT
Moderator: Erin Naman
December 10, 2010
1:00 pm CT
Operator: Good day and welcome to the Ben McKenzie and Regina King
conference call. Today’s conference is being recorded.
At this time I would like to turn the conference over to Erin Naman.
Please go ahead.
Erin Naman: Hi everyone, thanks for joining today's Southland conference
call with Regina King and Ben McKenzie. Season three of Southland
premiers Tuesday, January 4 at 10:00 pm Eastern and Pacific on TNT. A
transcript of this call will be available on Monday.
I’ll now turn the call back over to our moderator to give instructions
on how to queue your questions.
Operator: Thank you. If you would like to ask a question at this time
please press the star key followed by the 1 on your touch-tone
telephone. If you are on a speakerphone please pick up your handset or
deactivate your mute function before signaling. Once again, that is
star-1 to take a question.
And our first question is going to come from David with the McClatchy
Newspaper. Please go ahead.
David Martindale: Hi guys, thanks for taking the time to do the call.
Regina King: Thank you.
David Martindale: Yes, I watched the screener of the Return episode this
morning. It’s the feel-good episode of the season, lots of teasing. But
I find it interesting that over the past decade or so - decade of CSI
and the forensic crime dramas that - you know, squad officers and
detectives and crime shows have kind of taken a back seat while many of
the crime scene analysts and medical examiners and their techniques have
taken over.
It’s almost like the powers that be determined that cops stopped being
interesting and Southland is, you know, one of those rare shows that
confers that, yes, actually cops still are very interesting.
For both of you, have you thought about this? Do you think the show is
offering a unique point of view in that way? Do you get feedback from
your life counterparts that suggest they feel like they’ve been kind of
- had their thunder stolen by the CSI-types and so on?
Ben McKenzie: I think that’s a good point. I think you’re right. I think
for whatever reason, I don’t know if that’s - they simply think the
technology has evolved enough to where they can make a show like CSI
with all the sort of fancy graphics and computer angles and stuff,
camera angles, interesting, whether that’s the reason for it or whether
the template of the old, you know - shows about black and white and, you
know, two guys and a police cruiser were getting stale but whatever the
reason is I think that Southland is fairly unique because it’s very much
the antithesis of those kinds of shows that are more focused on the
visual.
This is really about on the ground, kind of boot level view of policing
a big, crazy city like Los Angeles in the 21st Century and how kind of a
grittier, rougher look at what it’s actually like on a pretty human
scale and how what the cops see affects them in their personal lives. I
think that’s the other thing that’s missing from, like, CSI and Law and
Order is it’s much more about the crime, solving the crime, and catching
the bad guys at the end of the episode and every kind of - being able to
turn off their TVs and sleep soundly in their beds.
And Southland doesn’t really do that ever. Often, we don’t catch the bad
guy if there is a bad guy. And even when we do it’s such a disturbing
ride that you’re not exactly sleeping quietly home at the end of the
episode. It’s a brutal look at the kind of rough world that the cops
encounter. So I think it definitely has a place in society and I think
it’s not going to appeal to everyone. I don’t think we’ll ever get the
kind of numbers that CSI or Law and Order get but it’s not really the
point.
The point is to build kind of a slice of life for - what cops go through
and I think that will appeal to certain sort of sophisticated viewer who
wants something that’s a little more honest in his portrayal of Los
Angeles and police officers.
David Martindale: And Regina, do you wish to weigh in or do you want me
to go to the next question?
Regina King: I’m not - he hit it pretty well.
David Martindale: He did a good job. Will you start with the answer to
this? Does playing a cop make you more vigilant, more cautious, more
paranoid even about putting yourself in dangerous situations in daily
life?
Regina King: Gosh, I don’t think paranoid but I definitely would say
that - I think all of us are a little more aware of our surroundings and
aware of things that are going on when you’re not paying attention.
People have - what we’ve learned in all of our boot camp and training
that we’ve done or just with officers and detectives, how they solve a
lot of their cases, how they end up in situations where they’ve caught a
criminal before an actual report was made.
It’s just because they have this ability that they were trained to
acquire to check out body language and tones of your voice. And all
those things help an officer determine, you know, whether a person is
guilty and just kind of speak to those gut feelings that you have as an
officer.
And I wouldn’t go as far as that, you know, we’ve got this gut feeling
that this lady that’s in the car next to me is, you know, a criminal but
I would say that when I am in public situations I am more aware of -
like, I don’t know about you Ben, like you can catch somebody that you
can tell is high that you might not have paid attention to before -
before we started this whole two-year journey on Southland.
Ben McKenzie: Right, right. I agree with that. I think you’re more aware
of your surroundings and a little more - just more aware there’s bad
stuff out there.
Yes, yes, I agree with everything you said.
David Martindale: Is that a good thing that you have that in you now or
do you find sometimes maybe you wish you didn’t have that in you
sometimes now?
Regina King: Not be, I feel like it’s just made me not so - because I
tend to sometimes be, you know, the nice girl when I really shouldn’t
be. And it’s just kind of helped me to pay more attention to people’s
ulterior motives.
David Martindale: Okay, I know there are other people that will ask
questions so I’ll bow and let them ask questions. Thank you very much.
Ben McKenzie: Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. And our next question will come from Thomas with
the Laist. Please go ahead.
Thomas Lewis: Hi. Hello? Great. I had a question, first for Regina.
Detective Lydia Adams, the physicality that you’re bringing to her is
pretty amazing. It looks like we’re going to get more of that this
season. What I’m wondering is if we’re going to see traits of her that
are maybe a little less perfect because she seems so perfect. It is, you
know, super fit. She is chasing people down. She’s always trying to do
the good thing but it seems like compared to the other characters she’s
so perfect. Are we going to see some chinks in that armor?
Regina King: I think you’re definitely going to see a less-perfect side
of Lydia but I think what’s interesting about how the writers have - how
they’re playing it is that you see a less perfect side as she discovers
the less-perfect side of herself.
Thomas Lewis: Okay, great. And as I was saying, we’re seeing, you know,
you doing this amazing stunts this season in the opener at least, which
was what you were doing in all of last season, just really getting this
kind of physical perspective of doing the job. Was this part of your
training, the boot camp that you’re talking about?
Regina King: No, that part of it - the boot camp, most of the training
that we were doing - that was gun handling, handcuffing, and just the
overall command presence that law enforcement has. I think - what’s been
kind of like the added plus, I think where the studio got more bang for
their buck is that they got an entire cast that is pretty frickin’ fit.
We kind of, like, make a joke, like, if there was a competition of us
against another show we’d take anybody down. You know, we’ve got a
really, you know, conscious group of people. Like, we’re always on the
set, like, looking at the treats. Like, I’m going to walk away from that
cupcake. Somebody pull me away. But I think that’s just, like, an added
benefit.
Thomas Lewis: That’s great. Well, thanks so much. And really quick Ben,
we saw a little hint you made in the season opener, a little allusion to
the past season I think with a cousin getting married. Are we going to
continue to see Ben Sherman try to burry his privileged past this season
or are we going to have it encroach on his police work?
Ben McKenzie: You’ll see his past but only really - in terms of what
we’ve already shot, what I know. In Episode 3, the guy who rapes my mom
gets out of prison and that affects me pretty severely and I go a little
haywire because of it. But in general, no. In general we’re not really
going to dig.
I think the producers made sort of a collective decision that what’s
most interesting - the original intention of the show was to talk about
cops on the job and have a little bit of their personal lives sprinkled
throughout but to be very focused on the cops, what they see on the job,
and how it affects them and only them in their personalized.
And not focus too much on sort of secondary, kind of more atmospheric
stuff about, you know, for my character, you know, my sister who’s
getting married and, you know, my father who’s a jerk and all this -
high-profile defense attorney, all this stuff that’s a little secondary
to the specific focus of the show, which is cops and what they see on
the job and how it affects them.
So I don’t think we’re going to get at too much of the kind of
Brentwood-cocktail party circuit. I thinking we’re going to stick to
boots on the ground and police work.
Thomas Lewis: Great. Thanks so much. Loved the show and thrilled you’re
back. Thanks so much for talking to us.
Regina King: Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. And our next question comes from Earl with Wireless
Magazines & Digital Journals. Please go ahead.
Earl Dittman: Hi guys, how are you all today?
Ben McKenzie: Terrific.
Earl Dittman: I have to say, Southland is one of my favorite shows and
I’m not just saying that because you are here. It’s one of my - it
really, really is something I have to sit and I wait for it every week
just to see. So it was great to watch this opening episode. And I have
to say the two of you play some of the - two of the best characters on
the show, the most - there’s just interesting to watch.
I guess my first question is, were both of you shocked by the fact that
TNT picked it up? Did you think after the first season that it was dead
and gone or did you think it had that second life, that someone would
see it and go, we’ve got to get this back on the air?
Ben McKenzie: Regina?
Regina King: I felt like we were - that it was not the end. I always
felt like there’s just no way that all of these people, and I say all of
these people I mean the crew as well and the people behind the scenes
that make it a possibility to put this much work into something that
turns out so great - that has turned out so great, that that just be it.
I just don’t feel like the universe works that way. I feel like the
universe wants, you know, good to prevail. You know, I kind of have a
fairytale mind like that. So I never thought that.
Earl Dittman: And you?
Ben McKenzie: I don’t know. Maybe I’m not as optimistic as Regina. I
just - at the end of the day it was out of our hands so I just sort
of...
Earl Dittman: You were kind of thinking the worst.
Ben McKenzie: No, not the worst. Just that, you know, I have no affect
on the outcome of this situation which is the truth of the matter. And
the truth of the matter is that none of individually on the show did.
You know, John went around and shopped the show. TNT went out of their
way to express interest in it and came up with the best offer. And we’re
very grateful that they did. And I think quite frankly it’s due to TNT’s
interest and the interest of the fans who were pretty vocal who
expressed themselves online and in letters and, you know, all over the
place. That’s why we’re back.
Earl Dittman: Great, one last question and I’ll let you run. You went to
the cop camp I guess we’ll call it. Have either of you actually gone out
with actual cops and driven with them, spend any time with them on the
street?
Ben McKenzie: Yes.
Regina King: Yes.
Earl Dittman: And what was that like? And if you did, what was it like?
Regina King: Ben, I’ll let you quarterback that one.
Ben McKenzie: You don’t want to answer? It was fun. It was really fun
and I’ve been to different parts of the city, a Newton division which is
a pretty rough area in South LA, then in the Valley and in West
Hollywood or West Latte as a lot of the cops like to call it, not
particularly tough. And each different ride-along - each ride-along was
different and each gave me a different perspective on kind of what the
cops do. And yes, I got something out of each of them.
Earl Dittman: Sounds great. Regina, did you get the chance?
Regina King: I got the chance but mine was not as colorful as Ben’s. Ben
got the opportunity. I think everyone except for myself and Shawn got a
chance to kind of see some interesting things and you heard Ben refer to
West LA as West Latte and that’s where Shawn and I went so we kind of
got to see a more laidback...
Earl Dittman: Cleaned up side.
Regina King: Yes.
Earl Dittman: Thank you guys. And thanks for a great show and I’m glad
you’re back. And so this is 13 episodes we’re seeing?
Ben McKenzie: Ten.
Earl Dittman: Ten, okay great. Anything we can do to help you out we’re
going to do it. So thanks again.
Regina King: Thank you.
Ben McKenzie: Thank you very much.
Operator: Thank you. And our next question will come from Danielle with
the LA Examiner. Please go ahead.
Danielle Turchiano: Morning guys, thanks for taking the call.
Regina King: Good morning.
Danielle Turchiano: So the subject matter of your show is obviously
much, much heavier than a lot of network cop-dramas these days. And I’m
wondering - I mean you’re in your third season, does it ever get any
easier for you when you open that script and you read the case that
you’re going to be exploring?
Ben McKenzie: Sometimes it does actually. Sometimes the thrust of each
episode will almost always be the A-storyline on any tab so it’s almost
always going to be pretty hard-hitting and pretty - kind of brutal. But
there’s often a B and C storyline that are much lighter and much more
funnier that is there for comic relief. And there’s a lot of humor in
what cops see and do.
I mean they are such crazy situations all the time that - some pretty
bizarre, funny stuff happens. And it sort of rotates amongst the cast
who has those bylines but I think we’ve really found a lot of humor in
the show. I think what’s interesting about it - and I think this will be
very evident in the episodes that will air on TNT this year but there’s
a lot of unexpected humor, you know - a serious situation that has a
really, really funny thing at the heart of it.
And I think it’s funnier than a lot of the, you know, sitcom stuff out
there because it’s more honest and more disturbingly funny that - you
know, there’s a scene that you’re aware of - I’ll just talk about it.
I’m not sure if I can or not but what the hell. I show up with Shaky,
I’m running off a female cop with a guy who’s bleeding from his arm and
he says his girlfriend has cut him. And they - where she’s just in the
car down the block, and we go down, and it’s a blow-up doll.
And he’s got a ((inaudible)) and the guy is - if you want to say a
little crazy and he says he got in a “argument” with his girlfriend and
they were arguing about the outfit that she was wearing and all these
guys looking at her. And he’s clearly fine and he cut himself. And, you
know, there’s funny stuff in that but it’s also - sort of disturbing and
I think that’s kind of the line we walk on this show a lot.
Danielle Turchiano: Right, and I mean do you find that when you get your
script you’re hoping for those scenes, the ones that do many have those
comical elements or do you want the gritty, A-story hard drama all the
time?
Ben McKenzie: I don’t want either all the time. I don’t know about
Regina. Do you?
Regina King: I totally agree. I don’t think the audience wants either
all the time.
Ben McKenzie: Yes, balance is good.
Danielle Turchiano: Good it. And just in the opener, in the season
premier, there’s that great scene done with you where you guys are
coming up to Hollywood and Santa Monica and there’s a shooting. And what
you did with the car, the way you put the vests over the windows and
everything, I felt like - that was, like, the essential inside look at
how these officers would work in a situation like that.
And I’m wondering, how much prep work goes into that? Did you rehearse
that with actual officers on the day of the set? What kind of
inside-look did you guys get in terms of making that scene as real as
possible?
Ben McKenzie: Right, that is a tactical maneuver that the LAPD does
employ in certain situations because the body of the car is bullet-proof
but the windows can’t be bullet-proof completely so you do throw the
vests over in order to bullet-proof the entire side of the car when
you’re driving and trying to pick up an officer who’s down and trying to
bullet-proof an entire side of the car that’s taking oncoming fire. So
we have worked on that before. We actually - all of us collectively, ran
through an exercise. Was that first year, Regina?
Regina King: God, I want to say it was second year, Ben.
Ben McKenzie: But we’ve done the thing together.
Danielle Turchiano: So it’s almost second-nature now that you guys are
comfortable.
Ben McKenzie: Yes, well, actually we haven’t done it in a long time so I
was a little bit nervous about it but it actually - even as complicated
as you think, basically, you know, take off the shirts to get down to
the vests and throwing the vests over the windows, overlapping the vests
so that there’s no holes in it and shut the door. I mean it’s actually
not as complicated as it may look. I don’t know if it even looks that
complicated but it’s actually relatively straight-forward. The trick is,
you know, you’re doing it while you’re being fired upon so you have to
be, you know, a little bit - you know, you have to play the reality of
that situation.
Regina King: I think the beauty of that particular scene that you’re
talking about, the fact that it shows this brotherhood that law
enforcement has, you know, and the sacrifice that they’re not only
making for us, civilians, everyday but the even extra mile that they’ll
go to sacrifice - you know, to put themselves in jeopardy for one of
their one.
Ben McKenzie: Right.
Danielle Turchiano: Absolutely. Great, well, thank you guys so much.
Ben McKenzie: Thank you.
Regina King: Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. And our next question will come from Fred with
Screenjunkies.com. Please go ahead.
Fred Topel: Hi, nice to talk to both of you. Where do we pick up your
characters and how do you feel about what time is past since the last
season?
Ben McKenzie: Regina?
Regina King: I think, you know, when you come to this season it is
definitely clear that some time has past but not much. I have a feeling
that only a few months have past, you know, like, six or seven months
have past since the last time you’ve seen our heroes. And I think we
kind of pick up - I think especially for specifically Ben and I, our
characters, because we’re so by the book and we so want to do our job
well, you start - in this season, are going to see how we are a little
more flawed than what you might have thought in the prior seasons.
Fred Topel: What are some of those flaws you’re enjoying exploring?
Regina King: For Lydia specifically, that she may not be the easiest
partner to work with contrary to her belief. And you kind of see her
discovering that through this new partner that she’s working with.
Fred Topel: Is there a pivotal case for Lydia this year?
Regina King: Yes, there is. There’s one that takes place that starts out
seeming to be like it’s going to be another murder case that she’s
picked up and turns out to go way beyond just being a murder case.
Fred Topel: And Ben, were you mentioning a new partner for your
character?
Ben McKenzie: No, no, I don’t have a new partner. I’m running around
with John still, my last state of probationary period. By the end of the
season - the end of the season will mark the end of that period. But no,
I’m still running around with John Cooper. I guess - sorry, the one
episode I referenced is one episode we switch partners. I ride with
Shaky and a female cop and John rides with Dewy because nobody will ride
with Dewy so it ends up being the short stick having to ride with Dewy.
But for my character, it’s kind of what Regina was saying that
((inaudible)), you’re going to see both Lydia and Ben more human than
perhaps seen them before. Ben has an episode, like I said before, where
the guy who raped his mom gets out of prison and we finally talk about
that, forced to talk about it. And I think it will shed some light on
who this guy is deep down underneath a lot of the armor that he puts up.
You know, I think most of what you see is a pretty stoic guy out there,
kind of just observing the world and taking John’s flack - taking a lot
of grief from John, but inside there’s a lot of other stuff boiling
underneath and you’ll see that come to the surface in that episode. And
that will probably - should inform more of who this guy is. He’s - I
mean he’s almost sort of obsessed with the notion of justice and that’s
kind of what he’s been pursuing his entire life. And when that changes
in his episode you see him kind of change and grow up and mature a
little bit into a different kind of cop.
Fred Topel: Well, it sounds like great, intense stuff that we love from
Southland - and that blow-up doll story, that’s classic.
Ben McKenzie: The blow-up, yes - I mean, you know, there’s a lot of
stuff - yes, there’s just a lot. And almost everything’s taken from
actual cop stories. You’re dealing with just a lot of strange
situations. I’m trying to remember what. I know you’ve had...
Regina King: There’s - you guys have a lot more than the detectives do
and that’s just because of the nature of the position. You’re the first
ones there.
Ben McKenzie: Right, right. Because you have an episode that we just
shot where you’re having to deal with two detectives who aren’t very
good at their jobs and you’re having to shepherd - you’re basically
having to baby-sit two grown men who are detective ((inaudible)) who are
just terrible at their jobs and you’re having to, like, fix it for them.
And, you know, that kind of stuff - there’s a lot of humor in that and
it’s also a very, unfortunately, very realistic.
And I think more of that in the show is a good thing. We’re not trying
to be an oppressively, down-beat show. We’re just trying to open up a
whole new world that isn’t really shown on law enforcement shows out
there. Not everything is sort of beautifully shot, clean, crisp, you
know, CSI-file, law enforcement. In fact, that’s not real at all.
Regina King: I’ll say it, not real.
Ben McKenzie: And even in Miami people don’t look like that and it’s not
always shot on an 85 millimeter lens.
Regina King: But it’s great. It’s great to be on TV and have both.
Ben McKenzie: That’s true.
Regina King: And that’s what we’re offering. We’re offering, you know, a
side that’s a little more gritty and honest.
Fred Topel: Yes, well, thank you.
Ben McKenzie: Yes.
Regina King: Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. And our next question will come from Holly with
DigitialAirwaves.net. Please go ahead.
Holly Bowmaster: Hi, thanks for talking with us this morning. What is it
like working with the other cast members on the set? Are there - is
there a certain cast member that’s the joker of the group?
Regina King: Cudlitz.
Ben McKenzie: Cudlitz, is a joker.
Regina King: Yes. Shawn has kind of, like, that sardonic-type wit.
Ben McKenzie: Yes, Shawn doesn’t - yes, it’s a dark interior sense of
humor. It’s not a laughing joke, yes.
Regina King: It’s kind of like an hour later, that was a joke, right?
Ben McKenzie: Right, right. Regina and I are just two bumps on a log
taking it all in.
Regina King: Taking it all in, making them feel good about their jokes.
Ben McKenzie: That’s right, we play the audience.
Holly Bowmaster: Regina, can you tell us a little about Lydia’s new
partner this seasons and how the dynamics between them are going to work
out?
Regina King: Well, Lydia’s never worked with a partner, with a woman
before. And it’s - the character is a woman that’s been on the force
longer than Lydia. She’s a bit older than her so there is that dynamic
that - it’s not said but the tension is felt where you have one person
that, you know, is really good at their job and feels like, you know,
I’m this good because - I’ve reached the level of success that I have
because I’ve been this good.
And then you the other one that’s like, I’ve been here longer - it’s
kind of like - a little similar to what goes on with John Cooper and Ben
Sherman but the only difference is Lydia’s been around longer than Ben
Sherman’s character so she’s a little more vocal about not liking the
way her partner does her job. Like, Ben Sherman definitely does not
agree with all the stuff that he or John Cooper say but it’s his
training officer so you kind of catch his disdain for some of the things
that Cooper expresses in his looks where Lydia actually is more vocal.
Ben McKenzie: That’s it, yes.
Holly Bowmaster: And Ben, what was your favorite thing about playing
your character? Was there something specific that you like about him?
Ben McKenzie: Sorry, you cut out there in the middle. What about my
character?
Holly Bowmaster: What is your favorite thing about playing your
character? Is there something that draws you specifically to him?
Ben McKenzie: Yes, I just think he’s - I think he chooses his words very
carefully and he says less than he feels. And I think that kind of
reserve nature is powerful on camera, not that he doesn’t see a lot.
He’s a pretty sharp guy. He takes in a lot. He just doesn’t speak his
mind. He’s not glib. He doesn’t speak his mind all that much and he
can’t because of the nature of the dynamics between a training officer
and a ((inaudible)). He has to bite his tongue a lot.
But you’ll see a lot of opportunities in this upcoming season for him to
be funnier I think, be a little bit - take that piss out of himself and
John, kind of mess around a little bit. And I think that’s a good thing.
I mean I think if you spend 12 hours a day for a year in a patrol car
with somebody else you - at some point you get a little punchy and you
just want to crack up a little and you want to just, you know, have some
fun.
And I think John and Ben felt that kind of comradery. They already laugh
at certain situations that situations are that absurd. So I don’t know.
I think as you go along I find new angles to play and new things to -
new ways of playing scenes that are sort of similar on the face of them
with John where he’s, you know, ((inaudible)) me for some mistake I’ve
made. I think there’s always new ways to play those scenes because Ben’s
growing up and evolving and their relationship is changing.
Holly Bowmaster: Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. And our last question comes from Sylvia with the
TheGrio.com. Please go ahead.
Sylvia Franklin: Good morning to both of you. Actually my question is
for Regina King. I just wanted to find out - you play a character, a
woman, who’s on the police force. What do you think some of the
challenges are, the stereotypes that may persist about a woman working
in a male-dominated profession?
Regina King: Well, I think, luckily, we’re where we are now. A lot of
those barriers and challenges that women on the force had to face has
been overcome, a lot of - there are more men on the force now that
believe women - it’s necessary to have female and male officers that law
enforcement is stronger with both because women have a certain
sensibility that men don’t have and vice versa. And that reality is
shared with more officers now than, you know, even 15 years ago. So I
think that that’s one of the things that’s kind of great about doing
this type of show in this day and age because we are not dealing with
all of those male versus female things, that’s kind of a story that, you
know, we see that a lot in all industries and it’s not something that’s
- I think it’s only been like even a C storyline for us, maybe even
once.
And when I say a C, more like a C- storyline. It was just kind of
touched upon, that one officer, you could tell, has - and actually he
comes back with it still. He still has that idea that women should not
be officers. But we don’t hit the nail on the head. And I think that
that makes - it’s a better representation of how law enforcement is now.
Sylvia Franklin: And what do you enjoy most about your role as a
detective, Lydia Adams? What has she taught you as a character?
Regina King: I guess right now I’ve just - I enjoy as an actress playing
her, the idea of getting to know her more. I’m still at the place with
the character that I’m anxious to see where she is going to go.
There are - the thing that’s really cool about all of these characters,
that they’re - you get just a little bits of them each time you see an
episode that one of us may be a little more heavy in. That gives you
more of a window, that opens the window more to who these people are.
And it’s really interesting. It’s going to be really interesting to see
Lydia, you know, eventually have more fun. You know, she’s a pretty
uptight person now so just how that journey - how she’ll get to that
place is interesting to me.
Sylvia Franklin: And one last question, and this is for Regina King,
earlier, I would say a few months ago, you posted a letter to the
Huffington Post about the disparity of acknowledgement for actors of
color who weren’t being nominated and for a couple other grievances you
had around that time. Do you feel that this TV season is sort of on its
way to correcting that?
Or do you feel that - like, say with the demise of that series Under
Covers, are we still going to end up in the same place with the 2011
Emmy Awards?
Regina King: Well, I mean I think the reality is, you know, Univisium is
the number one network in the country. So that being said I think that
the future of TV and movies - being more the way real life is, you know,
being more of a mirror-imitating life is probably more a reality that
we’ll see sooner rather than later just with, you know, that statistic
alone I think is a good indicator that - I, people of color, are not the
only ones that feel that way.
Sylvia Franklin: Okay, that’s it for me. Thank you.
Regina King: Thank you.
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