Summer 2010 Press Tour

CBS

Showtime

The Real L Word

Rose Garcia

Jill Goldstein

Mikey Koffman

Whitney Mixter

Tracy Ryerson

Nikki Weiss

Ilene Chaiken, Executive Producer

Jane Lipsitz, Executive Producer

July 29, 2010

The Beverly Hilton Hotel

RICHARD LICATA: For those of who don't know me, I'm

Richard Licata, and I am Executive Vice President,

Corporate Communications at Showtime, and I'll be

taking you through the rest of the panels this

morning. In June Showtime presented the first gay

premiere reality series. "The Real L Word" builds

on the momentum on our scripted "L Word" series,

only this time it's a real raw and unscripted

look. "The Real L Word" follows a group of left

coast real-life, high-profile lesbians as they go

about their lives. They may not be housewives,

but they are definitely attention-getting and

unpredictable, and we wanted you to have an

opportunity to speak with them today. So let's

take a quick look at the "The Real L Word."

(Clip shown.)

Please welcome Tracy Ryerson, Nikki Weiss, Jill

Goldstein, Whitney Mixter, Mikey Koffman, Rose

Garcia, creator and executive producer Ilene

Chaiken, and executive producer Jane Lipsitz.

QUESTION: First of all, I want to make sure we

get the timing of the story right. When is the

season finale of the show? And has it definitely

been picked up for next season?

RICHARD LICATA: The show has three weeks left. So

whenever the date is on the three weeks. Anybody

on my team know the date?

WHITNEY MIXTER: August 15.

QUESTION: Do we know yet if it's been picked up

for next season?

RICHARD LICATA: No. We have not made a decision yet.

QUESTION: Let me ask, we see with Rose this rich

contrast between her father being so accepting and

the mother seemingly not wanting to talk to her or

something. I was wondering, Rose, if you could

talk about that a little bit, and then some of the

other people talk about do you find similar

situations where you find some parents that are

just very warm and accepting and some parents that

just become very distant?

ROSE GARCIA: Well, in my case, my entire family

is accepting. I have a Puerto Rican-Catholic

background. So it's very unheard of for, you

know, for a Puerto Rican-Catholic family to accept

a gay family member. My mother not speaking to me

had something to do with more of a sisterly kind

of little fight we had, but she is accepting of my

sexuality and my lifestyle as well as my entire

family.

QUESTION: And for anyone else, do you find

interesting contrast between reactions of some of

your parents and some of the other parents?

TRACY RYERSON: My mother is also from Puerto

Rico. So she's had a -- it's been a process for

her, and you'll see that transpire in the next

couple of episodes, but I thought it was important

for people to see the mother's point of view and

the daughter's. So both sides of it can have a

conversation, but it was definitely a lot easier

talking to my father about it. He's a Brooklyn

Jew. He has a different background, but my mom is

definitely having a little bit of a problem -- a

little bit of trouble with it. I think mostly

it's from what other people are telling her and

how, you know, she's going to react to it. She's

worried about others.

NIKKI WEISS: I think for myself, I had a mother

who probably knew I was gay before I did. So when

I told her, she wasn't very shocked. I don't have

much of a relationship with my father. I had done

an appearance on "Oprah" in 2006 about women who

figured out that they were gay a little bit later,

and the first phone call that I had heard from him

in many years was "I was watching the 'Oprah' show

by chance yesterday, and I saw this very

attractive woman on her show, and I thought 'What

a waste of a woman,' and then I realized it was

you." So I have not spoken to him or seen him in

about 10 years.

QUESTION: For Ilene Chaiken, Showtime has been

known to renew series after just one episode has

aired. So we're getting down to the nub here.

Are you fairly confident you'll be back for a

second season? Are you in hard-core negotiations

right now?

ILENE CHAIKEN: I'm never confident. Nothing is

done until it's done, but I'm very hopeful.

QUESTION: That didn't sound very convincing.

(Laughter.)

ILENE CHAIKEN: I mean, honestly, we don't know.

We don't know, and there are some changes going on

at Showtime, and I think that we're all going to

have to talk and see what everyone is thinking.

NIKKI WEISS: But if it doesn't get picked up,

we're all moving in a house together. So bring

your Flip cameras.

(Laughter.)

ROSE GARCIA: In New Jersey.

NIKKI WEISS: Bring your Flip cameras.

QUESTION: What are your thoughts about "The Real

L Word," the original series as it existed? What

were your thoughts on watching it? How did you

feel portrayed.

WHITNEY MIXTER: I mean, for me, it was the first

time -- I was a big fan of the original "L Word."

It was the first time I could look at women and

truly relate and see myself back. It's hard.

There's not a lot of lesbian representation out

there on TV, and I could finally see successful

women who also happen to be lesbians, and it was

very refreshing for me, and I think that the

original "L Word" got some criticism for do these

women really exist. And I myself, and I'm sure

these women can agree, were proud to be part of

something that can actually support that and say,

yes, actually women like this do exist.

QUESTION: That show became so well-known and so

popular with those that watched it. Did that put added

pressure on you when you started this, though you

are the real deal, as it were? Was it kind of a

strange thing to have these fictional characters

preceding you and be accepted by the audience with

who they were, and then you come along and hope

for the same thing?

WHITNEY MIXTER: I mean, I think it was a good

thing because, you know, we had a fan base

starting out. I think a natural inclination is to

try to associate, you know, us with original "L

Word" cast members. You know, "You're this

person, and you're this person." But, you know,

honestly, of course, there's going to be some

similarities in characteristics, but we're all

very much individual in ourselves and our own

characters or people.

QUESTION: Ilene, I wanted to ask about that.

ILENE CHAIKEN: Hello.

QUESTION: About casting. What did you have in

mind when you -- what kinds of women did you want

to get? Did you have some iconic thoughts from

the series that you want to replicate at all?

ILENE CHAIKEN: We had some notion about

representation, about a particular swath of women

from a very diverse community. We're clearly not

purporting to represent every lesbian on the face

of the earth or the entire lesbian community, and

"The L Word" has a particular meaning. We wanted

to cast women who in some ways spoke about the

same thing that the "The L Word" spoke about.

Beyond that, there's a whole casting process that

I learned in working with Jane and her colleagues

and learned about how important it is to be open

to let people come in and tell their stories to

you. And you learn things and you meet people you

never anticipated, and then we made choices based

on who we thought would have something really to

say.

QUESTION: I wanted to ask you about the original

series, too. The ending was a disappointment to

some people. I want to have you address some of

that. I think maybe part of it was that there was

going to be another story after it. Can you talk

a little bit about the end of that series?

ILENE CHAIKEN: There was a purported spinoff.

The ending, the finale, of the "The L Word" never

had anything to do with that spinoff, and, in

fact, we chose that story before we ever decided

to do the prison show, and it just was truly

coincidental that that story was able to lead into

the prison show, and it gave us a way to spin the

Alice character into it. And we just told the

best story we could, and we told a story we

thought said what we wanted to say about the end

of that particular phase of the "The L Word"

journey, if you will.

QUESTION: Did you get a mixed reaction from

people about it?

ILENE CHAIKEN: Absolutely.

QUESTION: I apologize for not being able to

remember names very well, but it's a question for

the lady in the middle with purple and the vest

and so forth.

WHITNEY MIXTER: (Indicating herself.)

QUESTION: That's you. You seem to have a very

interesting romantic life right from the first

episode.

(Laughter.)

WHITNEY MIXTER: I like that phrasing.

QUESTION: Could you describe a little bit, is

there something about your nature where you just

are attracted to many people that ends up with so

many complications? And also can you tell us how

that's going to play out in the last three

episodes?

WHITNEY MIXTER: You know, apparently, I have

power of the clam. Right here. It's called power

of the claim. That's what I've heard from her.

It's a phrase made up.

NIKKI WEISS: Please use the (indicating) --

WHITNEY MIXTER: Power of the clam. Here's the

symbol.

(Laughter.)

But basically, you know, I think I was the only

single one on the show, and, you know, I put

myself out there, and I obviously am very

flirtatious, and I think that sometimes girls like

the unavailable, and at that current moment,

during taping especially, I was very unavailable.

So maybe it made me a hotter commodity. I mean,

I'm open. I'm fun with the girls, and I think

that that caused me to get in some sticky

situations and that is what you will see for the

next three episodes. Things really work up to a

peak and kind of stay there.

(Laughter.)

But, you know, I did try to maintain as much

honesty as I could with all of the women because,

obviously, I respect them. I care for all of

them, and that's when I get myself in the most

trouble.

NIKKI WEISS: See, the problem is that she's the

Fonz. So she goes like this, and all the girls

come (in character).

TRACY RYERSON: She walks in the room. She's

magnetic.

NIKKI WEISS: She does. Boom. If you're

straight, it doesn't matter. You see Whitney,

it's the Fonz.

WHITNEY MIXTER: It is, yeah. But, you know, it's

on. I do care about them all out there.

QUESTION: Hi, anybody that wants to answer this,

"Ellen" is a very popular TV show. It seems like

Sara Gilbert is going to have a TV show now too.

I'm not sure, but I don't think there are any gay

men who are out who have their own mainstream,

popular TV shows. Why do you think there's a

difference?

WHITNEY MIXTER: I mean --

ROSE GARCIA: Good question.

WHITNEY MIXTER: -- for me, I would say, you know,

in terms of society, I think we tend to live in a

patriarchal character society, and I think, you

know, in gay culture, it kind of flips it around.

Whereas, you know, I think men sometimes take the

more acceptable role for getting away with things,

in mainstream society I think it's reverse. I

think when it comes to gay men, sometimes they

face more scrutiny in coming out.

ILENE CHAIKEN: I think they face more scrutiny in

coming out, and yet they still have the advantages

of being men should they choose play those

advantages and not put forward their gayness.

WHITNEY MIXTER: Right.

QUESTION: For the ladies on the panel, I don't

know if this was covered in the show or not, have

you covered a class reunion yet, where some of the

women that have become popularized by the show

have actually attended a high school reunion?

WHITNEY MIXTER: I have my high school reunion in

October, my ten-year. So if somebody wants to

follow me with a camera...

NIKKI WEISS: I had my 20 bash.

ILENE CHAIKEN: It's a very interesting story,

though, for gay people and a story that would be

great to tell. Going back into your youth, your

childhood and re-encountering the people who

didn't know you were gay when they knew you. You

might not have known you were gay when you knew

them. I think that's a great story to tell.

NIKKI WEISS: So we have two reunions.

QUESTION: So it hasn't happened yet is what

you're saying.

NIKKI WEISS: Not yet.

ROSE GARCIA: I will say, though, that many

friends in my life from my past did not

necessarily know about my sexuality until I came

on this show. So it was a very -- it was bigger