The penultimate day of ATX Television Festival Season 10 kicked off with another live episode of The Daily. Festival co-founders Caitlin & Emily spoke with Channing Godfrey Peoples about Juneteenth and her film Miss Juneteenth, how it’s becoming a series, her discussion with Steve McQueen earlier in the festival, and what she’s been enjoying on TV. Then writer/producer Beau Willimon joined them via Zoom from Mexico City to talk about Juneteenth, his unique panels at the festival, and more.

The Bold Type Farewell Panel

The final season of Freeform’s The Bold Type has just about come to an end. The cast and showrunner returned to the festival to reflect on the show’s five-year run, and what it was like going into this final season knowing it would be the last. The panel was moderated by People‘s Breanne Heldman, and featured showrunner/executive producer Wendy Straker Hauser, and stars Katie Stevens (“Jane Sloan”), Aisha Dee (“Kat Edison”), Meghann Fahy (“Sutton Brady”), Melora Hardin (“Jacqueline Carlyle”) & Stephen Conrad Moore (“Oliver Grayson”).

Inside the Writers Room: Blindspotting

The new half-hour dramedy Blindspotting, which was inspired by the 2018 feature film of the same name, premiered last weekend on Starz. Festival attendees got an early look at the second episode of the series. The cast and creatives behind the series gathered for a live discussion on the show, moderated by “TV, I Say With Ashley Ray” Podcast host Ashley Ray Harris. The panelists included creators/executive producers/writers Rafael Casal & Daveed Diggs, and writers Alanna Brown, Nijla Mumin, Priscila Garcia-Jacquier & Benjamin Earl Turner (“Earl”).

Daveed Diggs talked about how they originally didn’t want to do the series, but then saw it as a way to further explore the Ashley character. Rafael Casal talked about building the writers room, and how they all built the show’s bible together, to flesh out the characters, their backstories and point of views before they even started writing the series. The female writers talked about the female-centric themes and focus of the series, and how they brought their own experiences into these characters. Benjamin Earl Turner talked about how he ended up in the writer’s room, how the other writers helped teach him about the process, and balancing this with acting on the series. The writers also discussed integrating the comedy, movement and verse into the characters and stories.

During the audience Q&A, the writers talked about about how the only established characters from the movie are Ashley and Miles, but it was also fun to pepper in other characters from the film, such as Teddy. At the same time, they also needed to figure out who Ashley was as she was not fully defined in the film, and was there in service of a different story. Rafael Casal talked about his role as showrunner, and “pivoting a movie about two dudes to a show about women”. The writers talked about their favorite and most difficult characters to write for, and what they hope viewers take away from the series.

The Big Leap: Pilot Screening and Q&A

The new FOX dramedy The Big Leap will premiere this fall, but festival attendees got an early screening of the premiere, followed by a Q&A with cast and creatives. The series follows a group of down-on-their-luck folks who get a second chance to make something of their lives when FOX rolls into Detroit to film a new reality show for amateur dancers called “The Big Leap”. The show-with-the-show will follow twenty lucky folks as they become a new dance company, and ultimately put on a live performance of Swan Lake. The contestants consist of a diverse group of people in dead-end/soulless jobs or failed relationships, looking for a creative rebirth, and a second chance at life. Gabby Lewis (Simone Recasner) is a single mother who had to give up her dreams when she became pregnant just before college; her best friend from high school, Justin (Raymond Cham Jr.) also failed to realize his dancing dreams when he was forced to start working at a bowling alley after his father kicked him out when he came out; Mike Devries (Jon Rudnitsky) recently separated from his wife after he lost his job and is hoping this grand gesture will win her back; Paula Clark (Piper Perabo) is an executive who recently survived breast cancer; and Julia Perkins (Teri Polo) is a former ballet dancer, now housewife and mother who’s struggling to maintain her relevance as an influencer, and whose husband seems to no longer be interested in her. There’s also Raven Price, an exotic dancer/adult film star; disgraced professional football player Reggie Sadler (Ser’Darius Blain), who is in desperate need of an image overhaul; twins Brittney (Anna Grace Barlow) and Simon Lovewell, who have a creepily close relationship; and several more odd characters trying out for the show, such as a meter maid and a man in a Spider-Man costume. Stepping in last minute to produce the series is the ruthless Nick Blackburn (Scott Foley), who is always looking for dirt on the contestants that he can exploit for a story and ratings, but at the same time, he’s also dealing with some personal issues of his own. The judges/hosts of the series are a premiere ballet dancer (Kevin Daniels) who was given his own second chance, and a choreographer/former prima ballerina who seems to have a chip on her shoulder (Mallory Jansen).

The pilot was heartwarming, hilarious and uplifting, and had me laughing throughout. I can’t wait to see more of this feel-good series when it premieres this Fall on FOX!

Following the screening, People‘s Breanne Heldman moderated a discussion with creator/executive producer Liz Heldens, executive producer/director Jason Winer, and stars Scott Foley (“Nick Blackburn”), Teri Polo (“Julia Perkins”), Ser’Darius Blain (“Reggie Sadler”) & Simone Rescasner (“Gabby Taylor”).

Series creator Liz Heldens talked about how the series is based on a British reality show from 2014, Big Ballet, and why she wanted to turn it into a scripted series instead of just adapting the original. The cast discussed why they wanted to do the series—Teri Polo even accidently said a line her character says in the pilot, “Oh My God, I get to dance again!”. Director Jason Winer talked about how one of his own catchphrases, “What Prevents Us?!” made it into Scott’s character’s dialogue. Liz added that Nick gets to say all the nasty things they have heard in this industry, but, according to Jason Winer, Nick gets away with it because it’s Scott, and everyone loves Scott. Scott and Teri talked about their long relationship and the secrets that have on one another. Scott mentioned that he filmed a reality show in the year that it took to shoot the pilot, and that helped to inform how he plays Nick. Jason explained why it took a year to film, having to go back to Chicago three times to complete things due to the pandemic. However, this had some benefits. For example, the scene in the bowling alley was originally supposed to take place in a Home Depot, but due to the pandemic no stores would let them film inside, and instead they had to find a mom & pop place to film, and this turned out even better. Also, they hadn’t shot the final cut sequence yet, and decided to change the song to “I Want You Back” (which is also the name of the pilot episode), so when they went back in February, they were able to rechoreograph the sequence to a different song.

The actors also discussed the shutdown and how they kept themselves motivated and optimistic waiting to see what would happen. When asked about their dance background, Simone mentioned she has never been on TV before, never been a dancer before, and that this panel was her first interview for a TV show. Ser’Darius said that he also had no dance experience and his buddie were shocked when he mentioned the project, and Scott learned from Liz during the panel that me may have to dance. They also talked about the long rehearsals, and how that brought everyone together and gave a sense of normalcy during the pandemic. Teri remarked at how relatable all these characters are, and all of the actors talked about what they are looking forward to on the series and what they would like to see happen for their characters. They closed things out with everyone giving their feel-good show/movie recommendations, which included things like Billy Elliot, Ted Lasso, The Wonder Years, The Fosters, Good Trouble, Meet The Parents, Meet The Fockers, Scandal, Charmed, Modern Family (the last batch was from Simone making the loop mentioning everyone else’s work), Legendary, Cheer, Field of Dreams, Shawshank Redemption, and more.

Speech & Debate Happy Hour Conversation

The first (and only?) live and in person panel of the festival, was for the web series Speech & Debate, written by Kamen Edwards and directed by Cassandra Jean Amell and starring Stephen Amell & Aisha Tyler, who play feuding speech and debate coaches Gil and Dr. Kandice. The third installment of the series, “Legacy”, premiered during the festival.

Aisha Tyler led this discussion as the cast/creators discussed the genesis of the series, the challenges of filming during a pandemic, and more. Kamen talked about how the series was based on a film that he had written on the craziness of the speech and debate world (he was picturing a Christopher Guest like film). The main characters were originally two gay guys, but they decided to rewrite it the characters we see now. Cassandra had wanted to direct and enjoys comedy and psychological dramas so this looked like the perfect project for her to do. Stephen had just wrapped Arrow and this was something completely different in tone, and Aisha seemed like the perfect person to join him.

The first short was filmed on the Arrow set around the time of the series finale. The second installment, “The Aftermath” was filmed during the pandemic in Palm Springs, which was a very different experience. There were limitations and the challenges of figuring out COVID restrictions, so they had to get creative. Aisha talked about how she loved the improvisation that was allowed, and Stephen talked about reigniting the engine of his comedy chops, which he thoroughly enjoyed. John Barrowman starred in the third installment, but couldn’t be there. He left a message but they were nervous to blindly show it on the air. 🙂 They all talked about how great and how much fun it was to work with him.

Stephen encouraged folks to get their stuff out there by making a short to execute part of their vision to show it off, like he did with Code 8. An audience question asked if it was difficult for Aisha and Stephen to do scenes since they know each other so way. They said that was not the problem, but Cassandra said it makes the editing more difficult since there’s so many fun takes. Stephen and Cassandra talked about the challenges of working with your spouse. They also discussed how easy it is for anyone to shoot, edit and share their work these days. The finished things up with talking bout what TV shows they are watching, and plugged their upcoming projects, like Heels coming to Starz in August.

The White Lotus World Premiere Q&A

For the season’s Closing Night event, the festival presented the world premiere screening and conversation for HBO’s upcoming 6-episode limited series The White Lotus, from Mike White (Enlightened), debuting on HBO and HBO Max Sunday, July 11.

The series follows a group of rich VIPs who arrive in Hawaii to spend a week at the exclusive White Lotus resort. However, their lives may not be quite as perfect as they seem on the outside. Married couple Nicole (Connie Britton) & Mark Mossbacher (Steve Zahn), have come with their teenage son Quinn (Fred Hechinger), and manipulative mean girl daughter Olivia (Sydney Sweeney) and her friend Paula (Brittany O’Grady). Nicole is a famous CFO who has work on her mind, while her husband is obsessed with his pending medical test results. The second to arrive are newlyweds Shane (Jake Lacy) and Rachel Patton (Alexandra Daddario). She’s a journalist, while he’s a spoiled rich kid who works for his father in real estate. Shane quickly becomes preoccupied with the fact that the room they received is not the one his mother paid for. And finally, there’s Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge), a grief-stricken woman who’s trying to get over the loss of her mother, but she seems a bit confused and unstable. Running the resort is the smooth-talking manager Armond (Murray Bartlett), who has a knack for dealing with the guests’ sometimes unreasonable requests. However, he often gets frustrated with his staff—trainee Lani (Jolene Purdy) who’s been hiding the fact that she’s pregnant, spa manager Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), and young Dillon (Lukas Gage).

I thought the pilot did an excellent job of setting up this world and its interesting and quirky characters. The show also sets up a murder-mystery at the very opening of the pilot, and I’m really curious to see how this story plays out, and what other secrets these characters are hiding.

The panel that followed was moderated by Ben Travers of IndieWire. First he spoke with creator/director/executive producer Mike White, who talked about how the idea for the series came about. He said that HBO was trying to find a show with a low COVID footprint that could be filmed in one location. Mike had also wanted to do a story about how money can pervert our most intimate relationships, and this seemed to fit the bill. It was shot on location at the Four Seasons in Maui, and they had the hotel to themselves for most of the shoot. Mike said that for the past 8 years he has been spending time in Hawaii, and wanted to talk about the ethics of vacationing in other people’s realities. In the first few episodes, we follow these tourists, but then we will start to see the problematic aspects of the hotel and the whole vacation industry. He said that when casting, he gravitates towards people who can be funny, because they can play the humor but also keep it grounded.

The first batch of panelists to join Mike were Murray Bartlett (“Armond”), Jake Lacy (“Shane Patton”) and Alexandra Daddario (“Rachel Patton”). The actors talked about their characters and some of the conflicts and questions that come up in the first episode. Jake mentioned how having/wanting money taints the relationships between these characters and how they treat each other. He also talked about trying various levels of anger when Shane confronts Armond. Alexandra talked about her character being a people-pleaser who will hold back her own feelings to try to keep the peace, and how it was fun to play that bubbling under the surface. Murray talked about how the conflict and obstacles between Shane and Armond are clear and simple, but they can’t be resolved—both guys are stubborn and Armond just wants to go after Shane full force, but must hold back. But at some point that pent up fake smiling is going to be unleashed.

Then, Jennifer Coolidge (“Tanya”) joined the panel to talk about her character, and how she was already a bit overwhelmed from the COVID lockdown experience and then the heat of Maui, that it helped her play the confusion and grief of her character. She also discussed the relationship between Tanya and Belinda, and finding the rhythm between her and actres Natasha Rothwell. She had the panel cracking up the whole time she was speaking.

Afterwards, the Mossbachers joined the panel—Connie Britton (“Nicole Mossbacher”), Steve Zahn (“Mark Mossbacher”), Fred Hechinger (“Quinn Mossbacher”), Sydney Sweeney (“Olivia Mossbacher”) & Brittany O’Grady (“Paula”). Connie said that Nicole knows how to vacation right, and she’s going to make it happen her way, and not let the family mess things up. Steve talked about how Mark is always in the moment, showing his emotions and doesn’t hide anything. Fred talked about the freedom the actors were given to just exist with and live in their characters and try new things out. Mike said it got to the point where he’d think of the actors as a real family, and would accidentally treat them as such. Sydney talked about how she and Brittany formed a good friendship before the filming started, which helped their on-screen friendship feel more real. Brittany talked about being motivated by Beatriz at Dinner in the way the friendship between these two characters unravels. Mike also discussed finding the balance between the stories of the guests and the stories of the staffers/locals, and how both sides are trying to use each other for different reasons.

Following the Q&A, there was a really fun pop-up Zoom chat with Jake Lacey, who shared lots of stories about the production, his career and TV in general.

Virtual Day Passes for Season 10 are still available. To learn more, visit atxfestival.com/attend.