Felicia Day

Back in July, the cast of The Guild held court in a standing room only panel at Comic Con and shared a treat with the crowd – a music video called "Do You Want To Date My Avatar," the result of a collaboration between Guild creator Felicia Day (who wrote the lyrics) and Dr. Horrible co-genius Jed Whedon (who wrote the music and directed the video.)

Cruelly, the video wasn’t widely available until yesterday, but it proved to be worth the wait for all involved. Within hours of its release, the video and single hit number one on both iTunes and Amazon. Not bad for independently produced content.

And lucky for us, director Jed Whedon and back-up singer/back-up dancer Maurissa Tancharoen took a few minutes out of their Dollhouse schedule, along with Jeff Lewis (who plays Vork), to tell us how it feels to be number one, behind the scenes tales of shooting the video, and what this means for individual creatives and their non-traditional outlets.

Jed Whedon

Congrats on being #1 on iTunes and pretty much taking over the Internet yesterday! You must’ve known the vid was going to get a positive reception, but how did it feel to see it catch fire the way it did? I’ve learned not to underestimate Felicia’s Internet following or her downloadable star power, but I was not totally prepared for the massive love fest that ensued. I mean, I think the video is cool.... but believe you me, me thinking it’s cool does not guarantee that others will think so, or that it is. And seeing it catch fire, as you say, means that either I’m not crazy or a lot of other people are crazy, too. Either of which is comforting.

Do you think this is a sign that the tides are shifting in favor of independent content? I think there has already been a bit of a shift – a growing awareness that there is entertainment out there that can be found by people as opposed to fed to people. Things will never shift entirely away from mainstream content because audiences like big explosions and stars like money, but nowadays, all those crafty people making silly home movies are getting seen. So the middle ground is becoming more prominent.

Can you take me through the process of coming up with the song and video? Felicia had the idea for the song and lyrics written. Her goal was to make a dance video, so she talked to me about writing the music, early 90s style. I said no, rather loudly, but she apparently didn’t hear that part and emailed me the lyrics anyway. I made the track and emailed her back a demo version (with me singing the choruses - need I say magical?) and she got pretty excited, and in a moment of weakness decided I should direct the thing.

As far as the video, I basically wanted to do a relatively cliché dance video as if it were about medieval fantasy warriors who took themselves really seriously. The entire cast delivered perfectly and hilariously on that front. I thought the stop motion would be both a good way to represent the avatar/video game world and a good way to have the entire cast dance without dancing skills. (Some of them don’t have dancing skills.)

The other element was to make it legit in some ways – actual sexy footage of Felicia, stellar dancing with Amy showing off her chops, and of course, raining money.

Any fun behind-the-scenes stories about shooting the video? I had never seen my wife dance before this. I had seen video footage, so I knew she could pull it off, but I had never seen her dance in person. I have a crush on her now.

Maurissa Tancharoen

A commenter on Whedonesque pointed out that you went from being a Captain Hammer groupie to a Bladezz groupie. When do we get a musical or video where you have groupies? Oh wow, I’m blushing. Well, we have a few things in the works... The Dr. Horrible sequel, for example. Who knows what the heck’s in store for me in that, though I may have a bit of an idea because I’m co-writing it. But you never know with those Whedon boys and their "secret brotherly meetings." Sure, kick the "girl" out of the room. Whatever. Hopefully I’ll get an actual name this time.

Obviously we know you’re a writer, actress, singer, and now we see you can dance... is there anything you can’t do? ’Cause so far it doesn’t seem like it. I can’t catch a ball. I may be a coordinated dancer but when it comes to sports, I am a ridiculous mess. It’s sad, really.

What was your favorite part of being in the video? Working with Felicia Day is always a blast. I have mad love for her and her brain and talent. It was a pleasure finally getting to know The Guild cast after a good initial period of geeking out over them. Roping in one of my best friends, Chantal Robson (Wade Robson’s sister), to choreograph was also a bonus. But my favorite part ever? Watching Jed direct. It was his first time directing anything, and he had it dialed – the finished product is just pure awesome. That guy can do anything, really. Sometimes it’s incredibly unnerving, but it’s always, always insanely hot. I’m a lucky woman.

Jeff Lewis

The video is awesome – you guys must be really proud. Yes, very proud. Thank you.

So tell me what it’s like when Felicia calls you and says, "Hey, we’re going to do a music video and you’re going to rap in it!" I am not good at anything – dancing or rap, but I love to commit to it. What people generally think of dancing or rap, nobody really asks me to do unless it’s for an improv group. But they were able to make what I did fairly entertaining. So no, I’ve had no prior rapping experience whatsoever, but it was really fun. I’m just glad people enjoyed it.

How long did it take to get your part down and shoot the video? For the rap part, I went and recorded the four lines I did at Jed’s house. Then we just lip synched them on the set. Basically, Jed just said, "Dance – do whatever you want to for three minutes," and I did. It felt really bad and embarrassing, it felt awful. But he left it in, and I now realize I’m funny dancing when it’s slowed down. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was more than I anticipated or imagined in a music video.

Is there anything you wanted to do in the video that you didn’t get to do? I wished I could’ve done something with maidens like Vince (Caso, who plays Bladezz) did. I thought it would’ve been fun to have Vork surrounded by women, touching his hair – what little he has of it, feeding him grapes. That would’ve been great.

You guys have done the Christmas video, and now this... do you feel any pressure to come up with something equally amazing – if not more so – after the end of The Guild season three? I’ve been thinking about that a little – how are we going to top this? But Felicia and Kim (Evey, producer) always come up with something. They seem to always find that new thing that is really, really enjoyable to be a part of. And I’m sure if I come up with something, I’ll e-mail it to them, too.