Felicia Day

Between Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and The Guild I’ve become a substantially big fan of Felicia Day. She’s one of those fancy triple threats - she writes (and creates), she sings (and dances - er, did you see her doing DDR?), she acts (and kicks ass on screen), and hey - she’s friendly, relatable AND pretty! Wait! I guess she’s more of a ‘threat’ than we thought… Everybody, get ready! Felicia Day is about to take over the entire known universe (and their dominant moons).

Before ascending her mile-high throne embedded with sea urchins and diamonds, the witty and welcoming queen happily talked with me about The Guild, geeks, and hair trends. Read on!

SofaChip (SC): Let’s talk writing process! Do you have a certain way you tend to write? I.E.* Specific music, jotting ideas or jokes on tattered restaurant napkins, an organized spiral notebook of thoughts, text messages sent while watching movies?

Felicia Day (FD): I definitely am not as organized as I could be. When starting a project, I like to have a few weeks to just let it muse around in my head a lot. I don’t work well under pressure. I do carry a notebook everywhere I go, and when a phrase or idea or character line pops into my head, I try to write it down immediately, because if I don’t, and forget it, the trauma is too much to live with. Then, when I’m ready to sit down and get into the guts of it, I sort my closet by color, LOL, and then when I can stall no more, I compile everything on one piece of paper, and use that to make storylines, lay them out in logical order, make sure everyone has something to do, etc. That outlining part is the most painful, because sometimes I have to write a lot of bad stuff off the top of my head to get to a place where I’m happy. Sometimes I get so bogged down in the outlining stage that the only thing to do is start writing dialogue, see if I can get my characters talking without my brain working, so to speak. We don’t credit our subconscious enough when creating. Bottom line, I write a lot and then rewrite and cut a LOT more. Best lesson I ever heard, you have to write bad to write good. So true.

SC: Are the characters in The Guild progressing and growing as you’d initially planned, or have the concepts snatched up lives of their own? Can you give us an example for one of the characters and how you’d envisioned them compared to where they are now? Felicia Day Pleads Nonguilty / FeliciaDay.com

FD: I’d say the characters and their attitudes are VERY consistent with what I initially envisioned. I think my greatest strength is creating characters and giving them a clear point of view, as each of the Guildies seems to have in my head. Six characters in a scene is very tricky to balance for a newbie writer such as myself, but they have such clear voices, it’s hard NOT to hear how Tink will slam on someone or how blurty Codex will get under pressure. Whenever I get stuck on plot or structure, going back to “what would the character REALLY DO” and imagining myself as them gets me out of a lot of traps that I might have forced on them intellectually. Actors bring a lot to the table, especially actors with improv backgrounds, like Sandeep (Zaboo) and Jeff (Vork). They’re always adding lines here and there that send me a curve and make me laugh hysterically on set. Another funny thing is that Dena, Bladezz’ sister, was supposed to be late 20’s and really slutty when I wrote her in Season 1, but when I met Tara (Bladezz’ real-life sister) I thought she was so unique and so special that I rewrote the character for her. I also worked her into Season 2 in a scene in episode 6 because she makes me laugh so much.

SC: Geek. What was once a negative term is now one people can claim with pride! What are the coolest and most important positives that you see for our Geek generation in 2009?

FD: As far as pop culture goes, I see a lot of TV shows adding geek characters to their rosters, and shows like Chuck and Big Bang becoming very popular despite having some strong geek roots. Also, Hollywood has morphed into a “let’s adapt a comic book” landscape, where geeks clearly rule. But clearly, the revolution is in the internet. I think the growing power of online interaction is creating a revolution in where people get content, consume it, share it. Geeks own the internet, so naturally the power is shifting, muhahahaa…oh sorry, my evil laugh escaped.

SC: I gotta tell you, I think hot rollers are just fine to use! They’re much easier to put in your hair than using a curling iron. (Readers: that’s a Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog audio commentary reference, go buy the DVD already!) I notice hair, and I really like when yours has a bit of curl! Do you have a favorite way for your hair to be? (Straight, ponytail, mohawk, etc?)

FD: I love my hair to be really really short, but unfortunately, Hollywood doesn’t dig short-haired chicks, so I grew it out (guys seem to like it long too, whatever :) ) I do like having the slight curl of a hot rolled head (best way to get it, take THAT hair lady, hehe) but I JUST got a hair cut with rock n’ roll layers and to be honest, it looks hella hot. :)

SC: I’m a loyal Buffy fan (Buffy!Geek) to the absolute core and am hoping people tune into Joss’s Dollhouse this winter. Since I have you ‘here’, I really want to ask - do you have a favorite Buffy season besides the one you were in?

FD: I don’t have a favorite, because I look at the whole creation at once, all the seasons combined from a total fangirl POV, and say often to myself, “How did you get so lucky to work with Joss TWICE?!” Buffy is amazing girl-empowered seminal work. I should be so lucky I get to kick people in the face again on-screen hehe. :)

SC: *Vork-inspired typing, dude! I…never say ‘dude’. Ahem.