The TV Chick

Anyone who reads this site knows that I absolutely adore Make It Or Break It, and all ABC Family programming. I love gymnastics (I am a former gymnast), and when I received word of this show, I was thrilled. It premiered last summer and its large fan base helped it come back for another (half) season. The show has more than lived up to my high expectations. It is a look into the world of elite gymnastics, but even more than that, it’s a great drama with wonderful, interesting characters. I recently had the chance to visit the amazing set of the show (I even got to step foot in The Rock), and speak with the creator, executive producer and the cast members. It was a fantastic visit and I’m so excited to finally be able to share with you all of the interviews. Ayla Kell, who plays Payson Keeler, was someone I was most looking forward to speaking to because of how the season finale ended. Payson gets severely injured and is told that she cannot compete in gymnastics ever again. When I caught up with her, she was incredibly sweet and candid, and we discussed everything from filming emotional scenes to what’s next for Payson.

So the last we saw of Payson was a really emotional scene between you and Peri. How hard was it to film that scene?
I have to say, it was great fun for me. We had a wonderful director on that one who did my coverage first, so we did one take. So I didn’t have to pump it out over and over and over. I think that’s one of the hardest things to do to keep it at that same level when you have to do it over and over. But for me, it was between Peri and Brett, who plays my dad, looking at both of them and seeing the devastation in their eyes, I was able to feed off of them, and then we had a cycle going back and forth, where they saw me crying and they would start crying, and I saw them crying and I would start crying and as an actor I feed very much off the people I’m around, and off of the script. I don’t compare it to real life experience just because then I start freaking out and hugging everybody all way too much. But I just go into character-land and visit her for a while.

What do you want to see with Payson going forward in the second half of the season?
Olympic gold.

(laughs) Besides Olympic gold.
I think that might be a ways off, but they don’t tell me anything though. I want to see her start to actually live her life. Right now, she’s got this — last season, we saw that she had no life at all, it was only gymnastics. And now that she’s had the injury, she’s at this devastating point of nothing-ness. Something has gotta give. She’s got to be pulled in some direction, whether it is back towards the gym, whether it is towards school, whether it is towards Nikki Russo, my little love interest. It’s got to go somewhere for her. But that’s something that she will end up becoming so committed to, that I think we’ll see a huge change in her.

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Anyone who reads this site knows that I absolutely adore Make It Or Break It, and all ABC Family programming. I love gymnastics (I am a former gymnast), and when I received word of this show, I was thrilled. It premiered last summer and its large fan base helped it come back for another (half) season. The show has more than lived up to my high expectations. It is a great look into the world of elite gymnastics, but even more than that, it’s a great drama with wonderful, interesting characters. I recently had the chance to visit the amazing set of the show (I even got to step foot in The Rock), and speak with the creator, executive producer and the cast members. It was an amazing visit and I’m so excited to finally be able to share with you all of the interviews. When I caught up with Peri Gilpin (Kim Keeler), one of my personal comedy icons, we chatted about her shift from Roz to Kim Keeler, if she would ever put her daughters in gymnastics, and even if she wants to direct.

You come from a comedy background. What has it been like making the shift from Roz on Frasier to Payson’s Mom, Kim Keeler?
I became a mom right after Frasier ended, so I’ve been a mom for five years, and it’s really all I think about anyway. It’s such a huge part of my life, because I haven’t really been working regularly for five years, it’s where my head is, so it’s been really good because what I like to think about and what I automatically do is part of my job.

In the first half of the season, you took over as gym manager. How is that going to play out as the season continues?
Well, I don’t know, and I think that that was a really big deal for Kim, because the way the story was — I don’t know if she was aware that so many people were going after that job — it did make her feel great that Sasha entrusted that position to her because it was clear he trusted that she didn’t have an agenda beyond helping and doing what the gym needed and that even though her daughter really is a really fantastic athlete and maybe the best one, she wasn’t going to cross any boundaries and I think that’s a part of Kim that he’s really proud of — just her down-to-earth-ness and her fairness and her levelheaded-ness and to be recognized for that is obviously a big deal. So I don’t know how she can actually keep that up now that she’s got a kid at home that really needs her, and also a kid who makes a lot of noise wherever she goes [laughs] [Ed note: At this point, Payson's sister, played by Mia Rose Frampton had come in to where we were sitting on set] and as she really needs a mother to be supportive at this time too so it’s like its the best thing for her probably not to be there but it’s probably another sad thing for her.

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When Make It Or Break It premiered last summer, the first thought that popped into my mind was…how did they know that has been my idea for a show for years? But in all honesty, one of my other loves in life is gymnastics. I follow the sport closely, and I used to be a gymnast. So when I found out about a show that combines two of my greatest interests, I could hardly contain myself. The show has more than lived up to my expectations, and I was so excited when it was renewed for 10 more episodes. It is a great look into the world of elite gymnastics, but even more than that, it’s a great drama with wonderful, interesting characters. I recently caught up with Candace Cameron Bure, and her lovely daughter Natasha at an ABC Family event (she wasn’t there on the day of my set visit), and asked her about the upcoming season, her character Summer and how she uses twitter to keep up with her fans. This season brings a lot of new things for Summer, she even hinted that she might be getting involved at The Rock.

Last (mid) season’s finale of Make It Or Break it ended on a big cliffhanger. What’s in the future for Summer? What’s going to happen with your relationship with Lauren now that you’re not with her dad anymore?
Summer broke up with Steve. She called off the engagement, and there’s definitely a switch in the relationship with Summer and Lauren, now that I’ve broken up with her dad. And I think Lauren’s never going to stop her one-liners, her zingers, but I think that they’ll be embraced by that relationship now because it’s quite different and there’s lot of cliffhangers with Payson and whether she’s going to ever do gymnastics again. And my character, now that she’s broken up, she might be finding love, you know, another love on the show. So you’ll have to tune in.

And do you want to be on the show? (to her daughter Natasha)
Yes, I do.

Do you want to play a gymnast?
Yes.

Candace, how do you feel about that?
Oh, it’s fine.
Natasha: I could be your daughter on the show.
Candace: You could be my daughter, but that might be a little true to life because I am just playing a character. But you could be a younger gymnast, that would be great.

Are you working on anything aside from the show?
I have a production company, and we’re working on some television movies right now and an independent. And I have a book that’s going to be released over the summer on health and fitness.

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When Make It Or Break It premiered last summer, the first thought that popped into my mind was…how did they know that has been my idea for a show for years? But in all honesty, one of my other loves in life is gymnastics. I follow the sport closely, and I used to be a gymnast. So when I found out about a show that combines two of my greatest interests, I could hardly contain myself. I recently had the chance to visit the amazing set of the show (I even got to step foot in The Rock), and speak with the creator, executive producer and the cast members. It was an amazing visit and I’m so excited to finally be able to share with you all of the interviews. The mid-season premiere is less than a week away, and when I caught up with Paul Stupin (Executive Producer), we chatted about the upcoming season, how they built The Rock, and his gymnastics research and education.

So I’ve always said there should be a show about gymnastics…
I agree!

I am a huge gymnastics fan, and I was a gymnast a while ago. What was the motivation behind writing a show about gymnastics?
Well, initially I was not aboard when Holly did the pilot. But when the opportunity came up to potentially come on board, the first thought was…wow how freaking cool is that? Because I had watched the Summer Olympics, that’s the one element of the Summer Olympics which I absolutely did not miss. And the thing that I found so appealing about it was that not only does it give us an opportunity to sort of create these great characters and their interactions and follow their lives and their romances and all the fun personal stuff. But it’s got this totally cool overlay with the gymnastics to which we can filter all of that. And so I just thought it was a great new spin on an ensemble drama show that gave us a chance to visually do something really fun and interesting.

Holly was saying that there was a ton of research done about the gymnastics world. Is that an ongoing process?
Well there are whole elements in terms of what we do to keep the verisimilitude alive and what’s so interesting about it is initially we’ll be sitting at the writers room and someone will come up with well something happens and they’ll be an injury. Well then the question is — what the hell happens and what’s the move and what’s the injury so I think we want to be as true to that world as we absolutely can be. And I think we’re doing a — one of our characters in the season finale had an accident, so especially in terms of how we follow that arc and that storyline. We want to be true to what an actual gymnast might experience. The other thing that’s funny –I don’t know if Holly mentioned it — when we’re sitting in the writers room and we come up with some interesting gymnastics thing — someone will go “well then she’ll do the flippity flip, and then after a really cool flippity flip,” so we have a gymnastics coordinator who comes in and [we] say “we need a great flippity flip for this, what do we do?” And I’ve learned all sorts of cool [terms] — the shushunova, things that I never knew about and it’s a gymnastics education for me, too.

I spoke with all the girls over the summer, and they all said they watched a lot of gymnastics on Youtube. Did you do the same thing?
Well, I just have loved gymnastics, so it’s so much fun. And I’ll tell you, when we’re shooting gymnastics, it’s so much fun. It really does feel like the Cirque De Soleil is happening because not only will we have on days we are shooting at The Rock our girls, but we’ll also have these incredible gymnasts in some cases the national champions, here doubling them. And then in the background we have other gymnasts playing background gymnasts, so it’s just this sort of visual treat. And all this fun action and eye candy to look at…it’s just really nice.

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When Make It Or Break It premiered last summer, the first thought that popped into my mind was…how did they know that has been my idea for a show for years? But in all honesty, one of my other loves in life is gymnastics. I follow the sport closely, and I used to be a gymnast. So when I found out about a show that combines two of my greatest interests, I could hardly contain myself. I recently had the chance to visit the amazing set of the show (I even got to step foot in The Rock), and speak with the creator, executive producer and the cast members. I got to see the Pizza Shack, sit in the Cruz mansion and the Keeler household, and I can tell you, this set is spectacular. The Rock looked exactly like a gymnastics gym. Sadly, I didn’t get to see any of the doubles. For those who are unaware, there are many incredibly decorated gymnasts who double for the regular cast when they do any sort of gymnastics move. It was an amazing visit and I’m so excited to finally be able to share with you all of the interviews. The mid-season premiere is less than a week away, and when I caught up with Holly Sorensen (the creator), we chatted about her motivation behind creating this show, the casting process and the research she did into the world of elite gymnastics before the show started.

So I’ve always said there should be a show about gymnastics. I love it, I was a gymnast. What was your inspiration and what made you decide to write this show?
I come from a family of sports people. I come from a sports background, but I’ve always liked the Olympics, the Olympic ideal. I’m one of those people who would just watch all of the coverage of the Olympics, watch every single night. During the Winter Olympics, I put on a fire in my house and watch it all. And I always looked at those people and thought what makes them do that. I don’t have that — we work really hard here — but I don’t have that single minded determination and focus. So those people were always interesting to me, and when I was a kid I had a friend who was trying to be a professional ice skater and I felt so sorry for her: she had to get up at four in the morning and leave school at three in the afternoon, and couldn’t go to any of the dances. And I thought it was like child abuse. And the older I got the more I realized there were people that just sacrificed big chunks of their life for that. So I thought the whole big picture idea of it was interesting. I had been trading my scripts with the ABC Family development department because the stuff I was writing — we could tell we were interested in working together — [but] we couldn’t really find the right thing. So I went and I said, you know I’m really interested in pre-professional children, I’m interested in professional athletes who are children — about what that is to a family — I think it’d be really interesting to do skiing or gymnastics.

Skiing might have been a little harder to shoot.
You know gymnastics is not — the reason why there hasn’t been a gymnastics show is because it’s a really daunting thing to do. It’s a lot more difficult. Hopefully it’s more difficult than it looks. Hopefully we make it look not difficult but it’s not easy.

In the process of writing and creating the show, did you do a lot of research into elite gymnastics?
I did. It’s a really interesting world. It’s an interesting personality type that tends to go into that. The kind of person that becomes a gymnast is probably exactly the opposite of my own personality, which makes it just even more interesting. And then what I thought was interesting from a storytelling point of view is that you have this facility: The Rock, filled with families. And we say on the show that The Rock is like a small town, because it’s filled with people that are just there by proximity, and kind of by coincidence. Because these girls probably wouldn’t be friends if they were all in high school together. And their families probably wouldn’t associate with one another. They’re kind of forced to be together. And as a storyteller, that’s really fun. Because then you’re putting combinations of people together that are interesting.

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Let’s face it…the lull in TV is a little sad right now. There is some great ABC Family programming coming back right after the first of the year (lots of coverage on Secret Life and Make It Or Break it is coming soon!), and Chuck and LOST come back soon as well. But right now, I have been filling my nights with The Vampire Diaries marathon and the tidbits of new TV that there is.

I have also been composing my best of lists! I will be posting my Best of the Year and Best of the Decade in the next couple weeks, but I am curious to know what are your favorites? It could be a moment, an episode, anything…

My decade list is going to be tough. I have a ton of shows I watched this decade…many of which were my favorites. Friends, Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, The Office and Arrested Development come to mind. As for Best of the Year, Glee and Modern Family will be on that list. I also have really enjoyed Parks and Recreation this season. And there are many others too. Tell me what you think!

What I’m looking forward to in 2010: ABC Family had such great programming this summer with Make it or Break It and Secret Life of the American Teenager. I am looking forward to their premieres on January 4th. Of course, I am excited about the last season of LOST, which premieres on February 2nd. (Also, a little sad about it). Chuck returns on January 10th! Glee returns in April (far, far too long to wait). V comes back on March 30th, and I’m looking forward to seeing what direction they are going in. In Treatment will be back for a 3rd season in the summer, and I adore that show. So there is definitely a lot to look forward to in 2010, I am just wishing it would come sooner! What are you looking forward to?

The Nationals were finally upon us, as was the chance for the gymnasts of The Rock to live out their dreams. I was looking forward to more drama, and more gymnastics and last night’s season finale did not fall short in any way. The girls get to Boston, and have to deal with the media frenzy as well as try to focus on their gymnastics. Each girl has to face different challenges. Emily is an underdog, and has to fight just to get onto the National team. Lauren is dealing with family issues (her mom never shows up), and trying to overcome the fact that everyone knows she slept with Carter. Kaylie has to decide what she wants out of life, and how to fit in her dad and Carter and her own dreams. Payson has a lingering back injury, and the pressure of beating the reigning champion Kelly Parker. Oh Kelly Parker, why must you be such a total, how shall we say it…jerk (I’m being nice here).

The first day of competition is rough for the Rock girls, as each one sort of succumbs to the pressure. Before Day 2, each gymnast is forced to deal with what is holding them back. My favorite storyline here is Kaylie’s. Everyone was telling her she’s not a champion, she doesn’t have the heart of a champion but she proved them wrong. She gave Carter back her necklace and told him that she has to do something for herself for once, and it’s over. She gave back her necklace that her dad had given her (with his world series ring diamonds in it) and told him that this dream is about her, and not anyone else. She then proceeded to kick some Nationals ass. Lauren realized that she has a lot of people who care for her, and that Summer stuck around even after leaving her dad. Once she comes to this realization, she is able to show some joy behind her gymnastics and comes in 4th place overall. As for Emily, Damon shows up with her brother, and she finally has the support system she needs to succeed. Also, Sasha gives her the freedom to do well by allowing her to use her old floor music to compete (he had changed it on her just a week before). Payson is the tragic story of the season finale. Right before her bar routine, she is about to give herself a cortisone shot when she spots Kelly Parker doing the same. She wants to be honorable and true to her word, so she throws the cortisone shot in the trash. Unfortunately, she suffers a terrible fall off bars and has to be taken away on a stretcher. We later find out that this is a career-ending injury for Payson. It was so hard to watch, because Payson has worked at this for her entire life and now has to give it up. I think she will heal–something will give–because Payson is one of the main characters and she has to be in the gym. Another thought that crossed my mind was that she could coach, but I doubt that will be the case. In Payson’s absence, Kaylie steps it up and wins the gold in the all around. Emily ends up making the National Team in the last spot. The last scene is all the girls around Payson’s hospital bed, holding her hand. Now if you haven’t cried yet (you have no heart), this scene will really get you…it was very touching.

I was really happy to see all 4 girls with very distinct storylines, even if Payson’s was really sad. I thought they wrapped up this first season very well. This has been one of my absolute favorite summer shows, and I can’t wait to see the next 10 episodes. I’m just sad we have to wait until January.

I recently got a chance to sit down with the four stars of Make It Or Break It, and chat about their characters, the drama and what we might see in the rest of the season. Here is the fourth and final part in the series (last but certainly not least)–my interview with Josie Loren, who plays Kaylie Cruz.

First of all, I have to say, I really love the show.
Oh good, I’m glad.

Tell us a little bit about Kaylie. She’s sort of the rebel of the group.
I know. It’s so funny because she is the rebel, but it’s not like she has this like terribly rebellious personality. She’s just crazy in love and will do some things that I guess are a bit out of character. She’s the only girl who kind of has—an internal conflict I guess. The other girls know pretty much what they want and they’re very determined. All three of them know that gymnastics is their life…they eat, sleep and breathe it. Kaylie’s kind of torn between wanting to be a gymnast and wanting to be just a normal, regular sixteen year old teenager. And you see her struggle with that all the time, which you don’t see from the other girls. Everybody has their own struggles but Kaylie’s are unique.

She has very overbearing parents.
Exactly. She has some parental issues. And that’s another thing that Kaylie’s going to have to struggle with. It’s going to come to the point where she has to make a choice and decide why she’s doing what she’s doing. She has to realize, is it for herself or is it for her parents. And make the choice of—this is what I want, or this is not what I want. Because as of right now, the episodes that you’ve seen—she’s kind of doing it for her father.

Kaylie especially likes to break the rules. How do you keep your character true to life?
Well, I think every teenager goes through their phases. Especially being sixteen, you have a lot of roles in your household, and you’re living with your parents, and you’re getting to that stage where you want to be more independent but you have so much holding you back and so there are times when you probably don’t make the best decisions like having your boyfriend sneak into your room (laughs). But I think everybody can relate to that I mean because I’m no longer a teenager but I remember wanting to rebel a little bit. Most of the time I definitely did not, I was a good kid, but you still have that desire to.

A lot is expected of elite gymnasts—did you talk to any before you started filming? Did you research gymnastics?
Oh definitely. The show had us working out with a personal trainer a month and a half before the show started and she was very knowledgeable about the world of gymnastics. We would watch so many Youtube videos of world class gymnasts, Olympic gymnasts, and then we were able to meet a lot of our doubles before we started shooting. And our doubles are these fantastic athletes. Some of them are like three time national champions, others have been in the Olympics. It’s just incredible what they’ve achieved and we got to speak to them and we learned a lot from them. We definitely did our research before.

Have you learned any gymnastics skills while you’ve been filming?

I was a gymnast when I was younger so I kind of…I was only really good at the floor though. But I was pretty comfortable on all the apparatuses. So I haven’t really learned anything new—past the basic stuff, and that I knew already. I knew the basics. I just got more comfortable.

Yeah, you will see more of that. That will develop and grow for sure.

I recently got a chance to sit down with the four stars of Make It Or Break It, and chat about their characters, the drama and what we might see in the rest of the season. Here is part three in the series–my interview with Ayla Kell, who plays Payson Keeler.

I want to say, I really love the show.
Oh good.

So tell us a little about your character Payson. She’s sort of the perfect one.
Payson is very goal oriented and she’s never known anything other than gymnastics and that really mirrors my life with ballet for such a long time and it’s very easy to tap into that character because there’s so much of me in her.

How long have you done ballet?
14 years.

Wow. Are you still doing ballet or is it more acting now?
I’m actually still doing it.

Did you talk to any gymnasts before you started filming the show?
I did. After quite a bit of Youtube research, I got to meet some of them and do some physical training with a few of them and their mannerisms are easy to pick up on and they’re all fantastic people.

And have you learned any gymnastics skills during the filming of the show?
I’ve learned how to kick up on bars and I have a few skills on beam.

Without giving away too much, do you think we are going to see Payson’s flaws at any point in this season? Do you think she has flaws?
I think people might see a little glance—a little crack in the façade.

A big theme this season is breaking the rules, which I think is pretty realistic. How do you keep your character true to life?
I’m only 18. I remember the breaking the rules, and I remember the wanting to not get in trouble and it’s one of those things where the people playing my parents are so much like my actual parents, it’s hardly acting. It’s really just being with them.

What has been your favorite part of filming the show?
My favorite part of filming the show is definitely the people I’m around. The whole cast, the crew, the writers…everybody is fantastic, and so supportive of us. And they’ve all really been there for us and that’s my favorite part.

A main storyline has been excluding Emily. How do you come to accept her?
For Payson, it’s always…it’s fair competition. It’s more of I understand that she’s the newcomer and maybe shouldn’t be a part of our group but it doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be able to compete. So, in that, we all start to know a little bit more about each other, and through that, kind of come together.

You girls have great chemistry. Are you all friends off set? Do you hang out when you aren’t on set?
We do. We actually just wrapped and we’re texting each other like crazy and you know, you get so used to being around those people. We sort of just lost our family. So we all hang out, we talk all the time, and I miss them already.

What story lines do you think we can expect to see in the 2nd season?
I’m trying so hard not to give stuff away. I think that you’re going to see…I know from me, you’re going to see Payson have to deal with real life. And things outside of her comfort zone and finding the world without just gymnastics, and finding herself which is such a hard thing to do at that age.

What are your favorite tv shows? Who are your acting influences?
My favorite TV shows is such a long list. I am a TV addict. I love everything from In Plain Sight to Fringe to Burn Notice to Brothers and Sisters. It’s such a long list but one of the people who definitely influences me is Sally Field from Brothers and Sisters. I recently got to meet her and I almost had a panic attack. So star struck.

Have you gotten to meet any other people through the show that you’ve been starstruck by?
Peri Gilpin who plays my mom, I was definitely star struck by. I couldn’t actually talk to her for two weeks.

What has it been like working with her and Candace Cameron Bure?
Well, Peri’s such a comedy icon. And working with her has been one of the best experiences ever. Especially because we got really close since she’s playing my mom. And she is so much like my mom, it’s hilarious. But also, with Candace….I grew up watching her. And then, she’s sitting next to me at lunch. It’s surreal.

How is Peri like your mom?
My mom has always been the calm waters that kind of, if I’m in trouble, she doesn’t have to yell at me, she just has to give me that look and I go “Oh man, okay I’m sorry.” And that’s the way it is on the show, where I know it’s very much where I know she’s doing it for my well-being but at the same time I want to do it my way. Even when you know you’re wrong, you still want to do it your way. So, it’s a lot of that between Peri and I, and Brett who plays my father (Brett Cohen). You know we were all out last night, and he’s like “that’s water right?” and I’m like “yes, it’s a bottle of water Dad. Okay Dad.”

One of the last episodes we saw, Peri Gilpin takes over managing the gym, what is that like when she takes over?
It’s a lot healthier environment in the gym. We all have crazy sports dads, and things get a lot better only to get worse.

Is there anything else you want viewers to know about the show?
I would like to say that I know gymnasts’ bodies are so specific. And it’s such a hard thing to mirror when you haven’t been doing it for your entire life but all of us work so hard to get that. Really we do. And we work out with the gymnasts all day at set and we try so hard. And we respect it so much. We wouldn’t be doing the show if we didn’t respect gymnastics.

And it comes through in the show. I used to be a gymnast, so that comes from a personal perspective as well.
Thank you.

Check back on Monday for the final installment–my interview with Josie Loren, who plays Kaylie Cruz.