One of LA’s not-so-secret-anymore secrets is the PaleyFest. Run by the Paley Center for Media, it’s an annual event in its 27th year that focuses on notable television shows. Usually, the shows are new ones in their first season, but the festival also recognizes ones like Lost and Dexter that are ending a run or have had some other impact.
I haven’t gone for several years, but this year promised to be a good one, with new shows like Modern Family, Glee, and FlashForward as possible features. Sure enough, all of them were announced on the line-up, and I decided to score some tickets. It was much easier this year, as the event is being held in the 1800-seat Saban Theatre instead of previous venues like the DGA Theatre or the ArcLight Hollywood.
Seat prices varied by section, so I thought seats might actually be assigned and spare some of the agony of arriving early for a good seat. However, it turned out that within sections, the seats are open. But when the doors opened at 6PM, my party had no problem finding good seats together. In fact, we wound up sitting right behind the cast when they entered just before the screening began.
As is typical, this event began with a screening. The episode we watched hasn’t even aired yet – it’s Fears, scheduled for March 3rd, and I’ll be among the first to say it’s a riot! There were some especially funny lines and hilarious situations.
As fun as it was to watch the episode, the real treat began when the actors took to seats on the stage and engaged in conversation with the moderator (Billy Bush of Access Hollywood) and the audience. We got a real sense of how surprised and thrilled the cast and creators are with the success of the show, and they consistently commented on their individual good fortune in being a part of something so well-received. It was especially interesting to get perspective from Ed O’Neill and Julie Bowen, veterans of other sitcoms. They noted that this one goes quickly, which not only gives them more personal time, but keeps it “fresher”. Ed wasn’t planning to come back to TV, but upon reading the script he knew he had to: “My god, now I’ve got to go back to work!”.
We got a good sense of where the line between actor and character falls. Yes, Sofia talks just like on the show; no, Eric doesn’t parade about like Cam, though he gave a spontaneous demonstration. It was fun to hear them talk about their encounters with fans, including one involving a homeless fiddler under a bridge in Central Park. As with any brilliant comedy, the situations were inspired by real life, and we learned how the broken remote control and the parent in underwear while the teenager is ichatting were events in the life of creator Steve Levitan. One wonders whether his wife was naked under her overcoat.
I was so focused on the panel that I didn’t write any of it down. Fortunately the organizers at PaleyFest were tweeting up a storm, and you can read them after the jump. I also found a great wrap-up here.
Coming up tonight – Lost!
- Alright, the panel is now over. See you back here tomorrow night at 7 PM PT for “LOST”. Goodnight and have safe travels home…
- Steve Levitan wrote the lyrics to Dylan’s overly sexual song. Reed, the actor who plays “Dylan”, wrote the actual music.
- “Those documentary interviews allow us to cut to the chase in such a nice way and it adds pacing”-Steve Levitan
- “In my opinion, “Modern Family” is a family show being told documentary style”-Steve Levitan
- Levitan’s wife can’t use a remote, he shot his son with a B.B. Gun + walked into his daughter’s room in his undies while she was ichatting.
- Steve Levitan said that “Barkley” is based on a statue that one of his friend’s owns. The dog butler is currently in the writer’s office.
- “Do you guys know what Krunking is?”-Ty Burrell on shooting the “High School Musical” scene
- Fred Willard will return but Steve Levitan says “We don’t just want to have a parade of guest stars week after week.”
- Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet almost just kissed when a fan asked why they never show affection on screen.
- “I think it’s important to not be afraid to look like a fool”-Sofia Vergara, “Oh, when do YOU look like a fool?!”-Julie Bowen
- Ed O’Neill’s reaction was “I never said that!”
- A fan just called Ed O’Neill back to his college days where he supposedly claimed “I’m just bidding my time, I’m going to be a star!”
- Eric Stonestreet wants to start a contest where a fan can win the chance to watch one of their table reads.
- “I think next year we’ll start the pranks and get back to you!”-Eric Stonestreet
- “I don’t think we’ve gotten that confident with each other yet to pull pranks”-Eric Stonestreet
- “We walk around hugging each other all the time. You can’t predict that chemistry, you just hope and pray for it”-Steve Levitan
- “As a writer that’s the greatest gift an actor can give you, that you know that they are going to deliver”-Steve Levitan
- @AliGraysAnatomy You’re welcome. Enjoy!
- “This show will give us the time to build the tension”-Ed O’Neill
- @quiteprecocious I wish I could help you out, sorry!
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@NKCoverGrrl I know! Work it lady!
- “She’s a very good comedian”-Ed O’Neill on Sofia Vergara, “I entertain you, uh?”-Sofia Vergara’s response.
- @quiteprecocious Thanks for the shout-out!
- “I was 9 months pregnant with twins in the pilot. That was hell”-Julie Bowen
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@ITveee Thanks! Check back, I’ll be tweeting like this every night of the festival!
- @christinawrites Thanks!!
- “I call for Julie and Sofia”-Steve Levitan on seeing a LIVE “Moon Landing” in the Saban Theatre.
- Billy Bush just called for a LIVE “Moon Landing” and Ed O’Neill said “They really don’t want to see that.”
- “Work hard and believe in yourself and you can touch butts with a television icon”-Eric Stonestreet on the “Moon Landing”
- “Not since ‘Fraiser’ has a show come on the air knowing its tone so completely”-Ty Burrell on what a fiddler in Central Park said to him.
- “We’re not curing cancer but we’re giving Rickets a good shot”-Eric Stonestreet
- Ty Burrell just told a touching story about a 20-something who said that he and his siblings get together and bond over the show.
- “There’s a lot of hope for actresses like me who have an accent”-Sofia Vergara
- “In many ways they are the most conservative family”-Steve Levitan on “Cam” and “Mitchell’s” relationship.
- “I have an enormous amount of respect for what ‘Will & Grace’ did”-Steve Levitan on breaking down barriers.
- “Let’s do this fast and then let’s go home!”-Sofia Vergara on her and Ed O’Neill having similar working styles.
- “They do get something out of each other. I mean it’s obvious what he gets out of her”-Sofia Vergara on “Jay” and “Gloria” as a couple.
- “I will come right back at you Billy!”-Julie Bowen on Billy Bush threatening to tell secrets about their days in school together.
- “I have a warm place in my heart for the dorky Dad who scores the hot wife. I think Claire needed Phil to balance her out”-Steve Levitan
- “It’s kind of a vacation to play Phil. His brain is like a meadow”-Ty Burrell
- “Oh my god, do you love it?”-Eric Stonestreet on the line that his mother actually says in real life. “Cam” said this regarding the mural.
- Billy Bush asked him if his character is modeled after his own mother and everyone laughed. Apparently, it is!
- A little improvising session just began and Eric Stonestreet immediately went into his “Cam” character with the walk and everything!
- “We start with a nice, solid script and then we start playing with it”-Steve Levitan on the cast improvising their scenes
- “We shoot really short hours. It keeps it really fresh! It’s the most fun I’ve ever had”-Julie Bowen
- Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s favorite and funniest moment this season thus far is dancing in the parking lot with Julie Bowen.
- “Jesse, what drew you to ‘Modern Family?’”-Billy Bush, “Money!”-Jesse Tyler Ferguson
- “I’m appreciative of all my fans no matter how much hair they have on their back, or chest, or lip”-Eric Stonestreet
- “It is my dream job, with my dream cast, with my dream writer”-Eric Stonestreet
- The baby character “Lily” is played by twins!
- @LisaPatricio We’re in a new location this year (1,800 seat Saban Theatre) and there are tickets left for almost all of our events.
- “I never thought I was going to be married to a ‘Bundy’”-Sofia Vergara on working with Ed O’Neill
- “We google her every day”-Ty Burrell, “I’m googling her right now”-Eric Stonestreet. Both commenting on Sofia Vergara’s beauty.
- “I thought, ‘Oh my god, I’ve got to go back to work’”-Ed O’Neill on reading the pilot script
- “Every thing you do, you think is the next big thing. You have to believe that or you can’t go to work.”-Steve Levitan
- “We’re so happy to even be in the game that we’re embracing every minute of it right now.”-Steve Levitan on their success
- “I don’t ever like to see my Frankenbrow and I’m sorry that you all had to see it!”-Ty Burrell
- Hi there! Tweeting LIVE from tonight’s PaleyFest event featuring “Modern Family”! Screening right now, seminar starts soon…
- @aris0 There is some street parking available and some parking available for a small nominal fee in the office buildings surrounding.
Tags: Modern Family, PaleyFest
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