Tag: Annie Briggs

ClexaCon 2019 Friday with ODAAT and Avalance

15 May 2019 / Greet / Comments Off

ClexaCon 2019 Friday with ODAAT and Avalance

In this blog post, I talk about the things that I have seen and experienced on the first day of ClexaCon 2019. ClexaCon 2019 Friday included panels by and on BiPositive Podcast, Nicole Pacent, Queer Representation in Burlesque, One Day At A Time, and Avalance. I have added a video that I recommend watching if you want the full experience (don’t forget to subscribe!). I hope you enjoy it!

Queer storylines in therapy

A few months ago, I was interviewed by Mari and MD for their BiPositive Podcast. I knew that they wanted to do mental healthcare panels at ClexaCon just like they had at the London edition in November but that they were struggling to get there, like me. I was very happy to find out they made it and so I wanted to show my support by visiting their first panel.

The description of this panel was: “Media representation of the queer community has steadily been improving over the recent years – and queer clients in therapy find themselves gravitating toward their narratives in hopes of finding a good example to live by. In this panel, psychologists and media enthusiasts will explain how relating to a well-represented queer character can help develop positive outcomes in therapy, and add to the creation of a well-grounded minority identity.”

It was really interesting to hear about the methods they use in therapy to help their queer patients. Nicole Pacent was also present to talk about the creator’s side of the story.

Queer Representation in Burlesque

I knew of burlesque, but that is pretty much where it stopped. So, I thought it would be fun to stop by the burlesque panel to learn a bit more about this world so far away from me. It was cool to hear these women explain their dance history and how they ended up in burlesque. I loved that they gave a brief historical overview of burlesque as it helped me understand how it evolved into what it is today. They were performing that Friday night, but unfortunately, I had to give in to my jetlag and go to bed.

ClexaCon 2019 Friday with One Day At A Time

At 12:30, it was time for me to visit my first panel in the main panel room. One Day At A Time was coming. With the cancellation of the show on Netflix, I think it was really important to have a full panel room to show our support for the show and that the creators and actors are not alone.

Needless to say, the room was full. I loved the commitment Sheridan Pierce showed to portraying a nonbinary person as a well-rounded human being. I love the jokes that Sheridan and Isabelle made with each other.

An incredibly important moment was when they talked about “their first lady-loving scene.” It became very inspiring when Isabelle discussed how intimate the conversation before that moment felt to her. She never had that moment in her life herself and discussed the importance of consent and showing that in a TV show. I fully show that part of the panel in my video because every second of that moment counts in my opinion.

Pressroom interview with Haviland Stillwell

Right when I wanted to say hi to everyone in the pressroom, Haviland Stillwell walked in for interviews. I wanted to talk to her about Freelancers Anonymous, which I reviewed here. Last year, when she was on the LGBTQ+ actresses panel, she said something like: “Somebody pass me a gay role!” Naturally, I wanted to know how that worked out for her. You will find out soon enough.

Pressroom interview with Carmilla

After this interview, Annie Briggs, Natasha Negovanlis, and Elise Bauman walked in for their interviews. Unfortunately, my camera stopped working when this happened, so I started to get nervous. I was afraid I was going to be unable to record this interview. Luckily, after restarting it, it did work properly again. I only missed half of the first answer, so it wasn’t that bad. I asked Annie and Natasha about the progress of the second season of Clairevoyant. After all, I saw it mentioned on the IPF Funding list. Again, you will find out soon enough what the status is.

ClexaCon 2019 Friday with Avalance

I’m fairly new to Legends of Tomorrow and Avalance. I tried watching the first season, but I didn’t particularly like the show. I stopped watching it. After reading comments that the show gets better in season 3, my wife and I skipped to the third season. Indeed, the show has gotten better, and it is very clever in showing the LGBT+ spectrum in numerous ways. It wasn’t hard to fall in love with Avalance.

Last year, I saw Caity Lotz, but it was my first time seeing Jes Macallan. I have to say she was one of the two biggest surprises for me this con. I don’t know what I was expecting but what a warm, funny, and enthusiastic woman! They kept cracking jokes as if they were in character and I loved every second of it. Also, the tango performance was hilarious. Oh, and Katrina Law stopped (danced?) by to rub a ‘Nyssara 4 life’ shirt in Jes’ face. Life was fabulous.

More ClexaCon 2019 Friday coming up

Right after this panel, I had to run to the press room because Jes was coming for her interview. I will tell you all about the rest of ClexaCon 2019 Friday in my next blog post!

In the meantime, you can read these ClexaCon blog posts (with videos!):

Annie Briggs Discusses New Projects at LoveCon’

27 March 2019 / Greet / Comments Off

Annie Briggs Discusses New Projects at LoveCon’

At LoveCon’, Annie Briggs had a few minutes to talk to me. I was able to ask her some of my questions and some fan questions. As a result, we laughed about toilet paper, she learned about a Carmilla petition, and I heard about her new projects. Below is a part of the interview. You can find the rest in my video, which is embedded under this image.

LoveCon’

Me: “How is LoveCon’ so far and how does it differ from ClexaCon London?”

Annie Briggs: “It has been great. There have been some repeat faces, which is great, to see people again and obviously meeting new people is wonderful too.

I’m not fluent in French. The language thing is the biggest difference, but it hasn’t been problematic at all because there have been translators and we sort of make it through on either side.”

CarmillaCon

Me: “CarmillaCon is coming.”

Annie Briggs: “Yes, it’s coming. We’re all so excited. I can’t believe there’s a con that is exclusively for Carmilla. It’s going to be great.”

Me: “And it has been created by fans.”

Annie: “Yeah, it’s amazing!”

Me: “Does it feel extra special that it’s in Toronto?”

Annie: “Oh yeah, I think it makes so much sense. It is sort of the home base. Well, it’s interesting, because they say it’s the home base of Carmilla. It is where the creators and cast are based.

But I don’t know, Carmilla and especially the fandom is so global to me. It feels like a global family in a sense.

But I think it’s going to be really great to have that happening in Toronto. I think it speaks to the power of when fans get together and decide that this is what they want to have and make it happen.”

Luvvie – a short film by Annie Briggs

Me: “A while back I saw Luvvie, and I thought it was brilliant. I was wondering while watching, how much of it is true for an actor, not the working kind.”

Annie: “Man, it’s so funny. That was definitely my life at that time. Careers develop in different ways for different people. There’s no sort of formula for how an actor navigates their own career and work experience.

I will say that it’s a pretty universal experience for young actors. You spend the bulk of your time auditioning as opposed to working.

Audiences only see the actors that make it on to the stage or on to the screen. To get there, they have been up to hundreds of other actors who have had to put in the work to go through the auditions multiple times and don’t end up booking it.

There’s this funny thing where I think most people don’t realize that the bulk of actors, the jobs that we do is this completely behind the scenes thing.”

Me: “I thought the toilet paper was a nice touch. I could have used that tip when I was a student.”

Annie: “I am almost ashamed to admit that that definitely comes from personal experience.”

Clairevoyant

Me: “On your panel, you said something about Clairevoyant season 2 and not getting some funding. Is there any way we can help?”

Annie: “Honestly, if you’ve seen the show and you like it, share it with as many people. Still, on our season 1, getting as many views and shares and traction on it as possible only helps us show people that there’s an audience for this and that people want more. If you communicate that, it does help us to generate the finances to get the second season going.

What Natasha was referring to was yes, there was one funding body that we applied for but didn’t end up receiving. But that’s ok because we are applying to other ones and that’s sort of how this kind of stuff works in Canada. It’s through public funding; we do have great systems for that. It does mean that you have to go through the process of applying against so many other people. It’s a bit of a Hunger Games situation.”

Annie Briggs answered fan questions

We were running out of time, but I did manage to stretch the interview a minute or two and sneak in two fan questions. Make sure to watch the video to hear those questions and answers as well as some other questions that I’ve asked. Also, watch her new short film Ruth.

PS Have you read and watched my LoveCon’ interview with Kaitlyn Alexander?

More ClexaCon London Adventures

20 February 2019 / Greet / Comments Off

More ClexaCon London Adventures

As you may have read last week, I visited Kat Barrell’s panel on Saturday as well as the I have a que(e)ry panel. In this final ClexaCon London blog post, you will read more about my ClexaCon London Adventures: all the interviews I had and the panel by Natasha, Elise, and Annie. It also helps to watch the video below this image because it allows me just a bit better all the things that have happened. Also, please don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel.

ClexaCon London Adventures with Jamie Clayton

That afternoon, we had a press moment with Jamie Clayton. I absolutely loved her presence. I’ve said it before but what an energy! I’ve learned quite a lot even though her interview was only 15 minutes.

You can read about it here: Jamie Clayton (Sense8) talks trans representation at ClexaCon London. Also, you can watch the video below.

The panel by Natasha, Elise, Annie, and Dana

Dana Piccoli moderated the panel by Natasha, Elise, and Annie. First, it was just Natasha and Elise. As always, Dana had a fun idea for them to act out. On previous panels, she made them act out scenes from famous movies.

This time, though, she wrote a Hallmark-inspired holiday movie called Boughs of Holly. It always makes me laugh to see Elise and Natasha’s face right before she announces what she will make them do. Can we make that movie happen?!

Then, Annie joined and it was fun to see how dynamics change when there are now three people being interviewed.

An interview with Natasha, Elise, and Annie

Right after their panel, we had to return to the press room because Natasha, Elise, and Annie were coming for an interview. As I expected, ClexaCon London turned out to be Annie’s first con. I thought she brought some interesting insights to the table.

For instance, she reminded us that it takes a lot of time and effort for actors to work on their craft, training and auditioning in between projects, which we as an audience don’t always know about. We just see them on the screen when they are working on a job.

You can find the interview here: Natasha Negovanlis, Elise Bauman, and Annie Briggs visited ClexaCon London. Also, you can watch the video below.

Vlogging

After this interview, I took some time to record some vlogging footage. That meant I headed to the main panel room for Jamie’s panel a little late. When I walked to the panel room, I saw that the autograph lines for Natasha and Annie were a little slow. Apparently, everybody was at Jamie’s panel or in one of the other rooms. As I really wanted to have a quick interview with Natasha about Freelancers Anonymous, I took the opportunity to talk to her about it.

That sounds very proactive of me. In reality, I walked back and forth like ten times 😉

ClexaCon London Adventures: Impromptu interview

She said she wanted to but that she could not do it at that very moment. She thanked me for trying to promote new LGBTQ+ projects with my channels, which was amazing. I gave her my card to give to her agent, so we could make it happen.

After that, I talked to Holly, one of ClexaCon’s directors and I learned that they as an organization really like what I do with my blogs, vlogs, and social media posts about ClexaCon. That gave me such an intense feeling of happiness you guys. I can’t explain.

And then, Natasha’s agent walked up and said we could do the interview RIGHT NOW. No time to be nervous. Oh, wait, that happened anyway, of course. That moment, Holly also told Natasha’s agent that I am one of their favorite publications. It meant so much to hear that. Plus, more nerves…

Freelancers Anonymous

I was allowed to go “backstage” and talk to Natasha. She answered a few questions about Freelancers Anonymous and made sure everybody watching pre-ordered the movie (the interview was released three days before the release date).

You can read it here: Freelancers Anonymous: The New Queer Movie for Everybody. Also, you can watch the video below.

Emotional after all those ClexaCon London Adventures

I’m not going to lie; I was a little emotional after that afternoon. I missed Jamie’s panel but had so much in return.

That Sunday, I had a few more interviews. I did not see much of the con anymore because I already had to leave at 3 pm.

PS here are my interviews with the team behind I Can’t Think Straight, Nicole Pacent, Mandahla Rose, the writer and producer of Different for Girls, and the directors of ClexaCon.

Natasha Negovanlis, Elise Bauman, and Annie Briggs visited ClexaCon London

30 January 2019 / Greet / Comments Off

Natasha Negovanlis, Elise Bauman, and Annie Briggs visited ClexaCon London

Natasha Negovanlis, Elise Bauman, and Annie Briggs visited the press room of ClexaCon London to discuss their Carmilla characters, queer representation, and stereotyping, among other things. I have uploaded the video of this interview during the con but I had not had the time yet to write down the interview. So, here it is. One question is mine, the others are from some of the other press members present. We discussed more, which you can find in the video below this image.

Two different characters for Annie Briggs

Annie, how was your role in Carmilla challenging as you had to play both Lola and the dean? Did you prefer one role over the other?

Annie Briggs: “I don’t know if I can answer which one I prefer. Honestly, I think the gift in that was that those two characters, the dean versus Lola, were so drastically different.

The most challenging aspect for me was in the second season when I was playing Perry who was beginning to show signs of possession. There is a sort of grey area. There is a much subtler line between the two.

But between like full-on deanie-dean and Lola, they are so different. It was such as joy to play and it was fun. The writers gave me a great gift by creating very, very different character voices. So, half my work really was done for me.”

Queer representation in media

Me: “What is the number one thing content creators and the entertainment industry should do to improve queer representation in media?”

Elise Bauman: “Listen to the queer community. Hire writers of the queer community. Not that I am saying that straight writers can’t write roles for queer people, I don’t think that’s the case.

But I think if you do that, then you have to confer with people who are from the community. I think that is a really important step. If we are going to tell different stories, then we need a diverse writing room that is going to be able to tell those stories accurately.”

Natasha Negovanlis & Annie Briggs simultaneously: “Absolutely.”

Natasha Negovanlis, Elise Bauman, and Annie Briggs face stereotypes

Do you ever come across stereotypes in your career or personal lives?

Annie Briggs: “When do we not?”

Natasha Negovanlis: “All the time. It’s constant. Even when I started doing more comedy or when I did Clairevoyant, a question we got asked a lot in interviews was ‘was it weird working outside of your comfort zone?’ Annie would just cackle: ‘Do you know Natasha? Have you met her?’ Or ‘was it weird doing comedy?’ I don’t know if it is because I have dark hair or sharp features. People assumed very much I was this Carmilla type, which… There are so many elements in my personality in her, absolutely.

I think we face it all the time. Especially with female characters, whether they are straight or queer, they are often two dimensional. Women are there to support the men. I think we have all been really lucky with Carmilla and to have characters that actually have agency and are doing things.

I think one thing as well is once you start playing queer characters, I find that at least for me personally, I almost never get auditions for straight roles anymore, which is really interesting to me. In my day-to-day life, I have a lot of straight passing privilege.”

Stereotyping

Elise Bauman: “Everything comes down to stereotyping. We do it on a day-to-day basis. Think about Tinder. Literally 0.2-second judgment. […]

Something that I’m playing with right now is that I think it’s perhaps the conflicting nature of something is what makes it interesting. Because I am petite, the fact that I box seems really weird to people. That’s what’s interesting to me. That I look a very specific way but then I have this other energy within me and that’s interesting.

I kept thinking for a long time that I had to be my face. My face is a very specific thing and so I thought I had to act the way that my face looked to people. But maybe it is interesting if I am not what my face looks like.”

Annie Briggs: “Right. Like when people find out that one of my hobbies is knitting. They’re like WTF?

[…] I think the best I can offer is on my side of things as a content creator when I am creating roles, is incorporating layered human lives and making sure that that exists across the board.

Also, on a very simplistic level, breakdowns go out to actors and they are always required to dwindle it down into 3 words of the top that is [covering] this complex human life. And that’s not helpful to us on the receiving end.”

Natasha Negovanlis, Elise Bauman, and Annie Briggs visited ClexaCon London discussed more

As said, Natasha Negovanlis, Elise Bauman, and Annie Briggs talked about a few more things. You can find those in the video. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and share the videos you like with your friends. That helps me more than you can imagine.

PS here are my interviews with Kat Barrell, Jamie Clayton, the team behind I Can’t Think Straight, Nicole Pacent, Mandahla Rose, the writer and producer of Different for Girls, and the directors of ClexaCon.

Tag: Annie Briggs