Hilarie Burton: [music playing in background] You have tuned in to the Southern Gothic Productions Podcast. It’s our weekly look into the inner workings of a production company. So sit back, hang out, and enjoy a sneak peek into our journey. [music stops] Oh, hello, everyone. It’s Hilarie Burton. You are listening to the Southern Gothic Productions Podcast. We are on location! We are shooting our company’s very first webisode ever, ‘Friendship Union Community Theatre,’ and I am sitting here with Denise, our podcast captain, and my business partner Kelly Tenney, and we’re right in the middle of our first shoot day… our second shoot day. [laughs] Yesterday was our first one. It was a bear.

Denise Gideon: It was quite a long day, a little stressful, but you got through it.

HB: Maybe that’s why I feel like it’s still our first shoot day, because it’s just been ongoing. Like, we went home, Nick came over to my house afterwards, we barely grabbed some food, and made props till, like, one o’clock in the morning, and then came back here. Kelly, what time were you here? Bright and early.

Kelly Tenney: 7 a.m.

HB: God bless it.

KT: God bless.

HB: You have a little bit of a commute. What time did you get up today?

Both: 5. [both laugh]

HB: You’re always up at 5.

KT: 5.

HB: Yeah. He’s an early one.

DG: And Kelly, you had to make a run to pick something up. You had to make a quick one.

KT: Yeah, we’re transferring the data onto a hard drive, and we’re having a little bit of probvlem for some reason, but I think we’re figuring it out.

HB: How big of a problem?

KT: I haven’t seen any footage yet.

HB: Oh, okay. [nervously laughs] You see, this is why he’s up at 5 because he can’t sleep! [Kelly laughs]

DG: That would be awful, wouldn’t it? Film all day yesterday, and then nothing got in the… no, I’m just kidding! [laughs]

KT: No, I should rephrase that. We did see it on the camera.

HB: No, it will be fine, I mean, everything is a learning process, and that’s something that we don’t want to hide, you know. That’s part of the experience of filmmaking, that, ‘Oh, hell! What just happened?’ I mean, I feel like that usually happens 10 or 20 times a day on any given set. ‘Oh, hell. What just happened?’

KT: ‘What just happened?’

HB: And, you know, that’s something that I want to share with people because I want them to feel empowered, you know. We’re winging it just like everybody else is.

KT: We are but, I mean, on set yesterday it was… it went smooth.

HB: God, yeah. We were on time, on schedule. All the performances were awesome.

KT: Awesome.

HB: Really, awesome.

KT: And the crew wasn’t stressed out, so…

HB: No, nobody stressed. And Nick, who’s directing, Nick Gray, just did such a phenomenal job and just had a clear sense of what he wanted and was communicating with his actors well and things were well rehearsed, and it just went really, really smooth.

KT: And we were actually shooting with a very primitive bit of… not only a small crew but equipment wise. I mean, we have probably less equipment than a commercial.

HB: It’s a skeleton crew, yeah, but I like intimacy. [laughs] All the time… no.

DG: Let’s keep it clean! Let’s keep it clean!

HB: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [Kelly laughs] No, I like having a small group of people that all communicate and are friendly with each other. And, it’s fun, honestly. This feels like high school back when you steal your dad’s video camera and go out to an abandoned house and make a dumb music video with your friends, you know? Like, we’re all having fun, and if we can work and continue to do that together? We’re very, very lucky.

DG: How different is this, though, than the little short film you did? Does it feel like it means a little bit more? You got more at stake?

HB: Oh, certainly, we have a lot more people involved. Kelly, that’s something you an I talked about this morning. There are other people involved now, so it really…

KT: Yeah, it’s much bigger than… it’s not just us that are, first of all, waiting to see this. I mean, before on our short, it was really just us, and if we didn’t like it we would just not show the world. [laughs]

HB: [laughs] We just, you know, have some beers at the house and laugh at it ourselves.

KT: This is… now not only is real money being spent, but we have our following expecting to see something, and it’s quite…

HB: I think they’re really gonna like it, though. I mean, it’s funny.

KT: Oh, it’s really funny.

HB: And it’s just… it’s cool, and it’s Nick’s quirky sensibility, you know, and I feel like we’ve put together a good group of visionaries that see what Nick’s trying to do and are helping him facilitate it.

KT: I mean, it was genius for you guys to have that open audition to see what talent it here first before you wrote it.

HB: Yeah. Before Nick wrote anything, you know, we just had this cattle call in Wilmington. And so, one of our actresses, Anetta, is a mature woman in town and she was just so quirky and she showed up and looked like a little grandma and is talking about murder in her monologue. She’s like, ‘You should just murder him!’ And Nick’s like, ‘I can’t wait to write for this woman.’ And so he wrote her a part called… her name’s Fern Disco. [Kelly laughs] And then Kathy is…

KT: Halenda.

HB:… a friend of yours.

KT: Long, long, long, long friend.

HB: How did you meet her?

KT: I actually met her in college, when I was in college.

HB: Are you serious?

KT: Yes.

HB: Dude, that’s awesome!

KT: That’s a long time ago.

HB: Were you guys doing theatre together? Or you just know her…

KT: I was actually… I was best… her husband, now soon to be ex, unfortunately, I went to college with. He’s my best friend.

HB: Okay, cool.

KT: That’s how I met her. She was really…

HB: Dude.

KT: She was a few years ahead of us.

HB: This woman is dynamite. She’s playing the kind of Mama Rose character, you know. [character voice] The very ‘Hey! What’s going on? It’s me! I’m on stage!’

KT: Yeah. [to Hilarie] You hit that. That was good!

HB: Yeah, you like that? [Kelly and Denise laugh]

DG: Good job.

HB: I’ve been doing my Kathy imitation all day. I just love her. You know, and then we’ve got some young talent involved too, you know. Steven Howell is playing our beautiful boy, Parker.

DG: You know, I walked in yesterday and I walking in right when he took his shirt off!

HB: Oh yes!

DG: It was a very nice time to be walking into. [laughs]

HB: Hey, I’m just saying, kid’s not hard on the eyes. That’s a fact. But this is one of the first things he’s ever done, so even though he wrapped shooting yesterday he came back today just to experience set and to learn, and it’s that kind of enthusiasm and that kind of passion that we want to work with, you know, we’re constantly pushing ourselves and trying new things, you know, we’re figuring out new media and you’ve introduced us to the world of podcast, and so we’re always pushing ourselves so it’s nice to be surrounded by other people that are just as ambitious and just as curious. It makes work way more fun.

DG: Well before we take a break, let’s talk a little bit about… you mentioned the budget… Let’s talk about working with a budget for this first segment.

HB: I went out to L.A., took some meetings, and figured out there is a number… and I can’t throw out numbers. I can’t give away our secrets… but there is a number…

DG: No secrets. No secrets.

HB: There is a number that advertisers will pay to have a webisode done, or to have, like, a series done, and then they get to add a little commercial to the front end of it or a banner to the bottom of it or to the back end of it. They get to put their ad on your product somehow. And so, what we’re trying to do is maintain that budget in our first shoot. We’re paying for everything ourselves. It’s actually, you know, t-shirt sales that are from our website that are helping us fund this, and so we pay for the first one ourselves, and as soon as it’s done and edited I take it out to L.A. and my team, you know, my managers are helping me shop it around to different advertisers and, you know, essentially we just want to have a n ongoing thing that is shot here in Wilmington, you know, that’s using local people and local talent and to kind of shine a little spotlight on them. That’s our job.

KT: For little money.

HB: For very little money! Yeah, if we were doing anything for money… [both her and Kelly laugh] I think we just do it because we just love being together, right Kelly?

KT: We do. [Hilarie and Denise laugh] 

DG: Well, you did something that was cool. You allowed people a little peek into filming, enjoying social media again, not only Twitter, but the enjoyment of Twitpics, by just letting people know.

KT: That would be you, Denise. [He and Denise laugh]

HB: Yeah, that’s all you, man. I didn’t know that stuff existed.

KT: I had no idea.

HB: Are you kidding me? It’s like magic! I’m waiting for a wizard to pop out around the corner. ‘How’d these pictures get up here? That’s crazy!’

DG: ‘What happened? How did that happen?’

HB: Yeah, I have no idea.

KT: It’s like, instant.

HB: You tell me. I don’t know how that happened. All I know is, I’m sitting around, I didn’t dry my hair yesterday. I came in. I wore this skirt that had the biggest pockets in the world because I knew I would be carrying around stuff all day.

KT: It wasn’t your denim one tough.

HB: It wasn’t my denim skirt! It was my green skirt with the ruffle.

DG: Well I didn’t get the rules that I had to have people look at them first. I got a little excited, posted a few beforehand.

HB: Dude, hair and makeup was… [laughs] Nick just stuck his head outside. [deep voice] ‘What are you guys doing?’ … I mean, yeah, but that’s how it really is, you know, if I’m not in front of the camera you know I’m gonna look homeless, [Kelly laughs] sitting behind the monitor with Nick. No way I’m sitting through the works.

DG: Don’t give away all your secrets.

HB: Yeah, right?

DG: What’s the one thing, before we close for this segment, that you learned yesterday?

KT: Elevators need to work.

HB: When you’re shooting on the 5th floor of the building.

KT: [laughs] Yeah.

HB: That… that’s what we learned.

KT: Locations, locations, locations.

HB: And my calves are gonna be bitchin’ after this. [her and Kelly laugh] God!

DG: Well we’ll close off of this segment and we’ll get back and we’ll talk a bit more about the shoot and some things that you guys got planned for later on. Well, Hilarie and Kelly will be back in just a moment.

NG: Hey guys! This is Nick Gray and you are listening to the Southern Gothic Productions Podcast..

DG: We are back with the second segment here in beautiful Wilmington, North Carolina on the set of the Southern Gothic Productions first webisode.

HB: Yes.

DG: Very excited about that. I had a lot of fun yesterday watching you guys film. You guys got to work and I got to play, and so it was kind of fun.

HB: Yeah, I mean, I was in the zone all day. I hardly got to talk to you at all just because I was sitting behind the monitor with Nick or running to the Village Market to get super glue because jewelry broke, or doing coffee runs…

KT: Pizza.

DG: Pizza.

HB:… going with Kelly to get pizza. And for every trip we climbed five flights of stairs. [laughs]

KT: I have to tell you my legs ache today.

HB: Oh I’m a… I’m jello! I’m all wiggly-like. It’s not cute!

DG: You know, Hilarie, how was it, I mean, you know, most of the time you get people saying, ‘Oh, what can we do for you?’ and yesterday we were all sitting around at lunch and you go, ‘I’m going on another run!’

HB: ‘I’m going on another run! Who wants Red Bull?’ Honestly, like, I got off work yesterday, you know, we went home and I was talking to a friend of mine and I’m like, ‘Man, I just… I love winding cable. I love running errands. I love not having to be touched up.’ [her and Kelly laugh] You know, normally when I work I got people touching me all the time, and you’re getting lights shined in your face. I have way more fun sitting in the back with Kelly, whispering and then, you know, running errands and stuff. I like problem solving.

KT: Yeah. Yes.

HB: You know?

DG: Well there was a… speaking of touching… there was an interesting moment yesterday when you had to add some sweat to one of your extras…

KT: Oh, lordy.

DG:… and so that was interesting.

KT: Oh, lordy!

HB: You know, that’s the thing about being an actor, is that you’re not really allowed to have any pride. [laughs] We have one of our actors in the show… has some questionable body sweat after a performance, and so, you know, we have to… we have to manufacture that. That’s awkward to do in front of a lot of people, and so, you know, that’s the actor part, that’s why Hilarie likes producing now. [Kelly laughs] It’s way more…

DG: You each got a, I think, a checklist for this company. Today, yesterday, and in the weeks to follow when you try to get it sold and everything like that, this is another milestone for your company. Can you talk a little more about that and just about, you know, okay, this is another checklist item for me to check off.

HB: Yeah, I mean, it’s… what it is is it’s content. And it’s really manageable content for us to be doing while still focusing on the larger goal of ‘Pedestrian.’ And it’s our calling card, you know, we can send this out with our Southern Gothic logo and have people kind of understand like, our sensibility, our sense of humor, the kind of talent that we’re interested in and using. I don’t know! It just feels good to be doing stuff, you know?

KT: In production, yeah.

HB: So many people just sit around and talk about it.

KT: Talk! Lordy.

HB: I’m so sick of talkers, man. Just do it!

KT: And really, this project came to… frutition?

DG: fruition?

HB: Fruition?

KT: Fruition. Sorry.

HB: [rolls her r’s] Fruition, yeah, no, that’s the British pronunciation. [laughs]

KT:… rather quickly. I think Nick and you were brainstorming one night, as you do.

HB: In bars? [laughs]

KT: In bars. Not quite a month ago!

HB: Honestly, what we decide, we’re like… because I’m going to be traveling and so we decided, like a week and a half ago, that we have to shoot it today.

KT: Yeah, it was like, ‘Alright, let’s do it now.’ And we all pull out our calendars and we had to do it that day. Yesterday, basically, or it wasn’t going to get done.

HB: Well yeah, and our actors have jobs too so we took advantage of the fact that on Memorial Day no one was really working, and we could get the space that we needed, and, you know, you just have to jump! And, I think…

KT: You need a doer, and that’s kind of what we are, we’re doers.

HB: Well yeah, and we’re all such a good team and we’re all such good friends that any hesitation or fear we might have, you know, the other person picks up the slack, so…

KT: [laughing] So true. We really don’t ask people to do things, we assume they’re going to do it. Like we just assumed Nick was going to direct this.

HB: Oh yeah. [her and Kelly laugh] He had no idea! Dude, we assumed that my brother Conrad was going to come by yesterday and took all our cast photos for us so the night before I’m like, ‘Hey kid, so I’ll see you tomorrow?’ [airplane flies over] Oh, we’ve got an airplane. It’s just like shooting at the studio in Wilmington! That is one thing…

DG: I love location.

HB: God, we have to stop every 5 minutes. For as small as this town is, we’ve got more planes than Chicago, New York, L.A. combined! Yeah, Conrad, I talked to him the night before shooting I’m like, ‘Alright kid, I’ll see you tomorrow.’ ‘Yeah, I just found out I’m working with you guys tomorrow.’ Apparently no one told him.

KT: Oh, good.

HB: That was Billy’s job. We’ll blame Billy. [Denise laughs]

KT: Billy, yeah. We’ll ask him about that later.

HB: Let’s just blame Billy, that’s going to be the t-shirt I wear tomorrow.

DG: Add that to the list, yeah. [she and Kelly laugh]

HB: ‘He’s in charge!’

DG: What has preparing for this webisode taught you guys?

KT: Planning, planning, planning.

HB: Yeah, but everything’s planned and everything’s been on schedule, on time. We’re really… we’re well trained, like…

KT: We are, we are.

HB: … like Golden Retrievers, you know, we just… we know how to shoot on time and on budget, and that’s television training.

KT: Yeah, it really is.

HB: But, I think, for us, what we’re learning is flexibility, you know, like thinking on our feet, and problem solving. But that’s…

KT: Yeah, communicating. If there’s something that we see that we’d like to add or change, we can talk to each other quickly and…

HB: Yeah.

KT: There’s no, really, egos involved.

HB: No, there really aren’t.

KT: Just say yes, no, or this is why we don’t wan to do it, or can do it, please do it even if you’re not going to use it, right?

HB: Yeah, I mean…

KT: We just do it.

HB: … it’s just communication, but we’ve got that down. It’s all the hanging out in bars that helps with that, Kelly. [Kelly laughs] I’m telling you. I’m just telling you!

KT: Lord. [Hilarie laughs]

DG: Just feeling very relaxed and familiar with everyone. [Kelly laughs]

HB: He’s up at 5 o’clock in the morning every morning. I’m up till 5 o’clock in the morning, every morning. [laughs]

KT: That is a true statement. I keep getting emails from her at 5 o’clock in the morning.

HB: But the thing is, that means that Southern Gothic is an operation 24 hours a day! Take it!

DG: 7 days a week.

HB: Just take it!

KT: Kinda! [He and Denise laugh]

HB: Yeah! It’s great! We work on different clocks.

DG: Well, also, let’s not forget that while you’ve been behind the camera and doing errands and, you know, whatever else you might find you have to do, you’re also going to be in front of the camera a little bit.

HB: Yeah dude, I’ve got to go learn my lines! [Kelly laughs]  I’m playing..

DG: That might be nice!

HB: Yeah, no I should. I learn lines pretty fast. I say this now, I haven’t shot yet. I see how I do. No, I’m playing a character right at the tail end of the episode so, yeah, I get to just kind of scoot in at the end. What we tried to do is, in this first episode, introduce the characters that we’re going to be seeing over and over again, but there are going to be a number of characters that we’ll see once the project is in production, you know. ‘Friendship Union Community Theatre’ is putting on auditions for this play. This first episode is the audition process, and then in future episodes, you know, you’re going to meet, you know, the stage manager, the costumes manager, you know…

KT: … the tech guys.

HB: …the tech guys… just, the entire community that it takes to put on a show, and then, you know, all their relatives. Our lead, Clarisse’s parents, I’m sure, are going to come into play at some point, so we have lots of people to explore, and yeah, this first one, it’s our actors and then I sneak in at the end and play a woman named Ramona.

KT: Ramona.

DG: Oooh.

HB: … who, I think you guys all know, I like being the bad guy! [Denise and Kelly laugh] So…

DG: Cue ominous music.

HB: Dun dun dun. That’s me, man.

DG: You guys have been really embracing the new media, and webisodes are the hot commodity right now, do you like the fact that maybe you’re kind of on the cusp of the new stuff that’s going on?

HB: Well, we’ve never been typical. [laughs] I mean we’re… we are always going to be champions for the underdog, and whether that’s, you know, the writer that hasn’t been discovered yet, or a musician that hasn’t been discovered yet, or an actor, or an art form, or a director, you know, we like cheering for the thing that’s new and deserves attention, and I think that this whole new wave of entertainment is really important because it makes it accessible to people.

KT: Very much, the whole world, globally.

HB: Yeah, and also it’s an art form that the masses can do. I mean, we’re shooting this webisode for a very small amount of money to prove that you can do it, you know.

KT: But that’s not going to look like…

HB: Oh my god, no, it looks great! It’s all about just doing your homework, and going out and talking to the right people, and enlisting the help of people that are just as passionate and talented as you are.

DG: Alright, we’re going to take a break, and when we come back, Hilarie and Kelly, we are maybe going to talk a little about the wrap of this webisode, and also a little bit more about what this podcast is, and what we’re going to be doing with it in the future.

HB: Awesome, man. Stick around.

DG: We’re back here, talking with Hilarie and with Kelly, we chatted a little bit about the webisode, the two-day shoot, now we’re going to talk a little about wrapping, and we’ve chatted a little bit about what you guys want to do about editing and getting it sold and stuff like that, but just give me your feelings on how it is to get this done.

HB: I mean, just the actual shooting of it is awesome! … that it’s over. [Hilarie and Kelly laugh] Because I haven’t slept in days!

KT: Poor Hilarie. Ugh.

HB: I’m literally… I’m a zombie right now. I’m looking at Kelly cross-eyed. Yeah, no, I mean, I’m going to take a nap, and then…

KT: You deserve it.

HB: You deserve it! We’ll have a drink and then we’ll take a nap.

KT: Yes, maybe a couple drinks. [Denise laughs]

HB: Maybe a couple, and then, yeah, you know, then…

KT: Then the work starts all over again!

HB: Then, you know, on set I’m running errands and just trying to keep everybody happy, but it’s really after the shooting that my job starts, because that’s when I go to all of my teams and start promoting it, and pushing it, and using publicity to get attention for it, and all that kind of stuff, so my work’s getting ready to start, and I’m excited to see what it ends up looking like, because on the monitor it looks great, you know, but when you put all the pieces together, you know, it becomes fast paced and we add music to it…

KT: Music, yeah.

HB: And it’s going to make a world of difference, so I’m excited to see the finished product, man.

DG: Welcome to the world of behind the scenes!

HB: God, right? And, you know, I think that’s part of the reason that we’re doing this podcast. We’ve said this before. It’s because, you know, people only see 10% of the movie making process. They see that last, maybe… that last couple weeks, you know, where it’s like press tours…

KT: Where it’s being promoted at that point.

HB: But there’s a reason people want to work in movie, because it’s fun, and we want to show everybody all of it, even the days where like, I’m getting ready to bang my head on this patio table because [Kelly laughs] I’m so tired I’m going to face plant, you know, that’s part of it! And that’s a really good… that’s a really good tired, you know? It’s a good feeling to have because, you know, you did something with your day.

DG: Well we’ve kind of… like a lot of things with Southern Gothic Productions, people have an idea, and other people run with it, and everybody tries to catch up, I think…

HB: Yeah!

DG: But, I think, we’ve kind of taken large steps with this podcast, and worried about getting it out and getting it promoted, and everything like that. Now that we’re in episode number 3 and taking a nice deep breath and letting it back out, tell me what you’re thoughts were when Kelly came to you and said, ‘Hey! Let’s do a podcast.’

HB: I mean, my character used to do podcasts on ‘One Tree Hill,’ you know, so it was something I was kind of familiar with, you know, and it was really right when it was first emerging that we were doing that, and so now to be doing it for our company… It’s almost like having a journal of sorts.

KT: Yes.

HB: And I’ve always been, like, a journaler, and so first to catalogue what we’re doing… maybe that’s narcissistic. [laughs] ‘Yes, let’s talk about us and keep it for all posterity.’ [Kelly laughs] I don’t know! I mean, I think it’s fun to let people know our ups and downs and kind of what our hurdles are and fill them in on, yeah, just all… everything it takes to get a project or multiple projects done. We’re not good at doing one thing. We’re multi-taskers.

KT: No. It does help us remind what we gotta do next, too.

HB: [laughs] Yes, it’s our laundry list.

KT: It is! [he and Denise laugh]

HB: You keep asking us, ‘What’s next?’ We’re thinking it up while we’re sitting here.

DG: [planes fly overhead again] And the planes go by.

HB: Yeah, the planes go by!

DG: We are still on location, we haven’t left yet.

HB: Certainly, we’re on the roof deck, five stories up, no elevator.

KT: Oh right, we have to carry all that equipment down!

HB: It’s been monsooning all day…

KT: Right.

HB: Yeah, and we still got everything done!

DG: Welcome to the glamorous.

HB: Those are the hurdles, kids.

KT: The glamour!

HB: Those are the hurdles.

DG: The glamour or filmmaking!

HB: Totally.

DG: No, I mean, about the podcast again, before we close out with some of the webisode stuff, so, like I said, we’re on number 3 and we’re doing this podcast and somehow we… was it you roped me in? Or I roped you?

HB: You roped me in! [Denise laughs] Are you kidding me? 

KT: [laughing] Yeah.

DG: You’re name is Podcast Denise! You invented this for me! Yeah, I mean you taught me more about this than anybody, and you know, it’s a good forum, and that is something that Southern Gothic is all about, new media and new ways to interact with our fan base, and potential supporters, so yeah, I think this is a really good opportunity for us to answer other people’s questions, you know, I don’t know if at some point we want to take  listener questions.

DG: I think that would be a great idea.

HB: Yeah. That’s be cool, you know, because we’ll sit here and BS all day, but if there’s something that they want to know…

KT: I’m sure Denise will figure that out for us. [Denise laughs]

HB: Yeah. You’ll figure it out, I mean, you’ve already introduced us to, you know, a lot of music and stuff like that, and obviously I come from a music background so that’s really important to me, and I’m going to be sending you a list this week of the kind of bands I’m into so we’re on the same pages.

DG: That’s kind of scary if we’re on the same… we’re going to get on the same pages…

HB: We’re gonna get on the same page!

DG: [laughs] That’s kind of scary!

HB: Watch out. These bands aren’t going to know what hit them. ‘Oh, hey, want to come play with us?’ Yeah, no, we’re gonna start collecting music friends, like Easter eggs, you know, put them in our basket! [laughs]

DG: We do have Lindsay Wolfington in our pocket.

HB: Radical. That is a great pocket! [Kelly agrees] Our pockets are great!

KT: Fillin’ up.

HB: Things like this, things like the podcast or the blogs or the vlogs… they really are an opportunity to meet new people, and to establish, you know, professional and personal relationships with new people, and we’ve been really, really lucky that all the people who’ve wanted to help us have just been awesome.

KT: Very supportive.

HB: [to Denise] Including yourself, you know. Our following on the blog is just incredible, and so, yeah, we’re, you know, excited to work with people that we would have never ever ever met before, and it’s all through the power of the interweb! [Denise laughs]

KT: Amazing.

HB: Magic.

KT: Magic!

DG: You guys still shocked about that?

HB: Yes!

KT: Yes!

HB: Everyday I keep waiting for little gnomes or fairies to crawl out of my computer, because I don’t believe in it! Ah, it’s wizardy! I’m telling you, man.

DG: Did it make you feel a little bit better jumping into this foyer of this webisode knowing that you guys have the support of… the kind of support that you have or you’re bulding?

KT: Yes.

HB: Yeah, and I think, you know, it’s really important for us too to know what our demographic was, and we know that through the webisode and the series and stuff…

KT: The surverys and things, yes.

HB: Yeah, I mean, Kelly really was great about doing the homework on all of that. [to Kelly] You were the one that pushed that, man. I was just like, ‘Yeah, okay.’ He just kept pulling out a video camera every time Nick and I were hanging out, [Kelly laughs] and we’re like, ‘What are you doing?’

KT: Yeah, Nick is very suspicious of me now.

HB: Yeah!

KT: Hilarie is still, like…. neutral, but… [laughs]

HB: No way! I’m hanging out on my porch drinking coffee and Kelly just shows up with a camera, and I’m like, ‘What the hell are we doing?’

KT: We are open.

HB: Yeah, but I mean it… I think that’s what sets us apart from everybody else, and hopefully that’s equally as entertaining as the actual product.

KT: I hope so, I hope so.

DG: Tell me about your thoughts on blurring the lines, though.

HB: I mean, there is a danger in it. I’ve always been someone who’s been very careful about protecting my privacy, but I’m not talking about my personal life. I’m talking about professional stuff.

KT: That’s it, and only that.

HB: And that’s something that I learned from MTV, you know. You can be approachable and you can be yourself and you can talk about the business and talk about work and have a honest conversation with complete strangers, and it’s not invasive because it’s… it is work, you know, but it’s work that you’re passionate about, and that you love, and that you want to share with people.

KT: We’re trying to be a window for the people who aren’t in this business that want to follow it. They get to see that little slice that we have, but it’s all business still, I mean, never would we want…

HB: We’re just really lucky, though. We have a really fun…

KT: group, yeah.

HB:  … a fun group to do business with.

DG: How lucky are you, though? To have that kind of base?

KT: Wow.

HB: Oh, super lucky. I paid off a gypsy witch somewhere, man. [Denise and Kelly laugh] Our karma is correct.

KT: It is.

DG: It’s about those karma points. I believe that. [laughs]

HB: Right? Helping old ladies across the street, man.

DG: We’re going to be talking with the mystery, Nicholas Gray…

HB: Alright!

DG: … and the two lead actors in your webisode, but in the following ones to come, what are we going to be talking about? What are we going to be looking forwards too?

HB: Oh god, who knows? Well, I mean, the next couple months are going to hold a lot for us, because I’m going to be traveling around quite a bit, you know. That’s just the nature of my business, is that I have to move around a lot, and so, with the skype account that we set up, and all that kind of stuff, we’re really going to be evolving the way we communicate with each other within the business, but also the way we communicate with other people, whether that be investors that we’re talking to…

KT: Right.

HB: You know, Kelly and I are on the North Carolina Film Commission, so we’re going to be trying to boost things here in state, yeah.

KT: And continue our branding, I mean, that’s what we started out doing back in January.

HB: Yeah, I mean, we want to be a company that not only is self-sufficient and creates content for North Carolina, and Wilmington specifically, but we also want to help other people do it, and be, you know, the big brother/big sister of this area.

DG: I know Kelly told me a little bit about you guys wanting to do a little bit more branding, and brainstorming some marketing ideas, you know, throw it out there, ‘Hey guys, what would you like to see?’

KT: Yes.

HB: Yeah, totally!

KT: Yes.

HB: What do ya’ll want? Sign me up. I’ll have a whole K-mart full of things for you, you know. That’s what we need. We need to start selling, like, a bedding and towels and… Martha Stewart did it right!

KT: Well, that’s right.

HB: God, what would Southern Gothic know… I’m not even going to ask. I know exactly what our products would look like. It would look like my house, just like, full of taxidermy [Kelly laughs], creepy antiques, and black curtains, and candlabras. That’s what Southern Gothic will look like.

DG: Well, you know also, people love swag.

HB: Totally.

KT: Totally.

HB: Who wants a duffel bag?

KT: We have some jewelry that people have submitted to us.

DG: That’s a good idea.

KT: Flip flops.

HB: Oh, radical.

DG: You can never not have too many keychains.

HB: That’s so true, and I really like our logo.

KT: Yes.

HB: I like it a lot.

KT: It is very cool.

HB: I’m going to get a big old thigh tattoo of our logo. [laughs]

KT: Good luck with that! [laughs]

HB: [laughing] Yeah? Kelly loves that idea! Dude.  [continues laughing] I like saying things that just shock him. He’s like my older brother.

KT: That’s true.

HB: It’s just like, ‘hey, what can I say that will just gross Kelly out today?’ [Kelly whistles and she laughs]

DG: Well, on that note…

KT: Yes.

HB: On that note… thigh tattoos, and all.

DG: [laughs] Hilarie why don’t you close us out and we’ll tell people to please come back and listen to us again.

HB: Alright, you guys, honestly thank you so much for joining us. We have a lot of fun hanging out with each other, and we’re glad you guys are a part of it, and we’ll be talking to you very, very soon! This has been Southern Gothic Productions Podcast.

HB: Thank you guys so much for listening to the Southern Gothic Productions Podcast. We hang out on Wednesdays so be sure to check us out! See you next time.