Alona Tal (Supernatural’s Jo Harvelle) recently wrote an article about her experience at 2012 SDCC. The article was written in Hebrew and we translated it.
Translated by Lyric
Edited by Susan Hall
Source: Ynet
Actress Alona Tal went to Comic-Con in San Diego to promote the series, “Cult,” which is currently being shot. In her travel diary from the convention, she describes how it is to meet passionate fans, to be interviewed simultaneously by dozens of journalists and talk for hours about something that has yet to air: “They want playful pictures, and I try to wake up.”
Alona Tal
Published: 16.07.2012, 16:18
As I sat on the train on my way to Comic-Con, I thought about all those times when I attended fan meetings or different conventions in honor of the series “Supernatural,” in which I took part. The people, their costumes, the surreal feeling and the understanding that these people have traveled a great distance and have paid a crazy price (in my personal opinion) just for a few excited moments to be near their favorite stars – all of it is always incomprehensible to me. And like those fans, even the stars themselves are most of the time excited by the situation, as was I.
But this time I am much more excited, for the simple reason that this year I’m going in order to promote a new series that is all mine. Not a guest role or a recurring role, but a regular cast. This is a very exciting thing in my industry. Turns out all those [other] conventions did not prepare me for the experience called “Comic-Con,” from the moment when you arrive in San Diego and feel that something is happening, to the insane amount of people who are walking on the streets dressed as vampires as if it is the most normal thing in the world.
The crazy day of promoting the series starts with a wake up at 6:30 a.m., so that we will arrive at the hair and make-up suite half an hour later. And then the storm begins: One thing after another; an interview after an interview. I don’t get to drink the coffee that I so looked forward to, and already a representative of Warner Bros. has asked me to report to a photo session, at first alone and then with the rest of the cast. Immediately, I’m trying to not be nervous about standing in front of a still camera so early, and start working.
They want “playful” pictures they tell me, and I try with all my power to wake up and be as “playful” as I can be. It’s not easy, given the fact that the entire cast stands there and watches, and of course, we all start telling jokes at the expense of the other. When the visual part finishes, we are move into a room with sixty people. Reporters are scattered at round tables, and each group receives only ten minutes to ask questions. Lots of questions about a series that we have yet to start filming. It’s a challenge: How to answer without making up things? And what if what I answer doesn’t materialize after we shoot it…? No time. We have to give vague answers.
Later, we give a series of interviews to different channels in the United States and around the world. When all this is over, we compare notes with the rest of the cast, who to my relief had the same dilemma as me. Now we are all together, and we can get some rest. Or, at least that’s what we thought, but it turns out that the madness continues.
A television interview with MTV, more channels and more round tables, came next. If I’m not mistaken, there were [a total of] seven such rounds, but when everything runs together, I can’t be sure. In between, we go to the make-up stand to repair the effects of the heat. More photos, more playful; more questions that cause a crazy feeling of deja vu. Surreal.
Then came the pilot screening time in front of a packed auditorium. Afterward, we went up to the panel on the stage. Later, we went to the signing stage, where we are in the center of the action on the main hall floor, with a huge screen behind us projecting our every move and a long line of people waiting for a second and a half of personal communication with each of us. Once again, this surreal feeling of “How did I get here?” overwhelms me.
Only at the end of the day, after we’ve changed clothes for the party held in the evening, did I have time to digest a little about nearly all of the events. After this moment of personal reflection, I feel happy to continue with the parties and different events into the night.
Tired but satisfied, I can return home, and prepare for the next step: Six months of shooting the series itself: “Cult.” And hope that the viewers will enjoy it and become addicted to it, so that we can return next year to this extraordinary world called Comic-Con.