Felicia Day is humble and down-to-earth as she discusses at a press conference what it’s like to be a pioneer in the land of geek girl to all things Vaginal Fantasy
Interview and photos by Danielle Boise
Writer, Producer, Creator, Actress and Buffy-ette, Felicia Day has had her hands in so many different projects, but mostly known in the web community from “Dr. Horrible’ s Sing-Song-Along Blog” to all things related with her web series, “The Guild,” which just wrapped their sixth season. But most people would recognize Day as “Eureka” fast talking Holly Marten. Regardless, Day is humble and down-to-earth as she discusses at a press conference what it’s like to be a pioneer in the land of geek girl to all things Vaginal Fantasy.
You have become such a powerful influence in the geek girl culture, I was wondering if you could talk about moving it forward and where you plan to go next? Are you going to do more web series other than “The Guild” or produce more because you are busy with that right now at the moment?
Thank you so much for saying that.
I feel like you’ve been a pioneer in this.
Thank you. I do appreciate that. I never set out to anything other than make something fun. I think it is inspiring to me that other people take what I do and look at it as sort of something to look up to as a role model and maybe even inspire what other people do with their creativity. I think that there may be aren’t that many role models out there for women as there could be, so maybe it wasn’t a particular medium but a spot to fill in a time when geek culture is becoming a lot more prominent.
I’m honored to be looked at like that and I take it seriously. For me it’s always very important to always be setting the example in business and creativity really can lead and you really don’t have to draw attention to it as much. You have to be yourself because I think the more conscious we become about gender roles in various fields, the more that people will adopt them and except them without pointing them out. That’s just what my personal opinion is.
I know that some women might be more supportive with being a geek girl identity and I do think that’s important for some people. I think it’s really sad that there is a backlash against that. Sometimes I think it’s my role to take the licks and not apologize for what I’m doing.
Are you going to be doing another full series (reference to Geek and Sundry – www.geekandsundry.com)?
We just wrapped season 6 (“The Guild”) two days ago. It’s kind of a wrap gift to us to come to this convention all together. We’ll be releasing that (“The Guild”) this fall on Geek and Sundry. I have 6 other shows that we are producing there. We’ll see if we are gets picked up for another season.
As far as personally, I’m definitely interested in telling bigger stories, after doing “Dragon Age” on a very small budget and “The Guild” season 6 still on a small budget, part of me would really like to tackle something on a larger scope. I don’t know whether that’s TV or whether it’s just a big web series. I feel like I’ve proven myself that I’m worthy of investing in. It seems like people are investing a lot into space now, so if people can get that much money to do things that they love, then I don’t see why I shouldn’t be able to.
I love your book club. It’s so much fun. Do you have anything in the works to do more interactive way, I like that you read from the Twitter comments and goodreads forum – it’s really such a great way to get everyone involved in what you are doing.
That was totally a hobby that I did because it was fun. If something is going to hang on something popular verses production value. It’s kind of challenging me. It’s also kind of a blessing. I moved it to Geek and Sundry because we decided to do a hangout every Tuesday, just as an event – a low budget way to add content. I love the fact that Vaginal Fantasy (Vaginal Fantasy Hangout Book Club – www.vaginalfantasy.com) has kind of become sort of my reading show.
I was totally floored when people on the forum started to have local meet-ups. We have 15 local meet-ups happening. That is something that can grow into something awesome and I love how supportive the community is, whether you are a guy or girl you’re really welcomed in the community. Everyone just has fun reading these books.
As far as further plans, I just want to foster that environment. I don’t get to support each local group as much as I would like. So it’s kind of my long-term project to at least get them a starter kit and to celebrate their participation by calling out community members that are really active and maybe expanding the actual show into something.
My dream would be to tour, like a podcasting tour where we go into all the big cities where we have really active fan bases. That’s all long-term, for now we’ll do a book a month. Next month is “Cthulhurotica,” we’re reading this dinosaur shape-shifting book where he fights vampires. I don’t know (with a smirk). It’s really fun. It’s like the one thing I do every month that doesn’t require any preparation, other than to read.
You played Holly Marten (“Eureka”); you had a lot of great moments, what was your favorite?
I particularly loved playing evil because I’ve never actually played evil before. When I read that script that turned out to be, spoiler – the “bad-guy.” It was the best fun ever. It was just an acting challenge to me. I don’t have a lot of time to do as much acting as I like. I get to do more this upcoming year.
It was such a gift to be able to see something that I’ve never done before and do it. It’s caused me to be a little bit more picky, it has to be something that either is a challenge to me personally or something I know people will want me to do, that they will love that character as much as they loved the other characters that I’ve done.
I’m curious about your time management. You are so busy, you have Geek and Sundry, you were doing “Eureka” and “The Guild” just wrapped and “Husbands “ is coming up and of course there is the book club – how do you find time to do everything and stay on track?
It’s really challenging. I tend to work until I collapse. I actually got pneumonia after we launched Geek and Sundry in April. It really affected my health really badly. I ruptured my eardrum too, because I flew a 100 times last year.
It has become one of my goals to be able to delegate a little bit better and also be a little more realistic about my time. I don’t like to disappoint people. You reach a tipping point where you know too many people and you’re a little bit too well known, where you can’t make everyone happy. I liked when I really knew everybody in an intimate way who loved my show. That almost was a little more rewarding than becoming a little bit more where people know you three steps from who you are really. That’s just the inevitability of being a little bit more successful and doing more shows; that’s a blessing too, I can’t complain.
I think it always has to go back to your priorities. I love making things, but at the same time I’ve neglected some things, I tend to hole myself up and work a lot. My goal, especially for next year, is to balance that a little bit better.
As far as time management, you just really have to be really clear about what you need to get accomplished. I tend to think ahead a lot and I plan very well to sort of divide up the time into little pieces to reach an end goal. I tend to really hate rushing things. I’ll know that a due date is say three months in advance; I literally will pace myself to make it comfortable so I can do the best job along the way.
At the end of the night I always gather what I need to do for the next day for all the projects that need tending to and make sure that I go over that checklist to make sure that there isn’t anything I’m neglecting. It’s really just constantly checking in with yourself, prioritizing and doing it in a way it’s not a free-for-all. That it’s very measured planning along the way. That’s the only way I get it all done; also having great people around me who help me make the things that I make.
What advice would you give college students who are trying to break out into the entertainment industry?
I don’t know if I should tell you this, but I think that you can take so many classes, to me I figure if you’re going to be in entertainment surmise to get an entertainment degree all the way. I think the things that you bring to creative field are your diversity and your uniqueness, so if everybody has the same kind of degree and same type of background there not going to tell different stories.
The variety of life is what informs what you create. I would advise people to take classes in things that they never think they are going to use, because it’s going to become more useful than anything you actually think is going to be. Also, you really can’t learn unless you work.
I’ve meet so many students with hugely expensive undergraduate degrees and they learn more in a week on a set than the full four years. Gather as much diverse knowledge as you can, actually along the way do the things you want to do. There is always a production to do. There’s always something you can make yourself. There is always someone looking for volunteer to run coffee for people. You’ll learn more doing that than anything because that’s really the most important thing, experience.
I’d like to know about your Dragon*Con experience and does that feed you creativity from the energy you get from the fans that come to see you?
At Dragon*Con I get to enjoy myself. I don’t actually get to go to the panels I’d like to. Or I’d like to go down to Artist Alley to meet some of the artists I love or Author Alley and meet all the people that I love from my book club; unfortunately my schedule is so packed.
But I do have the most fun at this convention out of any of them. I take an hour and a half and just walk around to take in all the costumes. I gather all my friends and we go out. Last night we went to a Disco and we danced all night. To me that’s huge fun. I get to meet authors randomly somewhere along the way and I’ll be excited about them as they might be about my work.
I think somebody said that Dragon*Con is the only place Hipsters would never be able to be ironic. There is no way to make people ashamed of what they are or who they are; here it’s just people accepting themselves and enjoying that with other people. That’s why I think that this is the most beautiful con.
For all things Felicia Day related, check out www.feliciaday.com. For links to Day’s shows, check out Geek and Sundry, at www.geekandsundry.com and finally to keep up with her book club, check out Vaginal Fantasy Hangout at www.vaginalfantasy.com.
