Claire Gagnon-King – All For One

By: Lisa Steinberg

Q) How was the series All For One and your role described originally and has it evolved since your original audition?

A) When I first auditioned for the series, it was the same premise. It was a modern adaptation of Three Musketeers set in a sorority with mostly a female cast. And that was what drew me to the project, but the script was totally different. They had an entirely different version. So, even the things we read for the audition and the sides we had for the callbacks I don’t think ever made it into the series now. They did a lot of rewriting and even doing a little on set. So, it’s really evolved into what it is today.

Q) Did you originally audition for Portia?

A) I didn’t! I auditioned for Dorothy. I think back on it and I kind of laugh because now I can’t imagine anyone but Gwen [Cumyn] playing Dorothy. She does such an amazing job. It’s kind of a funny story because I did the audition for Dorothy and they did the whole, “Thank you for coming in. We’ll let you know.” I like to think they seemed pleased with my audition, but you never know. I was leaving and on my way to work, but one of the writer’s sisters (Sarah) who was there at the audition kind of ran down the hallway after me. She chased me down and asked if I wanted to read for another part. She said, “We think you would be right for it. You seem to have the same personality as the character. Please just try!” I said, “No problem,” and I auditioned for Portia. I got a call back and got to read with another person that they had in mind. I got to audition with Angie [Lopez] who plays Ariana and I remember thinking, “If I get it, this girl better play Ariana” because we had such good chemistry right from the start.

Q) What do you think it is about the series that has hooked so many people so quickly?

A) I think one of the major draws is probably that it is mostly a female cast. I know there is so many discussions happening now with the way Hollywood operates and how many roles are available for women and that there is a lack of female representation in a lot of things. So, I think that right off the bat gave us an in and it is geared towards the crowd that is socially aware of those types of things and other issues (such as the LGBT community). So, we kind of targeted multiple areas with a lot of the different aspects of the series. I think it is the way it is released through a web series and using the idea of Tumblr or Live Chat really helped as well because that’s what our generation is into now. We’re all about the Internet and social expression through the Internet. We picked like five different areas and hit every single one.

Q) It seems like in the group’s attempt to take down Rick they have taken more of themselves down in the process. Do you think of them as victims of Miller now that we know what he has bene up to or are they victims of each other?

A) I think it is a combination of both. I definitely think that Miller (Dan Mousseau) had a lot to do with it. As a very calculating person, he kind of knew which buttons to press with which person and how to sneak in like a sneaky snake into the whole gang and their relationship with each other. So, he kind of lit the fire and Dorothy, because of her personality, she kind of jumped on the whole thing he was promising. Because she’s all about the find me, find me, find me and wants to take Rick down. And the gang kind of followed her lead, but I definitely think sneaky snake Miller had a huge part in it as well.

Q) You show such great layers as Portia. Was this all written in the script or do you think it is something you added?

A) I usually find it is a collaboration between the writer and the actor. RJ [Lackie] and Sarah [Shelson] did an amazing job of writing the show. As soon as I got the script, I fell in love with Portia right away. And I think it was because they wrote her that I was able to bring so much because they provided me with a lot to build in. She already has quite a few layers within the writing. Thinking about who she was as a person, I think we were really able to pull out the different layers Portia has in her. So, it was a collaboration between the writers, myself and the director Shannon. Everyone is so amazing that is why it worked out really well. I definitely did a lot of work in the pre-production phase of things. I like to construct all of my characters and kind of write journal entries as them. While performing, I kind of keep all of those things in mind and think about how they are actually thinking in those situations. That makes her more real for me and the writers provided what she is actually saying. That combined made her into Portia.

Q) There are a lot of layers to Portia!

A) I’m so happy that the writers gave Portia that because she puts up with so much! I can only imagine that her relationship with Ariana the kind of things she puts up with because of how badass she can be. I was definitely very excited just to be showing what they were doing was unacceptable because no one else seemed to realize. It’s always really nice to have that pivotal moment in a character where they change. I think as an actor you are always looking for a moment where they shift and that was Portia’s kind of shifting moment and she starts standing up for herself more. It was just fun to have outbursts! I love outbursts!

Q) Obviously, Portia really loved Ariana, but what do you think it is that led her to be a participant in this scheme?

A) The way I always saw the first part of Portia’s arc was that she was too nice. She hates saying no to people and letting them down. She wants everyone to happy and doesn’t like people being upset with her. Despite knowing things were wrong and would escalate in a bad way, she really didn’t want to let the gang down.

Q) The dorm room seems itself like a character. How does it play its own role in the series?

A) First of all, it’s a beautiful dorm room. I, honestly, wish I stayed in a place like that or still do. Our art department did an amazing job with it. It did not look like that before they made it into what we see on the show. There are all little parts about who Dorothy is with all the Harry Potter references kind of all over the place that are fantastic. I think the great part of it and most web series kind of follow this where it is set in a place that is important for the lead character. This is where Dorothy lives and majority of her time spent when she is not in class. So, you get insight into the person she is without outright having to say it. I think my favorite part of the set is the “Save The House Elves” thing on the side and you often see socks on it and the socks tend to change, which is pretty fun. The little white board changes sometimes and Portia got to write on it in a few episodes. Everyone worked hard on it to make it the beautiful set it ended up being.

Q) How has it been playing such growth in such short periods of time?

A) We really lucked out as most of our cast has a theatre background. So, having to shoot these six minute episodes and all in one go without any cuts between anything really played to a lot of the casts’ strengths. It was almost like doing theater again. A lot of times when you are shooting something you do a minute long scene and they switch the angles around and you do the scene again. Then, you do a scene further down in the story. So, it is kind of jumbled and it was kind of jumbled for us as well. But we at least got to do the full run of one of the parts of the episode all in one go. So, it almost helped to create the arc of each episode in a sense because it allowed us to play out the entire thing without having to switch camera angles or change lighting. Having the static camera really kind of benefits us. It was a cool experience because I’d never done anything like that before, besides theatre. Things happen really fast, but six minutes is kind of the sweet spot as it leaves you wanting more. I think it is a perfect balance of the two where you are like, “This is so good! But I want more!”

Q) Is there anything you want to tease or we can share about the future of Portiana or anything coming up to move and shift towards the finale

A) I think that the most exciting thing coming up is just seeing how different all of the characters have become. We are kind of at the point where everything is exploding and turning into revelations of what has been going on this entire time that we might not have been aware of. And each one of the characters takes from that a different thing and kind of turns into not a different person than they were before, but different aspects of their personality come through. I think that’s interesting because we have kind of fallen in love with these characters, but we haven’t even seen half of them yet. That’s really going to be great!