Jim Beaver – Internity

By starrymag | October 6, 2015

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) It’s been kind of quiet. I took some time off to do “Verdigris” and there have been a couple of projects that were supposed to happen, but fell through for one reason or another. Then, there are a couple of things that I can’t talk about. There are a couple of pieces of work that part of the deal is I keep my mouth shut about them. That seems to be happening more often and I don’t know if that is because of social media, but every job you get there seems to be a nondisclosure agreement. It makes it tough to tell your family where you are going.

Q) You recently did a campaign for Rainbow House. Why was that cause so important to you?

A) The campaign was on Represent.com and they do a lot of temporary offers for t-shirt designs. They worked with me to create the design and I really liked the design they came up with. They allow the subject of the shirt to decide where the money goes. I’ve had a history with Rainbow House, which is a very small charity in North Eastern Oklahoma where volunteers provide free food, clothing and household items to the poor of the Cherokee Nation. And there are some very, very poor people there. I’ve got some Cherokee heritage myself and I’m a recent addition to the Elders Council of the Cherokee Nation. So, it is very close to my heart that when when the Represent people came to me I was very happy to participate as long as I could turn the proceeds over to Rainbow House. Our goal was 500 shirts and we are somewhere north of 2,000. That is a real testament to the fans who seem like if they know about something that is useful, meaningful and close to the heart of those of us on the shows they like they seem to just turn out in massive numbers to be helpful. It seems like there is an awful lot of generosity in the fan community and I’m really grateful for that. I’ve always tried to be giving and to participate in charitable activities myself, but to be able to just tweet a few times and raise money for causes that would otherwise not have the support is pretty amazing. It’s another one of those strange  new things in the world of social media that  allows someone like me to be able to reach out to millions of people all at once and say, “Here is something worth considering if you want to pitch in.” To my amazement, but also not really surprising, I’ve found that people all over the world are willing to.

Q) How did you come to work on the series “Internity?”

A) Basically, Joey Adams reached out to me. He is the writer, creator and costar of the piece. It is his baby and he reached out to me to say he had a good part for me. I read it and I thought, “This is terrific!” It looks like a lot of fun and is an interesting idea. It’s a different take on medical shows. It is both serious and comedic and it has a bit of a twist in the style of it that I haven’t seen before. It seemed like a lot of fun. That’s when I discovered Marina [Sirtis] was a part of it and that Michael Dorn was going to appear and direct the pilot. It just all sounds like a great thing to be a part of. Of course, one of the things that appealed to me was the whole crowdfunding nature of it. Although there are so many more channels and venues for shows, it is harder and harder for writers and creative people to break in it seems. But the combination of social media and crowdfunding and the fact that it can be much cheaper to make a really good looking show than it used to be allows somebody like Joey to put together a project that isn’t terribly expensive (as these things go) and to do it before he has to get approval from networks. To do it with the help of a lot of people around the world pitching in is almost in the style of, “My dad’s got a barn! Let’s put on a show,” method. Then, they can take the completed project to the networks and say, “You don’t have to give us development money or seed money. Here is a pilot. Take a look at it and see what you think. I think it is very innovative and a smart way to go about it. So, we’re trying to make a pilot and show the networks that there is this great show just waiting for them to grab it.

Q) The show is going to be a sitcom and fans know you from your more dramatic roles. Is comedy a new fore for you or are you interested in taking on a comedy for a particular reason?

A) I’ve always gone back and forth between dramatic and sitcom. My very first series was a sitcom and I had a great time with it. I have guest starred on a number of sitcoms. So, to me it is all acting. Some of it makes the audience laugh and some of it doesn’t. The shooting styles are a little different, but for the most part it is one acting job after another. Sometimes they are funny and sometimes they are serious. I don’t experience it as a big difference. The traditional live audience sitcom is kind of an easier job because it doesn’t take a lot of hours to do and it’s also fun to do a show in front of a live audience. There are single camera comedies where you don’t have a live audience and those are much more like shooting an hour long drama like “Supernatural.” I know that “Supernatural” has its occasional funny moment (usually involving those two idiots that I work with). This isn’t anything different for me. I like going back and forth between different styles. It would be fun if we could make this one happen.

Q) Tell us about the role you would play on “Internity.”

A) I am a patient in the pilot. I play a fellow who is very much down on his luck who comes into the hospital and strikes up a new relationship with Nate, who is the young intern played by Joey Adams. There are some surprises and I hope unexpected events that turn about through their relationship. Unlike a lot of patients in medical shows, my character has a life beyond the initial patient role in the pilot. He is a guy who is down on his luck with an interesting past. It is not a secret past, but has elements that should be surprising to the viewer – not necessarily to the other characters. He is a bit of a shadowy or mysterious character in the pilot and as episodes go on we’ll know more and more about it.

Q) Was there anything you added to the role that wasn’t originally scripted for you? Something you may have improvised?

A) I’m not big on that. I’m a firm believer in interpreting the character as it is written. The people who write and create the shows have largely done the work of creating the character and it is my job to interpret it. As a general rule, I don’t come in with suggestions like, “What if a character did or said this or that.” I’m a pretty strong adherent to the idea that my job is to take what they have written and make it work as well as possible. So, it’s pretty rare you will find me making suggestions about the character, unless it is a character I have played for a long time and the script comes in where it feels like the character is doing something that is atypical from or abnormal for him. I may have a discussion about why they are doing it because it doesn’t fit what we have been doing for a long time there. I am not sure I can even think of an example of that happening! Every once and a while I will suggest a line or a twist of a line that seems like it might help a scene. But for the most part, I’m quite content to do what they ask me to do.

Q) The best way to get involved with “Internity” is to help with the Indigogo campaign?

A) Yeah! The Indigogo campaign is going right now. The project is called “Internity.” I think we can put together a really interesting show. Marina’s character is one that I really find fascinating because she is tackling something that an awful lot of people are tackling today and that’s being aged out of either work or social status. Her character is one who has had a very full, but not necessarily fulfilling life and is coming back to try and make a life of her own at a time when everyone else who is doing that is much, much younger than her. So, the show is going to have a very dramatic and comedic look at what it is like to be starting out when you are the age of the parents of everyone else who is starting out. That plotline doesn’t effect my character as much, but I find it a fascinating thing for the show to be approaching because there is so much in the entertainment industry that focuses on very young people and I think to the detriment of stories because there is something really magical to be found in the experiences of people who have been around for a while. But I also think there is a very dramatic and comedic possibilities here with this woman that Marina plays who has been around the block a time or two and yet is now an intern at a hospital while all of her colleagues are fresh out of college practically. It is very much an element of today’s society that doesn’t get a lot of attention in entertainment. I think it is going to be fun! I am really looking forward to working with everybody if we can make this happen. The best way to make it happen is for everybody who loves Marina or who is a “Supernatural” fan to pitch in! Marina said to me the other day that if every one of her Twitter followers contributed a dollar we could make the show just like that! I think the same thing holds true for me. If every one of my Twitter followers contributed a single dollar we could make this show and maybe even feed the actors lunch.

Q) We last saw Bobby on “Supernatural” in hot water with the angels based on his breaking out of heaven. What do you think was going through his mind at that moment?

A) “Balls.” One of the endearing qualities to Bobby is that he will just about always do the right thing, no matter what kind of hot water it gets him in. I imagine old Bobby figured, “Well, I did it. Now I gotta bite the bullet.” What fascinates me and I would love to find out what exactly that hot water consisted of and what the results were from that. With a little luck, the powers that be will remember that they kind of left Bobby in hot water and maybe see about how to get him out of it.

Q) Bobby has already spent time in Hell and the boys were able to get him out. Do you hold out hope that maybe Bobby received a less harsh punishment this time?

A) I always hold out hope for him. I think the fans should, too. The nature of the show suggests to me that they are never going to quite be done with Bobby. It’s the kind of show that allows for that possibility. I know somebody is always chucking a Bobby story into the pot for them to consider. So, I think we’ll find out at some point what is next for Bobby. We may not find out what happened. They have an interesting approach to the show. Every once and a while there is a set up without a follow through. I’m still waiting on the romance that was developing with Sheriff Mills (Kim Rhodes). The show ain’t over. Anything can happen on “Supernatural.”

 

 

 

DONATE TO INTERNITY – http://bit.ly/1NIQgFb

Jim Beaver Internity Promo: https://vimeo.com/141123783

Follow “Internity” on Twitter: @InternityTVshow

Follow “Internity” on Facebook: www.facebook.com/internityTV