McKinley Freeman – Hit The Floor

By: Lisa Steinberg

Q) What kind of fan feedback have you been receiving to the new season of “Hit The Floor?”

A) It’s been great! The fans are always dope. It’s been cool. The presence on social media has been amazing. The support for the show, my castmates and myself has always been great. It definitely takes it up a notch when the show is on. I don’t, personally, have a use for social media besides interacting with the fans. So, that’s why I try to be as active as possible. I’ll do games and trivia questions. To me, it’s fun.

Q) What can you tease about how dynamics will be shifting this season?

A) I’ll just say that the season is all about power and as you know, power can shift from one hand to another. Then, the next thing you know, someone else has it. The thing that is really interesting about this season is understanding different characters. Derek is coming into his own power as a person. The role that power can play in his position, what is really cool is to see how the power effects him as he goes after stuff and as other people begin to realize how powerful they are. The tag for the season is, “Everyone is out of bounds.” And that literally is it. Everybody wants something and is going to have their set of challenges. So, it’s going to fun to watch.

Q) There is such a white hot spark to the show. What continues to make it such a fan favorite?

A) I think that literally anything is possible. Expect the unexpected and then when you expect the unexpected – expect something different from that. There is always a new turn or twist and that is a tremendous hats off to Don Whitehead, Holly Henderson, Sarah E. Fahey, Judalina Neira and James LaRosa. The talented writing on the show is amazing. Just to toot my own horn a little bit, our writers were just honored a few weeks ago at the Writers Guild for their work in diversity in the areas of LGBTQ representation on television. I think that is so important, especially in a climate where we are actively voicing our concerns about representation. It’s important everyone is represented including Latinos, blacks, whites and Native Americans. I think what is important about art is that it is supposed to be the place where the idea of the world that we strive towards is possible. So, it is important to voice our concerns and shape our own destinies.

Q) What are the challenges or hardships your character is facing this season?

A) There are plenty of things, but the obvious thing is that the person Derek still has feelings for is with another person. So, we’re back to that. But I will say that what is different by this time around, as evidenced from the first few episodes, that Derek is aware of the pitfalls he had over the last couple seasons. He’s proactively figuring out ways to fix them and is more in tune with what the hell he is supposed to be figuring out. So, as the season progresses, I think we will start to see all of these characters come to a clearer understanding of what is important to them and how they can go about getting it.

Q) Who are some of the guest stars we’ll be seeing this season?

A) Our casting folks did a great job with Billy Baldwin, Lynn Whitfield and Andy Buckley. The list is long! Stephen Colletti! There are a bunch of fun folks and I think it compliments the great cast we already have with Kimberly Elise, Dean Cain, Logan Browning, Taylour Paige, Jonathan McDaniel, Rob Riley and Jodi Lynn O’Keefe. It’s fascinating because even at the table read you look around and go, “Man! These people are really good!” So, it’s a blessing to be on the show and we’re all excited. Listen, it’s about the show and we love it and we’re glad to be in a positon where it is on the air for you guys because that is the most important thing.

Q) What can you tease will be a moment that you are most looking forward to a fan reaction?

A) What I can say is that it is a long season and the really frustrating, genius thing that they did – If you think about the end of Season 2, the number one question was who did it and they answered it. Then, they leave twelve million other unanswered questions. What I feel like (and for someone on the inside looking out), as the season progresses and we get more clarity, all it is going to do is bring up more questions and bring up the anticipation for what happens next. So, I would say let’s enjoy the ride, but remember anything is possible.

Q) You share some steamy scenes with Taylour Paige. What kind of choreography goes into them?

A) There is not really much choreography. You get the general area of where the camera will be looking at you. We kind of map out what we are doing and then in the end it does what it does. The great thing about working with Taylour is that we’re on the same page to make it real and make it organic. Let’s not try to come up with ideas. Let’s just live like two normal people living life and see what works. It’s a lot of fun and she is a consummate professional. The chemistry is dope and there is not much I can point at, but the connection is undeniable on the show and it will be interesting to see how those two clash together.

Q) I have heard that filming those kinds of scenes are less than sexy.

A) My sister and my friends back home ask me that question. There is nothing erotic about laying on top of someone in front of nine people. People want to go home. Craft services will have just brought the nacho cart over. People aren’t paying attention. There are lots of different parts, but one of the cool challenges as an artist is that you have to block that stuff out and keep going. It’s all circumstantial, but at the end of the day everybody is there to do a job.

Q) What continues to challenge you about your role?

A) I think I can say for all of us is that the most challenging part is waiting for the show to come on. We’re all so passionate about it and believe in it, but beyond that I think with anything that you do too much over time you run the risk of forgetting things or coloring out of the lines. I think the responsibility (the part that I find exciting) is that ability to audition for something else or prepare for whatever the case may be while leaving my mark on it and making the most of it. Then, you see what happens.

Q) What is a goal you have set for yourself to achieve in 2016?

A) I just want to maybe produce a couple more movies. I think I just want to continue to maintain the peace of mind I have with the business, my outlook on life and continue to be a better person than I was the day before. 2016 is a long year so I’ll take it one day at a time.

Q) What do you hope fans take away from this season of “Hit The Floor?”

A) I hope they take away the desire to see more and to really connect with the feeling that we have as a cast, in terms of our commitment to deliver a quality show and the love we have for our fans and what we do. It’s really important to us and we don’t take lightly the opportunity to entertain the people that support our show. We’re really grateful and we’ll see what happens. I was the person on the couch thinking, “I could do that,” and I did. The only reason why it happened was because I was crazy enough to wake up every morning and go for it. I would just say we all get points where we get a fork in the road of life. We have to figure out what we’re going to do. I believe that we have to be in the habit of putting ourselves in uncomfortable situations to remind ourselves that we are bigger than anything we are going through. Whether it is acting, a doctor or whatever you want you are going to have to work at it. So, let’s be about the business of being about the business.