What an incredible experience! Paleyfest was way more than we thought it would be! We are trying not to describe it as a "once in a lifetime event" because we want to keep going back. But it certainly had that level of prestige to it. This is one of those times where we wish we had a poet on staff so we could paint a better picture for you, but as our inadequate quiver of words fails us, we'll try and stick to the big milestones.
5:15pm was when the press was allowed to enter and set up. It was a very nerve-racking experience for us as we had never done a red carpet. Our equipment fit into a single backpack with the tripod strapped to the side. The actors and producers were going to start the carpet at 6:00pm so we rushed to set up. After a good 10 minutes we were ready. Just another 35 minutes of nervous energy to go. Supergirl.tv was positioned at the end of the red carpet. It didn't bother us at all. We learned its customary for the "big fish" like your Entertainment Tonight and such to get first positions.
When the doors opened out walked Mehcad Brooks! Hundreds of flashes began bouncing off the walls. Mehcad is tall! (You may have noticed from our red carpet video). We could track his movements easily as he was taller than most on the carpet. As Mehcad moved from interviewer to interviewer, more actors and producers showed. Jeremey Jordan was hot on Mehcad's trail for a while followed by Greg Berlanti and Ali Adler. A leap frog system began. As one actor finished with a media group, they moved on to the next open one. Because the next one was often occupied by another actor, this leap frogging threw us off guard. We didn't know who was going to talk with us first! Wahhh, the nervous energy was at full force!
Kind of perfectly, however, it was Greg Berlanti who came up to us first! He is, after all, the father of this DC TV universe and a new father himself! The carpet was closely monitored by Paleyfest staff and just as Greg approached us, we were told "only one question please". No matter to us, we understood that time was at a premium. Just meeting him was a thrill. To see what we asked check out our Paleyfest red carpet video. This was our first realization that we needed to ask the questions but also work the camera at the same time. We cut out some of our interaction with Greg because we ended up filming Ali Adler and Greg at the same time. It was hard to control motor functions and speak at the same time in front of these TV heroes.
After Greg moved on, Mehcad Brooks found us. We kept his approach in our video because he looked so genuinely excited to see us. We were blushing at the fact that he even recognized our site's name. Mehcad is energy! Positive, and exciting! He made the room feel like dancing. Our impression of him was that he loves what he does and he takes the up-most care to his role of James. We were able to get two questions with him before he had to move on.
Next was Ali Adler! Talk about someone who speaks with elegance and passion. We were only able to get one question with Ali but it was this question alone that made our internal highlight reel. She opened with mentioning how "It was a really thoughtful question". That took all we had from high-fiving each other in front of everyone. What we learned about Ali Adler is that she has an incredible way with communication. This question was out of the blue and yet she had the most well thought out answer we could have imagined. It is very clear where the show gets its voice.
After Ali departed, we saw out of the corner of our eye, Melissa Benoist. Now here's the thing. For all of you who have been on an airplane and hit turbulence you know how your stomach goes ... "weeeeeee". That was us. Standing in our newly embroidered Supergirl.tv polo shirts and hats trying to keep some resemblance of professionalism and here comes Supergirl! Added to our internal highlight reel was when Melissa turned the corner and looked up at us. She waved and recognized our site name! We nearly fainted. Good thing she had one other stop to make before talking with us because we needed the moment to gather our journalism spirit and let go of the fanboy and girl in us that kept saying "OMG that is Supergirl!!!" over and over in our heads. During the panel, Ali Alder mentioned how what you see is what you get with Melissa. She really is that genuine, charming and humble. With our one question, it became so very clear what Ali was talking about. Here is a person who understands the mantle of Supergirl and what that caries with it. She doesn't disrespect it nor shy away from it. Melissa Benoist will go down in history as Supergirl, that really is just who she is.
At this point the carpet lines had faltered into some kind of groupings. The groups resembled the old cliques you might have experienced from high school. The popular kids were chatting with each other (mainly the big media guys) and the nerds were all twirling their thumbs looking at the ground and trying not to sound stupid (mostly fansites). It was here that Jeremy Jordan happen to walk by. We took a shot and reached out to him to see if we could get one last question with him before the big show began. Amazingly but unsurprisingly he was more than happy to take that extra moment for us. As you've probably seen in the video, Jeremy is a character. Hilarious and warm, he knows his audience and loves talking with them. There is more Winn in Jeremy than you might imagine. He might be the comic nerd on the cast.
Finally, Chyler and Calista made a last minute entrance but the time was so short we didn't get a chance to chat with them. Speaking of which, David Harewood must have pulled a Martian Manhunter at some point because, sadly, we missed him too. So now we rushed to break down our equipment and prepare for the panel where we would learn several hilarious things about the cast and crew ... Stay tuned for part two of our recap of Paleyfest as we cover the panel, the preview and the after show.
We hope you enjoyed our fan's take on Paleyfest so far. If you have questions or comments on this part of the festival feel free to ask in the comments below. Also consider visiting the support page so we can keep doing first hand content just like this
