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Spotlight: Women Behind the Scenes – Julie Plec (EXCLUSIVE)
Imagine that you are fresh out of college and living in Los Angeles for only 3 weeks, when you end up landing a job that you found in one of the trades (i.e., one of the industry magazines). Now imagine yourself as one of the executive producers for one of the most talked about shows on television, partnered with one of the most prolific writers-producers in both film and TV.
Welcome to the world of Julie Plec the co-executive producer and writer on the popular CW series The Vampire Diaries (based on the book series by L.J. Smith).
In an exclusive interview with NiceGirlsTV, Julie shared how she got started in the industry, stating that her first job was as “the second assistant to an agent named Susan Smith.” That job lasted 3 months when Julie realized she had “absolutely no desire to be an agent.” She was quickly rescued by her friend Lisa Harrison (who, ironically, is now Julie’s agent), getting a job as Wes Craven’s assistant.
Watch our interview with Julie Plec and Steven McQueen at NYCC ’10.
This job started her on a path that would have a powerful effect on her future, as Julie was involved with the movie Scream – directed by Wes Craven – from day one. As a 23-year-old, shooting in Santa Rosa, CA “with every young hot star of the moment and a crew that became my LA family” Julie likes to brag that she is “one of the people who convinced (Craven) to direct (the movie)”.
It was because of her involvement in Scream that she met writer Kevin Williamson, who went on to become the creator and executive producer of the cult favorite series Dawson’s Creek (and later her partner on The Vampire Diaries). Talking about her time on the set of Scream with Kevin, Julie shared that “(we) used to sit up on night shoots and we’d sing Kenny Rogers songs and talk about our dreams for the future”.
The friendship Julie and Kevin built on that project was the foundation for what has become a long career working together. They both worked on the Scream sequels in 1997 and in 2000, with Kevin being the writer on both films and Julie working as an associate producer on the 2nd film and a co-producer on Scream 3. They also worked together on the 1999 film Teaching Mrs. Tingle, which Kevin wrote and directed. That same year Julie and Kevin worked on his short-lived series Wasteland. In 2000, Julie worked with another soon-to-be well-known executive producer and writer – Greg Berlanti – and the film that he wrote and directed called The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy. It was five years later that she was the co-producer on another film – Cursed – directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson.
Watch our interview with Kevin Williamson and Zach Roerig at NYCC ’10.
In 2006, Julie landed work on the ABC Family Channel series Kyle XY where she was one of the writers during the duration of the show as well as working as a producer on the series and finishing as co-executive producer. She recalls this show with particular fondness, remarking that “I loved working on that show, and the friendships I made with the other writers, actors and producers are some of my strongest friendships still.” When this series came to an end, she and Kevin came back together as working partners, being executive producers and writers for The Vampire Diaries, which has become the number one show on the CW since its debut in 2009.
Her love of television, books and movies has certainly brought Julie a long way, which is a good thing since she shared she “never had a Plan B” when asked what kind of work she would be doing if she hadn’t gone into the industry). “If I did, I’m not sure I would have had the tenacity and the ambition to rise above the difficult parts of living and working in Hollywood”.
Moving away from the path her career has taken, Julie shared that she “never thought I was a writer, even though I’ve been writing my whole life. But my writing was always in the form of finding the most creative ways to get out of difficult homework. If I didn’t know the academic approach to a paper, I’d take a creative approach instead. Find a gimmick, write a fun paper, see if I could fool my teachers into thinking I knew more than I actually did. It usually worked.”
She also shared that her current favorite author “hands down” is Emily Giffin
Julie also shared that her dream project is to write a young adult novel, stating “I don’t know what, or when, or how, but that’s always been a dream of mine.” And, she would love to one day work with one “of the J’s. – Joss Whedon, Josh Schwartz, Jason Katims, JJ Abrams” – because she is a big fan of each of them.
On a more personal level, when asked if there is a special organization or charity she supports, Julie shared “my very good friend’s family started a foundation called Hear See Hope that helps raise money to help find a cure for Usher’s Syndrome, a degenerative disease where children are born deaf and often lose their sight by their teens”.
In closing, if fans want to follow Julie, the best way to do so is through Twitter, as she is a self-professed “Twitter-geek”. She went on to share that “fans of the show yell at me all day long on Twitter for some perceived slight against their favorite romantic pairing (their “ship”), and I still love it. I can’t get enough.”
The Vampire Diaries returns with all new episodes January 27 at 8 PM on the CW.
NiceGirlsTV would like to extend a big thank you to not only Julie Plec for this unique interview opportunity but also the Warner Bros. publicity department for facilitating it. Attached are photos of Julie and some of the cast of The Vampire Diaries at New York Comic Con last October.
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