JANE BY DESIGN: Erica Dasher Q&A

Erica Dasher recently had a digital media conference call to discuss Jane By Design. She talks about upcoming episodes, behind the scenes dish (even dancing on the set) and of course fashion. After speaking with her, it is easy to love her just as much as we love Jane.

Moderator:  The show is such a success. How are you finding your newfound fame?

E. Dasher :  Good. I feel like I can still walk down the street so it’s nice. It really felt very encouraging seeing the overwhelming support on Twitter and Facebook, but I still feel a little removed from it. It’s a surreal experience.

Moderator:  Was there instant chemistry when you began working with the cast?

E. Dasher:  Yes, actually I was cast first and our creator, show runner, and network had me come in and read with all of the other characters. So they really wanted that chemistry to exist with Billy and me, and with my brother and me. So I think that was really smart to make sure that we connected from the very beginning.

Moderator:  Recently we saw Jane go to Paris – what was that like for you personally?

E. Dasher:  Awesome. It was great. Our producer didn’t want to put me in front of a green screen. They want each episode to feel like a movie. The show really does feel like a romantic comedy in a lot of ways, and I think what makes it special is that it’s on this grand scale. I live in Westchester. I work in SoHo. We travel to Beverly Hills. Eventually we go to Paris.

I was really happy we got to go. It was awesome because we ended production there. We did three or four days of shooting in Paris and then production left and I stayed for five days on my own and wandered around the city. It was an incredible way to end my first job.

Moderator:  On the show a lot of your scenes with Andie MacDowell are either on the phone or on a video screen. How is it different doing those scenes versus when you get to actually work face-to-face?

E. Dasher:  The great thing is Andie is always on set. She does all her off camera dialogue. Even if I have to look at her in the office somewhere and she has nothing to do with the scene and I’m just supposed to be watching her walk somewhere, she’ll do it. She’s incredible.

Moderator: Is it true that you broke your ankle when you were auditioning for Jane?

E. Dasher:  That is very true. I had gone through the first part of the process, the pre-read and the call back and right before the test I was at a café, writing, working on my own stuff. I hadn’t heard anything so I figured it wasn’t happening and I got a call from my manager that I was testing for the show. I had never tested for a show before so I got very excited and I wanted to step out of the café to be nice to the other patrons, since I was being loud and obnoxious.

As I walked outside there was a step into the parking lot and I fell over. It started swelling and I went to the doctor and he had them put me in this big boot to make sure that I could walk around during the test the next day. They still cast me, fortunately, but it was definitely broken and the first episode was a challenge.

Moderator: What is your advice to fans that are wanting to be fashionable but are on a budget?

E. Dasher: I love vintage shopping. I actually don’t spend a lot of money on clothes at all. I live right around the corner from a little vintage shop and I do a lot of rummaging around, those kinds of places. I think the quality of the craftsmanship in vintage clothes is hard to come by unless you’re able to buy higher-end labels nowadays, and I think you can find a lot of higher end labels that are more affordable in a vintage shop.

But in college we would go to Goodwill to get costumes for theme parties or whatever. I think if forces you to be more creative. If a dress doesn’t quite fit you find a belt that works. But I love vintage and resale stuff.

Moderator: There’s a lot to admire about Jane in both her worlds. What strikes you has her strongest quality?

E. Dasher: I think she’s a really genuine person. I don’t think that she has any airs about—obviously she’s lying about her age in order work in the fashion industry, but I think she’s really vulnerable. She makes a genuine effort to do the right thing and to help out and is willing to take on any challenges. I think that’s where her likeability lies and that she is not an inauthentic person at all.

Moderator: If you could have anyone guest star on Jane by Design who would it be and what role would you want them to play?

E. Dasher:  Oh my gosh. We had some great cameos this year. We had Betsey Johnson and Patricia Field and Nanette Lepore and the editor-in-chief of W and Teen Vogue and Lucky Magazine. So it’s like we’re already very spoiled. It would be really fun to have Lagerfeld on the show because I think it would add a very fun energy on the set. But I think selfishly, I want Sarah Burton to come on the show, who is the designer for Alexander McQueen, because she’s my favorite and I always want her to design a dress for me.

Moderator:  You’ve done a documentary called Speak Easy. Is there a release date on that yet?

E. Dasher: We’re in closed production for it now. What we’re probably going to do is finish it in the next couple months and do festivals with it. Hopefully we can get a TV station or someone to pick it up. I mean it would be amazing if it could go to theaters.

My best friend and I met doing speech and debate. We used to go to speech camp together because we were really cool, but we decided to make a movie about it. We shot it in school and then we graduated and then we both immediately got—she’s a producer now in New Media and I got caught up with Jane, but we’re in picture lock. It’s almost done. It’s being composed. The music is being done right now and it’s being animated. But I have a feeling we’ll take it to festivals.

Moderator:  You guys seem like such a fun cast. What do you guys like to do when you’re not filming on set?

E. Dasher:  We all got together to watch the show, the pilot, but we’ll go out to eat. We go to the movies. We do karaoke. India, on the show, kills at karaoke. She’s very good. But yes, I’ve become friends with everyone in the cast. It’s been a really special, positive experience. We’re very lucky.

Moderator: What’s been your favorite moment filming so far?

E. Dasher: It’s hard not to say standing under the Eiffel Tower doing a scene. It was the last scene we shot and at 8:00 the Eiffel Tower lights up and starts glittering. It was a pretty incredible moment.

Moderator:  Is there anything in upcoming episodes that you would like for the fans to look for, that you would like them specifically to see?

E. Dasher:  Coming up soon is a really fun episode because India and Jeremy come to the high school. I won’t say why, but they come to the high school. The worlds are colliding big time, and I think it’s a really fun episode. It’s a really heavy episode for India. I think she’s so strong and so beautiful, but she’s so funny. I think it’s a really fun episode.

And then in episode eight there’s some drama, which I think is cool. You saw a bit of that in four, but I think the characters really get to grow in episode eight. And then in nine and ten I think we kill it. I think nine is really strong and funny, and then ten, I think people will be very happy and excited for the end of the season.

Moderator:  Can you share any behind the scenes moments that have stood out to you or that your fans could appreciate?

E. Dasher:  A behind the scenes moment, I will share one. Andie and I went to Fashion Week in the middle of production over the weekend for two days and I was—it’s a really overwhelming experience. I had never done it before and I continued to be surprised by how generous everyone has been to me and how well they take care of me.

Andie—everybody’s there from backstage, L’Oreal executives. She’s been the face of L’Oreal for 25 years. She introduced me to everybody and everyone wanted to take pictures with her and she pulled me into every photo and into every interview. It was a really lovely thing. She’s a great role model. And also there was a lot of dancing on set. Like they would call “Cut,” and people would put—LMFAO, for some reason, became this sort of set band. They’d play it on their phones. There was a lot of dancing in between takes.

Moderator:  You mentioned LMFO. Can you shuffle?

E. Dasher:   I think I can shuffle pretty well, yes. I pretend to shuffle. They would be a fun cameo to have.

Moderator:  I think they would be a good prom band.

E. Dasher: Yes, amazing!

Moderator: Jane lives the double life between her work and high school. What do you think her biggest issues are with the high school side of her?

E. Dasher:  I think she’s never felt like she fit in, in school. I can relate to that. I never felt like I fit in. And I think there’s a lot of pressure to do that as a teenager. You want to be unique, but you don’t want to be ostracized, and I think sort of straddling to those two worlds and also becoming an adult and still being a kid and dealing with your parents. Jane doesn’t have that as much because she has a brother. She just lives with her older brother. So I think there are just a lot of gray areas in high school and I think that’s what makes it difficult.

Moderator:  What shows do you watch on TV?

E. Dasher:  I love Modern Family. When I broke my ankle, that’s was the only thing that got me through it. I love American Horror Story on FX and Justified. I actually used to intern at FX when I first graduated and started auditioning. It’s been really fun to go back. I went back the other day to say hi and they had been rooting for me for a little while. What else do I watch? I love Mad Men. I’ve been watching Pretty Little Liars too on ABC Family. I think it’s a really fun show.

Jane By Design airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on ABC Family.