MISSING: Getting an Inside Look at the New ABC Drama

On Tuesday night, some of the cast and creative minds behind the new ABC drama Missing paid a visit to the Paley Center for Media, giving fans of this new spy-action-adventure series a glimpse inside the international intrigue contained within this visually-spectacular European-based extravaganza.

Rene Reyes, Director of Public Programs at the Paley Center for Media, was first to take to the podium, welcoming the audience to the night’s program and quickly turning things over to Entertainment Weekly writer Tanner Stransky, who served as the night’s moderator.

With a few well-phrased comments on the new series, Tanner introduced executive producers Gina Matthews, Grant Scharbo and Gregory Poirier to the podium to briefly speak on the episode that was to be screened, tonight’s new – appropriately titled – episode “The Three Bears”.

Contained within their messages to the audience were the “spoilers” that the young boy who plays Michael at 6 years of age is actually Gina and Grant’s young son and some of the young redheads featured in the episode are Gregory’s children. All fun aside, Gina shared that the night’s screening and panel were exciting for the three of them because “the show lives on many levels…and we’re telling a family drama disguised as a spy show” and they were all exceeding delighted to share their favorite episode with the audience.

NOTE: Make sure you check out the episode tonight on ABC at 8/7c as it is a very good episode!

Missing Creative Team Gregory Poirier and Gina Matthews (Far Left) and Grant Scharbo (Far Right) with Ashley Judd and Nick Eversman (Photo by: Kevin Parry/The Paley Center for Media)

Once the lights were back up after the screening – which will not be spoiled here at all – Tanner welcomed the creative team to the stage as well as lead actress Ashley Judd and actor Nick Eversman, who plays her son Michael.

The following is an excerpt of the night in Q&A format because the answers that were given by the cast and creative team where quite humorous, illuminating and too good not to share:

Moderator: Thank you all for being here. (That) was such a good episode. (And) that leads us to the first question: What happens next?

[Silence]

It should be noted that the creative team and actors were quite mum on what the viewers could anticipate next, enticing viewers to tune in for all the action as the new episodes air.

Moderator: (What) went into the genesis of the show? Where did the idea come from?

Gregory: (The show) originally came from Gina who together with Grant worked out the whole idea. That’s what is great for me as the “creator” of the show, when I went in to meet with them (pointing to Grant and Gina); they essentially pitched me the whole first act of the pilot so it was great.

Moderator: When you saw Becca Winstone (the character Ashley plays) in your head, where did you come up with that?

Gina: Well, we’re parents (pointing to Grant). And, Grant and I always wanted to do…we’ve been doing TV for awhile and we always wanted to find a way to do TV for the world. Something that united people, (using) our medium as a way to bring cultures together. So, we were thinking: What’s our take? What’s our way into this? As a mom of two small kids nothing would be more horrifying than to have something happen to my son or daughter. What was exciting when we came up with the idea (is that) it’s (about) a mother whose son goes missing, but then as a woman I wanted her to be a bad ass. I totally wanted it to be wish fulfillment with all the mad skills to take them down. It’s really fun because the duality of the two characters…is she a mother or is she a spy? For 10 years she has really truly been a mother, it wasn’t a cover. (Now) she has to somehow find a way to put that part of herself aside – even though she can’t – because it makes her better and that is what we had. Then it was really important to find a writer who could capture the scope of the movies, the action, that world and yet have those deep characters and relationships (the) drama because the show really lives cohesively in those two worlds.

Gregory: And that is what really sold me on the show. Not the action or the shooting. It was the opportunity to really get into these characters and the emotions. It’s not like in the movies where, in 90 minutes, the character’s journey is over. In this (show) you get to spend a lot of time with these people and get into the depth of their family relationship. We approach every episode in the same way. Anytime you talk about plot, we ask: What is the emotional “find” of this episode? What is the emotional theme of the episode? And then, (we) continue from there.

Moderator: Ashley, how did you get involved? What appealed to you about this role?

Ashley: Well, just the bad assery {laughs}. There have been so many permutations on the bad ass and bad assery {laughs}. I had the opportunity to do some other really interesting things with my life since about 2006. And in the meantime, television began a kind of renaissance. And so some folks for whom I work with here in town were explaining to me that television has really enjoyed a golden age in the quality of writing and actors who are working on television and the production values are truly outstanding that I might want to avail myself of this wonderful moment in time. I read a few things and started to think about my life and how television might work with my life. Some things seemed pretty firm to me: that 22 episodes probably wasn’t sustainable (for me) personally. I couldn’t stand for it. [Joking] I have the hot husband who I need to follow everywhere; and all this other stuff that keeps me fairly busy so it seemed 10 episodes would be pragmatic and 10 episodes generally happens on cable. I looked at some things on cable and even went so far as to see if I could get some things started but they were all far too strange. (Then) I got that phone call that actors enjoy getting with the agent saying “I think I got the one” and her excitement was palpable. It was around that time that I meet with Grant and Gina and they gave me this sensational pitch, and while I had no idea what was going to happen on episodes two through ten…the pilot was absolutely irresistible. It was a wonderful premise, very simple, great hook and (would be set) in Europe for four and a half months so I finished the little tour I was on, did yoga for three weeks to get fit and then started this little adventure.

Moderator: Would the show have happened without Ashley?

Ashley: [Joking] The correct answer is no.

Gregory: We had the great luxury of having on the show the person who we all saw as our archetype. Every creator of every show says [the actor they wanted] was [their] dream casting, but in this case it is really true. When I write, I have pictures up of the people (playing the roles) just so I have someone to imagine saying things and I stuck her (pointing to Ashley) picture on the wall. And so for us it was really serendipity so would it have happened, who knows but not like this.

Ashley: [Joking] Well, it just wouldn’t have been good.

Moderator: Who on television could take on Becca?

Grant: There aren’t men on television who could take her on.

Nick: I’ve heard a lot of comparisons to Chuck Norris (tongue in cheek). I’ve (also) heard Jack Bauer.

Ashley Judd and Nick Eversman (Photo By: Rueben)

Moderator: What, to you, makes the show stand out? The locations? The action?

Grant: I think that there really isn’t a strong thriller on television, there is nothing on American television (like the show). I think we wanted to give the audience something new. The idea that (when viewers are) flipping through channels, your show should not look like anything else that is out there and I think we accomplished that just based on the locations alone. And on the production design, you don’t even have to over there (in Europe), you just have to hold the camera and shoot.

Moderator: Talk to us about the locations a little bit. Is it difficult to pull that together? Walk us through that as it must be a complicated process.

Grant: It’s extremely challenging to shoot, to go overseas to start a television show. We set each episode in a different city, (which) is not good in hindsight.

Moderator: Are all (the episodes) shot actually where they are depicted?

Gregory: Yes and no. In some cases we travel, but part of the reason we chose Prague as our home base was we knew that if we were shooting in some place like Vienna and we shot on what little bit of time we had and realized we were missing something (knew) we weren’t going to be able to go back and add in. So, the thing we loved about Prague was that you can double it for almost anywhere in Europe and it works. So we thought we had a safety net there of being able to get what we needed if we ran out of time.

Gina: You have to be flexible. In episode three there was a great car chase but we were on an island where there are no cars. So it (was changed to) a fantastical boat chase; but on the third day there’s a giant cruise ship in our set, in the ocean and we’re like, “Okay that’s it, we’re done, we can’t do it, we can’t shoot that day”. But, our line producer, who worked on all of Michael Bay’s films, who lives in Prague said let’s get the captain on the phone. He (told the captain) we’re shooting this TV show and we’re wondering how close we (can) get to your boat.

Grant: (The Captain said) 25 meters, but the line producer said, yeah, but we’ll be going fast and he said 25 meters.

Gina: And, what was incredible was we had that giant cruise ship in the scene and you could actually see how fast the boats were racing. So it gave the scene such an amazing energy and scope that had (if) we just gone “we’ll I guess there’s nothing we can do”, but what if we hadn’t done that.

Gregory: So, one of the challenges that arose wound up being one of the things that really gave us something special and we were very fortunate.

Moderator: Walk us through what you have to deal with on the show.

Ashley: Well, as the producers pointed out the writers began each episode with what is going on emotionally. What is happening in the relationships? Yes, there are fabulous locations and spectacular action; but at its heart it is a family show. It is about what’s happening in here (pointing to her heart) and that part was equally as taxing and grueling for me as the physical stuff. I mean the physical stuff in its own way is grueling so doing that on set, it makes you feel physically empowered and (you) go to bed filling satisfaction. But the emotional part…Becca has so much at stake and these guys wrote it so that I was constantly living at the very edge of maximum emotionally strain. The way I work is, I really don’t know how to fake stuff so I had to use a frame of reference from my own life, granted I haven’t been through the same kind of things, but I have had those moments of despair and that sense of loss or (have been) crippled by that kind of grief and that is just what I require of myself; that’s part of my technique as an actor. That is grueling because the brain is a little different, the nervous system is different so I put myself through that and in its own strange way it’s wonderfully fun and it was wonderful to have a very complete character to play.

Moderator to Nick: How did you get (pulled into this project)?

Nick: To an extent I have to thank these guys for flying me out after I got the part; well, they flew me out the day after I got the part.

Gina: Well, because we cast you literally three days before we started shooting.

Gregory: Not even three days. From the time of his audition in Hollywood to being at the table read in Prague (it) was less than 36 hours.

Nick: My life changed overnight, it really did. I don’t want it to sound like I was being kidnapped, but it was kind like that.

Moderator to Nick: Were you shocked that (Michael) went back (for Oksana)?

Nick: No, Michael’s not that kind of guy. When you’re put into that kind of situation of flight or fight especially when the choice that he made got someone else hurt, he had to go back. He couldn’t let that happen again.

Missing Panel (Photo By: Kevin Parry/The Paley Center for Media)

Moderator: What are the chances of a second season?

Grant: If it were up to me, it’s looking good.

Moderator: What has to happen? Do we tell more people to watch?

Gregory: We are in a very difficult timeslot (up) against American Idol and Big Bang Theory.

Grant: [Joking] It’s like getting into the ring with Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier. But we are very fortunate that we have gotten an audience who are very passionate about the show, (who) stick with the show and we have a core (audience) that doesn’t go away. We go up a little bit (in the ratings) and we might go down a little bit. But we are thankful for (the viewers for) without them the question wouldn’t be a question, we wouldn’t be back.

Gina: What’s great about the show conceptually is that it is very simple. Viewers can pick it up now, in episode five, for the first time and not be lost and confused. It’s a mother looking for her son. The story is simple. It’s complicated in the emotions, but it’s simple in the journey. I think what we are really excited about is that there is room for people to find the show and we’re really lucky in having such fans at our own network. They are passionate about the show. They love the show and they are committed to the show from a personal place and creative place and I think that is very important too.

Moderator: Are you building the finale to go either way, depending on what happens with a renewal or not?

Gregory: [Joking] I’m not going to tell you. What we always said (from the beginning is that) we don’t want to be one of those shows where, if we don’t get renewed, everyone that stuck with us throughout the season will hate us (if we don’t give resolutions). So we said from the very beginning that we are going to have a satisfactory ending of the season. Now what that (ending) is may not be what (viewers) expect but there will be an answer to this chapter of the story and at the end you will see exactly where it’s headed if we are fortunate to have another season.

Moderator: For season two, would you want a 10 episode arc again?

Gina: There will never be more than 13 episodes. We promised that to Ashley that there wouldn’t be more than 13 and that’s the proper amount for this kind of storytelling. That’s how we can do so much.

The evening was then turned over to the audience for questions with Gregory revealing that if there is a second season, Africa will be featured in the storyline; Ashley does as much stunt work as she can on her own (and as permitted for insurance purposes) and that after being questioned about the fashions worn by Becca, much of her clothing comes from Anthropology.

Again, the next new episode of Missing will air tonight (April 12) on ABC at 8/7c.  Make sure to tune in for all the action and family drama!