Q & A with BITTEN’s J. B. Sugar and Greyston Holt

By Liz | January 20, 2014

J. B. Sugar is the executive producer and director behind Syfy’s new paranormal series, Bitten (Mondays at 10/9c). Greyston Holt plays the brooding but hot Clayton Danvers, Elena’s old flame. The boys recently took on a press conference call to talk about the show and more.
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Question: What have you found the most challenging?

J.B. Sugar:  The most challenging, I mean it’s always a big feat as a producer developing a project and being fortunate enough to see it come to life and get finance into production.

So I mean it’s a process filled with myriad challenges to overcome. And were just, were so blessed and fortunate to have been able to get the show made and financed through Space, BellMedia’s specialty channel that’s our commissioning broadcaster in Canada.

And just thrilled beyond belief that Syfy has picked us up for airing in the US. So, you know, getting the show into production is – was a huge challenge. And then of course production in itself is one big ball of challenges as well.

We’re very fortunate to have assembled just an amazing ensemble of actors to carry the beautiful characters that Kelley Armstrong and her Otherworld series novels layout. And to see them brought to life by these dynamic talented actors has just been such a great joy.

So that really – other than identifying them in finding them is the challenge. Once they’ve been cast and once they were cast rather, the challenge was alleviated significantly because they just performed and brought these characters to life in such brilliant fashion.

I will say one of the biggest production challenges for us had to do with how we were going to portray our characters when they were in wolf form. And as they are in Kelley Armstrong’s novels, they’re photo real wolves. They look like very large yet very real wolves that you would see in the wild.

So to craft a series that honors that and also brings to life the wolves when they have such specific action, one of the biggest challenges was trying to figure out whether or not we should train real wolves. Whether or not we should use puppets and animatronics.

And ultimately we decided to go full CGR with our wolves. And in most of the talents of a visual (site) from Vancouver called Atmosphere. And they’ve done some truly groundbreaking work in the intelligence space to bring these wolves to life. And we’re extremely proud of them and the work that they’ve done.

Greyston Holt: Yes. One of the main challenges for me was just keeping my clothes on. No, I – you know, there’s so many small challenges. You know, and they’re all fun challenges. So to come I mean from, you know, I’m pretty low-key. I’ve never been in a fight in my life.

And then, you know, this Clayton character has this, you know, this kind of instant switch to rage at points. So that was fun and challenging to find that. And I did a little research, you know, watching wolves and how they can just switch into this aggressive mode and fast. So that was a fun challenge for me.

And then, you know, down to the fight sequences we did. It you know, this was kind of a bit of a learning curve for me because there were some, you know, pretty long and intricate fight sequences that were created by our stunt coordinator, John Stead. And so he was patients with us. And, you know, I think the final product was amazing.

And it was a lot – it was a big challenge. We had – I mean our rehearsals would be eight hours, nine hours sometimes. So by the end of it you’re just dead. But you feel it’s fun, you know.

Question: Overall for both of you, what was your favorite part this season?

Greyston Holt: Just bonding with our cast. I mean we were super fortunate that we all got along rate from the get-go. We had this kind of strong bond in this trust with one another.

So it was, you know, and we go through a lot emotionally and physically. And it’s nice to know that you have this trust in support from your cast mates. So that was an amazing part of it.

J.B. Sugar: Yes it’s, for me it’s also harder to choose. It was just a series of favorite moments throughout the entire process. But one of the best moments was when we were doing our final casting and doing our chemistry reads.

And to see Laura Vandervoort and Greyston Holt performing together, as well as Paul Greene who plays Philip. Just finally after, you know, years of developing the material and just to see it come to life and to see these characters embodied in these amazing actors. It was just a real thrill and bolt of energy.

Greyston Holt: Yes I can’t imagine that for you because like we come in after you guys have done so much work. And we just step into this, you know, this world. And I can’t imagine that for you, all that waiting and to finally see everyone come together.

J.B. Sugar: Absolutely. And then again, most recently one of our – one of my personal favorite moments is we were fortunate to have a screening for our cast and crew on the night before the Canadian premiere that was just this past Friday night.

And to show this work that, you know, all these amazing talented craftsmen from our actors of course through our director of photography and the whole camera department in the postproduction team. And just to see everybody come together and watch the fruits of their labor together. It was just a real thrill.

Question:  What do you think separates Bitten from other supernatural shows that are on TV?

J.B. Sugar: Well we take pride in the fact that despite the supernatural premise of Bitten that it’s really a story about the themes that resonate for fans of any kind of genre. Characters that have real dimension, that are grounded in a real-world despite their supernatural abilities to shape, shift into werewolves.

And at its heart it’s a real character drama and with themes that deal with identity and family and kind of quelling the beast that’s inside of all of us, quite literally and figuratively.

Question: For Greyston, I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about how you first became involved in a series. And perhaps if you don’t mind about your audition process for your role.

Greyston Holt: To Vancouver. We sent the tape out to Toronto for the show for Clay. And, you know, and it sat for a little bit. In a couple of weeks later we got some positive feedback. And we ended up doing a Skype audition so I could talk to the producers a little bit and J.B. on the phone and on the Skype.

And then a couple weeks after that they flew me into Toronto for a screen test and a chemistry read with Laura Vandervoort who plays Elena. And then about a week after that I got the good call. And I was a very, very happy boy.

J.B. Sugar: Yes November of 2012 we were breaking the scripts for the season. And a couple of our writers and our head writer and our exec producer, creator for TV, Daegan Fryklind was working on Motive and an episode of Motive that she wrote was literally shooting while we were in the writing room. And Greyston Holt was a guest star on Motive.

And she literally brought up the dailies when we were in the writing room. And had us all take a look at him. And from right then we were very excited about the prospect of Greyston bringing Clay Danvers to life and…

Greyston Holt: Which still shocks me because like I look back at that episode and I feel like I look younger. I’m like super clean cards and the like nothing like, you know, what we eventually, you know, shaped Clay into being. So it’s amazing that you saw through that.

Question: Could you talk a little bit about the production of the pilot? What sticks out for you most about shooting that first episode? Anything in particular come to mind J.B.?

J.B. Sugar: Well we had been developing Bitten as a series for a couple of years even before we went into production. And that the first two episodes actually were the first to written.

And we had a really healthy amount of time to work on crafting those. And it’s always a huge task trying to introduce, you know, a huge ensemble cast of characters as well as establish the unique mythology that’s inherent in the other world and Kelley Armstrong’s books.

And I think, you know, Daegan, Daegan Fryklind, our creator and our writing team just did such a great job staying true to the beginnings of Bitten, as well as calling from the mythology that’s present throughout the entire Otherworld series to make for a satisfying pilot experience.

And I don’t know. I mean again back to the visual effects. That was always a big challenge for us in production. So as we were filming the show in filming the pilot episode, you know, that we had all the elements. This beautiful set designed by our production designer Rob Gray and amazing cinematography by Steven Rice.

It seems we were able to really see what the show was going to look and feel like. But one of the biggest unknowns was how these CG wolves were going to look in our place. We’re extremely proud of what’s on screen now.

Question: One of the things I liked is the Wolf vision too that you have. And especially when she’s like just about to transform. You see the wolf coming out. It’s a very subtle way of doing it. Can you talk about that a little bit? And certainly Greyston give your opinion about that as well.

J.B. Sugar: Wolf vision, for lack of a better term, is something we worked on and discussed stylizing early on in the process. And then of course once we shot those shots and took them into the color timing suite, we were able to really play around in kind of subtle on a look and approach for wolf vision.

And the intention and spirit of – and design of those shots really are inspired by the K9 color palette and that the way that K9s see the world and have a bit of an enhanced ability to see at night.

And contrary to popular belief, K9s are not colorblind. They just have – their (rods and) cones are as such that they really don’t see any reds and browns. So we really kind of isolated the blues and yellows and had that in form how our wolves would see when we go into their point of view.

Question: Is it difficult to play this role because you kind of have to approach it honestly and kind of not know what’s going to be up ahead? And try to play it is honestly as possible when you might have a clue as to finding out exactly what she is and things like that.

Greyston Holt: Yes I mean that’s acting for you, right. You know, you read the scripts. You know the ending, right. I mean I, you know, I definitely didn’t give much attention to, you know, the parts in the scripts that were her (Toronto) lines, because really I wouldn’t know that.

But, you know, I need to know the whole story obviously. So obviously I read all the scripts. And then, you know, it’s just, you know, I just focus on my world at Stonehaven.

And, you know, you try obviously as an actor to just, you know. But these facts that you know in the script. But, you know, that’s just part of acting so.

Question:  It’s so hard with CGI, especially with hair. Yet, you know, these wolves look pretty good.

J.B. Sugar: Yes I mean the fur, as you said, you nailed it. I mean fir is one of the hardest things to do in the CGI world and environments. And the technology has evolved so much. And we have such talented artists.

I mean three of our core animators and designers on our visual effects team were on the tiger rigging team for the Life of Pi. And we’ve got some real the effects rock stars behind the scenes working to bring those to life.

Question:  How much of the books did you read? And did you get a chance to talk to Kelley at all? What was one of the amazing things that you really brought out from either reading or talking to her that really helped with either your characterization Greyston?

Greyston Holt: Yes, I hadn’t met Kelley previous to filming. I’ve actually just met her last week at a dinner, which was amazing. But leading up to it I read Bitten. And I kind of was skimming through Savage as we were filming a little bit too.

And, you know, you get the (draft) from source material a little bit. But we also take some artistic license and, you know, kind of try to create our own versions of these characters a little bit.

You know, it’s just a suggestive type of thing reading a book and, you know, people’s opinions in your personal opinions. And, you know, and just kind of did my thing. And I, you know, I’m just hoping people like it. So it’s a very contentious subject with bookies so. But yes.

J.B. Sugar: So having us wealth of material to draw from is such a blessing to have when you’re crafting a new show. And the first season of Bitten follows very closely to the plot of the first novel in the series, Bitten.

And of course there are still some surprises and Easter eggs and new element introduced just by virtue of translating it to a different need him. But we’ve been very conscious of the how loyal and passionate the Kelley Armstrong Otherworld fans are.

And collaborated with Kelley pretty closely during the two-year development material, the period. She had read Daegan’s bible for the show, which kind of outlines the whole first season and character breakdowns and tone and style of the show.

And we’re very pleased to get sanctioned by Kelley. And once we got into production and the (rolls) for running so to speak, Kelley was focused on, you know, her new book series that she was launching. And was very – was peripherally involved once we went production.

But at the same time we felt very confident that she was pleased with the direction we were headed in.

Question: Clayton and Elena, they seemed to have parted on bad terms. What can you tell us about their relationship, or at least their dynamics of how they interact with each other?

Greyston Holt: Yes, you know, (unintelligible) werewolf and she was turned into this werewolf by myself. You know, I bit her for reasons that, you know, you will find out as the season progresses. They were good reasons and I have good intentions. But, you know, there’s complications in the werewolf world. It’s not like being a human. So it’s not that simple.

But yes, and it was fun. I mean as far as our relationship and, you know, how we were sort of scene. It really played out with the animal side of it. It you know, the scene with dogs is so you don’t (unintelligible) eye contact is huge, right. And we played on them a lot.

And, you know, being very careful and cautious when you approach. And so we played around with that a lot, especially when we kind of first meet each other, you know, just really assessing each other out and feeling their energy and playing off that. So that was really fun.

Question: I really enjoyed seeing Elena interact, having like this strong female friendship with her boyfriend’s sister in New York. Will we see that character again throughout the season? Or is she kind of out of the picture now that Elena went back to Stonehaven?

J.B. Sugar: Well that’s Diane who is played the beautiful and talented Natalie Brown. And she will definitely be appearing throughout the season. And one of the things that we’ve done in the series which is a bit of a departure from the book is really blown out the whole McAdams family, which is Philip, Elena’s human boyfriend.

We really worked hard to develop that world so we can really highlight this push and pull that Elena undergoes throughout the first season. Despite her love and affection for Clayton, she also has this desire for normalcy.

And by casting such great actors in crafting such great characters, are writing came – really kind of really helped bolster that dynamic and that push and pull of the two worlds. So I’m so happy that you connected with that Diane character. And that’s definitely something that you’ll be seeing more of throughout the season.

Question: Do you ever get like thoughts and the writers room of what would Kelley (Armstrong) do? I’m curious sort of your feelings about getting that kind of creative freedom from Kelley to do the show you want to do.

J.B. Sugar: Well, an absolute blessing to get that kind of freedom from Kelley. But at the same time our intention is to really satisfy the tremendous and loyal fan base that she’s built over the years.

So any time we have that question about what would Kelley do, we are so fortunate to be able to just open up, whether it be Bitten or any of the subsequent novels. Particularly, you know, Tales of the Otherworld and Men of the Otherworld, which really goes back into the back stories of each of our characters and the kind of creation stories of how the relationships were built.

And it’s just such a tremendous resource for us to build upon. And like I said earlier, there’s a lots of little Easter eggs peppered throughout the first season that coal from those later novels and speak to that mythology.

So it is such a blessing to get that kind of that freedom from Kelley. And at the same time, you know, we have her voice always ever present because, you know, she created these characters. And we have the resources to go back and look into the way that the stories are crafted in the motivations for the characters.

So despite the lack of day-to-day involvement, Kelley was always on the forefront of our minds. And even more so the fan base and playing that balancing act of keeping the show grounded in the source material. And at the same time bring something new for fans who are already familiar with the material. And also for fans who are going to be coming to a fresh.

Question: Is there any specific scene that you can think of that you are looking forward to the fans seeing that you can talk about?

J.B. Sugar: The origin stories and history that I was alluding to earlier and peppering those in, Episode 5 is one of my favorite episodes.

But, you know, one of my favorite scenes is the scene that actually takes us to the moment where Elena is bitten into the pack and the circumstances that led to it.

The performances are just fantastic and that whole episode. And it features some of the best and most effective CGI shots we’ve built. And you get to really see Clay in his full wolf form. And it’s just beautiful.

Greyston Holt: It’s a tough line to walk when you know so much about the books. And you’re like, you know. It’s really hard. That’s a really tough question. It’s like asking what your favorite band is or your favorite song.

J.B. Sugar: Was there any moment in Episode 5 that you like to doing the most? Like when you got to go back in time and meeting Elena.

Greyston Holt: Yes, the flashbacks were fun playing and how we met. And, you know, fall in love and that whole thing. So that was fun to play for sure.

Question: How much of this first season will be exploring that year that Elena’s been gone? And from Elena’s perspective as well as maybe some of the other characters like Clay. What’s he doing the year that she was gone?

Greyston Holt: Clay was at Stonehaven. I mean that’s – my loyalty is ultimately to Jeremy. So in this year off I’d be at Stonehaven wallowing in my sorrow and, you know, missing Elena.

J.B. Sugar: Yes, I mean much like the book Bitten, the series starts off very similarly with Elena already being gone for a year. And neither the book or the series really explores that one year period.

There’s a lot of alluding to it and a lot of angst and tension that comes as a result of it. But we never actually flashback and go into the details of what happened within that year period.

Question: There’s a lot that you show in terms of building Elena’s relationship with the pack. Was there kind of a trick to try to balance that out throughout the season as far as Elena with the pack versus Elena with her life in Toronto?

J.B. Sugar: It’s very much an ebb and flow throughout the entire season. And again, another credit to the great writing and grafting of – that our writers have accomplished with the show.

So some episodes, as you saw like Episode 1, the pilot is probably about I’d say 70/30 Toronto to Stonehaven. Whereas Episode 2 kind of reverses that ratio. Episode 3 pretty much stays within that 70/30 Stonehaven to Toronto. Episode 4, kind of the same. Episode 5 still keeps that balance.

And then later in the season through Episode 6 we’re actually flipping that again and we’re in Toronto a little more. And then towards the end of the season, you know, the two worlds really do collide. So there’s a healthy balance and ebb and flow of Toronto and Stonehaven.

Question:  Could you go may be a little bit more into kind of his arc that we’ll see throughout the season?

Greyston Holt: Yes. I mean it’s – it really is this inter conflict between my loyalty towards Jeremy and my love for Elena. And, you know, that comes to the forefront as the series progresses. And I – sorry. Could you repeat the question? Sorry.

I don’t really have another agenda. I mean my agenda is to protect the pack and be loyal to the pack. And then Elena, she’s my love, my only and ever love.

But ultimately my loyalty lies with Jeremy. He’s our pack alpha. But, you know, as the season goes on you’ll see that loyalty tested for many reasons. For, you know, mutts and for my love for Elena and then Jeremy.

But yes, as the season goes on, you’ll see this inner struggle that I have to deal with at every turn basically.

J.B. Sugar: Well that’s a tough one to answer too because there’s a lot of story nuances that inform Clay’s arc that are probably best not revealed at this point too.

Question: The one thing that Elena has already done in the pilot is that she’s eating a lot it seems. I guess part of what you have to do as all werewolf or a (safe shift), or whichever way you want to approach it. So is that something that’s going to be throughout the series as part of the iconography of it?

J.B. Sugar: I’m very pleased to see how the fan reaction has been to that. I’ve had a lot of women and men for that matter commenting on how that’s a bit of a wish fulfillment like having an appetite like Elena and our other characters have yet remaining assets and (spries) as they do.

It was definitely something we felt an important to explore throughout the show. It’s certainly accented a little heavier in the first couple of episodes. But the appetites, both sexually and dietary our ever present in our Bitten universe.

Greyston Holt: Yes and it’s, I mean it’s just the animal side of it. Everything is just kind of, it’s immediate and urgent, you know, the violence, the fear, the sensual and the sexuality, the hunger. I mean these things are – these are very primal feelings that we have that are really fun to play with.

J.B. Sugar: Yes I mean again that’s paying honor to the eroticism that’s just layered into the Otherworld series. And it really does, as Greyston says, inform the primal nature of our characters. And it kind of goes hand-in-hand.

So it really does work within our world. And it’s organic to our characters. And it’s certainly ever present. But it’s never gratuitous. And we wanted to keep it sexy. We’ve always, even in the early days of developing the show, always intended to maintain a really sexy, erotic and adult kind of show.

Greyston Holt: Yes I mean that’s – J.B. put it well. It’s definitely not gratuitous. It’s just – it just, it’s primal and it’s real and it’s present. And, you know, it’s just the way these wolves are.