Paley Fest 2014: The World of Pretty Little Liars

Back in June of 2010, I attended a book reading and celebrity appearance at the Barnes & Noble bookstore at The Grove in the heart of Hollywood. Who was appearing at this event? Author Sara Shepard and four young actresses who were going to be the leads in an upcoming TV series based on the former’s book series called “Pretty Little Liars”.

Who would have known that that small event that included maybe 50 attendees (myself included) and no press whatsoever would, four years later, garner a nearly packed house at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood via Paley Fest 2014 with throngs of exuberant fans and press in attendance, becoming the first ABC Family series to be honored by the Paley Center for Media’s annual event.

This past Sunday the creative minds behind Pretty Little Liars – I. Marlene King, Joseph Dougherty and Oliver Goldstick – as well as cast members – Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell, Sasha Pieterse, Ian Harding, Janel Parrish and Keegan Allen – took to the stage in front of 2000 fans to talk about the most “tweeted” about show in social media history. [Granted social media hasn’t existed for THAT long, but it’s a testament to the fans that it has made Pretty Little Liars number one.]

The panelists first talked about shooting the pilot, which they filmed in Vancouver around Thanksgiving of 2009. The lead girls spoke about how cold it was during filming that they had to literally hold their breath so it wouldn’t be seen during takes since the bulk of that episode was supposed to take place in the summer in Pennsylvania. And, Troian mentioned how they all celebrated the holiday together and that it was the first time for Shay (who is Canadian) to take part in the holiday.

The conversation then shifted over to the casting process with all of the girls sharing that they auditioned for different roles than the ones for which the now portray. Troian also shared that for her Spencer audition she spent two hours on her hair and make-up, going into the audition looking as much as like Spencer as she could. But she joked that when she was called back in for a second audition, she was told to do her hair and makeup. Obviously all her work, regardless of what those who auditioned her thought, paid off since she landed the role.

Given the direction of the show this current season, the discussion was then focused on the adult territory that Pretty Little Liars has taken so far especially with the reveal of what Ezra has really been doing (SPOILER ALERT, if you’re not caught up yet!) – that he was writing a book about Allison and her disappearance/death, leading the girls to think he was really “A” – only to have that theory fall apart once the girls learned what he was actually doing.

With that thought in mind Ian shared that he was told that Ezra would be taking a dark turn ahead of time for which he was excited about since it was a nice change of pace. In fact he said, ‘it was a joy to be nasty for a little while”.

Series creator Marlene tends to be very tight-lipped about giving away anything about upcoming episodes, but she did share that a lot of questions will be answered in tonight’s finale, which will find Allison returning to Rosewood and telling her four best friends all about the night she “died”.

A few tidbits that the cast and creative team did share was that the bones that were sewn inside the corset for which Spencer wore in last week’s episode were actually gorilla bones; some of the costumes that the girls have worn – while beautiful – most are very uncomfortable, but they don’t get to take any of them home with them. And, of all the girls Shay loves to do physical stunts and loves it when she can wear heels and Troian remembers all the twists and turns in the show better than anyone else on the cast.

Make sure to watch the finale of Pretty Little Liars tonight at 8/7c on ABC Family.

[Photo Credit: Dominick Dusseault]