I should warn you all that though I didn’t get any major
spoilers about the storylines, the interviews contain some minor
“spoilerly” answers and certain hints about the upcoming
Season 6. So, if anyone reading this is a hard-core unspoiled fan,
you might skip certain answers, but don’t skip the interviews
because all three women I talked too are very fascinating professionals
and individuals with a lot of great insights about the show and
the life outside of it.
I was waiting for Pam Grier at the conference room in the front
office. When she walked in, she reminded me of Foxy Brown, cool
and confident. Pam was dressed simply yet classy, and she only had
a few minutes to chat with me before going to do her hair and make-up
for the shooting of her upcoming scene. She began talking even before
I asked some of my questions and this is how our interview began.
PG: This show brought up many issues we knew were important
because we knew we had so many people talking about them. So, I
said, you know I’ve done it before and it’s easy and
it’s different – the people’s response to you,
that’s what I like. I can be silly and funny, kick your ass
funny, you know. So, it gives me more character, more meat.
B&TF: Since we’re talking about Kit, here’s my
first question: How do you feel about Kit’s journey so far?
She went through addictions, all of those relationships, like a
younger man, married man, a drag king; now there’s a news
about a drag queen that will become Kit’s love interest, sorry
I’m still confused about all the different gender issues.
[At this point the Showtime’s representative said that we
can’t talk about this really, but I mentioned that the actor
from “Prison Break” who will appear on The L Word as
Kit’s potential love interest was publicly announced, so it
wasn’t really a spoiler because it’s public knowledge
now, and she agreed…so we continued]. So, Kit’s journey
so far…
PG: Her journey is one that reflects her humanity and other
people. She’s not really alone, she doesn’t invent her
crises…everyone has them. You get to see her in and out of
them as she tries to make commitments to herself of devotion and
honor, which is actually the twelve steps. She has these friendships
and loyalty, and she even had to deal with an anger issue from last
year, which led her to get a gun. The gun could have killed the
baby. These are real turning points; these are real issues that
a lot of people reflect. There’s really nothing superficial
or manufactured. These are all organic and specifically written
for the show, so people can get drama, comedy, and elements that
reflect a community. You see Kit being absorbed with this community
and engaged and honored to have this family who stopped her free-fall
and gave her a place to go, and now she’s an owner of a club,
you know, The Planet. And then you saw the end…
B&TF: Yes, she also has Shebar now…
PG: Yes, and now she has Shebar and that’s twice
as much. Can she handle that? That’s why a couple of years
of her trying to get more extension in The L Word, to see if we
can still have some more resolution and story.
I know people have come up to me, totally upset and asking why
are we ending the show, and I have to deal with it. I don’t
have anything to do with it. I tell them, I don’t know, why
don’t you call them up and find out.
B&TF: Oh, people are signing petitions to continue with the
show.
PG: Yeah, they are doing it because this is one of the
first shows about women –women who are specific and have a
great community that has been ignored. And I relate to that –
being marginalized in society, being suspect of not being human
and having to prove yourself and not getting the benefits and the
rights and the things that ordinary people get. I’ve met these
wonderful people, not only cast members but production and writers
and directors and the fans and people who are in the clubs who do
charity things and raise funds for me and I raise funds for their
groups. I have wonderful friends for life now because of The L Word
that I would have never met and would have never been able to pass
on what I’ve learned from them. In media, people say, “Well,
what’s going to be the legacy of The L Word?”
The L Word, as I was saying, the L stands for luminous, if I was
going to describe it. It lights the way and it’s infinite,
it’s historical. And it’s going to be such a point,
a touchstone in media, in history and social and women and lesbian
rights and so many things that it’s going to be remembered
20, 30 years from now. I can tell you there’s a lot of hit
TV shows commercially, but none of them will be remembered 10 years
from now, or their cast members or for anyone to say, “That
episode made my heart race. It took my breath away. And I watched
it over and over and over again. And it made a difference in my
life.”
I watch TV because I want to be a structured writer and director,
so I’m getting at how can I be interesting and peak people’s
interest and curiosity? And, by far, this show, whether people want
to believe or give it the credit that’s its really due, in
the performances from the pilot to this last season, I think it
made such milestones.
B&TF: What you were talking about … how the show’s
made a difference … I remember a quote from you where you
said you didn’t really think you’d accomplished anything
because you didn’t save anyone from a burning house, for example,
but you know that you influenced people’s lives. How do you
feel you influenced people’s lives whether as Foxy Brown or
Kit Porter?
PG: What might relate to her and her issues with drug addiction
and the way that she has to deal with people lying to her, because
a part of AA and 12 steps is truth, and you can’t be around
people who aren’t truthful. That’s one of the true things,
being truthful, can set so many foundations, but it could also derail.
What that means and why you took the choice of not being truthful
and when you can live up to your truth … it’s so very,
very powerful. And you see Kit doing that. We were talking about
The L Word being such a great by-product of the Civil Rights movement,
the Women’s Movement, doors that have been open and it could
not have been done 20-30 years ago.
The fact is that it’s been done now and it’s going
to go on for so long and people are going to think and reflect on
things that have happened in their lives and think – I saw
that on The L Word. And the consequences for it if I make this decision,
a positive consequence will come out of it. And maybe someone will
think, secondly, of how I can make something more positive.
B&TF: You have to go so my last question, what can you say
to the fans who are mad that the show is over. What will you do
after the show is over?
PG: (laughter) Oh, continue watching. I know the DVD sales
are going to go through the roof. And we’ll continue to have
the parties, you know, The L Word parties and honoring the Pride
parties. But what I want to make so critically a point to all the
fans and people who really appreciate what we’ve done, is
that I really want it to unite straight women and the straight community
with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender women’s community
because we will lose our leverage in any Congressional forum or
platform. We have to unite in numbers to win. So when it comes to
laws about what we do – adopting children, breaking through
the glass ceiling, getting better pay, equal pay, birth control…you
know Republicans will not support birth control but they’ll
support Viagra – so you know, there’s still gender differences.
And, by the way, I’m starting my book, my memoir, by Grand
Central Publishing, it will be out next year and we talked about
these real issues. Some girls don’t think it’s an issue,
but you know they make a Game Boy? But you know they don’t
make a Game Girl? And everyone says, “So what!” It does
matter. A five year old came up to me and asked me why there is
no Game Girl. She said, “Are the girls important enough?”
B&TF: I agree, there has to be Game Girl.
PG: So get on the line and tell people to make a damn Game
Girl.
B&TF: All right, thank you so much.
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