10.6.11 // Miss Day, I presume?
Felicia Day has been both a name and face geeks–especially geeky women– have been able to identify with as she’s made her way through the entertainment world. From guest appearances on tv shows, voice over work in video games, to creating her own projects, Day has crafted her career simply by being herself.
She was also kind enough to spare some time to talk to her fellow geeky ladies about her experiences and her work!
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Kiri Callaghan: As a representative of GeekGirlCon, I have to ask, cliche though it may be, what got you started on your road to geekdom?
Felicia Day: I think a big factor was having science-oriented parents, and being homeschooling. Staying at home for school let me explore the things I loved, like fantasy and gaming, without knowing it was something that wasn’t popular. And I was already old enough when I realized that other people didn’t think it was “cool” to stick with it regardless, which is a luxury a lot of kids don’t have.
KC: How was growing up as a female geek where you lived?
FD: I was a bit isolated as a kid, my best friends were my brother and myonline friends. So being a female geek was great, I was not apologetic about what I liked, and my parents loved the fact I was into math and classical music and theatre.
KC: Obviously you play and enjoy WoW, but what made you decide to take that idea and make it into a Web Series?
FD: I was definitely going through a hard time as an actress before I wrote the show, having lots of time on my hands and all my bills paid, so I got HUGELY addicted to the game. It wasn’t the game’s fault, it was me being undisciplined with my time and letting myself take the easy way out. Through the support of friends and family I decided to shift gears and FORCE myself to do something out of my comfort zone: write. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but after months of procrastinating I got myself in gear and made myself see a whole draft of a script through. That then became the Guild!
KC: Was The Guild always intended as a web series or did it have other incarnations when you were first brainstorming?
FC: I intended it at first to follow the structure of a 1/2 hour comedy script, but after a few mainstream agents and execs read it (and didn’t understand it) I was dissuaded from taking it out to more people, it just wasn’t something that would get funded. Thankfully my
co-producer Kim Evey read it and said, “We should do this for the web, because that’s where your audience will be.
KC: There’s some advantage, I think, in shorter episodes because it seems like it’d be easier to map out an overall through line and plot–no fluff episodes, so to speak. Every episode contributes to continuing the story. What’s the creation/writing process been like?
FD: It’s been a work in progress. In the beginning (and even now) there’s no set rules for web content except, “Don’t bore your audience”. I was really ruthless in paring everything down to the bare minimum in the script because on the web you’re fighting for attention with a million different channels. I’ve finally settled on a format for the show that comes out close to feature-length for a season, but it grew organically from what we saw worked in the space and with the audience.
KC: The Guild is on its fifth season– to avoid spoiling anything for our readers I’ll be vague–but things seem to be coming to a head. With Dragon Age: Redemption going live in just a few weeks, we have to wonder is The Guild drawing to a close or will we be following Cyd and the guildies for seasons to come?
FD: Every season I think, “this is the last” but then I come to episode 12 and get a great cliffhanger that could take the characters into another season. The same thing happened with me and season 5. We’ll see if Xbox/Sprint pick us up for another, but I definitely have more to say with these characters, more lines to act!
KC: I’m a huge Bioware fan and Dragon Age is honestly weighing in as a heavy combatant for being my favorite RPG–so when I heard that you were doing a web series set in that world, I was pretty darn psyched. Could you talk to us about how Dragon Age: Redemption got started?
FD: I got a call from EA looking to work together on a project, and when Dragon Age was raised as a possibility I jumped at the chance! I’ve always wanted to act in a fantasy world, and Bioware has created the MOST rich fantasy world out there with this franchise. There’s no way you can play the game and not want to hang out with the player characters, romance and adventure with them, it’s just so amazing. To be able to use their world and create a story and a character for myself was a dream come true, and when they said they were making a DLC with my character…wow, I can’t tell you how much I wanted to do this project! It was an 18 month production schedule but it was worth every single day, I’m so proud of what we accomplished.
KC: What has been the fan response to this project?
FD: It’s been very positive overall, we’ve gotten a lot of supportive comments and excited people who know Dragon Age and who are fans from other areas. However, if you read comments on gaming blogs EVER you understand how negative some very few (but very nasty) posters can be. I have to remind myself NOT to read the comments and NOT respond! 
It’s really tough for a woman in the gaming industry I think with this vitriolic subset minority, either you’re labelled as hideous, or (if you lead with your looks) you’re a whore. Ignoring the vocal minority is the key, because the broadening of gaming culture is really embraced by the creative people, the industry people and, most importantly, women themselves!
KC: You’ve done some great guest roles, ranging from your recent work on Eureka to earlier in your career when you played Vi on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, what character was the most fun to portray? Do you miss any of them?
FD: I loved being on Eureka because that job was written FOR me because of the hard work I do on the web. I will definitely miss times with that cast. Dr Horrible as well was an experience I’ll never forget, whenever I see anyone from that shoot I’m reminded of the spirit with which that was filmed: total creative spontaneity and freedom.
KC: What kind of projects would you like to do in the future or what would like to do more of?
FC: I am really eager to stay with web content, I feel most at home when I can connect with the people who like my stuff without barriers. Producing other people’s scripts is definitely on my radar, our production company Knights of Good, has many projects in various stages of development, so we’re always working.
I definitely want to keep my toe in the mainstream acting world though, my experience on Eureka was amazing, so fun guest stars will always be on my radar. And please, I’d love a job on a spaceship, a fake one. :)
KC: Just as a final, sort of silly question–I like to end things on a silly note if I can help it– what’s your biggest guilty “girly” pleasure?
Project Runway and http://www.redcarpet-
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Unfortunately Day will be unable to attend GeekGirlCon this year and she will be missed. Of course… there’s always next year, Felicia 
.
Until then, we’ll be eagerly awaiting the web premiere of Dragon Age: Redemption and excited to see what new projects she’ll be working on.
Kiri Callaghan // @kiricallaghan
Public Relations Manager
GeekGirlCon
pr@geekgirlcon.com