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WatchingThe Bold Typeas a writer is how I imagine medical professionals feel when watchingERorGreys Anatomy.
Theres a lot of yelling at the screen (That isabsolutelynot how that works!).
An unintentionally perfect quarantine show, if there ever was one.
What have you all been up to in quarantine?
How are you staying sane or, well, are you staying sane?
Katie Stevens:No ones staying sane.
Aisha Dee:If youre staying sane, youre just bragging.
Just spilling stuff on myself and doing a whole lot of nothing.
What do you think yourBold Typecharacters would be getting up to right now?
AD: Kat would be doing TikTok dances and being really annoying about it.
Meghann Fahy: Sutton would be way more ambitious than I have been.
AD:Influencer stuff.
KS:Jane would be doing way more than Ive been doing.
Shed probably be interviewing people and writing articles.
AD:Katie says that, but Katies been super-productive.
MF:She cooks things all the time.
She hosts a full Instagram talk show.
She does workouts twice a week.
KS:Youre giving me too much credit.
I do cook all the time but also have to be fed.
And then I was feeling guilty, doing this mind back-and-forth, and then I just stopped doing it.
Ive been allowing myself to be unproductive if I want to be.
AD:Thats a good rule of thumb.
KS:That would definitely happen.
She would do diary entries for the entire thing and then release them all.
AD:Like a novel or a book of essays.
Or a play, even.
KS:Oh my God!
She does a play and then all of the characters put the play on when quarantine is over.
Sutton makes all the costumes.
Count me in for $20.
AD:Sutton can make 14 outfits out of $20.
KS:I can make outfits out of pieces of garbage.
AD:I think any show is an escape but especiallyThe Bold punch in.
Its a bit of a fantasy.
Thats something that Ive been looking for in the shows and movies that I watch.
Im not really looking to be challenged too much.
I watchedThe Fighting Temptationslast night.
It just filled my heart up.
I needed baby Beyonce to sing to me.
I hope thatThe Bold Typegives people that similar feeling of being wrapped up in a nice blanket.
MF:Its great quarantine TV.
Its the opposite ofBreaking Bador a show thats physically taxing to watch.
Its kind of nice right now to watch something thats not going to make you feel more heavy.
I watched the first two episodes of the season.
I was like, Ooh, they get to work IN an office.
KS:For me, its weird because Nashville is opening up right now where I live.
When did you realize this would be a quarantine season, as it were?
It took a little bit to realize,Oh, were not coming back at all.
KS:What was even worse was we got shut down over our weekend.
It wasnt even like we were able to say good-bye to everybody.
Thats what Im most sad about.
AD:Im a naturally quiet, anxious person.
I dont mean to brag, but I am.
And I was really nervous about the corona thing in December.
When I first heard about it, I just went on a deep dive of articles and information.
KS:Losing a New York City summer is just so heartbreaking.
None of you were actually dressed for a New York winter.
AD:Oh no, we were not.
MF:We were not at all dressed for a Montreal winter, and it was very fucking cold.
AD:If I had my way, I would be in one of those bubbles.
That would be ideal.
KS:I think the cold could still get into the bubble.
The best thing aboutThe Bold Typeis that its only semi-grounded in reality people pretty much always get happy endings.
What are the most nonrealistic things your characters have gotten up to?
In the pilot episode, she questions her superior and storms out of the office.
You would be like, Youre emotionally reckless.
You cannot work here anymore.
MF:Emotionally reckless!
I could rattle them all off, but wed be here all day.
I love the fact that she was brave enough to do that.
It empowers me to be a little more brave and take risks, you know?
MF:The season opener of us stealing the magazine from the press is pretty fantastical.
It was so fun to shoot, but thats a highly unrealistic scenario.
KS:The timeline!
Somebody was like, No, we actually did the research; its been six months since the pilot.
And I was like, Hold on.
Theres absofuckinglutely no way they could have done all of the things that theyve done in this time.
None of that could have ever happened.
AD:Suttons like, Ive been an assistant for soooooo long.
Its been six months.
MF:People are like, Yeah, youre an assistant for four years.
KS:Sutton going to fashion school.
MF:Well, you saw the clothes!
Did you talk to anybody who does the specific media jobs that your characters do?
That cracked me up.
KS: It cracked me up too.
I didnt have to interview anybody to know thats ludicrous.
I wish I could still do that.
Kat does so many things we would have to have like 8,000.
I wish that I could talk to a writer to be like, How realistic is this?
Theres a lot we get right, theres a lot we get wrong.
Part of the fun of the show is getting to watch that in between.
In the first or second episode, theres a moment where Jane says, Im exhausted.
Cant believe weve got to do that all again next week.
KS:Im hoping they wrote that as a joke.
I hope it gives journalists a laugh.
The media industry is very much hurting right now.
Is that on your minds at all with this lovely fantasy world you play out?
AD:I assign special times in the day where I allow myself to read news.
Its not the first thing in the morning, and its not right when we go to bed.
Being isolated, its so easy to just spiral in our own minds and thoughts.
I did really enjoy watchingSome Good News, that John Krasinski thing.
A big trend in digital journalism is organizing unions in newsrooms.
Which of yourBold Typecharacters do you think would lead the Scarlet-union drive?
AD: Kat would literally force her way back into the building.
Theyd be like, You dont have a key card, and shed be saying, I dont care.
Sometimes its very misguided, and other times its really inspiring and definitely needed.
KS:Sutton and Jane would be onboard too.
This is the first season where the three of you dont all work in the same office.
How has that changed the show?
Its really cool to have a brand-new set to explore together.
AD: Everyone always complained about the fashion closet, but I always loved it.
You didnt have to walk very far, and youre lying down if youre lucky.
Sometimes all three of us were lying down.
I think that only happened once.
KS: Or all of us just sitting.
I love scenes where were all sitting facing one way.
We get crazy in there.
MF: All of the sets are windowless, but the lighting is different because itssupposedto be windowless.
Were always having to figure out different ways to look busy.
Usually thats just trying on a lot of rings or hats.
Thats what happens to us in the fashion closet.
AD: Usually the giggles start in a scene that absolutely doesnt call for it.
KS: Or its in a scene where we absolutely have to be done in 30 minutes.
Were like, Im sorry, Im sorry, Im sorry.
Were going to get it together.
Were going to get it together.
And then we just dont and then theyre like, All right, well thats a wrap.
I guess thats just what the scenes going to be.
MF: InBold Typeyears, you have a decade to get on a 30 Under 30 list.
Do you feel like Sutton being a married lady changes the friend dynamic?
That was more of a change than her getting married.
You dont get to do that ever again, really.
Its one of those rare life moments where you realize,Oh, this is over now.
I dont do this anymore.
I dont live with my friend.Its a weird moment, but a beautiful moment too.
AD:Everyone was like, ItsBold bang out why are you asking questions?
Is there a back room?
There was no back room.
Did you know much about it before this season?
And I was like, Oh, sick.
Theres been some controversy surrounding The Wing, particularly itstreatment of staff and people of color.
Im curious: Will The Belle mirror its real-life counterpart this season?
AD:The Bold Typeis this heightened version of reality.
We know what The Wing is, but The Belle is not The Wing.
There are definitely some similarities, but its not telling exactly the same story.
Ive read about that stuff, too, and its really disappointing and awful.
KS: The Bell is like the new fashion closet for these girls.
Are these three ever going to have an actual rift?
Any fights between them have ended in about the span of six minutes, right?
KS:I have never understood massive, drag-out fights between friends, especially when theyre adults.
All these girls are adults.
These girls fighting and not talking to each other, that just doesnt feel real to me.
I love the way thatInsecureis doing that this season.
MF:I think people would be disappointed if thats the direction that the show went.
So on that level, I agree with Aisha.
These girls really are each others family.
Are there scenes you hate to shoot?
MF: Any of the ones outside.
AD:Do you remember when Sutton and Kat are running to James?
What did you get, a Mandy?
Did you get a Mandy?
KS:I got a Mandy [award].
MF:Ah, yes.
AD:A scene they thought would be really cute.
They thought it would be beautiful to see us running four blocks, was it?
KS:And gowns.
And it was snowing.
What are you most excited for about the new season?
You get to see a very different side of her.
AD:I love your stuff in the later part of this season, Meghann.
Its truly my favorite part.
KS:I was just talking about how beautifully executed you did everything.
I literally watched it all and cried.
AD:There is something super-heartbreaking, but also comforting and uplifting, about everything that happens for Sutton.
I hope thatThe Bold Typecan do that for other people.
KS:Im also excited for people to see Janes postmastectomy journey.
I was really happy that we showed the difficulty of that.
Once youre physically healed, how do you emotionally heal?
AD:I really like the fact that Kat is reckoning with her privilege.
Thats one story that I think has been a long time coming.
That gets at whyThe Bold Typeresonates so well.
AD:On its surface, youre like,Oh, this is just a glossy magazine.
Ill be fine.Then it hits you right in the heart.
A glossy magazine and, of course,a dot-com.
AD: The vertical is the new dot-com.
Thats the new drinking game.
KS: That mightve been my least favorite part.
Every time I did a scene and I was like, Do I have to say vertical?
I think they know what Im talking about.
And they were like, No, its very important that you say the vertical.
AD: Katie, I love it.
Dont take it away from me.
KS: Im sorry, I want you to have your drinking game.
Ill keep saying it.
AD: How am I going to go on if I dont have my drinking game?
Having watched a little of this season, I think this drinking game might be too intense.
AD: Very small sips and everythings going to be fine.
Theres plenty of that to go around, so I say we add that to the list.
AD:Every time someone does something that could be a fireable offense.
MF: Every time Aisha pours a beverage, you should pour yourself a beverage.
KS: Every time someone says breasts.
MF: Breasts is the new vertical, actually.
AD:Every time someone says breasts, you have to grab your own breasts.
Theres not even a variant.
Theres not, like, my boobs, my tits, my whatever.
MF:Thats probably the most … KS:But if I was talking to you guys, itd be like, Yeah, my boobs.
AD:You know I like to say tittay.
I didnt plan to end talking about tits, but I dont hate it.
AD:Feels right to me.
