THE FOLLOWING at TCA: Live-Blog

Fox is kicking off their winter press tour day with a panel highlighting the new Fox drama, THE FOLLOWING.

Follow (okay, that was terrible) along with what series co-creator Kevin Williamson, and series stars Kevin Bacon, James Purefoy, Natalie Zea, Annie Parisse, Shawn Ashmore, Valorie Curry, Adan Canto, Nico Tortorella, and Kyle Catlett have to say…

9:39: “After shooting the second or third script, I went, ‘Oh, it’s that kind of a show,” Parisse says of whether the cast is fearful for their characters’ lives.

9:40: Bacon said he had been looking for a television show for a bit. “Initially, I thought it was going to be on cable, but I read this one, and I could not put it down,” Bacon said. He called the script a “page-turner” and with “such an interesting character.”

9:41: Williamson went to a Poe museum as a kid where they had “The Raven” written on the wall in red, which looked like blood. He called it one of the most magical days of his life.

9:43: Williamson said this idea has been in his idea for years. While THE VAMPIRE DIARIES is more romanticism, this show is more real. He likes writing adults because “I’m not a child anymore.”

9:45: “The struggle for me in network television is the six-act structure,” Williamson said, noting they need to craft the scares to the commercial break. He calls 24 his favorite show of all time, and that’s inspired his network television writing.

9:46: “Some episodes, I go, ‘oh, a lot of people died this week’ so when I write the next episode, no one dies the next week,” Williamson said.

9:47: The question that was just asked is too spoilery pre-premiere (it’s about episode 3), but if something there makes you uncomfortable, wait until episode 4, because it may be resolved ASAP.

9:48: “Who wasn’t” upset by Sandy Hook, Wiliamson asked? He pointed to Aurora as bothersome as well, but he stresses he’s writing fiction.

9:49: “These are people who have joined up with him because he offers them a non-judgmental and safe place to do what they want to do,” Purefoy said of his character not forcing anyone to join a cult. They were going to be bad no matter what.

9:51: Williamson said he “gravitates” towards the good guy versus the bad guy stories. He calls this an escalation, because Purefoy’s character is not only “evil personified,” but he’s a teacher and he’s found people to do his bidding.

9:52: Williamson said it wasn’t the plan to have Joe Carroll have an accent — because of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS — but he heard Purefoy and realized his natural accent was the right way to go.

9:53: There is the question of “how do you change up” the kills, Williamson said. He says Carroll’s character inspires people to escalate their violence. “But we don’t sit around thinking of ways to kill people,” he said. “We think of the drama.”

9:57: An upcoming episode will show how easily anyone can be seduced by Carroll.

9:58: Unrelated to that last point, there is a bit of sexual pushing the line in the show, but since it comes from more of an emotional place, the standards and practices haven’t had as much problems with those specifics.

10:01: Mike’s a “fanboy” Ashmore says of Bacon’s Ryan. He “wants to be the agent Ryan once was.” He says he never thought of him as creepy, but he calls him engaged and interested in what Ryan has done and he wants to impress him.

10:04: Williamson praises Curry and her portrayal of Denise. He also says that for some of the more minor characters in the pilot, he gave them dummies scenes to read to see if they could take it for what’s to come.

10:05: An out of context quote for now: “Three psychos in a house is fun,” Williamson teased.

10:07: “If you have a sense of who the character is, you should be able to walk in your character’s shoes in a moment’s notice,” Bacon said. He cited his wife’s experience on THE CLOSER as helping to prep him.

10:09: “I am able to see almost everything — with my mom’s permission,” Catlett (who is a young child) said.

10:09: A reporter asked Bacon and Purefoy what it was like to film their scenes together as Carroll and Ryan, because she left them wanting them to kiss. So Bacon and Purefoy just kissed on stage. “Rule nothing in, rule nothing out,” Purefoy joked.

10:13: “Everything is so heightened…that I don’t really consider [Claire’s past with Carroll],” Zea said. “Because what’s going on [currently] is plenty.”

10:15: “My mother wanted to be a writer — she gave me a typewriter when I was 10,” Williamson said.

10:17: Williamson points to flashbacks as being a fun way to explore why people kill. THE FOLLOWING uses them very well. We’ll be finding out plenty of details about Ryan and Carroll’s backstories this year.