FAKING IT: Carter Covington Previews What’s to Come in Season 1

On last week’s FAKING IT series premiere, best friends Amy (Rita Volk) and Karma (Katie Stevens) were mistaken for a lesbian couple…and went along with it, because it got them noticed at school for the first time.

Unfortunately for the duo, things aren’t going trouble-free: Karma is interested in a guy, Amy’s stepsister-to-be, Lauren, overheard the duo talk about faking their relationship, and after sharing a kiss with Karma, Amy realized she might actually have feelings for her best friend.

So where does the show go from here? I spoke with FAKING IT showrunner Carter Covington about what’s in store for season 1…

Now that Amy seems to have realized she might like women, how much will you be exploring her sexuality in season 1? Will her focus solely be on Karma, or will there be other women in the mix?
Carter Covington: She’s going to definitely go on a journey. She doesn’t want these feelings. At first, she’s in denial she has them, and then she’s going to try to find a boy who can take these feelings away by being into a guy. And when that doesn’t work, she’s going to try and find another girl. And then she’s going to realize, right now, she can’t make any bigger decisions than she has these feelings for Karma and she can’t ignore them. And then it’s going to be a “what does she do now?” [situation]. I think people who watch these eight episodes will find it a really rewarding journey. The finale, she will express those feelings to Karma, and that will turn the page, hopefully, for a season 2, which is where do they go from here?

Are the writers viewing Karma as someone who is straight? Or did you go into developing the season with the potential that Karma could be either gay or bisexual?
CC: I view right now that Karma is not having questioning thoughts about Amy in the beginning. But I really want this to be a show that allows every character to question how they feel. So while right now we’re focusing on Amy [and her journey], I don’t rule out Karma might go on her own journey of self-discovery later.

Completely fair. As Karma and Amy fake their coupling, how will Karma be handling any attraction she feels to men?
CC: Basically, she tells Liam that she and Amy have an open relationship, and that their motto is don’t ask, don’t tell, which Liam finds very sexy. So they start a secret romance, that she tells Amy about, like, “Oh my gosh, it’s working!” Liam is such a commitment-phobe, that the fact that she’s a lesbian with a girlfriend makes her hypoallergenic. She’s able to get past his defenses. So that’s the way she’s able to pursue Liam, while also pretending to be girlfriends with Amy. And she’s very upfront with Amy, because she doesn’t know about Amy’s feelings for her.

I didn’t want to play too much of them at school, but the school is very invested in them as a couple. And that comes back — Karma starts, towards the end of the season, to regret some of the lies she’s perpetuated, because they start to come back and become so problematic. And she just wants out from some of them. I recognize that Karma is doing something that’s unlikeable to a lot of people in the beginning of the pilot, because she’s suggesting they lie. And she comes to regret that. I really wanted to make sure she didn’t win in the end, because I think that’s the wrong message to send. [Laughs]

How much will the series be focusing on their high school life versus their lives outside of school?
CC: One of the exciting things about the way the show came to be is because we’re shooting on such a low budget, we weren’t able to build [a lot of sets] — a typical show with typical budgets would build a big school set, and you’d have to decide early on — because you’re spending so much money on sets — “OK, this is going to be a school show.” Or put money into houses, and you’d be like, “OK, we’re going to be a show that spends a lot of time at home.” We had to go on location for pretty much the bulk of episodes. We built the girls’ bedrooms, we built an art studio on our tiny stage, and then we went out. So it gave us a lot of flexibility to say, “What should the next story be? Should it be at home? Or should it be at school?”

The second episode, it’s a lot to deal with Amy’s home life, but it plays out a lot beneath the homecoming dance at school. The third episode is entirely at school. And then the fourth episode is a bit out on the town. And the fifth episode is entirely at Amy’s house. So we got a lot more flexibility so I didn’t have to say, “This is a high school show. Or this is a high school show that’s in their homes.” We got to move around a lot.

Well, that’s good you guys got to tell your story your way versus being locked in because of sets.
CC: Exactly. And I plan on keeping that going for the series. I really want this show to tell these stories in the best way possible. If it involves their home life or their school life, that’s where we’ll go.

Lauren said some pretty terrible things in the pilot, but in some regards, she was also the only one who was trying to tell the truth. Do you actually view her as the foe of the series?
CC: I’ve never seen her as a foe, because I feel that puts a character always in a box. And I really wanted Lauren — how I explained it to the network when I was pitching it, in the pilot, she’s really the only one who never fakes it; she just tells it as she sees it. And as I was writing the first season, I realized I need to give her a little more dimensionality. She needs to have things and secrets of her own. So I have a really fun direction I want to take the character that the network is really excited about if we get a season 2. But as these eight episodes go on, I tried to give a dimension as to why she felt so entitled in the pilot, and what her background is to give her the edge she has. And Bailey Buntain (Lauren), who is just an amazing actress, she and I spent a lot of [time] chatting about that I really promised her when she signed on for the show, “I promise you, she’s just not going to be the bitchy girl who comes on and says mean things. She’s going to be a fully dimensional character. And we’ll get to care about her.”

Will we get to see Lauren’s relationship with her father, and more of how she’s reacting to Amy possibly being her stepsister?
CC: Yes, that’s a big part of the show. I can tease that in episode 2, she basically blackmails Amy that she’ll tell Amy’s mother that she’s a lesbian if she doesn’t switch rooms with her, because Amy’s room is bigger than Lauren’s. And that kind of is the dramatic drive for Amy in the second episode. Basically, as these eight episodes go on…Lauren has become close with [Amy’s] mother. So it becomes a bit of a sibling rivalry, because Lauren has more in common with Lauren’s mother than Amy.

And the whole reluctant stepsister dynamic is an interesting one. So we’re going to be playing out that throughout the eight episodes, and that relationship will continue to evolve.

Is there anything you’re particularly excited for fans to see this season that you can tease?
CC: I can give you some teasers, because I’m very excited how we’ve expanded the world!

Karma’s parents bring their juice truck to school to sell organic juices in the squad, which mortifies Karma, which I’m really excited about.

There’s a great episode where Amy and Lauren battle during Amy’s mother’s, bridal shower, which is really funny.

Liam and Shane go out, as they call it, hunting, to a gay bar, because Liam likes to go with him to gay bars, because he can pick up on the straight girls who breakup with their boyfriends and their gay friends take them out to make them feel better.

Shane has to take Lauren’s dance partner’s place in a ballroom dance competition. And it is funny and heartfelt and everything you want in an episode of FAKING IT.

And there’s a really fun finale that’s set on the backdrop of Amy’s mother and Lauren’s father’s wedding. And there’s a choreographed dance routine, that I think people are just going to love.

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FAKING IT airs Tuesdays at 10:30 PM on MTV.

Related:

Carter Covington on How MTV’s FAKING IT Came to Be

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