AMERICAN PRINCESS Creator on Exploring the Realities of a Renaissance Faire

Lifetime explores the Renaissance Faire in its new scripted series, AMERICAN PRINCESS.

In the light drama, which premieres Sunday, June 2, Amanda (Georgia Flood) is shocked when her fairytale wedding day is derailed by the groom-to-be’s, um, extracurricular activities. As she flees the scene, she stumbles upon a Renaissance Faire. Though she initially pegs it for a themed wedding, Amanda is intrigued by their way of life, and opts to stay with them.

Creator Jamie Denbo had her own experience working at a Renaissance Faire prior to acting/writing full-time, and her love of the world—and the common misconceptions in pop culture—fueled her desire to set a story in the unique setting.

“There is a place that totally exists…[where] you can see things there you cannot experience in the world we live in anymore,” Denbo told reporters during a break in production on the show’s set. “Live vaudevillian style, low-fi, outside, while you’re eating. While you’re amongst people who are just playful…to see that in every corner, it’s like a place like that exists where that can actually happen. People have this funny misconception about Renaissance festivals being…[sexual]. Maybe there is a little of that, but it’s so much more. There’s real people living real lives….they have chosen to live in a slightly more connected way.”

Finding the perfect person to lead up the show was a process, Debo admitted. “Obviously [Amanda]’s young, she’s in her mid-20s, which means we’d have to find someone with the chops of a 30-something…most women of that age, [if] they’re seasoned, they’re movie stars,” she said. “We really knew we were going to cast an unknown to begin with. We needed someone with comedy chops, that you believed had a vulnerability. You had to believe she was high society. To me, it was important she read a little Jewish…it was a tall order. And we saw a lot of wonderful people who had almost every box checked. And then Georgia came along…she has been not just an amazing presence on screen, but also a really, really hard worker.”

In addition to Flood, the series also stars Lucas Neff, Seana Kofoed, Mary Hollis Inboden, and Rory O’Malley.

As Amanda adjusts to her newfound life, her history won’t be completely forgotten. “We will see a push and pull with her, but there’s not an ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK element where we see what lives were [like] before [the series],” Denbo said. “There’s so much richness in the present day…but you’ll see overlapping.”

But, she cautioned: “If she’s running away and not dealing with the fallout of running away, we have a two-hour romantic comedy, not a show. We have to sustain the reality of someone blowing up their life, and dealing with the people.”

AMERICAN PRINCESS, Series Premiere, Sunday, June 2, 9/8c, Lifetime

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