Welcome to ScreenTime!

 

 

This go around on ScreenTime I’ve got Kayvon Esmali who plays Dillon on Valley Peaks.  Check the Valley Peaks review here.

Let’s just jump right in.

 

 

 

1. The show is definitely taking aim at a certain genre of television… are there any shows you watch regularly that might be surprising given the no holds barred approach of ValleyPeaks?

 

 

We’re huge fans of the Spanish-speaking channel, Telemundo. They’ve got a few soap operas that play mid-day with some of the craziest plotlines and over-acting. Sometimes a few of us will sit around and watch entire episodes all the way through although none of us speak Spanish. We’d love to say that it’s the language barrier which makes their shows funny to us but it’s not, it’s the incredibly shallow plots that are taken horribly serious by the actors. It’s a really good recipe for fun tv. One thing we’ve found that they haven’t done yet is a drama for 20-somethings. That’s where Valley Peaks comes in. We’ve made a show for Telemundo in English for 20-somethings.

 

 

 

 

2. Have to throw this out to everyone who does webshows… What webshows do you watch that you don’t think are getting enough attention? 

 

 

Ironically enough, I’m not much of an internet television watcher. I got started in web television because it was the most accessible way to have your work seen by the masses but I’m still hooked on a lot of television shows. Heroes and Friday Night Lights are a couple of shows that I cannot miss.

 

 

 

3. If you had the opportunity to make a similar show that took aim at another genre, what might we expect?  

 

 

I guess if we were to make a COMPLETELY different show, I’d like to make a show like Perfect Strangers. I’d love to play Balky in his 20′s.

 

 

 

 

4. Are there any films that you would say inspired your sense of humor?

 

I can’t name a single movie that inspired my sense of humor. Mine is very dry and I think a dry sense of humor spawns from preferring not to draw attention to yourself. It’s my favorite because you can always play jokes off as if they aren’t jokes and therefore if nobody thinks what you’ve said is funny… neither did you so it’s ok.

 

 

 

 

5. What’s the best thing on television right now?

 

Best show on television right now is Friday Night Lights. It’s a show that I happened across in the first season and I’m obsessed. It’s so well shot and acted that I’ve yet to find a show out there more compelling. It’s one of those shows that you tell a person about and two months later you see that person and they’re kissing your feet for turning them onto it.

 

 

 

6. The show has a certain element of bad acting as good acting, because it’s supposed to be bad acting… does that theory come from anywhere specific? Any shows or movies that inspired that particular approach?

 

 

Ya, haha, the bad acting is tough. It’s funny how it took all of us a couple of episodes before we got the hang of the bad acting. There’s a very fine line between good bad-acting and bad bad-acting. The original concept of spoofing the bad acting was born from the fact that most of the acting on teen drama/CW shows is horrible. We wouldn’t be spoofing those shows if we ignored that fact.

 

 

 

7. If you could get anyone to guest star on the show (particularly an actor of some repute as that would make for a convenient answer), who would it be and why?

 

 

Ooooooh, we’ve talked about this! We thought it would be great if Jean-Claude Van Damme was on the show. We thought it’d be great if he was Reese’s (the guy in the wheelchair) father. Something about an action star stud being the father of a pathetic kid in a wheelchair is funny.

 

 

***The view of Reese as a “pathetic kid in a wheelchair” is not wholly supported by Are You Screening?***

 

 

 

 

8. What are the last five things you did that involved a screen… starting from right… now… and not counting this.

 

 

Not sure if I’m understanding this one correctly.
Checked my facebook… made my car payment… organized my hard drive… turned on Pandora (the best)… checked to see what time my gym closes.

 

 

 

 

9. What’s the best movie you’ve seen recently… in theater or not doesn’t matter. 

 

 

I watched “Out of the Past” with my buddy yesterday. It’s a flick from 1947 with Robert Mitchum and it’s got some of the best dialogue I’ve ever heard. Honestly it’s chock FULL of one-liners that would fit right into Valley Peaks. Some that I can remember are, “Get out of this room. I have to sleep here!”… “A dame with a gun is like a guy with a knitting needle!”…”You’re like a leaf that the wind blows from one gutter to another.”
What a fun movie from start to finish.

 

 

 

 

10. If I were going to give you the money to turn ValleyPeaks into a movie, who would you demand I get on board the project, and why? Directors, actors, whatever.

 

 

I think it would be fun if Mark Whalberg directed the Valley Peaks movie. I think he’d help us keep the show sexy and cool yet funny and stupid. I’d keep the main cast because they’re all so cool and I think the novelty of the show would be lost with a recognizable cast. BUT… I’d love to see (again) Van Damme as Reese’s father, I’d love to see my character, Dillon possibly be tempted to cheat on his girlfriend by Jessica Biel. And it would be amazing if he had a “fantasy thought cloud” makeout session with her. Then I’d like to see President George W. Bush play a firefighter that puts out a fire in Valley Peaks. That would be awesome!

 

 

 

 

Much thanks to Kayvon and the other members of Valley Peaks who will be gracing our particular screen.

 

 

 

Are You Screening?