I'm resurrecting this thread for a purpose: to point out that Jim has, indeed, had a BTS entry:
Jim and Samantha (James Whitaker and Samantha Forrester)Jeph has gotten lucky at times when it comes to casting characters fort he strip. When the idea for The Secret Bakery came about, Jeph initially wanted Padma to be the owner of the shop – then, realizing that would be too much like a Coffee of Doom "clone", he thought about having Elliot become the owner. Unfortunately, Elliot had two more years on his contract with the (Hamilton CFL) Tiger-Cats, and couldn't appear in the required strips.
So, Jeph decided to write in a new character as the owner – and,interestingly, one that had never appeared in the strip before: a slightly-older, single (divorced) male with a kid. The only problem? Jeph had no idea who could play the person.
Fortunately, Faye happened to have two of her in-laws in town – her brother-in-law, James Whitaker, and her niece-in-law, Samantha Forrester. Samantha had done some acting bits in the past – she had appeared in a few scenes as a classmate of Oscar (Captain Heroic and Miss Match's son) in the webcomic
Evil Inc.
Jim had been an avid follower of QC since Faye had recommended it after the first season of the strip was over. Both jumped at the idea of appearing as the divorced owner of TSB and his pre-teen daughter.
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Update JIM WHITAKER: "I guess I should explain a bit about the most recent developments. I actually am divorced from my wife. She left me about a year before Jeph asked me to appear in the strip. I hadn't really dated anyone since then, and I'll admit that the whole date arc with Dora left me a little flat. I did get to meet Marten off-set, and he told me about his mom's job as a lecturer at Stanford. (pause) That was why what Jeph did with her and me was so funny;
I was actually the one who Googled
her. We did some chatting via Skype, and she mentioned she was going to be in New Hampshire for the Dads Wedding arc. I talked to Faye a bit, and she got me the OK to be on the set for the whole thing.
"I tried to stay out of the way as much as I could, because I didn't want everyone to wonder, 'Why was Jim from the Secret Bakery at Marten's dad's wedding?' But after hearing Ronnie's speech, I was just mesmerized, you know. Jeph had already made room in the script for Mom's dating antics to make her move to Northampton, but it was all based on her availability and how she wanted to do it."
VERONICA MILLER-REED: "Right before the wedding arc, I got a call from - of
all places - Smith College, about a position as a professor of theater arts. They were offering
way more than Stanford was going to give me for continuing as a part-time lecturer. When I confirmed that the offer was legit, I flew out for the wedding, then drove back down to Massachusetts with Jim. (coy look) I'll just say I was really ready for the interview, and they offered the job to me on the spot. I told them I was still under contract to lecture at Stanford through the spring term of 2014. They were fine with it, and agreed I'd start with some summer classes this year.
"Jim knew right away; I called Marten and told him. He was a bit floored by it - not
quite as bad as he was in
that one strip - but he thought it would inject something into the cast - 'play to a larger demographic,' I think he said. (shrug) Anyways, next thing was to tell Jeph, and he was just chomping at the bit."
MARTEN: "Yeah, I played that thing up a bit, but I'll admit, some of my frustration that led to the Hannersplosion (all
her idea, by the way) was real. And it was me who suggested to Jeph that she should be nearly 'repeating' what I did with Vicky."
VERONICA: "Anyways, the wedding is next week..."
MARTEN, JIM, JEPH: "
WHAT?"
VERONICA: "Just kidding!"
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Topic: QC: Behind the Scenes (Read 62045 times)