Brightest Young Things

All Photos: Shauna Alexander

It blows my mind that after 12 webisodes we JUST found out about the teen drama Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden. The series, set in 1990s D.C., follows an ensemble cast during those totally crucial and always entertaining drama-fueled teen years and oh! The costuming! The music! The awkward sexual awakenings! It's My So-Called Life meets Skins with the bonus of local landmarks so satisfying for District residents with locational inferiority complexes.

We were so taken with the entire Orange Juice project that we staged a photo shoot and interview with the cast, crew and creators just so we had an excuse to meet everyone involved.

Check out the teaser for season 3:

HELL YES. Let's get inside the mind of creator Otezza Ghadar

Who came up with the idea of Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden?

I did. I have an inordinate amount of DC-pride, having grown up in the area. (Yes, even after spending 10 years in New Yorkistan). As well, I have an overwhelming sense of nostalgia for the grunge-era. You'll notice those pristine blue knee-high Doc Martens, “Obsessively Cared for Since 1994” and stored museum-style. DC was and is amazing. Especially my memories of the time then... your average Jack and Jill had killer wardrobes and even better playlists. DC is still cool but you kind of have to coax Jack and Jill off The Hill to realize it.

How did the show go from an idea to an actual production?

It actually started as my Thesis Film, when I was still in graduate school at Columbia University. I was/am really into new media - specifically web series. New Media was/is like the Wild West of filmmaking and, in my opinion, a great migration, one that many at CU weren't about to pack their bourgeois bags for -- which is understandable but I was ready and willing to put my Clint E. face on. I'm still amazed and immensely grateful that the show was able to spread and grow from those humble beginnings. If you had told me then, that I would be 3 seasons deep, with a 4th in the pipeline - I don’t think I would have believed you. It's all too good to be true and the team I work with is absolutely inspiring. Sometimes I feel like I have to pinch myself.

Meet the boys.

What is your personal experience with theater and production?

I've always been into film and production. Then, in college, when I found out it was something you could actually study and major in—I dove right in. This was much to the chagrin of my advisor and parents, who were infinitely wary that I was turning my back on my perhaps-overly-sensible Theoretical Physics/Math degree, to throw my life away for film. Haha. They've come around since then though!

Where did you find the cast? What is the audition process?

I'm a huge believer and fan of non-traditional casting. I also feel very strongly about using DC talent (both in front of and behind the camera). We even had some local band perform live shows in the episodes this time around! Most of the casting is done through local area high schools, often with auditions on site. I also reach out to DC theaters, theater companies and acting studios, as well as the more traditional breakdown express, actors access, central casting, etc...

Who does the writing? How is the plot/narrative structured?

I do all the writing. Each season takes place over one summer vacation. With subsequent seasons set during the following summers. The narrative is very much of an ensemble piece -- with 18 different characters (all within the same group or "karass" if you want to get all hippie about it) whose stories intertwine and intersect.

Then, perhaps as a testament to my love of treats – especially old school candy usually found in Halloween portions – there are special secret Halloween Easter Egg episodes that we do each October. They’re extra snippets hidden in the website somewhere... for the viewers to hunt for and find.

New media is your playground. This is one of the reasons it wooed me (and coerced me to sell half my record collection to fund the show’s beginnings). It’s so open-ended, full of creative breathing room. Aside from the episodes themselves, the website is pretty interactive. There are blog posts by the characters and pages for each of them (almost like a 90s proto-version of Facebook), where the characters can build on the stories we catch on film and interact with the other characters or the viewers.

Ideally, this is another aspect of OJBG that I really want to continually build on and unfold.

Do you have a favorite storyline?

I love them all. However, I really have a crush on the Gwen and Sarah storyline... anything involving first-love has me weak at the knees. (I’m a girl. Get over it.) Working with those two actresses has been so wonderful. It's a storyline that, gay or straight, I think is really sweet and moving. We’ve also had an extremely positive response from the gay community – which is super flattering.

Meet the girls.

Where are your goals for the show?

I still have one more season in the works... so that is something I am really looking forward to. As well, I’d really like to focus on pushing and building the interactive online-life of the show. I find it’s something really vibrant, progressive and ever-changing within the storytelling world -- something that a viewer can both experience and take part in and perhaps even alter the narrative by engaging with it.

Who would you love to guest star?

You guys want to be in the show? That would be kind of amazing.

And um... what about Mary Timony? Or Steven Malkmus? Or what about Betsy Johnson (the harbinger of every 90s dream prom dress fantasy). One can have Technicolor dreams, right?

The show takes place in the 90s- what are your period inspirations?

Lots and lots of music. (I was a DJ in New York for a while.) Anything from Pavement, to Fugazi, to grunge (from Nirvana to the Treepeople), plus Helium and Black Tambourine... I could go on—but I’ll spare you (:

Also, the attitude-laced style that was the 90s. If you have stacks of Sassy Magazine like I do, you’ll know what I mean. In terms of a fashion aesthetic, I love the whole “I’m gonna wear bold dark florals, flannel and huge docs...damn I look good, get out of my way” thing. (Yea, I still rock that sometimes. Maybe it's ill-advised.)

Also, for the 3rd season, since it's 1996 in the OJBG world now, we're starting to see the influx of the rude boy ska aesthetic and the rave world. It makes for an interesting creative playground-- to have grunge kind of battling it out with those two newer "next thing" influences. To me, that year also kind of marks the beginning of a period of really bad fashion. As my Costume Designer, Chris Schulz, would say: "How and Why the Spice Girls crushed the cool and brought forward the horror that was pre-millennium fashion is beyond me." Ha.

WATCH ALL OF THE ORANGE JUICE IN BISHOPS GARDEN EPISODES HERE.

Previously in I Heart DC:

• 5/22: DC NEWS YOU CAN (MAYBE) USE...
• 5/21: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use
• 5/21: PHOTOS: Artomatic 2012 Opening
• 5/18: DC NEWS YOU CAN (MAYBE) USE...
• 5/17: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use
• 5/16: D.C. NEWS YOU CAN (MAYBE) USE...
• 5/16: Photos: Dance In The Circle @ Dupont Circle
• 5/15: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use
• 5/14: D.C. NEWS YOU CAN (MAYBE) USE...
• 5/11: DC News You Can (Maybe) Use