You might remember a very short time ago, I blogged about a wicked sweet vlog style YouTube series entitled “Classic Alice”?! Today, I have the pleasure of bringing an interview AND LIVE! Q&A to you, featuring Kate Hackett the writerly creative visionary behind “Classic Alice”!
The important bits to know are as follows:
The LIVE conversation in the comment threads will start @ 5:30pm LA (PST) | 8:30pm NYC (EST) The comment threads will be *OPEN!* throughout the day leading up to the live event! Ms. Hackett will be responding to your comments & questions directly, wherein you have the chance to respond and interact with her when she arrives @ 5:30pm Pacific! (think: West Coast USA!)
{ Back-Story on “Classic Alice” }
Classic Alice, is a vlog-style mockumentary series on YouTube, and is
geared towards teens and young adults. It is the story of a girl who gets a
bad grade on a test and decides to live her life according to classic
literature. The show brings the value of humanities to the forefront by
interacting with fans in an educational way.
Classic Alice, funded on Kickstarter early last year, raised north of $9k
for Books 2-7. The Series has since garnered a drove of fans, and in an
effort to #SaveAlice, a few spirited fans decided to embark on a crowd-
funding journey of their own. Moved by the support, Kate Hackett &
team are at it again, looking to produce another 25-30 webisodes. With
$10k already raised 5 days into the campaign, there’s no telling what
will happen in the remaining days.
{ Creative Team }
Kate Hackett is an up and coming actress in Los Angeles, California, known for a quick wit and an ability to dig deep emotionally. She has been acting since she was four years old, all the way back in Maryland. She grew up doing musicals (she sings!) and other straight plays, but made the transition to film when she attended Boston University for college. Kate has worked on many independent films and commercials and has produced, starred in, and written her own content. She is fully trained in the Stanislavski, Adler, and Meisner techniques (see resume for schools) and has both studied and performed at UCB, Upright Citizen’s Brigade, in Los Angeles and with Jackson’s Onus, an awesome improv troupe. Kate loves dramatic acting, but is equally versed in comedy. Her web series, which she wrote and stars in, reached over 230,000 views in six short months – you can view it here. She believes strongly in writing and creating her own material, so there’s always something new just around the corner! What’s your favorite book? Lolita, Nabakov
Elise was born in Asheville, North Carolina and grew up the middle of three children. She had a love of performing from a very young age, first performing as a lead on the community theater stage of Decatur, Alabama at the age of 11. Elise studied acting in New York City at the Ted Bardy Studio, a Meisner Based Conservatory style school. To round out her education, she also completed classes in Movement and auditioning, and studied Dialects with Gordon Jacoby before relocating to Los Angeles in 2010.
(Lex) Alexis is Founder / Producer at Bam! PRODUCED., LLC and has created and developed content for a few leading platforms in new media. After showcasing her web series Bullets last year, Ms. Edelman has garnered attention for her work, having received 3 accolades for the series including an award for Outstanding Producing in a Drama Series. She is currently working hard on developing Season 2. Ms. Edelman has also produced “Catching Fireflies”, which is set for Oscar contention in 2015, and “Pathological”, a short film currently circling the festival circuit. In addition to her work at Bam!, Ms. Edelman has had the opportunity to work for Joe Digital, Inc. for the last several years on several digital series for the MSN Video Network and on a few big hits including “American Idol”, “The X-Factor”, and “So You Think You Can Dance”, while Joe Digital was serving as FOX’s digital content production and strategy partner.
Classic Alice Trailer Books 1-7 via Classic Alice
How did the expanding evolution of “Classic Alice” come to life originally? Was it a conceived idea that would walk across media outlets of creative play and interaction? Or was the idea evolving as you were creating it?
How did you select the initial 7 books to focus on during the “Classic Alice” series? As you previously stated you found solace in having read the books prior to writing about them. Did you ever put thought into attempting to do a ‘book’ for “Classic Alice” prior to reading it?
What first perked your interest to explore acting and taking on characters that you could bring to an audience at such a young age of four or five?
What was your main focus of study in your younger years that led you down the path of pursuing this professionally?
As one of your favourite memories is reading “The Secret Garden”, did you have a classical appreciation as a reader that inspired you to tackle a way to make classical literature more transparent to modern readers?
I share your belief that reading and writer are interlinked together, as one fuells the creativity of the other. It is a circle of knowledge that fundamentally inspires creativity. Did acting give foundation to your pursuit of writing your own material to perform?
What was the hardest part of creating the “Classic Alice” series? How did you encourage the companionship of your dedicated followers?
I haven’t a clue in the world why people are so dedicated to us & me! I just try to engage and support conversation, but… No idea!
What is the most fun of creating “Classic Alice”?
Hackett responds: When everything comes together smoothly & we have a great show! When we’re on set and everything flows, when we find nice little moments, I love that stuff.
Is there any book or author that you personally see as a ‘challenge’ to bring into the “Classic Alice” platform? And, if so, why?
Hackett responds: Yes. Anyone not public domain. WINK.
I’ve discarded a fair number of classic options because they don’t fit, but I’m not sure I’d say anything is ‘hard’; there’s always an angle. You just have to approach it the right way. Turn the book around, find the analogy… I bet I could come up with a log line for almost anything; again, there’s a reason these books are classics!
How far reaching has the audience of “Classic Alice” become? Is it world-wide or limited to North America? Which platform do you find the most interaction by the watchers of the series enjoying most? (i.e. YouTube, Podcast, Twitter, etc)
Hackett responds: It’s EVERYWHERE! We have a cool map that is a perk on our IndieGoGo (igg.me/at/SaveAlice); you can put your name and location on there and it’s been really awesome to see people from Europe and Australia and all over the globe contributing.
What do you see projecting forward as “Classic Alice” continues to grow (and theoretically let’s say the campaign is a success and you gain funding) is the next big step of growth you foresee?
Hackett responds: World domination!!!!!!!!
Do you have any other projects in the mix you can talk about that are outside the ‘transmedia’ world and/or which could strengthen through your experience with “Classic Alice”?
Hackett responds: Absolutely. I’m a cast member on Social Medium, created by the amazing Tara Jayn. You can check that out here via Ty Film Productions.
I know your a screenwriter, however, have you taken up the pen in the classical sense as well? If so, are you planning to release novels on the Indie circuit?
Hackett responds: Oh dear. Yes I have! And would I ever release them?… I don’t know! I haven’t thought about it.
I do have plans for an e-book from Alice (shhh! no one knows!) but it’s just plans right now.
With your busy schedule and planning, what do you to rejuvenate your joy?
Hackett responds: Hiking. Reading. Both calm my brain down and I absolutely desperately need that. I have a wonderful set of parents and I chat with them and my best friend (who drew our adorable logo!) can cheer me up no matter what.
Kate Hackett | Site | @HackettKate | Facebook | YouTube
Converse via: #ClassicAlice, #SaveAlice, & #Ocelittles
I want to personally thank Ms. Hackett for reaching out to me a short bit ago to host a special feature on “Classic Alice” as it gave me the wonderful opportunity to not only bring together this LIVE Q&A event but a chance to start to watch a series that I was genuinely curious about! I had meant to finish watching the episodes I had selected with Ocelittles help (the dearly friendly fans of Classic Alice!) except to say I was a bit delayed in that goal due to things that arose out of the blue! I am still going to try to blog about the episodes *prior to Tuesday!* as a last minute effort to help promote the cause to #SaveAlice! Until then, I am thankful you have stopped by to support this event & to participate in a live conversation with the creative behind the series itself!
On a personal note, I agree with Ms. Hackett about the best ways to have ‘down time’ are to be spent with family, dear friends, and the natural world! Reading by far is something I will always enjoy in life because I get to take a chance on a story giving me an experience that will light my mind afire for characters and settings that I have not yet explored!
This blog post was inspired by the:
Visit the campaign on IndieGoGo!
At time of editing this post $26,630 was raised of a goal of $60,000!
Deadline for crowdfunding campaign is: TUESDAY, 17th of February 2015!
I am working with the team behind Classic Alice to bring this, special feature to Jorie Loves A Story! As I was quite impressed with the quality of production, original writing, and the ability to fuse a direct connection to classical literature in a full-on immersion experience for those who might not have approached Classical Lit without an eye of caution! This is a series that instantly would appeal to those of us within “the classics club” and of whom are attempting to continuously read, discover, blog, & chatter about the works of classical literature that curate a thought-provoking experience out of our time spent inside their pages! In a way, Classic Alice is developing a new medium of exploring how the classics are still pertinent to the 21st Centurions who are hungry for quality over quantity in their reading queues!
IF you are coming through s/o via The Classics Club, THANK YOU for coming on short notice and hope you’ll enjoy the event! I am in full gratitude to Adam & Jenna for taking my convo earlier!
Classic Alice: Site | Episodic Archive | IndieGoGo | Twitter | Podcast
Share your Questions & Thoughts about the production of “Classic Alice” in the comment threads below! All Questions will be responded to by Kate Hackett starting @ 5:30pm PST | 8:30pm EST. You can leave notes & comments throughout Thursday as ALL comments are live at time of posting! Comments accepted via WordPress, Email, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ in the threads!
Remember to COME BACK to have a bubbly live conversation about classical literature, Classic Alice, & all the exciting bits that a live convo can bring! Tweet & Share the news with your bookish friends!
Grab a friend and come together on your iPads!
*Comments are Moderated; don’t worry if it’s not visible straight-away!
Remember you have time to see my Intro to “Classic Alice”!
Jump through:
{SOURCES: Badges for “Classic Alice”, back-story on “Classic Alice” taken from the Press Release, photographs and biographies of Kate Hackett, Elise & Tony Noto were all provided by Classic Alice/Kate Hackett and used with permission. Stories on the Rise & Conversations with the Bookish Banners created by Jorie in Canva. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. “Classic Alice” trailer via Classic Alice had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share this serial to my readers. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2015.
Tweets on behalf of this #ClassicAlice Interview & LIVE Q&A:
{ Kindly favourite & Retweet if inspired! }
{ more are on my Twitter feed directly! }
.@RoofBeamReader #theclassicsclub #bookblogger helps #SaveAlice Hosting LIVE Q&A @ 530p PST http://t.co/7Hi8BRlnG8 pic.twitter.com/3xVKpvDDVp
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) February 12, 2015
Only two weeks left to #SaveAlice and help #WomeninFilm make more smart stories! #read #write #filmmaking http://t.co/Q7YNqb2RL6
— Kate Hackett (@HackettKate) February 4, 2015
I want to THANK the “Classic Alice” viewers & fans who made tonight’s LIVE Q&A a success! A special s/o to Shannen who brought up some interesting threads of the conversation that I would not have known about otherwise! I was thrilled to bits to see her friend Beka was able to come through, as well as Kaye! Felicity it was wicked seeing you come-in towards the end of the time we had with Ms Hackett! :)
Please continue to share your Questions, as I will be letting Ms Hackett know when new ones come in for her to respond too! :) I wasn’t sure if she had a full 2 hrs or an 1hr and a half to give to us tonight. Therefore, I wanted to post a note of gratitude to those who came and to Ms Hackett for taking the time to answer your questions! :)
This blog post had a high volume of traffic all day long, including highest hits per hour! I am hopeful this will help #SaveAlice and spread the word of #ClassicAlice to new readers & fans worldwide!
You’ve talked a lot about Andrew’s need to control situations – watching the videos, interfering etc. With this in mind will there be fallout from him submitting Alice’s stories without her knowledge? Or is that something that has been dealt with; that she’s completely okay with because he is her friend/boyfriend and she knows he did it from a place of love/caring?
I somehow got a lit degree without ever reading Hardy. Where do I start?
Neutral Tones.
Getting to my more random character questions, unless there are actual important questions below, does Andrew have a birthday? Because we’ve had a full year of transmedia now and no mention of one (That I can recall. Though I could be forgetting something).
Also, Kate, regarding Hogwarts and the 3D printer, would you just print the physical building or would it be the magical world of Hogwarts with magic and owls and professors etc. (That’s been plaguing me all night).
THE MAGICAL WORLD OBV
GOOD.
Unicorns were ruled out so I wasn’t sure.
(and no birthday?)
To follow-up on my earlier Q on IndieGoGo – what is the next project you’ll tackle if the funds do not come through? I’d like hope there are still enough hours, but I know your just shy of meeting the halfway mark tonight.
Same answer. If we don’t make the goal, we’ll only be able to do a very small segment of the full 24-30 episode (+ confessionals) stuff we had planned.
Hello, I’m actually the Beka that Shannen mentioned earlier. (I’m sneaking away from Stats homework…shhh)
Yes I would just like to have coffee with Nathan. Its literally a dream I’ve had.
However, I guess I curious about what Nathan is to YOU. When you made Nathan a character, was it really just a reason to get Andrew/Tony in the frame? And when did you decided to make him more than that? Its interesting for me to hear you talk about him, because I am not 100% sure why I am so fascinated with Nathan. If he was supposed to only be a small, no face, no sound character why do you think people are so fascinated with him?
Hallo Beka! Happy to see that you were able to participate in the Q&A! :) I love how your asking about Nathan as it a keen question to pitch and outside what I would have thought to ask myself! Thanks for contributing to the convo! :)
It’s the same reason everyone loved Wilson on Home Improvement — it’s weird, it’s a gimmick, it’s a little silly, and it helps us tell the story better with a somewhat exaggerated wink to our audience. We know it’s a dumb tool. You know it is too. But we love it.
Similar to Jorie’s last question, does Alice have any poets that she’s particularly inspired by, or enjoys reading? The show hasn’t really touched poetry – and is that something you’d like to introduce in later books?
And the same question about poetry to you, Kate.
I love Hardy. Love love love! Poems wouldn’t quite work because there’s no real plot — and because they’re so short.
Now I’m imagining Idylls of the King. ;) SO MUCH PLOT.
Hallo Felicity!
Thank you for coming to the LIVE Q&A tonight w/ Ms Hackett! Love how you just jumped into the convo! Ask her anything that’s on your mind! :)
Oh! I should have been clear, I didn’t mean as a book/season, I more meant just ‘in world’. We have a good idea of some of the literature that Alice is interested in beyond the books she reads for the project, so I was wondering if she might discuss some poetry or mention it in that way.
(Tess of the d’Urbervilles traumatised me when I was young so I’ve been scared of Hardy ever since)
I haven’t read Tess but from the readers who recom’d me to read the book, I am questioning if I should read it, as although the story has merit, I have a feeling it’s going to be a difficult read for me. I think this is why I keep putting it off! Thanks for mentioning how Hardy freaked you out! :)
In context, I was reading it at an all girls Catholic, independent, private school, and we were still quite young, so the discussion was VERY odd. All I can remember thinking was Hardy describes a lot of trees and not a lot of plot and there was a character named Angel and that did my head in.
However, as an almost adult I do feel the need to reread it and form a better opinion. So we’ll see :)
Would Alice ever want to attempt reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets rather than one of his plays?! Perhaps take out life lessons from the poems themselves on how to embrace love and life!?
Happily, we’ve passed that plot point! She’s definitely a bit more balanced when we come back to book 8.
Earlier in the Interview you mentioned a bit of a preview of what could come next as far as your stories going into print – did you want to expand a bit on this tonight? Would it be a chronicle of Alice’s life not seen on the series and/or a timeline outside of “Classic Alice” completely?
Nothing is set in stone, but I’d love to get an ebook collection of Alice’s short stories and poetry.
If the #SaveAlice campaign falls a bit shy of it’s goal – will you be able to produce new episodes of “Classic Alice” or will the monies go back to the crowdfunders? I never knew what happened in a ‘worst case scenario’ of a campaign?
IndieGoGo would take a very large cut of our earnings, so we really wouldn’t be able to make the show the way I’ve written it. I’m sure we can do a few episodes, but it would be far shorter.
I did wonder if IndieGoGo or other crowdfunding sites took a % of what was raised; therefore I can understand how not matching the projected goals is devastating. :(
Which books of classical lit are oft-times referred to you to bring to “Classic Alice”? Any key surprises by viewer recommendations!?
Alice in Wonderland is always a recommendation. I think we also get Pride & Prejudice, which is hilarious because it’s been done — very, very well! I can’t remember some of the others. I’ll ask Twitter!
In the spirit of the Serial Killer AU that was being discussed the other day on twitter, wherein Alice and Andrew are psychopaths and live out classic literary crimes, what crimes/murders from classic novels do you think Evil Alice would go for?
Oh, sky’s the limit for darkest timeline Alice. A little robbery, poisonings…
I can see her wandering around Valeton with a Bulgarian umbrella, casually jabbing people at random…
What is the weirdest hint/teaser/tidbit of information you could give us about books 8 and beyond (feel free to be non-specific as I know the titles of certain books are perk-related)? Like, if there were going to be wombats, for example. That kind of weird.
OH! If only Diary of a Wombat was public domain. *sigh*
Depends on our budget!
Would you ever do a story arc based on something that wasn’t STRICTLY a novel with a front and back cover, like…a Greek myth? Something she could read “about” vs. specifically an independent work of fiction.
Absolutely, I’d be open to it.
I have a question from Beka (she’s studying, so sadly she can’t be with us this evening). She’s a BIG Nathan fan so she’d like to know:
1. Is Nathan single and willing to be in a long term relationship?
2 She hopes he’s actually not a serial killer (I’m not sure where that idea came from. Possibly me…)
3. If he IS a serial killer she’d like him to know that she’s willing to be his partner in crime.
4. And finally, she’s interested in the idea that was floating around a while ago that Nathan is actually a pysch student using Alice and Andrew as a case study. And I, too, found this idea fascinating. Thoughts? (She’d also like him to know that she’s an excellent note taker if he needs his own intern…)
To be honest I’m not sure if she wants answers about Nathan, or if she just wants to have coffee with him? Either way.
1. Nathan’s private life is kept strictly to himself.
2. Me too.
3. yikes!
4. Ha! I hadn’t heard that. If he is a pysch student, it’d be a very well kept secret.
Shannen – I don’t choose or discount books based on location/culture, so it’s not something I take heavily into account. I do like the dark though … so… ;)
I wasn’t sure, and to be honest I didn’t think you would chose them that way, but I’m both glad (and a little scared?) that things might be a little…darker, in future.
I’m … glad, but it’s been hurting my heart somewhat. No spoilers.
What is the darkest plot of story you would consider for “Classic Alice”!?
I mean, we kicked off with a murder (sort of. that we adapted.)… It’s not a show that can go so hellaciously dark that I turn into Walter White, but a large part of me wishes it could be!
Hi everyone! So excited to chat with you tonight! Let’s get those questions in!
Hallo Ms Hackett!
:) I’m so happy to have you here tonight on Jorie Loves A Story! As the questions start to filter in, it is going to be a wicked happy bookish fest! Shannen dropped by earlier today and kicked off our event!
Happy to be here!!!
Hey Kate, I’m a big fan of Russian literature and I loved the Crime & Punishment arc – I thought the novel immediately brought a depth and slightly darker and more realistic edge to the characters and storyline (and, obviously, it was brilliant to watch Alice realise what she was getting herself into). Any chance we might be seeing some more Russian classics, or classics from a more diverse range of countries/cultures beyond America/England, in Books 8+?