Robyn Paris Gets Out of The Room

The most amazing thing happened when I recently spoke to writer/director/producer Robyn Paris about her hilarious mockumentary The Room Actors: Where Are They Now?. Just as we were about to end the call, kismet stepped in and stepped it up! While it’s always cool, as a Room fan, to hear about her latest project which just recently launched on Funny Or Die, what really gets me excited and why I do interviews in the first place is the chance to dig deeper into a creative person’s journey and psyche for life lessons.

Robyn was gracious enough to really open up after our official interview and share some profound insight on facing fears, finding her own voice and getting the courage to leave the safe but small comfort of one’s own room. Luckily she’s allowed me to include that conversation.

During our interview, Robyn also talked about what it’s like to be a woman in Hollywood, what she thinks of the movie The Disaster Artist and why people still love The Room.

The infamy that comes from being in The Room, the world’s worst but most beloved movie, can’t be easy. Nobody wants to be known as a bad actor. But Robyn and the rest of the cast (with the exception of Greg Sestero and Scott Holmes) came together to make the best of it by making fun of themselves in this weekly web series (it debuted on November 30 and the last episode comes out on December 21).

Check it out: http://www.funnyordie.com/robynparis/playlists/525950 or Robyn’s website for more details: http://www.theroommockumentary.com/.

Last time we spoke you were going to do eight episodes. Is that still the plan or will you stop at the four you’ve already shot?

Right now I have a total of ten episodes, six more to finish. I just need the funding for those. Each episode is about seven minutes. For the first three episodes, two Room actors are in each and after that, each actor gets their own episode. The final episode of the season is all The Room actors coming together for a funeral. Hopefully we will be able to do a second season. I have ideas, I’ll just keep going!

Will people who have never seen The Room get all your jokes?

Somebody asked me that question at a festival in Chicago at a Q&A. I said “actually it’s up to you, the audience. Did you find it enjoyable? Anyone who has not seen The Room, did it make sense?” Before anyone could answer, Jane Lynch,who was there at the Q&A too because she had a show in the same block, jumped in and said “hey, you know what? I thought it was hilarious and I haven’t seen The Room. I really enjoyed it”. I was like, oh my gosh, ringing endorsement from Jane Lynch!

Funny enough, one of my producers has never seen The Room. He did that on purpose so that he could always tell us if it was still entertaining for people who hadn’t seen it. He was our person keeping us honest.

How was it working again with The Room actors.

We spent a lot of time sitting around on the set of The Room, waiting to do our stuff so I knew everyone except Dan Janjigian who played Chris R. But we had lost touch so it was really great to reconnect and talk about the fact that The Room has a cult following and what that means for us. We are all in the same boat and it’s fun to commiserate/celebrate depending upon how you look at it! At this point, it’s celebrating because it’s really fun and The Disaster Artist movie is coming out. But early on in the process, people were not so excited.

Oh really (laughter)!

I think we were worried a little and thinking ‘oh great, I’ll always be known for this movie and everything else is overshadowed by the fact that I was in The Room’. But now everyone has a really good attitude and is very excited about it. It’s funny to be a part of this journey.

But it was great to see everyone again. Tommy did a great job getting such a great group of people. I just really like everyone!

I was always impressed that he was able to pull together so many really cool, interesting people to work on a project that was…well, not the best film in the world.

Going back to The Disaster Artist, I know you went to the premiere and really enjoyed it. The last time you and I spoke we both mentioned how much we appreciated that Tommy was a dreamer. You also mentioned (and I’ve heard others talk about this) the jealous side of Tommy, where he doesn’t want to share screenings with the other Room actors or anyone else to benefit from The Room. Was that side shown in The Disaster Artist?

They show his paranoia, where he doesn’t want anyone talking about him, where he lives or how much money he has. They also show his jealousy as Greg starts to get some jobs and roles and a girlfriend. There is also one scene where Greg got a role on Malcolm in the Middle and Tommy wouldn’t let him leave The Room set to go do this part. That was not something a friend would do to another friend….not let him go work on a big legitimate TV show. Tommy could have easily worked the schedule around this but didn’t.

In the end, he ultimately comes off as an endearing character. You walk away caring for Tommy, really seeing his humanity with a glimmer or little look into his darker side. But it’s more of a Hollywood, golden brushstroke happy ending.

It’s a really good movie, a great movie! James Franco is excellent. I totally forgot it was him. Even though I’ve met and know Tommy, I was thinking it was Tommy!

Does it speak to your experience of The Room?

Yeah, from what I experienced it is pretty accurate. The set is very accurate. My character is wearing exactly the same thing I wore to the premiere, down to the necklace.

Creepy!

It is creepy, it feels very stalkerish (laughs). I guess they had a lot of behind the scenes photos from Tommy to make everything really accurate. The audition process is very accurate, the crazy questions Tommy asked the actors. It seems like a joke but that is really what happened! He said to us, “your best friend just died…go”. Five seconds later he’d say, “you just won the lottery, go!”. He wanted you to be crying ‘my best friend just died’ then screaming with elation that you just won the lottery.

Do you have any stories about being on the set of your mockumentary?

I’ve been a writer for a long time and never really thought about production. I would just write anything that comes to mind. It was really interesting to have to make everything I wrote. I realized that if I’m doing this on a really tight budget, I have to be smart. We shot the first three episodes in six days and we had so many location moves. So when I shot the fourth, I didn’t do that. I had one location. I think you learn by doing!

They also say never work with kids and pets. I worked with a ton of kids on the hottest day in LA! And a dog!

What about the series makes you the most proud?

I’m proud that it went to all these different festivals and won awards and that people liked it! You make it for the audience. I made it for Room fans to enjoy, when people are laughing in the theater, that’s really rewarding to me.

I’m obsessed with finishing the ten episodes. Those episodes live in my brain right now. I really want to get them out on the screen and am constantly mulling over them in my head thinking of how I can make them funnier.

People may not realize how difficult it is to get projects off the ground. The only way to be able to be a successful filmmaker is to be obsessed! It often takes years.

I think also one of the issues was that we had a really tight budget. We wanted to do a very high quality product on a very tight budget so we were basically begging people to work for free. When they work for free they don’t do things quickly. My editor did everything for free but he also has jobs where he gets paid. He has to prioritize those jobs. Had I raised a million dollars on Kickstarter I’m sure we could have popped it out really, really fast.

But after paying all the Kickstarter fees and paying for the rewards (out of my pocket) we didn’t have a lot of money to film. But I got my cameras free and everyone basically worked for free so how it looks and what the budget was don’t align. It looks better than the budget we had. Again that requires time and being patient.

We wanted to make people laugh and enjoy the fact that we were in The Room. Before we did the series, we were sort of twisting in the wind with no agency. We weren’t talking about The Room — that was all Tommy. We were sort of caught up in this frenzy of press but didn’t really have anything to contribute. For us this is a way to contribute, have fun with it and add something.

Do you have other projects in mind once you are finished with the web series?

I just wrote a ten minute short I’d really like to direct and I also have another web series idea which I’m getting equally obsessed with making. I feel like I can hammer it out a last faster and get it done with a lot of really funny improv actors I know.

In the meantime I’m also writing another feature (Robyn has written other features in the past) with a writing partner that I hope to finish soon and shop around. My editor told me was that I need to shop it around with myself attached as a director. If a man had some success as a director they would immediately think ‘yes, I should direct a feature. That should be my next thing. I’m directing a feature!’.

As a women, I feel like we say ‘oh well, maybe I’ll do a short again or maybe another web series. I don’t know if anyone would hire me and I don’t know if I should’. The truth is I should just do what my editor says and say ‘yeah, I’m attached as a director for this feature’. Easier said than done. It’s hard to get that confidence and say ‘yes, I’m going to direct this feature, damn it!’. That’s how people do it. They face their fear and just do it!

Did you have any fear going into this current web series?

Yes. I had a ton of fear! I had so much fear putting myself out in the public eye because I’m kind of a shy person and I knew I’d get some criticism as people do. I had to steele myself and was advised to ignore anyone who is a hater, don’t feed that beast. Mostly I’ve gotten really positive feedback but ocassionally there will be a comment on Youtube. I think it’s funny now, it’s sort of weird. I think, ‘wow, who is that person? They are such a troll. They must have a really bad life!’ and end up laughing; It’s great to get to that point.

It used to bother me because I had a fear of failure. I had never directed anything. I had been a writer but I never made anything and just thought, what if I spend all this time and energy and my own personal money and it sucks?

But I think anytime you do something new you will always face a lot of fear. I remember thinking if something is scaring me then I should do it. If I feel really intimidated to send this email to someone because they are a big wig then I should just send the email. Who cares? I don’t want to go through my life in constant fear of failure, rejection or someone not thinking I’m good. I would just be sitting here in my room doing nothing if I allowed that thinking to affect me.

I think so many people can relate, everyone has fear but many people don’t face it. They stay in their room. What advice would you give them? How do you push yourself past that fear and get it done?

I’m more afraid of being on my deathbed and not having done anything. That scares me, deep regret for not trying things and the image of myself as an old woman regretting never trying, to me that was ultimately scarier. That and the horrible feeling from wasting chances or opportunities.

Most of the time, when you face your fear you are happily shocked at the outcome. For me, I’ve made myself approach big wigs at panels and after festivals. I hate doing that! I hate going up and pitching myself and giving a business card. But I do it! I tell myself now you have to do that and if you don’t do it, afterwards you’ll feel really bad about yourself. But if you do do it, no matter how stupid you look and even if you put your foot in your mouth, you still did it! You will feel better about yourself!

The truth is I probably perceived that I put my foot in my mouth but they probably didn’t. I’m judging myself way more harshly than the person I’m talking to. They will probably barely remember the conversation! Meanwhile I’m thinking I totally embarrassed myself and they are thinking huh, I just met someone and they are a nice person (or a strange person) and they forget about it!

You get better at it! You may be embarrassing the first few times (laughs) but then you are suddenly better at it. But you never would have gotten better had you not forced yourself to do it those few times.

Is that how you got to Hollywood? I would imagine as a shy person it can’t be easy to go to auditions and pursue acting?

Improv helped me a lot because it gave me a platform to say anything I wanted and helped me feel more confident in every part of my life. I found something I was good at! I quit it for awhile and when I went back I found that my life was turning around again after I went back. That is when I started to do this project.

I feel that even if you don’t join an improv team or are even that good, just taking improv classes helps you to loosen up in front of people and gets you comfortable saying whatever and not worrying whether what you say is good, smart or clever. I would say that to anyone, take improv classes if you feel overcome by shyness.

We see people on the screen but want to know that there is something deeper we can connect to… maybe that is why fans keep going back to The Room. They see something there, a spark which makes us want to want to know more.

Yes, that is so true. Tommy does exude a natural vulnerability in The Room. There is something about all of it that feels authentic, even despite how unrealistic the lines are. The effort feels authentic. It’s sort of a weird, beautiful achievement.

Maybe it speaks to what you were just saying? We all have fears and don’t want to appear ridiculous but here is a man so unafraid of that to the point of being charming. His unabashed outrageousness and ability to be true to himself gives us courage and permission in our own lives. It makes everything seem more acceptable and us more willing to take a look at ourselves and not feel so outside or strange.

That is such a great observation, they really dig into that with The Disaster Artist. In the opening scene, they show Tommy being sort of crazy and off the wall in an acting class. Everyone is blown away with how he goes there. He’s not afraid to be just insane! Everyone admires him for being like that. It’s true about Tommy; he had no self-consciousness when he did The Room. He just did it and didn’t worry about what people thought.

I think that is apparent and what everyone is attracted to… we all want to have so much confidence to do whatever we want without worrying about naysayers. As you pointed out there are always going to be people to make comments, especially online but you don’t have to give them power. Look to yourself for your own power!

No matter who you are, there are going to be haters or bashers. They absolutely don’t deserve any energy in your life.

They aren’t actually doing anything! Whoever they are criticizing is actually the one creating, good or bad, but they are putting forth effort. It doesn’t take a lot of effort or creativity to be a troll.

I actually love the idea of spoofing these trolls. Strangely enough, my next series is specifically about this. It’s called…wait for it…Trolls. And it will be about all of these pitiful, pitiful people because I want to illuminate through comedy how sad and ridiculous they are as humans.