L-word.com would like to thank Laurel Holloman for taking time out to talk to us. For those who didn’t know, Laurel had thought she would not be able to attend the conference, but then showed up at the last moment. The conference attendees gave her a standing ovation when she was introduced on opening night. Her portrayal of one of the most likeable characters on the show has made her a favorite of the fans. Thank you, Laurel, for the insights you share with us below on a wide variety of topics.

It’s 10am Saturday Morning of the UK Convention.  Despite little sleep, and obviously jetlagged, a fresh faced and endearingly enthusiastic Laurel joined the L-word.com team for a chat. We’ve given her the topics, and away she went! Occasionally, you’ll see a follow up question, but for the most part, this is Laurel, in Laurel’s words. Enjoy!

Laurel on the Convention

The reaction is amazing.  You know just listening to fans talk about the show and how they identify with your character.  I received fan mail the other day from Europe, and it’s fantastic to see how far reaching the show has become. I want to try and get Kate and Leisha to come over. (For the next one?)  I don’t know if Jennifer would, she’s a really private person, and she’s just had her baby.

It‘s very important to me to not have any contradictions in the character. I have been able to go to Ilene and say, this feels contradictory to who this woman is, and now as I’ve learned who she is, mostly it’s worked out.  She is written really well. There was only one time the second season (when it didn’t work out). It was the first love scene with Helena--it was a seduction where Helena seduces Tina by the pool--and there was very little dialogue and very little going on at the time. Sometimes that happens when it’s a first draft, and you know that it’s going to change. I went to Ilene and said, “Why do I sleep with this woman?” At that time, Tina was 6 or 7 months pregnant, not feeling that great about her body but happy to be pregnant and feeling the joy and the beauty of that. However, she was alone and lonely because she am not sharing that with her partner. Yet,  in this pool-seduction scene, “Helena” only said a couple of words, and Tina’s  like . . . Woo Hoo!” (Laurel mimes tearing her bra off).  This seems different from where my character stands.  She doesn’t hop into bed that quick, She needs to have a connection first.  I asked, “Can we find a way for Helena to say something or have something happens” so there would be this connection because this is what I know the truth of my character to be . . . that sleeping with someone is very serious for her.

I told Ilene the story I knew of a friend who was pregnant and did not feel very sexy at the time, and her partner went over all the points of her body that were beautiful, her belly, her breasts. It was very seductive, and that stayed in my head--the celebration of the pregnant body--and then we incorporated that into the scene because Tina feels really insecure like, “Why are you interested?” As she looks down at her body, and Helena says, “This is what is so beautiful, this is what is so sexy”, and she sort of rubs Tina’s belly, and then it all kind of makes sense. 

I always thought they would bring more of Tina’s “back story” in.  I think it’s really strange that Bette and Tina have had a child, and you don’t really know very much about her parents.  I guess when I initially did the pilot, I had a different back story for her.  I kind of thought that Tina had maybe come out in college.  But you know Tina was very specific to Ilene, and she told me that Tina has only been with men, but she probably wouldn’t put a label on anything. 

She had a very liberal mother, so coming out wasn’t very difficult for her, she could be very open right away, she was like “Oh, I’ve fallen in love with a woman…this is what’s going on”.  I think it’s really important when you see her later that you know that she is a follow-your-heart character and doesn’t have much of a label. 

I think what Ilene and I talked about was that it’s what happens when someone says “I am going to have a baby. My identity is going to be motherhood now, and I am going to leave all of this behind!”  What Tina realizes is that is so not a good way to look at it.  You should carry on working and then figure it out.  Because what happens if you do miscarry? What happens if you don’t get pregnant right away? 

I think the mistake she made was to just drop everything and just go there and then she just started shrinking into Bette’s identity.  I don’t think she did that right away in the beginning.  When they first met I think it was more balanced. 

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