Here it is, one of the first exclusive interviews with the two marvelous and creative brains behind “Pratt Falls” the recent overnight Internet sensation. If you haven’t heard of “Pratt Falls” yet, then you’ve probably been living under a rock somewhere or have the wrong Google Alerts set. Or maybe you just haven’t been checking the soap message boards and/or blogs regularly.
A little background first. o.O and overthemooo are two members of the Bianca & Reese Forum who put their creative minds together one evening last week after reading the comments that All My Children Head Writer had made regarding why the Bianca & Reese storyline didn’t work out the way he wanted it to. According to Mr. Pratt, his reasoning was based on the departure of Eden Riegel, not knowing how long her contract was when he initially penned it and in turn, it caused much fan outrage across the message boards and blogs.
Instead of writing scathing letters to the higher powers at ABC and All My Children, o.O and overthemooo decided to put their angry energy into an animated cartoon, portraying secret meetings between Charles Pratt Jr. and Executive Producer of AMC, Julie Carruthers. Little did they know, their YouTube creation, “Pratt Falls” would sweep across the soap community on the Internet.
o.O and overthemooo were gracious enough to answer a few questions and give us some insight to the creation of “Pratt Falls.”
SS&D: What was the inspiration behind “Pratt Falls”?
o.O: Moral outrage, righteous indignation and, revenge.
overthemooo: After reading Pratt’s statements about Eden Riegel’s involvement in the Bianca & Reese storyline, I knew there was only one thing to do. Eden Riegel’s reign of terror had to be stopped. But seriously, his comments seemed so preposterous and offensive that I was moved to post a ten line mock conversation between Pratt and JHC. It was just a joke and it really wrote itself (I mean, come on! Blame Eden Riegel? Is that the best they could come up with?).
SS&D: Do you consider it as some sort of therapy or a way to respond to Charles Pratt’s comments about the his penning of the Bianca & Reese story?
o.O: I don’t consider it therapy, though I’m beginning to think that I might need therapy.
overthemooo: No. This is revenge. Pure and simple. Hell hath no fury like a soap fan scorned. I needed therapy after being forced to watch Greenlee eat crème fresh off Ryan’s face. And then again when Ryan and Kendall had post-mortuary grief sex.
SS&D: Where does all this creative genius come from?
o.O: From a shrine that was erected in my bathroom closet that I built to worship Joss Whedon. It’s finally producing results for me.
overthemooo: The Hammer of Thor and chocolate chips. Not necessarily in that order.
SS&D: Pratt Falls became an Internet sensation very quickly. Do you find this to be overwhelming for either of you?
o.O: I find getting out of bed every morning to be overwhelming for me.
overthemooo: Let me put this in perspective. When o.O initially emailed me, I didn’t give it a second thought. I knew that she made fabulous music videos (and that Eden Riegel had seen these videos), so I assumed that the animation and script work would just be something funny and well put together. Next thing we know, it’s everywhere. So, yes, it is overwhelming in the best possible way.
SS&D: How are you handling all this fame?
o.O: I am a little bit ashamed to admit that it has gone to my animated head, which as you may have noticed, is disproportionately large.
overthemooo: I have repeatedly sent demands to ABC studios. I want free t-shirts, a helicopter and a pair of scrubs from Grey’s Anatomy. So far, they haven’t responded to my requests.
(FYI – According to their animated Q & A episodes, o.O is the dark haired one (Portia) and overthemooo is the blonde/Ellen.)
SS&D: Did you have any expectations for this Internet gem? Did you ever imagine it going viral as quickly as it did?
o.O: I had no expectations whatsoever. I did not imagine that it would go viral, nor did I think anyone outside of the Bianca & Reese forum would give a rat’s ass about our little parody.
overthemooo: I expected that people might laugh. I had no idea that it would explode in the way it did. But obviously people are very upset about Eden Riegel’s involvement in destroying Pratt’s two-year storyline for Bianca and Reese.
SS&D: How many more episodes do you have planned?
o.O: Nothing is planned. We have never had a plan. I see no reason to start planning now. As long as we’re having fun and coming up with silly things to say, we’ll keep it going. But to imply that we ever consciously thought this through would be a lie. A damned lie.
overthemooo: In the words of Indiana Jones, we’re just making this up as we go along. Usually I’ll send o.O something silly at around 1AM and she polishes, adds brilliance, animates and uploads. We strike when its least expected. Like the icy glare of a scorned Bianca Montgomery.
SS&D: There is a catchy quote at the end of you video where you answer questions from your fans, “A fan without hope is a fan without fear.” Who came up with it and what is your take on the meaning behind it?
o.O: I ripped that line from a comic book — don’t remember which one. The original line is “A man without hope is a man without fear.” It struck me as so true, and as good an explanation as any as to why we would go to such lengths to make fun of TPTB at AMC. Once Pratt & JHC successfully destroyed our belief that they cared even remotely about the characters on their own show, or had any respect for the actors that portray those characters — well, I became fearless. What did we have to lose? Eden Riegel & Tamara Braun have left the show, is life worth living anymore? (Please reference above comment about needing therapy.)
overthemooo: That was all o.O. And as a comic book fan, I love it! Either that or I’ve been reading too much Watchmen and now see the world as an apocalyptical playground (comic book nerds do, in fact, rule the world). But, I digress. I think, in this day and age when soaps are being cancelled, writers and producers have to be very careful. The fans equal viewers, and without viewers, there are no ratings. Without ratings, there are no soaps. I’m not saying that writers and producers need to constantly heed to the sway of fan opinion. But we’re not stupid, nor are we blind (watch out for those glass decanters! They’ll get you). We’re armed with laptops and you tube so beware. But if this all blows up in our face and o.O and I suddenly disappear, I advise you to blame Eden Riegel.
SS&D: Thanks ladies. Looking forward to the next episode.
Check out the previous entries below this one for all episodes of “Pratt Falls” that have been posted so far.
Filed under: All My Children, Pratt Falls | Tagged: AMC, Bianca & Reese, Charles Pratt Jr., Eden Riegel, Julie Carruthers, Pratt Falls, Tamara Braun | Leave a comment »
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