Of all of the things I expected to be doing this week, meeting The Flash‘s Danielle Panabaker did not enter my mind. I was lucky enough to have to the opportunity to meet her when she agreed to come speak to a group of high school students in Los Angeles interested in what it takes to break into the entertainment industry. During a presentation and Q&A with high school students at Woodrow Wilson High School in Los Angeles, Danielle Panabaker talked about her career, working on The Flash, and what it takes to make it in the tough world of acting.
Why did you get into acting?
I used to be very shy, so doing community theatre was a way to get me out of the box. I started doing community theatre at a young age, and then I was introduced to an agent in Atlanta who got me my first audition. But it [the industry] has changed so much now. You don’t necessarily need an agent [to break into the business].
What skills does a student need in order to break into the acting business?
It’s always about the work, always pushing yourself, and then there’s a whole other skill set needed for auditions. You have to be prepared for rejection, and go into an audition with confidence, because you have about seven seconds to make a good first impression. I’m biased though, I’m always gonna say education is important. I got my degree very young (she graduated high school at the age of 14, college at the age of 19). The more life and world experience you get, the more you can infuse in your characters. Get out there and get as many opportunities as you can.
What do you do personally to continue to improve your acting skills?
I’m a big believer in studying, so I took a lot of acting classes with my sister when we first got to L.A. We would go to class six days out of the week, and it was great to be able to take classes with my sister. I still have one coach in particular that I still work with. I also work with one of my favorite charities, “Young Storytellers,” which is a non-profit which works with kids [to develop their writing].
What’s it like working on a TV show?
We usually take nine days to shoot an entire episode, with 12 hour days on average, less for a particular character [depending on the script]. We do a table read before [we start shooting]. It’s a great opportunity to find where the emotional beats are.
What’s it like working with your co-stars?
I’m so lucky to be on The Flash. I love my co-stars. Grant [Gustin] is always very prepared. I work a lot with Tom Cavanaugh; he usually has the biggest chunk of material, but he has a really intense sense of comedy. Crossovers are incredibly difficult to shoot, but it’s so much fun. [My co-stars] are always singing and dancing on-set, and there’s not a whole lot of singing or dancing on Arrow, so it’s great.
How much did you know about The Flash before signing onto the show?
I didn’t read too much about the history at first since we didn’t want to spoil the secrets. Because The Flash was so secretive about the material, you’re mostly working with asides [playing off of that]. But since then I have read an Encyclopedia of The Flash, so I’m pretty well-informed.
When do you think you will become Killer Frost?
It’s about the writers deciding when it’s the right time.
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Following the Q&A, Panabaker did a practice reading with a few students using one of the original pilot scripts for The Flash. This script actually revealed a character who was scrapped from the show, but who was in the original script, named Hartley. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Hartley Rathaway became the Pied Piper, who was introduced in Episode 11, a nemesis of the Star Labs team, but one of the first to notice Harrison Wells’ true nature. This just goes to show you how things can change from first script to production, though luckily a show like The Flash provides many opportunities for characters to return.
After the reading, Panabaker was then swarmed with high school students excited to get her autograph and take pictures. I was able to grab a few minutes with the actress afterwards. She expressed how excited she was to come to work everyday to such a fun environment. When I asked her what her favorite scene was that she had shot on The Flash so far, she spoke of her excitement at getting to work with Victor Garber and Robbie Amell, but that there was one scene which was particularly fun.
“The ‘Summer Lovin’ karaoke bar scene [with Grant Gustin] was definitely fun because it was so different,” she said, “and it was so different for Caitlin to go outside of her element and be drunk and let loose”.
As excited as fans are to see where Caitlin Snow’s journey leads her next season, her portrayer is even more excited. Tune in to Season 2 of The Flash this fall on The CW.
[Photo via The CW]
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