Carter Covington Interview: Casting the Characters of “10 Things”

June 30, 2009 Admin No comments

-SO-M recently had the honor to visit the set of ABC Family’s new comedy, “10 Things I Hate About You with some fellow online media (pictured above with producer/writer Carter Covington). We had the chance to sit down and talk with various cast members and also producer/writer Carter Covington. We’ll be posting things all week from our set visit.

Below, get to know a little more about the show with exclusive insight from Carter. Find out how he got involved and how they cast the roles for the show. Check back later this week for more with Carter.

On how he got involved in the project & development: I worked with ABC Family about five years ago when I was just starting out as a writer. I had written a pilot called “Just a Phase.” And it was kind of like a Wonder Years, set in the ‘80s, in the south. It started a relationship with ABC Family. I sold them another pilot that we shot that didn’t go to series, and then I ended up working on Greek for two seasons.

And so last summer, I worked with Gil Junger, who directed the movie and directed the pilot. He directed another pilot that I had with ABC Family, and he also directed the Greek pilot, and I worked with him on Greek. We really got along. And it was sort of this, like—I would always ask him about 10 Things. I was such a huge 10 Things fan, and I’d be like, “Oh, my God,” and, “What was Heath Ledger like,” and, you know, “How did you cast Julia Stiles?” I mean, I was just always wanting to sort of know—And the pilot kind of grew out of that. I mean, it was kind of, it’s been ten years, and I’d always wanted to do a show about high school. I mean, I grew up loving John Hughes movies, like loving. And no one’s ever really kind of captured that spirit to me in a series.

On casting the role of “Patrick Verona”: We had the hardest time casting that role. And on the page, when I had sat down to write it, I had said, “Okay, this character cannot be anything like Heath Ledger. Like, it needs to be a different sort of version of the teen heartthrob.” I like the Outsiders sort of dangerous guy angle because I think that’s really important, but I kept thinking of Jordan Catalano from My So-Called Life.

We kept casting, we kept casting, and we kept casting. And I called the network. I said, “I think we need to, like, expand out of LA. Like, I’d really like to see if there’s anyone in New York and anyone in Canada.” And so we had some casting directors.

And Ethan [Peck] went on tape and I was, like, going, “Nah, nah,” through all these auditions. And he just walked on screen, and the first word out of his mouth I was like, “What?” [Laughs] “Whose voice is that?” And I didn’t know anything about his grandfather or anything like that. I didn’t know that he came from this past.

We flew him out for the final audition with the network, so I’d never met him in person until the day he was auditioning. And it was just like a no-brainer.

Read the rest of this post and out how they cast the rest of the roles HERE. Check back tomorrow for more with Carter about the show, writing, and more!