June 2017

As star of the Netflix series “Dear White People,” Nia Jervier is paving a mile wide path towards a bright and shining future. Her performance as Kelsey Phillips in the timely dramedy is a comedic coming out party for the Brooklyn native who also appeared in the film that inspired the series.

We recently sat down with Jervier to talk about her relationship with television shows, how the most popular series perfectly blend genres, and why Kelsey is a super magnified version of herself.

TrunkSpace: How has “Dear White People” changed your career thus far? Has it had an impact in terms of opening additional doors?
Jervier: It definitely has opened things up a bit more, especially with agents and casting directors who may have had interest before. I think that the show solidified my work. Work begets work, so now that “Dear White People” is buzzing, people that had interest feel justified in saying, “We really want to bring that girl in. She is great because Netflix said so.” (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: That was actually one of our questions. Is part of the buzz not only the show but the platform itself?
Jervier: Certainly. The platform does help. And it’s also a very smart show and it’s witty and it’s very stylish and sophisticated. I think that people love all of those things. It’s something very special to be a part of.

TrunkSpace: The show is all of these things… smart, witty, stylish… and they’re blended together in a way that you would not have seen on a television platform a decade or two ago. No longer is a show just one genre. In fact, it seems like shows are better served when they’re blending as many different elements as possible.
Jervier: Absolutely. I think that definitely is a new thing. I also think that it’s something that’s necessary. We’re sort of in this zone with millennials where there has to be a multifaceted aspect to it, sort of like an artistic octopus. (Laughter) That’s the only way I can describe it. It’s like Lena Dunham or the girl who created “The OA” for Netflix. She’s the creator. She’s one of the writers. She’s also starring on it. Or how Lena Dunham created “Girls” and she’s also starring on the show and producing it. Donald Glover from “Community” created “Atlanta” and he’s writing and producing it. There’s also this great British sitcom on Netflix called “Chewing Gum” and it’s the same thing where Michaela Cole is just doing everything. I think that we’re just in a time where that’s okay when it’s executed with excellence and it’s something that is revered by audiences and by your peers as an artist. I think that is being reflected in the work because if someone believes that they can be the producer and the creator and star in the show, then they will also have a similar belief in the fact that the show can be many things at one time.

TrunkSpace: So as you look forward in your career, is that something you’re interested in doing as well?
Jervier: I would love to develop and create as a creator/producer. I’m not much of a writer and I believe you should lead out with what you’re excellent at. I was just brought up that way. So I would probably partner with someone who is a close friend or a writer that I respect to carry out that writing aspect of it, but I definitely have some ideas up my sleeve. I think that it’s important to create your own content, especially as a woman.

TrunkSpace: And it does seem like that it in this day and age, wearing multiple hats on a project and creating content enables actors and actresses to fully monetize their involvement in a project.
Jervier: I think the actors matter in a different way now and I think that your opinion as an artist or as a producer matters because there’s proof in the pudding that the method of applying it to the work… it works! It just does.

But I must also emphasize that I definitely believe that people should stick to things that they’re excellent in doing. If you marry it with excellence and you follow through with that and know that it’s actually good, that’s when the magic happens and it works.

TrunkSpace: So as you look back over your time working on “Dear White People,” where do you feel like you got to stretch your acting muscles the most?
Jervier: I guess the last scene that closes out the show. My character Kelsey, she’s very crazy and neurotic. (Laughter) I’m a theater baby so transitioning into film and TV, it’s a different vehicle, so your work is a lot smaller and detailed because the camera comes to you. I think that I gave myself a bit of permission to tell her truthfully and allow my work to be a bit bigger than I normally would for film and TV work. Especially for film work… it’s even smaller than TV stuff.

I was really happy about the fact that I leaned in and allowed her to go there… allowed myself to go there FOR her… because I think the part really called for it.

TrunkSpace: So did finding who Kelsey was come easy to you?
Jervier: I read the sides for the audition and had to do a double take. I was sort of like, “This could not have been more perfectly written for me. I need to have this part.” I desperately wanted it and fell in love with her immediately. I understand who this girl is. She is an amplified version of myself in certain ways. Definitely super magnified. She’s many levels above. If I’m at a two, Kelsey is at like a 59 out of 10! (Laughter) But I definitely identify with so many aspects and layers of her life and I just turned everything up a notch and sprinkled cayenne on it. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: Did it kind of feel like “Dear White People” was more of a movie than a television show in how it was rolled out?
Jervier: That’s a really good question. I guess it did. I am an avid binge watcher. I have relationships with shows. (Laughter) And I feel like I know the characters. Before the binging culture began, I don’t think that I had the same relationship with TV. It was a little different. I loved it, but it’s a big difference and getting to be a part of that with a show that I was on, there was something very special and unique about that. I guess it did feel like a film.

There was a little bit more of an excitement attached to it because you knew that you could get it all in one fell swoop. You got to get a taste of the beginning and the end in one dose. Yeah, I enjoyed that.

TrunkSpace: And in a social media age, it must make for a different type of fan interaction when they can just gulp it down all in one evening.
Jervier: Yes. I think there is a gift in that as well. People took to Twitter and to Instagram and to social media immediately. Because of the binge culture, they fall in love with the characters. And not only fall in love with the characters, they KNOW these people in the same way that I do when I’m part of the audience or I’m the viewer. I really enjoyed that part of it. I enjoyed knowing that people would get all of this show at one time. I think it gives the show more of a chance to live and for people to have a relationship with the show and the characters because you’re getting it all at one time. Sometimes I think that some shows might have a disadvantage in people maybe not having enough time this week to catch it or from missing it. There’s more of a chance of someone falling off the wagon. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: It’s true. We’re guilty as changed for putting stuff on the DVR and then never getting to it, and yet, if you start something on Netflix or another streaming platform, you just plow through it.
Jervier: Yes! It’s addictive. And there’s a commitment. You’re like, “I’m five episodes in… I’ve got to find out!” You’re already stuck. There’s a commitment and an addiction to it. It’s a commitment that’s fun and enjoyable and it’s an addiction that’s legal and people will still like you after! (Laughter) It’s perfect!

“Dear White People” is available now on Netflix.

For years James Elkington has been performing, recording, and collaborating with artists like Jeff Tweedy, Richard Thompson, Michael Chapman, and Tortoise, to name a few. As someone who genuinely enjoys the confines of a creative collaboration, the British-born musician had not deliberately set out to write his own solo material. After exploring the untapped world of a new tuning on his acoustic guitar however, the songs started to come to him and a family of tracks were born, ultimately becoming his debut solo album, “Wintres Woma.”

We recently sat down with Elkington to discuss how going solo means being proactive, why he felt it was time to put together the album, and how he has decided to let his career lead him as opposed to trying to lead it himself.

TrunkSpace: Knowing that you played and arranged most of the instruments on “Wintres Woma,” does it feel like the closest thing musically to being wholly yours?
Elkington: It does. Yeah. It does. (Laughter) That’s the short answer.

That’s kind of a big question. I’m still trying to get to the bottom of that because I’m interested in lots of different types of music and I’m interested in operating in those different types of music and how I react when I’m put in those different musical situations. I’m a big fan of collaborating and being in other people’s bands. I like the idea of being able to move around in different areas. I think for awhile, for a few years there, that was really all I wanted to do. I liked the pace of it and the spontaneity and the creativity of it. You would think that writing your own material is ultimately sort of more creative and more fulfilling, but it’s also a lot more work.

TrunkSpace: And when you enjoy the collaborative process, it also has to be a bit creatively lonely.
Elkington: It is. And it’s all proactive as opposed to when you’re working with other people, it’s a combination of being proactive and reactive… and that is quite energizing in a way because something is always happening. But when you’re on your own and nothing is happening, it’s not much fun. It’s something that I used to do a lot more of 10 years ago and I got tired of it to the point of where I just really wanted a break. And a lot of people, when they need a break, will just stop doing music, but I saw this other area where I could move into where I could still have fun doing it.

The last few years have been a bit more of a roller coaster and in that time, I sort of got the energy and the enthusiasm again for writing my own stuff. Plus, I think for awhile there I didn’t really have much that I wanted to say… or at least not much that I wanted to say to myself. And that changed in the last year or so.

TrunkSpace: So does that mean that the songs that represent the album are all relatively new?
Elkington: Well, originally I wrote a little collection of songs all in this guitar tuning that I’ve been operating in solely for this project. I came up with a little family of songs and at that point, once I started to feel like that maybe I had a record… or at least maybe a direction… then I did start reaching back to some songs that I had written awhile ago but hadn’t really known what to do with. I found that some of these song were just kind of like in waiting for the right opportunity. There were songs that were a little more introspective and a little more guitar lead and I kind of rearranged them to fit more with where I’m at now. But it’s only a couple of songs. It’s pretty much all new. There are even songs on there, a couple of songs anyway, that I wrote like two weeks before I recorded the album.

TrunkSpace: We read that you recorded the entirety of it in five days. That seems like a creative sprint.
Elkington: Yeah, preceded by a sort of six year lull. (Laughter) That’s the thing, I think a lot of people who write music or make things will tell you that sometimes the wheels are turning and you don’t even really realize that it’s happening. I think I spent a lot of time subconsciously deciding what my next move would be, if I even bothered to make one. It had the appearance of a sort of fully formed burst, but in actual fact it was kind of meditated on for quite awhile.

TrunkSpace: In laying down the tracks so quickly though, it also enables you to not overthink things and move away from the curse of all musicians… perfection.
Elkington: Yeah. And some people are very good at disarming that process… that kind of human process of second-guessing yourself. I am not good at disarming it. In the past, I feel like I’ve been guilty of overworking things and worrying about too much being left to chance. This record is much more of an experiment for me in kind of trying to let that stuff go. People involved with the record will tell you that I did not do a good job of that either, but for me, it was a step up in letting go. (Laughter) There’s some stuff on there that I previously wouldn’t have let fly on records that I had been involved in, but I don’t know… in the last few years I’ve just been involved in a lot of other people’s projects, which really were left much more left to chance and I would very quickly have to improvise something for a show or a recording. Those parts would always end up being my favorite part of what I contributed to it, so I sort of tried to allow that space in this for things to just happen.

There’s a song on the album called “Wading the Vapors,” which has a really long and amazing cello solo in it. I kind of hoped that it would be a cello solo that would be book-ended by this one verse of lyrics, but other than that, I didn’t really have much of an idea for it. I just recorded myself playing this guitar line for three minutes and then tried to figure out how to fill it in and turn it into a song. I didn’t know that it was necessarily going to work. I hadn’t tried it out beforehand. And there are a few things like that on the record where I just sort of tried it and not really put myself under any pressure to have a result at the end of it, but instead, just let it be.

TrunkSpace: Music doesn’t have to have rules, but a lot of times, musicians place rules on themselves.
Elkington: Yeah. And I need those too. I’m kind of more creative within parameters, if that doesn’t sound like too much of an oxymoron. (Laughter) If I know where the boundaries are and I know what I’m dealing with, then I can sort of come up with something, which is why this guitar tuning was such a part of writing these songs. I didn’t really know how to operate that tuning, but partly through trying to set up boundaries for myself and partly through laziness of not wanting to retune guitars between songs and things, I just decided that whatever I was going to do was going to be in that tuning and I just had to deal with it.

TrunkSpace: So do you think that if you didn’t focus on that particular type of tuning that this album would have never come to be?
Elkington: That’s a good question. This whole process of working with this tuning really started out as almost… I compare it to almost like a doodle that you do in your spare time or when you’re on the phone. It started out as this little meditative practice and it kind of snuck up on me. I surprised myself that I had managed to come up with some songs. So I have a feeling that if I hadn’t started working in that little area, there’s a good chance that I might not have really written an album. At least not right now. I think I might have done something else, but I’m not sure what.

TrunkSpace: It’s amazing how a creative spark can turn into a fire.
Elkington: Yeah. The last few years, for me, have been quite sort of… I’ve been busy and quite fulfilled in a lot of ways. It really all started from me kind of letting go of having too many preconceptions about a career in music or anything like that. I just sort of let all of that go. I decided that maybe that wasn’t for me. This was right when I started playing in other people’s bands and just started doing it for the fun of it just to see where it would lead, as opposed to trying to lead it myself. And things have worked out much better for me since I have just gone with the flow, so to speak. So, I’m trying to invite a little bit of that into my personal creativity.

“Wintres Woma” drops June 30.

Travis Wester grew up a fanboy. He attended conventions, geeked out about “Star Trek,” and spent prolonged periods of time rolling 20-sided die. He was a proud, card-carrying member of nerd culture long before nerd culture became the cool faction. And now, as a grown up, Wester has found himself a part of the most passionate fandom universe of the current pop culture age thanks to his turn in “Supernatural” where he reoccurs as Harry Spangler, founding member of Ghostfacers.

We recently sat down with Wester to discuss the SPN Family, going from con attendee to invited guest, and what it was like to work with Tim Curry.

TrunkSpace: You’ve acted in so many great shows over the years, but in your experience, did any of their fandoms compare to that of “Supernatural” when it came to the passion and love for a particular show?
Wester: There’s no comparison between any fandoms. I was kind of one of the proto “Star Wars” fandom people, I think. I still remember wearing “Star Wars” T-shirts to school back in the early 90s.

I just dated myself.

I kind of came up in the geek community. I used to play “Dungeons & Dragons” in high school and stuff like that. In fact I’ve recently been told about Magic: The Gathering and want to give that a go, a friend even sent me these mtg arena codes I might try. I went to “Star Trek” conventions when I was 12. That kind of stuff. So I’m very familiar with fandoms and I’ve got to say, the “Supernatural” fandom is absolutely a thing of beauty. The fact that they think of themselves as family, it’s really something else. It’s all the good parts of tribalism in my opinion. It’s all about togetherness and community and maybe I’m sort of outside the bubble perhaps, but I’m not super aware that they go out and attack people and make people from other fandoms feel bad or anything like that. Like I said, it’s all the best parts of tribalism where you feel like you’re part of a community and everyone supports each other.

When you’re out and about and you see someone with an “Assbutt” shirt or something like that, you kind of give them the knowing nod. It’s really cool.

And it’s also sort of underground, which I like about it too. People who are into it are super into it, but people who aren’t into it are barely aware of it. It almost kind of reminds me of a “Vampire: The Masquerade” of fandoms. Once you’re in the “Supernatural” fandom, you can exist in all of these other fandoms, but you’re in this other dimension when you step into the “Supernatural” fandom.

TrunkSpace: It seems like every actor and actress who has appeared on the show is genuinely and wholeheartedly excited to have been a part of it.
Wester: I think a lot of that has to do with the guys… J & J, Jared and Jensen. You go up there and you feel like part of a family while you’re up there. I think what happens with a lot of actors is that they get up there, they do the work, and they kind of feel like they’re a part of that family because Jared and Jensen are so welcoming and they’re just such awesome guys to have on set. I don’t think anyone has ever gone up there and has been like, “Aww, man… Jared and Jensen! They hardly talked to me. God, they’re such jerks!” (Laughter) I have never spoken to anyone that has been on the show that has thought that. The culture of family really starts with them. They’re both from Texas and they both have families themselves and I think it kind of starts there.

And then when you’re done with the show and you get invited out to a convention or something and you show up and you meet the fans… you see how that culture has spread out into the fandom. You can’t help but get excited. You can’t help but be stoked that you’re a part of this project. People use the word systemic a lot and a lot of times they misuse it. Systemic means it’s root to tip. It’s root to stem… it’s the whole system. I think that when it comes to “Supernatural” it is systemically a family because it starts right with Jared and Jensen and it goes out to everyone in the community.

TrunkSpace: You were working in TV for over a decade before you stepped into the role of Harry Spangler on “Supernatural.” With the show being so early in its life cycle at that time and when the network itself was kind of in flux, did you have any idea that you’d still be talking about it now and participating in conventions and all sides of the fandom?
Wester: None. No. You’re right, I did a lot of work in TV up until then and I’ve done plenty of pilots and shows where it was like… show number three, their third episode ever. And then five episodes later the show is in the wind and it’s gone. If you look at my resume, I’m sure you’d see a lot of that. So, you get on a show like “Supernatural” and it was kind of at a time when the WB was a thing and the CW was still a thing. They were two separate networks. I remember, I think it was while we were filming that episode, we got the news. I remember Jared coming out of his trailer and telling Jensen, “Hey, the WB and CW just merged.” And they were looking at each other and Jensen was like, “What does that mean for us?” And Jared was like, “I don’t know, bro!” (Laughter)

It was at a time when the WB was throwing a lot of stuff at the wall. They had a lot of success with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” so I think they felt like that there was something in that genre and it wasn’t the only thing like that that they were trying at the time, but I think the reason it stuck is… it all comes down to the story. The universe that Eric Kripke created allows us as an audience to play ourselves in the narrative in a way that is fairly rare and something that I think most show runners are striving for.

TrunkSpace: You mentioned that as a kid you used to go to “Star Trek” conventions. What is it like for you now being on the other side of the convention table?
Wester: I think I’m fairly unique amongst actors. I don’t think too many of them have ever actually been paying members of any conventions, much less paying members of like, a role playing game convention, which I have also been to. (Laughter)

One of the best times I’ve ever had in my entire life… I think I was like 15… and I got my dad to agree to allow my buddy and I to go to a convention and actually stay overnight at the hotel. For two nights. We were able to go Friday to Sunday and we just played games for hours and hours and hours.

Anyway… so I don’t think too many actors have had that experience, so for me, it was kind of emotional at first to be on the other side of it.

TrunkSpace: Knowing that you are a fanboy yourself, how cool was it to work opposite Dr. Frank-N-Furter himself, Tim Curry in “Turbocharged Thunderbirds?”
Wester: It was intimidating. Just seeing him on set, I was like, “Oh my God, it’s Tim Curry!” I actually met my wife at “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

TrunkSpace: Nice!
Wester: Yeah. I first went to Rocky when I was like 15. Being able to be around Tim Curry and to say that I’ve worked with him, it was pretty exciting.

Nice dig, dude! That was a deep dig. That was actually my first narrative TV gig too.

TrunkSpace: You did quite a few episodes, right?
Wester: Yeah. We did like 13 or something like that. It was back when “Power Rangers” were hot, so they were trying to find something in that space… something in the space of mixing their own live action with stock puppetry that they had already purchased. Tim Curry was like the main bad guy. It was awesome.

Honestly, I don’t care what they do with the new “It.” Tim Curry’s always going to be “It” to me!

TrunkSpace: One character that you played who really seemed to deserve more fleshing out because there seemed to be a side to him that the audience never got to see was Billy Mac from “Justified.” He was a pretty straight forward guy on the surface, but there was some stuff going on underneath it all that deserved some exploring.
Wester: I thought so too, but I guess the narrative demands of season 1 of “Justified” called for someone getting shot in the head. (Laughter)

That was actually one of the more challenging characters that I think I’ve ever played just because I had to be straight up racist to a black man to his face while we were acting. For sure, that was maybe some of the most uncomfortable I’ve been on set, but it was also kind of the most transcendental because I rarely feel like I’m just completely synthesizing and fabricating a character. Most times I feel like there’s something in there that I’m tapping into that’s really a part of me. Obviously acting is always kind of like that, but with Billy Mac I felt like I was having to tap into the mirror version of me… the Travis with the evil goatee and what I would be in that other evil dimension. I was kind of having to reach through the dimensions and tap into that. So that was intense.

TrunkSpace: Timothy Olyphant’s character was such a bad ass on “Justified” and Jensen Ackles character is such a bad ass on “Supernatural,” so if the two universes met and Raylan Givens and Dean Winchester had to go toe-to-toe… how would that play out?
Wester: (Laughter) Well, guns or no guns?

TrunkSpace: They both like their guns, so it would make sense that they’d be packing.
Wester: If it’s a straight up duel… they go out into the middle of the street and it’s just a showdown… I’m going to go with Raylan. But, if it’s just kind of a bare knuckle, shirts off, guns are cast aside thing like that, where it’s sort of Captain Kirk meets the lizard guy type of situation, I’m going to go with Dean.

TrunkSpace: You just got the fandom in a tizzy because you said “shirts off” in the middle of that.
Wester: (Laughter) Yeah. So if Raylan’s shirt is off and Dean’s shirt is off and they’re just bare knuckling it, yeah, I think Dean’s got the edge.

TrunkSpace: So looking back over your career and at all of the projects that you’ve worked on, what is the one that has had the most profound impact on you?
Wester: I’d have to say the “Supernatural” role. It’s been the most fun ride. It’s sort of carried on. And it kind of inspired me the most creatively. A.J. (Buckley) and I got together to make a number of shorts, which I think are still available on the internet somewhere. We put together a quick thing of us going down to San Diego Comic Con back almost 10 years ago. We were both just really energized by these characters and I don’t think I’ve ever been so inspired after a shoot wraps to try to continue to explore that character because I enjoyed it so much.

TrunkSpace: With that being said, has there been talk to bring the Ghostfacers back?
Wester: There was talk of it, but A.J. is on this new “Seal Team” show on CBS, so he’s going to be out there taking down ISIS or whatever on CBS. (Laughter)

But we were… those talks were happening.