Kristine Cofsky
Kristine Cofsky
Kristine Cofsky
Kristine Cofsky
Kristine Cofsky
Fill 1
Fill 1
April 18, 2016
Online Originals

Her Side

Priscilla Faia on You Me Her, a different kind of romcom.

Matt Powell

Intimate relationships give us purpose.

So believes actress Priscilla Faia, who stars in You Me Her, a new original series on DirecTV’s Audience Network.

The show premiered in March at SXSW and is based on the 2012 Playboy Magazine article “Sugar on Top” by John H. Richardson. It tells the story of a slightly different kind of romance.

You Me Her follows the lives of a sexually frustrated married couple in Portland - played by Greg Poehler (Welcome to Sweden) and Rachel Blanchard (Fargo) - who have found themselves in a situation many couples experience: falling out of lust and into like.

Along comes Izzy (played by Faia), a grad student by day moonlighting as an adult escort to help make ends meet. When Izzy crosses paths first with husband Jack, and then with wife Emma, it ignites a spark among the three characters.

"I think intimate relationships are what we all desire,” says Faia, “But there are so many factors that keep us from achieving true intimacy.” You Me Her sets out to prove that a third party in a romantic relationship need not be one of those factors.

The show is not about Izzy’s different individual relationships with Jack and with Emma, but rather the single collective relationship among the three of them. It is a classic romantic comedy with a modern twist – the first polyamorous romcom.

A child of divorce with a slight fear of commitment, Izzy finds herself thrust headlong into the risks and rewards inherent in any honest relationship – only multiplied.

The premise is unconventional on the surface. But to Faia, at its core, it is about the same aspects of any intimate relationship. This becomes part of Izzy’s struggle. "Izzy desires something real,” says Faia, “But she’s not sure what she really wants."

Creator John Scott Shepherd (NBC’s Save Me, The Days) set out to make a show about a polyamorous relationship that was legitimately romantic. The idea was to look past the novelty and to treat the trio in essence as any regular couple.

The connection among the three characters is genuine and they go through the same ups and downs as any conventional relationship. This adds to the potential for dramatic conflict, but the show deliberately tries to keep such conflict akin to that of a traditional romantic comedy.

“My favorite type of comedy is the kind that comes from drama,” says Faia. “Where the characters are telling the truth of the moment and the natural comedy has room to play itself out. I find it more relatable and therefore more hilarious.”

At first blush, a show about a three-way relationship between one man and two women may not seem all that relatable. Shepherd and cast and crew were keenly aware of this issue and kept the show intentionally light and realistic.

Faia knew they were on to something from the moment she read the script. “The first thought in my head was, ‘yes.’  My gut knew it was something special. I felt connected to Izzy right from the beginning. John Scott Shepherd wrote a very clever, grounded script about a subject that isn’t widely talked about yet.”

There is an intimacy between actors in any performance, and especially between love interests. This intimacy is compounded with the three-way love interest inherent in the show’s premise. Faia credits director Nisha Ganatra (Transparent, Shameless, Married) for creating a nurturing environment in which to cultivate this chemistry among the actors on set.

“Nisha had us in rehearsals before we went to camera that concentrated on our relationships with one another. It’s so rare to have time with your director and cast and I’m profoundly grateful for that time,” says Faia.

“It was so helpful as the connection required between all the characters had to be intense and real. It helped us trust each other and the process. Creatively, it was the most fulfilling experience I’ve had as an actor.”

Faia’s acting experience started as an eight year old girl in Victoria, British Columbia. With a move to Vancouver in her early 20s, she found more opportunity.

She picked up guest star roles on various shows like True Justice, The Eleventh Victim and Psych before joining the cast in her first recurring role as Chloe Price on ABC’s Rookie Blue. That role garnered Faia accolades, including a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Series.

Faia found comfort in the structure on the You Me Her set. The entire season takes place over the span of 10 days, and all 10 episodes of You Me Her were shot over seven weeks with the same director. “I honestly can’t imagine it being any other way,” she says of the process.

“It was so intense that having Nisha as our constant was such a relief. It created a sense of solidarity.”

Solidarity and a no-nonsense approach that helped to serve the story and the characters. “Nisha had a ‘no sides on set’ rule which I think added to the preparation,” says Faia, referring to the practice of not allowing actors access to scripts with each day’s lines. “When everyone is prepared, you're able to be present, and when you're present, well, that’s when the magic happens.”

In addition to keeping the show relatable as a romantic comedy, there were other potential pitfalls to navigate. The idea of a polyamorous relationship – especially with two women and one man - can be a sort of male fantasy cliché, but Shepherd was careful not to present the show in this way.

“He wrote the script with the intention to avoid the male gaze and to explore the different possibilities within a three person context.”

This intention carried over into the direction. “Nisha was constantly working to relieve any scene of being what you expect in her direction and blocking. John and Nisha both worked very hard to make this a story about three people falling for each other, not something gratuitous or cliché.”

The result is a genuinely appealing show that is also groundbreaking. The comment Faia most likes to hear is when people tell her they are “pleasantly surprised” by the show. “I think there is a preconceived notion of what the show is, which is fair, but I hope people see that we play against the expected which is why I think the story is special.”

It is a story device old as time to have mismatched characters – through circumstance or personality - fall in love with one another. That is the genesis of all romantic comedy.

In this case, that conflict is intensified and traditional notions of what can be romantic are challenged. The focus is not on the sex or other frivolous aspects of a three-way relationship. The comedy is in the honesty of human relationships - this one just happens to be polyamorous.

And in so doing, You Me Her presents its audience not only with a genuinely funny romantic comedy but also with the idea of what it means to confront the sources of our own happiness. Sometimes life takes us places we would never have considered. The question is, will we be open when it does? 

While the show intentionally avoids a heavy hand or preachy tone, Faia appreciates the opportunity to participate in this pioneering aspect of the show. “If it happens to open up conversations about what it would be like to create a life for yourself that you love but is nothing like you imagined, I don’t think that would be so bad.”

Izzy is unexpectedly and somewhat reluctantly confronted with this new relationship, which in turn fosters significant personal development over a 10-day snapshot of her life. Is the relationship among these three characters one of lasting substance? Faia sees plenty of room for growth.

“I think anytime you have characters who are willing to explore sides of themselves they didn’t know that they had, there is room there for expanded storyline. We get to watch the process of these characters as they stumble through the journey, and it’s not a process that has a short shelf life. John (Scott Shepherd) likes to push the envelope so I’m confident the arc of these characters will not be lacking.”

Until then, Faia is grateful for the opportunity to do what she loves most, building relationships: with other actors, with her characters and with her audience.

“If I’m working telling stories, I’m exactly where I want to be.”


For more on You Me Her, see our story from emmy magazine here.

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