‘Harper’s Island’ Web Star Dishes on New Series

Stars! They’re just like us! Melanie Merkosky is making a career out of that sentiment, playing regular online heroines in web cam series like LonelyGirl15 (remember the Myspace girl no one knew was an actress?) and now in Harper’s Globe, the web spin-off of the new CBS murder mystery show, ‘Harper’s Island.’ Merkosky plays Robin Matthews, an online newspaper community manager, who documents her life for the internet community while attempting to unravel a long standing murder mystery. Besides being spooky, she speaks to the camera so openly, you may just forget she’s playing a part. It’s the first interactive web series of its kind, crossing over with the TV show, while inviting you along to help solve the mystery before the conclusion this summer. But when she’s not playing someone else, or speaking candidly to a camera, Melanie likes to kick back like the rest of us - watching ‘Lost‘ or ‘Friday Night Lights,’ or even, gasp!, ‘America’s Next Top Model.’ Fancast spoke to the actress all about this exciting new web series in this candid interview, which was sadly, sans web cam.

Tell me about what drew you to the role of Robin on Harper’s Globe? Did it come to you or did you seek it out?
Melanie Merkosky: I had been working on other internet show, LonelyGirl15, EQAL is the company that produced that show and they co-produced ‘Harper’s Globe’ with CBS. At the time I auditioned for ‘Harper’s Globe’ I didn’t know EQAL had anything to do with it; I just thought it was a CBS web series to go along with a new TV show they were going to do. And I just thought the whole idea sounded really cool about overlapping plot lines and characters, and just the concept of the show in general. I’m a huge fan of horror films and so I was pretty stoked just to audition for it.

It’s also a show that really involves the audience and draws them in to be a part of it. How have you responded to the reactions from the online community?
MM: It’s really, really cool. They really love to get involved and I don’t know how they solve some of the puzzles that are posted up there; it’s unbelievable. They’re really loving the interaction and the go-between with the web series and the TV series. It’s just a whole other element of things they can try to figure out. They like to hypothesize stuff and sometimes I’ll go on there to check it out and the stuff they’re coming up with is amazing! Like, I never in a million years would have thought of that, you know?

And are you starting to be recognized yet?
MM: Not too much, actually, no. Ironically the only thing I get recognized for is a Canadian series that I did called ‘Slings and Arrows’ which kind of has a cult following and is about theatre and Shakespeare and musical theatre. So sometimes I get recognized for that, but not so much LonelyGirl or Harper‘s Globe. At this point.

What do you think of Harper’s Island, the show?
MM: I think it’s really well done; it’s so smart. Just the way it’s playing out - things are about to get really gnarly too. They’re really pushing the envelope with what they can show on TV with the horror elements. So I think the whole concept is smart with the finite ending and involving the web series and tying two different communities together is really, really cool.

Do you have any favorite characters you hope will survive? Or maybe any you hope won’t?
MM: No, they’re all really, really cool, and that’s the cool thing about this show, is that you’re really invested in each and every one of these characters from the beginning. My personal favorite, I love Abby, the lead, she’s such a cool character. I also like the character of Sully and I like Chloe as well.

You mentioned you’re a fan of the horror genre; what are some of your favorites?
MM: I love the ‘Scream’ movies. I know that’s not super horror, but I just love the campy element. I think they did those movies perfect. And I hadn’t seen any of the ‘Saw’ movies until really recently, and the first one I was like, I don’t think I’m going to like this, it’s a little too gory, for me, but then I really got into the rest of them.

Harper’s Island is also one of the lone shows on TV channeling the horror genre.
MM: Definitely. I think so and I think that people are going to be really inclined to watch it from beginning to end, because shows like ‘Heroes‘ or ‘Lost’ have an intriguing mysterious element, but there’s so many questions you want to be answered. I’m a big fan of ‘Lost,’ but God! That show drives me crazy! Give me an answer to something! But by the end of ‘Harper’s Island’ and Harper’s Globe you find out who the killer is, so it’s an incentive to watch it until the end.

Have you ever been interested in battling any mysteries of your own? Or perhaps taken a vacation gone wrong?
MM: No, not really. I had a friend growing up in Canada and she lived in this really big house that was supposedly famous and apparently it was haunted. We used to have sleepovers and had night watches to try and see a ghost but we never saw anything. I think we were too scared too. We never actually made it through a whole night.

Will we ever have the chance to see you on Harper’s Island?
MM: Yeah, Robin will be on Harper’s Island, and some characters from that show will be on Harper’s Globe as well. Actually yesterday a small video got posted online that had Sheriff Mills in it. And now that the Wellington wedding party has arrived on the island you’re going to start seeing a lot more of the characters from the TV show involved in the online community and on the web series.

Like you said, this isn’t your first web series. Do you have a preference acting for web or traditional TV?
MM: No, not really, I’m more interested in the story than anything else. Just the idea of LonelyGirl really intrigued me when the news broke that it was the first web series of its kind, and not knowing whether it was real or fake, so I was interested in that concept. And it totally took me by surprise in terms of how invested the viewers and the fans were in the story and the characters. I think anything that tells a good story and is an opportunity for me to have fun and experiment, I love, and definitely Harper’s Island had that element.

A lot of your scenes are on your own, talking to a webcam. Does that make it more difficult since often you’re not interacting with other actors and the scene is entirely on you?
MM: Yeah, it definitely makes me you appreciate your fellow actors, that’s for sure. It’s a lot more personal and intimate, because you are talking directly into the camera, and essentially directly into the audience. You really have no choice but to be honest. There are a couple moments when I was like, ok here we go! I guess we’re going there! But, yeah, it’s certainly different working in that genre and goes against everything you were taught as an actor about ignoring the camera and fourth wall. Yet, here we are really embracing and using it. But it was such an opportunity for growth for me. I really felt like I learned a lot about myself and pushed myself an actor doing this show just because it really was so much of me by myself, so I was really able to explore a lot stuff, which is pretty rare, so I was grateful for that.

After this experience, would you ever want to use your own web camera?
MM: Maybe! My family is all up in Canada so I talk to them online via my webcam sometimes but I don’t know if I would ever document my activities to the extent that Robin or LonelyGirl do, although I can certainly understand why someone would want to. It’s completely addicting.

On the web note - what are your favorite websites?
MM: I’m constantly checking entertainment sites. I read all the blogs on Variety and Hollywood Reporter and Zap2It. Obviously I love Fancast, because you guys are so on it for anything new coming out and have such great, honest opinions on what’s out there to check out new material and what’s happening. But before I started doing LonelyGirl15 I didn’t even have a facebook! Now I have two facebooks, two myspaces, I’m on twitter, and I’m just kind of a total junkie now. It’s kind of ridiculous.

What shows do you watch on Fancast?
MM: Basically when I go on there I watch whatever is available and I have time for. I also like to read reviews of what people are watching and then I’ll watch that too.

And what about DVR - do you have any must see TV shows?
MM: I always tape ‘Lost,’ shamefully. And I always record ‘Friday Night Lights’ too which I just heard was picked up for another two seasons, and I’m very excited about that. Right now those are the two that I without a doubt will record.

Do you watch reality TV?
MM: Sometimes. I like ‘Survivor‘ and ‘The Amazing Race.’ I’m sucked into ‘America’s Next Top Model’ too. Just the last season, I don’t know how that happened.

Which actresses do you most admire?
MM: I’m a huge fan of Rachel McAdams, who is a Canadian as well. She is so talented and following in her footsteps would be a total dream. But there are a lot of talented young actresses out there now - Kristen Stewart, Maggie Gylenhaal - love her. I think she’s done some really amazing things in her career. But right now I’m just taking it one day at a time, and if I could ever be as fortunate enough to do the kind of work those ladies do, I’d be very happy.

What can you tell us about the upcoming episodes of both Harper’s Globe and Harper‘s Island?
MM: Well, it’s about to get a lot scarier, I can tell you that much. When you think of a horror movie they always sort of start out like a soap opera. Everything is all peachy and lovey dovey, and bright colors and everything, but about a third of the way in it starts to get really dark and that is what is about to happen on both shows. Super vague, I know. Sorry! I have a “we will kill you” clause in my contract if I say anything else.

Speaking of kill orders - check out full episodes of Harper’s Island on Fancast!

More on These Topics: Harper's Island | Melanie Merkosky