'Hit the Floor' creator discusses social media, strong women on TV, more - Exclusive

Credit: VH1

Hit the Floor is a groundbreaking series for VH1. The scripted drama depicting the vibrant, cutthroat world of NBA dancers is only the network's second scripted series, yet the venerable cable channel has taken great pains to make the show a unique viewing experience. The show implements an innovative transmedia strategy, in which characters from the show are able to interact with fans, as well as one another, across various social media platforms, allowing the storylines of the show to continue, in real time, in-between airings. The method encourages an unprecedented level of fan interaction, as plot developments may play out across the social media spectrum, transplanting the world of the show into the real world proper.

The strategy has paid off so far, as the series premiere of Hit the Floor was the #1 cable program in its time slot on Monday. In addition, the social media strategy resulted in the series generating six national trending topics, ranking as one of the most social series in all of television for the evening. (Credit: TV By the Numbers)

This is likely music to the ears of James LaRosa, creator of Hit the Floor, who took the opportunity yesterday to speak with me about the genesis of the series, and how it's changing the way people can follow a TV show...even when it isn't actually on.

Hey James, thanks for joining me! So what did you think of the premiere?

Hey Nick, great talking to you! I actually watched the premiere with most of the cast at a bar/restaurant here in Los Angeles, and it was a giant party. And everybody was just screaming the entire time and loving it. We had a huge amount of fun making it, and there's a lot of hard work up on that screen. Between our dancers and the basketball players and the production value -- it doesn't necessarily come without a lot of blood, sweat and tears. So to see that up on-screen, and together, was epic.

Could you talk a bit about the impetus behind the transmedia strategy across the various social media platforms?

Well, VH1 is a clever network, and they are trying something that I don't think another network has done, as far as scripted programming goes. Basically, they've created this whole world in social media that is the "Hit the Floor" world, meaning our characters have Twitters, Facebook accounts, tumblrs and instagrams, and it's just a whole other -- I shouldn't say it's a whole other world, but it is. It's the "Hit the Floor" world continued.

So things that happen between airings of episodes are happening online, so you'll have our characters tweet each other, you'll have our characters instagram pictures, and so on. And we never break the fourth wall. We never have our actress tweeting her character, or our characters saying things they wouldn't say on the show. It's all very streamlined. And, creatively, we support it. And ... it kind of allows [the audience] to be in the world, frankly. I mean, that's sort of the simple answer. It allows them to continue to enjoy the world once the episode is finished airing. We never go away. [Laughs]

I kind of found it fascinating in the sense that the impetus with actors is that if they have a separate, side social media thing going on, their immediate inclination is to promote it. But these actors don't really interact with their characters' profile directly.

Yeah, basically. It's funny. Yes, the actors can certainly call attention to it. Like, McKinley Freeman can definitely retweet Derek Roman, his character. But Derek Roman isn't going to tweet McKinley and say "thanks for that." McKinley is some other random other dude in Derek's world, so you'll have people tweeting to, for instance, Ahsha, our lead. You know, "Jolene is out to get you!", "I'm so glad you made the team!" and Ahsha can tweet that, "Thank you so much! I'm really excited" and "This has been my dream!" But at no point are they breaking that fourth wall.

It's really like you're completely immersed in "Hit the Floor." If you have a favorite character, you can tweet them and interact with them. Additionally, what it allows us to do -- for instance, we had a mystery involving a dancer named Mia who goes AWOL in the pilot, and what this sort of social media extravaganza allows us to do is give a little bit more detail online: a few more hints, a few more tips, a few more questions, and build up the story even more, so that people can follow more closely and even possibly be ahead of the curve.

Could you talk a bit about the development of the series from a creative standpoint? Why basketball dance squads?

Well, basically, the way the show came about -- it was a seed that was planted by a gentleman by the name of Jeff Olde, and he is VH1's master of all things Development. And he looked at the programming that they had that was working for them, and that people were responding to: one was Single Ladies, which is this scripted, one-hour show; and another is Basketball Wives, which is a reality show for them. And he thought, "Obviously these are both worlds that they're interested in. We've got the soap, we've got the basketball, the sports," and he had two words that he came up with ... "basketball dancers." Then he mentioned those to an executive producer of Single Ladies by the name of Maggie Melina, and she and I have worked together for over ten years, so when he mentioned the potential for a soap that focused on a large group of strong women, Maggie said, "Ooo, I think I have the guy for you."

So they brought it to me and I created the show, and what I love about this world, which hasn't really been explored in this basketball world, is that there's all this fame and money and opportunity that makes for a larger than life setting -- but within that you have these women who sometimes are scraping to get back and trying be seen, and trying to have their moment and their opportunities. But then there's players around them who have multimillion dollar contracts, there are owners who are billionaires. But then you have dancers who are there sort of for your entertainment, and this is a show that shows women who are trying to find their own power in the midst of all this. And it just creates a lot of really interesting drama. Plus, we have the opportunity to have these amazing dance numbers, which every week we're going to have one huge one. It's between the testerone of the sports and the energy of the dance, then you have this fantastic soundtrack every week with our show. There's just a lot of life to it. A great place to live.

On the topic of the soundtrack, you have any scoop on the future music choices for the show?

I don't actually think, at this moment, I can give that away. I will say, in the general sense, that we have major artists that we dance to. In the pilot, it was Beyonce, and we did "Run the World" which is this really wonderful, huge number. Beyonce doesn't really lend her songs out very much, and when she does, she has to personally approve it. She saw what we did with her song, and she gave us the okay. She liked what she saw, so we're very grateful to her for that, and throughout the season we give other major artists similar treatment. But you don't have to be a major artist for us to do a big dance number to you. We definitely have songs that are maybe a little bit more off-the-radar but that completely fit the spirit and energy and the flag of our girls.

And how difficult was the song-clearing process? Were there any songs you wanted to get that you weren't able to?

That's a really interesting question. There may have been one or two that we couldn't get our hands on fast enough. I think if we had time, maybe. But clearing songs is a process, as our music supervisor will tell you. [Laughs] There are many people who have many interests in a song, whether it's the writers or the performer. Sometimes there are a ton of writers on a song, and you have to kind of track down each and every one of them. So different people have different reasons for denying songs. But in general, we were actually pretty successful in getting the songs we wanted. But because it's a process, sometimes it could come down to the wire. More than I would have wanted. But it worked out fantastic in the end, so it was all worth it.

How about the balance you have to strike between portraying these women as strong and portraying them as ruthless or selfish? Do you worry about the balance that's struck between how these women are portrayed? Because I know you mentioned how these are mainly strong women who are scraping to get by, and who are fighting to have everything that they have, but there's a difference between coming across one way and the other, and perception against women is usually harsher than it is against men, so do you worry about a possible negative reaction from audiences?

Another good question! I would say that there are strong women in s***ty circumstances all the time. [Laughs] But that doesn't make them less strong. It makes them stronger actually. Don't get me wrong. Some of our dancers -- for instance, Jelena Howard, played by Logan Browning -- she's a superstar in this world. She is not hurting in any way, shape or form. But then you have other characters like Raquel Saldana, played by Valery Ortiz, who's a single mom. And she's just trying to fight off this custody war with the douchiest guy on the planet, this baby daddy she's got.

When I say that these women are strong, I think they're strong in their approach. I don't really have victims on this show. All of our women have an agenda. And sometimes that agenda is positive. Like Ahsha, our lead. Her agenda is to find herself. It's to find her power in this world and to find out who she is, and follow her dream. And sometimes agendas are negative, in the case of Jelena, who wants to demolish her to pieces because she sees her as a threat. Women are no different from men in that there are bad apples and good apples. So I certainly don't hold my female characters up to a standard where they all have to be Mother Theresa.

As for how they're portrayed, as far as their profession, as far as going out there and dancing, and putting them forward in this way? I don't want to say I've taken great care because this is just my natural approach, but I've tried to present these women as honest first, and as actual people. But also, behind the scenes, our directors are vital. Something like 15% of directors are women, and 90% of television shows don't hire female directors at all. And my entire first season of ten episodes were directed by women, and I don't know if that's been done. If it has, it's rare. And the reason for that -- it wasn't a giant, calculated move, but I noticed in the pilot, we had a female director who did a fantastic job, Sanaa Hamri. The way that she communicated with the dancers in getting the most out of them. When they are their sexiest and their most vulnerable, there was something about how, when those scenes were directed by a woman, it kind of created a freer environment where our dancers could dance what they thought was sexy -- sexy for them -- as opposed to trying to be sexy for a male director. And the end result? That's what's empowering about what these women have done. It's really them being free, and behaving how they want to behave.

Given that you're only the second scripted series in the network's run, were you concerned that you might be off-brand for the network? Or was there just no concern because you were confident it was on-brand for VH1?

Well, because the seed of this idea came from VH1, that was really our guarantee that this was, as you say, on-brand for them. They know their audience very well, and this really was, literally, tailor-made for them. I actually love the VH1 audience, and I get the VH1 audience. I am the VH1 audience. And so, to be able to have this really wonderful playground, to have a cast that is very diverse -- I have three African-American women as leads on this show, in addition to characters of different ethnicities and different ages, it's really a multigenerational/multicultural show -- that is very VH1. It's very contemporary, very real-life. This is how the world is, so to have this kind of show there feels right. It's a show about music and sports, and that's pretty much VH1's bread and butter. It's pop culture, it's amazing music. It's what's happening now. Frankly, it's a great place to be.

I really couldn't recommend to writers a better place to come, because VH1 is crazy supportive and just has been such a best friend in this whole process. Because they're fans more than a corporation. They're definitely hands-on, and they definitely have all the right notes. But they're also just excited when the new scripts come, and are fans as much as anything else.

And what's been the hardest part about developing the series?

You know, I'd have to really search my brain for something difficult. I think selling a series, period, is difficult. But once it was up and running here, it's been pretty smooth sailing, which I think will annoy people, for me to say that. But obviously, any showrunner will tell you, they'll wish they had a bajillion more dollars so they could buy a bajillion more songs, and all the other things that the millions come with. But really, we're on the Paramount Lot, we're fully supported by a network, we have an amazing cast, and so I can't really complain.

Do you have any other projects lined up, or other projects you'd like to get off the ground?

I have to say, I love your questions! [Laughs] There are a few things cooking that I can't necessarily get into at this point. Really, what I'm focused on is this show. I'm hyper-involved in it, and it is basically my life, at the moment, and I wouldn't want it any other way. As far as dream projects -- you know, I would say my general dream would be to keep this kind of thing going. My goal has always been to have my own little production company with a lot of shows that are fun like this, and have opportunities for really great dialogue, and really fun characters, and juicy story. So yeah, building up the empire. [Laughs] But first things first, I need to make sure my #1 baby is well taken care of.

Of course! Of course. Well, I want to thank you for talking with me today. I really enjoyed the premiere, by the way. I don't think I mentioned that! But I'm definitely interested to see how things turn out. So best of luck.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! This was great!

Hit the Floor airs Monday nights at 9:00 PM ET on VH1.

If you haven't already, give the series a shot by checking out the full series premiere below via VH1.com!