James Lafferty, Stephen Colletti, and Phoenix Washington Discuss ‘Everyone is Doing Great’ Season 2 [Interview]

After a two-year hiatus, the popular indie series Everyone is Doing Great is preparing for its return with more intrinsic storylines in store for the upcoming season.

I recently attended ATX Television Festival and had the opportunity to speak with James Lafferty (Jeremy Davis), Stephen Colletti (Seth Stewart), and Phoenix Washington (Tony) about Season 2 and going more in-depth with the characters this time around.

Lafferty said Everyone is Doing Great Season 2 is even better than the first due to their ability to expand on the roles of Izzy (played by Cariba Heine) and Andrea (Alexandra Park), making the season a four-hander versus only focusing on Seth and Jeremy.

“Seth and Jeremy were sliding in their own various specific ways in Season 1, and I think in Season 2, you’re going to see them sort of getting their stuff together more so than they were in the first season.”

“You’re going to see Izzy and Andrea going through their kind of spiral, so we sort of flip the first season on its head a little bit. There’s still plenty for Seth and Jeremy to sort of figure out, but overall, I think this season’s more about thinking they found what they’re looking for and realizing that it’s not quite what they thought it was gonna be,” Lafferty said.

“A major theme is: what happens when you think you got what you’ve been looking for, and it’s ultimately not what you thought, or it’s not all cracked out to be? How do you pivot from there? How do you learn those life lessons and also try to understand when you are learning a lesson? Sometimes it might take somebody a little bit longer to figure out that, like, ‘Oh, life is teaching me something at this moment. This is an opportunity for growth.’ You’re gonna see a lot of that with our characters,” Colletti added.

Everyone is Doing Great Season 2 will pick up after a small time jump, highlighting the corrective actions toward Seth and Jeremy’s decisions in the Season 1 finale. “We like to keep it a little bit ambiguous so we don’t get painted into a corner by the dirty little details as much as possible,” said Lafferty.

“A few months have passed, which is exciting because we left the first season on a cliffhanger, and I think sometimes the impulse is to come in the moment after that cliffhanger happens, but we actually got to jump ahead a little bit. In doing so, I think it allows for the audience to have to sort of uncover what’s happened in the interim a little bit throughout that those first couple episodes,” Lafferty continued.

Lafferty said the audience is going to see Jeremy struggle and suffer more consequences in Season 2 because he didn’t learn enough in Season 1.

“Fortunately, it’s going be good for him in a way. He’s got an opportunity to come out of that experience stronger, and that’s where Phoenix’s character comes in, who is sort of a reluctant mentor to Jeremy a little bit. It’s going be the kicking off point for him to realize that he’s got to make some serious changes in his life and do some serious reflecting,” Lafferty said.

Meanwhile, the audience will pick up on Seth and his blossoming relationship with Sarah (Karissa Lee Staples) as they navigate being connected to one another on a deeper level.

“They’re going to find themselves in a situation where they’re going to be spending a lot more time together than maybe they might have expected early on in a relationship. So you’re going to kind of see how they adapt to living two very different lifestyles. Sara, of course, is in law school, Seth is working as an actor, and so the contrast of those two different worlds colliding on a day-to-day basis, you’re gonna see how that plays out.”

“Professionally for Seth, he’ll continue to do his darndest to try to go about things the right way and try to continue to work. As he says in the first season, he’s always just working on working. And in the entertainment industry, which is a lot of being between jobs, a lot is wondering where that next thing is. Then, when you do get that thing, can you knock it out of the park? Or are you going to fall on your face? We’ll find out,” Colletti continued.

Washington’s character, Tony, is a new addition to the series, but Washington being hired for the role felt like fate to him. Working as a cannabis delivery driver before booking Everyone is Doing Great, Washington first interacted with Lafferty while making a delivery.

“As a cannabis delivery driver in LA, you meet all sorts of people. I don’t want to name-drop, but you get to meet people like Anakin Skywalker and people of the like. One of the cool things about what I’m doing as an actor working in LA and doing different things, I make sure to advertise myself as often as I can and in multiple ways. My license plate on my car says ‘black actor,’ so you know who I am when I show up, which helped me out one evening.”

“I was delivering some product, and I always get asked the question, ‘Hey, are you an actor?’ absolutely, I sure am. [Lafferty said] ‘My partner and I were just we’re just talking about a role we need to fill. Do you have a demo reel?’ ‘I absolutely have a demo reel. Several versions of a demo reel, a resume, and headshots. Whatever you need, I’ll send it to you,'” Washington said.

“So, we had a pleasant interaction there, and the follow-up went even better. They were happy with what I was able to present them, and they were like, ‘Hey, would you like to read for a role?’ And the rest is history. We had a great meeting, and it turned out that I was kind of just what they were looking for in this role. It was the case of being in the right place at the right time,” Washington continued.

“We were struggling to find our Tony, and it was getting stressful. It’s funny that you know, through all of our connections, different reels, and stuff, we’re like, ‘Nope, this is not working out.’ Then James calls me, and he’s like, ‘So, check this out. Hear me out for a second.’ I was like, ‘I swear, I think I’ve seen that license plate before,’ and I remember going like, ‘Dude, that’s classic.’ In Los Angeles, you got to put yourself out there in any way you can,” Colletti added.

Lafferty said the stars aligned in many ways after meeting Washington. Looking for someone who could provide nuanced humor while still having a sense of warmth and toughness was proving difficult to find.

“There was a really complex mix of things that we wanted from this character that, as Steven said, we weren’t finding, but in just a short interaction with Phoenix outside the house, I was like, ‘This feels right.’ He handed over his demo reel. And then, of course, I IMDB’d him and was reading. It turns out he’s got extensive improv experience. From what I read on the internet, it was a reason you [Phoenix] got into the business, and our show is shot semi-improvisational. There’s miles and miles of room for actors to bring their own creativity to the role,” Lafferty said.

Tony is the manager of the sober living house Jeremy finds himself placed at as he tries to turn his life around. “He’s trying to hold this place together; his desire is to lead these people who live in this house into a positive future for themselves, and he uses his own experiences to teach and mentor, to a certain extent, the people who live there and James kind of fell right into that.”

“The relationship, like James and I in real life, became organic. It was able to grow organically, just from their conversation. Throughout the season, you’ll learn a bit more about Tony and his past and how he got to where he ended up,” Washington said.

Washington said that his experience in improv allowed him to pull from many different facets to create a complex character and that once he heard the character description, he immediately knew where he wanted to go with it.

With Everyone is Doing Great being an indie project, there was a lot to learn during Lafferty and Colletti’s time on Season 1, so they built the producing team around them and called in as many favors as possible.

“Anybody who wanted to be a part of it we called because we knew there was so much that we didn’t understand logistics-wise, on the production side, principal photography, and trying to get through all of that. There was a lot we needed to help with, so thankfully, everyone came aboard and helped us there. One thing we were really excited about getting to the end of Season 1 was that we were going to apply everything we learned in the first season into Season 2.”

“So, we were prepared in that sense. There were still plenty of challenges that popped up that we weren’t prepared for, but thankfully, everyone’s really looking out for each other on this project. Because it’s an independent project, everyone is very much invested; they’re doing it because they love it and they want to be a part of the project. That really helps everyone look out for one another and pick up the slack where need be, and that is definitely prevalent in Season 2,” Colletti continued.

Currently, Lafferty, Colletti, and others are searching for a new home for the series where they can not only provide an outlet for Season 2 but also add Season 1 back to streaming.

“We’re free agents still. We’ve always been an independent show, even with getting acquired by Hulu and Paramount plus, you know, it was like from the beginning, ‘We’re going to basically license the show for a short period of time, that license is up, then you guys are free to do what you want with the show.’ And you know, where we’re at now is that exact same position. We have a good relationship with Hulu and with Paramount Plus, so we’re going to finish the show, present it, and then we’ll go from there,” Colletti said.

Red Carpet Interviews with James Lafferty and Stephen Colletti:

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Everyone is Doing Great Season 2 will release sometime in late 2023 or early 2024.

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