Drop Dead Diva: Sneak Peek At Season 3 With Josh Berman

We were able to catch up with Drop Dead Diva creator Josh Berman on the set of Season 3! Josh talked with us about what’s in store for Season 3, his dream Drop Dead Diva guest star, and more! Check out the interview with him below!

What can you tease us with about Season 3?

Josh Berman: What can I tease you with? I like to say it’s our biggest season yet. There’s gonna be more laughter, more tears, more guest stars, and more surprises.

In the first episode alone, you’ve probably heard, we have quite a few guest stars. In just episode one, we have Paula Abdul, Leann Rimes, and Wendy Williams. So probably more guest stars in one episode than most shows get in a whole season. And we just felt really lucky, because these stars have watched our show and for some reason there’s this cache of being a “Drop-Dead-Diva.” We are so fortunate and lucky that top talent wants to be on Drop Dead Diva. And in this season, we’re gonna have our biggest stars yet.

Now can you tell me if any of them are gonna be dancing?

Josh Berman: Oh yes! We will always have dancing and you know it’s… We don’t dance and sing in every episode. We’re not Glee, but when it’s appropriate to a storyline or it helps explained what our lead character is going through – Then we love to use dance and song as part of the subconscious.

Have tax incentives available here in Georgia for the entertainment industry made a huge difference for the show?

Josh Berman: Sure, I mean we’re here in GA because of the tax incentive. I mean, there’s been so many other benefits now that we are here, and I love being here. We have the best backlot that I’m aware of in Georgia – which we could not have built without the tax incentives. And the reason SONY allowed us to come here, and do the kind of big budget show that we do, is because of the tax incentives.

If they went away, we would not be able to be here which would be awful, because I love being in Georgia.

Now are you based here?

Josh Berman: No, the writers are still in Los Angeles, but our cast and crew are based here.

How do you balance all of it?

Josh Berman: I’m really lucky. I have a deal at SONY that allows me to stay and executive produce Drop Dead Diva, but also to create new shows. I shot another pilot a couple of months ago also in Georgia. Again, because of the tax incentives. I love being here, but I couldn’t be here but for the tax incentives. So that makes a huge difference.

And what’s amazing is with such great, big stars we have on our show, at first I was nervous that people wouldn’t wanna come to Georgia, but I realized it’s not that inconvenient to come here, which is great.

Now it seems like with all of the shows that you’ve done, there is some kind of law or crime involved. Do you ever think you’ll do a pure romantic comedy?

Josh Berman: Well, I think of Drop Dead Diva a lot as a romantic comedy, because the core is the relationships between a man and woman. The premise of the show is a skinny, vapid model dies and comes back to life as an overweight but brilliant attorney. And the question is will she be reunited with her soul mate who she had when she was the other person. So that’s the Legally Blond, Ugly Betty, hook of the show, and then the legal part, of course, is a little bit more like Ally McBeal.

Yes, they’re all legal stories, but I love writing the personal, inner character aspects of the show. We get a lot of attention for being… We’re one of the only comedies or dramedies that’s on during the summer. In fact our 3rd season launch is in June now. We finally have a month, we’ll be on in June.

Now I know you’re probably not gonna be able to tell me this, but before the end of the series do you foresee the whole storyline with Grayson and Jane/Deb working out…

Josh Berman: I think this series will unfold in ways nobody sees coming. I don’t think it’s a yes/no answer. Life is more complicated and so is this show. (Laughs)

This scene (referring to a dance sequence they were filming), how do you go about writing the dancing? Do you just say, “This is gonna be a dance scene here,” and then pass it off to a choreographer? How does that work?

Josh Berman: Well, I work really closely with Tyce Diorio from So You Think You Can Dance, and we become very close friends through this process. So I know that we wanted a specific dance number here, I knew what the song was that I wanted to use, and I knew what I wanted to convey emotionally. Then Tyce working with the director took it to a whole new level.

Who would be your ultimate guest star be?

Josh Berman: Bette Midler or Cher.

You know, Bette Midler was the last answer I got from Kate Levering too!

Josh Berman: Are you serious?

Yeah!

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We can’t wait for Season 3 of Drop Dead Diva! Can you? The series returns to Lifetime this June!

Interview By: Emma Loggins