'Hit The Floor' Creator James LaRosa On His Tendency To Drop Truth Bombs
Last night's second episode of Hit The Floor ended in just as much of a jaw-dropping, expletive-shouting, confused fashion as its series premiere. This is becoming a trend, y'all! Fortunately, we have the pleasure of turning to the show's creator, James LaRosa, in moments of distress, or simply whenever we want an insider's take on lines that make us laugh.
Read on for thoughts from the man behind the moves and manipulations of all of your newest TV friends.
(WARNING: Spoilers! As always, if you haven’t watched this week’s episode yet, run don’t walk. Then run back here. Then shimmy. Just cuz.)
OH NO SHE DIDN’T!
Jelena, WHAT? Telling a girl who her daddy is right before a big dance number, what would Miss Manners say about that?
"Your mother danced for him back in the day and now it's your turn. It's almost poetic."
What a b--ch!
My favorite part is how she then runs out to the court tossing her compact to a security guard. Cuz that's his job. To hold her compact. (No, seriously. It is.)
In Jelena’s defense... okay there is no defense. That was just funk. Ahsha's waited her whole life to dance out on the floor of Devils Arena, and now she’s left standing in the corridor with her world blown. Now what? Stay tuned. :)
People ask me why we let Ahsha in on The Secret so soon. We could've milked this for an entire season. Stolen looks, lingering glances, close calls. Here's why: holding onto bombs is not how Hit The Floor works. WE DROP ‘EM! Jaws hit the floor around here.
This week’s episode started out happy, didn’t it? The new team of Devil Girls got together, got new uniforms, got photographed. UGH, until the most heartbreaking moment of the episode for me, when Raquel walked by the moment they were taking the team picture. The look on her face! She landed on her feet, which is great, scoring a job as the hostess of The Devils Playground. Baby daddy Jesse still managed to stink up her debut, but she got the last laugh. #JesseChampagneCrotch
Someone who wasn’t at the season kick-off party at the Playground: German. Ahsha couldn’t get him in, which gave Derek a chance to cop a knee feel. He redeemed himself by giving Ahsha a ticket to opening game for his oblivious rival. A thank you, no doubt, to Ahsha, who gave him a shoulder to lean on. We know what he really wants to lean on. Okay that doesn’t make sense but it sounds filthy so let’s just go with it.
Of course Derek had plenty of time to instigate Pete with his "I saw her first, Coach" comment. Sent Pete flying out to call Sloane and force her to come down to the arena. DRAMA. You can’t blame Pete for wanting to tell Ahsha. And he was clearly wound up to do it. Until Sloane said three little words that shut him down. “You owe me.” WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Keep watching. PS, I absolutely loooooove Pete and Sloane. History is a powerful thing. And so is chemistry. And these two churn my butter in a big way. (More filth that really means nothing but sounds awful so I’m leaving it.)
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Another pair I adore is Jelena and Olivia, two ball-busting women who know how to throw down. Exhibit A:
Olivia: “You need to understand something Jelena, I’m the boss around here, not you. Director, Captain. Any confusion about that is my fault but that is so over.”
Jelena: “Sadly the same can’t be said for this speech.”
YASSSSS.
Jelena had more than Ahsha to deal with this week. Besides having her leash yanked by Olivia, she also got a message from Mia saying she wasn’t going away--not to mention an envelope delivered to the Playground with what looked like a HELL of a lot of cash. Jelena didn’t look too happy to receive it. Instead, she texted Mia telling her “Whatever you’re thinking of doing, don’t.” WHY DOES THIS SHOW HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS??
Don’t worry, this ain’t LOST. We answer them.
Busy night for Jelena. Besides ALL THAT, and rocking Ahsha’s world, she also found time to have a super awkward moment with Raquel at the bar. There’s clearly no love lost after last week’s blow up between them. Keep an eye out for these two. Cuz this ain’t over. #JelenaChampagneCrotch?
LINE OF THE WEEK: “Less narratin’ and more gyratin’ honey, I’m close, and so is security!” - Kyle Hart
Kyle snags the honor again this week, BUT COME ON. She just says the craziest s--t. And she backs it up--Teddy Reynolds and the inside of Terrence Wall’s locker can attest to that. And how about her playbook with all the names of the high rollers who come to the games? “I’m a Devil Girl now, I’ll never pay my own rent again.” Get it!
Some of you eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed one of our Devil Girls wasn’t in last night’s episode. Ashley Everett, who plays redheaded powerhouse Peyton, had to take a time-out to go back on tour with her rolldawg Beyoncé. She is still very much a Devil Girl and when she comes back something tells me she’ll have a few stories to share... When Ashley told me Bey was calling (I’m calling her Bey now though she has no idea who I am), the same woman who let us use "Run The World (Girls)" in our premiere, all I could say was: Beyoncé Giveth, Beyoncé Taketh Away. But the truth is Beyoncé is sort of a spiritual godmother to this show (Ashley has been a gift!) and we love both women to death.
YOUR QUESTIONS!
WHY AM I SCREAMING?
From the Twitter...
“What is YOUR favorite style of dance, and will we see it during the season?” @CheerGirlEnt
I love contemporary. I’m a melodramatic person by nature and if you want to convey a million emotions and make someone cry, that’s the dance to do. Or the Harlem Shake. On this season of HTF, you see everything. Except tap. Hard to tap in high heels, though I bet my Devil Girls could do it.
“Which do you prefer: boxers, briefs, or boxer briefs?” @BriefsOrBoxers
Is there a fourth option?
"How'd you come up with the script? It is awesome and the dancers are good dancers and the choreography is on point." From Kayla Eleam via the HTF FB page
VH1 looked at the shows that were clicking with audiences and thought basketball dancers would be something you guys miiight be interested in. They knew I loved writing bad b--ches so they gave me a ring. From there, Ahsha, Jelena, Kyle et al were born. Turns out VH1 was right, huh? As for the dance, our tryouts for Devil Girls was even more intense off screen than on. We saw hundreds of the best dancers in the country, and watching them all audition was one of the highlights of making the show for me. Combining our final 14 with Michael Rooney’s choreography is a nonstop eyegasm.
"How much wood would Jelena chuck if Jelena would chuck her own wood?" From Logan Browning via the HTF FB page
Logan, if you watched the show you’d know: Jelena would NEVER chuck her own wood.
If you have any questions about the show, either story stuff or what goes on behind the scenes, tweet them to me at @JamesLaRosa. Or if you’re cast members who like to mess with me like Logan you should clearly take to the Official Hit The Floor FB page. I’ll try to answer as many as I can here.
Thanks for reading, watching and just being the sexy mother effers you are.
Till next time HTF-ers.
James
[Photo Credit: James LaRosa]