Pop Culturalist Chats with Brooke Markham

Brooke Markham is quickly making a name for herself as one of Hollywood’s funniest leading ladies—joining the ranks of Emma Stone, Amy Schumer, and Tina Fey. Her breakout performance as the quirky Imogen in AwesomenessTV’s Foursome caught everyone’s attention. And now she’s showing off her versatility as the fearless Claire in Cassandra French’s Finishing School. Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to chat with Brooke about both roles, how online streaming platforms are changing the industry, and the powerful message she hopes fans take away from Cassandra French’s Finishing School.

PC: Can you tell us a bit about the show and your character?
Brooke: Cassandra French starts off with Cassie (a.k.a. Cassandra French), who is working at a PR firm while trying to cultivate the best life for herself. She feels like the best guy should be included in that. In the beginning of the show, she’s dealing with a breakup and is quite sad about that. Her best friend/roommate Claire (a.k.a. me) says, “Let’s just go out, have a couple of drinks, and find a good guy.” So that’s what she does. She finds Owen. They go home and have a little rendezvous. She finds out the next morning that he filmed them having sex and is embarrassed about this; there’s a bit of an altercation. He calls her a prude and she hits him over the head with a dumbbell. She ties him up in the basement in attempt to teach him how to be a better man. That’s why it’s called Cassandra French’s Finishing School.

PC: What do you think is the most important lesson that you guys teach Owen?
Brooke: That’s a difficult question because throughout the series, I think people question who is a bad guy and who isn’t. Obviously, the girls are fed up. They want to teach men how to treat and respect women. Women should not be objectified. We’re not objects. We deserve a good person in our lives who treats us well. Just because society has objectified women doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. Cassie, Claire, and Lexi, who’s in the story later, get inspired by having a guinea pig in Owen. Finally, they are standing up for themselves and how they think men should treat women with respect. Hopefully, that’s the message for girls. Stand up yourself and ask for what you want. The message isn’t to get a guy and chain him up in your basement or do the stuff we’re doing in the show. It’s that women need to be treated with respect and equality, and not be objectified. After that, ask for what you want.

PC: That’s a great message. There’s this really strong sense of friendships, more specifically, female friendship in this show. How did you build that bond with Jessica, who plays Cassandra?
Brooke: A lot of times, when you’re working on different shows, it’s really rare to come across a person that you bond with so much—especially, a person who is supposed to play your best friend on the show. I love Jessica Renee Russell so much. It was kind of this magical thing when we first met. We just clicked. We can’t really explain why. It was like a truly meant-to-be situation. Getting to play her best friend on screen was incredible and so much fun; and getting to be one of her best friends in real life is even better.

PC: Do you have a favorite on-or-off set moment?
Brooke: There are so many. We had so much fun. Jess and I are obviously very excited by the material, characters, and stories. Both she and I are passionate about the project. It’s such a fun show to do. We rehearse the lines before we shoot and we come up with these really funny game plans. There’s a scene in Episode 1 where Cassie is explaining to Claire that, “This is going to be you and me. We’re going to do this.” And Claire’s just like, “Yeah, okay, I’m on board.” Then Cassie says, “You and me, together.” As we were rehearsing that, for some reason, we sang that line. It was kind of like, I don’t know how to explain it, that moment between us that we were so in tune that we were like (sings) “You and me, together.” It was so funny. We were like, those are the characters. They would totally sing that together. That’s how in-sync they are with one another. We did it. We decided that’s how we’re going to do that and we were so excited; and we freaking did it! But Jaime Burke, our director, was like, “Great, that was a really good take, but the singing part in the end–that’s not really working. Let’s just cut that. Just say the line.” We were devastated. We were like, “Oh, no! It was a brilliant idea and they don’t like it.” Because of that, anytime Jess and I text each other or email, that line, it’s always in there. We both know what that means. I guess that’s the most fun moment for me. This is now a huge thing for us both.

PC: The show is based off a novel by Eric Garcia. Are there a lot of similarities and differences?
Brooke: There are similarities, and a lot of differences. But that underlying message of the story that we talked about before, the feminist message with a powerful woman protagonist has never changed.

PC: Most people know you for your portrayal of Imogen in Foursome. In Cassandra French, you get to show a totally different range. Do you relate to one character more than the other?
Brooke: It’s funny because I relate to both. Imogen is so quirky. God, I love her so much. I was like Imogen in high school. I wasn’t home schooled, by any means. But as far as being a bit overly cautious and nervous about high school, in general, and boys and drinking, and all that stuff; that was definitely me in high school. When I was first reading for Foursome, that’s how I related to that character. I remember talking to Amy York Rubin who directed the first season, we talked about it because when you first meet me, you think it’s just polar opposite; that Imogen is a character I have to create that’s way outside of myself, which is fun but actually, if I delve back to my high school self, you can definitely see similarities—just in her energy and nervousness. I’m a lot more like Claire now. Claire is pretty… She’s just like a bow down bitch. She’s a little bit drier than Imogen. Now, I feel like I relate to Claire more. I relate to both the characters, but just at different points in my life.

PC: Both shows you’re involved with are web series. How do you think platforms like YouTube and Fullscreen have changed the industry?
Brooke: That’s actually a topic I talk a lot about with my friends. It’s amazing–the fact that it’s changing. The media landscape is almost changing faster than we can comprehend; all of these different platforms. I find that there’s more freedom because they are offering things in a slightly different way. Especially because they’re new, and people are still trying to figure out how these online platforms fit into our culture. It’s so common for people today to cancel their cable and just use online streaming services like Netflix, YouTube Red, Amazon, etc. It opens up a whole new wave of artists to come in; really everyone–the directors, the lesser known or struggling actors–who need to get their foot in the door that these big studios wouldn’t give much of a chance because people want to work with friends, they want to work with people they know, and you have a system in place that you know works, which is understandable. I feel with these new platforms, they are really taking off. It has its opportunities for a lot of new, up-and-coming, amazing faces. You don’t have to be an intern to get your shot and you can go to the online platforms and get to direct your first feature or your first series. They’re taking more chances and I find that’s really cool.

Photo Credit: Fullscreen

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Brooke: Stranger Things! I’ve already binge-watched it twice. I love that show so much.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Brooke: Grease

PC: Do you have a band or artist people would be surprised is on your playlist?
Brooke: I don’t know if it would be surprising. I have always been in love with Ani Difranco. I have loved her since I was about 14. I think she’s incredible.

PC: Favorite Social Media Platform?
Brooke: Instagram. I love making pictures look pretty.

PC: Hidden talent?
Brooke: I can open a beer bottle with a lighter. Do you know what I mean? You hold the lighter and then pop the beer bottle with the lighter. Have you seen people do that?

PC: I actually haven’t!

Brooke: I’ll do it for you. I lived in a small town in Oregon. This is the kind of stuff you know how to do.

Make sure to follow Brooke on Instagram and Twitter. And catch Cassandra French’s Finishing School every Friday on Audience TV.

Photo Credit: Bjorn Wilde