“The Runarounds” may be the follow-up to Jonas Pate’s hit YA series “Outer Banks,” but there’s never been a show quite like it. That’s because this fictional story of how an up-and-coming High School rock band came to be is almost non-fiction, since the boys are actually a music group in real life, too.
William Lipton, Axel Ellis, Jeremy Yun, Zendé Murdock and Jesse Golliher star in the Rockfish Films, Skydance Television and Amazon MGM Studios co-production, which had its Los Angeles premiere at the Directors Guild of America theater complex on Tuesday night in Hollywood — followed by a live performance and after-party at The Roxy.
The band was handpicked by Pate to appear in Season 3 of “OBX” from over 5,000 auditions, meaning the characters are more or less based on the actors, with some artistic license. But of the five titular musicians, only Lipton had any professional acting experience thanks to his 300+ episodes of “General Hospital.”
“We had an amazing acting coach, but the only contribution I felt like I did was just buying in as much as I could,” he explained. “Watching them follow suit and fall in love with acting the same way that I’ve been in love with it for a long time was a really beautiful experience. I’m so proud of them, they should be proud of themselves.”
So does Lipton now consider himself an actor or a musician first? “I’ve been very privileged to be able to do both at a certain level; it’s so much fun to do. I can’t pick one or the other.”
The series also stars Lilah Pate, Maximo Salas, Kelley Pereira, Marley Aliah, Shea Pritchard, Hayes MacArthur and Brooklyn Decker, who herself understands what the boys went through considering she began her career in Hollywood as a model before making it big in “Just Go With It” and “Grace and Frankie.”
“I looked at what they were doing with so much love, because they came in with an enormous amount of talent and then they were supported by creators and a crew who set them up to succeed,” the actress said. “Not only is that every twenty-something’s dream breaking into the industry, but it certainly would have been mine, trying to transfer from one job to the other. So seeing the care that was taken into fostering their talent, their acting ability, their musical talent? It was five years in the making. I don’t know if I’ve seen that level of care taken in any other project.”
As for Lilah, who has appeared in both “OBX” and “The Summer I Turned Pretty” already, she is happy to add another teen dramedy to her résumé — especially one that received a post-screening standing ovation.
“I feel so lucky to call all of those cast members true friends,” she shared. “I’ve been so excited and overwhelmed, so I’m texting every single one of them: I’m texting Chase [Stokes] about what agency I should go to; calling [Madelyn] Cline about what publicist I should use; just constantly bothering them all.”
Meanwhile, her dad Jonas was equally happy to see the show finally come to fruition with a red carpet premiere after more than five years in development — and a pilot shot on spec.
“Skydance is amazing. Matt Thunell, who is an exec there, was the exec that bought ‘Outer Banks,’ so I’ve worked with him twice, I love him. Skydance is so brave, they were the first group to get behind this,” the writer/director/EP said. “Amazon Music is helping us release the soundtrack on Sept. 1, so it’s been fun to work with a bunch of different departments.”
“It’s crazy, we’d been thinking about it for a long time. I kept thinking this is such a good idea for a show, but I couldn’t pitch it because anyone was just going to pass. So we made the pilot, ‘Let’s just show them,’ and that’s what we did,” Jonas added. “I tried to not direct [the band] too much, I just wanted them to be vulnerable. Just forget about the camera, be yourself and we’ll be good.”
The event also featured toilet-papered trees, an open bar and passed apps, as well as collectible band T-shirts and pins, branded solo cups, guitar pick drink charms, light-up wristbands and personalized drumsticks. Other notable guests included Matt Thunell, Michael Rooker, Josh Pate, Jennifer Daley, Dani Deetté, Emme Sibulkin, Cranston Johnson, David Wilcox and Jennifer Pate.
“The Runarounds” Season 1 drops Monday, Sept. 1 on Prime Video.
