Gil McKinney's career has taken him from a fast-paced ER to the glow of Friday Night Lights, dabbling in Supernatural forces and taking the throne of a kingdom on Once Upon A Time. Gil and I spoke at Regal Con 2015 to talk about conventions, viewing habits, and more.
Zach: I’m Zach Van Norman with Once Upon a Fan. Thank you very much for giving us your time again today.
Gil: Happy to be here.
Zach: So, I guess my first question is going to be: since the last time I saw you for Enchantacon about a year and a half ago, how has life changed for you since then?
Gil: (Laughs) Tremendously, as far as these conventions go. Enchantacon was my first convention. You're right. I think it was a year and a half ago, and right after that I got contacted by Creation Entertainment to be a part of Supernatural conventions which has been a lot of fun. So I think I've probably done, I don't know, eight or ten of those for Supernatural since I saw you last. And it's been a blast, like getting to hang out with those actors and meet those fans, so it's been really great. This is fun too. The Once Upon a Time fans are as awesome, but they're different, you know. There's definitely some crossover I think between the two shows, but Once Upon a Time fans are definitely more Disneyesque I would say!
Zach: I would agree with that! Lots of cosplay going on today. I was going to ask you too, because you did pick up a big following from Supernatural, how do you compare your role on Supernatural to Eric on Once Upon a Time?
Gil: You know it's interesting because they're both, I guess, kind of important roles to the show but I only did basically two episodes of each show. I was in three episodes of Once Upon a Time, but the third episode was just a fleeting glace of me on the beach kissing Ariel. But they're kind of important roles so I feel like the fans embraced not only the character but me as well. Supernatural I feel has been a little bit different because my two episodes of Supernatural were spread out over at least a year and like I said I've done eight or ten of those conventions so far and I think I'm scheduled to do eight more of those this year. I feel like I've gotten closer with that fan base than the Once Upon a Time fan base, but that's totally understandable since I haven't been on Once Upon a Time since I did it two years ago or over two years ago now. But they're both great fan bases and as far as the roles go,on Supernatural getting to be a Winchester is pretty cool thing, but also getting to play a Disney prince is awesome as well. I'll be honest with you guys. I just hope that at some point Once Upon a Time will have me back because I feel we've barely scratched the surface of Prince Eric and Ariel. There's just so many great characters on the show. I'm hopeful that at some point they'll have me back. Not holding my breath at this point.
Zach: I think it would be interesting too to see a scene between Eric and Hook because of Hook and Ariel's relationship and what that was like. Then to have Ariel's man come in and say 'You're the one who messed with my woman.'
Gil: Right, right! I feel there's a lot of things they can do, so we'll see what happens.
Zach: You were talking about the con circuit, now that you've been doing more and more events, what effect does that have on you and your understanding of the fandom and what the show means to people?
Gil: It was really unexpected. I knew that these things went on, but I had no idea what they really were about. It took a while. It took several cons for me to really start to realize that getting an autograph or a picture is cool and all that, but it's really about this family. I assume for Once Upon a Time fans it's the same way, but the Supernatural family they're really like this weird, awesome family. They really support each other and they support us. It's been really awesome to be a part of. It's changed my life in a lot of ways even in just the last year and a half. It's given me experiences that I never would have had otherwise. Getting to be on a stage again and being given a microphone and being given a chance to connect with fans that way is really, really cool. It's helped me with public speaking and doing this sort of thing, which I don't have a lot of experience with. It's definitely helped me with that. Also, getting to hear from the fans how the show has changed their life and how much the show means to them. It's really great for us to hear that because we as actors we go on auditions and if you're lucky you get a job and then the job is over and you're looking for the next job. This is cool because even though my job on Once Upon a Time ended two years ago, this has the power to sustain and keep me plugged into this thing which is really, really cool. There's guys on the Supernatural circuit that haven't been on an episode of Supernatural in five or six years, but they're still welcomed and applauded every time they step on stage at a convention. It's really, really cool.
Zach: What would you say to all the fans who don't have the opportunity to be at this event or all the other conventions. What would you say to everybody who's shown you support? To all the fans who aren't able to interact with you like those who attend these conventions?
Gil: I guess I would say that they don't go unnoticed. I'm glad that you brought them up. I would hope that at some point they could find a way to come to one of these (conventions) but if they can't for whatever reason I think that social media is a really amazing thing for that. I see people on Twitter all the time that are staying plugged in and are interacting with other fans and even actors from the show that don't get to come to the conventions. I know for a fact that there are thousands and thousands of fans who are plugged in to what's going on here (at RegalCon) even though they can't be here, so that's pretty cool. We did a little press thing this morning and within minutes pictures were sent out on Twitter and retweeted and fans get to feel like a part of it. I'm not a huge social media guy. I've tried to be more involved with it. It's pretty amazing to see the power that it has for a television show. I know for Supernatural the ratings are better than they've ever been in large part due to social media really taking off. I think for Once Upon a Time it's the same thing. It's really helped them to continue to grow really, really strong.
Zach: Yeah, and streaming too because Once Upon a Time is one of the two most popular shows on Netflix.
Gil: Is it really?
Zach: Yeah, it's Once Upon a Time and The Blacklist.
Gil: Wow!
Zach: Yes, it's up there. What are your thoughts on the way people are changing the way they watch television? It used to be appointment TV. You had to be in front of your set at a certain time, but now with DVR and streaming it's kind of changing things up. How do you feel about the transition?
Gil: I think it's great. I don't know that it's changed a whole lot for me work wise. I know a lot of people who are not in the business, so to speak, are like, 'you must be so much busier with all the new content.' I haven't noticed a huge shift for me personally, but I'm hopeful that that will come because there is so much good stuff going on. I think it's great. I love Netflix. I love House of Cards. I just started watching Daredevil. It's incredible. I'm really into that show and I'm not a huge comic book guy, but they really did that right. Netflix is doing it perfectly. So I think it's fun. It's nice too when I have a day off here and there, I don't mind watching five, six episodes of a show. Binging it like that is kind of fun. I don't really like waiting the week. I will wait the week for Game of Thrones. You know, something that I'm really in love with. But there's not that many shows any more that I really want to wait the week for, you know what I mean? I actually got rid of my direct TV recently. I've got Netflix. I've got HBO now. I've got local channels if I want to tune into something. It has been kind of interesting because if I want to watch Once Upon a Time or something like that I have to remember what tim e it's on. It reminds me of being a kid and going to the TV Guide to find out what time it's on. So, I'm doing some of that again. But I think DVR and all the streaming content is awesome.
Zach: Sweet! Thanks for your time today.
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