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Moderator The next question comes from the line of Stevie Wilson with LA-Story.com.

S. Wilson Well, given that you came from doing some work with David Duchovny in Californication, Arthur is obviously a very different kind of character.

P. Gallagher Yes.

S. Wilson And the shows are quite different, obviously, but given that also the guys who are executive producing this that came with the Bourne Series and--

P. Gallagher Yes. Doug Liman and Dave Bartis.

S. Wilson Right. How much of that is going to be, do you feel like the series is going to have that kind of intensity?

P. Gallagher Oh, completely. Oh, this is the greatest thing about this. Doug and Dave are not full of shit. They're not just phoning this in. Doug Liman is not like just doing movies and then, "I've got this little TV show." That's not it at all. He's involved. No. I mean they're the real deal. That's why. The reason I'm in the show is because I wanted to work with them again. We worked on The O.C. together.
I just love them because I like the way they work and I like who they are. They're honorable and imaginative and they like to make it real. For instance, not long ago there was a scene and somebody was saying there needs to be a little more tension in this one chase scene. Doug's response was, "Well, we need four frames of her head turning left to right and another four frames of the fender as it comes in from right to left."
To answer your question, I think we're essentially making a movie every week. I mean it's real. I mean Doug is very involved. Dave is very involved. Nobody is doing this in their spare time. It's really they're committed, so I think you'll see all of that stuff, all of that kind of great action, wisdom and knowledge. You'll see as much as you can do in eight days any way.

S. Wilson Now, what is it about Arthur that is kind of like that hidden reveal that comes out slowly over time?

P. Gallagher When you find out what it is you tell me. I have no idea. I could imagine what. I love it because I think there are a million places Arthur could go. I like the whole work situation. There's a great relationship with Kari, I think, that develops. I'm hoping I'll have things to do with Piper and maybe in the tenth season I might actually leave-- In the tenth season I might actually leave the office. Wait. No. Actually, I already leave the office. We go to dinner and go in the bedroom.

S. Wilson It's interesting, because with what you've got going on I would like to see Arthur out in the field.

P. Gallagher Now you're talking. I think you've got to pick up the phone and call 1-800-Covert-Affairs.

S. Wilson Okay. Good. I'll do that. Thank you so much for your time today. It's a real pleasure talking to you.

P. Gallagher It's fun. It's great to promote something that you're proud of and that you like the people in and people seem to be responding. It's one of those. I'm not going to say any more. Let's not count any chickens. We're not out of the gate yet. Okay.

Moderator The next question comes from the line of Jessica Rae with Small Screen Scoop.

J. Rae I want to talk about the character of Arthur because we still don't know a lot about him. He seems so mysterious for a show about people who are mysterious. You mentioned the strong sense of duty that Arthur has. Do you think that this sense of duty is stronger than his sense of loyalty to his wife?

P. Gallagher Well, that's such a good question, because that's essentially the crux, isn't it?
But what's interesting, I think also that in that environment it's an area that I think every agent explores. I don't think it's necessarily always exclusive. Again, I'm totally off the track here, but I think that's exactly what makes it interesting, because I don't think Arthur is even sure. I think ultimately his responsibility is to the nation, you know? But I don't think they're necessarily mutually exclusive. I think he's got a juggling act, like a lot of people do, keeping all of the people in the Agency alive and well and the nation safe and his marriage intact. That's a tall order.

J. Rae It's a lot for him to do.

P. Gallagher It was tough for Tony Soprano.

J. Rae You mentioned that you're fascinated by the CIA. I'm curious. Would you ever consider - maybe not now, earlier or maybe later and you won't tell us - but would you ever consider joining the CIA?

P. Gallagher That's so bizarre, because they just called this morning.

J. Rae Uh-oh.

P. Gallagher No. I'm kidding. That's so crazy because they're at the door. That was them. I've got to go. No. You know what? I can't even imagine that. I'm just trying to make a living. I'm just trying to get my kids through college.

J. Rae It's hard enough pretending to play in the CIA, right?

P. Gallagher It's an interesting notion. Look, the notion of service; if my country needed me I wouldn't necessarily move to Ireland. No.
My father was in the Normandy Invasion. My brother was an Officer, an Army Officer, during Vietnam and so it kind of runs in the family, but I'm no hero.

J. Rae Well, there are different ways to be a hero.

Moderator The next question comes from the line of Tiffany Vogt with Nice Girls TV. Please go ahead.

T. Vogt This is probably just a little bit redundant after all of the questions you've answered, but did you have to go to any kind of classes or schooling for either fight training or to learn the lingo you might have to use as the director?

P. Gallagher Well, so far all I've had to really do is get up and down out of my desk and in and out of bed and up and down from dinner, so that I can do. But beyond that what I love about doing a TV show, which I haven't done that many, but the great thing about it is there's always next week. Well, not always. In fact, there is rarely next week, but when there is next week chances are there will be another week after that where these things can develop. So, as I said, I wasn't exactly sure how many I'd be doing of this show, so I didn't really know where the character was going or what it was going to be about and so I've been free to kind of imagine.
As I said, I haven't been to Langley, but I've been reading and I've been asking and I read the script because, frankly, no matter what kind of research you do, if you don't spend some time on what happens on the page it's not really going to matter.

T. Vogt You like to follow exactly what they've written on the page?

P. Gallagher No. That would not be a fair characterization. I'm just saying that I do all of the regular research. I didn't go to Langley. As I say, if this was a show called Arthur Campbell, CIA you could be sure I'd be living at Langley and I could kill you with a look. I could beat you to death with my eyebrows, but that's not the show. So I think if there are any special skills required I will acquire them as needed.

T. Vogt Okay. Also, characterizing Arthur a little bit do you think he's a strictly by the book kind of guy or would he be a bit more rogue if he felt it was necessary to get the job done?

P. Gallagher I think he's definitely not a bureaucrat. I think with his military background I just think the vibe of the guy, because he's a good leader, he's not for blindly following rules if the greater goal is going to be compromised. So it's a juggling act.

Moderator Our next question comes from Daniel Malen with the TVAddict.com.

D. Malen Let me preface my question by just letting you know, because I'm not sure if you're aware, Melinda Clarke, your former O.C. co-star is actually in Toronto shooting a CW Show, Nikita--

P. Gallagher Nikita. Yes.

D. Malen Do you think there's any chance we will ever see any of your former O.C. cast members guest on the show?

P. Gallagher On our show?

D. Malen Yes.

P. Gallagher Anything is possible. I love them all, so I hope so. It's up to them, I guess, or up to Covert Affairs. I mean I'm just hoping the Covert Affairs cast will continue to be on Covert Affairs. I mean we had a pretty good run with The O.C., so now we've got to give birth to Covert Affairs and then we'll see. I want to see Sandy Cohen from The O.C. be Arthur Campbell for a little while longer too. That would be good.

D. Malen What would Sandy say about Arthur Campbell? Because Sandy was kind of a hippie--
P. Gallagher Right.

D. Malen I don't know if he'd agree with your new character so much.

P. Gallagher No. He'd be protesting him.

D. Malen Probably.

P. Gallagher Then they'd bump into each other and realize they had a lot more in common than they thought.

D. Malen Really good looking wives.

P. Gallagher And they were played by the same person. "Wait a minute, weren't you played--?" "Yes." "Me too. Oh. That's why."

Moderator Our next one comes from Alix Sternberg with TheTVChick.com.

A. Sternberg Covert Affairs is going to premiere with White Collar and you touched upon this a little bit before, but what has it been like being a part of the USA Network?

P. Gallagher It's pretty cool. It's like being part of the future a bit because things just make sense, you know? You can feel it instantly.
It's kind of like it's just the experience, as I say, the people at the top of an organization pretty well define the organization, I think, which is why I wanted to be in business with Doug Liman and Dave Bartis--
Because I admire them and I respect them and I trust them and there's nothing more fun than working with people that you feel that way about. That's when good work happens too. That's what a lot of people don't understand. Some people think it's all about control and say this and do that. That's baloney. It's a lot about the things that happen that are surprising to everybody.
Working with USA what I found surprising was, for instance, I put on a suit in the pilot. Within a couple of hours Bonnie Hammer, the Head of the network, had seen a picture of me in that suit on her iPhone and approved it.

A. Sternberg Wow.

P. Gallagher Within a few hours. You know what? There's not a really heavy, heavy bureaucracy there at USA. There are a couple of people that do the job that, in some places, 50 people do, so they're people who are responsible and you get to know them. So things happen. I haven't felt there's been unproductive interference from them; that they're sort of allowing us to do our jobs. Obviously, we're not screwing it up too badly, at least in their eyes.
Listen, the best thing in the world is when things happen in a good way and things are really happening in a good way and I have to credit USA for creating that environment. I have to credit Doug and Dave for creating that environment and for USA allowing them to create that environment. So it's pretty cool. Whatever they're doing it's right and there are only 13 episodes, so chances are the writing will stay good.

A. Sternberg You talked a little bit about the back story you've created for Arthur Campbell. You also talked a lot about a lot of your family being in the military. Did any of that back story come from people you know or any stories you've heard?

P. Gallagher Just a few things I had read about. I mean, really, basically what I enjoyed, what interests me about a possible Arthur Campbell - as I say, I'm not writing it, so I'm just kind of making this up - but what appeals to me is the notion that he has experience on the ground in the military and as a CIA asset. So when he is in a political position as director of that agency and forced to be either questioned or reprimanded or used in some political fashion by a bureaucrat, by a politician, who has no experience in the military or has no real experience in any of the things that they're talking about there just should be an interesting conflict. Interesting as this man, Arthur, has a great sense of duty and can't respond as he might feel like responding. He's being questioned by a Senator that is trying to score political points and doesn't really know what he's talking about, to balance that responsibility.
Am I making any sense? Do you know what I mean?

A. Sternberg Yes. Yes.

P. Gallagher In other words, the notion of being authentic as opposed to using one's position for one's grand .... I like that conflict. I like to be that guy who's actually been there and is forced to kind of deal with the challenges of the job.

Moderator Our next question comes from Chris O'Vara with TVOvermind.com.

C. O'Vara From watching the pilot it really seems like it seemed very natural and there was just great chemistry with the cast. Could you talk a little bit about shooting with that cast?

P. Gallagher Yes. Well, you know what? I think that's so huge. I think that has as much to do with a show being successful as anything because you know what? What you see on the screen, that's what it's like. That's what it's like on the set.
I'll be honest with you. In fact, here you go; I guess you can say that because you guys are bloggers, but the first question I asked Dave Bartis when he said, "Hey, Pete, I've got this script, Covert Affairs. There might be a little part in here that maybe you'd want to do and blah, blah, blah." The first thing I asked him, I said, "What's the a**hole quotient?" He said, "I've got to be honest with you. At this point, zero." I said, "All right. I'm in." That pretty much is true.
As I say, it's defined by Doug Liman and Dave Bartis in that they have no interest in working with people that want to suck up all of the attention in the room. They're interested in telling a story well. So they invited all of these people to help tell this story that feel that same way. As a result, you've got all of these people in the cast, Chris and Piper and Anne and Sendhil. Sendhil went to Tufts, by the way, so we're both Jumbos.
These casts are really bright and really funny and really generous. In my experience the best artists I've ever worked with are the best people and the easiest to work with because they know well enough to know that whatever anxiety or fear they're having nobody else should have to pay for. If you had a shitty high school experience, get over it. That's what it's like on the set. I have nothing but respect for Piper and everybody, Chris. As I say, Chris got me into Tweeting. It's a great set to be on. A great crew too.

C. O'Vara What other television shows have you been into lately? What have you been watching?

P. Gallagher I don't really get into television much, but I'm absolutely hooked on Modern Family. I'm looking forward to seeing the season of Rescue Me. My pal, Dennis, this is his last couple of seasons.

Moderator Our next question comes from Christine Nyholm with Suite101.

C. Nyholm My question is I have a nephew, who wants to be an actor, like so many people do and so my question, since you've been in the business for such a long time and are so knowledgeable, what kind of advice would you give somebody who wants to get into acting?

P. Gallagher If there is any, any, any, any way you can think of doing something else, do it. If you can't, just try to do it as much as you can and keep showing up. Remember that nobody knows anything and there is nobody at the top. Nobody has figured it out, so you have just as much of a chance-- you have as much right to try as anybody.
What I will also say is the acting game has totally changed in the last couple of years and I think it's going to be harder and harder for actors to make a living at it.
I think what you really want to do in order to survive is also to have an eye on somehow creating some content, because I think everything is going to be different. But at the end of the day, put yourself on your death bed and if you think that your life would be absolutely tarnished and poorer if you didn't follow your dreams then you better follow your dreams; otherwise it will lead you somewhere worthwhile, even if it's not to where you think you want to go.

C. Nyholm I'm going to ask you to elaborate just a little bit. You're not the first actor, who has said to me that, "Do anything else." So why is that?

P. Gallagher Because as much people who, even you guys that really know more than anybody about TV and that really observe things, you can't fathom how mind bending and heartbreaking it can be, because things happen that make absolutely no sense. It's tough. My parents, the first Broadway show my parents saw I was in. They didn't know. Nobody did. It was ridiculous, so I was making it up. It's good if you have learned stuff about it before you go in and maybe you have a better chance, but it's just hard. A lot of things are and if you do manage to pull it off in some way, shape or form you're one of the lucky, lucky few. I consider myself one of the lucky, lucky few.

Moderator Our next question comes from Amanda Ernst with Crushable.com
A. Ernst My question is because of The O.C. I think you probably have the following of younger fans. I want to know if you kind of have a sense of that or what your relationship is with your fans. Do you get out and talk to them? Do you, now that you're on Twitter, get to kind of interact with them at all?

P. Gallagher I always do. I love the fans. I mean I'd be out of business without them. Look, I'm still crazy enough to think that storytelling is really important. Really, it's as important now as it's ever been. There's nothing more powerful than a story, in my eyes, well told other than contributing to that story being told well. So when a story works it sort of creates a little sense of community.
Chris Gorham got me into the whole Twitter thing, which, as I said, it would paralyze me. I thought, "Why would you ever want to tell anybody what you're doing? What is that about? Nobody wants to know what I'm doing. It's not even interesting." But then I kind of understood it. I mean it's a real paradigm shift, because I hide. I like hide behind my characters. I don't want anybody. It's embarrassing. I love to talk, but not about myself, believe it or not. So I'm really digging this. Just in the last couple of weeks he got me into this and I've been talking to people from all over the world.
It's true. When you're lucky enough to play characters that inspire people or help people-- I've gotten lots of notes from people about Sandy Cohen and fathering and sad stories and things. I'm moved by that. I talked to a guy that became an actor. Yesterday I saw a movie this guy was starring in. He became an actor, an English actor, because of a performance he saw that I was in of Long Day's Journey Into Night in London 25 years ago. So I love that.
If people were coming up to me on the street and throwing bottles at me and saying, "You suck," that would be different, but that hasn't been my experience. I can look forward to that.

A. Ernst Yes. I mean playing someone like Sandy, who was such a good father and such a good husband, now to be in this character and like the tiny bit that we saw of him in the pilot, sort of, he's being accused of cheating. What is that like for you to play that now?

P. Gallagher Well, I don't really know what that is yet, you know? Because the character is still being developed. I suspect that this character has more in common with Sandy Cohen than at first meets the eye. Maybe not as liberal, but in terms of a belief in the tenants of democracy and a free society and what it takes to keep it that way, a different approach. But I think they both are sort of driven by ideals and some of those ideals coincide and others diverge.
But meanwhile, listen; I don't know what's going to happen. It could turn out I could end up strolling into Arby's with an assault rifle in episode 11 and wiping out the kitchen staff. I don't know what's going to happen.
P. Gallagher Thank you. Have a great weekend.

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