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| Made in Jersey stars British import Janet Montgomery |
Lastseason, her second working on the Los Angeles writing staff of Franklin & Bash, the cable drama abouttwo wisecracking men, Dana Calvo realized she had something a little softer tosay.
A lifelong fan of female-focused shows like Sex and the City, Calvo says she enjoyedwatching that show’s fabulous foursome frolic around Manhattan, “and yet Ialways felt, ‘Wait, where’s the family?’ So I decided to write a show about a young woman and her life in full –friends, family and work. I know it’snot really cool to say, but I wanted to write about a family that is warm andloving and wholesome.”
Drawing on memories of Christmases spent with herItalian-American extended family, the Moorestown, NJ native created the comedicdrama Made in Jersey and its heroineMartina Garretti, whose life and career straddle both sides of the HudsonRiver. A lawyer like Calvo’s own sister,Martina crosses between her homespun life in the Garden State and her new jobas a first-year associate at a prestigious New York law firm. Right away, just as in Working Girl – one of Calvo’s inspirations – Martina catches theattention of the firm’s founder, Donovan Stark (Kyle MacLachlan) with herunique body of knowledge.
Calvo knew that making Madein Jersey work would depend on finding just the right leading lady toconvey Martina’s combination of street and book smarts. “I had a dream that we were going to cast aJersey girl right off a turnip truck, and her real story would mirror MartinaGarretti’s,” Calvo remembers with a laugh. Instead, after considering more than 100 candidates, producers consultedwith their casting director in the UK. There, in a video audition, was 26-year-old British actress JanetMontgomery. As Calvo explains, “I sawthe tape, and knew right away ‘That’s her!’”
New Jersey has been heating up for more than a decade, fromthe time of The Sopranos to today’scurrent spate of reality shows featuring big hair and even bigger drama. And that’s lucky for an English girl whoneeds to learn how to tawk. Montgomery says she’d never previously spentany Jerseylicious time with the state’s Real Housewives – but once she startedher research, “those shows are totally addictive. I watched a lot of them – and then I was toldnot to, because we don’t want our show to be that over-the-top. Still, I feel they gave me a good idea ofwhat Martina would have grown up around.”
Montgomery worked with a dialect coach, and says that onceshe stepped out of her trailer in Martina’s considerable coif and jangly charmbracelet, she was able to find the character’s voice, which she says “now issecond nature. I deliberately startedbig, but reined it back in to something that, while it’s obviously aworking-class accent, shows that she’s also an educated lawyer.” The actress says she loves that Made in Jersey is a unique hybrid of lawprocedural and family drama – and so does CBS, so much so that after viewingthe original pilot, the impressed network requested the addition of a few morescenes with Martina’s mom (Donna Murphy) and the rest of the garrulous Garrettis.
“Family is really important to knowing who Martina is,”Montgomery explains, adding that her own working-class upbringing as thedaughter of a postal worker has given her a particular appreciation for thecharacter. “I don’t have anyone else inmy family working in this industry. Andso this character whose lives at work and at home are so different, and who hasa family who are very supportive and yet don’t fully understand her job – it’sbeen so much like my own life, it’s really amazing.”
Made In JerseyPremieres Friday, September 289 PM Eastern / 8 PM CentralCBS
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