Interview with "Greek" creator Patrick Sean Smith

When Greek premiered last summer, many gay viewers took little notice. For one, it was a college comedy about the fraternity system, not exactly the most gay-friendly setting. For another, it was on ABC Family, a network whose curious origins and “family” moniker didn’t exactly scream “gay-friendly!” to new viewers.

But those who tuned in were in for a pleasant surprise: Greek featured among its central ensemble a gay character named Calvin (Paul James) whose romantic ups and downs were treated with just as much respect and care as those of the straight characters. And beyond Calvin, the show overall was a surprisingly grounded warts-and-all look at college life that balanced raunchy humor, family drama and pop culture savvy with impressive ease.

Tonight Greek returns for its second season, and fans will be happy to know that Calvin is back in full force to deal with the fallout of his big decision to leave the Kappa Taus after he was outed in the season finale, as well as with other issues such as religious homophobia and new love.

We sat down with the out creator of Greek, Patrick Sean Smith (he goes by Sean), to learn more about the character of Calvin, what it’s like to be an out writer in Hollywood, and what’s in store for our pledges this season.

***WARNING*** This interview contains some plot spoilers for Season 2 of Greek

AfterElton.com: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. So what is in store for Calvin this season?
Sean Smith: Well, you saw the first two episodes, so that was kind of dealing with the fallout of his being outed inadvertently by Ashley to the fraternity and hearing their reaction to that. It was tough because we didn’t want to play the fraternity’s reaction too stereotypical. But it felt real to have at least a couple of dissenting voices and see Evan step up for him as somebody who isn’t blinded by the issue of his homosexuality, but more appreciating him as a person and as the friend that he is and the relationship that they’ve built in that first ten episodes.

So it’s Calvin seeing the better side of Omega Chi that, unfortunately Rusty who, is in Kappa Tau, isn’t privy to, which causes a rift in their relationship and their friendship.

The second episode is when Rusty tries to get Calvin to rush Kappa Tau and it’s out of that that Calvin learns to appreciate what he has at Omega Chi and what a friend he has in Evan. And then we have a new relationship for Calvin later in the season with a French teaching assistant who he is introduced to through Ashley, having to deal with somebody who is older and a little more experienced than Calvin.

Paul James (left) & Max Greenfield

AE: Is this the guy from Hotmanistan? The guy with the fanny pack?
SS: No, he’s somebody that Ashley has in a class that we haven’t seen before and is introduced in that episode. He’s played by Max Greenfield, who was on Veronica Mars as Deputy Leo. He was also on Ugly Betty as Alexis’ assistant.

AE: Oh, the new assistant, right! That’s great. I know that when he was on Ugly Betty our readers were already really fond of him so they’ll be very excited to hear that.
SS: Yeah – he’s great. He’s wonderful and the coolest guy and very chill.

AE: Does he play a French person or does he just play a French teaching assistant?
SS: He plays a French teaching assistant.

AE: And so what happens to Heath after the first episode? Does he just go away?
SS: Well, in the second episode we have this really funny scene where we see the Omega Chis discussing whether Calvin should be let back into the house or not, given his . . .

AE: Yeah, I saw that one. That was the first episode.
SS: . . . and then Heath has his coming out to the Kappa Taus. You saw that?

AE: Yeah, that was in the first episode. That was great.
SS: And then Heath remains as a Kappa Tau brother and as, you know, an ex of Calvin’s who will kind of be around. I would love to get Calvin and Heath back together, but I think there’s some growing for Calvin to do before that happens, so it’s another burgeoning love triangle.

AE: Can we look forward to a kiss for Calvin?
SS: I hope so.

AE: Do we have reason to look forward to a kiss for Calvin?
SS: It’s . . . I think with our growth of Calvin, it seems like the next place to go and we don’t want to squander that opportunity. We want to make it memorable and real and emotional and fantastic, so I think that we’re hopefully honing in on what that story will be and do it some service as opposed to just saying we have a gay kiss.

AE: So there’s not one in the can yet?
SS: Not one in the can, but certainly one in the works.