James Lafferty Talks ‘One Tree Hill’ Revival Possibilities and New Series ‘Everyone Is Doing Great’ at the ATX Television Festival [Video]

While at the ATX Television Festival in Austin, TX last week, we caught up with James Lafferty on the opening night red carpet to discuss One Tree Hill and his new project, Everyone Is Doing Great.

For Lafferty, Everyone Is Doing Great is a labor of love. He directed the pilot and also co-wrote it with his former One Tree Hill co-star and close friend, Stephen Colletti. Lafferty and Colletti also co-produced their new series and co-star as the two leads, Jeremy and Seth.

“It’s about two guys who were on a The Vampire Diaries type show called Eternal that was this massive smash hit,” he explained. “Now it’s five years later and they haven’t been proactive with their careers, they’re really kind of languishing right now. So we’re really mining the humor out of the difficulties in their lives.”

The pilot of the thirty-minute comedy screened on Sunday, June 10th, as part of the ATX Television Festival. Lafferty and Colletti are currently crowdfunding on Indiegogo to raise money in order to produce the remaining five episodes of the first season, which they’ve already written in its entirety.

Despite the “meta” quality of the show, Lafferty was careful to emphasize that Everyone Is Doing Great is a decidedly fictionalized and dramatized story, not autobiographical.

“They say write what you know. We wanted to stick to that strength. We wanted to be able to use a lot of the stories and circumstances that we’ve been familiar with over the years that we think are hilarious,” he said.

“At the same time, we wanted to put distance just far enough from our lives that people can understand they’re watching a work of fiction, which is absolutely what it is.”

Lafferty also addressed the possibility of a reboot or a revival of One Tree Hill.

“I don’t think there’s anybody from the cast who would say they wouldn’t be up for it! But at the same time, you look at the ones that are happening now — like the one happening this weekend at ATX, Felicity — they’re 20 years removed from it. So I think there’s a bit of that feeling that more time needs to pass before it’s revisited,” he said.

Watch the full interview with James Lafferty here:

Photos from the opening night red carpet:

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*Additional reporting by Ashley Bissette Sumerel.

Check out all of our coverage of the ATX Television Festival right here. There is a lot more to come!

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