Does Leigh-Allyn Baker Ever Have A Bad Hair Day?

*I received an all expenses paid trip to Los Angeles for the coverage of several press events for Disney and ABC. All opinions are 100% my own and we only recommend shows that are a great fit for our readers.

Does Leigh-Allyn Baker ever have a bad hair day?  Well, I don’t know, but she certainly wasn’t having one when I saw her!   I walked in the screening room of the Disney Channel and, OH MY GOODNESS, Leigh-Allyn Baker was standing RIGHT THERE!   She was standing there chatting with one of the pr reps like a real person.  I mean, really, doesn’t she know WHO she is?!  I mean really, she was just standing there…..talking…..like human beings do.  So, I just walked right by here like “I have better things to do than talk to the likes of you..” hehe  Seriously, I totally wanted to get her autograph, but I was being ushered to my seat.

I did get a little bold and sit on the front row in the screening room theater.  Then the movie started.  It was hilariously clever and funny!  I’ll tell you more about that tomorrow.  We watched the movie that Leigh-Allyn Baker produced and starred in WITH LEIGH-ALLYN BAKER!   How stinkin’ unbelievable is that?!

Okay, okay, I’ll get to the interview now.  Before we start, though, I need to tell you that she is just as clever and funny as I had hoped, even more!

Question: What was the inspiration behind the movie?

Leigh-Allyn Baker: Well there was a script that was taken, as you can see there are many writers on it. There was a script that was originally taken to Disney channel. It was quite different from this but it was a teenage girl and a male cop and I, what I hear from Disney channel is that they thought well if there is an adult that we would like to try something new with like, you know, like a film that has an adult heavily in it for the first time let’s try with Leigh-Allyn, see if she’s interested.

So really then that’s when the inspiration started forming on what we wanted to do with this movie and we wanted to first and foremost, make people laugh, but really secondly it was really important to us to grab people’s heartstrings and give a really good, unique and empowering message. As you can see I feel like this film is, you know, is fraught with comedy and heart and great messages for girls. She doesn’t end up with her prince charming. She chooses MIT. Heck yeah, she does, you know. I loved all the computer lingo it was fabulous.  So yeah, that was it. Just to have a film for Disney Channel that adults can watch with their kids that has a unique different message. Like let’s go out on a limb and do something really different for the channel and see what the response is and Disney Channel was brave enough to do that because this is very different for them.

Question:  How do you balance the kids at home and work?

Leigh-Allyn Baker:  I learned that in season one of Good Luck, Charlie. I remember going to work and just missing my baby. I just had a baby, Griffin, my oldest and I remember just missing him terribly all day and then when I got home I was rocking him to sleep at night, my favorite part and I remember looking at him and I was thinking oh, I can’t believe that I missed that at work and I missed that and I should have been focused. And I realized oh, my gosh I’m not a hundred percent there at work and I’m missing the enjoyment there and I’m not able to be 100% with him here. I’m missing the enjoyment here. From there on, simplicity rules.

When you’re at work, you’re at work. When you’re home, you’re home and that’s how you do it. That’s the only way I can do it. And I love doing sitcoms. Honestly as far as acting goes there is no greater job for a mom in the acting world than half hour multi-camera sitcom work because you actually have a life. There’s a regular schedule. You don’t shoot crazy odd hours except for one day a week. You shoot three weeks on and one week off. You get a five month hiatus in between seasons. I mean I know what it’s like to be a full time working mom and I know what it’s like to be a full time stay at home mom. I’ve done both of those within a year, you know.

Then I got to ask her a question!  OOOOOH the suspense!

Me:  My daughter is so jealous that I am here right now!

Leigh-Allyn Baker:  Wait, before we go any further; where are you from?

Me: I’m from South Louisiana.

Leigh-Allyn Baker: Okay, I’m from Kentucky so I recognize the accent.

Me:  My eight year old daughter will have this entire movie memorized within the next year. She loves you!

Leigh-Allyn Baker:  Good, I love her. She’s a very smart child. She has a very bright future.

Me:  What’s the one message? You talked about there being several messages from this movie for young girls. What’s the one message you would like them to take away from this movie?

Leigh-Allyn Baker:  Your identity, who you are comes from the inside. It doesn’t come from what’s out here. That’s the main message I think. You know, a lot of people like to toss around believe in yourself and, you know, but this is — it’s more than believing in yourself. It’s, uh, knowing yourself and being okay with who you are and not looking for approval from others and knowing when to call for backup. There’s two ladies — there’s two lessons, you know.

Leigh-Allyn Baker was extremely funny and continued talking to and joking with us long after the ‘official’ interview had ended.  The is truly an amazingly clever and talented woman.  I cannot wait to see what she has coming next! Don’t miss the premiere of Bad Hair Day on Friday, February 13 at 8/7c on Disney Channel!