Zachary Abel

So for all of those who don’t know about the show Make It Or Break It, can you give us a quick recap of what happened during season 1?
During season one, we were all vying for the national title not only for the facility, for the rock, but also for individuals. And in doing so we broke some rules, I betrayed the love of my life and cheated on her with her best friend. Not the most shining moment for Carter. And we had the girls who came from the wrong side of the tracks come to the rock who just had a lot of raw talents. And Emily Kmetko who’s played by the lovely Chelsea Hobbs came and preached herself throughout the course of the season to be not only a great actress but also a fierce competitor on the gymnastics floor. And at the end of the season I end up choosing the girl I cheated on so yeah that’s pretty much what happened.

The show is set in the world of gymnastics. Before the show did you have any association with gymnastics in general?
I do all of my own chalk dusting and I get my own drinks at the water and I land and salute really well. Everything in between was my outstanding stunt double. But when I was a little boy I did gymnastics, and I think I got to the point where I could do just about every event like round-off, backhand swing and stuff like that but I think I quit around the age of ten or twelve or something like that.

Awww…all of that talent gone?
It might still be in there somewhere but all that flexibility certainly has gone. I’m doing good if I can touch my toes these days.

Zachary and Cassie Scerbo in a still from 'Make it or Break it'

So Carter starts off as the perfect boyfriend but ends up in a pretty sticky situation. Were you shocked when you read the script?
I was. It’s funny because when we shot the pilot I had a pretty in-depth conversation with Holly Sorensen, our show runner and series creator, about who he was and how he was perceived from the outside. Because it seemed as though he was pretty frustrated with the attention and the state of his relationship with Kaylie and the fact that they couldn’t go public and that they had to hide everything from her dad and I think that the frustration mounted and mounted to where he made a very regrettable decision on a not so sober night of his life. So yeah I was very shocked that it was Lauren of all people. But I think it made for great television.

Most definitely. But how do you, as Zachary, feel about what Carter did?
I think it was a mistake, I mean, it’s interesting because I had a conversation not only with Holly but also with the writers about why he would do what he did and I think it was something that wasn’t calculated. And the group there at The Rock had been training there for such a long time and, not to give away any “acting secrets” or whatever but Cassie plays Lauren; her and I had a pretty in depth conversation about why we would be doing this and if the opportunity was there, why I would want to take it. And we also talked about the history we had with each other and dating it back to when we were little kids and when we went to gymnastics camp. And we kind of thought that maybe there was something between him and Lauren when they were kids. Like maybe they kissed under the rings one day just to see like what it felt like and they’d always been really good friends and she’d always loved him and would do anything for him and saw that he wasn’t really feeling well and I think that the history was there and the decision wasn’t as malevolent as it appears to be on face value. Like “oh guy cheats on girlfriend with best friend” like I think that looks to be really bad but the decisions we tried to make was how can we try to justify this or at least put reasoning there to where you’re acting more out of a history there and it’s where there still can be good people who just find themselves in a difficult situation and at the end of the day they made a bad choice.

Zachary Abel

Wow that’s a lot of analysis for one scene.
I know, I’m very “right brained” I guess.

No it’s great, it’s very interesting how you’re taking us behind the scenes and explaining to us how you found how your character reacts.
Well I think to me the worst thing you can do is judge the character. And in my own life I’ve never cheated on anyone and to break that trust and to break that bond that you have with someone is a really weak thing to do. And I think that for Carter, you know he’s a gymnast and he’s dedicated his life for a passion where there’s no guarantee for success, and I think that it takes a lot of will and courage to do this. Well then how could he make a weak choice then and how could he deceive someone? But we talk a lot about this trying to make decision still having some sort of strength or some sort of basis without making him look like a bad dude.

Lauren shows true friendship when Carter is going through a hard time. Do you think Carter appreciates it or takes advantage of it?
I think there’s an ark there. In the very beginning in some ways I don’t think he really looked at himself as what his involvement was in the cheating. I think he blamed her for putting him in that position. And so in a lot of ways he almost felt as though he were owed that treatment. And I felt as the season progressed he started looking at what he was doing and where he was in his life and his participation in it, and he realized that he was an equal participant in that act as well; and here’s someone who’s showing love and support for years and years. I think over the course of the season he grew as a person in terms of looking at his own responsibilities and his own part in stuff. It’s hard to realize “hey, here’s someone who does care about me and doesn’t have to do this stuff for me, and is.” So I think he grew from maybe expecting it to appreciating it over the course of the season.

Zachary and Francia Raisa in a still from 'The Secret Life of the American Teenager'

I feel like it gave him a 3-Dimensional aspect because in the beginning of the season he felt like a very perfect character or too good to be true. And then after the cheating he sort of developed more as a character. Even though, you know, you had to grovel and stuff it added depth to your character.
Absolutely; and I think that diversity is going to try people. Things had fallen to place in his life. He had gone through some adversity in his family life, but that was the back-story that the audience didn’t really get to see. So I think that when he had to grovel and when he had to make some difficult choices, he wasn’t the golden boy. It’s interesting because I think people always start to root for someone that had a lot and then fell and learned some sort of lesson and then tries to regrow and have a rebirth. I think that the choice they put Carter in at the end of the season was is he finally going to realize that Kaylie isn’t really there for him in the same way that he is for her, despite the infidelity. So I think it was a growing experience for him, absolutely.

There’s been a lot of fan speculation that Carter is just thinking that he has feelings for Lauren and a sort of revenge for Kaylie. Do you think that’s true?
I don’t know. I mean I guess we’ll see throughout season two. I wish I could answer the question with certainty. I mean it’s his first true love and I think in any sort of circumstance that’s really difficult to move past. But I think time will tell. I was really proud of him to make the decision that he made at the end of the season. When I read that final scene, for me as Zach, I was like “oh you made the choice that I think is the true choice; the person who really cares about you.” So I would like to something grow between him and Lauren. And I think that would be really nice I mean they’ve had a long standing friendship. I would like to see that but I think that first love is something that is difficult…I mean everyone can identify with that especially in high school when you’re going through raging hormones and you think you have everything in your life figured out and you think you’ve chosen the right person and to realize that maybe that might not be it I think is hard. But who knows? I think he’s got his work cut out for him.

Zachary Abel

On what level do you relate to your character? How are you similar or are you entirely different?
We’ve both chosen careers that have no guarantee or certainty that, one you’ll ever do it on a professional level and two that even if you do start to make some money or get a little bit of a claim that it will last in any sort of perpetuity. So knowing that I think that requires a certain sort of attitude I life and it influences your choices that you make so I think in a lot of ways we’re similar in that.
I think there are two different types of people in the world. I think there are romantics and there are a lot of people who don’t really believe in a whole lot of romance or a love above all. Unfortunately for Carter and I, I think we’re both romantics. We love hard and get hurt hard. So I think a lot of the stuff dealing with Kaylie, played a lot into it. Him and I are certainly very similar in how we take on you know…When there’s a special person in your life you know how much you care for then and how much you love them and you know that you would do anything, and you see that in the fact that he’s really willing to risk everything that he’s worked for in his life for this girl. So I think that there are similarities between the two of us in that sense.
The big difference is that I am extremely close with my parents. Unfortunately in Carter’s life, you know, his mother died when he was a boy; and when you watch the season that’s my actual mom in the picture when they show the two of us when they do a close-up. My mom was on set when they used it, it was the funniest thing. She’d never leave the rehearsal she just wanted to watch because she’d never been on a set before. So she didn’t know the nuances and what was appropriate. And I was like “mom, you can’t really stand around they’re trying to mark for camera and they’re lighting” and she’s like “oh okay I’m just going to go around the corner.” And she goes around the corner and she’s like peeking in; it was funny. But yeah, unfortunately Carter doesn’t have that stability in his life that I have been very fortunate to have and maintain. Which is why I think Lauren becomes so important to him, but yeah, I think he has a bit of an abandonment complex.

Zachary Abel

Lauren isn’t exactly the mother-like figure.
Not at all; its funny thought because you see that side of her with Carter, which I was shocked to see. Like when she shows up to give him food and she’s taking care of him, kind of hand over fist. It was definitely shocking for me to see that. The two of them come together in the fact that they both are lacking a mother. I think they need someone to feel as though they’re taken care of, and that their needs are being met, and they aren’t going to end up alone. And I think that influenced Carter’s choice at the end of the season a lot.

On a slightly better tone, do you have any funny stories from the set you can share with us?
Do I have any funny stories….I have a lot of embarrassing stories. I mean especially since the fact that I’m walking around half naked, half the time; which is uncomfortable alone in itself. I’m trying to think, there’s been some funny little pranks that we’ve done. It’s all a running joke because the girls do an extensive amount of gymnastics work. Not only are they constantly training themselves, but their doubles are working overtime because they’re doing so many high caliber tricks. Carter always seems to be doing his stuff off camera, which you’ll see a change in the second season. But, you know, there’s always a running gag; there was one time on set where I don’t know how many times I’ve done a scene either over the chalk box or the water cooler, and the cast and crew are always laughing when I go over the water cooler because it’s like, oh here I’m going again. There was one time we were doing it that I was out of frame and I had to walk and then I was kind of crossing through the background and then they did like a rack focus to me and it was a scene where Carter was walking in through the gym and there’s going to be drama because of Kaylie and Lauren and we did a couple takes and we were going into a close-up and off camera I had found a huge water jug. So I acted as if though I were the water boy walking into set because I’m at the water cooler so much that I have to change it. So there’s been stuff like that, we’re always doing stuff like putting plastic over each other’s toilets in the bathroom and stuff like that. I’m always trying to prank people. I’m still stuck as a twelve year old boy somewhere.

Zachary Abel

So confess, has there ever been any romance on the set between the cast members?
Ooo between the cast members…well you know there’s Cody Longo and Cassie Scerbo are dating, they’re pretty open about that; they’re kind of like the perfect couple. But other than that, there hasn’t really been any on or off set romance. Everyone’s very professional and I’m always asking if anyone wants to rehearse make-out scenes, open invitation (I’m totally kidding). But it’s a very estrogen driven set I mean there are so many women on the set all the time. But in terms of younger guys for the younger girls, there’s been Johnny Pacar and Nico Tortorella and myself but there hasn’t been any on set romance. I think Cassie and Cody were dating before he was on the show, though. But it was hilarious that he had a love story with a different character. So I was definitely teasing the both of them about that. I’m like “hey are you guys going to go to Ayla’s trailer to practice your make out scene? How does Cassie feel about that?”

Do you guys seriously practice make out scenes?
No, no, no. We definitely do not. It’s funny, though because normally in the rehearsal you don’t kiss. Everyone’s different, but you kind of wait for that moment on camera. But no there’s been no make out rehearsals. At least not that I’m aware of; I haven’t participated in any.

Tell me a completely random fact about you that people don’t know.
I don’t think people know this about me but when I was little I went to chess camp. I guess I had three big things that I did in high school and one of those things is that I was an avid golfer and I played a lot of golf, and I played a lot of chess, I went to a Russian Chess Camp during the summer. And I was also a nationally competitive Tae Kwon Doe fighter. I kept it a little diverse but, yeah, I don’t think many people know I went to chess camp.

Finally how can fans contact you? Do you have a twitter, a MySpace, facebook, or a website?
Actually I just started a twitter. I was holding out and holding out and holding out and I think everyone on the cast has one and I guess I finally jumped that hurdle. I think I just started a twitter. I don’t even think I’ve tweeted yet. I started it like two days ago. I think my first tweet will be about this interview. The url is @zacharyabel