The Globe and Mail - August 6, 1982

"Toronto's young Megan Follows packs her bags for Los Angeles"
Vicky Sanderson

If Megan Follows were a Girl Guide knocking at your door, you'd feel obligated to buy a box of cookies. A small, bird-like frame, huge, oval eyes and a headful of wispy tufts of hair make her look frail , as though she needs looking after.

But the 14-year-old actress has already had more roles that many aspiring actors accumulate in an entire career and in between bites of breakfast at the Embassy Diner, Megan makes it politely clear that she is, thank-you very much, quite capable of looking out for herself.

Her latest career coup is the signing of a contract with TAT Communications, one of Norman Lear's many production companies, to start work (probably in October) on a series that grew out of one of last season's episodes of the popular NBC sitcom, Facts of Life.

Tentatively titled Jo's Place, the plot would revolve around the pubescent traumas of a motherless girl growing up in a household of brothers. The potentially high sugar content of the premise is tempered by the fact that the character is, according to Megan, "a bit of a tomboy, sort of a tough girl who works in a gas station with her brothers." Megan talks about her upcoming work in Los Angeles calmly. Asked if she's nervous about doing the series, she raises her eyebrows quizzically and answers "no." Megan is obviously no amateur.

But if she has her emotions firmly in rein, her agent, Sandie Newton, can't help putting a note of excitement in her voice when she describes the somewhat confusing series of events which lead to Megan getting the part.

The machinery was set in motion early this year, when casting people from Lear's company went to New York in search of talent for a pint-sized version of Fame they were considering at the time. Newton was asked to assemble any likely candidates and bring them to New York for an audition but instead, it was finally arranged that the Lear brass would stop in Toronto on a Sunday afternoon for two hours to see Megan and two other young actors.

According to her agent, everyone "flipped out" over Megan and after more calls from L.A., Newton realized that although the casting people didn't think Meg was right for the series they were planning (an idea which has since been scrapped), they were interested in her for the Facts of Life episode that was later used as a screen test for the new series. So Megan went to L.A. to meet Facts of Life producer Al Burton, not realizing that other girls were testing for the part. "The first time I read I had a terrible cold." says Megan. "Then I was called back a second time and there was a girl from Chicago. I went back a third time and there was another girl from Philadelphia. That didn't help much because I didn't know that there would be anyone else there. "After the third reading, they said they would call me that night. It was the night of the Academy Awards and I sat around all night waiting. They didn't call and I thought that meant I hadn't got the part. But the next afternoon, they finally phoned and I knew I had it." The episode in which Megan was featured got such great ratings that NBC was prepared to buy the series and Megan signed her contract about eight weeks ago.

The timing for the move to L.A. is right, says Megan. "I'll go there sometime anyway because there's just so much more work." The career break, however, has come at rather an awkward time in Megan's education - she will start high school this fall and is wondering how shooting will affect her school work. But Megan seems to consider school in the same light she views her other hobbies, playing the drums and dancing. "I do those things for myself. But they're just things I like to do and they don't have anything to do with what I want to be. Acting always comes first with me and I'm glad it's that way." Megan's only beef with the business right now is that, at 14, it's sometimes hard to get people to take her seriously. "I just look at some of the scripts I get and say 'this is ridiculous.' For example not every teen-ager uses 'cause' instead of 'because' or 'eh' all the time. Just because you're 14 doesn't mean you can't speak properly." But for Megan, such annoyances are minor and on the whole, she's pleased with her career. "I don't feel that things are happening too fast or too soon. I'm looking forward to the series, I'm ready for it. After all, I work hard, so I deserve it."

Source: The Globe and Mail