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On the Floor with Josie Loren of Make It or Break It
by Troy Rogers
Make It or Break It returns to the ABC Family
airwaves on Monday, January 4 to continue its
first season with the episode, "The Eleventh Hour",
that sees the Josie Loren character, Kaylie, struggle
to deal with unexpected emotions from her national
championship victory as Ayla Kell's Payson Keeler
recovers from her near fatal back injury. After
a successful debut on ABC Family, Make It or Break
It has captured the hearts of fans and budding
gymnasts who know first-hand the drama within
the world of gymnastics and the dynamics of competition
both on the floor and behind closed doors.
Leading up to the mid-season premiere of Make It or Break It, TheDeadbolt caught up with actress Josie Loren to learn more about how Loren's Kaylie deals with being a national champion, her feelings over Payson's injury, and Kaylie's biggest challenge as a gymnast now that she's become the best in the country.
THE DEADBOLT: Kaylie just won the nationals. Why did she reject sponsors?
JOSIE LOREN: She didn't reject sponsors. She rejected in the last episode - she plays M.J. MJ comes up to her asking to talk about being her agent. She says no to M.J. at that moment, because she needs to go to the hospital to go see Payson. And it's kind of a little bit of a slap in the face to M.J. as well, because she didn't believe in her when she came to her first, when Kaylie first came to her. But she doesn't reject sponsorships, because you'll see that she is sponsored in these ten episodes. And M.J. does come back into the picture, but just at that moment she says no to MJ. She definitely is sponsored. She has a few sponsorships and MJ comes back.
THE DEADBOLT: How does Payson's fractured back factor into this season?
 LOREN:
Up until now, Payson will still have a broken
back, that hasn't changed. It's interesting
how the writers have kind of still kept Payson
such a part of the Rock. Yes, she has a different
life now. She's obviously no longer a gymnast,
but she's still an active member of the Rock
in a different way. And she has her own life
now away from the Rock and they've incorporated
Emily and Kaylie and Lauren into her life outside
of the Rock as well. So we're still in the gym
a lot, but when we go out of it, it's mostly
for Payson. So I think you get a nice balance
there.
THE DEADBOLT: What would you say is Kaylie's biggest obstacle in her gymnastics career even though she just won the gold?
LOREN: I would say right now it's not getting caught up in the hype. When Kaylie comes back from nationals, the entire town of Boulder, the city of Boulder, is just going nuts and is celebrating the huge win for Boulder. Her coach is excited, everyone is just so excited for her, and she does get an agent. Her agent is piling up her plate with so much that it's just hard to focus on gymnastics when there's so many other things going on in her life. And I think that's going to be her biggest obstacle, just staying grounded and staying focused and remembering why she is the national champion.
Other Conference Call Highlights:
It seems that Kaylie's
mantra seems to be focus, focus, focus. If you
had a mantra in your own life, what do you think
it would be?
 LOREN:
I would say just give it 100% all the time.
Give it 100%, whatever it is, whatever might
be in my life at that moment, 100% I know when
I don't give it my all for whatever reason it
might be, it just eats away at me. But if I
know that I give it 100% and I still kind of
came too short, at least I'm happy with myself.
I know most the time 100% is enough, but if
it isn't, I'm still okay with myself. So I would
say, yes, that would be it, give 100% all the
time.
So with Kaylie getting
the first place, are we going to see some guilt
on her part because of Payson's injury? Like
is she even feeling guilty that that should
have been Payson's sort of thing?
LOREN: Definitely. Like I said, Kaylie is dealing with a lot and that is a huge issue. You'll see it right from the beginning. Kaylie feels very guilty for winning the national championship, because half the time she doesn't even think she deserved it. And the other half of the time she's thinking she took it from her best friend, so she's really torn. And for the first few episodes, she can't even enjoy the privileges of being the national champion. So, yes, it's a struggle for sure with Kaylie. She and Payson have to go through some things before they can reconcile and Kaylie can step into the light of being the national champion.
Were you nervous to work
with Candace [Cameron Bure] or Peri [Gilpin],
considering their TV experience?
 LOREN:
I was more excited then nervous. I remember
watching Candace on Full House when I was little.
I grew up on her and I remember when I first
got the call that she was going to be on the
show, the first person I called was my little
brother. He's a year and a half younger than
me and I was like, "Guess what?" and he was
so excited. He knew that we had already film
the pilot, and the pilot had gotten picked up,
and I had not heard him as excited as when I
told him that Candace was going to be on the
show. He was like, "Oh my God, now you really
made it."
So I was more excited than nervous. I kind of felt like such a dork, because once I got to know her a little bit, I just bombarded her with questions about Full House and what it was like and all of those things. So not so much nervous, but really excited.
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