Danielle Fishel on How Boy Meets World influenced her direction

Danielle Fishel grew up in the limelight as a child actor Boy meets worldand her experience on the show taught her exactly what to do—and what to avoid—when it comes to directing young stars like those on Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.

“One thing I’m trying to get away from that we’ve done a lot of. Boy meets world (is) super fast dialogue,” Fishel, 43, said exclusively My Weekly while discussing her role as a director Wizards Beyond Waverly Place’s season opener. “There were a lot of scenes where people talking to each other would shoot each other quickly. And depending on what’s being said, that timing might add to the fun, but it also gives the impression that no one is really listening to the other.”

Fishel noted that being a good actor is “all about listening to your scene partner” and “letting what they say affect you in some way”—something she says wasn’t always the case on her 1990s sitcom. Now it’s something he tries to “avoid” when directing his own episodes.

“I want my actors to feel like they’re living in reality,” she explained. “Even if that reality involves magic, it’s a reality for their character. And so I try to ground people as much as possible.”

Fishel made a name for herself by starring as the beloved character Topanga Lawrence in all seven seasons of the show Boy meets worldwhich ran from 1993 to 2000. While growing up on the ABC series inevitably taught her the “fails” of making successful television, it also helped her discover the “dos.”

“I definitely try to incorporate some movement. In a show where you have a lot of characters on one set and they all have to talk to each other, that can be a bit difficult,” she said, adding that “finding natural and organic places where people can walk and move” is a challenge.

“And one of the things I think we’ve done pretty well. Boy meets world the crosses that our actors made were organic,” she continued. “They didn’t feel like, ‘Well, why did they just do that?'”

Fishel prepares to incorporate motion by blocking episodes in his “mind” before filming, before going through with his cast. Ultimately, though, she says the actor is always the “expert” on their character — and she’s always open to feedback.

“If something I’m telling you doesn’t feel right or doesn’t feel natural, I want you to tell me and let’s come up with something else,” she said. Our. “You make a suggestion: ‘Let’s try it. This is a safe space and let’s just find the best way to do it.’ And so far it’s worked very well for me.”

That open communication is something that comes across when you approach any of the younger actors on her set, especially when it involves taking notes. Fishel understands all too well the feeling of having “all eyes” on her, and she doesn’t want that feeling to rub off on the actors she directs.

“I think one of the really important things is to have a conversation with each child and not in front of everyone,” she explained. “When you’re rehearsing, you’re on set and everyone is standing around – there’s crew members, the kids’ parents or guardians; whoever is there watching them that day. And when you’re giving notes and trying to make a scene better, sometimes it can feel like, ‘Everybody’s on me and I just got a note.’ And I never want them to think that when I give them a note, it’s because I’m correcting something they’ve done.”

Fishel added that there is “no right or wrong” approach to action, only “different approaches” to what to try and what risks to take. “And if I can say that the actor maybe feels a little insecure or he needs a little pep talk for whatever reason,” she said Our“I’ll ask the parent or guardian and the actor to step off to the side where no one can see us and just have a one-on-one conversation where (I’ll say), ‘Tell me what’s going on with you.’

Fishel’s directorial career started in 2014 with the film BMW revival series, Girl meets the world. While she reprized her role as Topanga for the Disney series, she also stepped behind the camera for the first time. There she realized that her “maternal instincts” were strong – the stars Rowan Blanchard and Sabrina Carpenter she felt “very much like my children,” she said Our — but it wasn’t until she became a mother herself that her approach to directing changed completely. (Fishel shares sons Adler, 5, and Keaton, 3, with her husband Jensen Karp.)

“I know from seeing my own kids and seeing their vulnerability that every kid, even if they’re the star of their own TV show, struggles with their own insecurities and self-doubt,” she said. “And if I can just come in and be the person to encourage them and make them feel like one, within a week or (two) they’ve learned something, maybe they’ve got a better understanding of what they’re doing or why they’re doing it and that they’re having a good time and they would like to repeat it, then I feel that I have succeeded in my work.”

Since then, Fishel has directed countless episodes of popular television series Raven’s Home, Sydney to the max and Lopez vs. López. Her debut on Wizards Beyond Waverly Place — revival of the hit from the early 2000s – airing this month on the Disney Channel. Titled “Potions Eleven”, the episode follows teenage wizard Billie (Janice LeAnn Brown) as he enters mentor Justin Russo (David Henry) to find out what really happened to get him fired as a professor at WizTech years ago.

The storyline carries over from the OG series finale where Henry played alongside Selena Gomezwho will also reprise her role as Alex Russo — and reveal a secret fans have been curious about since the show’s pilot. Fishel did not lose that pressure.

“The biggest challenge was just getting over my own fear of letting someone down,” she explained, adding that Wizards the franchise is “so special” and “so meaningful” to fans. “The unicorn incident is a big (story) — it’s a big episode — and it was a little nerve-wracking to have it in my hands.”

Fortunately, everyone on set made Fishel feel “comfortable” — especially his former child actor Henry, 35, who is also a producer on the show.

“David Henry is so amazing, and once I got on set with him, I saw what he could do, both in the more heartfelt, vulnerable moments and in the over-the-top, crazy physical comedy. He really can do it all,” she gushed. “And so once I got there and saw what this whole cast was capable of, I was like, ‘Oh, there’s no failure here. There’s only success.’

New episodes Wizards Beyond Waverly Place air on Disney Channel Fridays at 8:00 PM ET.