When it premiered in July 2006, the Disney Channel Original Movie Read It and Weep immediately became a favorite among fans!

Starring Kay Panabaker, Danielle Panabaker and Jason Dolley, among others, the movie followed the story of Jamie Bartlett a super shy high schooler who makes up a popular, fearless alter ego in her journal named Isabella (“Is” for short). When her journal is accidentally published in a writing contest and Jamie wins, the book instantly becomes a bestseller. After letting fame get the best of her, Jamie appears on a TV interview and reveals that the entire book was based on her real life. In the end, the teen is forced to confront her truth and apologize to her friends after using their lives to become an author.

While the DCOM was called Read It and Weep, the movie was actually based on the real-life book How My Private, Personal Journal Became a Bestseller by Julia DeVillers. Now, thanks to Disney+, fans are able to enjoy the world of Jamie and Is whenever they want.

While chatting with UltimateDisney.com in 2009, Jason — who fans know from multiple Disney Channel projects — revealed how his experiences on the Read It and Weep set was different from his other DCOMs, like Hatching Pete and Minutemen.

“They were all very different experiences,” the actor explained at the time. “On Read It and Weep, I was sort of new to the whole Disney thing then, and I was still learning a lot about how it all worked. But that was when I really got to meet the crew there, and it’s pretty much the same crew from every film. I got to start friendships there, and then when I came back for Minutemen, I was super-excited, because I was like, ‘I know all the crew, and I know everybody there, and I’m sure my co-stars will be awesome, too. And, of course, they were.”

 

Jason, who got his start as Newt on Cory in the House, also got real about the difference between filming the TV show and a movie.

“When you’re on a TV show, you’re in a soundstage and your set, and there’re four cameras going all the time, and you do a scene two or three times and then you move on to the next scene,” he explained. “Doing a movie, you’re going on location to a real place, so they’ve only got one or two cameras rolling each time, and they have different angles for the scenes; depending on how long it is, some scenes can take all day.”

As fans know, Jason has gone on to have a big Disney career over the years, but he’s not the only one who found success after Read it and WeepClick through the gallery to see what the cast is up to now. 

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