WEBVTT - Work in Progress: Megan Park 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:15.240 Hi everyone, It's Sophia. Welcome to work in Progress. Hi 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:19.720 with smarties. I'm so so excited about the gal I'm 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:23.160 sitting down with today because not only is she, I think, 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:25.960 one of the voices of our generation as a writer 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:29.960 and a director, she happens to be a dear friend. 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:33.600 We have known each other for so long. Today's guest 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:37.560 is none other than writer and director of The Fallout 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:42.519 and her latest My Old Ass, Megan Park. You may 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:46.000 know Megan from her early days starring on the Secret 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:49.360 Life of the American Teenager. You also may know her 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:51.880 if you are a one Tree Health fan as Tyler 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:58.880 Hilton's incredible wife. She is truly one of the most earnest, passionate, 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:02.240 funny friends I have in my life, who happens to 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:06.920 write so openly that, even though every single one of 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.360 her stories is so unique and isn't something we've seen before, 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:14.880 every single person who watches her films feels reflected in them, 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:18.560 which is probably why they have such unbelievably high ratings 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:22.000 on Rotten Tomatoes. And Megan has made her latest film 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:26.880 with none other than producer extraordinary Margo Robbie. I can't 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:29.720 wait to ask her all about Sundance, all about writing, 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:34.080 how she finds each of these fascinating characters, and her 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:37.440 creative process in general. Let's dive in with Megan Park. 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.200 It is honestly, it's like so weird to talk about 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:57.600 work right now, but also kind of incredibly healing. Like 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:01.800 the week was really weird, and I had planned to 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:04.840 go to the Wicked premiere and I was like, I 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:07.840 don't know if I can. What do I We're going 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:10.920 to the movies, And then I was like, actually, the 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:13.840 movies are exactly where I want to be, and this 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:18.480 movie that's based or this movie that's based on a 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:20.359 play that was based on the movie that was written 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:25.080 in response to the Rise of Hitler actually feels like 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:27.560 exactly where I want to go. Like I got there 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:30.160 and I was like, we're here for like all the 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:32.639 musical theater people and all of the artists and all 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:34.360 of the gays and all of the witches that they 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.880 couldn't burn, Like this was the movie that I needed. Yeah, 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:42.240 and it really did. I felt like it really healed me. 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:45.440 And then I felt so good after having seen a 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:50.200 movie that the next night I watched your movie. I 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:53.360 was like, this is exactly what I needed again, So 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:55.840 I think I'm just going to become a film buff 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:57.520 for the next four years. 0:02:57.919 --> 0:02:59.680 It's like I have this whole mentality when I go 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:01.600 in Stad where I'm like, I think it's really important 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:04.600 to remember that we're not saving lives like I tried, 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:07.440 you know, in terms of like we're not Yes, there's 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:09.120 going to be fires and things that go wrong, but 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:12.280 there's nothing that can't be solved. But it is interesting 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:14.720 because I have been thinking like post selection and just 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:16.280 whatever the state of the world. I'm like, well we 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:19.600 are art does save lives, you know, and it really 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:22.440 there is that gravity to it. Yeah, you can still 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:25.080 have that mentality on set of not like you know, 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:29.400 putting out fires with that kind of yeah, like prenetic mentality. 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.400 But I do feel like now, more than ever, it's 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.280 reaffirmed my belief that I'm like, oh, yeah, it's so 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.120 important to work the shit out and make art that 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:42.240 feels makes people feel seen, especially people that are trying 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:46.200 to be you know, stomped out of existence in America. 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:51.080 Yeah. What a weird what a weird time. Well, the 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:55.280 movie feels more important I think now than ever, and 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:59.280 for me, especially stories that you know, send her women 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:01.480 and are led by and feel so important. But before 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:04.640 we get into how you made this perfect film and 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:06.640 all of my questions about it, I actually want to 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:10.400 like rewind in a big way, which might be more 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:14.200 surreal for you than some people, because I wonder how 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:19.200 it'll make you think about your own family. We got 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:24.280 to know you as an actor so young. Ye, I'm 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:27.520 actually really curious if we go back even further, Like 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:29.599 if we could do what your movie does and you 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:33.040 could sit down with nine year old Megan, who would 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:35.560 she be? Was she a storyteller? Was she a performer? 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:37.720 Was she a bookworm? 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:37.960 Like? 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:40.680 Who's the little girl that you were? And do you 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.240 see how she turned into the adult. 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:46.080 That you are. I thought a little bit about this 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.440 because everybody keeps asking, you know, like would you want 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:50.640 to go back and you know, talk to your younger self? 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:52.760 Would you want to talk to your older self? And 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:54.839 I feel like me and Amazing and Aubrey have all 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:57.560 been like we rejacked the idea of going forward because 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.240 it gets too scary because after your older self, but 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:03.279 it would be so therapeutic. It feels like a therapy 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:06.120 exercise to go back and talk to your childhood self. 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:10.520 I think it's interesting because when you're from a small 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.240 town and you don't have anybody in your family who's 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:17.080 in the industry, but you have a desire to be 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.520 in the arts in some capacity, you end up a 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:23.159 theater camp. And I think that's sort of what happened 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:24.839 to me, is like, my dad was a dentist, my 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:28.919 mom was a teacher. Nobody was I didn't know. We 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:30.680 didn't have a TV in our house. The first time 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:32.640 I saw a movie in the theater, I was twelve. 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:36.240 Although they took us to tons of theater and tons 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:39.240 of ballet and the opera and things like that in Toronto, 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.240 I just TV in film was not really at the 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:47.000 forefront of like how I absorbed the arts, I guess, 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:49.920 but I ended up in theater camp and that led 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.240 to like being a full year round theater program, and 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:55.159 that led to me being like, Okay, I really like this. 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:57.599 And then you know, there's so many things that film 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:01.120 in Toronto that like need to hire Canadian people, and 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:04.839 so I started getting jobs. And when you have some 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:07.200 six set it becomes like a bit of a like 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:09.400 a you know, like okay, this is working, like this 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:11.839 is I'm having fun doing this. And I got to 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:15.120 meet so many incredible people that felt like my people 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:18.320 for the first time. This is when I was older. 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:20.960 I mean, my parents didn't let me start acting professionally 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:23.200 until I was sixteen or seventeen, which is young now 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:26.200 in hindsight, but I certainly wasn't doing it on a 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:30.080 professional level at nine. But I think that performing was 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:33.600 like the pathway to finding what I was meant to do, 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:38.000 which was writing and directing. But even and you'll probably 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:40.880 relate to this, like, really, I was in TV for 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:43.760 most of my acting career, and I was on a 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:46.880 lot of shows where creativity wasn't necessarily always at the 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:50.640 forefront of what was the most important thing. And a 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:52.800 lot of times, you know, after six or seven seasons 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:56.400 of a show, the actors are really running the set, 0:06:56.880 --> 0:06:59.159 and so the directors would sweet some directors that would 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:02.760 come in and and have really exciting ideas and stuff. 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.280 But I never really saw the director in a lot 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.080 of situations as somebody who was getting to really be 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:13.160 super creative. So I never I look back, and I'm like, 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:15.800 that's so crazy that I never really want I had 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:18.280 end no desire. I never would have expected that I 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:21.280 would end up directing or writing. The writers were just 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:23.160 like we were on the sound stage in the lot, 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:25.320 they were in another area. We never really saw them. 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.120 It wasn't that type of a set where it was 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.960 a super like the writers were constantly there, you know, 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:36.400 throwing out dialogue. So it was very separate. And then 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:38.320 but I just absorbed so much. I mean I spent 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:41.280 like seven years making you know, twenty seven episodes of 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:44.840 TV show, a TV and a season, and I feel 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:48.640 so comfortable on a set, like I know everybody's role 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.000 inside and out, and worked with so many different types 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:54.679 of actors. So it was like this weird you know education, 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.400 but I'm not like a cinophile. Nobody in my family 0:07:57.600 --> 0:07:59.760 was like I just saw Forrest Gump for the first time, 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:04.320 catching up on the classics, and so I was always like, 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:08.680 I can't direct, like I don't know anything. But yeah, 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:11.400 I think that acting it had to go the way 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:14.440 that it went because I never would have just I 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:15.640 never would have been like I'm going to go to 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:18.280 film school and I'm going to study cameras and lenses. 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:20.880 I would have it just wouldn't have interested me. But 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:24.240 once I found it through acting, I was like, oh, 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:27.480 this makes sense. In a way that acting, truthfully never has. 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:31.160 Yeah, do you think that why do you think that is? 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:31.360 Like? 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:38.520 Was was acting too small a project for you? Do 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:42.320 you think that directing gave you the full like the 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:44.120 full scope? This is going to sound so stupid. I 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:45.840 don't know why this just popped into my head, but 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:48.920 the image that I had when I did this, I 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:52.040 was like, I mactored like a piece of pizza and 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.640 then a whole pizza, Like you know, is directing just 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:57.120 more slices for you? 0:08:57.520 --> 0:08:59.600 Yeah, I think that there was. I thought a lot 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:02.520 about it because as I've been doing press, a big 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:04.880 press cycle for the first time because the Fallout came 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:06.680 out during the pandemic and I was able to not 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.040 have to really do any of that, I've been so 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:12.200 triggered again in the same way as an actor, which 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:15.080 is like getting my hair and makeup done, being in 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.400 fittings like that stuff is so it truly is like 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:23.960 it's not my favorite part of it. And I think that, Yeah, 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:26.439 I think that as an actor, I would watch my 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:30.360 peers be so driven to like get these roles. And 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:33.200 I remember shay Shane Woodley, who was on Secret Life 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:36.560 with me. She specifically that movie The Descendants that really 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:38.400 broke her out. She was so young, she was like 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.439 sixteen or seventeen, and she auditioned and like didn't even 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:43.400 get a call back, and she was like, no, like 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:45.800 I know, this is my part, and she went to 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.439 a new acting class and like fought to get a callback. 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:52.640 And I was kind of like just sort of there 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:54.079 for the ride, like I would be on side and 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:56.360 be like, this is fun, but there was nothing about 0:09:56.400 --> 0:10:01.079 it was that felt like it was fulfilling to me creatively. 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:02.760 I was having a lot of fun doing it. I 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:06.080 was meeting really interesting people, I was having some success 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.400 doing it, but I really hated certain elements of it 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.640 as well, Like I really hated the hair and makeup trailer. 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:16.480 I hated fittings, Like I just didn't love that part 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:19.160 of it. And then truthfully, the first time I directed, 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:21.360 I was like, wait a second. I get to be 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:24.000 on set, which I love. I get to work with actors, 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:27.120 which I love. I get to work with other creatives 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:30.240 and be collaborative, which I love. And I don't have 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:31.920 to go through two hours of hair makeup in the 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:34.079 morning or ever do a fitting like I'm already this 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:37.600 is oh yeah, wait I love this so much. And 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:39.480 it's not that like, I don't know, shame on the 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:40.800 hair and makeup part of it. Maybe I'm just like 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:42.560 two insecure for that side of it. And I could 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:47.040 never ever put myself in one of my own projects. 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:52.319 You've always asked me, Yes, that's like my personal nightmare. God, 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:55.320 it's just something I'm I'm objective enough, you know. 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:59.240 It's really interesting. I have a friend who's such a 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:02.680 talented right now and such an amazing comedian, and he's 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:04.640 doing a show right now that he's also writing on 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:10.160 and he was like, Oh, this is really hard and 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:12.600 to do all of it, yeah, and to do it 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:15.600 at the same time because he obviously writes his comedy, 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:18.559 He's written his specials, right he writes them and then 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:21.800 he performs them. And he was saying that having I'm 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:24.440 a huge fan the best and he was just saying 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:28.880 that having to do both is like so hard. Yeah, 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:32.839 So I get that. It really made me think. And 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:34.559 not to say that it's in any way, shape or 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:37.080 form the same as I think it would be now. 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:39.640 But one of the things I think they did really 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:41.640 well for us when we were making One Tree Hill 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:45.280 is that when we finally started directing. They really would 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:49.360 do their best to kind of stack our scenes so 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:51.920 that we could do two heavy days of acting and 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:55.080 then we'd have seven days of just directing on set. 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:57.800 Right, And yeah, I can't. 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:00.360 Imagine like having to perform in a scene and then. 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:01.640 Be like, hold on, was that funny? 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:03.800 Let me rewrite my own lines right now on the fly, 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:04.920 like I would die. 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:07.240 I know. I think people that can do it, I 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:10.120 feel like it's it's so admirable because you really do 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.520 have to like really be removed from yourself and take 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:16.040 a step back, and I so admire people that can 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:17.640 do it, and a lot of people can do it 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:21.560 really well. For me, it's like I also I find 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:24.840 the actors that I cast become such muses to me, 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:27.920 and I'm just like too insecure to be my own muse. 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:30.800 Like you know what I mean, I can enny good 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:31.400 one began. 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:34.440 I don't know, you really nailed that, girl, pat yourself 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:35.040 on the back. 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:37.840 And nailed it. But yeah, it does take the ability 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:39.760 to switch brains, and I think I just turned off 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:41.520 the acting side of my brain too. I don't miss 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:44.520 it yet. Maybe someday I will, but I just don't 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:45.679 miss it. I don't miss it yet. 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:48.120 Wow, you know what's funny. 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:52.200 I I don't think I let myself miss it. I 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:54.560 think we did One Tree Hill for so long, and 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:56.680 I wonder if you felt this way it was secret life, 0:12:57.160 --> 0:12:59.839 Like we did it for so so long that I 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:02.840 looking back, there's like certain projects I did on hiatus 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:04.440 that I never should have, but I was just so 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:07.400 desperate to like do anything else that I was like, 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:09.000 I don't even care if the script isn't that good. 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:10.920 It's the only movie that shoots in the days that 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:14.000 I'm off. And then it was like I jumped into 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:16.880 a show. Immediately I went onto Partners, and then immediately 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:19.480 I went onto PD. Like I did not take a 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:24.000 break for fifteen years, dangs, And now I've kind of 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:29.240 allowed myself to take time in between things, and like 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:31.400 the strike forced us all to take time. 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:32.959 But even this year, I. 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:35.240 Had these two movies planned and then one had to 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:37.760 shift because you know what it's like with production and 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:42.880 locations and whatever. And the space I got in the 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:46.680 shift actually was such a gift to me. And now 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:49.360 I'm doing this fun thing on grays and like I 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:50.120 went to set. 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:51.680 And I was like, oh my god, acting is so. 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:55.880 Fun, And it had only been three months in between 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:58.960 the movie wrapping and the show. But I find that 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:04.280 my bounce back into really enjoying what we do on 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:06.880 set is faster and faster than it used to be. 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:09.520 So I do wonder if you'll find that. 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:13.320 I think so. And I think also, these projects take 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:16.760 so long that it feels like you get as I'm 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:19.480 you know, now, I'm already like I started a new 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:22.640 project this week, and I'm already, you know, fifty pages 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:25.200 into my next film. But you do have these I mean, 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:27.240 we shot this movie almost three years ago or three 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:30.760 years ago, and so it takes so long that and 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:32.640 so much of it for me is in the writing 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.600 of it, like in before you're ever even on set. Yeah, 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:38.120 so it feels like it's yeah, there's a sense of completion, 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:40.320 you know, and you do get to kind of breathe 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:41.680 through it and really see it, and once you put 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:43.200 it out in the world, it already feels like it's 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:46.080 in my brain. I've already moved on to the next 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:49.000 creative thing. And I spend so much time in that 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:51.720 quiet space. I'm not sitting in my computer writing every day. 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.720 I'm that's not at all my process, Like I spend 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:57.760 so much time just kind of living and thinking about 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:00.920 the characters and just figure out what the next story 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:02.240 I want to tell is. And I think that's why 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.240 I've been so like passionate about the things that I 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.280 have been able to work on, because it's I've had 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:08.760 that room to breathe in between. 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:09.960 I love that. 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:12.400 And now a word from our sponsors who make the 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:13.240 show possible. 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:25.080 How did that start for you? 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:25.640 Like? 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:31.520 How did you go from TV? You know, set life, 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:34.880 actor life. Where did the writing come from? How did 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:36.880 you know that this is where you wanted to go? 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:42.440 I didn't really, but truthfully I don't. I'm feeling I'm 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.120 figuring out my own brain, still in my writer brain. 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:48.560 But I worked with this actress writer director named Zoe 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:52.640 Kazan who's very talented, and we played sisters, and I 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:54.960 just was so obsessed with her and looked up to 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:56.240 her so much, and I thought she was like the 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:59.880 smartest person I'd ever met. She's very smart and very cool. 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.000 And I was just coming Secret Life had been canceled, 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:05.200 but we were still had to film like ten episodes 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:07.440 or whatever, and so for the first time I was 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:09.760 kind of thinking about what was next, and I had 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:11.680 this idea about a show that I want to write 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:14.120 about this child, this girl who was like, you know, 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.440 almost thirty, who was playing like a fourteen year old 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:19.320 on a Disney show, who was just always like high 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:21.520 out of her mind. It was called Calver Collins Is High. 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.440 And I was pitching it to Zoe as an idea 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:27.000 and she was like, you should write it, and it 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:29.400 was just literally I knew she was so smart and 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:32.720 so talented. Her even thinking that I could do it, 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:34.440 it was like a light bulb went off in my head. 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:37.000 Nobody had ever said to me before, like have you 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:38.280 ever thought about it? I don't know. I just had 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:41.000 never had anybody that I believed in so much believe 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:44.160 in me in that way. And I remember she kind 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.080 of read the first draft of it and thought it 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.520 was really great, and I ended up just sending it 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:51.040 to my agents and everybody, of course, was like, we 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:53.520 love how There's there's no structure to this show, like 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:55.560 it's just very and I was like, because I don't 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:57.280 know what I'm doing, I don't know how, I don't 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:01.520 know how to write act breaks or anything. But I 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:04.280 end up CBS ended up buying it and we actually 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:06.560 went through sort of like they hired a showrunner and 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:09.520 I learned a lot. It never got made, but it 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:14.119 was immediately I was like, oh, this is so therapeutic 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:16.240 for me to write. I didn't even think about directing 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:18.240 it at that point, but just the writing process was 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:21.879 so fun for me, and I knew then that I 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:24.399 was like, I'm going to write forever, whether people are 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:25.959 reader it or not, Like this is something that I 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:28.520 can't not do. This is for me, Like this is 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:34.320 just so personal. And then that didn't get made, and 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:36.720 the fallout was something that I'd been thinking about. I 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.639 was still acting and just like taking like whatever kind 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:42.200 of roles came my way. And I was in Vancouver 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:46.600 at the Sutton Place, like film something I just couldn't 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:49.880 stop thinking about. I mean, obviously, unfortunately there wasn't one 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:53.840 specific event, but I started thinking about just the reality 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:55.840 of being a teenager in an American and going to 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.840 school every day. And I grew up, of course, like 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.160 a millennial and going to school in Canada, and I 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:04.440 never ever felt scared. I never felt scared going to school, 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:07.640 not once, never even entered my mind. And I think 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:09.359 I was starting to think about having kids and I 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:11.760 was like, well, fuck, like this is just I can't 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:14.240 believe this is actually a reality. I would for sure 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:16.479 not be able to go to school every day if 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:18.440 I was sixteen right now, Like I just knowing who 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:22.240 I am, I couldn't do it. And I just kind 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:24.440 of started thinking about how can I talk about this 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:27.160 in a way that's palatable, because it was so triggering 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:29.760 to me, Like I have a really hard time, you know, 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:33.880 watching stories about gun violence and school shootings, but yet 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:35.920 I felt like there hadn't been this story about kind 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:40.800 of somebody who wasn't directly affected by it necessarily, but 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:44.760 was obviously, you know, greatly affected by it. And so 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:47.960 just this veda character was very much a part of me, 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:50.560 and it was just a story that I wanted to tell. 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:54.840 And maybe it was nice that I am a millennial 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:56.679 and I am Canadian and had the sort of like 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:59.440 a removed perspective on it in a sense that helped 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:02.480 me to kind of of tap into that in some way. 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:04.560 But I talked to a lot of people who had 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:07.359 been through Beta's experience. I talked to a lot of 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:09.399 people involved with every town and did a lot of 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:11.040 research and had a lot of people read it and 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:13.920 give me notes and feedback, and unfortunately, there's so many 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:18.440 people who who could give perspective into this story, and 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:21.239 it was important to me to make it, you know, 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:23.720 not triggering for people who had been through that experience. 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:26.679 But once I thought about it and talked about it 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:29.479 so much, I wrote it in like a week or 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:33.000 maybe two weeks. It came really, really really fast because 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:35.359 I knew who all the people were, and it was 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:37.119 the same with mild Ass. Soon as I figure out 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:40.679 the characters, then everything just kind of flows. I never 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:42.919 write an outline and never like do anything like that. 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:44.760 I'm just kind of like, Okay, I know the people, 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:46.960 and now I can just sit and write a scene 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:50.360 and their voices will kind of come to me. But yeah, 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:52.640 that was sort of like the prime and then I yeah, 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:54.919 two weeks and then somebody wanted to make it. We 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:56.640 made it for a million dollars, which I was like, 0:19:56.880 --> 0:19:58.520 that's so much money to make a movie. And then 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:01.520