Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload, the podcast last week that might welcome TV
Speaker 1: Reload listeners. My name is Benjamin Norris, and this is
Speaker 1: your podcast to get all the inside goss on the
Speaker 1: popular TV shows you may be watching from around the world. Undeniably,
Speaker 1: our TV sets are a major part of our home entertainment,
Speaker 1: and very little is known about how our favorite shows
Speaker 1: get made. Each episode, I find guests that want to
Speaker 1: dive just that little bit deeper into the shows they're
Speaker 1: currently making, so that you can hear all the exclusive
Speaker 1: stories and gain access to the biggest names in television.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you for downloading or subscribing to
Speaker 1: this podcast. I love hearing your feedback, so make sure
Speaker 1: you leave a comment on your chosen podcast platform and
Speaker 1: I will make sure you feel as included in the
Speaker 1: production of the show as possible. This episode, I'm joined
Speaker 1: by Joanna Werner. Joanna Werner is a three time Emmy
Speaker 1: nominated AFI actor and multi Logie award winning producer, and
Speaker 1: we will be talking Crazy Fun Park, which you can
Speaker 1: catch up on now on the iView app as it's
Speaker 1: a fantast plastic news series on the ABC Nicholas Verso's
Speaker 1: Crazy Fun Park tells the story of Chester, an introverted
Speaker 1: teen who makes the incredible discovery that he's recently deceased
Speaker 1: best friend maple Thorn, is one of a group of
Speaker 1: ghoulish teens who hold the abandoned fun park at the
Speaker 1: edge of town. Sounds fun right, with lots of practical
Speaker 1: effects young actors getting their start. I have loved this
Speaker 1: series so far as the creators don't stupefy their audience,
Speaker 1: which is why it's been a success with young adults.
Speaker 1: Whober times can be really hard to engage with. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bring Joanna into the podcast now. I hope
Speaker 1: you enjoy this chat and check out this fun series
Speaker 1: and support local content. Hi, Joanna, thanks for coming on
Speaker 1: to TV Reload. Thanks for having we been you know,
Speaker 1: I'm thrilled to be having this chat with you, as
Speaker 1: so many of your peers have spoken so highly of
Speaker 1: your work. Does that sound like a strange thing to hear?
Speaker 2: That sounds like a very lovely thing to hear.
Speaker 1: Thank you well. I wanted to ask you about how
Speaker 1: you got started, what made you want to get into television?
Speaker 2: It was certainly not something I thought was a possibility
Speaker 2: growing up, it never occurred to me. I grew up
Speaker 2: in a outside of a town of three hundred people.
Speaker 2: My parents were certainly not in the industry, nor was
Speaker 2: anyone I knew. But I always was a huge reader.
Speaker 2: I loved it when mom and dad took us into
Speaker 2: the city to see live shows, and was always, you know,
Speaker 2: part of school productions and school Rockerstedford's and all those
Speaker 2: sorts of things. But I I didn't have science in
Speaker 2: year twelve, and I was going to do engineering, and
Speaker 2: I just got to the end of view twelve and
Speaker 2: I said, I can't bear it if that's what I
Speaker 2: ended up having to do. I just got to be
Speaker 2: something else. And so I did Media Studies at r MIT,
Speaker 2: and after deferring for a year to work for the
Speaker 2: Rockstedford in Sydney, where I did a trainee ship in
Speaker 2: television and video production and worked on their TV special,
Speaker 2: And then the first first semester at Media Studies at
Speaker 2: ROT we did I think we did a term of
Speaker 2: scriptwriting and then a term of producing and I just
Speaker 2: I'll boom, that's what I want to do. That all
Speaker 2: works for me.
Speaker 1: You know, Dance Academy is starting to make a lot
Speaker 1: more sense. Now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I was doing ballet classes since I was
Speaker 2: four years old at my little ballet Country Ballet school.
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's really important. I was brought up
Speaker 1: by an educator and it was so important for her
Speaker 1: that we were readers, and I think that was really
Speaker 1: important for us because it meant that we were quite creative.
Speaker 1: I think it's kind of like an entry point into
Speaker 1: using your creative talents.
Speaker 2: Oh. Absolutely, I was still one of the key reasons
Speaker 2: I have my career. I think I loved YA and
Speaker 2: Zam Strauss, the creator of Dance Academy, and I bonded
Speaker 2: over our love of Ya books and yeah, it's why
Speaker 2: I really loved working in children and team television to
Speaker 2: begin with and still do.
Speaker 1: Now, was there a show that you connected to as
Speaker 1: you were growing up? Well maybe that was because there
Speaker 1: wasn't television. You know, there wasn't as much television for
Speaker 1: young adults. I mean, what was there a show?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: I loved it.
Speaker 2: I mean Degrassi was sort of the cornerstone. I remember
Speaker 2: at high school, rather than have health taught to us,
Speaker 2: they just let us watch episodes of Degrassi and it
Speaker 2: was awesome. I know Sam and I bonded over My
Speaker 2: So Called Life with Claire Danes, which was amazing. So
Speaker 2: they're the sort of shows that stand out in my
Speaker 2: memory is being really significant and important and helped shape
Speaker 2: your worldview, which is why I think YA and Team
Speaker 2: programming is really important because it can matter so much
Speaker 2: to you at a really pivotal part of your life.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. I mean, I thought the shows that I watched
Speaker 1: in my teenage years were quite formative for me, and
Speaker 1: I was quite addicted to them. It's interesting. My So
Speaker 1: Called Life was my favorite TV show up until I
Speaker 1: was twenty years of age, and I could still go
Speaker 1: back and watch it. And even though I am not
Speaker 1: that age. It's funny I start to relate to the
Speaker 1: mother in that show, the mum, and I can see
Speaker 1: the show on a different perspective.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I know that show still holds up. It's still
Speaker 2: worth it worth a watch, now, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Well. I came across your work originally with Dance Academy,
Speaker 1: and I just loved how accessible your storytelling is for
Speaker 1: I guess i'd say a broader audience.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I just think if you're given by a lot
Speaker 2: of money to make something you want to make something
Speaker 2: that as many people as possible are going to enjoy
Speaker 2: and get something out of and it can matter to them.
Speaker 2: I've just been so incredibly lucky in my career to
Speaker 2: team up with incredible creators and writers that have really
Speaker 2: appealed to my sensibilities as well. And I've been able
Speaker 2: to work really collaborately, collaboratively with really amazing writers, and
Speaker 2: we have been lucky enough to make shows that have
Speaker 2: found really wide audiences and have made shows that do
Speaker 2: matter to people. It's really important, and we've been so
Speaker 2: thrilled with the way that a number of our shows
Speaker 2: have been received.
Speaker 1: Well, is it harder to create worlds for younger people?
Speaker 1: I mean, what's the secret?
Speaker 2: That was where I started off. I worked for years
Speaker 2: for Jonathan Shift Productions, doing back to back twenty six
Speaker 2: half hour series each year, which sort of led to
Speaker 2: H two O, which was the first show that I produced,
Speaker 2: and then and then onto Dance Academy when I started
Speaker 2: my own company. And so that's how I learned to
Speaker 2: do it. And so that's sort of, you know, that's
Speaker 2: the benchmark for me of how you do do it.
Speaker 1: I mean, you need to engage younger audiences with issues
Speaker 1: that they may face in a way that feels interesting
Speaker 1: to them, and I think that sometimes can be quite
Speaker 1: complicated and hard to do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you're just trying to create fabulous characters. I
Speaker 2: don't see that there's a huge difference in whether you're
Speaker 2: producing for teen audiences or adult audiences. You're trying to
Speaker 2: make creating incredibly rich, diverse and interesting characters in interesting
Speaker 2: settings that are going to appeal to your audience. So yes,
Speaker 2: it's important to think of who your audience is when
Speaker 2: you're making it. That that sort of falls away when
Speaker 2: you're in the process of it. You're just trying to
Speaker 2: make great stories for really interesting characters.
Speaker 1: Well, Crazy Fun Park feels like a really unique show
Speaker 1: that has really wide appeal. I mean I watched it
Speaker 1: as a previous screening and entered it without really knowing
Speaker 1: too much about it, which I often love to do
Speaker 1: with this type of storytelling, and I was compelled. You know,
Speaker 1: what was it about this story that really appealed to you?
Speaker 2: I just thought it really had something to say as
Speaker 2: well as being it's funny, it's scary, it's a really
Speaker 2: enticing world, and it's creepy, but it also has this
Speaker 2: thing to say. It's a really wonderful exploration of teen
Speaker 2: boy relationships and your relationship with grief. And I thought
Speaker 2: it had some really profound messages, but it's buried in
Speaker 2: there so you don't feel like you're learning a life
Speaker 2: lesson and you're watching it, you're just engrossed, hopefully, just
Speaker 2: engrossed in the drama and in the characters. But it
Speaker 2: does have something really important to say and can really
Speaker 2: sort of sit with you and you can think about
Speaker 2: it afterwards. Which are the shows that I really like.
Speaker 1: That's going to sound strange to you, and you probably
Speaker 1: haven't even seen this, and people listening will be like,
Speaker 1: what is Ben talking about? But it was kind of
Speaker 1: like a blend of The Boy Who Could Fly for
Speaker 1: Me mixed with Beetlejuice. I mean that's kind of what
Speaker 1: I felt. I felt like a bit of a Tim
Speaker 1: Burton feel to it. But I don't know if you
Speaker 1: ever saw that film, Oh yeah.
Speaker 2: That is I love that reference. I'd never thought of
Speaker 2: it that way, and Beetlejuice was absolutely a reference. But
Speaker 2: The Boy Can Fly it was a classic. I've watched
Speaker 2: that so many times growing up. I love that you've
Speaker 2: made my day.
Speaker 1: Well, that film, to me, it was interesting at the
Speaker 1: time because they did handle grief. I mean, the protagonist
Speaker 1: in that story had lost their father and that's kind
Speaker 1: of where the story had started, and it was kind
Speaker 1: of the first time I'd seen a film that was
Speaker 1: made for young adults that was tackling hard to deal
Speaker 1: with subject matter. You know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And the grief of loss of a friend
Speaker 2: that we're tackling in Crazy Fumpack is really profound. It
Speaker 2: comes from a real place, a very real place for
Speaker 2: the creator, Nick Verso, and you can fit that depth
Speaker 2: and groundedness to it. It comes from a real place
Speaker 2: of knowledge of that experience. Yes, I thought it was
Speaker 2: a very special, very unique show, and I was very
Speaker 2: lucky that Nick came to be with that Immediately.
Speaker 1: The protagonists in this story engage you as an audience,
Speaker 1: and they make you feel like they're your real friends,
Speaker 1: and I think that's so imperative to getting people to engage.
Speaker 1: Did you love these too?
Speaker 2: These two boys, I absolutely love them, and I just
Speaker 2: love their catch phrase friends for another Day, And when
Speaker 2: it's used later on in the storyline door and given anyway, like,
Speaker 2: it's really beautiful. Their friendship is just is just beautiful
Speaker 2: and I love it. I think the casting of those
Speaker 2: boys was really crucial and we knew that and I
Speaker 2: feel we really got that right with Henry and Stacey
Speaker 2: who play Chester and Maplethorpe. It's really beautiful that their friendship.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I feel like I've made so many things
Speaker 2: with a female audience in mind, we always want everybody
Speaker 2: to watch it, but possibly skewed a bit more towards
Speaker 2: a female audience. So it was really wonderful to make
Speaker 2: something skewed towards a boy's audience. My oldest nephew is
Speaker 2: the exact spot on age for this, and I hope
Speaker 2: he loves it. My Little Boy is for and you
Speaker 2: just realized they really their friendships are so beautiful, and
Speaker 2: I was just really happy to have a show that
Speaker 2: was really aimed at at a boy audience and shows
Speaker 2: boys hugging each other and having loving relationships. I just
Speaker 2: don't think you get that often anymore. And I really
Speaker 2: loved that about it. Well.
Speaker 1: Sadly, in life, I think we all experienced grief, and
Speaker 1: that was something about this show that I thought was
Speaker 1: handled really well. You know, was there an overall message
Speaker 1: that you guys were trying to get across to your audience.
Speaker 2: Many audiences and many messages, and I think and Nick
Speaker 2: the creator of the show, would have his own viewpoint
Speaker 2: on this as well. But for me, it was friendship
Speaker 2: and that friendship can stay with you and that you're
Speaker 2: able to keep that, keep that with you even if
Speaker 2: you do lose somebody. And I've got lots of friends
Speaker 2: now that sadly have lost parents or loss and grief
Speaker 2: can come at any stage in your life. And I
Speaker 2: loved that the message of positivity of keeping those friendships
Speaker 2: and relationships in your heart and that they and they're
Speaker 2: part of you was ripped something really beautiful.
Speaker 1: If young people are watching this, I think it might
Speaker 1: be something they'll draw back to because it is handled
Speaker 1: quite well throughout the whole series. I mean, I haven't
Speaker 1: finished the last episode, so that's where I'm up to,
Speaker 1: but I just think it's handled so well and in
Speaker 1: a way that kids can understand why. I don't want
Speaker 1: to say kids, I want to say young adults. You know,
Speaker 1: I think you know the sets, the cinematography, and the
Speaker 1: storytelling gave me early Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibes as well.
Speaker 1: Had you seen that show or was that any inspiration
Speaker 1: to any of the content makers.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, definitely seen it, seen it and loved it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we had lots of references and Beetlejuice was definitely one
Speaker 2: of them. Patty Reard and our production designer was tasked
Speaker 2: with build us a fun park please inside this empty,
Speaker 2: abandoned warehouse in Altona, and he delivered. It's you know,
Speaker 2: he used CGI to enhance the tops the top of
Speaker 2: the set, but everything is in there. And he did
Speaker 2: the impossible and convince people to lend us their rides
Speaker 2: and games to populate the world. But yeah, I think
Speaker 2: I think he did a beautiful job.
Speaker 1: I think the basic sets and I'm not basic sets,
Speaker 1: they're quite elaborate sets, but you know, just basic special
Speaker 1: effects that's used throughout it phenomenal.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean we definitely embraced low fire and high fire.
Speaker 2: We you know, we did everything we could within our budget.
Speaker 2: And I think there's a you know, there's a level
Speaker 2: of expectation now from an audience. They're very sophixedicated audience
Speaker 2: they're watching. You know, it used to be that Harry
Speaker 2: Potter CGI was the benchmarker. Now that's you know, that's
Speaker 2: very outdated. So yeah, it's a sophisticated audience that we
Speaker 2: have to cater for within a TV budget, and I
Speaker 2: was thrilled with the results.
Speaker 1: Do you think that you know, we've changed the way
Speaker 1: in which we make television in the last few years,
Speaker 1: particularly in Australia.
Speaker 2: I just think we keep aiming to be better. I
Speaker 2: think we keep aiming to keep those production values as
Speaker 2: high as possible. So I think it's just a constant evolution.
Speaker 2: I can't see a moment where you know, we took
Speaker 2: a huge leap. We're just continuing to take progressive steps forward.
Speaker 2: So it's just always that striving for better, to do
Speaker 2: more with our budget, to keep those production values really high,
Speaker 2: just so that your audience can get captivated with the
Speaker 2: world and the stories that you're telling within that world.
Speaker 2: So I think we're just constantly pushing ourselves to do
Speaker 2: better and more.
Speaker 1: I think one of your biggest skill sets is getting
Speaker 1: these performances out of the young adults that you work with.
Speaker 1: You know, how do you get such authentic performances out
Speaker 1: out of young people who might you know, have this
Speaker 1: as their first acting role.
Speaker 2: That's me being lucky enough to work with fabulous directors,
Speaker 2: but also helping them to have a world, a production
Speaker 2: world where that's supported. So at the moment where just
Speaker 2: about start shooting the second season of Surviving Summer, which
Speaker 2: is really exciting, our teen surf show for Netflix, and
Speaker 2: we're working with a fantastic dramaturgue who's working really hard
Speaker 2: with this young cast to really give them all the
Speaker 2: skill set that they can have to bring the best
Speaker 2: to their scenes. On Crazy Fump Up, a lot of
Speaker 2: the cast, heaps of the cast were first timers. It
Speaker 2: was a really diverse group, so it wasn't necessarily the
Speaker 2: actors who were always going to have the agents or
Speaker 2: have been the lead in school plays. We unearthed some
Speaker 2: people who this is absolutely their first time and creating
Speaker 2: an environment where they feel supported, where they feel brave
Speaker 2: to take some risks, because you obviously feel very vulnerable
Speaker 2: when you're on set being filmed and in front of
Speaker 2: this huge crew who have all worked on heaps of
Speaker 2: shows and this is your first time on set. So
Speaker 2: it's just getting the right team together to create that
Speaker 2: supportive environment is really important.
Speaker 1: Did the kids laugh with Judae with Lucy? I mean,
Speaker 1: I love Judith Lucy as an adult, and I think
Speaker 1: she's so funny. How did she go down on set
Speaker 1: with these with these kids?
Speaker 2: I reckon some of the cast didn't know who she
Speaker 2: was because there that's not their target audience. And then
Speaker 2: they found out who she was and then they were impressed.
Speaker 2: But they to begin with, they were just impressed with
Speaker 2: her on set because you know, she's hilarious. Who's this
Speaker 2: older lady?
Speaker 1: Was she hilarious on set? Is she being very Judith Lucy?
Speaker 2: Oh? I think she was? I think yeah, I think
Speaker 2: everything that Judith Lucy says is hilarious. Had this fantastic
Speaker 2: meeting where Nick Versus and I went to have lunch
Speaker 2: with Jez to try to Cajola into doing the role,
Speaker 2: and she told us she was already going to say yes,
Speaker 2: but she would to take the meeting anyway, and she
Speaker 2: was hilarious in that. No, she's a very talented performer.
Speaker 1: I'm obsessed, and she's fantastic in the show. So I
Speaker 1: think it's a great gat you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, me too, me too.
Speaker 1: People who might be a little bit older, I think
Speaker 1: we'll tap into this series. I mean, that's the other
Speaker 1: thing about this show is that I think it is
Speaker 1: for a broader audience. I think, you know, our adults
Speaker 1: are going to enjoy this as much as kids anyway.
Speaker 2: Oh totally, I think so, PG but write a butting
Speaker 2: against M. So our sort of looking at how far
Speaker 2: we could go with the scares or anything. It was
Speaker 2: always let's go as far as we possibly can without
Speaker 2: it tipping into M's. So we worked really closely with
Speaker 2: the ABC and the ACTF to make sure that we
Speaker 2: were just hitting that line but not going over. And
Speaker 2: for me, I'm a bit of a wars so it
Speaker 2: was at the maximum capacity of me scare wise anyway,
Speaker 2: So it was prorometer.
Speaker 1: I'm a boss as well. I feel like I'm getting woolzier,
Speaker 1: if that's even a word. As I get older, I'm
Speaker 1: so less inclined to want to watch things that are
Speaker 1: too scary to me.
Speaker 2: They take away more than they give. I don't want
Speaker 2: to have to be scared for weeks afterwards. But Nick
Speaker 2: Verso is such an aficionado when it comes to horror
Speaker 2: and the things that, Yeah, I just would never watch
Speaker 2: any of the references that he was talking about.
Speaker 1: Oh he's great, and you've worked with some amazing people
Speaker 1: like Tony Airs and Emma Freeman. What do you enjoy
Speaker 1: about collaborating with people like that?
Speaker 2: Oh, just being in a room where everybody smarter than
Speaker 2: you is the best place to be in your career.
Speaker 2: That's how you learn. And that's sort of about what
Speaker 2: I aspire to every time. And I have been lucky
Speaker 2: to work with amazing people, and every time I am
Speaker 2: lucky enough to work on a new show with a
Speaker 2: new talent, you just learn so much from working with them,
Speaker 2: and that's you know, you're here for the marathon, not
Speaker 2: the sprint of a career. So that's how you kind
Speaker 2: of hopefully have longevity of just continuing to learn from
Speaker 2: the people around you.
Speaker 1: And there's sort of changing between you know, young adults
Speaker 1: and making television for adults. And there's been some brilliant
Speaker 1: shows that you've worked along the way. I think Secret
Speaker 1: City is yours the news reader. Did you have to
Speaker 1: put a different hat on when you are targeting different audiences?
Speaker 2: I had thought so to begin with. So I was
Speaker 2: really nervous when I did Secret City because it was
Speaker 2: the first time I'd worked on a grown up show,
Speaker 2: and I had to stopped pulling in an adult show
Speaker 2: because I realized it sounded to people like I was
Speaker 2: making porn, but it was just a I'm not kids show.
Speaker 2: But then I realized when we got through it, you're
Speaker 2: just trying to do the best work you can. It's
Speaker 2: the same cruise, you know, You're just on every show
Speaker 2: that you're on, people are trying to do the best
Speaker 2: work they possibly can. And probably the level of interrogation
Speaker 2: of scripts can be more so at times from adult actors,
Speaker 2: and so there's that extra pressure. But you're trying. You're
Speaker 2: just with every show you're doing, you're trying to do
Speaker 2: the best work you can and make them the most complex,
Speaker 2: you know, stories, stories you can. So I don't think
Speaker 2: there's a huge difference.
Speaker 1: No, Well, Secret City such a beautiful show to watch.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know it was obviously about politicians, but
Speaker 1: you know, all of the cinematography, everything about that show
Speaker 1: was first class, which I think is brilliant because we're
Speaker 1: now is telling stories in Australia that stack up and
Speaker 1: look just as good as anything that you're going to
Speaker 1: see on HBO or anywhere else from around the world.
Speaker 1: It's quite amazing and you can feel very proud, I think,
Speaker 1: to be making television that's just as good as anywhere
Speaker 1: else in the world.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's certainly what we aspire to do with
Speaker 2: Secret City. Our aim was to make Canberra sexy.
Speaker 1: But was it the new Reader as well? That was yours?
Speaker 2: Yes, So the news Reader was when a film production's
Speaker 2: first first full series. So I produced Secret City with Matchbox,
Speaker 2: which was awesome, and then the Newsreader is is when
Speaker 2: a film productions first adult show.
Speaker 1: Not adult you know, I know what you mean, not porn,
Speaker 1: not porn, yeah, not porn.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which you know. It's just been such an amazing
Speaker 2: show to be part of. Working with Emma again and
Speaker 2: with Michael Lucas and Anatove again after Secret City and
Speaker 2: Sam Reid, it's a all of our amazing cast. We've
Speaker 2: just finished the second season and I can't wait for
Speaker 2: people to see it.
Speaker 1: I loved that show so much. I'm so glad there's
Speaker 1: a second series because I couldn't get enough from the story.
Speaker 1: It was so well done.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I just I love that series so much,
Speaker 2: and yeah, the second season is awesome. It's really I'm
Speaker 2: really excited about it.
Speaker 1: Well. I got on to Michael Lucas the next after
Speaker 1: I watched the whole thing and was like, you have
Speaker 1: to come on the podcast, you have to talk to
Speaker 1: me about these characters. And it was wonderful to hear.
Speaker 1: You know, he's passion for the news room.
Speaker 2: He's a news nerd, and that's how we connected because
Speaker 2: I'm not as big a news nerd as he is,
Speaker 2: but I'm still a bit of a nerd. And yeah,
Speaker 2: his passion for deep diving into the era's news stories
Speaker 2: is impressive.
Speaker 1: And can you tease us about something that's gonna like
Speaker 1: what's the subject matter for season two? Men? We've got
Speaker 1: the Russell Street bombings in the first series. Is there
Speaker 1: an event like that that we will see in the
Speaker 1: second series?
Speaker 2: There is? And I cannot see anything else.
Speaker 1: The secret it's really.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Michael's got the scripts are fantastic. Emma's done an
Speaker 2: amazing job with all six episodes, and our past are
Speaker 2: really really incredible. And then seeing Anna at the moment
Speaker 2: on the Last of Us and Sam in Interview of
Speaker 2: the Vampire, just seeing the amazing stuff they're doing that's
Speaker 2: getting a huge audience. It's so exciting to have them back.
Speaker 1: They're both becoming huge, Like I don't mind, how have
Speaker 1: big their star managers to get but they have to
Speaker 1: keep coming back and making more of the news reader.
Speaker 1: We need them back for season three. So what about
Speaker 1: Crazy Fun Park? Do you think we'll get to see
Speaker 1: more of these characters?
Speaker 2: I would love to you always hope that's the goal
Speaker 2: season two. Second seasons are such a gift. You really
Speaker 2: you know what's working, you know what you want to
Speaker 2: push a bit further. You've already made those huge decisions
Speaker 2: of the casting, which contributes so much to the success
Speaker 2: of a show, So some of those big gambles and
Speaker 2: questions are taking out. So yeah, second seasons are really
Speaker 2: fabulous to work on.
Speaker 1: Well, something I ask everyone who joins the podcast is
Speaker 1: what's something from behind the scenes, you know, something that
Speaker 1: we wouldn't see as an audience, kind of like a
Speaker 1: behind the scenes secret from well for this show, for
Speaker 1: Crazy Fun Park, is there something that you can tell
Speaker 1: us that happened a funny story and anecdote that happened
Speaker 1: through the production of it.
Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know if it'll be a funny story
Speaker 2: because I'm just thinking of shot in COVID times and
Speaker 2: this is probably what everybody talks about now because it's
Speaker 2: quite you know, it's really it's really a weird situation
Speaker 2: and a big extra hurdle when you're working on something
Speaker 2: in COVID time. So we discovered our you know, a
Speaker 2: very high number on the call sheet had COVID. We
Speaker 2: managed to do one day without them, and then we
Speaker 2: had to shut down for a week and nobody could
Speaker 2: come to work, and I'm just so grateful that nobody
Speaker 2: else got it at that stage, but we just couldn't
Speaker 2: work with that person, and so it was such a
Speaker 2: lesson of how incredibly important every person is and you
Speaker 2: just can't shoot without them. So not a funny story,
Speaker 2: but we did manage to get it, get around it,
Speaker 2: and get back up shooting. But yeah, those COVID curveballs
Speaker 2: just just kept coming at you. So it's anyone who
Speaker 2: gets to who manages to finish making a show in
Speaker 2: the last three years deserve medals.
Speaker 1: In my books, I read this story about Reese Witherspoon
Speaker 1: and Jennifer Aniston. They were gone to make the second
Speaker 1: series of Morning Wars, which is what it's called here
Speaker 1: in Australia. I think it's got the Morning Show, I
Speaker 1: think is what it's called in the States. But when
Speaker 1: they were writing the second series, they were turning up
Speaker 1: on set and someone would have COVID, so that storyline
Speaker 1: kind of had to be moved away, and so they're looking.
Speaker 1: They were like, we've got to come back into a
Speaker 1: third series where we can have more than two people,
Speaker 1: more than two actors on set, and the opportunity to
Speaker 1: finish off all story arcs without having to, you know,
Speaker 1: rewrite on the day.
Speaker 2: Oh what it does to production and to the writers
Speaker 2: and to the first A. D's yeah, it is amazing.
Speaker 2: It's always a relief, and it's always it's always so
Speaker 2: great to finish shooting a show, but particularly during COVID times.
Speaker 2: Every day that you get in the can is just amazing,
Speaker 2: and you're so grateful.
Speaker 1: Now you can do an.
Speaker 2: Hopefully touchwood that's behind us, and we can all enjoy
Speaker 2: this lovely reprieve and maybe we all get shipped through
Speaker 2: our shoots with no shutdowns.
Speaker 1: Absolutely well. Claudia Carvin was on the podcast the other
Speaker 1: day and I think that's what she like. She's made
Speaker 1: three seasons of Bump and now is making the fourth one,
Speaker 1: and she was like, I think this will be I
Speaker 1: think this I hope this will be the first time
Speaker 1: we get a series done without having to worry.
Speaker 2: About COVID but fingers crossed.
Speaker 1: Well, can I just say it's been fantastic to talk
Speaker 1: to you about this. I hope people that are listening
Speaker 1: go and watch the show if they aren't already watching it.
Speaker 1: Crazy Fun Pike is absolutely amazing, and I thank you
Speaker 1: so much for telling us a little bit about how
Speaker 1: you made it and what happened behind the scenes.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Ben, I'm really really thrilled to be
Speaker 2: on the show. And yeah, like you, I hope everyone
Speaker 2: can check out Crazy Fun Park on ABC. I view