WEBVTT - WHY SCRIPTED DRAMA IN AUSTRALIA IS SO IMPORTANT 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.240 Welcome back to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris, and 0:00:03.320 --> 0:00:05.840 on this podcast I'll be going behind the scenes with 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:08.880 the biggest players in television. I just want to drop 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:11.440 this note and say I am thrilled with the response 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:14.120 to this podcast, as it's proof that there's just as 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:18.000 many TV obsessed people as myself. However, if you have 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:20.840 stumbled across this podcast, do me a favor and please 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:24.279 press subscribe. I have so many exciting guests coming up 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:26.800 and I'm sure you won't want to miss the juicy 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:29.760 stories from behind the scenes of TV. If you could 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.400 also share this podcast with friends and family, I would 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:36.320 love to expand our little community of like minded TV enthusiasts. 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:39.280 On this episode, I have Samantha Strauss, who is a 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:43.040 writer and executive producer of some of Australia's most compelling 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:46.960 scripted drama. Sam has just finished working with Nicole Kidman 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:51.600 and Melissa McCarthy on the upcoming TV series Nine Perfect Strangers, 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:54.920 which is the next Lean Moriarty book being adapted to 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:58.600 the small screen. I mean just imagine working with Nicole 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:02.640 but also writing alongside David E. Kelly with source material 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:06.280 from an author like Moriarty Today we'll be focusing on 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.920 the End, which is currently on Foxtail and if you 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.200 haven't had a chance to see it, this show is 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:15.160 a comedy drama that handles death in a way we've 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:18.640 never really seen before. It sounds bleak, but I'm telling 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:22.039 you it is simply some of the most compelling original 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:25.000 content that I've seen and deserves for you as an 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:29.000 audience to take a look. It stars Francis O'Connor, Nony Hazelhurst, 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:33.480 Alex Demitriatis and British actress Harriet Walter, and it's set 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:37.040 on the Gold Coast. A little content warning. This podcast 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:40.400 does mention some themes that may be triggering for some listeners. 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:43.800 If you need urgent help, please contact Lifeline on thirteen 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:47.920 eleven fourteen or head to the website ww dot lifeline 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:52.400 dot org dot au. Let's get started on today's episode, 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:55.480 I'd like to welcome Samantha Strauss to TV Reload. 0:01:56.400 --> 0:02:00.240 I love when the character just behaves so badly. Come 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:01.520 in here and find me dead. 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:03.640 Right Well, in the meantime, where's your medication? 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:06.800 And it makes me think about how you want your 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:10.000 last days to be and to and how to live 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:10.520 with pain. 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:13.400 But the Heart is a drama about this family. 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:17.200 It should feel sort of itchy and a bit uncomfortable. 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:21.240 It is monstrous when something you've cared about reveals itself 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:24.200 to be less. I started writing it a really long 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:26.519 time ago. It was almost the first thing I ever wrote. 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:28.280 Or do you think I'm acting out because Dad's in 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:32.480 jail and your predenta he never existed. Some projects should, 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:34.320 I think, just be written by one person. 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:35.880 How are you, Sammy? You well? 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:36.799 I'm really well? 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:40.000 How are you really well? Your understanding of human emotion 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.799 is what I think is your best currency with audiences, 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:45.640 and it comes across in all of your work. What 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:49.160 helps you so effortlessly tap into that earnest human emotion? 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:52.720 Oh gosh, that's a really good question. I think I'd 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:53.480 never wanted to be an. 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:56.160 Actor, but I used to sit at your computer and 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:58.560 you get to live in other people's worlds. 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:02.560 And that's the bit about writing. I'm writing something at 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:03.840 the moment, and I love. 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:07.040 When the character just behaves so badly and you see, 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:10.400 you know, this incredible neediness in someone, or you know, 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:13.560 hyper sensitivity or moments like that, which is sort of 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:14.680 you feel all the time. 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:16.919 You know, then you can just you know, write them 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.320 large for a character. 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:22.200 And I come from none of them are storytellers, but 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:24.240 I've got lots of members of the family who are 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:28.960 really interested to a gossipers love who love like gossiping about. 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:31.080 Like you know that this happened to this person, What 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:32.920 do you think that really meant to them? And you 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:34.640 know that's how they sort of go through life. 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:38.360 That's my favorite thing is flawed people. You know, I'm 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:40.520 not interested in being friends with people are too perfect. 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.680 Like I love the truth, I think, and I love 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:44.400 dissecting that. 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:45.240 Yeah. 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:47.800 I mean, I've got a best friend I speak to 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.240 most days, and we like each other because we show 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:53.680 each other the absolute worst parts of ourselves and find 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:56.200 them funny. And I think that that's you know, that's 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:57.160 what you put on the screen. 0:03:57.320 --> 0:03:59.240 Do you remember watching Love My Way for the first 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:02.240 time and all those characters were so flawed And I 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:04.560 remember we finished the first episode and I said to 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:06.800 my partner, I was like, none of these people are 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:11.120 very good, are they? And that was the best thing 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:14.080 about it because we'd never seen storytelling like that before. 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:16.240 You know, we always had to have the protagonist that 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:18.840 was doing good, you know, So I think it's more 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:22.000 interesting these days to sort of inspect the darker signs 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:22.960 of people and. 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:25.839 Seeing Asha Ketty have a meltdown at Ikea. You know, 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:28.719 I'll never forget it. Just wanting more storage systems. You know, 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:29.680 who hasn't been there. 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.200 Maybe we ought to consider the boshnark, consider the boshnark. 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:35.320 Houten Dorf good and fun. 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:36.240 I don't really care. 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:37.680 Let's just get the hell out of here. 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.159 Hello, I'm hungover. I have a four week old baby. 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:41.440 You have a four week old? 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:43.200 What am I? I spermed on. 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:47.080 I'm so bloody tired, and I know people are dying 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:49.080 in fucking Palestine. 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:51.920 Or whatever, but you know, I need story systems. Charlie, 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:54.239 I'm going off on a tangent. But I was walking 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:57.640 the dog the other day and I was impersonating Asha 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.640 Ketty and the neighbor was watching me and thinking what 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:04.080 the hell is wrong and laughing. I'm like, oh, I'm 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:06.800 quoting a TV series which no one would probably from 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:10.159 my day ago as well, There's nothing wrong with me. 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:11.480 Nope. 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:15.039 It was nice having Brendan on the end, actually, because 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:17.600 he you know, he wrote so much of Love my Way. 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:19.440 I think he's a really wonderful, Right, I just sort 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:21.840 of gets into that what it means to be a 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.279 troubled man in a way that I can't. 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:28.480 It's terrific, just unbelievable. Like one of my favorites, one 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:30.480 of my favorites for sure. You know, I love your 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:33.400 production company name, which is picking Scabs, because it immediately 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:35.880 talks to me about the work that you're doing. How 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:39.040 does that name align with the themes in the end. 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:42.760 Well, I mean there's something kind of fun about picking 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:45.280 a scab that it's you know that they're itchy and 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:48.520 you sort of you pick them and then maybe they'll 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:51.960 bleed and that's sort of problematic, but you're sort of 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:54.560 trying to get to what's underneath there. 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:57.480 And that's how I felt about the end. 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:00.920 It should feel sort of itchy and a bit uncomfortable, 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.440 and it's something that that it's you know, it's a conversation. 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:06.840 It's just a dying to a conversation that we a 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:08.280 lot of people want to have, a lot of people 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.039 want to avoid, but particularly as you get older, it's 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:14.880 something that becomes very present in mind. And so with 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:18.760 the picking scabs sort of holistically across all our projects, 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:22.159 we just want to tell the truth about things that 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.560 are happening in our country and and find a way 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:28.200 to make it joyous. At the same time that there 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:30.279 needs to be an optimistic streak. 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:33.159 The brochure says that this is much more of a 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:34.760 country company retirement village. 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:37.040 You need more care if you can give. 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:38.239 You a lovely family. 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:41.480 Those children are not being parented. 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:44.520 Is a bully? Do you think I'm left to you 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:45.520 out because dad's in jail? 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:46.159 Your predenda? 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:47.080 He never existed? 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.200 So how are you questioning my faith in Western medicine? 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:50.920 Sounds fun? 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:51.440 How's your known? 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:53.520 I don't know what you want. 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:55.560 I want to be dead because I can't stand to 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:57.800 be alive knowing that I wasted all of it. It's 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:01.000 just green. You don't want to die. She is dying. 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:02.840 But if this year we would open up your sister 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:03.599 dying debate. 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:06.680 Your boyfriend's here and I have a boyfriend so casual sex. 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:07.640 I will look after you. 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:09.360 But Mum, I moved to the other side of the 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:11.440 world because I don't want that anywhere near my kids. 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:12.360 We helped him. 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:14.400 Matters can't kill. 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:16.640 What if it's my purpose? 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:20.920 I never had one all my life. The reward for 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:25.000 a good life. It's a good line. I think the 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:27.480 end is quite dark, but it's also quite funny as well, 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:30.240 and I think that's sometimes the best blend. Is it 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:32.520 hard to tackle those sorts of issues? And what was 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:35.280 the original pitch? Because it is something a little out 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:36.840 of the box, So I can't I mean, not the 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:38.920 whole pitch, because I'm assuming that was a bigger meeting. 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:42.000 But what was the original pitch idea when you were 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:43.080 talking about this show? 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:45.120 Well, I started writing it a really long time ago. 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:47.560 It was almost the first thing I ever wrote as 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:50.360 at five minute short film at UNI, and I'd been 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:54.239 really inspired by a grandmother whose husband died by putting 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:57.840 a plastic bag over his head. And my grandmother moved 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:02.080 to the Gold Coast and arrived very depressed, and within 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:05.200 six months had this sort of whole new lease on life. 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:07.880 Had made a new best friend called Pamela who lived 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:11.760 next door, and she'd been depressed, but then you know, 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:14.679 within six months she was wearing sexy red dresses and 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:18.920 dancing on tabletops. And I remember watching this and thinking, 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:22.720 you know, you can, if you can kind. 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:25.680 Of go out dancing, it's it's a good way to go. 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:28.360 It made me kind of a little bit less scared 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:31.840 about getting older and dying to see how much fun 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:32.760 she was still having. 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:34.720 So that was the original inspiration. 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:37.000 And you know, the themes of death, they sort of 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:41.240 heavily featured and kind of dissected throughout the show. Why 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:44.000 did you choose that particular theme, Like what about that 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:46.840 theme was resonating or what drew you to sort of 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:47.640 want to unpack that. 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:54.079 I probably think about death too much. My dad was 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:55.240 always sick growing up. 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.000 He's quite well now, but he was quite ill for 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:01.360 a long time, and so you always feel like that 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:05.280 immortality was a part of our household, that you know, 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:08.360 you could go to school and he might die. So 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:11.760 then I think it does the interesting things to you. 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:14.520 It sort of makes you never really want to have 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.360 a fight with someone, and it makes you think about 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:19.920 how you want your last days to be and to 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:23.080 and how to live with pain, I think as well. 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:25.320 And so that was, you know, that was certainly part 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.120 of my DNA, those sorts of conversations. We would talk 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:31.960 a lot about Euthanasian assisted dying and about how he 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:34.280 might want to go out and then you know, as 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:35.880 a kid, I would think how I would want to 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:38.720 how I would want to die eventually. 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:40.679 Not a ten and you know, so I think it 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:41.800 was just baked in. 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:43.960 You know, it's quite interesting to watch as well. With 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:47.320 Morgan Davies. Was he's obviously he struggled to come out 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:51.040 as a trans person at the age of thirteen. That's 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:53.200 a really interesting subject matter to unpack for a lot 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:55.520 of people these days, Like sometimes you get into the 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:57.400 pronouns and they're there and there, and it all can 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:02.520 be quite confusing writing their carry. Did you evolve that 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:06.080 character on set because you could learn and then utilize 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:07.760 that for the character or was that all set? 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:09.960 It wasn't all set, And it was interesting. 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:12.720 Morgan was in the process of coming out when he 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:16.680 came up to Queensland for rehearsals, so he'd gone back 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:21.679 and forth through pressure publicly, and so he definitely had 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:22.679 gave us. 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:23.959 A lot of feedback on the scripts. 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:27.000 We also had a really wonderful consultant, Andrew Guy, who's 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:31.280 a terrific actor documentary filmmaker, who read the script from 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:34.240 the beginning and had a lived experience which is similar 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:35.000 to Oberon's. 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:37.319 And so we had that consultation and. 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.200 Then with Morgan, I think he felt at the time 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:43.960 that Oberon was a couple of years behind where he was. 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:47.000 He wasn't. Oberon is a bit of a he can 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:47.840 be a bit of a winger. 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:51.719 He's a bit sort of wowaswy and Oberon Morgan has 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.760 as you know, a bit of a different attitude. 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:56.800 And he's so incredibly well read. 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.559 And I think that all of the young actors on 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:03.160 our show, you know about the politics of the trans experience, 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.480 and so that could play on his mind. 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:08.959 But then he'd also be able to, you know, shut 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:09.240 it out. 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:13.160 And it's not a representation of every young trans man. 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.440 It's just Oberon's journey. 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:19.240 Obron told me about the cross sex hormones. 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:22.640 They call it tea. Well, you'll grow here and your 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:25.319 voice will drop. I cannot wait for the Adam's apple. 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.960 It's all pretty basic and it starts getting hectic when 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:30.040 you talk about feller pasty. 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:36.319 It's start. It's a penis bum take a bit of 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:39.320 your arm, your thigh, and they make one. They do. 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:43.720 Let's talk about a new subject. I thought it was 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:46.440 so powerful to watch because there's so much in the 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:49.040 media and there's so much confusion. Sometimes people get bogged 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:51.000 down in the language or saying the right thing and 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:53.880 doing the right thing, and sometimes we just need to 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:57.480 see lived experience and this show is so real that 0:11:57.559 --> 0:11:59.640 it's like watching a lived experience, and I think it 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.280 helps educate people. Did you realize how much you would 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.000 be educating people, I guess in the trans experience making 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:05.400 this show. 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.880 I mean, I didn't think too much about that because 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:12.280 we definitely didn't want to be didactic in it, and 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:15.400 you know, and try to educate because that feels like 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:20.240 recue for avoiding drama. I think what was so interesting 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.840 to me was was that, you know, Oberon's trans experience 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.960 is an element of his character, but it's not his 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.760 whole it's not his whole character. You know, he's also 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:34.880 obsessed with his best friend and dealing with love, unrequited love, 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:38.000 which is you know, a theme that I remember, and 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:39.640 I think that, you know, if we were so lucky 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:41.480 to get a season two, which we don't know about, 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:44.439 I would want Oberon to almost be the most awesome 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.600 and the most together and the happiest of all our characters, 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:51.479 because he's you know, he he's gone. 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.480 Through a lot, but he's a beautiful soul. 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:57.240 And the feedback we've gotten from I haven't heard much 0:12:57.280 --> 0:13:01.240 actually from the trans community, but from from families of 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:04.640 you know, and then from the from older Australians who 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:07.320 are watching it. They all they all love they all 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:08.760 love Morgan and they love Oberon. 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:10.840 So I mean that feels like John done. 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:14.679 I think he deserves it after watching the show, you know, 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.720 I'd love to see him going that on that journey 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:20.360 and seat of be there in series two. Like that, 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:21.920 That's how I feel. You feel like, you know, these 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:23.880 people are like Oberon deserves it. 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:24.680 Beta. 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.280 Yeah, he's at university, he's having the time of his life. 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:28.640 Yeah, apart from COVID. 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:31.040 What was the choice for having that universe for in 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:32.400 the end in the Gold Coast? 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:35.280 Well, just you know John Edwards, the producer. 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:38.240 Yeah, he said that no Australian show will ever work 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:40.920 if it's set on the Gold Coast. And I'm like, no, 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:43.719 I think that is incorrect, and that there is a 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:45.800 way to show the Gold Coast. He just had, you know, 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:48.440 he's got it, He's got theories. So that was his theory. 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:48.960 Yeah. 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:52.200 So and also you know it looks really different. It's 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:56.080 sort of it's almost expensive as Sydney, So it felt 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.720 like sort of the right class if that makes sense 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:02.800 for the retirement village, it's a place to come and 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:04.840 start again. But also just because I know it, and 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:07.360 so when you write something that you know really well, 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:10.520 you just know, you just know how everything feels. And 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:12.040 I've been in Sydney for ten years. 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:14.480 But I probably don't feel as much of the authority 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:14.800 on it. 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:16.920 I just thought that it's worked so well for that 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.280 universe for some reason, it to lend in, It leaned 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:23.920 into the themes really well, like it just seemed like 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:27.720 the perfect place. And also universally outside of Australia, people 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.840 wouldn't understand the Gold Coast or have the same connotations 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:33.040 that I guess Australians have where they're like, oh, it's 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.760 the Gold Coast, so it's the GC or you know, yeah, 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:39.600 totally scripted drama is you know my favorite television, especially 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:42.560 Australian scripted drama, Like it's my top three favorite shows 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:45.360 are all Australian. Are people aware of how hard it 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.000 is to make Australian drama these days? 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:51.000 I mean, it's interesting, there's a lot of loyalty to it. 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:54.600 It's still you know, it's still rates comparatively well to 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:58.880 American drama, you know, when things are on primetime commercial networks. 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:01.640 But then know you also hear people going, oh, why 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:03.120 can't we make any good Australian shows? 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:05.880 And I think that's we don't see all the We 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:06.520 don't see all the. 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:08.680 Bad American shows, all the bad English shows, you know, 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:10.480 so we judge outs quite harshly. 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:12.480 Sort of practical. 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:16.240 Problems limitations are you know, it's always budget and so 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:19.680 we just we often don't have enough days to film 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:22.960 what we want to film. So I think that you know, 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:25.720 we definitely have incredible actors in this country. We've got 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:31.240 really terrific writers and directors and producers and all the crew. 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:33.600 But it's probably it's just sort of. 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:37.120 Time we don't often have, you know, the luxury of 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:39.120 what they get overseas. 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:41.680 Why do you think that there aren't more people like 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:44.320 myself wanting more scripted drama? I mean, if you look 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:46.240 at the ratings of things like merrit at first sight, 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.360 that's you know, that is unscripted drama, and you know 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:52.200 people are turning into that in droves. You know, why 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:55.920 aren't more people interested? Do you think in these types 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:56.440 of shows? 0:15:57.560 --> 0:15:58.040 I don't know. 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:00.520 I think it's a really it's a really good question. 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:03.600 I think that was a little period where we tried 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.160 to be a bit too safe and the rest of 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:11.720 the world is becoming very specific and authored, and for 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:15.520 a little while in Australia we became generalists, trying to 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:17.280 appeal to a whole lot of people at once, and 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:20.360 that's not really the sort of television I want to 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:23.000 watch it, you know. And it's been a little while 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:26.880 since Say Love My Way and shows in that era 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:34.040 that really sort of pushed the boundaries of naughty, unlikable 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.360 characters and relationships. But I feel like we all at 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:40.359 the moments down on the shoulders of those incredible writers 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:44.840 who did those shows. And perhaps I don't know, I 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:49.640 don't know. I'm hopeful that Australians want to see Australian stories. 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:53.240 Australian Kids TV certainly travels around the world and is 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:56.560 embraced by Australians sort of. You see the success of Bluey, 0:16:57.200 --> 0:16:59.720 which is, you know, something to be incredibly proud of. 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:04.320 You have people cry over Patrick's death in Offspring, you know. 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:06.399 So I think, you know, I think I think that 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:07.640 the will and the love is there. 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:11.840 I love the fact that you tell Australian stories. But 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:14.520 you know, for years we were like being very specific 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:16.920 about how we wanted to be Australian instead of just 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.320 telling colloquial story. You know, for so long there was 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:22.119 like movies on the big screen and when it was 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:24.919 said in Australia had to be so Australian. It couldn't 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.000 just be the wasn't the everyday person story, do you 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:30.159 know what I mean? We didn't do a love story 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:34.840 without it being addressed specifically to Australia. So I commend 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.280 you on being able to start telling stories in Australia 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:41.080 that just about life, which is what we want. We 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:42.520 want to see ourselves on screen. 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.840 Absolutely yeah, and we are I mean, we don't need 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:49.320 to have I mean, and I'm guilty of that. We've 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:51.200 I've definitely done a lot of shots in the Opera 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:54.119 House in my time and not a bridge. And you know, 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:56.600 we don't need to go completely Australian in order to 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:59.919 feel Australian as well. It's it's interesting now I'm writing 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:03.880 for the US and the UK and you realize how different. 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:06.879 We are culturally. You know, you think, you know, you think. 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:08.960 That you're almost the same, but actually we're quite a 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:12.520 specific breed of people, Australians. We have a sense of 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:16.360 humor that is ingrained in us, and you know, it's 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:18.160 hard for us to be earnest and you know where 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:21.280 it's self deprecating, there's you know, we're interesting people to 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:24.080 write and I think, you know, Australian stories can be 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.080 that as well as opposed to just being out in 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:26.520 the desert. 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:28.720 What are some things that we need to change in 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:30.679