Speaker 1: Welcome back to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris, and
Speaker 1: on this podcast I'll be going behind the scenes with
Speaker 1: the biggest players in television. I just want to drop
Speaker 1: this note and say I am thrilled with the response
Speaker 1: to this podcast, as it's proof that there's just as
Speaker 1: many TV obsessed people as myself. However, if you have
Speaker 1: stumbled across this podcast, do me a favor and please
Speaker 1: press subscribe. I have so many exciting guests coming up
Speaker 1: and I'm sure you won't want to miss the juicy
Speaker 1: stories from behind the scenes of TV. If you could
Speaker 1: also share this podcast with friends and family, I would
Speaker 1: love to expand our little community of like minded TV enthusiasts.
Speaker 1: On this episode, I have Samantha Strauss, who is a
Speaker 1: writer and executive producer of some of Australia's most compelling
Speaker 1: scripted drama. Sam has just finished working with Nicole Kidman
Speaker 1: and Melissa McCarthy on the upcoming TV series Nine Perfect Strangers,
Speaker 1: which is the next Lean Moriarty book being adapted to
Speaker 1: the small screen. I mean just imagine working with Nicole
Speaker 1: but also writing alongside David E. Kelly with source material
Speaker 1: from an author like Moriarty Today we'll be focusing on
Speaker 1: the End, which is currently on Foxtail and if you
Speaker 1: haven't had a chance to see it, this show is
Speaker 1: a comedy drama that handles death in a way we've
Speaker 1: never really seen before. It sounds bleak, but I'm telling
Speaker 1: you it is simply some of the most compelling original
Speaker 1: content that I've seen and deserves for you as an
Speaker 1: audience to take a look. It stars Francis O'Connor, Nony Hazelhurst,
Speaker 1: Alex Demitriatis and British actress Harriet Walter, and it's set
Speaker 1: on the Gold Coast. A little content warning. This podcast
Speaker 1: does mention some themes that may be triggering for some listeners.
Speaker 1: If you need urgent help, please contact Lifeline on thirteen
Speaker 1: eleven fourteen or head to the website ww dot lifeline
Speaker 1: dot org dot au. Let's get started on today's episode,
Speaker 1: I'd like to welcome Samantha Strauss to TV Reload.
Speaker 2: I love when the character just behaves so badly. Come
Speaker 2: in here and find me dead.
Speaker 1: Right Well, in the meantime, where's your medication?
Speaker 3: And it makes me think about how you want your
Speaker 3: last days to be and to and how to live
Speaker 3: with pain.
Speaker 2: But the Heart is a drama about this family.
Speaker 3: It should feel sort of itchy and a bit uncomfortable.
Speaker 3: It is monstrous when something you've cared about reveals itself
Speaker 3: to be less. I started writing it a really long
Speaker 3: time ago. It was almost the first thing I ever wrote.
Speaker 3: Or do you think I'm acting out because Dad's in
Speaker 3: jail and your predenta he never existed. Some projects should,
Speaker 3: I think, just be written by one person.
Speaker 1: How are you, Sammy? You well?
Speaker 2: I'm really well?
Speaker 1: How are you really well? Your understanding of human emotion
Speaker 1: is what I think is your best currency with audiences,
Speaker 1: and it comes across in all of your work. What
Speaker 1: helps you so effortlessly tap into that earnest human emotion?
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, that's a really good question. I think I'd
Speaker 2: never wanted to be an.
Speaker 3: Actor, but I used to sit at your computer and
Speaker 3: you get to live in other people's worlds.
Speaker 2: And that's the bit about writing. I'm writing something at
Speaker 2: the moment, and I love.
Speaker 3: When the character just behaves so badly and you see,
Speaker 3: you know, this incredible neediness in someone, or you know,
Speaker 3: hyper sensitivity or moments like that, which is sort of
Speaker 3: you feel all the time.
Speaker 2: You know, then you can just you know, write them
Speaker 2: large for a character.
Speaker 3: And I come from none of them are storytellers, but
Speaker 3: I've got lots of members of the family who are
Speaker 3: really interested to a gossipers love who love like gossiping about.
Speaker 2: Like you know that this happened to this person, What
Speaker 2: do you think that really meant to them? And you
Speaker 2: know that's how they sort of go through life.
Speaker 1: That's my favorite thing is flawed people. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: not interested in being friends with people are too perfect.
Speaker 1: Like I love the truth, I think, and I love
Speaker 1: dissecting that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, I've got a best friend I speak to
Speaker 3: most days, and we like each other because we show
Speaker 3: each other the absolute worst parts of ourselves and find
Speaker 3: them funny. And I think that that's you know, that's
Speaker 3: what you put on the screen.
Speaker 1: Do you remember watching Love My Way for the first
Speaker 1: time and all those characters were so flawed And I
Speaker 1: remember we finished the first episode and I said to
Speaker 1: my partner, I was like, none of these people are
Speaker 1: very good, are they? And that was the best thing
Speaker 1: about it because we'd never seen storytelling like that before.
Speaker 1: You know, we always had to have the protagonist that
Speaker 1: was doing good, you know, So I think it's more
Speaker 1: interesting these days to sort of inspect the darker signs
Speaker 1: of people and.
Speaker 3: Seeing Asha Ketty have a meltdown at Ikea. You know,
Speaker 3: I'll never forget it. Just wanting more storage systems. You know,
Speaker 3: who hasn't been there.
Speaker 1: Maybe we ought to consider the boshnark, consider the boshnark.
Speaker 1: Houten Dorf good and fun.
Speaker 3: I don't really care.
Speaker 4: Let's just get the hell out of here.
Speaker 2: Hello, I'm hungover. I have a four week old baby.
Speaker 3: You have a four week old?
Speaker 1: What am I? I spermed on.
Speaker 3: I'm so bloody tired, and I know people are dying
Speaker 3: in fucking Palestine.
Speaker 1: Or whatever, but you know, I need story systems. Charlie,
Speaker 1: I'm going off on a tangent. But I was walking
Speaker 1: the dog the other day and I was impersonating Asha
Speaker 1: Ketty and the neighbor was watching me and thinking what
Speaker 1: the hell is wrong and laughing. I'm like, oh, I'm
Speaker 1: quoting a TV series which no one would probably from
Speaker 1: my day ago as well, There's nothing wrong with me.
Speaker 2: Nope.
Speaker 3: It was nice having Brendan on the end, actually, because
Speaker 3: he you know, he wrote so much of Love my Way.
Speaker 3: I think he's a really wonderful, Right, I just sort
Speaker 3: of gets into that what it means to be a
Speaker 3: troubled man in a way that I can't.
Speaker 1: It's terrific, just unbelievable. Like one of my favorites, one
Speaker 1: of my favorites for sure. You know, I love your
Speaker 1: production company name, which is picking Scabs, because it immediately
Speaker 1: talks to me about the work that you're doing. How
Speaker 1: does that name align with the themes in the end.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean there's something kind of fun about picking
Speaker 3: a scab that it's you know that they're itchy and
Speaker 3: you sort of you pick them and then maybe they'll
Speaker 3: bleed and that's sort of problematic, but you're sort of
Speaker 3: trying to get to what's underneath there.
Speaker 2: And that's how I felt about the end.
Speaker 3: It should feel sort of itchy and a bit uncomfortable,
Speaker 3: and it's something that that it's you know, it's a conversation.
Speaker 3: It's just a dying to a conversation that we a
Speaker 3: lot of people want to have, a lot of people
Speaker 3: want to avoid, but particularly as you get older, it's
Speaker 3: something that becomes very present in mind. And so with
Speaker 3: the picking scabs sort of holistically across all our projects,
Speaker 3: we just want to tell the truth about things that
Speaker 3: are happening in our country and and find a way
Speaker 3: to make it joyous. At the same time that there
Speaker 3: needs to be an optimistic streak.
Speaker 4: The brochure says that this is much more of a
Speaker 4: country company retirement village.
Speaker 2: You need more care if you can give.
Speaker 3: You a lovely family.
Speaker 4: Those children are not being parented.
Speaker 1: Is a bully? Do you think I'm left to you
Speaker 1: out because dad's in jail?
Speaker 2: Your predenda?
Speaker 1: He never existed?
Speaker 2: So how are you questioning my faith in Western medicine?
Speaker 1: Sounds fun?
Speaker 3: How's your known?
Speaker 2: I don't know what you want.
Speaker 1: I want to be dead because I can't stand to
Speaker 1: be alive knowing that I wasted all of it. It's
Speaker 1: just green. You don't want to die. She is dying.
Speaker 2: But if this year we would open up your sister
Speaker 2: dying debate.
Speaker 3: Your boyfriend's here and I have a boyfriend so casual sex.
Speaker 1: I will look after you.
Speaker 3: But Mum, I moved to the other side of the
Speaker 3: world because I don't want that anywhere near my kids.
Speaker 3: We helped him.
Speaker 1: Matters can't kill.
Speaker 4: What if it's my purpose?
Speaker 1: I never had one all my life. The reward for
Speaker 1: a good life. It's a good line. I think the
Speaker 1: end is quite dark, but it's also quite funny as well,
Speaker 1: and I think that's sometimes the best blend. Is it
Speaker 1: hard to tackle those sorts of issues? And what was
Speaker 1: the original pitch? Because it is something a little out
Speaker 1: of the box, So I can't I mean, not the
Speaker 1: whole pitch, because I'm assuming that was a bigger meeting.
Speaker 1: But what was the original pitch idea when you were
Speaker 1: talking about this show?
Speaker 2: Well, I started writing it a really long time ago.
Speaker 3: It was almost the first thing I ever wrote as
Speaker 3: at five minute short film at UNI, and I'd been
Speaker 3: really inspired by a grandmother whose husband died by putting
Speaker 3: a plastic bag over his head. And my grandmother moved
Speaker 3: to the Gold Coast and arrived very depressed, and within
Speaker 3: six months had this sort of whole new lease on life.
Speaker 3: Had made a new best friend called Pamela who lived
Speaker 3: next door, and she'd been depressed, but then you know,
Speaker 3: within six months she was wearing sexy red dresses and
Speaker 3: dancing on tabletops. And I remember watching this and thinking,
Speaker 3: you know, you can, if you can kind.
Speaker 2: Of go out dancing, it's it's a good way to go.
Speaker 3: It made me kind of a little bit less scared
Speaker 3: about getting older and dying to see how much fun
Speaker 3: she was still having.
Speaker 2: So that was the original inspiration.
Speaker 1: And you know, the themes of death, they sort of
Speaker 1: heavily featured and kind of dissected throughout the show. Why
Speaker 1: did you choose that particular theme, Like what about that
Speaker 1: theme was resonating or what drew you to sort of
Speaker 1: want to unpack that.
Speaker 2: I probably think about death too much. My dad was
Speaker 2: always sick growing up.
Speaker 3: He's quite well now, but he was quite ill for
Speaker 3: a long time, and so you always feel like that
Speaker 3: immortality was a part of our household, that you know,
Speaker 3: you could go to school and he might die. So
Speaker 3: then I think it does the interesting things to you.
Speaker 3: It sort of makes you never really want to have
Speaker 3: a fight with someone, and it makes you think about
Speaker 3: how you want your last days to be and to
Speaker 3: and how to live with pain, I think as well.
Speaker 3: And so that was, you know, that was certainly part
Speaker 3: of my DNA, those sorts of conversations. We would talk
Speaker 3: a lot about Euthanasian assisted dying and about how he
Speaker 3: might want to go out and then you know, as
Speaker 3: a kid, I would think how I would want to
Speaker 3: how I would want to die eventually.
Speaker 2: Not a ten and you know, so I think it
Speaker 2: was just baked in.
Speaker 1: You know, it's quite interesting to watch as well. With
Speaker 1: Morgan Davies. Was he's obviously he struggled to come out
Speaker 1: as a trans person at the age of thirteen. That's
Speaker 1: a really interesting subject matter to unpack for a lot
Speaker 1: of people these days, Like sometimes you get into the
Speaker 1: pronouns and they're there and there, and it all can
Speaker 1: be quite confusing writing their carry. Did you evolve that
Speaker 1: character on set because you could learn and then utilize
Speaker 1: that for the character or was that all set?
Speaker 2: It wasn't all set, And it was interesting.
Speaker 3: Morgan was in the process of coming out when he
Speaker 3: came up to Queensland for rehearsals, so he'd gone back
Speaker 3: and forth through pressure publicly, and so he definitely had
Speaker 3: gave us.
Speaker 2: A lot of feedback on the scripts.
Speaker 3: We also had a really wonderful consultant, Andrew Guy, who's
Speaker 3: a terrific actor documentary filmmaker, who read the script from
Speaker 3: the beginning and had a lived experience which is similar
Speaker 3: to Oberon's.
Speaker 2: And so we had that consultation and.
Speaker 3: Then with Morgan, I think he felt at the time
Speaker 3: that Oberon was a couple of years behind where he was.
Speaker 2: He wasn't. Oberon is a bit of a he can
Speaker 2: be a bit of a winger.
Speaker 3: He's a bit sort of wowaswy and Oberon Morgan has
Speaker 3: as you know, a bit of a different attitude.
Speaker 2: And he's so incredibly well read.
Speaker 3: And I think that all of the young actors on
Speaker 3: our show, you know about the politics of the trans experience,
Speaker 3: and so that could play on his mind.
Speaker 2: But then he'd also be able to, you know, shut
Speaker 2: it out.
Speaker 3: And it's not a representation of every young trans man.
Speaker 3: It's just Oberon's journey.
Speaker 1: Obron told me about the cross sex hormones.
Speaker 2: They call it tea. Well, you'll grow here and your
Speaker 2: voice will drop. I cannot wait for the Adam's apple.
Speaker 3: It's all pretty basic and it starts getting hectic when
Speaker 3: you talk about feller pasty.
Speaker 2: It's start. It's a penis bum take a bit of
Speaker 2: your arm, your thigh, and they make one. They do.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about a new subject. I thought it was
Speaker 1: so powerful to watch because there's so much in the
Speaker 1: media and there's so much confusion. Sometimes people get bogged
Speaker 1: down in the language or saying the right thing and
Speaker 1: doing the right thing, and sometimes we just need to
Speaker 1: see lived experience and this show is so real that
Speaker 1: it's like watching a lived experience, and I think it
Speaker 1: helps educate people. Did you realize how much you would
Speaker 1: be educating people, I guess in the trans experience making
Speaker 1: this show.
Speaker 3: I mean, I didn't think too much about that because
Speaker 3: we definitely didn't want to be didactic in it, and
Speaker 3: you know, and try to educate because that feels like
Speaker 3: recue for avoiding drama. I think what was so interesting
Speaker 3: to me was was that, you know, Oberon's trans experience
Speaker 3: is an element of his character, but it's not his
Speaker 3: whole it's not his whole character. You know, he's also
Speaker 3: obsessed with his best friend and dealing with love, unrequited love,
Speaker 3: which is you know, a theme that I remember, and
Speaker 3: I think that, you know, if we were so lucky
Speaker 3: to get a season two, which we don't know about,
Speaker 3: I would want Oberon to almost be the most awesome
Speaker 3: and the most together and the happiest of all our characters,
Speaker 3: because he's you know, he he's gone.
Speaker 2: Through a lot, but he's a beautiful soul.
Speaker 3: And the feedback we've gotten from I haven't heard much
Speaker 3: actually from the trans community, but from from families of
Speaker 3: you know, and then from the from older Australians who
Speaker 3: are watching it. They all they all love they all
Speaker 3: love Morgan and they love Oberon.
Speaker 2: So I mean that feels like John done.
Speaker 1: I think he deserves it after watching the show, you know,
Speaker 1: I'd love to see him going that on that journey
Speaker 1: and seat of be there in series two. Like that,
Speaker 1: That's how I feel. You feel like, you know, these
Speaker 1: people are like Oberon deserves it.
Speaker 2: Beta.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's at university, he's having the time of his life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, apart from COVID.
Speaker 1: What was the choice for having that universe for in
Speaker 1: the end in the Gold Coast?
Speaker 2: Well, just you know John Edwards, the producer.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he said that no Australian show will ever work
Speaker 3: if it's set on the Gold Coast. And I'm like, no,
Speaker 3: I think that is incorrect, and that there is a
Speaker 3: way to show the Gold Coast. He just had, you know,
Speaker 3: he's got it, He's got theories. So that was his theory.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So and also you know it looks really different. It's
Speaker 3: sort of it's almost expensive as Sydney, So it felt
Speaker 3: like sort of the right class if that makes sense
Speaker 3: for the retirement village, it's a place to come and
Speaker 3: start again. But also just because I know it, and
Speaker 3: so when you write something that you know really well,
Speaker 3: you just know, you just know how everything feels. And
Speaker 3: I've been in Sydney for ten years.
Speaker 2: But I probably don't feel as much of the authority
Speaker 2: on it.
Speaker 1: I just thought that it's worked so well for that
Speaker 1: universe for some reason, it to lend in, It leaned
Speaker 1: into the themes really well, like it just seemed like
Speaker 1: the perfect place. And also universally outside of Australia, people
Speaker 1: wouldn't understand the Gold Coast or have the same connotations
Speaker 1: that I guess Australians have where they're like, oh, it's
Speaker 1: the Gold Coast, so it's the GC or you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: totally scripted drama is you know my favorite television, especially
Speaker 1: Australian scripted drama, Like it's my top three favorite shows
Speaker 1: are all Australian. Are people aware of how hard it
Speaker 1: is to make Australian drama these days?
Speaker 2: I mean, it's interesting, there's a lot of loyalty to it.
Speaker 3: It's still you know, it's still rates comparatively well to
Speaker 3: American drama, you know, when things are on primetime commercial networks.
Speaker 3: But then know you also hear people going, oh, why
Speaker 3: can't we make any good Australian shows?
Speaker 2: And I think that's we don't see all the We
Speaker 2: don't see all the.
Speaker 3: Bad American shows, all the bad English shows, you know,
Speaker 3: so we judge outs quite harshly.
Speaker 2: Sort of practical.
Speaker 3: Problems limitations are you know, it's always budget and so
Speaker 3: we just we often don't have enough days to film
Speaker 3: what we want to film. So I think that you know,
Speaker 3: we definitely have incredible actors in this country. We've got
Speaker 3: really terrific writers and directors and producers and all the crew.
Speaker 2: But it's probably it's just sort of.
Speaker 3: Time we don't often have, you know, the luxury of
Speaker 3: what they get overseas.
Speaker 1: Why do you think that there aren't more people like
Speaker 1: myself wanting more scripted drama? I mean, if you look
Speaker 1: at the ratings of things like merrit at first sight,
Speaker 1: that's you know, that is unscripted drama, and you know
Speaker 1: people are turning into that in droves. You know, why
Speaker 1: aren't more people interested? Do you think in these types
Speaker 1: of shows?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I think it's a really it's a really good question.
Speaker 3: I think that was a little period where we tried
Speaker 3: to be a bit too safe and the rest of
Speaker 3: the world is becoming very specific and authored, and for
Speaker 3: a little while in Australia we became generalists, trying to
Speaker 3: appeal to a whole lot of people at once, and
Speaker 3: that's not really the sort of television I want to
Speaker 3: watch it, you know. And it's been a little while
Speaker 3: since Say Love My Way and shows in that era
Speaker 3: that really sort of pushed the boundaries of naughty, unlikable
Speaker 3: characters and relationships. But I feel like we all at
Speaker 3: the moments down on the shoulders of those incredible writers
Speaker 3: who did those shows. And perhaps I don't know, I
Speaker 3: don't know. I'm hopeful that Australians want to see Australian stories.
Speaker 3: Australian Kids TV certainly travels around the world and is
Speaker 3: embraced by Australians sort of. You see the success of Bluey,
Speaker 3: which is, you know, something to be incredibly proud of.
Speaker 3: You have people cry over Patrick's death in Offspring, you know.
Speaker 2: So I think, you know, I think I think that
Speaker 2: the will and the love is there.
Speaker 1: I love the fact that you tell Australian stories. But
Speaker 1: you know, for years we were like being very specific
Speaker 1: about how we wanted to be Australian instead of just
Speaker 1: telling colloquial story. You know, for so long there was
Speaker 1: like movies on the big screen and when it was
Speaker 1: said in Australia had to be so Australian. It couldn't
Speaker 1: just be the wasn't the everyday person story, do you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? We didn't do a love story
Speaker 1: without it being addressed specifically to Australia. So I commend
Speaker 1: you on being able to start telling stories in Australia
Speaker 1: that just about life, which is what we want. We
Speaker 1: want to see ourselves on screen.
Speaker 3: Absolutely yeah, and we are I mean, we don't need
Speaker 3: to have I mean, and I'm guilty of that. We've
Speaker 3: I've definitely done a lot of shots in the Opera
Speaker 3: House in my time and not a bridge. And you know,
Speaker 3: we don't need to go completely Australian in order to
Speaker 3: feel Australian as well. It's it's interesting now I'm writing
Speaker 3: for the US and the UK and you realize how different.
Speaker 2: We are culturally. You know, you think, you know, you think.
Speaker 3: That you're almost the same, but actually we're quite a
Speaker 3: specific breed of people, Australians. We have a sense of
Speaker 3: humor that is ingrained in us, and you know, it's
Speaker 3: hard for us to be earnest and you know where
Speaker 3: it's self deprecating, there's you know, we're interesting people to
Speaker 3: write and I think, you know, Australian stories can be
Speaker 3: that as well as opposed to just being out in
Speaker 3: the desert.
Speaker 1: What are some things that we need to change in
Speaker 1: the perception of Australian storytelling.
Speaker 3: I think our diversity on screen is something that definitely
Speaker 3: is being addressed and the needs addressing. You know that
Speaker 3: our casts are too white and our writers' rooms are
Speaker 3: too white, and it feels like that that means that
Speaker 3: we're not showing you know, Australia in a truthful way,
Speaker 3: We're showing it in a nostalgic, romanticized way. You know,
Speaker 3: we would be the myth of Australia as opposed to
Speaker 3: the through Australia. That being said, I wrote all of
Speaker 3: the end by myself, so I'm you know that it's
Speaker 3: interesting to sort of marry that desire to tell diverse
Speaker 3: stories with also the desire to be you know, a
Speaker 3: soul writer on a project and some projects should I think,
Speaker 3: just be written by one person. They can be these
Speaker 3: messy authored things. And it was autobiographical. But part of
Speaker 3: our mission with picking scams is to nurture emerging, diverse
Speaker 3: voices so that they so that you know, people can
Speaker 3: tell their own stories rather than just working on other
Speaker 3: people's stories.
Speaker 2: That's where we get the best authenticity, I think.
Speaker 1: But I think, as well, you're proving to people that
Speaker 1: we can do it, you know. I think that's what's
Speaker 1: powerful about your work. In particular. It seems kind of
Speaker 1: pie in the sky in lots of ways. But then
Speaker 1: if you look at Dance Academy, it's still so amazing
Speaker 1: that you got that off the ground. But I think
Speaker 1: it's powerful for you to show people that we can
Speaker 1: do it.
Speaker 3: And we had this funny thing that happened with Dance
Speaker 3: Academy that no one really told us snow, And it's
Speaker 3: the same with the end.
Speaker 2: None of our broadcast has told us no.
Speaker 3: So Joanna werna Is, who produced as Cateemory, is a
Speaker 3: total kind of she'll hate this comparison.
Speaker 2: I was get about to call it a pitbull terrier
Speaker 2: like that.
Speaker 3: Just Simma says that she is sort of she just
Speaker 3: is completely determined that you you know, that we could
Speaker 3: go there in story wise, in production values, you know,
Speaker 3: and aim for like the cast.
Speaker 2: You know, the dancers in the show were aiming for
Speaker 2: the stars, and so we did as well and really
Speaker 2: lent into sort of emotion.
Speaker 3: And we had the gatekeepers at the time, you know
Speaker 3: that the ABC were incredibly supportive and let us sort
Speaker 3: of run wild rather than over noting us or trying
Speaker 3: to make it too safe. So we sort of got
Speaker 3: to do what we wanted. And then you know, and
Speaker 3: it's like it's over ten years old and it's still
Speaker 3: you know, still watched by kids around the world. We
Speaker 3: still get mail all the time, which is you know,
Speaker 3: it does mean that, you know, kids TV particularly lasts forever.
Speaker 3: Does feel like, you know, you have the amount of
Speaker 3: people who still watch around the twist or you know,
Speaker 3: or think about it and remember it.
Speaker 1: You know, we all know the lyrics, we all everyone
Speaker 1: about just sing a little bit of it and everyone
Speaker 1: trails along. Last week, leading names in the Australian film
Speaker 1: and television industry, you know, they launched a united bid
Speaker 1: to push Parliament to mandate local content and address the
Speaker 1: requirements for online streaming services such as like Netflix. Why
Speaker 1: do you think that is so important?
Speaker 3: I think without it, where you know, we're culturally dead
Speaker 3: in the water as the whole world.
Speaker 2: Moves away from the traditional broadcasting.
Speaker 3: You know, without a quota system, we will lose Australian
Speaker 3: stories and you know Netflix have made some programs in.
Speaker 2: Australia, and so there's Amazon.
Speaker 3: But I think that I'm so behind the idea of
Speaker 3: incentives and quotas as a as a requirement, just so
Speaker 3: that we're not gobbled up and we don't lose all
Speaker 3: of our cultural identity.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. I think it's you know, ensuring
Speaker 1: you know, the industry's longevity. I think, you know, you've
Speaker 1: got to put those things into place, and if you don't,
Speaker 1: then you're going to lose it. I was going to say,
Speaker 1: outside of picking scabs, you know, you're a writer and
Speaker 1: executive producer on Made Up Stories and Blossom Films, Hauloo
Speaker 1: series nine Perfect Strangers, which is just finished filming in
Speaker 1: Byron Bay starring Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Asha Ketty. Is
Speaker 1: that a dream job to work on?
Speaker 3: I mean, of course it was amazing, you know, the
Speaker 3: Bruno pap Andrea and Jodie Madison and made up stories
Speaker 3: and pair sorry who runs from Bossom Films with Nicole Kidman.
Speaker 3: They have been you know, their total heroes of mine
Speaker 3: and also there they just love juicy stories and so
Speaker 3: this one, you know, being able to adapt a you know,
Speaker 3: to be one of the writers adapting Ellie and Moriarty
Speaker 3: novel and she is you know, she's almost my faith.
Speaker 3: You know, she's totally lead, my favorite author, and she
Speaker 3: you know, because she has this like ability to you know,
Speaker 3: really drive down to the marrow of but with the
Speaker 3: open heart. You know, she's not She tells the stories
Speaker 3: of who we are and doesn't you know, everything comes
Speaker 3: from character. So it was just sort of completely dream scenario.
Speaker 3: And then to see those actors you know in the
Speaker 3: dailies who elevate everything and who are just incredible standing still, Yeah, amazing.
Speaker 1: What's that process like though, you know, because this is
Speaker 1: a book that's established and then you're sort of turning
Speaker 1: that into a TV series and you're writing, you know,
Speaker 1: what point are you coming in and changing the language?
Speaker 1: You know, like, how does that work? Talk to me?
Speaker 2: I don't know, well, I mean and also of course
Speaker 2: you know David E.
Speaker 3: Kelly, who is uh, you know, one of the world's
Speaker 3: most foremost television writers of the nineties, two thousands, tens.
Speaker 3: You know, he read Alliant Biale and The Pick Offenses
Speaker 3: and The Practice and Little Lives and so he it
Speaker 3: was his vision the story, and we spent some time
Speaker 3: in a writer's room with another wonderful English writer, John
Speaker 3: Henry Butterworth, and we sort of imagined what the show
Speaker 3: would look like over eight episodes and then kind of
Speaker 3: you know, splintered off into the different corners of our
Speaker 3: globes and started writing. And then it was kind of
Speaker 3: a magical experience really. And then and then I got
Speaker 3: to because it came out to Australia to film me
Speaker 3: because of COVID, I got to be a part of
Speaker 3: the all the on set revisions and working really closely
Speaker 3: with the director, who is a wonderful writer himself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it was you know, it's just like all television.
Speaker 3: It takes a lot of time, and you know, you
Speaker 3: go down a few blind alleys and then come out
Speaker 3: and see the sunlight and you know, figure it out
Speaker 3: along the way. And I think totally none perfect status
Speaker 3: is nothing like ever seen before.
Speaker 2: It is a wild ride in all senses.
Speaker 3: It's emotional, and it's it's really funny, and it's weird.
Speaker 2: It's really great.
Speaker 1: When are we going to get to see a trailer?
Speaker 1: Have you seen a trailer?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 1: Come on, you know, I've got Google alerts on it
Speaker 1: so that I'm just waiting for the trailer to come out.
Speaker 1: Were you nervous handing over your writing then to people
Speaker 1: like David d Kelly. Were you ever thinking, oh God,
Speaker 1: I can't do this, or were you just like, I
Speaker 1: have to be true to myself. I'm just going to
Speaker 1: do the work and I'm sure it'll be fine.
Speaker 3: No. I was terrified, like completely terrified, and Nicole as well.
Speaker 2: Who's reading it? Oh?
Speaker 4: And so you know, actually I went to a wellness
Speaker 4: retreat after delivering one of the scripts, the one that
Speaker 4: Leanne went to when she wrote the novel, and I
Speaker 4: did like some hypnosis about how to not care so
Speaker 4: much about notes.
Speaker 2: Because I'm just so frightened by what you would say.
Speaker 1: And then was it hard to take that on board
Speaker 1: or did you just think, oh God, I'm getting this
Speaker 1: from a master, so I'm just going to take it
Speaker 1: on board.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's always hard.
Speaker 3: I'm thin skinned, and but it's really instructive and you
Speaker 3: sort of you do stand back and go, oh, okay,
Speaker 3: I see what you meant here, And.
Speaker 2: That is a stunning idea. It's part of the business
Speaker 2: that it's the.
Speaker 3: Worst fight of being a writer, just that endless notes
Speaker 3: forever and and.
Speaker 1: But Sam, it's the best thing about you is that
Speaker 1: you are thin skinned, because I think that's the currency.
Speaker 1: That's what I was talking about when we started. You know,
Speaker 1: that's the rawness, that's the realness, you know, and it
Speaker 1: then bleeds into your work without even you noticing that,
Speaker 1: So you know, I think I think it's the best
Speaker 1: thing about you. It's probably hard in the process, but
Speaker 1: you know, it probably makes its probably what makes it work.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I kind of need therapy at the end of its.
Speaker 1: Can you tell me something delicious about working with Nicole Kibban?
Speaker 1: Is there something that you can tell us?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I think it's crazy how how much
Speaker 3: she reads, you know, that she to think that she's
Speaker 3: across as many projects as she's across and giving incredibly
Speaker 3: thoughtful feedback. I mean, I can only gush, and you
Speaker 3: know it's all coming from a place of character and
Speaker 3: truth and little things. You know, like I remember sort
Speaker 3: of notes on a scene that were like, I'm I'm
Speaker 3: only asking questions in this scene, you know.
Speaker 2: And you just you just really feel like how she.
Speaker 3: Metabolizes what she needs to do is just at this
Speaker 3: sort of extraordinary level. You know that she can play
Speaker 3: six things at once, and so you need to, you know,
Speaker 3: jump up to that level and write six things at once.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's incredible.
Speaker 1: It's amazing you get to that nice Yeah, that's what
Speaker 1: everyone says, you know, they were really surprised that you're
Speaker 1: working at that level and you've made, you know, nearly
Speaker 1: one hundred films and you're now in this new level
Speaker 1: of being able to produce films and stories to be
Speaker 1: nice as. Really it's what we all should do. But
Speaker 1: it's not all what people would expect.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like, wouldn't you just want to nap? Like you
Speaker 2: know that she just doesn't seem jaded. She seems so
Speaker 2: excited to be working and to.
Speaker 3: Be you know, thinking creatively about these people in the
Speaker 3: journey and yeah, just to have that long Joey's incredible.
Speaker 1: Oh, just amazing. What's the because you're working on another
Speaker 1: one of her books though at the moment, aren't you?
Speaker 1: Is that what you're writing at the moment, which is
Speaker 1: the book that you're adapting at the moment.
Speaker 3: It's called The Last Anniversary and it's set in Australia's
Speaker 3: set on the hawks Free River. So it's one of
Speaker 3: Leanne's earlier novels and one that she always wanted to.
Speaker 2: Set in Australia.
Speaker 1: Wow, my partner's read all of them, but he read
Speaker 1: them all before they got you know, before Big Little
Speaker 1: Eyes got picked up. My partner loves to loves to read,
Speaker 1: and so we've got them all in their original covers here.
Speaker 2: I must have been club together. Yeah.
Speaker 1: My mom's a reader, and so my mum talks to
Speaker 1: my partner about reading. I'm usually wasting too much of
Speaker 1: my time researching people online. I'm a stalker of people,
Speaker 1: you know, so that's sort of my passion is. I'm
Speaker 1: still reading, but I'm more stalking people and trying to
Speaker 1: find an information. Yeah, yeah, more so people like you,
Speaker 1: less real people, and I'm not stalking you know, friends
Speaker 1: and family. I'm usually getting ready to interview someone and
Speaker 1: then becoming obsessed with, you know, their story, and then
Speaker 1: getting an amazing chance to sit down and talk to
Speaker 1: people like yourself. But I just want to say the
Speaker 1: end is so brilliant, it's so edgy, and it's exciting,
Speaker 1: and people who will get a chance to listen to
Speaker 1: this podcast that might not have been able to watch
Speaker 1: it yet on foxtail, you can binge watch it. We're
Speaker 1: coming up to the finale at the moment, so you know,
Speaker 1: get on board. And I just want to say thank
Speaker 1: you and keep writing unique stories and bringing us some
Speaker 1: bringing us original content.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. It's been an absolute thrill.