Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week Their Life. Hey guys,
Speaker 1: welcome back to TV Reload. I want to thank you
Speaker 1: for clicking and downloading on today's episode with Sarah Basioni,
Speaker 1: their content creator and writer of Critical Incident, which is
Speaker 1: set to be released on Steran Australia on August twelfth.
Speaker 1: You might have seen some of the banners around Australia
Speaker 1: while you've been driving on some of the roads. Sarah
Speaker 1: is a Sydney based writer and director. Since graduating from
Speaker 1: the Australian Film Television Radio School in twenty sixteen, her
Speaker 1: short films Little Secret and Junes have premiered at Academy
Speaker 1: Accredited film festivals. Her work ranges from comedy to drama
Speaker 1: and is often informed by her previous career as a
Speaker 1: human rights lawyer. This series We're Talking About Today is
Speaker 1: set in the suburba of Sydney, where a police officer
Speaker 1: pursues a teenage suspect onto a busy train platform, where
Speaker 1: a bystander is critically injured and the lives of the
Speaker 1: pursuit and the pursuer are all thrown into term well.
Speaker 1: The series is gripping from episode one, and I think
Speaker 1: that audiences are going to be really invested into this
Speaker 1: crime drama that is set in Australia. We will unpack
Speaker 1: how this show was made, from where the ideas came from,
Speaker 1: to some of Sarah's inspiration. I will find out what
Speaker 1: the locals reaction was to a story being filmed that
Speaker 1: is set in their hometown. We will talk about how
Speaker 1: they created the authentic voices for some of the young
Speaker 1: people in this story, and what she thinks of Joie
Speaker 1: Waiteford's acting, who some of us would know from his
Speaker 1: time on X Factor back in the day. Plus, we're
Speaker 1: going to dive into this show lends itself into a
Speaker 1: series two, and what Sarah hopes to do with some
Speaker 1: of the characters if the show does get picked up
Speaker 1: for more seasons. There is so much to unpack with Sarah,
Speaker 1: So sit back and relax as we unpack the wonderful
Speaker 1: world of Critical Incident, which, as I mentioned, is due
Speaker 1: out on August twelfth on s Down Australia.
Speaker 2: Hi sentmin, how are you?
Speaker 1: I just was playing something at the same time as
Speaker 1: it was Actually this is hilarious. I was playing the
Speaker 1: Stan Originals Facebook clip of all of the actors using
Speaker 1: their words to describe the show. I'm so excited to
Speaker 1: be talking to you about this because I got in
Speaker 1: contact with Stan when I read about it, and the
Speaker 1: weird thing was, I was in Sydney the train station
Speaker 1: where you filmed a part of it, and so it
Speaker 1: was in my mind that I was wanting to watch
Speaker 1: this from my own ego point of view as you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, oh great.
Speaker 1: And then I watched the trailer and I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I need this in my life, like
Speaker 1: I really want to watch a proper Australian crime drama
Speaker 1: in the era that we're in now, which is with
Speaker 1: streaming services we can make shows that are a lot
Speaker 1: like what the Americans are making.
Speaker 3: It's really exciting time to be making Australian drama.
Speaker 1: It so is, it so is, and also to be
Speaker 1: in your chair as well and be creating it as
Speaker 1: well from a background of knowledge, I think is why
Speaker 1: this show works so well. So I have to say
Speaker 1: I started watching episode one last night and it was
Speaker 1: a really gripping first episode. That is all I've seen,
Speaker 1: but I cannot wait to keep watching it.
Speaker 3: That's great. No, thank you, thanks so much. I'm glad
Speaker 3: you enjoyed the pilot. We hope that it's a grouping, fun,
Speaker 3: thrilling ride.
Speaker 2: That's what we want for the whole series.
Speaker 3: You know, the audience to really roll the coaster along
Speaker 3: on this big emotional, psychological thriller that's you know, set
Speaker 3: somewhere we haven't seen before on Australian TV.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And you know it's interesting because like the characters
Speaker 1: in this feel so real and there is a bit
Speaker 1: of a danger of making these shows a bit too bleak,
Speaker 1: where I feel like this it is entertaining. That is
Speaker 1: still a part of it, if that makes sense.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, definitely, that's what we want. I mean, we're
Speaker 3: in the entertainment industry. We're here to entertain people, you know,
Speaker 3: generously giving up some hours in their life.
Speaker 2: We want to make sure we may it with that.
Speaker 3: I think the other thing is, you know, coming from
Speaker 3: this that world and knowing it intimately and the people
Speaker 3: are involved on both sides of it. Real life isn't
Speaker 3: people don't not many people think their real life is bleak.
Speaker 2: It's not how they feel about it.
Speaker 3: You know, it might be tough or difficult, and so
Speaker 3: we wanted to show that is authentic and real, and
Speaker 3: I think sometimes with those shows they have their place,
Speaker 3: but you don't want to I don't want.
Speaker 2: People watching TV and feeling worse than when they turned
Speaker 2: it on.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think about what we were eating, because
Speaker 1: we were really enjoying it, like a good popcorn flick.
Speaker 1: I got my partner to watch the first episode as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: oh it was ice cream. It was jamm donut ice cream.
Speaker 1: And we were like, yeah, yeah, but so's the show.
Speaker 1: We were like, yum, that's so nice.
Speaker 2: A few things.
Speaker 1: It's nice when you can find something that you get
Speaker 1: excited to watch, you know. It's like when you put
Speaker 1: down a good book and then when you finish that book,
Speaker 1: for the first few chapters of the next book, it's
Speaker 1: hard to get into and that you were knee deep
Speaker 1: in something that you were enjoying before.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you get.
Speaker 1: There, and with shows you may get there. But with this,
Speaker 1: it's a very good first episode.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3: They we put a bit of extra money into the
Speaker 3: budget for that episode, and.
Speaker 2: They had a couple of extra days shooting it. But
Speaker 2: it was hard. It was just like a lot of
Speaker 2: running for a lot of paper.
Speaker 1: That's why he looks so skinny. We were talking about
Speaker 1: him in the gmoor scenes. We're like, we don't look
Speaker 1: like that, mind, you were eating ice cream. Also not
Speaker 1: for our fitness, but yeah, I can imagine a lot
Speaker 1: of running, a lot of running.
Speaker 3: Yeah, two solid days of running, I think for quite
Speaker 3: a lot of casting crew.
Speaker 1: How did you get this story up and going? Like,
Speaker 1: you know, we'll talk a little bit about your background
Speaker 1: at a minute, but like, this is quite an achievement
Speaker 1: to get this story up and going, and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of people trying to get in now with more
Speaker 1: original ideas with all these streaming platforms. I'm curious about
Speaker 1: how you've made this happen.
Speaker 2: Well, it's definitely not just me.
Speaker 3: Lots of great people have contributed and it was really fortunate.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I got a great opportunity working on a long contract
Speaker 3: with Matchbox Pictures when I was starting.
Speaker 2: Out in the industry, and so I got to know them.
Speaker 3: Quite well and was able to pitch to them this idea,
Speaker 3: you know, quite early in my career, I guess.
Speaker 2: But also everyone involved is.
Speaker 3: Really hard workers, you know, and that hard work and
Speaker 3: a bit of luck has come together and we pitched
Speaker 3: the show to stand and they've been phenomenal partners. They
Speaker 3: signed on, you know, straight away, and yeah, we've just
Speaker 3: been working to make sure we get all the elements
Speaker 3: of the show right and I think I think we've
Speaker 3: done a pretty different job.
Speaker 1: I love that story. Tonys was on the podcast a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago and he was talking about when
Speaker 1: Matchbox started how there was a lot of people that
Speaker 1: just wanted to work there. So there was like people
Speaker 1: that would take a reception part of it, the job,
Speaker 1: or the legal part anyway, anyone that was kind of
Speaker 1: doing the functionality of the business. We're all budding content creators,
Speaker 1: you know. And then as the business grew and you know,
Speaker 1: they had their success, people that had been on the
Speaker 1: ground floor from the start sort of doing other things
Speaker 1: were given the opportunity. And I don't know how real
Speaker 1: that story is, but I loved the idea of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I think that's pretty true. I mean, I
Speaker 2: should say slightly different.
Speaker 3: For me. I got a job as a trainee script
Speaker 3: editor on The Heights, which was their production and that's
Speaker 3: how I got to know them really really well.
Speaker 2: But yeah, they are a great.
Speaker 3: Production company for incubating talent, and I think they also
Speaker 3: really reward hard workers as well, and so if you
Speaker 3: have those things, then they're a great place to reach
Speaker 3: out to and look for them that first break.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so many people there have even gone on
Speaker 1: to do other things that they're now on the teledex.
Speaker 1: I don't know how old you are, but that's probably
Speaker 1: a bum reference for young people. But you can still
Speaker 1: reach out to them and get their advice. That's kind
Speaker 1: of cool in itself.
Speaker 3: And I think you know Sheila jdev who is our
Speaker 3: executive producer and was my kind of creative.
Speaker 2: Partner in the show on the journey for this season.
Speaker 3: She does loads of panels and has you know, works
Speaker 3: with co Curious as well in building up new talent,
Speaker 3: and it's definitely something we tried to do in this
Speaker 3: show in front of and behind the camera. So it's
Speaker 3: you know a lot of our writing teams first credit,
Speaker 3: you know, our long credit. Quite a lot of the crew,
Speaker 3: you know it's their first big drama series.
Speaker 1: So I read this came from your real life experiences
Speaker 1: working as a lawyer in Western Sydney's juvenile justice system.
Speaker 1: You come across this story because I was curious, did
Speaker 1: you borrow from real life critical insightdence.
Speaker 3: This story isn't based on any one incident, and I
Speaker 3: didn't take any of the kind of action elements from
Speaker 3: any of my experience. But I guess I know those
Speaker 3: the world, I know the characters, I know what's likely
Speaker 3: to happen, so, you know, took that authenticity and then
Speaker 3: I love like action movies, and you know, Speed and
Speaker 3: Point Break are two of my fat all time favorites, and.
Speaker 2: So I was like, oh, what could we do that
Speaker 2: has a cool action element to it in this world?
Speaker 2: What would that look like?
Speaker 3: So it's kind of that combination of knowing how things
Speaker 3: work but having a bit of spice and imagination.
Speaker 1: I've just ticked the speed off the Bingo card because
Speaker 1: I was watching it last night with the running scene
Speaker 1: just before the critical incident, and I don't want to
Speaker 1: give too much a weight, so I'm just going to
Speaker 1: leave it at that. But running scene very Keanu reeves
Speaker 1: in Speed. I'm just going to say, and I did
Speaker 1: mention that to my partner while watch it, So Bingo excellent.
Speaker 1: How did you go about getting the tone right for
Speaker 1: this story, especially with so many young voices, so you know,
Speaker 1: accurately depicted, you know, in this story.
Speaker 3: I think again the fact that you know, I only
Speaker 3: left the law in twenty sixteen, which yes, is an
Speaker 3: eternity ago, but also isn't that long ago. And most
Speaker 3: of my clients were young, very young, and so I
Speaker 3: guess I tapped into those memories. But you know, we
Speaker 3: also had a writing team with daughters and sons of
Speaker 3: the right age. We had an amazing cast who would
Speaker 3: pull us up if something didn't feel true to you know,
Speaker 3: their world. And a lot of the actors playing teenagers
Speaker 3: are teenagers.
Speaker 1: Which they do before Sarah, like you know before back
Speaker 1: in the day. You know, it's like we went through
Speaker 1: this phase where you know, nine o two or oh,
Speaker 1: they had all these old actors playing teenages. And then
Speaker 1: also the issue that I had was Dawson's Creek era,
Speaker 1: where you're getting young people to speak as adults. You know,
Speaker 1: the language that they were using didn't match what young
Speaker 1: people would say. And so there's something quite amazing and
Speaker 1: beautiful and engaging in seeing authentic voices being displayed on screen.
Speaker 1: And I think that's something that you do quite effortlessly
Speaker 1: within this And it doesn't mean that it comes across
Speaker 1: sort of looking like heartbreak high after dark. It does
Speaker 1: suit the tone of this show, this sort of thriller.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks, thank you. That's very kind of you to
Speaker 2: say that was our hope.
Speaker 3: I guess, you know, one of the things we didn't
Speaker 3: want to go into bleakness or pseudo doco territory. And
Speaker 3: I just don't know real life that doesn't have a
Speaker 3: lot of humor and different voices, and I like to
Speaker 3: listen to all of them, and so we tried to
Speaker 3: throw as many of them as we could up in
Speaker 3: the screen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, which I love Western Australia, Sydney, Blacktown paramatter with
Speaker 1: the filmingtions that you used for the story, What was
Speaker 1: it like to be telling this story amongst the locals? Like,
Speaker 1: what was it like filming? You know?
Speaker 3: Well, we got to a lot of love on TikTok
Speaker 3: from when we were at Blacktown train station, so that's
Speaker 3: pretty cool. And one day when we were filming in
Speaker 3: the center of Blacktown, real school came out and I
Speaker 3: think we were filming the opening of season of episode two.
Speaker 2: Sorry, so I don't want to give too much away
Speaker 2: there either.
Speaker 3: But when the scene went down and finished, the kids,
Speaker 3: the real kids who had been stopped, stopped very kindly
Speaker 3: stopped for us, because we could only ask people to stop.
Speaker 3: Who had stopped and then watched busted out in like
Speaker 3: various dance moves and whooping and we got a little chance.
Speaker 2: So I think we went down quite a treat.
Speaker 3: I hope everybody who was excited to see us out
Speaker 3: there filming.
Speaker 2: Watch the show.
Speaker 1: Well, you've already locked them in as viewers. That's actually
Speaker 1: really smart because that a lot want to watch just
Speaker 1: to see whether they can see themselves in the background
Speaker 1: doing their dance routines. Oh my god, that's what I
Speaker 1: was going to ask you about Jay, who I knew
Speaker 1: from X Factor, Like, I think a lot of Australians
Speaker 1: knew him from X Factor, and so some people that
Speaker 1: stumble across this show haven't seen him in a while,
Speaker 1: and so it's actually quite hilarious to me that I
Speaker 1: was sitting there going this guy's looks really familiar, Like
Speaker 1: maybe it's because he's a bit Heath Ledgerye, Like maybe
Speaker 1: I'm thinking he reminds me of Heath Ledger and ten
Speaker 1: Things I Hate about You. I was like, No, that's
Speaker 1: the kid from X Factor and he's really good in this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's amazing. He knocks out of the park. As
Speaker 2: soon as we saw his audition, we knew he was.
Speaker 3: Hayden, and I think Gie's just going to explode, like
Speaker 3: so many of our cast, onto the scene, or at
Speaker 3: least if talent has anything to do with it, that's
Speaker 3: what should happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, this is what's interesting about this show
Speaker 1: as well, is there's no big distraction. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: kind of the Dad from Back to the rafters, but
Speaker 1: there's no big distraction of a big name. And I
Speaker 1: was curious about that. Were they trying to force you
Speaker 1: into having maybe a bigger name for the show or
Speaker 1: were you quite happy to you know, Jurassic Parks, Star
Speaker 1: Wars it and have some relatively unknowns to discover.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, I mean it's always part of a conversation.
Speaker 3: I won't like, it's really hard getting a show up,
Speaker 3: and so I think everybody is just trying to figure
Speaker 3: out what makes that journey easier, and sometimes a star
Speaker 3: does make that journey easier, but nobody thought that was
Speaker 3: the case with critical Incident. So no, they matchbox stand.
Speaker 3: They didn't pressure me at all in any way. They
Speaker 3: were just totally supportive. We knew that the lead roles
Speaker 3: were going to be faces we probably hadn't seen.
Speaker 2: Before, and.
Speaker 3: That was that was the path we signed up to
Speaker 3: take early in the day, and once that decision was made,
Speaker 3: it was stuck to. And yeah, I mean, I think
Speaker 3: we've discovered just amazing new new faces and so much talent.
Speaker 1: It's interesting because I was thinking about there was a
Speaker 1: few shows for a while where I spoke to a
Speaker 1: few people in your Shoes and they talked about having
Speaker 1: an Aussie that's made it big overseas and bringing them
Speaker 1: back to Australia to put them in this show to
Speaker 1: try and get bums on seats. But I sometimes felt
Speaker 1: like it was a gimmick. And sometimes, you know, audiences
Speaker 1: aren't as dumb as what you might think they are.
Speaker 1: You know, audiences will feel that sort of stuff. They
Speaker 1: may feel as though that's a gimmick to try and
Speaker 1: bring them in. It's kind of like freak casting in
Speaker 1: a way.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think what we also, you know, stand
Speaker 3: committed to supporting us executing is like action, which is
Speaker 3: a different way of bringing people in. And I think sometimes,
Speaker 3: you know, we can underestimate the power of seeing things
Speaker 3: we haven't seen before, like action, sequences running through Western Sydney. Yeah,
Speaker 3: that can be a big drill card for audiences as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely can. I think it's interesting as well for
Speaker 1: Australians to see ourselves on screen as accurately as we are.
Speaker 1: You know. I think sometimes and dating back like twenty
Speaker 1: years with some movies that were made here in Australia,
Speaker 1: you know, we'd sort of see people over sort of
Speaker 1: leaning into their Australianism. And I find it really interesting
Speaker 1: now that we're in that era of sort of being
Speaker 1: a little bit less colloquial and being able to tell
Speaker 1: stories that are accessible to global communities that are going
Speaker 1: to watch this, you know, when they come across it
Speaker 1: on streaming platforms, when it gets you know, sort of
Speaker 1: resold overseas.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you know everybody, well, I don't know,
Speaker 3: maybe not everybody.
Speaker 2: I should just speak for myself.
Speaker 3: I want to tell stories that as many people as
Speaker 3: possible get to see, and I want Australian stories to
Speaker 3: excite people who live in Norway or Nigeria or whatever,
Speaker 3: because I.
Speaker 2: Think we can all learn from each other.
Speaker 3: I mean, my parents are both immigrants, ones Irish Catholic,
Speaker 3: the other's Egyptian Muslims, So like I've been growing up
Speaker 3: looking for the things we have in common, for that's
Speaker 3: been my life rather than the things that you know.
Speaker 2: Push us apart. And so the stories I want to.
Speaker 3: Tell universal stories, like I'm not looking to tell niche stories,
Speaker 3: but sometimes you go into.
Speaker 2: A unique world to tell a universal story. And I
Speaker 2: think the more.
Speaker 3: More specific you can get about with your authentic voice
Speaker 3: about where your story is set, the more interesting and
Speaker 3: in a weird way universal it becomes to outsiders, because
Speaker 3: I think people have pretty good bullshit detectors or you know,
Speaker 3: and for what they want are stories that know what
Speaker 3: they're saying, that are authentic about what they're saying.
Speaker 1: You definitely get to have that. But also, you know,
Speaker 1: what's interesting about this as well is that it has
Speaker 1: a lot of heart. It has like you could just
Speaker 1: do a thriller like this and I could very easily
Speaker 1: see it without it having the pull through which I
Speaker 1: think this show has created, which makes me wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you about which sounds crazy, about what you want
Speaker 1: from audiences watching this, like did you have a mission
Speaker 1: statement about what you were thinking when you were pulling
Speaker 1: it all together? Because I can feel that there's something
Speaker 1: really quite deep and rich behind it all.
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, the whole pass and crew received a letterup
Speaker 3: when they signed on to this project about what our
Speaker 3: hopes were for the show, what this show wanted to
Speaker 3: be and wants to be, and I hope we've achieved,
Speaker 3: and what we don't want it to be. And we
Speaker 3: didn't want it to be a regular cop show. We
Speaker 3: didn't want it to be poverty porn, we didn't want
Speaker 3: it to exoticize Western Sydney. And then there's a whole
Speaker 3: lot of things we did want, which I'll happily tell
Speaker 3: you once we've done a multiple season run. But I
Speaker 3: think one of the really important things of being a
Speaker 3: creator is you put your work, your heart and soul
Speaker 3: into your work, and then you put your work out
Speaker 3: to the audience and it's up to the audience to
Speaker 3: decide what it's about, if they give it, if they
Speaker 3: need to care about that. And I just hope we
Speaker 3: deliver a really thrilling, entertaining ride. And I'm pretty confident
Speaker 3: different people will take away different messages from this show.
Speaker 2: See that.
Speaker 1: No, No, you know what I think, because you're in
Speaker 1: on the ground floor, so you've got some you know
Speaker 1: your own feelings about this, but from an outsider who's
Speaker 1: come across this with no connection to it, I feel
Speaker 1: just really drawn into this. And I don't see it
Speaker 1: as a one and done series. I don't because I
Speaker 1: was interested about your thoughts on it being contained, because
Speaker 1: I feel like it could lend itself to so many
Speaker 1: other situations, so many other critical incidents.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're really hopeful that we get enough eyeballs watching
Speaker 3: the show the whole way through that we'll be able
Speaker 3: to come back to Blacktown and I have a whole.
Speaker 2: New, exciting, thrilling ride through the world.
Speaker 3: We'll meet some people who are new to us, but
Speaker 3: we'll also see characters we've already gotten to know. And yeah,
Speaker 3: we'll continue to explore the corners that don't get depicted
Speaker 3: on ONZTV that often.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm definitely in your audience for all of this,
Speaker 1: and I have to tell you before I ask my
Speaker 1: last question, we ask everybody I sent my partner to
Speaker 1: go and get the good meal. And the good meal
Speaker 1: that we get is usually if we've just come across
Speaker 1: a really engaging series, which is this, so I get
Speaker 1: to keep watching this tonight. Australia will get to start
Speaker 1: watching it soon, but I just think I can't wait
Speaker 1: till today it can be over, except that it's exciting
Speaker 1: to talk to you right now.
Speaker 3: Oh lovely, I have a bandanna, which means nothing to
Speaker 3: be listening to this podcast.
Speaker 1: But yes, I'm wearing a survivor bandwnit because I'm having
Speaker 1: a very bad hairdach.
Speaker 2: Afeel you mate a feel it.
Speaker 1: It's a very common thing. What is something from behind
Speaker 1: the scenes that we as an audience won't get a
Speaker 1: chance to see, kind of your behind the scenes secret
Speaker 1: of what it was like to make this show.
Speaker 3: I mean, I really wish that everybody could see the
Speaker 3: musical outtakes from this show. There was a running joke
Speaker 3: slash hope that we could turn this into it into
Speaker 3: a musical. There were a lot of dance moves and songs,
Speaker 3: improvised songs, and I mean, I like to laugh, so
Speaker 3: I really would love to share that with everybody, but
Speaker 3: unfortunately wasn't captured.
Speaker 1: There's always next, There's always the other season. You know,
Speaker 1: it's a hard thing to do. I think Joss Weldon Whedon,
Speaker 1: Joss Whedon, who did it for Buffy, did a really
Speaker 1: good job of a musical episode Gray's Anatomy not so much.
Speaker 1: I think they really they really struggled with that one.
Speaker 1: I mean, great voices and but just the show didn't
Speaker 1: seem to be able to go that place. But I'm
Speaker 1: here for it.
Speaker 3: Pretty phys it cool, Yeah, it was much weirder, kind
Speaker 3: of magical.
Speaker 1: Well, absolutely, you know, Sarah, I want to thank you
Speaker 1: so much for being so generous with your time and
Speaker 1: talking to me today. I'm a big fan of this show,
Speaker 1: and I'm now a very big fan of your work.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to walk to the series and I'll
Speaker 1: have to slide into the publicis DMS to send you
Speaker 1: back my review once I get to the end.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, please, it's been lovely talking with you.