January 14, 2021
Award-winning director and screenwriter Corrie Chen joins us to discuss working in the local screen industry, diversity in the Australian arts community and tips for work-life balance when working from home.
Links to topics discussed:
- Wentworth
- Five Bedrooms
- Homecoming Queens
- Chloe X Halle’s cover of Beyonce’s ‘Pretty Hurts’
- The Leftovers
Shout out to:
- Chloe X Halle’s Ungodly Hour
- Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia
- Netflix’s The Baby-Sitters Club
Corrie Chen is a screenwriter and director, and the 2018 Film Victoria’s Greg Tepper award recipient in recognition for outstanding achievement in directing. Working across comedy and drama, her TV directing work has included Foxtel’s Wentworth, Channel Ten’s Five Bedrooms, and the SBS series Homecoming Queens which she also executive-produced.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Steph
How lame was that? I don’t want to end with that. (laughs)
Steph
Welcome to Sisteria, a podcast about women and non binary creatives and their experiences creating and consuming arts and culture. I’m your host Steph Van Schilt and in today’s episode I speak with award winning screenwriter and director Corrie Chen. Corrie has directed shows like Foxtel’s Wentworth, Channel Ten’s Five Bedrooms and the SBS series homecoming queens, which she also executive produced. Corrie was the 2018 film Victoria’s Greg Tepper Award recipient in recognition for Outstanding Achievement in Directing, I spoke with Corrie about how she came to work in the screen industry, we discussed diversity in the local arts community, and tips for work life balance when working from home. I started off by asking Corrie how her creative work was going during Melbourne’s lockdown.
Corrie Chen
Well, um, I had just very luckily, just finished the show I was on which was Wentworth in March, like two weeks before COVID went down. So I was lucky because I didn’t have to deal with the fallout of whatever that meant. And my plan was to go into writing on a couple of projects I had. And now… I was meant to start a show, end of May. And that’s been delayed. So it’s been a couple of months just regrouping. And I guess like everyone else, you swing from being quite frustrated and miserable to trying to figure out the meaning of life, which I think is very important for people in this field to try and interrogate, what are we doing and why we’re doing it. And strangely enough, I don’t think I’ve really had time in the last 18 months to ask myself that question. So I’ve done a bit of creative soul searching in what do I really want to do and why did I get into this in the first place?
Steph
And why did you? I do love that way, like 30 seconds, even already, like existential crises. Let’s cut the shit. Let’s get into it. (Laughs)
Corrie
(Laughs) That’s very common for me.
Steph
So what did you find out? Have you had any epiphanies?
Corrie
I think what’s good, you know, the luxury of time, and I am aware that I’m in a position where because I don’t have children or pets. Nothing is really taking up my time other than myself, and my own thoughts. So yeah, with the luxury of time, I’ve just been able to, you know, this industry is so fast paced, and so ambition-driven, certainly I am anyway. And I think I’ve just kind of barreled from project to project and goal to goal without asking: Yes, but why? And being able to ask the why and ask, yes, but should I with every project that comes is, um, has been quite eye opening, because I’m just sort of, with the anxiety of the current political moment to just take stock and go, well, what am I putting out into the world, and the responsibility of the storyteller to think about the contributions to culture?
Steph
Does that mean you’re at a point now, do you think that you would say, no, I don’t want to work on something that’s like that. Where in the past maybe you were like, oh, I’m more emerging, I kind of have to say yes to whatever’s coming along. Is that how you’re feeling maybe?
Corrie
Yeah, I mean, certainly, I’d always believed myself to be someone who thought quite hard about how I was going to curate my IMDb. And even if projects haven’t turned out, in the way that I had hoped they would turn out somewhere along the line earlier on, there was something in the moral integrity of the project that I really believed in. So yeah, so suffice to say that I’d always I would like to think I’d always been that person. And that would say no to something that I didn’t agree with. But um, I think the difference is certainly, you know, as a small example is, I was quite obsessed with the idea of, you know, working overseas working in the US, especially because it’s almost an assumption now, from everyone, that’s what people should do and, you know, should aspire to.
Steph
It’s kind of like the short film to feature film trajectory, Australia to US, right, like…
Corrie
Yeah, and, and certainly not to say that I’m not interested. But I’m just, it’s, it’s a very, very big question in that if I really, if what drives me as a storyteller is to change and make culture, why am I contributing to that in a culture that isn’t mine, you know? And the, you know, the Australian screen industry is really fighting for its life right now in a variety of different ways. And it’s made me really believe in realise the fact that I want to be in is here.
Steph
Right. So you’re like, gonna double down at home?
Corrie
Well, I mean…
Steph
This is on the record, we’re gonna follow up. No, we’re not.
Corrie
Um, I, I’m more… I think for the next little while, and I don’t know what little while means in time, but just for the for the next little while, I feel like a lot of my choices will be driven by my heart. Whatever that means.
Steph
And also, I mean, there’s no moving at the moment. So you like we can’t go anywhere. So it’s kind of what change can you make and what drive can you get from staying home? Like, what can you do to this industry and for this industry and for your own career while you can’t go anywhere else?
Corrie
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that’s a that’s the question, isn’t it? And like, broadly speaking, I guess when I, you know, talk about making decisions driven by my heart, it’s really talking about Australian stories, as a holistic concept, not to say Australian stories can’t be said overseas and all of that. But I, what made me want to get into this, you know, as a kid, is a desire to a desire to see stories that resembled my identity on screen. And small changes and waves of storytelling have gone some way to do that, but certainly not to the extent I would hope. And, you know, COVID has made me think a lot about legacy. And I was suddenly like, well, what if in 10 years time, you know, say, I do go to the US and end up with a long list of amazing IMDb credits from the US, but it’s not doing anything for child me. Ah, and I’m still just grappling with what that means.
Steph
Yeah. So I guess that’s also a response, you said before the political climate, there’s a lot of discussions about representation across the board, the Black Lives Matter conversation has obviously started people interrogating systems in a very important and integral way. And you’ve been quite vocal, like Michelle Law, your collaborator and friend, online about that. Can you talk a little bit about how your work is both intrinsically part of the pride of, you were saying you want Australian stories to be about all for child you? But then also the fight and the frustration with having to have this fight all the time and being the ones to voicings and to pull people up?
Corrie
Yes, it’s something that I find incredibly difficult, you know. I really admire people like Michelle Law and Ben Law as well in there resilience and courage in being able to constantly be really at the coalface of these conversations, and call people out. And I absolutely stand alongside them and try to do my bit. But, um, I am someone that feels things very deeply. And I won’t deny it has been a really incredibly overwhelming are three to four weeks, I think, you know I have quite conservative parents, so I’ve grown up with a certain perception and I’ve really been taught to put white Australians on a level above myself, like…So to suddenly really have my eyes open to how I have maybe enacted or played into white supremacy in little subtle ways, I think has been… (a) I’ve had my own reckoning of my actions and (b) looking at my, the white people in my life. And there’s a lot of them who you know, are part of my loved ones and my closest peers and become becoming like almost suspicious of their true intentions. And a lot of the time it’s unjustified. But I think in the month, last last month, a few of them may have been exposed to me. And it’s been upsetting in that sense.
Steph
That’s deeply hurtful, because it’s not only, yeah, career, but that’s personal.
Corrie
Yeah.
Steph
And I guess the whole, but the whole thing is personal that we’re talking about, right? Like, you can’t separate your personhood, and how you’re feeling about your sense of identity from fighting for these things in your career.
Corrie
Yeah, absolutely. And, and especially because, you know, this, certainly how I like to work. This field is something that is driven by personal experiences, and, you know, personal emotions. So, yeah, the, it’s been a hectic few weeks, and I guess I’m still trying to, I’m still in the midst of dealing with the fallout of that, like, within myself. And what I’m hoping that this next month will bring is like, I’d like to go some way into regaining trust, or whatever this new normal of trust looks like, cos like, I kind of need it to survive.
Steph
Maybe I just don’t want to keep dragging you down into a misery pit.
Corrie
Ha. Yeah, I’m, I’m learn, I think what is important to be a modern person of color is, um, you know, there is, I feel like I have a responsibility to find the tools of resilience. And I am still trying to learn what that looks like. And even though, you know, I go through phases of, I don’t want to talk about this ever again. And I don’t want to deal with it, to realizing, yes, but at the same time, what is my responsibility? Because I, you know, there aren’t a lot of Asian directors in Australia, certainly not many Asian female directors. And I do feel like, being in that position means that, you know, I do have to carry some of the burden.
Steph
You studied at the VCA. That’s right, isn’t it? And you recently went back last year and did a speech to the graduating class, which is something that I feel like you only ever see in film and TV, like that happened in your real life! What was that like?
Corrie
(laughs) I was quite funny, actually. Because, um, look, I’m not a vindictive person. But I remember very clearly that I never received an award from my two years at film School, from memory both years that I was, the person that gave the graduating speech was a white male director. So it did feel really good to be asked and I went about as I was sort of putting together my words, I kind of just saw it like, fuck what would I have loved to have been told? Like , the day after my sort of graduating night when I didn’t win any prizes, I just wept for 10 minutes, maybe longer. And, and it took some number of years to realize that oh everyone has a path. And that it, it’s okay if it doesn’t look like the thing that everyone keeps telling you it should look like, which for me at the time was, you know, make an award winning short which really to your feature. And but I think that idea of it needs to look like this was something that works for me in a variety of ways because like, I don’t look like what a director is supposed to look like. So, um, yeah, and that was something I really want to drill home to the students like it’s such a long path. It’s so hard. But um, you know, I guess part of the journey is you chipping away at this lump of a road to figure out where it leads.
Steph
Because you after you did graduate, you went on to win awards in your career. So fuck the VCA like, they missed out on that one. And you’ve gone on to direct TV, both like teen comedy drama and asked me to say adult drama, but that sounds like porn doesn’t put “adult” in front of anything. You haven’t done porn that I know of. Up to you. Um, and but what what did that path look like for you from graduating to becoming an award winning director? Yeah, how did it look?
Corrie
Well, I…
Steph
And screenwriter, sorry.
Corrie
Yeah, I was really drawn to television. Except when I finished VCA television was really uncool. And no one wanted to do it.
Steph
I’ve got television books behind me. I was I was at uni studying criticism and I wanted to write about TV, probably roughly the same time I’m in my mid-30s. And everyone was like, no, you got to write about film. It’s all about film. And I was like TV is coming. It is changing. You don’t understand! And no one got it. And now everyone watches, talks, lives, breathes TV.
Corrie
Yeah, exactly. So it was actually quite hard to figure out how to get into television because it was it was just its own little world. Like not a lot of the producers crossed over. And you know, all of that. But I mean, I guess the simple story is I started like doing work experience. And then eventually notetaking in writers rooms, which, and at the same time, I would write my own stuff and write it and direct my own shorts. And but my I guess my biggest thing is I wanted to get on set, so I shadowed directors. And I think the thing is, the thing that I did a lot of is I basically had all of my eggs in all of the baskets. I am not one to believe I don’t have the focus and patience to just be focused on the one project. So yes, I was notetaking but I was also looking at what funds were available to me as, as a writer, director, either writing stuff with development or directing short films and documentaries, which was something that I also did. And then I was also looking at what grants were available to me through the talent escalator programs at Screen Australia for shadowing directors. And basically, at some stage like I would have a number of applications in for whatever I could get my hands on. And slowly by doing that, by asking questions by speaking to these faceless people at screen agencies, they start doing invest in you as a person in your journey. By forcing yourself to ask questions, it starts, like your dream starts feel starts to feel less scary and less hypothetical. It just becomes a thing that you will eventually do. If, yeah, if if things happened in the right way. Having said that, it still took me six years after film school for me to get hired on my you know, first directing job. But since then I’ve been, yeah, very grateful that it’s been constant.
Corrie
And how long did you have this dream? Was this something that you always knew? Are you the kind of, were you the kind of kid who was like, I want to make that stuff that I’m watching on this screen? Or were you someone who maybe studied or at school did Media Studies and you’re like, oh, that’d be interesting, that’d be cool. I’d like to do that.
Corrie
I did. I’ve sort of first remembered having this desire in I want to say when I was 11 years old, because my dad gave me his old video camera. And, you know, I, you know, at my first sleep over I, for some reason we were watching Scream, you know, it was in the late ninties…
Steph
I was going to say, because it was the late 90s, what else would you be watching?
Corrie
Yeah! And we just decided to remake the opening sequence. And it really took hold, I still remember the feeling of that, like so viscerally. But the thing is, I really repressed this desire for another 10 years, I think, quite easily. Um, I did, I dabbled in arts commerce, at university. And then but I quit that and transferred into a media degree at RMIT. And it was there, I was able to, in one of the electives, I had an encouragement of a, you know, one of my tutors, who was like, you should apply to VCA. And that was all it took, like, I just needed that person to tell me, it’s okay and you should do it. Which is a validation that I think I sometimes still look for, but I’m trying to teach myself to give me that validation.
Steph
It’s hard, though. When you’ve for like, what, 21 years, you haven’t had that self validation?
Corrie
Yeah.
Steph
Sometimes you need somebody to be like, you can do that. You’re like, Oh, my God, I can do that. Yeah. happens to me all the time.
Corrie
Yeah, totally. I mean, I think it’s quite a female thing, isn’t it? Directing is something that assumes, like, the job itself assumes the right to impose your worldview onto a story, which is what makes it distinct and so important. But that comes that’s a very clear sense of bravado, that I don’t think it comes naturally to women.
Steph
I also think there’s a class element for me personally, anyway, coming from a, like, deeply working class background, doing something creative, is like, perhaps not considered a “career”. So you’d need to follow some set path have a nine-to-five job, and then you have a career. But…
Corrie
Yeah, totally, I had no idea what it looks like, you know, I don’t think I really knew until I started doing TV, because I certainly had no idea how much, you know, directors made or got paid or anything. So I think I was very lucky in that I was strangely deluded for a long time that it was going to happen, but certainly my 20s were, or it was a bit of a trash pit of um, constantly disappointing my parents, to the extent that they just couldn’t even like talk about me to family members back in Taiwan anymore. I was a very disgraced daughter,
Steph
Oh god. How does it feel reflecting on that now?
Corrie
I’m just relieved, to be honest, I’m so relieved I because they they value I guess they value income and having a stable job. So they’re thrilled and proud in the sense that I’m able to do something that’s very Western and cool, that they can brag about and has a decent income. But certainly, they they were barely tolerating it for a long time, but to their credit, they didn’t stop me.
Steph
Do you think they could have though, by that point?
Corrie
Yeah, that’s a really good point. Maybe not. Um, I guess I’ve never given myself the credit for that. I’ve always kind of just gone “oh they hated it, but they tolerated it.” But maybe they did try and stop me and I just still barreled through.
Steph
I mean, it sounded like that you knew what you wanted to do from when you were remaking Scream. And as you said, your path was divergent and different. But you got there eventually. So no matter what speed bump came along, whether it was your parents or an arts commerce degree, you were going to get there eventually. But…
Corrie
Yeah, and I think they could, I mean, I was a terrible arts commerce student. I don’t think I think the worst grades I ever got in anything was um in that one year I spent. So which, which would have come as a shock to them as well. Like, I’m not um, I don’t fail most things I do. Yeah.
Steph
Well, unless you’re like, deeply unhappy or dissatisfied, right? You said, you were taking time to write. Now, how is it switching back and forth between writing and directing? Because you do both? And I know that you’ve done some EP work, as well. What is it like swapping back and forth?
Corrie
I think it depends on when you catch me because I was so excited to go, because I just spent, you know, over a year basically going back to back with directing different shows. So to go into lockdown, essentially writing this show that I had been thinking about for a little while it was it was so exciting. And to just think about story in its most pure form, without all other logistical budget time, people management side of things, which is what a lot of directing is. But now where two and a half months later on kind of like, Oh my god, I can’t, I just can’t be with myself anymore. I need to go out and problem solve and actually, like, make it happen instead of imagining it. So, you know, as someone who has a very short attention span, and can’t stay still, like in the one place. Being able to switch between the two hats is incredibly, um, it’s like oxygen. I think it rejuvenates my passion for the other thing that I’m not doing.
Steph
I feel that.
Corrie
Um yeah. But I mean, I will say that, you know, my first hat and my first love is directing. I love working with writers. And I, whereas I would only write for myself to direct. Yeah.
Steph
Because it’s filmmaking making TV, any screen work is deeply collaborative. Before I’m going to read out the Arrogant Aunt question in a minute. Which kind of relates to this, but the collaborative nature of screen work how are you going without that?
Corrie
Yeah, I’m gonna say I’ve been surprised at how difficult I’m finding it. Because, you know, I’ve, I probably am inclined to describe myself as a bit of a curmudgeon at times, who likes to be alone. And, you know, I find small talk a bit irritating and hard. But I’ve had to have all these creative meetings via Zoom and not being able to feel the sense and creative energy of someone, like in the same space has been… I really miss it. Yeah, I’ve I…COVID has made me realise how much I value community and how important it is in creativity. So I’m really looking forward to starting pre(production) and just being able to, well, hopefully, being able to be in the same office and space other people.
Steph
Because there is a tactility, obviously, to directing and filmmaking that is being in person and behind a camera and seeing, and even the physicality of performers right and having them there that has been taken away. I can’t…
Corrie
Yeah, yeah, totally. And even having, like, you know, costume meetings and makeup meetings where, like, technically all the information is there in front of you, but I miss the little additional ideas that comes from and it’s an indescribable quality, but it just comes from being able to assess a person in the real world or the little nuanced aspects of character because I really believe in whatever role you are like what you as a person bring to the work. Like it’s not just about your ideas, it’s about your life experiences and how you move through the world. So I feel completely robbed of that through Zoom. But I guess, you know, it’s the new normal.
Steph
So I’m gonna do the Arrogant Aunt question now. So Arrogant Aunt is the segment where we answer listener questions with an authority we don’t have. It’s an exercise in imposter syndrome for all of us. So the question we’ve got today is from Caroline. So Caroline ask: “I struggle with work life balance at the best of times…” so with us talking about the new normal, Corrie, I guess this is an important question. So struggling with work life balance at the best of times. “But when I’m working from home, it’s even harder. I take on more I work longer hours, and I never give myself a break. Do you have any tips on finding balance at this time?”
Corrie
Yeah, um.
Steph
How are going with it? Because I suck.
Corrie
(Laughs) I don’t know if I have ever done it properly? I’m just trying to think how to answer that question.
Steph
And I think it depends on what I guess it kind of talking to what you’ve discussed earlier about feeling like your work as a creative is part of you intrinsically, it’s hard to separate that and create a work life balance when work is your life. And you feel that passion about it. But I think I work both, and Sisteria listeners would already know this, I work both a an office job like a nine to five, a few days a week. And then I do writing and podcasting and creative stuff on the side. So for me, working from home on both of those things, is a lot and I struggle, even on the day, like I’m just doing too many hours, like I automatically get up and sit behind the computer. And because I’m beholden to other people at that office job, I feel a lot of pressure and I’m doing very, very long hours on that. So by the time I get to my creative stuff, that does give me a sense of purpose and feel more important to me, I am less motivated, and I don’t have a whole lot left. And that feels like that’s the life part that I’m losing. Not so much being social and seeing people because not unlike you I’m convergently I stay home, I watch TV with my dogs. That’s about it. But yeah, I’m struggling. So I don’t know, if I’m the best person to ask for advice on that…
Corrie
I think what you know, what I will say is yes, absolutely this I find the concept of work life balance a little bit of a myth. In the job I do in that the work, quotation marks, is part of life, because the work is an expression of yourself. And, you know, my work is is me being able to express my identity and my feelings and my how I perceive the world. And, and to me that is an expression of life. So finding a balance per se has, has always felt a little almost like a misguided concept and a way to make ourselves feel bad. What I have discovered through COVID is trying to adopt habits that aren’t directly work in that I’m not at the computer typing, or you know, I’m not on a zoom or whatever practical work looks like. But, you know, these habits that I think ultimately lead to me doing better work. Because COVID has, you know, meant that being at home a little bit more means that I can try and discover whatever these new things are. And they include looking after some plants has been incredibly meditative almost. So I’ve always really resented the idea of nesting inside a home because I think it comes from a some commitment We had commitment staff and the idea of being tied down to a place. But I kind of have had to embrace being tied down. So I want to go to all these, you know, nice big, lush pot plants. And sometimes I just spend like my Sunday mornings polishing the leaves.
Steph
That is meditative
Corrie
Incredibly meditative. And I’m just giving myself the 20 minutes of allowing my brain to just be curious and investigate whatever it is it needs to do, even if that thing is going completely blank. Because, like, is it is polishing plants life? Well, maybe in not, but but it’s I don’t know, it’s a thing again, when you’re just trying to give yourself oxygen.
Steph
Right, you’re trying to create balance in some capacity. And if it’s stepping away, then that’s the best. We’re also you mentioned before, you don’t have children, I don’t have children either. So I think for people with kids, it’s a whole different conversation. Work and life would definitely bleed together a lot more.
Corrie
Yeah.
Steph
I will not even pretend to offer advice on that. But as a childless person with a couple of dogs, taking them outside for walks when they’re good. And I’m not just training them is fun, or just going out for wander, my psych tells me to do that all the time. Don’t just take the dogs go for your walk, whether it’s 10 minutes at a time. So I’m mainly just putting this on record now so that I do have to start doing that. So advising somebody else to do that means that I have to do it myself. Um, yeah, otherwise, I think, like you were saying, it’s about creating your own routines and stepping away so that you can come back.
Corrie
Yeah.
Steph
Feeling more rejuvenated.
Corrie
Yeah, yeah. And I think because I did spend, there was a patch of time where I’m was, was getting so good at making myself feel bad, about whatever, this work life balance… And I do really believe that, um, you know, I just, I don’t, I think it’s a, again, a female thing. I think, I don’t think I’ve ever heard my male friends fret about their work life balance. So that’s why I’m a little bit allergic to that concept. But at the same time, it’s, um, maybe I’ve word it a little bit differently in that, um, you know, what are some ways where you can feed your brain? And I don’t mean intellectually, I mean, you know, emotionally and whether it’s going out for walks or polishing plants, or you know, I also really love cooking. And that’s again, just a way of allowing my brain to go into a completely different direction to what it normally spends its day doing. And for some people that could be like connecting with family members or yeah, so brain food is my advice.
Steph
I enjoy cooking too, for those reasons. And one thing else I do enjoy and this will probably lead us into the our Sisteria shout out where we ask our guests to shout out something that’s been giving them joy recently, not just patting their plants unless that is your shout out in which case, that’s fine. And my other thing has been literally putting on some good pop music and either cleaning around the house or just like dancing around the house while I’m emptying the recycling bin, and just having such a good time. So there’s two albums that I want to give a shout out to the first is Chloe and Halle’s Ungodly Hour. So they’re are a sister duo who were picked up by Beyonce after they covered her on YouTube they covered Pretty Hurts. Halle has been announced as she was cast as Ariel in the upcoming Little Mermaid movie and that created like a small controversy on social media that’s what Wikipedia said which is so stupid.
Corrie
(laughs) That’s how you know you’re famous when you cause a small controversy.
Steph
But they’re just sorry talented they like actually sound like angels. And it’s just there’s so many bangers on the album and so many good songs and the other album that is like pure kind of disco pop that I’ve been loving is Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia. So chucking that on listening to Physical which was one of the singles of it is just, it’s just so fun to just shake your bum around their house and get moving. I know it sounds like I’m still kind of like, commercial, like an ad of like someone cleaning my house. But that’s literally what I’ve been doing. Whatever makes you happy. Corrie, what’s your shout out?
Corrie
My shout out is to the Baby-Sitters Club.
Steph
Yes I haven’t watched it yet. Tell me tell me.
Corrie
Um, I think I watched three or four eps on the weekends and on the weekend and, um, I mean a few things. I was a enormous fan of it like, I think many people have, that of my generation when I was maybe 10 or 11. And it was one of the first books I read to learn English. So I think I have a certain attachment to it, like, that’s linked to identity in a very strange way. And the show is the purest tonic you can give your soul right now. And it is I can’t recommend it enough as a it is escapism, but it is incredibly contemporary in some of the issues they address, even though it’s not an issues show. And it’s, you know, colorful and bubblegum fairy floss, you know, all of the above, in the one little package. Yeah, it’s it’s really beautiful.
Steph
In my other bookcase, on the other, so you can see there’s one behind me, the one in the hallway, I’ve got all of The Baby-Sitters Club books, they weren’t from my childhood because I always wanted them. But my parents would never buy me them. I went and visited my cousin and read hers every like second weekend, I would read her books because her parents would buy them. So I found the entire collection at an op shop at a rural town that I lived in for a little while. And I was just like, I like burst into tears. I’m like how much I will take. Here’s all my money, like take it. So I just have this beautiful bubblegum colored collection in my hallway of those books. I’m saving the Netflix show for, actually, I wanted to talk to you about you. Did you do an attachment on The Leftovers? Yes, I did. I’m currently watching it for the first time because I’m some kind of weird martyr for apocalyptic, you know double down, yeah, you’re in the middle of an apocalypse, why not double down? How is that?
Corrie
Amazing. I was, uh, I mean, I think it’s one of the best shows that has been made in the last decade, to be honest. So I was already an enormous fan of it. And then I heard they were shooting in Melbourne, for its final season. And, you know, had to interview a couple of times, but somehow managed to, yeah, spend some time on shadowing the director. And, you know, learnt a lot and just seeing that HBO machine at work was amazing. But also just as a fan of, you know, meeting actors and going to read throughs and whatnot, was, um, I was trying not to fangirl and, you know, trying to stay grounded and learn what I was there you know, what I was being paid to do. But yeah, it’s, uh, it’s, I’m quite intrigued to what it would feel like watching it now during a pandemic, because it’s a very depressing show.
Steph
Yeah, it feels like a lot, like, talking about stepping back and having relaxing time, but I can’t stop watching it as well. And I am.
Corrie
What are you up to?
Steph
Just finished season one last night. So we’re starting….
Corrie
Yeah, season two is from, I think season two is the best season. But um, I mean, you got to go through to the end, because season three, the ending really pays off, whatever, everything that’s set up. And I started to realize that it was essentially a show about storytelling. Because in season three, it allowed characters to just break out into these monologues about something that happened to them in the past. And as a writer, just realizing, again, sort of drilling home home the importance and responsibility of stories that we carry with us and how that impacts our future. You know, I think that show really summarized the beautifully.
Steph
I can’t wait, but also, yeah, it’s a it’s a lot. It is a lot. And I’ll tell you how you got that job, by the way, because you’re actually really good. So don’t ever say again, somehow I got the job. You got it because you deserved it. And you’re incredible. Thank you so much for spending time with us today being part of Sisteria. It’s been amazing to talk to you. I hope your plants continue to blossom. And that your career does as well.
Corrie
(Laughs)
Steph
How lame was that? I don’t want to end with that. (Laughs)
Corrie
Thanks for inviting me. That was really fun.
Steph
Sisteria is supported by the Melbourne City Council Arts Grants Program and recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin nations. We pay our respects to the elders past and present and to the elders of all the lands this podcast reaches. Subscribe to Sisteria everywhere and follow us @sisteriapod. Links to everything discussed in the episode are available at sisteriapodcast.com. Our theme music is by Rainbow Chan, the song is called Last and it’s from her album Spacings. Thanks so much for listening, stay safe and we hope to tune in again soon.