Alison Bell on The Letdown, Netflix and Stage Fright

In my time I’ve been pretty lucky to interview and produce stories with some incredible people - the Dalai Lama, The Black Eyed Peas etc etc (brag, brag, brag...) but I tell you what, interviewing this week’s guest, Alison Bell, had me feeling over-the-top nervous and excited.
Alison is the co-creator and star of hit ABC comedy The Letdown which was picked up by Netflix and co-produced for Season 2, bagging a heap of awards along the way.
If you haven’t seen it, the show centres around Audrey, mother of a 2-month-old, who joins a new-parents support group, which she initially thinks she doesn't need -- but soon realises those kooky parents are exactly who she needs to survive motherhood. The Letdown is hilarious but also explores darker and often taboo topics.
We laugh a lot in this chat and cover so much! Such as shooting the pilot with zero budget, the scene she is most proud of, pitching to Netflix and being recognised in LA, and working with the hilarious - and now mega star - Celeste Barber.
We also delve into Alison's personal experience of mixing motherhood and comedy writing and how much of the script and those enchanting characters are based on real life. 
And a big shout out to my own mothers group - who kept me sane, and stuffed with caffeine and cake in that first year and beyond. 
For more you can head to our website at stephaniehuntmedia.com or follow us on Instagram at @stephaniehuntmedia and Facebook.

SHOW NOTES

You can follow Alison and The Letdown on Twitter @Alison_M_Bell
@TheLetdownTv

Need help with your next media appearance? Head to our website at stephaniehuntmedia.com or chat with us on Instagram at @stephaniehuntmedia or Facebook.

This podcast is brought to you by Charles Sturt University - where I studied Communications and I’m proud to be a member of their alumni.

We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we have recorded this podcast, the Darug people. We pay our respects to their Elders, past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. 

Transcript

Stephanie Hunt  0:08  
Hello there, welcome to Season Two of and we're rolling the show hosted by me Steph hunt, where we chat with the world's best female broadcasters, foreign correspondents, leaders and athletes about life, but mostly about what scares them and how they find the grid to do it anyway. In my time, I've been pretty lucky to interview and produce stories with some incredible people, the Dalai Lama, the Black Eyed Peas, etc, etc. But I tell you what, interviewing this week's guest, Alison Bill had me feeling over the top nervous and excited. Alison is the CO creator and star of heat ABC comedy the letdown, which was picked up by Netflix and CO produced for season two, and has taken out a heap of awards. If you haven't seen it. The show centers around Audrey mother have a two month old who joins a new parent support group, which she initially thinks she doesn't need, but soon realizes those cookie parents are exactly who she needs to survive motherhood. That letdown is hilarious, but also explores darker and often taboo topics. We laugh a lot in this chat and we cover so much such as shooting the pilot with zero budget, pitching to Netflix and being recognized in LA and working with the hilarious and now mega star Celeste Barber. We also delve into Alison's personal experience of mixing motherhood and comedy writing, and how much of the script and those enchanting characters are actually based on real life. And, of course, a big shout out to my own mother's group who kept me sane and staffed with caffeine and cake in that first year. And beyond. Allison, I'm totally geeking out here. This is this is huge. I'm a massive fan of your work. And I know that you would have heard this a million times but I have a four year old and a two year old and I swear each episode of the letdown was talking to me, I felt so seen I had the full hotness, lactation lobotomy vibe going and each episode. I cried. So firstly, thank you, thank you so much.

Alison Bell  2:44  
My absolute pleasure to have brought you that show. And to have reflected your your experience. I'm sorry, that was your experience. But I'm very pleased we reflected it.

SH  2:57  
I felt so seen. Now we'll chat about more than just The Letdown. But it's such a great place to start. And I was reading that you were writing the pilot, when you had a newborn son yourself. Now, motherhood? It's such a ripe topic and mothers groups just brimming with brilliant things to to explore. And I don't know why this wasn't done earlier. Neither do I. Honestly, where did the idea come from? And is it based on reality?

AB  3:27  
Well, actually, I know that a lot of articles say that. I wrote the pilot while with with my newborn. But I actually started before I had him. So me and my mate Sarah Scheller, we it was really serendipitous how this came about, I had been watching my sister, she's a lawyer with three kids, this incredibly accomplished woman turn into something else when I couldn't see it. You know, I hadn't ever seen that on screen. And so I was also being an actress and reading countless scripts and going, these aren't the women I know. I was really frustrated with what I was reading, in terms of female representation. And then watching my sister who I'm very close with going through motherhood, I really wanted to put the realities on screen. Then I, my mate Sarah, who had two little ones at the time said to me, I'd really like to do a comedy about a mother's group. And I was like, bingo, bingo. I want to write about the truth about motherhood. So we came together and, and that's how it started. And at that time, I didn't have a kid. I was I was the observer and the researcher. And Sara was bringing you the experience, but I fell pregnant because I'm very method. In my approach to work, it's

SH  4:45  
Dedicated, very dedicated,

AB  4:47  
And so we'd already written a pilot. But we got the phone call from the ABC to say we're interested in this project. We want to develop the pilot further with you. I got that call when I was eight months pregnant. So then my poor little boy was born into more chaos than usual because I was, I was writing a TV show with him on my lap. Yeah, nuts. So it didn't actually have a lot to do with my own mother's group, because I missed so many of those meetings because I was on deadlines, and actually feel a bit sad about that, to be honest. But it certainly had, it certainly is based on truth. And we always we would always, you know, sort of extend things and embellish things so that we could find the funny or push it to the funny. But every everything in that show came from a story or an a personal experience. And it's quite bleak to talk about this. But Sarah was a few years out of that newborn phase when we were developing the pilot with the ABC. And I was in the center of it. And that, so that gave us a really good I think, complementary relationship to the material. Because I was doing that, oh, my god, I can't do this. I was in that state. Yeah. And she was able to, you know, kind of sit back and watch. And also I was living through that experience of, I guess, the grief of your own life. And that became a much bigger part, your old life, sorry. And that became a much bigger part of the pilot, as a result of, you know, the combination of me working and having my first child. I didn't have any space, you know, and I just felt my friends drifting away in my old life and my, you know, all the things that you love about your life, I felt that kind of disappearing. So that grief was built into the pilot after that experience. Yeah, yeah.

SH  6:45  
I was thinking about this. I love writing as well. When I had my first child and probably still continuing now. I just really struggled to find words, like I ordered the toaster, box and it was like Bridget Jones's Diary, I'd almost laugh at myself. Like when, when Daniel Cleaver was laughing at Brigitte, almost saying tips pervert. You know, like, I was like, This is so hilarious. I can't even think of the word. So was that challenging to be writing when you're in it? Or are probably not because as you say, you're so you're in the guts of it, you're in the eye of the storm. So you can write and reflect and write from the heart,

AB  7:23  
I think it was helpful that I was writing about what I was living. Had I been asked to write a period drama about something you know, about the Queen of England. I don't think I would have coped. But I could actually use dialogue from your life. Or I could use the, you know, the words of other people trying to give me advice or their you know, all that stuff. But also, I think, I don't know, I bet if you were asked to do have you asked to write a piece, you know, for something or something within your expert skill set. Yeah, when you were in that stage, you probably would have been able to flick that switch. And I think that's, I look back at it now and go That was wild. But I could do it. And I became a master of master I'm a master of nothing, but I became a master of using my time well, you know, he'd go down for a nap. And I would write like the wind focus. Yeah, and even like late at night when you know if he just worked in those pockets of weird time. And my partner's an actor too. So we have a very co parent like a really true shared parenting thing and actually, he's probably done more of the primary caring because of my workload. But in those early days, you know how it can be very mum centric Yeah. Whilst it still was because I was breastfeeding for a long time and all that kind of stuff he did a lot of the a lot of the caring as well so I gone that I got a little bit more space didn't get a lot of sleep but

SH  9:01  
And sometimes it is good to know that you've got 45 minutes to bang something out or two hours or whatever to really create and I think yeah,

AB  9:09  
I mean there were times when I I probably shouldn't have kept going like I'm not good at stopping so there were probably times where I should have just gone you know what I just need a month to be with my baby and to sleep when he's asleep. Because I've never met anybody that

SH  9:31  
came up with that. 

AB  9:36  
When do you do anything if you sleep when they sleep? I don't get it.

SH 9:40  
I know crazy, crazy advice.

AB  9:45  
Just run yourself ragged and keep going when they're in. Now I probably should have stepped back every so often, but I am not good at. I'm not very good at that. I'm learning.

SH  10:01  
There are so many standout moments in in the series. So many so many. So I love Audrey just trying to get that bloody pram upstairs into the hall for madness. I totally get it. Absolutely.

AB  10:11  
You don't want any more obstacles, the experiences is big enough, you know, in your way.

SH  10:20  
And then the restaurant scene, which is it's just so brilliant Audrey looking forward to her first big night out with her mates and the babysitter falls through and then she's like, Oh, just I'll sit the bar under my jacket and go into the restaurant. It'll be totally fine. And then they kind of push her out and she ends up on the bus crying looking at Stevie Holy moly. I was just crying there. And then Ambrose played by noni Hazlehurst, what a cool, brilliant to get her at the very end saying to Audrey, you're still you. It's so brilliant. The writing is so so brilliant. 

AB  10:55  
Oh, thank you. But you know what I know, this is a really weird thing to say. But the the bus scene is one of my favourites. And that sounds horribly egocentric. Because there's no one in it. I was literally holding a dummy like a little doll on the actual bus. And then we had to shoot the baby in a different situation very kooky things you do when you're working with babies. But we shot that scene. on a Saturday night, when we shot the pilot, we shot the show for a series called The comedy showroom. And it was a bunch of pilots, then a couple of pilots were chosen to go to series. So all of those pilots aired, but then we got to make hours into it shot. So we shot that pilot in six days. And you know, Sarah and I were wearing many, many hats. You know, we we pretty much costumed that pilot with our own clothing, or our partners clothes. dresses in that fancy dinner, but like just our dress. Like I've said I've said so, you know, it was such a huge ride that that one week shoot to get the pilot done. And it was such an honor, I had never done that before. I'd never been in that kind of producer role as well as writer as well as actor that was all new territory. And I'd never seen the machine working in that way. You know, I've always been an actor and been on one side and you so pampered and looked after it's gross when you're an actor, so it was so great to be with the crew with the team and seeing how hard everyone works for you. Like I it was really humbling to go. We wrote this silly little being and you guys are all working so hard to bring it to live. It was incredible. Anyway, we shot that was the final shot of that shoot, the last thing we shot was me on the bus. And I was so because I had a little BB he didn't sleep through the night, you know, so I was so sleep deprived myself that there was no acting, I was so exhausted and over overwhelmed with emotion like gratitude, and like relief and fatigue and all the stuff that it was just, you know, we just started driving and Trent our director was like, okay, rolling action. And it was it was just, it was a genuine release of so many emotions, that seed. So whenever I see that seed, I feel like it was a really good marker, I'll always remember the magnitude of emotion that I had in that moment. And how that little release was an expression of so much more than than what was in that story. So that that moment kind of stands out. But there's, there's just too many moments of fun that I had in that show, particularly working with our incredible cast. Like honestly, sometimes it was very hard to get through a take because there are a lot of funny people involved. But I you know, one of the things I'm really proud of I think Sarah and I just really loved this aspect of series two was the scene about the Golden Girls. Do you remember that scene? Yes, about the abortion stuff. And so when Jeremy comes in and sees her watching Vera Drake, which I think is also funny and very female, to just kind of go into your grief, or your sadness and watch something to give yourself a good cry, you know, after she's had the abortion, so she's watching this. And, and then we've got that back and forth about the Golden Girls. We've done this research. And we discovered that there had been this whole abortion story in this sitcom from the 70s, which was a very popular sitcom. And it hadn't raised an eyebrow. But since then, with the rise of new Christianity and that in the States, particularly and religious conservatism, it had become increasingly taboo. So there there were very few examples when we were writing Season Two of abortion stories, particularly as the main story to do with mothers. And just Yeah, so I was really I found that scene. Very funny, too, right? And just kind of giving a little bit of history a little bit of context as to why we were going down that path story wise. So that's the scene iOS Think very fondly of but there are lots of lots of glorious moments with that team

SH  15:05  
Stevie's first birthday party with competitive spirit. That's just brilliant.

AB  15:10  
I really regretted that air by the way that was baiser. Just to make it ridiculous because I always say this give it a bit of body like at the hairdresser. I always hate when I carry so
is like, oh god, yeah, let's go for it. Let's let's and then we're in the edit and I was looking at it going Ah. What did I do to myself? Outrageous. Oh, for a laugh.

SH  15:38  
You mentioned the cast Celeste Barber, another cool, she's impossible to act opposite. It's so bloody funny, where she, she had a big deal back then. 

AB  15:50  
She had just started doing that stuff. But certainly there was a big difference from season one to Season Two in her reach and her popularity, but she was she was certainly on the rise with that stuff when she when she jumped on board our show. And but she wasn't doing a lot of acting. And that's, you know, that's her background. And we just thought she was I mean, she came in and tested for it. And she was just so ridiculously funny, that it was a no brainer for us because she suited the role. All the things she's been able to achieve. It's just been amazing. So, you know, it's lovely that she's part of our, our team. You know, she's so funny. I mean, she was a joy to have onset. I just could never stop laughing. But But yeah, we're lucky, we've got a back for the second series, because she had so much in the works, that we had to really squeeze her stuff into a week and kind of get everyone to work around that so that we because we didn't want to lose Bob, we didn't want to lose. You know, I really liked writing Bob, because I felt like, you know, there are a few women in my life who I felt were really underappreciated. And where I'm a bit of a workaholic. And I wish I wasn't but I am you know, I I was really eager to tell the story of women who are choosing the other path or the or that other part while on the other paths, but certainly no judgment and deserve all the respect.

SH  17:10  
It's really tough. Yeah. To be at home. Yeah, absolutely. So you write, so truthfully, and about the challenges of motherhood, and you do make it hilariously funny. But as you're saying, you do touch on moments that can be really tough to watch, you've mentioned abortion is also fertility, Barb drinking a little bit too much and having to bring in the local drug dealer to help her out.

AB  17:39  
A stretch of the truth - that didn't ever happen to any of us.

SH  17:43  
Were you worried about touching on those on those darker subjects and really getting it right, we a bit nervous about that. Or you just need your head to do it and had to be done.

AB  17:53  
Some things I was worried about. I certainly felt a great desire to tell kind of the more taboos stories, as did Sarah. But in order to further sanitize, you know, it's been so sanitized on our screens, that if we're going to do it, we've got to we've got to do it. You know, yeah, people around us were slightly anxious about the abortion story. And I just didn't know how it would land. You know, we had quite a big following in the States. And I would often get messages from, you know, people who spoke about their religion and their large families. And, you know, I wondered, and I actually don't know the answer to this, but I wondered whether that would be too hard for them to watch, or, you know, but I'm really proud we did it. And I, I'm glad we didn't pull back too much from it. I hope we handled it, okay, I'm a research kind of person, I like to read a lot before I, you know, commit to anything. So I was reading everything and I and, and talking to a lot of people and we had people in in our early room when we were developing that storyline who spoke who spoke a lot about that staff with us and, and, you know, we drew on personal experiences, as well as the experiences of our friends and people in our lives. So I felt like we were covering our bases in terms of approaching it with compassion and truth and comedy as well. Like I I kind of am of the belief that nothing's off the table when it comes to comedy. And that our darkness is usually is often the source of really interesting comedy, because comedy often relies on surprise. So the darker you can go, I mean, the bigger the surprise, it is when you can get a laugh out of it. So I was hoping that people would would find or still be able to laugh in those moments that were designed for that even though we were telling a story of abortion because I think I genuinely believe that there is often humor in all of those moments in our lives. Just before we were writing that I've been through a breast cancer scare that we're, you know, that ended up being benign, but I remember the heart because my brain is now wired after all this comedy writing to find the funny Everything was like I was two people at the same time I was the person full of fear and anxiety. But I was also the person going, I have no boobs for you to squash into that machine.
This is a joke. This is laughable. How are we gonna do this?

AB  20:13  
There was always that the funny in that really dark moment in those dark moments where I was thinking I was going to die. And I do think that's how life works. So we were hopeful that those taboo, subjects could could still bring humor and joy to our audience, as well as touch on the reality for people. Because, yeah, there's no point as I said, there's no point putting a sanitized version of that stuff. on one screen, we've seen plenty of that.

SH  20:45  
Yeah. It is very Australian, isn't it to find the comedy to find that that that dark black humor and you're laughing at the wake and as a part of processing and moving forward? And

AB  20:57  
Absolutely, absolutely, it does feel a you know, I don't know if we are a monolith culturally, but it does feel like that does somehow speak to our very multicultural society, Australia, we do seem to be a people who lean towards the comedy rather than the earnestness.

SH  21:15  
That's it. Yeah. I also love the fact that you're throwing out the idea of perfectionism. Like stuff that the whole way through. It's, it's It's insanity, to expect parents to be perfect. It's crazy. And I love that you're just, you know, pointing the finger at that.

AB  21:32  
Yeah. And that's, that all comes from I am no guru on how to do anything. Like it's funny, like people often, I think, assume that because we do a parenting thing. You've kind of got some answers to things I have no answers. And I don't have the answer to that one. Often, what we were writing was a reflection of ourselves, like, Sarah is much better at going, I've got to get it down and preserve everyone's sanity, whereas I'm much more like, I will sacrifice my sanity, and just strive just keep going and striving, like, you know, flagellating myself, about Baga terrible, but at the same time, I'm more in that camp. And she's far more practical. So it was good having that to that kind of the balance of personalities in the in the story writing part of the game. But yeah, I hope we just kind of show what it's like to be in these different types of mothers, rather than giving any advice. Basically, I guess, we just wanted to go, we're all different. But we're all going through the same stuff. For most of us, it's very similar experience, and how we deal with it is slightly different. But we're all going to be challenged, most people are going to be challenged by this, most people are going to, you know, collapse. At some point. Most people, you know, they're going to need more support than than they've had previously. Or, you know, all that kind of stuff. Yeah. But in terms of, I mean, I hope, I hope that rubs off on myself, my own show rubs off on me and I worry about getting things, getting things right, but I think I am as a mother slowly, starting to, you know, seven years on, slowly, slowly just going to do particularly after COVID.

SH 23:14  
Paw patrol and put a screen on a screen time for that good. God anyway. I was going to ask, how do you like it's so for me, personally, I find it hard to get myself into a creative flow. And then once I'm in there, I'll love it, and I don't want to get out. And then I can find it quite jarring and frustrating if I get pulled out of it. Yeah, but then when I'm in it, and I feel bloody guilty that I'm not with a kid like is do you? Can you relate to that as well? Yeah. And I don't want to focus on guilt because I mean, there's enough focus on that anyway, mums, you know, I don't know. But that's how I feel. Yeah,

AB 23:54  
I think. I actually think COVID did me a favour on that front. I feel like we came back from the States. In March last year, when it was happening and came straight back into the Melbourne lockdown. And I had work and my partner didn't, it was a you know, he's an actor. And it it's been such a godsend that I you know, had shifted into writing many years earlier before this pandemic, because there wasn't a hell of a lot for actors to do. So I worked like a crazy person. Because I knew that was my job in the pandemic, like I was very lucky to have work just support my family. And I think that really helped alleviate the guilt because i knew i i know that i have to do this to support us. And so I completely relate to you. i i Would I often work and I'm trying not to but I often work very long hours because once I get into that flow, I just want to I just want to exhaust that and get it get as much done as I can, so that I can step out and do bed time. And you know, all those, you know, all those things, with without that lingering frustration of, I'm still solving that scene in my head while I'm talking to you.

SH  25:18  
I can be reading reading a book, a bedtime book, and in my head, I'm like, Oh, that's great. Yeah. I heard about something completely separate. Absolutely.

AB  25:24  
It's weird how you do two things at the same time. My kid doesn't skip a beat. She's ready this story. I'm not there. I'm not there, my friend. Yeah, I mean, that still happens. But the ideal is when I can kind of feel satisfied that. Yeah, and I've got a partner who is an incredible parent, you know, who just does it? And doesn't? You know, I'm still alarmed by the lack of equity in homes. But I am not in a home like that. And I feel very fortunate. And I shouldn't have to,

AB 25:59  
I Yeah, you know, even our generation, I just find it amazing that still women are doing the lion's share of everything. And yeah, and I Yeah, and I'm not in that situation. So that's, that's good. So yeah, I still feel guilty. And I also feel sad sometimes that I miss things, because I have learned so much, that that's really hard. And I think it's that expectation thing. You know, we wanted to explore this a bit more in the Rubin and Esther story, actually in the letdown, but we didn't really get the space. That's the problem. When you've got an ensemble cast, you've got so many people to service. But there is something because I relate very strongly to the Esther scenario, I guess not her personal. Love it a bit, but but in terms of being the main breadwinner for a period, you know, and having that pressure which a lot of fathers have had for, you know, a very long time. That's been the way it is. But I think we're also raised with an expectation that we will be present for our children, as women. Yeah. And, and men are not raised in that have not been raised in that same way generally, or haven't seen that in their own families. So that expectation is not there for them that they should be present in the same way. So it feels like a loss. As a mother who works a lot. It does still sit with me as a loss that I haven't been at every single event and I haven't been at every single, you know.

SH  27:32  
Yeah, you can't win, can you because no, yes. The flip side of that is that you're not living your dreams. You're not writing a series for Netflix, you're not fulfilling you and showing your son how fabulous women can be. I can relate. I get it. It's so hard. Yeah,

AB  27:50  
It is hard. I one of my best mates, who's a barrister, very, very credible woman with three children. Her partner also has done a lot of the primary caring and she she's a really practical woman. I love it a bit because I'm so emotional, but she's very practical. And she was she was saying to me, we're teaching our boys that they can be carers. Yeah, we're teaching our boys to care. And, and that's really heartening, actually, that my son is growing up with a dad who's doing a lot of caring. And I do a lot of caring, too. But he's not. There isn't that binary in our home that mom is mom is the love and the care and dad is the absent, you know, working father there, it's we're both in that camp, and I work longer hours, but you know, but dad, you know, his dad does a lot of it. He sees that as a male role, which is great. Yeah, I keep telling myself that.

SH  28:47  
Nothing's going to change unless these things are being seen in the house. And that's, and you're doing that. So that's great. Can we talk about Netflix show to you and Sarah? Did you have to go and pitch to Netflix like I'm envisaging Larry David Curb Your Enthusiasm scar kind of awkwardly pitch to a weird boardroom of Netflix execs like is that what happened?

AB  29:10  
No, not really for the letdown. I have done those open pitches since but not not. Well, yes, we did have to pitch it to Netflix. But because we had the pilot at that stage, because the ABC basically said, We want to make the letdown after we had that first pilot. And they said but you'll need a co producer because you know what our funding keeps getting cut. I'm paraphrasing, but that's essentially what was going on. And still, it's anyway. So we went we were looking for a partner. We were looking for a co producer and but we had the pilot so we had a proof of concept, which is a very unusual thing to have in a pitch. Certainly there were several meetings. I wasn't at any of them, which is really odd and that's I don't think that would happen anymore. like these days, you know, you if you're the creator, you'd be in the room. But I was in it Sarah lived in the States. I think one of our VPS went over and did that with her. I mean, I was happy to do three shows. But yeah, yeah, it is, it's a really weird thing to do. I've done a bunch of them now. And I don't enjoy them one bit, even as a performer, you know, you'd think I'd be more comfortable having to do the song and dance, but I it's yet a really weird experience in the States. So, yeah, we're pretty lucky that they were, it was more meetings about it. And because they'd seen it, the execs had seen the pilot, they knew what they were getting. And I said at the time that none of the straggling comedies they'd acquired to that point had really landed. But they, they, they felt that the subject matter, because of its universality, had a better shot of landing internationally. So that's why they chose to co produce it, I believe. So it was a bit. It's easy is the wrong word. But it felt a little bit easier than then these days, actually, huh? Yeah, we were lucky.

SH  31:13  
A huge huge success. And so fun that it could be seen all around the world about mates in the US and Europe. And, and they they love it, where before all sort of sending them clips and links, and they could watch little snippets, but they enjoy the full, the full series.

AB  31:30  
Yeah, that when I was in America, I remember being at a gallery and a woman from South Korea came up to me and said, the lay down. I'm sorry, what did not expect like she was there as a tourist, I was there. And it blew my mind that people from all different cultures and all different countries were watching. I mean, that is the that's the magic of those major streamers, isn't it that everyone gets to enjoy or not? The case may be the same, the same material, it was pretty wild. Because we didn't know about work, we thought is our sense of humour to particular and to idiosyncratic or is this gonna kind of cross cultural borders? And it seems that it Yeah, it was very interesting to see how it landed in other countries.

SH  32:19  
I was sitting at some swimming lessons this morning, just watching kids going ballistic watching moms and dads trying to check in and find their vaccine certificate their swimming instructors wearing like Darth Vader, COVID visors that they have to wear now because of the pandemic and I was like there's there's a season three and there's a season three letdown and these hours lesson we're gonna we're gonna see a season three?

AB  32:47  
We're probably not. Yeah, but we exhausted a lot of topics in those two seasons. I know, we only made 13 episodes in total, but it felt like we covered a lot of ground. And when we started out, there wasn't a lot of this stuff on telly now. And I think it's a great thing, there has been a real proliferation of these sorts of stories in TV, and I had only written, researched, performed motherhood, you know, since my child was born. And that had that became my entire existence, really, you know, I went away and did a plot, you know, it did a play in between seasons, and that kind of thing. So I did some other things. But it was so consuming to be writing about it, researching it, every time I was at the playground, some beautiful woman would come up to me and talk to me about it, you know, that's gorgeous. And I love that. But at the same time, it was all consuming. Even when I was supposed to be mothering. I was still let down, you know, let down in the park or the thing with other parents. I felt like I wanted to do something else, like my career to that point had been so various, you know, the roles I've been able to play and all that kind of stuff. So for me personally, it felt like we've achieved what we wanted to achieve. And and we achieve far more than we ever imagined. We we will we thought when it landed on Netflix that it would just go under the radar, we prepped ourselves, we like now, people aren't going to watch it. It'll just disappear. And you know, we were very surprised by the reception. And I feel you know, really proud of what we're able to do on a small Australian budget incredible. I also think it's important to make room for other other voices. And we'd had our crack at the motherhood parenting thing. And you know, other people can get in there until their stories now.

SH  34:37  
So he's still back and forwards between the US so their project, other projects you're looking at?

AB  34:42  
There are projects. I mean, the beauty of the pandemic, if there is one is that, you know, zoom in such things have meant that you haven't had to be on the ground in other countries to work in other countries. And so I still have some American projects on the go that I've been writing you at weird hours, we zoom meetings. But I have been doing a bit more Australian stuff this year. And that's really lovely to to get back to working with people I know very well. And then I've got there's a show coming out in January called Love me that I was the lead writer on. And so that's been very consuming this year. And there's another show I've just been running an anthology series for the ABC and I'm Yeah, working. So working on a bunch of things, which has been great. That varieties there for Yeah, yeah, that's been really fun to go back into different worlds.

SH 35:36  
Just finally, with this podcast, we often look at really good tips and tricks for stage fright, or just really lacking confidence or losing your voice or just feeling really, really stuck. Do you have any good tips for stage fright, especially from your theatre days?

AB  35:56  
I think it's a bit like so many of the things that you mentioned before starting is harder is the hardest bit. And then once you're in, it's joyful. And I think remembering match like I I did as you like it was probably many years ago now at Belvoir. And I remember, the emotional roller coaster of that role was so immense that every single night, I would stand off stage about to go on, and I would feel like I was going to throw up every night. So I probably don't have tips for sort of that, just to go through it every now. And then it would be such a joy once I was inside it. But I am oddly more of an introvert as a human being you know. And so, there has always been that anxiety, I imagined that there always will be before doing anything in public. And yet I love I love it when I'm out there. But you know what a teacher said to me once and I think this is really useful. She said, excitement and nerves or you know, that kind of the anxiety of performing it creates very similar physiological responses in your body. And so she said, Why don't you reframe your nerves as excitement, it's actually the same thing, your heart beats faster, you know, all these things kind of. And I think it's a really beautiful thing to keep in mind that it's, it's actually just like excitement and it is exciting. It's both performing terrifying and exciting. And I think if you can reconcile yourself to that, then it gets a little bit easier, because I would never knock on, you know, like the the excitement of getting out there with my theater mates, and doing the show was was always gonna win the battle. No battle with terror. It's always gonna win. So I don't know, maybe trying to reframe it and think of it as as your body telling you, you're really excited. But also breath breathing is the key. For me breathing is the key to everything. If I have a big scary meeting, if I have anything, you know, even a podcast or record or anything. I'm just really grateful. I went to drama school and learnt about the power of breath. And I mean, anyone can learn that. And I I do try and do a little bit of meditating in my life just to center myself. But I am a big believer in how breath can change your state radically in a matter of seconds.

SH  38:08  
Alison, thank you so much. It's been such a joy. My pleasure. It's still surreal to be chatting with you in your bedroom. Are you saying the state that we live in anyway, it's really wonderful. So thank you again for making us all feel seen. That's my pleasure. capturing those moments so beautifully.

AB  38:28  
That does mean a lot. Whenever someone says something like that. I feel it's all worthwhile.

SH  38:33  
You bet. Thank you. 

Well, thank you for listening to and we're rolling hosted by me Steph hunt, produced by Stephanie Hunt, media and Habari productions. And if you need help with media training, or your next on camera appearance, just head to our website, Stephanie hunt media.com. And if you'd liked this podcast, please share it with everyone you know, and follow rate and review. Until next time, thanks for listening.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai