Interview with creators Renee Olbert and Rosemary Rowe

Interview by Magali Lehane and Gaëlle Carrion on August 31, 2009 for Univers-L.com

Your scripts are finely-worked and so hilarious. How long does it take to write an episode ?

ROSEMARY : Stop! You’ll make me blush! It’s hard to say how long it takes to write an episode – as a writer, I tend to think about things for a long time – I percolate, if you will – and then the actual writing happens fairly quickly. Once I finish a draft, I’ll talk it over with Renee – as we got closer to shooting on the first five episodes, I’d run the scripts by our director, Lisa Hayes and get her feedback as well – so by the time we shot the first five, I’d written at least 5 or 6 drafts of each episode.

And what about the shooting. How long does it take to shoot an episode for example ? Where do you shoot the series ?

RENEE : We shot all of the series in Toronto.  We block shot the first five episodes, which means we shot out of sequence and on a very, very tight schedule.  All the episodes were shot in about 3 weeks…which SOUNDS like a lot of time… when you’re in your house making the schedule after having had too many martinis… (Note to all aspiring producers: never, EVER plan a shooting schedule while drinking your 3rd Cosmo!)

We really have to thank everyone involved in the shoot who donated their time and talent, otherwise this zany idea of getting all of our shoot done in the amount of time we had would never have been possible.  The best advice I can offer anyone trying to create a web series is surround yourself with people who are as committed to the project as you are and then continue to bribe them with booze and food!

ROSEMARY : Agreed! There’s no way we could have done this show without the talent and commitment of our cast and our tiny crew, in particular our director of photography Danny Winchester and our director Lisa Hayes – they were there every day, working their film magic. If it wasn’t for them, the whole show would have looked like drunken children filmed it with their feet.

There is a real buzz about Seeking Simone on the web. Are you surprised by the success abroad ? And especially in non-English speaking countries ?

ROSEMARY : We’re totally thrilled that the show’s been so well-received! Of course WE think it’s hilarious but it’s awesome to know we’re not the only people laughing at our jokes.  And we’re definitely surprised to have so many viewers in non-English speaking countries, so we’re also thrilled to have those jokes translated into other languages so that we can reach a wider audience.

There’s a lot of clichés (but so true clichés) about lesbians in Seeking Simone : Buffy, cats… Are they just there to make some laugh or did you also put them so that people could identify themselves easily?

ROSEMARY : Ha ha – YES.

By the way, why Buffy ? You could have chosen other series like ER or The L-Word?

ROSEMARY : With Buffy, it was definitely a case of writing what you know.  I’ve been a raging Buffy fan for several years and Buffy is one of the first tv shows I can remember where I saw a lesbian character that:

a)            I personally identified with
b)           wasn’t evil
c)            wasn’t trying to get pregnant and
d)           remained gay even after her first lesbian relationship ended (TRAGICALLY, but still…)

I loved Dr. Weaver’s character on ER but after she blew it with her first girlfriend and then the show killed off her other partner, I was too furious to watch any more. And The L-Word – I’m embarrassed to say, I haven’t seen very much of it. I know! It’s on my list, I swear! Do I have to give back my lesbian card now?

RENEE : Yes, Rose…. You DO have to give back your lesbian card… Never watched the L word?!?!  I clearly know what I’m getting you for Christmas!  I, on the other hand, have watched every episode…. MORE THAN ONCE. Because Jennifer Beals in a power suit = HEAVEN.

In Simone’s room there are a lot of goodies about Buffy. Did you buy them for the shooting or are they a part of your personal collections ? Are you real fans ?

RENEE : HAHAHA… It would be CRAZY for one person to own all of that Buffy stuff… I mean who would do that?!?! Ummm… me. Yes, it’s all mine. I KNOW amazing n’est-ce pas? However, in my defense, Rosemary is the one who introduced me to the world of Buffy many years ago- So, really we are both HUGE, HUGE fangrrlz and proud of it!

ROSEMARY : It’s true. If we’d shot the show at my house instead of Renee’s, we would have had all the same stuff. NERDZ.

Last question. Any anecdote to tell about the shooting of Seeking Simone ? Or any funny thing that happened in the set?

Well, one funny thing that happened is that we got busted by the caretaker at the location where we were shooting the Beaverettes sequence.  We were shooting in a tiny rehearsal room and we’d definitely taken over the surrounding area with our equipment. He was upset that we had so much stuff in the hallway – he was upset that we’d used the freight elevator outside of building hours. He kept being upset until we offered him a sandwich. Then, after he’d eaten the sandwich, he was like a whole different person. Friendly, chatty, telling us stories about other bands in the venue. We told him we were shooting a music video for the Beaverettes and he listened to Hammertoes about a dozen times before saying “You know, I wasn’t sure about that song at first but now I’m groovin’ to it. I think you have a hit right there.”

There might have been marijuana in the sandwich. I’m not SAYING there was…but there MIGHT HAVE BEEN.

Link to the Webseries Seeking Simone

Retour à la fiche de présentation Seeking Simone