Acclaimed Kiwi comedy Kid Sister is back for a second season, and so is Simone Nathan — the creator and star of the semi-autobiographical comedy.
Nathan reprises her role as the lovable train-wreck Lulu, who is still on a laugh-out-loud ride through life as a young Jewish woman.
Director Aidee Walker and Nathan spoke to 1News about the new series, which is available to stream now on TVNZ+.
What's the basic premise of the series?
The first season of Kid Sister follows Lulu, a 28-year-old Jewish Kiwi, having to make choices between her close-knit family and the boy (Ollie, played by Paul Williams) she has fallen pregnant with.
In season two, we see Lulu fumbling through life after giving birth to the baby, which she has given away to her brother and sister-in-law. But while Ollie begins his conversion to Judaism, Lulu begins to wonder whether this is really what she wants.
The series is a comedy-drama about finding your way when you haven't totally 'found yourself' yet.
What were the differences between making season one and season two?
AW: Well, we had a little more money making the second season, which was a plus, but we also went into season two knowing what show we were making.
Kiwi shows with small budgets come with challenges but also have their perks. A smaller crew means it feels like a family making it, and you can move a lot faster. And with our schedule, that's necessary to make our day.
Season one was shot in 17 days. It was hectic. In season two, we gained an extra week to shoot the season. Woohoo!
SN: When, like me, you don't have much experience acting on set, it helps to feel like fewer people are staring at you, so the intimacy of a smaller crew creates a lot less stage fright.
Doing weeks of 11-hour shoot days in the first season was a huge adjustment. When the majority of your day for weeks becomes you being filmed and tailed around the set by PAs, even followed to the bathroom — you get used to your privacy being compromised.
I remember I would come home and have dreams the whole night that there was a crew in my room filming us while we slept, with boom operators holding the mics above our heads.
I'm also such a private person when it comes to getting changed. I was always the kid who got changed in the bathroom stall for PE. But by the second season, I was walking into the trailer and just ripping off my clothes!
AW: We're very lucky that our producer Emily Anderton is also our story producer, so the second season scripts were in such good shape by the time they got to me. There was no fat to shoot because Emily really knew our budget limitations.
Every element had a little more time to shine a little more this time around.
What was it like working with such a strongly female-led crew?
AW: We are a team of female producers, director and creator. I made a conscious decision to also have a female Director of Photographers for both season one and season two.
Tammy Williams shot season one, and Daniela Conforte shot season two. Both women did an incredible job and were perfect for our show and Simone. There's this inbuilt instant protection over our female leads and female characters.
SN: In my experience on other sets, it's not a given or even very likely that a woman will be considered for the DOP role — it feels like there's an innate assumption that those operating the cameras will be the men.
It is also really comforting from a performer's perspective when you're doing scenes that are a bit more vulnerable — even one scene where my character pumps breast milk into a toilet. When you look up, you see two women behind the camera, laughing at you.
What was the difference between writing season two versus the pilot season?
SN: Well, since season one's release, we've gotten to see the response to the show and gained an understanding of what sang for people the most. And story-wise, the audience has already been through quite a lot with our characters.
So, when you finally open up that blank document for season two, it's not really that blank because you've already done all those hard yards of interrogating who these people are.
And you can get into some more complicated storylines because, hopefully, the characters have already won the viewers' hearts. So, now you can push the character's likeability a little bit more. The audience hopefully feels like part of the family — and with family, you don't always have to be your best self, but everyone is forced to love you anyway.
AW: I also love how it felt like you were writing for the actors this time. We didn't know what a hit Grandpa Hershey would be in season one, and one of my favourite relationships in this season turned out to be Lulu and the Hershey.
Who knew chlamydia in the rest home would be such a beloved storyline? Peter Haydon is a dreamboat. So, tune in, ladies!
SN: I knew this time around how challenging night shoots are, as well as having a lot of costume changes. So, season two features many scenes where I'm wearing an 'Oodie' — it's daytime, and I'm often lying down or eating.
What was the experience of directing someone's work that is closely based on their actual life or experiences?
AW: I feel very lucky to have worked on such a personal story, but it comes with a lot of responsibility.
Season one was a crash course on Simone's life and family. Thankfully, it was well received by Sim's community, so I think we went into season two with even more confidence in what we were making.
There are some trickier storylines this season, which I think Simone's handled beautifully and with so much grace — but also humour. I always get surprised, which is exciting.
I think that's the strength of the writing. The show does feel like a warm cuddle.
How do you work together to establish the tone of the show?
SN: We knew going in that we wanted to have a show with comedy and heart — where you could go from a silly, fun scene that establishes character to a more serious scene that will make people cry, which feels more true to life. Or at least in my life, where I experience the full spectrum of human emotion almost every single day.
Aidee creates an environment on set that's very conducive to comedic scenes. Coming from a performance background herself, I felt like Aidee knew that a joyful, sometimes 'silly' vibe wasn't just us slacking off but getting into the right headspace for what we would shoot.
AW: I corpse a lot when I am acting too, so on principle, I can't stop them from having fun.
Simone is also skilled at shifting between the comedy and drama of a scene. So, creating the show's tone behind the scenes was important.
Sim is so good in season two, and Paul is too. They're acting the s**t out of these roles. All the actors in season two are legendary. I can't wait for you all to see them absolutely kill it.
SN: Truly, it feels like so long since we filmed this now. We'll all get to watch it for the first time, too. And hopefully, be pleasantly shocked and surprised.
Kid Sister is available to stream now on TVNZ+
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