Your upcoming webseries The Couch - in a few words, what is
it about?
It is a comedic webseries about different extreme patients talking about
their daily problems in therapy. Please talk about your characters for a bit,
to what extent are they based on you and your own experiences, and
who/what else have you based them on?
Julia Rees |
All
the characters are fictional and don’t depict any actual person or
event, but we generally welcome funny stories from fans. Every character
is very much over the top and the problems are taken to their extremes.
All
the patients are played by Julia Rees and Anja Lill. The established main
characters so far are ditzy Brittany, french Amelie, uptight Elizabeth
played by Anja Lill, plain Jane, naughty Natasha, German Gabi played by
Julia Rees, and Dr. Nuts played by Sara-Kate Astrove. But there are lots of
characters in The Couch that are still in development. We also based
them on our talents and the characters, accents, etc. we would like to
show.
A few words about
your co-conspirator Sara-Kate Astrove?
Sara-Kate Astrove |
Dr. Nuts, played by Sara-Kate Astrove is the therapist in The
Couch. Dr. Nuts is a little crazy herself and doesn’t take her job as
seriously as she should. We met Sara-Kate while studying Improv at the
Groundlings and thought she might be a great fit for the series, since she
is very creative and open minded.
What were your
inspirations when writing The Couch?
Anja Lill |
Isn’t
nowadays nearly everyone a little insane and even in therapy? So why not
use a problem, everyone can relate to, and create a fun and simple quality webseries out of
it? The Couch was basically created to show
that we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously.
Have you done research
on the subject prior to writing The Couch?
Yes, we took it very seriously. We’ve done a lot of research about
therapy, psychology and people with mental illnesses by reading books,
with the help of the Internet and talking to people with such problems.
After a lot of time finding as much material as possible, we started
writing the sketches. A few
words about your crew, and the overall on-set atmosphere?
Julia Rees |
We
are very excited and thankful to have the talented and ambitious director
Arturo Ochoa on board with us. Without him, the project wouldn't be
possible and as much fun. Also our producer Maury Rogow from the RipMedia
Group decided to help us out wherever he can. It’s a small set, but a
wonderful and warm on-set atmosphere and everybody is very helpful.
When
and where will The Couch come out, tentatively? It’s
all still in pre-production. Currently we’re working on the set design,
the sound and light issue. Once that is corrected, we are ready to go. One
Episode, the “trailer” of The Couch (Dr. Nuts Voicemail
- https://vimeo.com/41442993) is ready to watch on Vimeo and YouTube. In
July the first episodes will be published on Facebook, Vimeo and YouTube.
And maybe, if one of the episodes is good enough, we even think about
submitting it to film festivals within the US. Besides
The Couch, you are currently also starring in another
self-created webseries, Carrot Happens [interview
on Carrot Happens - click here]. What do you find so appealing
about the format? We are fascinated by the TV series concept and the webseries format is
the closest to it. We like that the format is so easily available to the
public all over the world. We have so many different ideas, and this is the
fastest way to create new quality projects on a low budget. You can film
small episodes instead of having to shoot a 20 minute short and it’s
on-going, therefore you can continue to deepen the characters and the
story. Any future projects beyond The
Couch?
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Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned) |
The links below will take you just there!!!
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Our
next short film is called Ouija Board and is about two girls, played
by Anja Lill and Julia Rees, getting in trouble screwing with the dead.
Also by the end of this year Julia Rees and Anja Lill will be on set
starring in a feature length motion picture about starting out in Los
Angeles as an actress facing all the difficulties and obstacles in the
showbiz.
Your/your webseries' website, Facebook,
whatever else?
The
Couch: www.facebook.com/TheCouchweb, www.wix.com/juliarees/thecouch//www.wix.com/juliarees/thecouch" target="_blank">www.wix.com/juliarees/thecouch
Carrot
Happens: www.carrothappens.moonfruit.com
Anja
Lill: www.anjalill.com
Julia
Rees: www.juliarees.com
Anything else you are dying to mention
and I have merely forgotten to ask? We
are very thankful for comments, ideas and suggestions from fans of The
Couch. If you have a funny story about therapy that you’re dying to
tell, let us know and we do our best to portray it.
Thanks for the
interview!
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