Call Girls is a play originally written by Lauren Harvey and Kelly Hodge. It is now premiering down at the Adelaide Fringe Festival after the success of the excellent web series. I have personally being following Lauren Harvey and Kelly Hodge ever since I first heard about Call Girls over a year ago. It is an extremely funny and original idea that has consistently being executed well in all mediums. Read on for my conversation with the creators.
The Play
Call girls has had a long journey with it starting off as a theatre show, then a web series and now taking it back on the road with the Adelaide fringe festival. I want to go back to the beginning where you two were both writing it. What did this look like, how do you two write together, what was your process creating the show?
“Lauren and I were both doing drama degrees at QUT. We were both working in call centres during COVID. I wasn’t doing any acting, but I was just writing down every single Call.” – Kelly
“I was pretty much doing the same thing at a different call centre. I started working full time when COVID hit and it was awful. You literally couldn’t write some of the shit people say to you. We met and hit it off and we both started bitching about our jobs. I thought of the title and new it was a comedy play. I approached Big Fork for the Brisbane fringe festival about this idea and they said yes so we had to write a script and develop the play. We knew it was going to be a 55 minute play so we gave ourselves 10 scenes.” – Lauren
“We also used so much of our own experience in the play. We just wrote down every funny thing from our time in the Call Centre and compiled it into one document.” – Kelly
What were the core inspirations for the stage play?
“I love Working Dog productions and Rob Sitch. The real Australian sensibility and satirical nature. For the relationships of the girls definitely Broad City. Also, Sorry to Bother you for the web series.” – Lauren
“Definitely Utopia. Also, Gilmore Girls for the friendship between them. The way they can make mundane things really fun is what I got inspired from.” – Kelly
When you were on stage performing, what did this period of your life look like? The day in day out of it all.
“When the first play got put on, we were still writing it. Four days out from opening night we reworked the whole script and cut out half the play. We were also at acting school while doing it. I decided to join a Shakespeare school tour. So I was doing that during the days.” – Kelly
“The morning of opening night, I was listening to the voice recording on repeat trying to learn the lines. We had a “preview” and it was a shambles. It was the night before opening and when we finished performing the response was just silence.” – Lauren.
Did you have any funny moments on stage where things went wrong?
“I fully fucked the lines. But I ended up coming off good because I was improving the lines with the most conviction I could muster. Kelly’s lines were queued off my lines though…”- Lauren
“I had no idea where she was at in the script. My Mum later that night was like “did you forget a few lines there?” I also, spilt a slurpee all over myself. I was a hyper clean character, and I just left it there even though my character would clean it.”– Kelly
The Show
The process adapting it for the web series and working with the team?
“When we were doing Brisbane fringe, Maddy Leite was doing a lot of the tech stuff for the show. Her and Mack Struthers are a partnership and she started talking to him about the show. When we were approached to do the web series, we were both like yes!! Mack and Maddy just came off a web series and wanted to do another one and learn from it.” -Lauren
“Mack got really inspired by the characters and really saw them for what they were. He could see and understand the dynamic.” – Kelly
“So we did a bit of a writing retreat and had a big discussion about the themes and central meanings. It was basically creating a whole new web of interpersonal relationships and getting the story to play out over a longer time period.” – Lauren
“It was a tight turn around between the play and the web series. We finished the year of acting and the play. We then got straight into writing the web series and were filming in January. The big challenge was converting this 50minute play into a 5×5 web series.” – Kelly
Advice for filmmakers trying to get their scripts made or get things moving?
“Running with any idea at the start. I was working full time at a call centre, and I just had this gut instinct that it was a good idea. I didn’t have any resources, but I still put the energy into the idea. Being open at the beginning is pivotal. Also, community. Finding people to make things with.” – Kelly
“Pursuing connections that feel right. Also, you must express your own life because no one else can. You must have self-trust that you have something special to tell the world.” – Lauren
The Future
Now you are taking it to the fringe festival, how are you both feeling about such big event?
“I feel good. After the play, it felt like if we can do this we can do anything. Having worked together and having it written gives me confidence. However, I did sit down with myself and just remember that there is four weeks and still a lot to do. But because of all the work, I trust that it will be well received.” – Kelly
“After we finished the rewrite for Adelaide Fringe, we were just buzzing. We realised how well we knew the characters and the script. I just remember thinking, I just cannot fucking wait to perform this.” -Lauren
If you want to say, what is next for both of you? Are you writing a new show together or focused on performing call girls?
“We have a potential opportunity coming up that will take Call Girls to a whole new level. Personally, I am the lead in the new David Williamson play that’s premiering in Noosa. It’s my first gig outside of acting school so I am very excited. Also, I have a new literary agent as well and am doing a lot of writing in the pipeline.” – Lauren
“We have basically done 4 script rewrites for Call Girls. It’s just enough to keep us very busy for a while.” – Kelly
BUY TICKETS TO THE ADELAIDE FRINGE FESTIVAL BELOW!
https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/call-girls-af2024
WATCH THE WEB SERIES HERE!