Fragments of Friday is a 12 part web series spanning two seasons that follows twenty-something friends Alex & Sophie through their wacky and hilarious weekend exploits.
The distinctive feeling that Fragments of Friday could be inspired by real events is something that creators Kacie Anning and Courtney Wise envisioned when coming up with ideas for the series.
What (and/or who) inspired Fragments of Friday?
The idea for Fragments came out of my friend and I watch crappy reality series, and her suggesting I make a show about her life; to which I replied ‘You just get drunk on Fridays’. So while the reality thing didn’t hold, there was something in that idea.
The acting in the series feels incredibly natural, was the series written as a comedic dramatization of real life events?
The series has always been a love letter to all the female friendships in my life so it’s certainly got an autobiographical bent that we’ve never denied but I wouldn’t say it’s a dramatization of real life events per se. Perhaps ‘inspired by’ real life events and friendships. As myself, Sarah and Maddie become closer as friends outside the series; the comedy has started to take on some of those dynamics.
Fragments of Friday moves from dramatic scenes to comedic relief in a seemingly effortless fashion, how did you go about finding the balance between comedy and drama?
We try really hard to ground the tone in a relatable world and I think the conversational nature of the dialogue is a big part of achieving that texture. The show is very much modelled on my own friendships – which are reciprocal and invested, but flippant and pithy at the same time – you can be talking about something emotional one second, and something stupid the next. So it’s about trying to represent that balance always and never pushing the tone too far one way.
What was your favourite thing about making the series?
It’s been a long road, going on four years now! My favourite part is probably getting to make this thing with my two co-stars Sarah Armanious and Madeleine Jones, who are two of my good friends. Getting paid to hang out on-screen together is pretty great.
Finding and working with my producer and co-creator Courtney Wise has also been an incredibly rewarding relationship. We share every single inch of this project.
Are there any web series, other than your own that inspire you?
There are so many great web series that we’ve seen, and Aussies seem to be leading the charge – The Katering Show, Low Life, Bedhead are some of our favourites. On the international front, we’ve loved Refinery29’s The Skinny and were just total suckers for 7p / 10e (which is one of the best rom com’s I’ve seen, regardless of the format).
What’s special or different about Fragments of Friday?
I think we’ve managed to find a way to show a really authentic version of female friendship and a tone that ebbs between grounded, nuanced observational humour and then big outrageous moments of heightened comedy. It’s relatable and absurd all at once.
Fragments of Friday on the web:
Watch Fragments of Friday
Fragments of Friday on Facebook
Fragments of Friday on Twitter
Fragments of Friday on Instagram