Auckward Love gets drunk and does things nobody is proud of… Uh huh; our girls are back and more auckward than ever.
Season Two sees Alice determined to get on top, Vicky forming an affinity for rubber, Grace’s heart put to the test and Zoe pulling the fingers at everyone she can. Join the girls again as they take Auckland by the balls and launch themselves head first into love, lust and everything in between.
From Auckland, New Zealand and starring Holly Shervey, Jess Sayer, Luci Hare and Jess Holly Bates, Auckward Love breaks every boundary as it takes us back to what it’s really like living in the world of 20-something love. We spoke to the creator Emmett Skilton about the series.
What inspired each character in Auckward Love?
As we develop each story line or character, we first find something from our own experience for inspiration. This brings honesty and accuracy to our Auckward Love world and builds the reliability of each moment. When Holly Shervey first created the characters, she employed this idea, each of our lead female characters are inspired by people in her life.
What prompted you to create a second season?
We created a series two because we had unfinished business for our characters and for the things we were trying to achieve with season one. Auckward Love was originally created for two reasons; because we saw a lack of accurate female portrayal on New Zealand screens and the web, and to give the cast and crew opportunities to play roles or have crew positions that they weren’t getting in the industry. Auckward Love 1 was also picked up by NZ’s leading broadcaster, TVNZ, and quickly became their highest rating online show. This was a pretty big draw card in making more!
Can we look forward to a third season coming?
Hell yeah. We have just completed principal photography on 8 new episodes to be released in August 2017.
What do you want your audience to take away from this series?
To have a good laugh as they identify with the characters. We want them to see the beauty and fun in the awkward and to embrace those situations that happen to us all.
What is unique about your series?
Particularly compared to New Zealand content that is played on mainstream TV, Auckward Love takes much bigger risks in the content, language and behaviour of the characters because it is web based. There is a limit of how far you can do go with something because of Broadcasting standards but with Auckward Love, we are restricted by nothing more than our morals (which are pretty damn loose.)
What are the challenges you came across making your series and how did you overcome them?
One of the greatest challenges between season 1 and 2 (and now to season 3) is that we wanted to say so much with our content yet we only had a limited time frame to share it. We decided to extend our episodes by 4 minutes in season 2, and now season 3 will be similar. For us this is a positive as we have always intended to create broadcast length content for the web and we are slowly, as a team, growing our way toward that.
Did the series meet your expectations when developing it?
When we originally created it a few years ago, we had so much focus on the creation of the show that we didn’t have any expectations for the next step after it was done. If we found it funny, or enjoyable or heartbreaking, we had achieved what we set out to do. Now that we know who it most appeals to and the kind of power and responsibility we have to the story telling, we have much clearer goals and a bench mark that we strive to reach in each new season.
What was your target audience and how did you build a relationship with them?
Our target audience are females aged 16 – 40 and our goal has always been to put honest and bold representations of women on screen. The relationship between us and them has built by how much they can relate to our characters and the world they inhabit. We also strive to engage them in the stories and content as much as possible – using social media to connect with them.
What advice would you give to emerging creators?
Where there’s a will there’s a way, so if you want to say something or do something, follow that drive and just get it done!
FOLLOW AUCKWARD LOVE