tale to tale

So for the first release of ‘Footprints: The People Podcast’ I spoke to a great friend of mine Kristin, and her passion about hearing more female voices in the arts, over the age of 35. What interested me about this conversation was just how many parts of the industry are affected by this – plays in theatres, castings for women suddenly playing mothers and for authors, poets, all of it!

This isn’t just an isolated problem, it effects us all, because we are getting stifled with the lack of diversity presented to us, and I’m not just talking about colour. The best work comes from truth, and to be honest, if we’re casting our parts wrong, and fail to stop women feeling invisible past the age of 35, we’re not going to get that truth, we’re not going to get that amazing work.

Take a look at ‘Motherland‘, currently on Netflix (I think), written and led by women, and it’s incredible! It ticks every box of a typical UK sitcom and it delivers! WHY?! Because men aren’t writing the female parts, that’s why. Come on now.

So, Kristin who heads ‘Slackline Productions’ (link) does this work continously, and has really paved the way for future artists to work. 

So of course, interviewing my friend Kristin was great for me to reconnect with her, but hearing her best day as well just perfectly summed up why I’ve started this podcast (I’d really recomend listening to this section in the 2nd half). It’s a beautiful story, and I think it’s something that we all need to think about, we’re not just currently in despair or darkness, we’re in a realm of hope. And hope has to come from being in the dark right? 

So, here’s the episode and I hope you love it just as much as I do: