How This NZ Made Series Is A World First

It goes without saying lightly that web series Flat3 is one of the best and most endearing comedies to have been produced locally in New Zealand.  Written and directed by award-winning Chinese Kiwi Roseanne Liang, Flat3 is cleverly scripted and produced to an impeccable quality. The world has been treated to these skilled actors and comedians Perlina Lau, JJ Fong and Ally Xue who play three versions of themselves, 20-somethings living together in an Auckland flat. Watching Flat3 feels like you’re reading three very entertaining diaries, each episode is like a page revealing some of the most real, honest, hilarious, cringe-worthy and beautiful experiences.

I joined these bright young women in JJ Fong’s flat as they talk about creating a world-first series, breaking conventions and having fun.

 

[series spoilers ahead]

 

How did Flat3 get started?

Perlina: The three of us had started a theatre show before, we decided we wanted to do work together again, we had done comedy so we figured that was a strength of ours. We felt there wasn’t anything out there that was female based and comedy that’s reflective of people our age.

We didn’t consciously get together because we were Chinese and wanted to create something but we were like “Oh, that’s a bonus!” and that brings in another element of storylining and humour that we could cover.

JJ: We very rarely see in New Zealand three lead Asian females in a series, that’s never happened.

Perlina: And online, as well. In late 2012 when we started production there was ‘Auckland Daze’ online and that was it as far as New Zealand goes. In the States they have ‘High Maintenance’ and ‘Awkward Black Girl’. They’ve got so many YouTubers and web for them has been a part of their story for a long time and there are people who have been doing online things for a decade. We thought because that seems to be a thing and there’s international audiences then why not? We could only see positive aspects.

JJ: And then we asked Roseanne Liang who’s a feature film director / writer so we asked her to mentor us and then she decided she wanted to direct and write.

Ally (via Skype): We did try writing but it was really bad! (laughs)

JJ: And then we wrote one page and were like “Ew, this is terrible” (laughs) This wasn’t doing our idea justice at all, we needed a professional writer / director.

Ally: So we got Roseanne. (laughs)

So now you scored yourself a writer / director for your web series, how did you get funding?

Perlina: The first season we funded ourselves and just threw in like $200/$300 dollars each so that gave us about a grand.

Ally: We applied for funding but it didn’t work out.

Perlina: We applied for NZ On Air digital fund which was like $40,000 and we didn’t get that and got rejected. So we were like “Oh well, we’ll make it anyway” and it was really great. Because we had no money we got all our friends involved and we were really lucky they had all the equipment and were good at their job, so they came on board. We shot six episodes over six weekends, it was like friends getting together shooting something and we were hoping it would work out, and if it didn’t then it would be fine too. 

JJ: In the second season we did IndieGogo crowdfunding and got five grand from fans and then put five grand of our own money, that’s all four of us and then we could pay all the crew. We paid them something, very little and as much as we could afford, but it was something.

That’s awesome that people did it mostly out of love and passion because they believed in the idea you guys had and wanted to see you succeed.

Perlina: It was! 

JJ: Which was amazing, we’re so grateful! 

Perlina: And that was even through all Season 3 as well, we did get $100,000 NZ On Air funding for the third season. Everyone wasn’t getting paid commercial rates but they were putting in 150% and doing their job to the best standard as if they were on a full commercial rate. And because of the money it just got bigger each season because we had a bit more money. Our team grew from second season and we brought in Kerry Warkia as our producer, and she brought a lot of contacts and experience. She was basically someone who hustled for us a lot and we needed that because had no money so we had to ask for a lot of favours from people and begging them to help us. 

Tell me about what your characters are like.

 

Ally: My character Lee is probably the more innocent type but there are hidden sides to her. Part of her personality is based on me, in a way. I think there are elements of all our characters that are a bit close to ourselves. But I wouldn’t say Lee is exactly like myself, none of us are playing exactly ourselves. If you watch Season 3, by the end there’s a nice little twist which I kinda like ‘cause the character Ken was meant to be played as a guy and we had rewritten her as a woman and I think that’s quite refreshing.

I haven’t seen an Asian character that’s specifically LGBT and we sort of hinted at that in the end in the Christmas episode. If we ever make more episodes that would be something I’d like to explore. 

JJ: Yeah totally.

WOW, okay, that’s new for me. Why did I not pick up Ally’s bisexuality in the end?  

Perlina: We kind of left it open for people to interpret it either way. So you could see Ally ask “Do you wanna go for a drink?” and you could interpret that as “I’m reaching out, let’s hang out” or “Do you wanna go for a … drink?”

JJ: Go for a “draaaaaaank!” *wink wink* *grinding motion* (Everyone laughs)

That’s how Jessie does it! 

JJ: The only way. 

So Ally, what are your similarities with your character Lee? 

Ally: We both like to rap at karaoke. (laughs)

Seriously?! What songs do you like to rap?

Ally: I only like to rap the most misogynistic lyrics.

(everyone laughs)

Ally: Even though the show is against that whole [misogynistic] idea I’m like “Bitch this, bitch that”. It’s like a fun release, I don’t take those lyrics seriously, it’s just fun.

 

And what are your differences to Lee?

Ally: I think Lee goes along with other peoples plans. Where as if I don’t want to do something, you can’t change my mind, I’m not gonna do it! (laughs)

Where as Lee, she’s quite impressionable. She’ll go with the majority’s opinion, go with what’s popular, I think she’s still finding her identity and I guess that’s a major difference. I’m a little bit more sure of myself. 

 

Tell me about Perlina as a character, what is she like? 

Perlina: My character is definitely very outspoken, very blunt and socially awkward. She’s a confident person and has a bit of bravado, acts like everything’s fine and is pretty thick skinned. She really thinks about everything, conscious of her own actions, conscious of other peoples actions and what that means to her – so really neurotic, all up in the head and quite concerned about her image. She’s always trying to get a feeling for how people perceive her and wants to be well liked. So she’s quite insecure, I guess, but a lot more than she leads on.

 

I could see there’s a lot of hurt there from her previous relationships. With her ex-boyfriend Nic in the series I thought there was some really cute chemistry there! 

Perlina: You see that in the third season and even though it’s all happening she doesn’t actually notice it because she was too busy thinking about her other ex Winston. That becomes the rom-com storyline, she can’t see what’s under her nose and that Nic is amazing and right in front of her. She stops trying to make it work and stops trying to make it happen and because she’s so focused on Winston what happens with Nic develops naturally.

You guys are like the next ‘Ross and Rachel’.

(everyone laughs)

 

So JJ, tell me about Jessica – what is she like?

JJ: She’s like the typical blonde one of the group. Very selfish, very ummm ‘slutty’ (laughs)

Perlina: I don’t know, isn’t ‘slutty’ like a bad word to use?

JJ: Oh, no – I love playing slutty.

(everyone laughs)

 

Perlina: As in like, we’re saying slutty as if it’s bad but actually no it’s really not because guys do the same thing. So why the double standard?

JJ: Exactly!

Ally: Yup!

JJ: She does what she wants without any thinking behind it, like hurting her friends and hurting the men she hooks up with… like the ex-boyfriends of her friends. She’s quite tragic, let’s just say that.

Ally: I think it comes from insecurity.

JJ: Definitely. There’s a LOT of deep insecurities and the way she acts so recklessly all stems from that.

What do you think makes Flat3 so unique?

JJ: I think the fact that we’re three female Asian leads is one.

Ally: It’s local, it’s Auckland, you see scenes where you know where they are.

Perlina: I think also it’s very honest in the scripting.

JJ: Some of the things that happened in scenes happened to us or friends in real life. 

Perlina: They’re all inspired by true stories. The way we talk in the scripts and the dialogue is very reflective of how we talk in real life. So there is swearing, we’re not trying to shy away and make it necessarily ‘family friendly’ but we try to make it realistic and the way we talk is how people our age talk to each other, whether that be in person or even on Facebook or Twitter. It’s the communication that I think is quite important and unique. 

You also have a unique selection of cameos too. Madeleine Sami, Pua Magasiva, Kim Crossman, Shavaughn Ruakere …

Perlina: As far as the cameos go, every guest cast that came in just brought it: a hundred percent on, so good.

JJ: All three of us were like ‘We need to raise our game! We’re going to embarass ourselves!’

Perlina: I think the quality of all the performances went up because of them. We felt we had to bring our A Game because they’re there improvising and interacting and they’re all professionals, they do this full time and you don’t want to waste their time either. It was so cool to have them because they don’t need to be on Flat3.

JJ: No way.

Perlina: They do not need us! So we had to make sure it was good and we were giving them a decent time and having fun and showcasing their talents. Everyone is incredibly generous and creative and forthcoming with their ideas, it made for a really fun time.

What are some of your favourite moments during the show?

JJ: I’m gonna say working with Madeleine Sami was one. And Pua Magasiva’s body, you can put that in the interview.

Perlina: He’s so professional, as well. Really really funny. 

JJ: Hanging out with the crew. The crew were great. 

Perlina: It was very collective, it didn’t feel like “we’re the cast, they’re the crew”. It was very much integrated. They’re so good at what they do. Everyone’s end goal was the same. It wasn’t as if we were the ones who made all the decisions, it was ‘if you have a better idea please tell us’ because that’ll just make everything better. Or ‘what ideas do you have?’ and ‘is this the best way to do it?’, a very open, collaborative process which is pretty key, I think.

Ally: I really like The White Album episode. 

I thought it was really clever how all three of your characters were replaced by ‘white girls’ for one episode.

Ally: Some people just thought it was really odd. My parents were like ‘what the heck’?

I think it took a bit of adjusting at first, trying to figure out which ‘white girl’ is playing which character but by the end of the episode they had the essence of your characters spot on! I’m ‘fanboying’ really hard because I wish there was another series on its way.

Perlina: (laughing) You say that so sincere!

I am! I’m not ready for it to be over! I feel like I’ve been broken-up with and now you’re gone! There was the Christmas special and that was a bit of closure but I still feel like I want more.

Perlina: That’s better than like ‘You guys should have bailed a season earlier’ (laughing). You know, leave on a high.

Do you guys want to do more Flat3?

Perlina: For now the web-side of that is done, but we’re definitely not finished with working together, we’ve got lots more ideas. Whether we want to pursue the Flat3 characters again, we’re not one hundred percent sure, we’d have to find the right way to do it, the right project and the right outlet to do it. But we’re constantly brainstorming about other things we can do. We’ve got an audience, we want to try to keep them and we have so much fun working together. Why stop? It’s like Tim Burton and Judd Apatow who work with the same people over and over again, I’m like ‘I get it!’.

Say if there were another series, where do you think your characters would be 10 years from now?

JJ: Oooh good question!

Perlina: I’ve never been asked that before! Um, probably web stuff like blogging – a career person, I reckon.

Sorry, did you say “Courier Person”?

(everyone laughs)

Perlina: (laughing) Ahh, how things took a turn! So promising. Nah, like a career person. Power suits. I don’t know about the personal life though, I don’t think she’d be with Nic. I think that would work out for a little bit, I’m not sure whether that would work out long term.

‘Puppy Love’?

Perlina: Maybe, yeah. But you never know.

JJ: I see Jessica kind of being like Susan Paul, doing the whole informercial thing and then married to a really rich foreign guy. Calmed down a bit, but still doing TV.

And where do you think Lee will be, Ally? 

Ally: Hmm. I don’t know. I think Lee’s idea has always been having a family. If it goes down the lesbian road maybe she has a partner and they have a children and-

JJ: (puts on broken english Asian accent) “They have a chill-draaan!”

(everyone laughs)

Ally: I think she’d have a pretty stable life!

Well, here’s something interesting for you ladies: I’ve done a bit of comedy and acting before. So if I were to be a character in Flat3, what would I be like?

Perlina: I think you’d be a funny colleague of my character’s, the marketing publicist guy and they meet in a business meeting!

JJ: I think it would be great if Kenny gave advice to Lee. You’d be her gay friend, telling her how to get into that world and help her with her homosexuality.

So I’d take Lee to gay clubs? 

JJ: Yeah yeah!

Perlina: Okay my idea’s terrible. 

JJ: So yeah we’re going with my idea and…

(everyone laughs) 

Okay, so I give Lee the full gay experience.

JJ: (laughing) Not with you two? I mean… if you want to?

Plot twist!

JJ: Then Lee falls in love with Kenny and then oh-my-god!

Anything to add to that, Ally?

Ally: I totally see it. I think you and Perlina’s character would get on quite well! Because we have that episode where Perlina wanted a Gay BFF.

Perlina: He can be that!

Let’s talk about Flatting. What do you look for in flatmates?

Perlina: Tidy, talented…

JJ: Really??

Perlina: Are you saying my flatmates aren’t talented?

JJ: … Noooo? 

Perlina: Fun. Social. Interesting.

JJ: Trustworthy.

Perlina: Reliable. Normal, not weird.

Which celebrities would be your dream flatmates?

Perlina: Wait, so… just flatmates? 

Well, you know, there could be some sexual tension there, just to make things exciting.

JJ: You can’t screw the crew, Perlina.

(everyone laughs) 

Perlina: Ryan Gosling.

 

Perlina: Kristin Wiig. Miles Teller. Tina Fey. Amy Poehler, but I think she’d get annoying after a while. 

JJ: I think Lena Dunham would be a good flatmate.

 

Ally: Taylor Swift. And because she knows everyone.

Perlina: Contacts.

JJ: Damnit! I want Taylor Swift. I would steal her.

What are some of the most interesting flat experiences you’ve had?

Perlina: I’ve only lived in two flats and they’ve actually been amazing. Back when I was 18 I lived with these stupid boys and they used to think it was hilarious to throw cereal around the kitchen, covering the whole floor and then they’d do snow angel things in it.

JJ: Oh my god.

Perlina: Admittedly it was very funny but then I’d be like ‘you better clean this up!’, so I’d have my laugh and then I’d be like ‘sort this shit out!’. It was fun at the time. 

JJ: I have a really hot flatmate who lives with me now who walks around naked and she has the hottest body and it doesn’t faze any of us. She’s gonna love being in this interview. (laughs)

If you could have any superpowers, what would they be?

Ally: Teleportation or telekenesis, because I’m a lazy mofo and I’m often
running late. (laughing)

Perlina: Ahhhh! I was going to say teleportation too. I can just go wherever and ditch traffic and airports. So does that stem from laziness and impatience? Probably!

JJ: My power would be to read and control minds ’cause i’m slightly evil like that. (laughing)

— Interview paused because Roseanne Liang, Flat3’s Writer/Director, just turned up by surprise and kindly agreed to join the interview–

I said to the girls I’m not ready for Flat3 to be over and asked if they’d love to do another season. Would you like to do another season? 

Roseanne: It would have to be the right circumstances. We’ve pretty much shot ourselves in the foot by saying it’s going to be our last one but we can’t really go back. I’m not adverse to another season but if the situation was right, we don’t want to exploit our crew anymore, we’ve exploited them for three seasons and I think that’s enough so it just depends. It’s really a financial thing. If the money came then sure, I’d write another one. I think there’s definitely more things we could explore, we’re gonna try to explore it in different ways from now on.

Roseanne: (to Perlina) Are we allowed to talk about that?

Perlina: I said the same thing. We’re not necessarily putting the Flat3 characters to bed but it just depends on how we present them. We might bring them up again, we might do different characters, but it just depends what the project is.

Roseanne: It’s not over, let’s just put it that way. It might not be what you expect it to be.

—

Flat3: The Complete Web Series is available free and online for your viewing pleasure.

www.flat3webseries.com