Writer-director Megan Park on making the show of the summer and how she gave \u201cmisunderstood\u201d young people the show they deserve<\/p>\n
Ella Rubin (left) and Bo Bragason in \u201cSterling Point\u201d Sabrina Lantos\/Prime<\/p>\n
Writer-director Megan Park may have created the runaway hit of the summer with the teen drama\u00a0Sterling Point, which captures all of Gen Z\u2019s messiness to a T. So how is she celebrating her success? She\u2019s trapped in bed with a busted foot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFunny enough, I broke my toe at the premiere of the show. And then because my toe\u2019s all messed up, I was walking funny and twisted my ankle. So now the whole foot is just done,\u201d Park says by Zoom from her bed in California. \u201cIt\u2019s not the easiest to carry around a two-year-old like this,\u201d the mom of two adds, \u201cbut I\u2019ll be OK. If I lose my toe, it\u2019s a memory.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A native of Canada and a former actor who appeared in teen fare like ABC\u2019s\u00a0The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Life With Derek, and\u00a0A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song, Park moved behind the camera in her twenties. As a writer and director, she created\u00a0Fallout,\u00a0the 2021 school-shooting drama starring Jenna Ortega and Maddie Ziegler. And most recently, she wrote and directed\u00a0My Old Ass,\u00a0a time-bending coming-of-age dramedy starring Maisy Stella (The End of Oak Street,\u00a0Nashville) and Aubrey Plaza playing the young and old versions of the same complicated Canadian girl.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sterling Point\u00a0represents a return to Canadian cottage country for Park. Produced by teen drama powerhouses Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage of\u00a0The O.C.\u00a0and\u00a0Gossip Girl\u00a0fame, the series is set in Muskoka, Canada, the same district where Park spent summers growing up, and where she filmed\u00a0My Old Ass.\u00a0The show centers on New York high schooler Annie Jacobson (Ella Rubin), whose estranged grandfather has died, leaving Annie and her brother Connor (Keen Ruffalo) a lake house and a Canadian island. Jacobson travels to Muskoka to learn more about her family and the mother she never knew, and finds a cabin with a composting toilet, new friends, and Ramona (Am\u00e9lie Hoeferle), a sister she didn\u2019t know she had. Since the show\u2019s Aug. 5 release, it\u2019s remained in\u00a0Prime Video\u2019s Top Five most popular series, a testament to Park\u2019s ability to reflect Gen Z viewers back to them in a way that feels real.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so much content out there now. It\u2019s so accessible that the bullshit radar is pretty high for Gen Z. As it should be,\u201d Park says. \u201cThere\u2019s a layer of, hopefully, authenticity in\u00a0Sterling Point. Not talking down to them, and tackling real subject matter that\u2019s universal, about family and relationships and nature versus nurture and grief. To downplay it for younger people makes no sense to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Park spoke about the genesis of the show, how her early career as an actor impacts her as a showrunner, and the prospect of a second season.<\/p>\n
After\u00a0My Old Ass, what made you decide to tackle a YA show?\u00a0It\u2019s kind of fun to think about what you can build over eight episodes, eight hours, versus just a movie. It\u2019s also a lot more work, which almost killed me. But I\u2019m still alive.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
I come from the world of TV. I spent a lot of time in the YA space when I was acting, so I feel really comfortable in that world and in that format. But I\u2019ve been really passionate about making YA content that feels elevated and real. Why does it have to be really dark or really fluffy? Why can\u2019t it be somewhere in the middle, like life is?\u00a0<\/p>\n
What was your experience with TV growing up? Are there any shows from the past that you\u2019re nodding to in\u00a0Sterling Point?\u00a0Funny enough, I grew up without a TV for most of my life. So I feel like my experiences are actually more about watching movies. I watched\u00a0Degrassi. Let\u2019s be real, that was a big one for me as a Canadian. Whatever the Drake version was. But I watched\u00a0Dawson\u2019s Creek\u00a0and\u00a0My So-Called Life. I went back and watched things for the first time. I hadn\u2019t seen the first season of\u00a0The O.C.\u00a0or\u00a0Gossip Girl, so I went back and watched those as prep.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You were on some pretty well-known shows \u2014\u00a0The\u00a0Secret Life of the American Teenager,\u00a0Life With Derek. What inspired you to leave acting for writing and directing?\u00a0Truthfully, there was a boredom factor that hit me after a while. That era, creativity wasn\u2019t at the forefront of every decision. It was very much, \u201cDon\u2019t ask questions. Stand on your mark, say the lines we tell you to say, and then go sit and wait at video village.\u201d It felt like there was this machine that was like, \u201cThis is how many episodes we have to churn out. This is how quickly we have to make them.\u201d We\u2019d never leave the soundstage.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think I would have continued acting anyway, because I don\u2019t think I was that good at acting. It wasn\u2019t until I started meeting writers and directors who were doing [TV] in a really interesting and cool way. It was like that lightning bolt thing. I was like, \u201cOh shit, this was what it was all leading towards.\u201d I\u2019ve never looked back. But being trapped as a teenager on a teen show for many years did frustrate me enough to want to do the YA genre justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You worked with Shailene Woodley on\u00a0The Secret Life of the American Teenager. What are your strongest memories from filming?\u00a0Secret Life\u00a0opened a lot of doors for me. It got me my green card and it taught me a work ethic that was really helpful. I was not spending my twenties in L.A. partying. I was working my fucking ass off. There\u2019s a specific episode that\u00a0does\u00a0haunt me. Shae and I laugh a lot about an episode called \u201cJust Say Me.\u201d I think [my character] was advocating for masturbating. I blacked it out because it was so traumatizing. There was like a scene in a cafeteria where I think I start a chant? I remember feeling so uncomfortable and icked out. I was like, \u201cI hate these lines and I don\u2019t want to do this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I never watched the show back as I was making it. Shae and I keep seeing all these rewatch podcasts, and we\u2019re like, \u201cWe should do a first-time watch.\u201d If you were like, \u201cWhat happened with Shailene Woodley\u2019s character,\u201d I\u2019d be like, \u201cI don\u2019t fucking know.\u201d And same with my own character. There were some interesting moments on that show, for sure.<\/p>\n