We had the delightful opportunity to speak with Samantha Wan about her new series Second Jen and its 2019 Canadian Screen Awards nomination in the category of Best Comedy Series. Check out the interview below.
Hi, Samantha! Thank you for granting the interview. Congrats on your 2019 Canadian Screen Awards nomination in the category of Best Comedy Series for your original sitcom Second Jen. Tell us what inspired the series.
Thanks so much! Growing up as a second-generation Chinese Canadian if felt like there wasn’t anything on screen representing that experience. Too Chinese for Canadians and too Caucasian for Chinese people. This was five years ago before Kim’s Convenience and Fresh Off The Boat. Amanda Joy and I were both actors at the time and were tired of auditioning for stereotypes (Geishas and Mail Order Brides) and wanted to create something that really represented the neighborhoods we grew up in. The characters are a mixture of both our families and ourselves.
What sets it apart from other comedy series?
We enjoy absurd humor, so the tone of this series is a little bit more out there than a regular family sitcom. Being Asian and female brings its own specific kind of experiences that we explore. For many shows, the focus is being Asian or female or millennial’s but for us, it’s a big mixing pot where our characters have to learn to juggle all three.
The series is described as a buddy comedy about two Asian-Canadian, second-generation millennials who try to make it in the big city. Are the scripts based on personal experiences?
Absolutely. Our writing rooms start with Amanda and I pitching the crazy things that happened in our week to get story ideas for the show. The wall squirrels (Toronto doesn’t just have mice in the walls, we’ve got squirrels) are a personal favorite that ended up in the show. On a more serious note, we also have an episode about sexual harassment in the workplace and another episode that deals with religion. We try to tackle honest struggles we’ve gone through, by exploring it with humor on the show.
Is it a challenge to produce a comedy series? If yes, how so?
It’s huge challenged producing a comedy series because everyone has a different opinion on what’s funny. On primetime television, you might have a specific type of niche humor but you also have a broadcaster that needs to appeal to a large larger audience, so there’s always a negotiation. There are so many levels where comedy can fail. There’s huge pressure to be funny but you have to be careful that you’re not sacrificing the story for jokes. Something might be funny on the page but when you get to a camera you find that it’s not as funny out loud. The physical humor you were imagining doesn’t work out. You can also ruin (and fix) a lot of comedic timing in editing. There are so many places you can lose that’s funny bone and when you’ve been staring at something for so long, it’s hard to even know if it’s funny anymore.
How has the production exceeded your expectations?
I didn’t have any experience in filmmaking let alone broadcast television before making Second Jen. I told Amanda I wasn’t going to do this project unless we did it for real and went for the gold – a television series. I can’t believe we did it. I mean I CAN believe because we worked our butts off for four years to make the show but to have a primetime series and a Canadian screen award nomination blows my mind. If you had told me four years ago this is what we are going to accomplish I would’ve said “We better that’s our goal” I was wildly ambitious and stupid to television. Having made a TV series now I’m more terrified of making another — because now I know how difficult it is! We were the youngest creators in Canada at the time. Some say they hope their future self is someone they can look up to, but I looked back at my 23-year-old self and try to be like her most days. Haha maybe I’m just jaded now, but that drive and belief in a dream astonish me today.
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Tell us about what a typical day on the set is like.
A typical day, I might arrive at 6:45 AM for hair and makeup. I’m not a morning person so I often would try to meditate in the chair while people worked on me. Then I try on my costume for the day because we often didn’t have time for fittings beforehand. Afterward, I would check in with our director and the showrunner to see if there were any changes they had and give them my notes from reviewing the script the night before. When I was directing my own episode, on breaks between setups I would go to the next set to talk with the DOP and the set designer about the kind of shots I was planning. Again, I did not have a lot of time to prep as a director beforehand because I was on set acting for most of the series. At lunch, I would often do a 15 to a 20-minute interview with someone from the media or shoot a behind the scenes digital media sneak peek to be released with the series. I would probably get home around 8 PM, eat something made by my lovely boyfriend and madly study 12 Pages of lines for the next day. The evening was always a race to get to bed as quickly as possible for the next day.
What is going to surprise people about the series?
Our series had the budget that most series have for their Kraft tables. It forced us to be scrappy and create interesting storylines to accommodate. Our series doesn’t look like other major shows for that reason. I think people will be surprised at how odd and witty the show is because that’s what we had to rely on.
When looking back on the production, what resonated with you the most and why?
Story-wise, Jen and Mo’s relationship resonates the most with me. I have a couple of best friends from childhood and growing up together has taken work on both ends. You grow up and become different people and have to accommodate for that. You’re constantly adjusting your idea of this other person, sometimes that’s painful and sometimes it’s exciting. I really enjoyed exploring the female best friend relationship on the show. Production wise, getting to direct on an episode this year really resonated with me. I was scared but happy to realize I knew more than I thought, and that I loved it. I’d directed smaller things before, but not on this level. It’s like all my skills as an actor, producer, and writer were coming together into directing. It’s like I’d been building up this machine and someone gave me the key to finally use it.
In your opinion, what scene in the series is going to have people laughing out loud and why?
My favorite is when Jen gets stoned for the first time. Jen makes the terrible mistake of underestimating edibles (like me). The worst high I ever had was the first time I tried weed chocolate and didn’t realize how much I’d actually eaten. Amanda has written some amazing dialogue and the showrunner, and I also improvised some pretty silly stuff on the day. I think anyone who’s had a bad trip will relate. Also trying to act street smart when you’re clearly not is one of my favorite things to play.
What do you enjoy most about the production?
I love the general hustle of production. I love just making things work and pulling everything together into something surprising because say the prop you needed just broke. However, at the end of the day, the most gratification comes from playing these comedic scenarios with our amazing actors. There’s nothing like the energy of delivering a great scene.
Do you have anything else you would like to share about your career?
I love talking with people on social. I’m on Twitter and Instagram as @TheSamanthaWan. I also have a Kung Fu series, called Sudden Master. You can check that out at www.suddenmaster.com or catch me on Private Eyes on Global Television in Canada, or ION Television in the US (or check your local provider in other countries).
Thank you for chatting with us about Samantha Jen. I hope we can catch up in the future for another interview.
Thank you so much for having me. Hope to chat again soon!
Featured Image Credit: Samantha Gaetz.
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