Kitty Flanagan’s runaway success with Fisk, initially on ABC and then globally via Netflix, took years of persistence to be commissioned.
Speaking today at the Future Vision summit in Melbourne, Flanagan revealed she had been writing characters with ‘Helen’s voice’ for years but was having no luck.
Even ABC tried to keep her on The Weekly when she wanted to move to scripted content.
“I was always on news shows, doing segments, and I’ll be honest, I don’t watch the news,” she revealed.
“I would be on The Panel or whatever it was, The Project going ‘Here’s my funny take on the news that I don’t watch.’ And then I was picked up from that to be on The Weekly to do my funny take on the news that I don’t watch. But on The Weekly I met Tom Peterson who I started collaborating with. We would produce my little segment every week.
“I’ve always wanted to do narrative comedy. I’ve been pitching narrative scripts since my character Helen was 33, or Helen at 35, 42, 45… can I pull off 47?” she said, acknowledging the passing years.
“It was always a bargaining thing. My spots were very well received on The Weekly and (ABC) had the numbers. They knew that people liked my stuff. But they would say ‘If you just do one more year, then we’ll let you do scripted.’” she continued.
“Finally I just said, ‘I’m not going to do any more. Just let me do scripted or I won’t do anything.’
“I am in a very fortunate position, that I was able to make my living as a stand up. So therefore, I got to a point where I could just say, ‘If we’re not going to do it my way, we’re not gonna do it.’ People always think you’re bluffing. But when you’re not bluffing and you actually say, ‘F*** it!’ it’s the best power in the world. I would never be that cocky again because COVID happened and all my live work went away!
“But fortunately, we got Fisk across the line before COVID.”
She added, “So I’d been pitching a character similar to Helen Tudor-Fisk in all manner of scripts. And then I met (See Saw producer) Vincent Sheehan, who said, ‘What do you think about doing a show set in the world of probate?’ I said, ‘Sounds fantastic. What’s probate?”
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