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Diane Cullen: I want in and I want in Now!
41 Plays4 months ago
this week on the show I have Actor, Writer and Musician Diane Cullen!
We talk about her past life singing in her band Andromeda. her move towards acting and how that led into behind the camera work on a number of films AND her work as one of the directors of Fem93. Diane also tells me about her novel and EXCLUSIVELY REVEALS the title!!!!
Finally, we talk about a show that upset my sensitive brain and ruined Bagels and Coffee for me forever, Criminal Minds.
Theme Music: Adam Sams
Show logo: Craig Pearson
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Transcript
Introduction to 'What Makes You Tick'
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello and welcome to What Makes You Tick Season 2, a conversation podcast where I, Ryan Watson, speak to actors, writers, filmmakers and a range of other artists from the northeast of England and sometimes beyond about what they do, how they make it work and the media that inspires them to do that work.
00:00:34
Speaker
Today I'm speaking with
Meet Diane Cullen: Actress and Creative
00:00:36
Speaker
Diane Cullen. Diane is an actress who features in a number of upcoming short films such as Last Light and Witchin, as well as the upcoming feature film and What Makes You Tick Favourite and Malevolent World.
00:00:46
Speaker
She's also been involved behind the scenes as assistant director on Not All Men and script supervisor on the Mam anthology short, Helen. And if that's not enough, she used to be in a band and is currently in the editing process on her first novel.
00:00:59
Speaker
Diane, welcome to the show. Thank you very much for having me. This is actually the first one I've recorded in 2026. So yeah, I guess Happy New Year to anybody. I wanted to have you on the show just because sometimes I'm like, there's people I don't particularly know um super well, but they just keep popping up on on Instagram, which is most of where I i share my podcasts and things. And I just think, this seemed like an interesting person to talk to. him You were sick of seeing my face and you thought, I'm going to have to talk to her.
From Band to Acting: Diane's Journey
00:01:27
Speaker
I mean, I always just kind of start with, what is your background, your sort of creative background? How did you come to acting and writing? Well, now there's a question. and Honestly, like writing was something I always loved when I was a little, little kid, but we're talking primary school. And as one does, as they hit secondary school, you kind of, you want to be a bit too cool for that.
00:01:48
Speaker
So I just didn't and I stopped. And then I am very well known as I have grown for just doing things, just do things. Very, very impulsive in some respect. And um my my band split up a few years ago. One weekend when we would have normally had a gig, I was like, well, what am I going to do with my life?
00:02:06
Speaker
And I literally just Googled acting classes in Newcastle. And then I joined The Forge and the rest, as they say is history. How long were you in your band for? Oh. about nine years. It was a good stint and obviously we we split on amicable terms. It was one of those. It just kind of naturally fizzled after COVID and everything like that. It was getting more difficult to get gigs and, you know, we were all getting older and so on and so forth. So yeah, it just kind of came to a natural conclusion so and then I moved on to my next step in life so acting is is performance and music is performance but
Performance Arts: Singing vs. Acting
00:02:41
Speaker
it's a different kind of skill set I guess I mean is there some parts that are transferable from one to another or is it were it like a completely new thing for you there are some some similarities I mean it it really depends what kind of because I used to sing in the band so
00:02:56
Speaker
It depends what kind of singer you want it to be. I was always very, very emotive. And this is why I love music, because it is an emotional outlet. Whatever that emotion might be, if you struggle to express it, you can pretty much always find a song that will.
00:03:10
Speaker
So every time I sang something, sang it like I meant it. And it became quite easy to to create that emotion. And obviously that part of you know of acting, was it was just transferable straight straight to acting. It was the the getting used to doing it in a talky way, in a non-rhyming way, in a non, if this goes horribly wrong, I can just laugh my way out of it with acting in that respect. You know, it's it's very, very different.
00:03:41
Speaker
You get the lyrics wrong, everyone has a laugh if you get the words completely wrong. you throw everybody off, you're in trouble when you're acting. So, yeah, there are quite a few similarities, but obviously a lot of differences too. What were your band called? Sorry, I don't know. Yeah, like we were just a little pub band. We were nobody special, but we were called Andromeda. Okay. So I guess what sort were it like writing your own music? Were sort of covers? It was all covers. It was all covers because basically we all had full-time jobs.
00:04:10
Speaker
um We couldn't dedicate extra work to to creating anything new. um And it is very, very difficult as a cover band, like massive. No, sorry, is it as an original band, it's so much easier. As difficult as it is, it's easier to be in a cover band than it is in an originals band because people want to go out and hear what they already know because they've already got a connection with it.
00:04:31
Speaker
To go out and see a local band that they've never heard before, sing songs that they've never heard before, that's tricky. That's very tricky. um So, yeah, massive respect to any original bands that happen to be listening, if anybody does. But yeah, we just, we sang other people's songs and got credit for it. so and But then I guess like there's something similar, like, so, because it's um with the Actors Forge, we kind of take scenes from other films and, well, from films and TV and sort of, in a way it's kind of like, there's a similarity, it's sort of like presenting it in your own way while also trying not to stray too far from the thing that works and that people know. Absolutely. I mean, that was one thing that,
00:05:12
Speaker
people did always say about certainly my style of singing, out I couldn't just go copy. That's like what I used to do when I would learn songs, I would just listen to the song and I'd hum along to it, but I'd never fully sing it until I was with the band because I didn't want to pick up any sort of traits or whatever directly from the song. Like a prime example is and if you ever try to sing Zombie by the Cranberries, it's very difficult to do it without an Irish accent.
00:05:39
Speaker
Like one of those little things. So yeah, little things like that. But with acting, you've got so much more scope, so much more scope. I mean, essentially, you've got free reign as long as you're not changing the direction of the piece, um which I really enjoy. i like I like taking things apart and messing with them a little bit and seeing if I can change the meaning. and i kind of just want to ask more about that accent thing, because I feel like, you know, like a lot of songs have this kind of, like not exactly an American accent, but a sort ah a sort of accent
The Art of Accents in Performance
00:06:12
Speaker
to it. Like, I don't know. I feel like one of the reasons I'll never be a musician is ah I have no idea how I would sing in a voice that's natural to myself. The songs that we used to do in the band, because they were they were typically classic rock songs, an American accent sort of lent itself to that.
00:06:29
Speaker
And because they were quite big songs, an American accent also meant that I could have more open vowels, which meant I could belt when I needed to without it sounding too disconnected from the rest of the parts.
00:06:41
Speaker
um I do think there is actually a science behind why this slightly American accent tends to come in. um i think it's something to do with the mouth shapes and that sort of thing when you when you do sing. um but it is, it's because, can you imagine somebody trying to belt out a song with a Sunderland accent? It would just become shouting, essentially. Yeah, because there are the certain bands, you know, like Maximum Park's a band that I've been to see a lot, and they they use something that at least sounds closer to their own accent. I don't know that I've heard them actually speak that many times.
00:07:15
Speaker
But also then that becomes like a thing that you really identify them with. It's like an exception. Yes. Yeah, it makes it well. It's like Arctic Monkeys as well. But it's again, it's very difficult to sing an Arctic Monkeys song without recreating the accent.
00:07:29
Speaker
It's very, very difficult. But yeah, no, you're absolutely bang on. Like, I i love it when I hear people sing in their own accents for that reason, because it makes it so much more identifiable and it's so different. Like anybody and obviously myself included, I'm very much in this. Any Tom, Dick or Harry can sing in an American accent.
00:07:47
Speaker
I think there's ah there's a hell of a trick to being able to pull off an entire repertoire in a proper accent. It's almost like, is there an element of like, like sort of way, like did script writing at uni and there's a lot about like, you can kind of do your own creative story structure and things like that, but it's good to have a an understanding of the quote unquote rules before you do that. So you know what you're breaking. Is there like an element of that? Like if you are going to sing in your own accent, you kind of need to to learn the sort of traditional... one i'm I'm not very good at music, so I don't know the words are... I think it's really hard to say. I think, especially if you' are you're in a cover band, I think if you were wanting to do that in your own accent, you'd have to be very, very careful about which songs you chose. You probably wouldn't be able to do the stuff like classic rock because it might just... unless you completely changed the entire sort of setup of this of the song and changed it from a a classic rock and it wasn't just a cover anymore, I think that would be the only way that you could perhaps introduce your own natural accent. Yeah, it's it's tricky. And I know, like I say, there's there's a lot of there's a lot of things on YouTube about it. And why do we why do we naturally sing in this American accent? And where does it come from? And how does it help? And like silly little things like that, you wouldn't think that there is so much behind it. But yeah, it's it's an interesting one. it's an in Although with absolute respect to everyone who comes from Liverpool,
00:09:13
Speaker
I hope I never hear anybody s singing a Liverpool accident accent. I don't think I could handle that. Absolute respect. I guess, you know, the Beatles, they didn't use that. yeah Did they have Liverpool accents? They did. They certainly did, yeah. yeah so from the music stuff, you started acting classes with a forge.
Discovering Passion for Acting
00:09:32
Speaker
And that was just quite, you said that were quite an impulsive decision. Is it something you'd ever thought about before or anything?
00:09:39
Speaker
I mean, it crossed my mind. You know, you you see these things on telly, you think, oh, God, that looks fun. That looks fun. I'd love to pretend to slap somebody. You know, that would be great. um ah But i've never I'd never really considered it seriously.
00:09:52
Speaker
um So, yeah, it was it was a complete impulse. What were the ones you, because like when I started, it were kind of ah it'll give me something to do on Saturdays. And then I've ended up sort of getting more and more interested in and pursuing it as Were it something similar when you started or did you have? and I mean, my love for it went pretty much from zero to a hundred almost immediately. um And I think the one thing that struck me, it wasn't so much the acting, it was the people I was surrounded by as well. That meant an awful lot.
00:10:26
Speaker
because everybody was so supportive and there were no egos or anything like that, which is obviously extremely important. um Everyone knew that this was out of all of our comfort zone on and we were just in it together. But the more that I did it the more that, again, very much like the songs, I realized that this could be very cathartic. It could be interesting. you know, with improv and that sort of thing, that was never a, If somebody had said improv to me before I'd booked that class, I'd have just gone, no, absolutely not. But yeah, you you learn quite a lot about yourself, about improv and what pops into your head just randomly. And then people in my class started doing things. Laura had just started doing the mom anthology. I was like, wow, that's so cool.
00:11:11
Speaker
That's so cool. Like I want in. I want in and I want in now and it kind of s snowballed from there. So yeah, it it got pretty intense pretty quickly in the best way, in the best way. It's ah it's interesting what you say about the the improv thing because I
Behind the Scenes: Roles in Filmmaking
00:11:26
Speaker
think I did something similar. When I first started going, i felt quite comfortable doing doing the actual acting and like reading from the scripts but then I was so scared of like anything improv and actually talking to other people because I was so like when I'm when I'm doing the scripts I'm supposed to be doing that but what am I supposed to do when I'm interacting with others yes it gets very Talladega nights with what do I do with my hands sort of tale yeah so yeah ended up working with Laura on
00:11:56
Speaker
on the MAM anthology that was as script supervisor on on Helen. I mean, but what is a script supervisor? We basically made sure that everything gets done. um But we also we let the editor know as well if there's anything that is possibly not or something they need to be aware of in any give and take. So when we were doing MAM, there was a lot of planes overhead. We were in Peatley and Peatley has their own airstrip. So every now and then you would just hear a small aircraft and we'd be like, yeah, no, we can't use that sound take, but we might be able to use the video take.
00:12:31
Speaker
So it was just kind of keeping keeping on top of everything and making sure, as I say, that all of the dialogue got done and there wasn't anything that couldn't be used. So it was almost like editing before the editor.
00:12:44
Speaker
in some way shape or form i think i've always heard script supervisor and thought it were more of a almost like a script editor type type thing that's i i don't think i'd realized it were quite a on-set role yeah yeah i mean i think if i'd have said anything laura it might have killed me if i'd wanted to touch her so no leave it very well enough alone yeah not that i ever would of course And then, so you also was assistant director on Not All Men. Like, is that sort of an expansion of script supervisor duties or is it something? I mean, that was like herding sheep, to be entirely honest. That was very difficult. My main aim, because with Not All Men, there were so many people in such a small space and we had very little time. So with assistant director, usually their role goes ah quite a lot outside of what I did. um where they're kind of in charge of props and that sort of thing my main role on that day was to make sure the right people were in the right place at the right time for the entire day but I think there was about 20 of us so it was quite difficult um and I've got to be a bit bossy and I quite enjoyed that bit so I got a bit of a reputation however We actually managed, and I'm so proud of this, we managed to wrap an hour before anticipated. So everybody got an hour back, which I was very pleased about. And I'm sure what everybody else was pleased about too. so It's really interesting because from being, i did a film as like an extra over the summer last year. and Oh yeah. um ah The assistant director thing is like, I don't think I'd quite realise, but the assistant director is often the one.
00:14:16
Speaker
like directly interacting with people are that they're kind of the go between yeah like because it was one of the first film sets i'd been on them because i was extra so i'd not been in contact that much before i'd assume that she was the the director and then it was like this this understanding that actually the assistant director's kind of driving in the the on the day i think they get called the voice of the director so whatever the director wants they articulate and make happen so Yeah, it is interesting though. Like the amount that you learn when you find yourself on set is incredible and it's the best way to learn as well just by observing what's going on. So did you did you enjoy it? Yeah, i did. Yeah, yeah. were um We were at this sort of nightclub slash shawarma bar in town. Okay.
00:15:02
Speaker
ah Because the two things go together so naturally. Weirdly, when you go in this place, what's it called? um It's opposite the center of for life. I can't remember what it's called now. um Weirdly, it worked though. Upstairs was fully like a club. And then we all went downstairs for lunch in the shawarma. I just had to do a lot of... um the were It was some kind of nightclub scene and I was just doing a
Fem93: Empowering Creative Adults
00:15:24
Speaker
lot a lot of boogie in and background yes yeah um but yeah there were a lot of fun um so you know you mentioned you work with laura so you're also part of a fem93 with with laura um with laura yeah can you tell us a bit about fem93 hell yeah ah so i am director of fem93 or one of the directors there's four of us um but it's laura and i who are actively involved So what Fem93 does is we basically, we make and workshops in film and media available to Joe Public for free. and This is purely and simply because when, you know, pre-Forge days, there was nothing that we were aware of sort of at all for people who weren't in school to be able to try these things out.
00:16:11
Speaker
You know, it would cost money and I'm not being funny, but who's got money to spare these days? Not a lot of people. If you want to try something, you've got to kind of already know that you're invested in it, that you want you want to put that money towards it. um And yet, we, Laura and I, know that there are so many talented people in the Northeast who just need a little taste and they will just completely change their lives in the same way that Laura and I have. And they'll they'll find what makes them happy and they'll be able to be creative and I'm kind of going off on one I realize. um However, we do all sorts of things. So at the moment we've got a project called Take 93 which is funded by the National Lottery and so the the plan for this project is what we're doing is we're putting on writing workshops, production workshops, editing workshops, everything from the very very start of a film right through to the end and we are inviting
00:17:05
Speaker
anybody who is interested to come along to these free workshops. We've got online workshops as well. And we are and people who've been to our writing workshops, they will be invited to submit a script for a short film.
00:17:18
Speaker
And we'll go through them and we'll select one that we think is going to be sort of the best. um And I don't want to say best because it's better than the rest, but the best in that it is going to be doable in a short space of time that we're going to be able to do with people who've never been on set before and so on and so forth. So they'll be invited to to submit. And we will then, basically after the workshops have completed, we will then go on to film with our workshop attendees. So they get as much experience of being in the process of a short film as they could possibly want. And then we'll submit it to film festivals and hopefully... hopefully we might we might get accepted. it So yeah, it's it's a big project. It's a two-year project, but we just want to give people the opportunities that essentially we never had. I've seen the the workshops and things advertised all over Instagram. but I don't think I'd quite realised that there were continuity between between the workshops that we're all building together into something. Oh yeah, there's a system. does that That sounds amazing. And ah like you say, I imagine there are a lot of people coming there and it's the first time they've tried anything like that. yeah I used to do a lot of go to similar things that were specifically aimed at ah young people when I was counted as a young person. Is this like, is there a specific kind of age range or anything along those lines?
00:18:33
Speaker
There is. um And it tends to be 18 plus. And the reason for that is these things are much more accessible when you are a quote unquote young person. um For some reason, i don't know what it is, but when you get older, it's almost like, no, we we're not creative anymore. We don't do that. anymore And I couldn't disagree more with that kind of attitude. I think older people have so much life experience that they are absolutely creative and, you know, they're problem solvers and they see things very, very differently from the way a young person typically was. And I think it's such a shame that they don't have an outlet for that.
00:19:10
Speaker
And I think that a lot of people don't realize how you hear all these people going, oh I'm not creative. I'm not creative. Yeah, are. it's it's an it's a natural, it's a human thing to be. It's a very basic human instinct to be creative in some way, shape or form. And we've done it from the dawn of time. You can't tell me that just because we do like a nine to five sort of job, Monday to Friday, that we've just zapped all of the creativity out of us. We haven't, we just don't use it. So yeah, the the workshops are aimed towards sort of adults as such, um of
00:19:48
Speaker
any age but from early and upwards there's a there's a level of drive now that i'm a little bit older and i'm a little bit like you know i'm in my 30s and there's a sort of i don't want to imply too much darkness but you know you kind of think your are just gonna i know exactly where you think your 20s are just gonna go on forever so you're like i'll do it tomorrow and then it's been 10 years and you're not interested in it anymore absolutely absolutely yeah they that the ship has officially sailed and you've done nothing about it sort of thing yeah no ah yeah I uh I'm so on board with that but I also find like having um a stable job like when I were in my 20s I thought i don't want to get a stable job because it'll take time away from doing that but that caused a lot of other kind of anxieties and worries where there's something about sort of being older and having stability in my job and my life that
00:20:35
Speaker
that means I'm more, even though i don't necessarily have as much time, I'm more, more willing to, when I am putting time into those things to focus on those things.
00:20:46
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, in your twenties, it's understandable because you're, you're essentially, you' finding your way on it. And it's, it's never going to be, it's never going to be stable until you have had several years of something that is just the same up until, up until that point. Yeah, there's a lot to deal with and everything is extremely uncertain and it's difficult to find your way. I mean, I would, as much as people say, oh, wish I was young again.
00:21:14
Speaker
You couldn't give me all the money in the world to be in my 20s again. You just couldn't. um My 30s onwards is when I have been most happy in my life. is hard.
00:21:25
Speaker
It's really hard. And as you say, when you get older and things balance off a little bit, you can you can find the opportunities. You can see them. rather than everything just being this crazy blur that's being thrown at you and you're just trying to trying to dodge things and grasp things and just as and when you can.
00:21:41
Speaker
Yeah, when you when you get older, I don't want to say it's easier. It's not easier, but it's different. I sometimes think about it a bit like when you're a kid and then in your 20s, it's like the next year or so of your life is like all that exists. And like past the next year, like is not real. Where I think getting into your 30s, at least for me, ah I feel like there's kind of this understanding that like, like,
00:22:05
Speaker
actually, you know, I'm still going to be around, touch wood. Yeah, all being well. Yeah, in in five, ten years, you know, it's sort of like, it's like you realise that, like, you can take things a little bit a little bit slower, like, take sort of baby steps towards things, and that's actually the way to build towards bigger things where I definitely think for me in my 20s it were like like i were interested in writing but i were like if I don't sit down and write the world's best script by tomorrow ah then there's no point in trying yeah yeah like the the the things you put on yourself the expectations you put on yourself in your 20s are just so horrible you wouldn't do it to anybody else you wouldn't turn around your best mate go if you don't write you know, the next Schindler's List or whatever, you failed. Except you'd say to yourself time and time again, like, what is that about?
00:23:00
Speaker
Why do we do that? What is wrong with us? um With the workshops with FEM93, do you have, like, if, for example, someone comes to a script writing workshop and goes, I really enjoyed this, I want to do more more script writing, do you have sort of guidance and directions to point people in?
00:23:19
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Because the the but the whole thing with Fem93 was that it was going to be a very first step. And although we will have several workshops on all of these different things, and then once this project is over, we hope to be able to do similar projects in a different vein. um We know that people want to be able to to look at these and take these further. So we very much, we keep in touch with Newcastle Film Club and In The Frame and we direct people there. And then obviously there's writing clubs in Newcastle. There's writing clubs everywhere now, which is amazing. um So, yeah, we we've always got places to to signpost people to. And it's the nicest feeling in the world as well when somebody's like, yeah, this is this is something I want to look into. Because as I say, Laura and I, we both know how much our lives have changed. um
00:24:03
Speaker
And this could be the the beginning of something incredible for people. so Yeah, it sounds like very rewarding. But I think it's like you say it is because, again, mentioning them young people's things that went to, it was often like hard to to find a next step. it was like I'd go to to something and be like, this is nice.
00:24:23
Speaker
What do I do now? What do I do now? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, this is it. Yeah, so no, I think that's really that's really
Diane's Novel Writing Adventure
00:24:30
Speaker
important. um Okay, I wanted to ask as well about your novel. Am I allowed to ask what it's called? What it's about? Yeah, go for it. ah So it's called The Keeper's Daughter. This is an exclusive, by the way. I haven't told anybody else in the name yet. Actually, to be fair, only Laura knows because Laura has been my beta reader.
00:24:50
Speaker
God love her. So it's called The Keeper's Daughter. And it is about my main character is called Carrie. Carrie finds herself in a car accident. And because of the car accident, she soon realizes that she is one of a long line of witches. She should have died in the car accident because she didn't die in the car accident. She's unleashed a curse on the world and now it's up to her to save it So there we go.
00:25:15
Speaker
Oh, that sounds really exciting. Yeah, I'm enjoying myself, put it this way. I'm having the best for it. I'm killing this character and this terrible thing is happening. And I'm like, I love this. um I think because um i've just will we'll we'll we'll get onto Criminal Minds in ah in a minute, but I've just watched an episode of that um before I talk. so sorry. i don't know. I feel like I had that kind of in mind and I was like, oh, this sounds very Criminal Minds. And then suddenly there's witches involved. them um It sounds very, very... I also watched Hamnet yesterday and there were a lot ah there were a lot of witch stuff in that. Oh, really? I've heard extremely good stuff about that.
00:25:54
Speaker
Yeah, i quite enjoyed it, yeah. With your writing, um specifically a novel, is that um is that something you've you've done before? I know you said when you were a lot younger liked to write stories, but is it something you've done before? or is it No, you know how I said I just do things. like This is another one of those things. Yeah, I'm very impulsive. um I mean, it's it's strange how it came about. and As I get older, i kind of I do believe that everything happens at the right time for whatever reason.
00:26:23
Speaker
And Before I started writing this, there were just two two things I'd heard that, you know, when ah an idea just kind of captivates you. Something you've heard just captivates and you can't stop thinking about it. I woke up one morning and then that idea joined to that idea. And then I could add this in acoda and could add this fully formed story start to finish was in my head. And I was like, need to write this down now.
00:26:47
Speaker
Literally now. So yeah, it's um from start to finish of just kind of like getting it out. Not in a particularly good English, unfortunately, which is why editing is taking so long. But it took four months, start to finish, 70,000 words. so And that was obviously, you know, with the day job and all that sort of thing. It wasn't just like I was, I wish I could do it during the week. I wish it was my day job. But yeah, it came about very, very quickly. And it just, it was all there.
00:27:15
Speaker
It was all it. So a thank you, Brain, for that one. Wow, that's ah that's quite the work ethic to get a full novel written in four months. Yeah, I mean, i i i am neurodivergent, so I was so hyperfixated. was hyperfixation and there was nothing on God's green earth that was going to stop me writing this thing as quickly as possible. so I'd love to say it was because I was dedicated. It was more of a desperation to write it than a dedication, although the dedication is definitely coming at editing.
00:27:45
Speaker
because that's all that's the hard thing um You put a video of it on Instagram where you'd done a reading. Oh, God, yeah. And was really impressed with just how prose is something I'm always scared of talking about.
00:28:00
Speaker
I've been to so many writing and workshops where people are really good that I'm worried that i sound stupid when I talk about it. But it sounded like like a proper book. Okay, this is amazing news because like i I have never done...
00:28:17
Speaker
any sort of training in how to actually write a book, but my brain just goes, this sentence sounds good. We'll write it like this. This sounds good. Let's chuck some alliteration in because it's fun. like So that that is the nicest thing you could have possibly said to me ever. Thank you so much. like and I genuinely do mean it as ah as a nice thing. I know that there's a there's a way of taking that that can sound like slightly. But I don't mean that. It's just my lack of ability to discuss things. from No. well um No, but i think that's why sort of with it being sort of the first, like why I was quite interested in whether you'd done sort of any any writing or anything before because like...
00:28:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's something that I struggle with if I've ever tried to to write prose is making almost like putting enough into it that it's like, I feel like, you know, you like write things down and it's like what's in your head, but then you're like,
00:29:12
Speaker
does somebody else understand this? yeah I think the problem that i often run into is like, this makes sense to me, but I don't think it makes sense to whoever's reading it. Do you know, and i'm I'm nobody when it comes to writing. i'm up I really am nobody. But the one thing I found is it's easier to write if it's something you enjoy.
00:29:30
Speaker
Because the way that I see it, and this is something that we've said in an air like the Fem93 workshops as well, whatever you do, if you enjoy it, you're not the only only person in the world that's going to enjoy it that's that's literally impossible other people will enjoy it too other people will hate it granted you can't please everybody but write write for yourself and other people other people will enjoy i know um there's a music producer called rick rubin and he's always said the audience is the last and least important step in anything that you create you should create what
00:30:05
Speaker
what brings you joy, what you like, and the rest will take care of itself. And I am trusting in the universe that that is exactly what's going to happen. so I mean, you know, based on based on the the little snippet that i heard you read, it seems like it's... I mean, the rest's crap, but that was the best bit. LAUGHTER
00:30:23
Speaker
I'm sure the rest is wonderful. Thank you. um would Do you have any sort of plans to to publish it or anything or is the idea get something in written? Yeah, yeah i would I would love to publish it. I really genuinely would. i The way I've written the book is that I want it to be uplifting and empowering for people, um especially people that have felt othered at any time in their life. I want people to realise that, you know, with everything they've been through, they are strong enough to stand on their own two feet and they will find their other people and it will be OK in the end.
00:30:56
Speaker
um So I would love for for other people to not only enjoy the story, but to get something out of it. And I might already have planned a prequel and a sequel in there.
Finding Comfort in Procedural TV Shows
00:31:11
Speaker
That's always nice just sort of building building out a universe oh yeah yeah the universe is on its way yeah yeah well uh i look forward to sort of seeing seeing what comes of that um i guess um we'll sort of start to wrap up but sort of towards the end of the show i like to talk about a piece of media that my guest enjoys i asked you and you mentioned um you mentioned both criminal minds and the a-team yes
00:31:35
Speaker
There's two things that go naturally together. Yeah. you don't like So I didn't manage to watch the A-Team, mostly because I'm not sure i where to watch it. That's fair show, yeah. um But I watched i watched ah one of the Criminal Minds episodes you mentioned, season two, episode 11, Sex, Birth, Death.
00:31:52
Speaker
Yes. And I watched it this morning. Isn't Griton? God, you weren't eating your breakfast, were you? I was eating my breakfast. I'm so sorry. You know, yesterday I went out i went to Pumphrey's in Newcastle and bought myself some nice coffee. I bought some nice bagels. yeah And that was my, I was really looking forward to my breakfast this morning. ah I've just ruined coffee and bagels. I'm so sorry. No, but I'm really interested in, um you you you mentioned it as like a comfort watch. you know i feel like there's a level where i understand but i mean it's not on the surface the most immediately comforting thing it's not no it's not um i think perhaps this could also be why i like the a-team so much although it doesn't happen as religiously in criminal mind it's like it's not so much getting the bad guys which is why i like the a-team it's like the good guys win the bad guys lose and you know
00:32:47
Speaker
I think it's the thing with Criminal Minds, it's obviously there's a lot of psychology behind it. um There's always a twist in the story. There's a lot of characters in there who, as the series progress, you become very fond of and you learn a lot about. And I like that. It it very much draws you in. um What I do, I like the psychology behind it. And I like just the idea that there's good people out there trying to fix the world a little bit. um
00:33:19
Speaker
it's So I think that's perhaps the comfort behind it, not the actual... gruesome goings-on yeah i think that was kind of my thought because i feel like i feel like these kind of those kind of you know where it's the sort of um the procedural that's the word in it um they sort of happen less and less like these days because of streaming and things but i just i do think there is a comfort to just the you know there's a there's something bad presented and by the end of it you know that there's going to be some kind of resolution and like ah to be honest it was just really kind of nice to just watch you know that i don't know if you ever watched fringe i used to watch fringe um years ago which were kind of a sci-fi version of a procedural okay um and it's that same thing like where there's there's a case of the week but then there's also like ongoing threads so you get a nice bit of resolution but you're also kind of like really sort of connecting with these characters um And it was quite nice to watch watch something that's from around the same time.
00:34:22
Speaker
Yeah, i am it is it's the one I always go back to. Although, unfortunately, the most recent last two series, they're okay. They're not great. Oh, really? ah Yeah, massively disappointing, to be honest. Because they took a break. It was the end. And then, as I understand it, a different studio might have bought ah the franchise. And then what they've ended up doing, which I can understand, but they've sort of,
00:34:46
Speaker
They've started so late about series 16, 17, but they're having to re-explain all of the very, very basic things that were from the first series. Again, because there's going to be new viewers who will not go back and watch all the way through. And it was irritating. And obviously, as I say, as a writer, I'm not a bodyguard.
00:35:09
Speaker
I was like oh well I know that's going to happen and I know it's that person and oh this is totally going to happen and it did so there wasn't that there wasn't the the surprise there wasn't the twists and turns that there were however it's still worth a watch it is still worth a watch how how much of the cast sort of sticks around because it's when I looked on on Disney it said it went from 2005 to last year that's a long time it is a very long time and there um is as the series progressed there is a bit of a cast turn over One of the main characters from the first few series, the actor decided to step away because he didn't realise how much sort of violence was going to be in it especially violence against women, and he wasn't comfortable with that. So he stepped away, which is understandable.
00:35:51
Speaker
um There were on-set issues with certain actors who were where eventually given the boot and literally just disappeared one day.
00:36:04
Speaker
ah ah thankfully there was a storyline they could tie it into so it worked alright but yeah towards the last sort of maybe the last six series um there was quite a high turnover which is unfortunate but at the same time it gave us some new characters but and some of the old characters did stick around i think the favourite characters sticked around thank god um two especially Because if Garcia and Reid weren't around, I do not think they'd have even entertained the idea of the last two series happening recently. Because they are, they were, well, actually the last two series, Reid wasn't in it.
00:36:49
Speaker
But I think if he hadn't have been up to it there right up to the end, they wouldn't have entertained. And he made a guest appearance in one. So... Obviously, everyone who'd watched it from the start was like, we have to watch it because he's going to be in, but just a bit. and little it it it ah um But yeah, the last two series could take it all either, unfortunately.
00:37:11
Speaker
um So this particular episode, I don't know. i'm I'm laughing, but it's like an uncomfortable laugh. It is horrendous, yeah. I don't know how to um even even describe the plot. There's words that I don't feel comfortable saying. Yeah, i mean, I'm a bit worried that you might get banned from like your streaming platforms if you start talking about what it's actually about. um but yes, this this young man decides that um he he likes to harm women is probably the nicest way to put it
00:37:46
Speaker
ah And it was the acting in it that had me absolutely struck. It was incredible. Incredible. Because you can't help but feel sorry. You can't help but feel sorry for him.
00:37:58
Speaker
as far As far as I understood it, he's not actually harmed anybody um in in the show. But especially early on, it's it's quite a big question as to whether yes he is the the killer of the episode or not.
00:38:12
Speaker
um And it is this thing where early on you're kind of like... I'm kind of feeling sorry for this guy, but also like, is he doing these horrible things? yeah um And then like, by by the end of it I'm like,
00:38:26
Speaker
I mean, okay, does have some pretty horrific images and stuff in his ah in his home, but he goes to the effort I mean, I guess, spoilers, but he goes to some pretty extreme lengths to avoid harming people. and like i don't know, it really sort of it affected me quite a bit, actually. Well, especially when you see a character like his mother just dismissing it as well.
00:38:52
Speaker
like I think it's one of those things that when somebody tells you something, believe them. don't believe anybody else believe what they tell you um and of course a mother would want to see her child through rose-tinted glasses and so on and so forth but as a viewer you're like no what are you doing what are you doing like just to listen to him he's telling you something's wrong listen to him and act accordingly and she literally turned the entire thing on his head when he was about to get help she stopped him from getting the help um yeah i just yeah everything i mean as gruesome as it was
00:39:26
Speaker
It was fascinating, that episode. It was so nice. Yeah, and and and definitely, as you say, the I don't know the actor's name. I can't even remember the character's name, actually. but No, to be fair, I'm exactly the same. It's like him and him and him. and yeah it's is the The kid who's in it, it's so well played. You're like, yeah oh, God, he is is scary, but he is also just a kid who needs help. And the thing he needs help with is something that's hard to...
00:39:54
Speaker
to talk about and approach anyone with. Yeah. Yeah, so it definitely... ah i don't i don't know, like... i don't i don't know that I'll be watching any more of Criminal Minds because... Because I've disturbed you enough through that one, yeah. Because I don't know, but it's like...
00:40:11
Speaker
there's There's definitely something to it where it's I think um a lot of like sort of modern true crime and things, that's something that I just absolutely can't watch. It's too weird for me and the the true angle, I guess. is yeah um but it's definitely like ah like it doesn't feel as as sort of sensationalizing something horrific for entertainment value in the way that a lot of more modern kind of you know like the Jeffrey Dahmer show whatever yeah yeah exactly exactly and i the thing I like about Criminal Mind as well is that more often than not it leaves you thinking about something um like
00:40:54
Speaker
i What I find in entertaining is things that I either can switch my brain off completely for, the A-Team, or things that I will think about for days on end, like like Criminal Minds. um And yeah, it got the balance just right. And as you say, it's none of it's sensationalized. And I think that's good because we don't want to necessarily celebrate the awful things. um We just need to acknowledge them, perhaps, rather than find them entertaining. That's just my two-penning.
00:41:21
Speaker
I guess that's quite a good place to leave it, I think. Death and destruction, and we'll end it there. Yeah. ah um No, well, thank you. ah Thank you for talking to me. um We had some recording issues, but hopefully nobody noticed them through the minutes of editing. But yeah, thank you for for for sticking around through the issues. Thank you so much for having me, honestly. um Do you have anything you'd like to plug and can you tell us where we can find you?
00:41:50
Speaker
um ah Probably the best thing to plug right now is going to be the Fem93 workshops. um Find us on Instagram is the very best place to find us. We do also have a website, fem93.co.uk. Come get involved, meet new people.
00:42:04
Speaker
Promise you'll have a lovely time. You won't even have to pay a penny. We'll put some food on for you as well so you'll get fed. um And if anybody would like to reach out to me, I'm on Instagram as well. Just Diane Cullen.
00:42:16
Speaker
Yeah, i'm I'm around. I'm always around and I'd be happy to hear from anybody. Thank you very much. I'll see set you later. Certainly will. Thanks ever so much. What Makes You Tick is hosted, produced and edited by me, Brian Watson. Thank you to Adam Sams for the brand new theme music that you're listening to right now and thank you to Craig Pearson for the show logo.
00:42:34
Speaker
Thanks again to Diane for speaking to me for this episode. Join me next week for my conversation with actor Aaron Burton and there'll be an early preview of that on Monday if you go to at Makes You Tick Pod on Instagram. Thanks for listening.