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Screenwriter/director Hannah Lehmann: writing process, navigating development, and why rejection will ultimately make you better
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Screenwriter and director Hannah Lehmann joins the latest episode of Breaking Screen to talk about her writing process, how making a vertical series prepared her for feature film and TV, dealing with rejection, exploring the realities of working in the screen industry through her writing, and much more.
For her digital series Two Sides, Hannah won an Australian Directors Guild award and a Streamy Award. She created and directed The Unboxing for Seven Studios, and began her career with The Out There, a series she produced and wrote for Instagram.
Read Hannah’s SubStack ‘Still Losing’: https://hannahlehmannworld.substack.com
Currently, Hannah has a number of projects in development including her debut feature, the semi-autobiographical TV series Mirrorball, produced by Easy Tiger Productions, and several feature film adaptations.
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Transcript
Introduction and Acknowledgements
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to Breaking Screen, a podcast about the Australian screen industry and the creative people within it. I'm your host, Caris Bizzaca I'm recording this podcast from the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, where I'm very grateful to be a visitor and be able to work on these lands.
00:00:18
Speaker
Always was, always will be.
Meet Hannah Lehman
00:00:21
Speaker
Today's episode is with Hannah Lehmann a screenwriter and director who started out creating vertical series on places like Instagram and Snapchat before they were established platforms to tell narrative stories.
00:00:32
Speaker
For her digital series Two Sides, Hannah won an Australian Directors Guild Award and a Streamy Award. She created and directed The Unboxing for Seven Studios and began her career with The Out There, a series she produced and wrote for Instagram.
00:00:46
Speaker
Currently, Hannah has a number of projects in development, including her debut feature, the semi-autobiographical TV series Mirrorball, produced by Easy Tiger Productions, and several feature film adaptations. Hannah also has sub stack called Still Losing, which we talk about in the episode, and you can find a link to it in the show notes.
00:01:06
Speaker
Throughout
The Inciting Incident: From Acting to Filmmaking
00:01:07
Speaker
the episode, Hannah talks about the decision to shift from acting into writing and directing, how making vertical series prepared her for long form feature film and TV, dealing with rejection, exploring the ups and downs of being in the industry through her writing, and much more.
00:01:22
Speaker
Here's that chat.
00:01:27
Speaker
And so we always start the pod the same way with the same question. um and it's about inciting incidents. So could you please tell me what the inciting incident for your career has been?
00:01:38
Speaker
Yeah, so it definitely was when I was... maybe like 10 years old, I auditioned for the role of Wendy Darling in the Peter Pan movie that was shooting on the Gold Coast. And I remember going to like getting through the first sort of round of auditions and there was a couple of other kids from my school who were who were doing it. And at the time it like,
00:02:04
Speaker
kind of sparked this competitiveness between myself and another girl who I was at school with, who was also kind of like vying for that role. And um like, I ended up getting called in for callbacks and kind of like progressing through and
Transition to Writing and Directing
00:02:19
Speaker
she didn't. And honestly, it was just that feeling of like, I don't know, like having this thing and feeling like really excited by the prospect of like, you know, being in the movies, and entering this like whole new world of I guess like yeah like adults and just like this whole universe that was so foreign to me at that age I didn't get the role obviously um but yeah that that really was the thing that kind of like just put stars in my eyes and set me off on this like
00:02:55
Speaker
journey I suppose yeah the Peter Pan movie PJ yeah I I read about this on your sub stack and I haven't told you this but I also auditioned for the part of Wendy no way in the Peter Pan movie my god but I didn't even get a call back I was just like out round one yeah I mean that the role and that that's crazy the role ended up going to a British girl which it always should yeah have like I had no business doing ah British accent I was like living yeah I could not do in a country town at the time like just I didn't even know where like England was um yeah I um I definitely was like
00:03:39
Speaker
Very, very. And I hold a grudge as well. And like, especially at that age, I was like very, very upset. And I thought the world was very unfair that I didn't get picked to this role. But um yeah, that was the.
00:03:50
Speaker
that's what started it. I think. Yeah. yeah And then that actor, I think was in tomorrow when the war began. And i was like, Oh my God. Yeah. It was the person that got Wendy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're like, I know, I know. right would I hope she's well. Yeah. Yeah. She did an incredible job.
Visual Storytelling and Pioneering Vertical Series
00:04:07
Speaker
She did. She did. she's like great movie Yeah. Um,
00:04:10
Speaker
And so do you feel like you were originally drawn to being an actor? And, you know, obviously you're a writer director, like when did that then shift to behind the camera roles?
00:04:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I always kind of wanted to be an actor. Like when I was ah in school, I was always doing drama and the school plays and just was obsessed with movies. And like, I was really good at English and writing and I would write all of my own plays that i performed like my HSC and that sort of stuff.
00:04:42
Speaker
And then i kind of... didn't really know what I wanted to do when I got out of school. I knew that I wanted to be an actor or work in the film industry, but it just, i did I didn't know how. I went and sort of did one year of a Bachelor of Arts in majoring in film studies. And then I shifted to a BFA, which I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts. um And I kind of came out of that being like, well, I don't want to be an artist. um Also, there's no money in it. So I'm going to go into acting and writing because that's, you know known for being super lucrative as well. um
00:05:18
Speaker
And yeah, i i kind of... it I, you know, I tried acting, I was in class and I think it was to be, to be really honest, like it, it felt like it was a bit of an overhang from that childhood kind of dream that I had. Like, you know, it was something that I was good at, but I wasn't maybe like good enough or exceptionally like, I don't know, motivated by wanting to be better in that like acting. And it wasn't until, yeah, I was working part-time as a graphic designer and I just hated that job so much. And i would just go and write every single lunch break. I would just write stories or little scripts that eventually kind of I made into something. And that was the thing that I just became really, really obsessed with. And i felt like I had so much more control over it. I could sort of investigate or
00:06:11
Speaker
explore the ideas that I wanted. It was really just that sense of like having agency, I suppose, or, or feeling more in control than um I ever did when I was an actor. And did you find you're talking about writing then, you know, in your lunch breaks and things. So then is directing like another extension of that with being able to control like what,
00:06:34
Speaker
you know, the final output is and, and kind of have it aligned with what you're, what you've written? Yeah, absolutely. Like I'm a very visual person and it always sort of comes down to like how I see it too. I mean, when I write, I see it first, um, or I feel it. And I think that sort of like, for me anyway, like directly translates to directing and,
00:06:58
Speaker
the feeling that I want to kind of evoke or, you know, get out of the world that I've created. so yeah, for me, they go really hand in hand and the like the opportunities that I have had to direct have, most of those have been from directing my own work. And it's just like the most fulfilling sort of experience being able to feel this thing and then write it down and then see it and in a kind of have that yeah, that loop being closed, I suppose, that I really enjoy.
00:07:30
Speaker
Do you feel like having been an actor, that that impacts how you write things, but also, yeah how you direct actors? Yeah, I mean, i feel like when I write, I definitely will sometimes, like part of my style is, and depending on the the tone of the script, i'll I'll kind of will write in
Challenges of New Media Storytelling
00:07:53
Speaker
my prose, like,
00:07:54
Speaker
my action texts like character asides um meaning like what the character is thinking or their kind of motivation and i feel like that has kind of directly been a pullover from when i was sort of like acting and kind of being like well what is a character feeling where are they at like i would write little notes in my scripts and that's kind of just been a carry through that i've pulled into my work that i really enjoy um It doesn't work for every script. It's very, well, it's it's a bit Craig Mazin-y. He sort of works like that as well. And, you know, I learnt to write by really studying scripts and um finding my sort of voice by looking at what scripts worked on the page for me or what I understood. um
00:08:38
Speaker
In terms of acting, though, like I... you know, I love actors and I think that like whenever I'm on set, like directing or I'm writing for them, like I want actors to think that I'm cool or want to work with me, you know, and I and i guess I feel like the camaraderie with actors, even though I haven't acted for a little while, um you know, I do feel that kind of like kinetic energy around them and, you know, the the feeling of bringing something to life at that stage in a process or production is really energizing. And I just want to make sure that I guess that feeling is sort of translated in into my scripts and into the way that I direct as well.
00:09:20
Speaker
ah Yeah. And so one of the series that you did write and direct is Two Sides. Yes. And so it was a Snapchat series. It was. From what I understand, based on a short film before that. Oh, gosh. Okay. Yeah. So I had this idea for, for a series, and I made a very, very low quality proof of concept shorts. Yeah. Yeah.
00:09:53
Speaker
for like $200 in my apartment with some friends. I wrote it, directed it, edited it, like shot it, lit it. Like literally it was a one one woman crew. yeah And that went on Facebook and overnight it went viral. It got like 6 million views and like 100,000 comments. and Oh, gosh. Yeah, it just went crazy. And it was my first kind of like taste of like um people kind of,
00:10:19
Speaker
looking at something that I had made and and and having an opinion about it. And I found that very exhilarating, but yeah, I was sort of at my job at the time, just like watching the the views go up being like,
00:10:30
Speaker
nothing else matters to me but this right now. like That was the only thing that I really cared about. And yeah, so it was a short film first. very That's kind of wild. Because like, ah so at the time, I feel like YouTube series were very much a thing. Like people made stuff for YouTube, which still has that kind of landscape yeah ah format. But i feel like less so vertical series. And so I'm wondering like what prompted you to make a scripted vertical series for a social media platform um before it was really a widely accepted place to tell episodic stories?
00:11:12
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, before Two Sides, which was vertical and it was made specifically for the phone, I think before vertical series or micro dramas or whatever they're called now was really a thing. And this isn't that long a ago. This was like five years ago during like the very very beginning of COVID was when I had made this series. But prior to that, i'd made a ah web series that lived on Instagram um and I produced and created and performed in episodes.
00:11:42
Speaker
seasons of that series which was called the out there and that lived on instagram and it was the the thing that i was writing when i was at my graphic design job in my lunch breaks and i kind of had this thing and i was like well i don't know what to do with it i've never made anything so i had like 800 a couple of friends and we made it over the course of a couple of months and we made it for specifically for instagram which at the time was you were only able to host one minute videos. So each episode was one minute. And I guess like that, those kinds of parameters were actually really helpful in, in making that. So that was really sort of like my first foray into social media storytelling.
From Social Media to Long-Form Content
00:12:25
Speaker
There was nothing like it at the time. Like, no one knew what it was when I was kind of like reaching out to people being like hey like I made this thing with you know a very small crew and no money and it's on Instagram and we had designed all the graphics to kind of like link around it it was very it was like a very like a whole project and yeah no one no one knew what to do with it no one really cared no one saw it as sort of like
00:12:52
Speaker
anything beyond like a little project, I suppose. But yeah, for me, I guess it was my first sort of like foray into creating something that would sort of like live online beyond, you know,
00:13:05
Speaker
just sort of me and my friends watching it from there I suppose I went to the U.S. and um people over there were interested in it I don't know if it was necessarily the show itself but it was the it was the idea of of making something short form and putting it um on a social media website I think that really captured their attention and the fact that I'd sort of pulled it off with no money was maybe also, yeah, something that was good. um And then, yeah, from there, I think I just, I'd had a few meetings and one of them was with a company who had asked me if I had any other ideas and I had two sides and we pitched that around as sort of like a vertical or a digital series. And at the time Snapchat were making or was starting to make these, these original series for their platform
00:13:56
Speaker
And I think like just the nature of what Two Sides was, the format of it, it's a series that follows a young couple as they experience their first breakup. And it's told...
00:14:08
Speaker
It's a split screen scene with both characters at the exact same time that kind of follows both of their experiences at the same time. And that really lent itself to the vertical format. So that's really, it really was just like a series of like, not happy accidents, but it it just worked. It just all clicked into place. It felt right for the time. The show did really, really well. And I
Current Projects and Writing Routine
00:14:31
Speaker
wrote the whole first season and went over and directed it in the U S and it was the first time that I'd ever directed anything really like, so it was a bit of a whirlwind and then, yeah, I remember coming back to Australia and got the call that they wanted to do two more seasons. So I went back over and did them.
00:14:49
Speaker
Yeah. It's pretty incredible to me because these days, You know, people are making series for TikTok and Instagram and all sorts. But, um yeah, like you said, there were no reference points for you. Whereas, like, you know, there's a lot more learnings that people can bring to those where they're like, that show did that, that show did that. Or we know where the...
00:15:10
Speaker
you know, framing needs to be, whereas you kind of were one of the first to do that. So we're figuring it out. How do you feel like those projects maybe be prepared you then for writing and directing and long form, you know, TV and features, which is the space that you work in now?
00:15:27
Speaker
I mean, i always wanted to work in in long form. I think that when I made the out there and even moving through two sides, like, I very much saw those as stepping stones really, you know, and I think that they were incredibly important. Like I learned everything when I was making those, I have no formal training in film or writing. Like it all just came from me just learning how to do it on my own really and making mistakes. And I think it was just learning what worked and learning how to work with producers and learning how to get notes and feedback and integrate them properly. And,
00:16:04
Speaker
that is the same across short form, long form, and really just like, I think at the same time working out what my taste was. And for me, it was very much learning on the job.
00:16:17
Speaker
And yeah, I guess like being able to just pivot quickly or take those ideas on really fast, I suppose, was really helpful for me because we were greenlit on those shows for two sides. And ah it was just like,
00:16:33
Speaker
I had no real practice, like I just had to do it. So I think like that really allowed me to just get in the rhythm of being able to work like that from then on, really.
00:16:44
Speaker
Yeah. And in terms of the projects that you currently have in development, can you speak to those at all? Even name drop? Well, I mean, I'll preface this, uh, that I obviously know one of them that's in development. Cause that's how we met was I was a musictakeer in your room for a TV series called Mirable, but quite easy time yeah. Can you just maybe speak to some of the stuff you have in development?
00:17:12
Speaker
And like how you balance that with other people's projects that you're working on? Yeah, I mean, i always have stuff sort of like my own sort of spec spec stuff that I want to write or that I'm working on. um A number of those projects are kind of set up at various different places and various different points of development.
00:17:34
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if I can say too much about them. That's fair, that's I mean, I wish I could talk about them all day long and um I wish that they would, yeah, people could watch them as well. But, you know, it's a long process. But, yeah, I guess in in the balancing of these projects, it it really is just like what's the priority? you know, if I get a, if if I'm doing a a writing assignment, I get hired to do a book adaptation, which I do a bit, that will sort of like take the number one spot over any spec stuff that I'm doing. Yeah, I guess it's just managing that. Like i i find it difficult to if I'm really locked into a particular project, i'm I'm all in on that project. Like I kind of get very obsessive about the world that I'm in and that's all I can really think about while I'm working on it. So I need to sort of like prioritize those
00:18:28
Speaker
projects that have the earliest deadline or, you know, i'm being paid to write as the first ones. So usually that means that, yeah, my spec stuff will will take the back seat. But I mean, it's always ticking in the background. It's never not being thought of. I'm never not sort of taking notes or inspiration from wherever I see it for those spec projects in the background. It's it's really just like, what's the priority here? What is the project that I have to kind of like contractually get out and yeah yeah yeah and so then continuing on that track like what is your writing process then you you know are you like a 6 a.m person or the evening or what is it I mean i feel like I'm always always writing in my brain like it's especially when I'm really excited about a project or I'm really deep in the middle of working a project, like I refer to it as like being in the hole, it surrounds me. Like I'm just like very in it. So I often feel like if I'm really sort of in the midst or in the hole with a project, I'm never not thinking about I'm always writing, I'm always jotting ideas down. But for my actual process, I usually will get up and sort of procrastinate for a couple of hours and then really so get into my work for maybe like six hours. And then
00:19:50
Speaker
yeah, hit a wall after that. yeah I mean, it also depends on the project. Like I've had projects that I've pushed through in like two or three weeks. And then I've had projects where I've like, I have no idea. i'd Like this is going to take me months to write. A deadline is always helpful. And when I do get contracted to to write on assignment, like they always come with a deadline, which is actually really helpful for
Substack and Community Building
00:20:15
Speaker
me. But yeah, I mean, i think that my overall process is like, I will read a lot of scripts or books that are kind of like the genre of the project that I'm working on. I'll watch a lot of films that might have like similar feelings or themes or things that I'm inspired by and
00:20:35
Speaker
it usually starts with just like a brain dump of notes that are full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. And I'll just, you know, go through and clean that up.
00:20:47
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, like when it gets to actually like sitting down and writing the script, I mean, i outline a lot. It's usually just like in bullet points, but I'll always sort of like have a shape of of where I want to go or what I think happens. And then I really start with like the turning point of the scene or like what is the seed of that scene and that's sort of like the first thing that I'll write and then I'll really just sort of like build the rest of the the scene around that, the dialogue.
00:21:16
Speaker
So, yeah, I don't really write my scenes in like a linear order. I'm kind of like writing all over the place a little bit and then fixing it up once I have a bit of a shape.
00:21:28
Speaker
But, it also yeah, it all sort of starts with like what is the actual like turning point of this scene? What's the the conflict in this scene, what happens and then, yeah, going back and filling the gaps from there.
00:21:38
Speaker
So you like some structure? I do like structure. i do like structure, but what that structure is depends from project to project, I think. And um also in in terms of writing, um so you have a sub stack that people should subscribe to. It's good.
00:21:57
Speaker
What prompted you to start that? Honestly, i spend so much time writing scripts, which I love. and I think like it can be frustrating because like not many people get to actually read your work and um I remember like I was with my friends and who are not in the film industry and they were like what do you do like like what you're always working but like what is the work that you do and I'm like you know it's it's not read by that many people and I just sort of realized that my peers and
00:22:32
Speaker
my friends, they don't really get to read my work and, you know, constantly kind of like being in development. It's like, that's what the job is. But for me, I was like, i would just love to have an outlet where I can just like write, like literally just write something on the day.
00:22:47
Speaker
i never edit my sub stacks. They're always like completely chaotic and full of, full of errors, but there's something so satisfying to me about just like writing something there and then just like sending it out and getting immediate feedback. It just really scratches that part of my brain that like working in development, you don't get that immediacy. So honestly, that was the reason. And also because I thought it was really fun. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's called Still Losing. Yes. newsletter about being in your 30s and feeling like you're still losing at everything. Yes. It's ah for people who haven't read it, it's extremely funny. um But you do write about things like, you know, like rejection or like about being cringe and the payoffs and things like that.
00:23:34
Speaker
And I was kind of thinking about it because like a lot of the time in the industry, like when you read an article about someone, it's about the thing that they've already done. That's, you know, it's released or like it's going to release or whatever. And I don't think people ever kind of talk about like the day to day, like the things that they they're obsessed with or like, you know, that they're in the weeds with or just like the day to day of a creative person. And like, is that your way of kind of exploring those those things? Yeah, definitely. i mean, i can only speak for myself, but I feel like the writing process, especially when you're on assignment or, you know, you're writing, I write a lot of features. So that's always sort of like a
00:24:19
Speaker
solo pursuit it can be really isolating and I do feel like particularly for emerging writers or younger writers the industry is quite opaque in that it can sometimes just feel like it's it's hidden it's like behind some veil you know so for me i am always interested in what other people going through and I guess like the feeling of, I don't know not being where you should be or feeling as though you're, yeah, still losing. or I think for me just being like I enjoy putting myself out there and just being like this is all the shit that I go through all the time. People are afraid to talk about their rejections and i just find it really –
00:25:04
Speaker
Not unhelpful is the wrong word, but I find relief when I hear that other people are also going through the same experiences that I am. i think that that's how we build community. And I think that like for an industry that is so small and relies on connections and relies on people's ability to be vulnerable and and share with people, like I really value that.
Advice for Aspiring Creators
00:25:28
Speaker
So yeah, I just like speaking to that in the hopes that, I don't know, or maybe other people won't be as freaked out in speaking about
00:25:36
Speaker
their own sort of stuff. I, yeah, it really, for me, is just about like wanting to open the door a little bit more. You know, I don't know how much my sort of writing is my essays or whatever we want to call them, but I write does that, but yeah, it is an outlet in every sort of sense for me, like emotionally, it allows me to tell funny stories that, you know, are never going to be written into a script.
00:25:58
Speaker
I think it's just about wanting to, don't connect with people, share the experience of what it's like kind of working in the in the industry. Yeah. Yeah. It's like cathartic and builds community. Yeah. yeah I also wanted to like mention that in your last post where you were talking about wanting to be a Channel V presenter and you interviewed Cat Call. And I was like, isn't that Catherine Kelleher? Yes. In the industry now? Yes. Yeah.
00:26:27
Speaker
That is the beautiful Catherine. Yes. I, that was our first meeting point. I was, uh, again, a young starry eyed person who was like, I want to be in front of the camera and I'm going to audition for, to be the channel V presenter. Yeah. And she, she was the musician who I was interviewing and I never forgot that. Like I always remembered her and listened to her music and then yeah, it's so funny how, however many years later, we kind of crossed paths when she was at SBS. And I feel like I was like, you know, we've met before we met when I auditioned for Channel b And, you know, I did not expect her to remember me, but it was just like such a funny, like Sydney's so small. And I think that like, it just is so interesting how, yeah, people sort of working in media or, in music or wherever, like people kind of stay around the sort of creative industries. um
00:27:30
Speaker
But, yeah, that was really, really kind of like fun little. Such a small industry. how Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Apologies for the little like side one. I just was like, wait a second. It wasn't that. But um i i did want to ask just a general advice question, um you know, for any writers or directors listening, do you have any advice for them?
00:27:54
Speaker
Yes, i would say if you think you are patient, you have to be even more patient. Truly, it can feel really hard and long, like working this industry and wanting to be a part of the industry, like,
00:28:14
Speaker
It can be a slog and you just have to be really, really patient and driven and want it, I think. and Be prepared to put in the work. Like I've met with people who wanted to be writers before, screenwriters, who have told me that they they didn't want to write for free.
00:28:30
Speaker
and I was like, well, you're never going to get hired to write for money if you can't. practice and write for free and be at a place where people will want to pay you to write. Like it doesn't work like that. And yeah, I think you just really have to to be obsessive about it and really like love it as well, because it can be a really brutal, tough industry at the whims of things that you have absolutely zero control over.
00:28:56
Speaker
And you just have to be able to really just like tough it out and and push through. So yeah, it is not for the faint hearted. And I think, you know, it can be, like I said, it can be really isolating because no one wants to give off the perception that they are not busy or not working, or especially in an industry where it feels like work begets work, you know. So, like, I think what I'm sort of trying to say is that, like, it is really important to have community and and kind of be working on things that feed your creativity at the same time as you're kind of like in the grind because,
00:29:32
Speaker
it can be easy to lose sight of of what it is that you're wanting to do. you know, and I've lost sight of that before in my career and it' it's hard sometimes, but you just have to be like, you know, what do I really want? I really want this thing. So I've got to get back up and just like, keep going.
00:29:49
Speaker
And i wrote about this in my newsletter, but it's like with every kind of rejection that you get, it's like, like it sucks, but those rejections will get you closer to a yes.
Reflecting on Career Goals
00:30:01
Speaker
and will make you a better sort of like worker or writer. And just by the virtue of like having weathered something and, and yeah, I don't know. I feel like it's hard, but it's just like, you have to kind of keep pushing, you know, I'm still pushing. i don't feel like I'm in a place in my career where I, you know, want to be. And,
00:30:22
Speaker
That's most people I speak with, but I think it's just like being honest about that and and being patient and realizing that you just have to keep pushing. and And also taking into account, I'll just say one more thing on rejection. um People who try get rejected, like people who...
00:30:41
Speaker
who put themselves out there, get rejected. And like that is, rejection is not a character flaw. I think that not trying to do something because of the fear of rejection, that's where the flaw lies. So you really have to just be able to like put your best thing out there and try really hard. And if it doesn't work out, that's okay. You just like try again.
00:31:03
Speaker
That would be my advice. You just have to be really, really persistent. Yeah, because the alternative is just standing still. Well, the time will pass anyway, right? So it's like you just have to, you'll be standing still and the time will be passing or you'll be moving with the time. So it's just like.
00:31:19
Speaker
Decide which one better. Yeah. Like those your choices really. Yeah, that's great advice. um And so we are now into the final segment, which is the pay it forward segment. um You answer a question from the previous guest and then you come up with a question for the next guest. so The question is from producer Liam Hyen, who made things like Jimper, as well as erotic stories, latecomers, upcoming homebodies. And so Liam's question is.
00:31:50
Speaker
What's your if this happens, I'll retire thing? Like for me, it's making a movie that gets turned into a Broadway musical. If that happens, I'll be like, I'm retiring. That's good. That's good enough for me. Yeah, like that's it. i i dad I'm good. I'm good. I don't know to know how I make money, but I think that'll I call it.
00:32:11
Speaker
Oh my God. um You know, it's funny because like, I'm still such in like a building point of my career. I actually don't feel like I have an end point that I can look at and be like, then I'll retire. Like when it stops being the thing that I want to put my time into, when it becomes the thing that I'm just like, I don't want to do this anymore. I think that that, but I don't really see that happening.
00:32:37
Speaker
That might be like a really kind of like, I don't know, negative answer. I don't see it like that. Like I just see it as in like the thing of like, this is what I want to do and I'm just going to I want to keep making things forever. I mean like, look, if I won the lottery and you know, won like a billion dollars or something, then you know, maybe I might take it a bit easier, but I just, I'm not sure. I feel like you'd still be writing and directing. i have a sense that you would be. Yeah. Like, i don't
Conclusion and Credits
00:33:05
Speaker
know. I don't know. Maybe it would be like if they made a Broadway show of like my sub stack, But I really don't see that happening. um So I think, you know, my dad, my dad has always like said this thing where he's like, and he's very smart and he's not in the film industry at all, but, and this again might be, I don't know if it's jaded or if it feels like he's a realist. And he sometimes says this thing where he's like, you'll get the thing that you want and it won't, there'll always be something else that you want.
00:33:41
Speaker
It may not feel like what you expected it to feel like and just be aware of that. And i so I don't know. I don't know. I think because of that advice that he sort of has has said, i don't know if I fully necessarily agree with it, but it does kind of make me.
00:33:57
Speaker
think about in my experience, the the things that I've wanted and then I've gotten them, I'm like, great, what's next? So I, yeah, I don't know if there's ever an end point that I can see right now.
00:34:11
Speaker
i don't know, maybe in 40 years when I retire, but there'll be something I'll be like, you know what? I'm tired. Yeah. You'll be like, that was a thing. a Exhaustion. Yeah.
00:34:22
Speaker
ah Well, ah we'll leave it there. But thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today Really appreciate it. No worries. Thank you.
00:34:32
Speaker
That was writer-director Hannah Lehmann and a huge thanks to Hannah for joining me on the podcast. This episode was produced and edited by myself with logo design by Shara Parsons and music by Seb Sebotaj-Gavrilovic. If you enjoyed listening, please hit that subscribe button and leave us a review. See you in a fortnight.