Hello and welcome to Big Gay Energy. I'm Caitlin. And I'm Fiora. Come along with us while we dive into the fun and nuances of queer media. Representation matters, and we're. Here to talk about it. Cheers queers. What's on the big agenda? Today Theora, today on the Big Age and we have a little bit of a blast from the past. We were fortunate enough to be able to talk to the wonderful and super talented screenwriter for Blank the series, the great and magnificent Wanna Sorne.
It was a great conversation. However my audio did not record during it. So it's we're here right now to do our intro and we will be doing highlights from the discussion. It just you will not hear me at all. So it looked like I was not there, but I you could see me but I wasn't I was there.
I'm very sick. Just as a heads up, if you weren't aware, we did a big Discord discussion where I want to certain took time out of her day to come talk to us and are like Discord members who were there to listen to this discussion. And we're basically giving you the highlights from that discussion that we did.
So that's what this is and we hope you enjoy learning more about Blank the series and from the creator's perspective of adapting this from the novel into the show and get some insight into that because we definitely learned a lot and we're really appreciative to hear what goes on behind the scenes and how this happens. And what was the thought process for writing scenes that were differently in the in the show or kind of like how things worked.
So we hope you enjoy and yeah, have fun, have fun. So we have to ask, how did you find our podcast? We're dying to know. So that's like my friend on my Twitter account and she's my friend and she shared your like a snippet, like did the one thing that you did on the kind of like the TikTok charts that share your highlights on the recap. And then I saw that and was like
interesting. And then I, I just go around and see on YouTube and then I keep on I, I was literally like watching it almost the whole day almost without any sleep. You're a trooper. When you talk about Anthony, when I was like, that's cute because antonym was like exclusively a character that created for the like the
second-half of the season. I'm glad because when the, the, the season 2 was like kicked off and then these characters came up and people were like antonym that antonym, this antonym that I kind of find it funny how people were, you know, interacting with that character. That's how I, I came across the podcast because my friend shared like a small clip.
And I think it was about when you guys talking about like the healthy relationship side of things, because like I saw some, some content creators on, on YouTube say things about it too, but it's not like they're focused on that part of the relationship part. So I, I kind of like curious what you guys kind of like elaborate on that. So I went on and like watched it and. Well, thank your friend for us. And find it very, very like detailed and very really entertaining to watch.
Because I, I kind of curious of how like people were reacting, think about like the whole thing and, and reflected on it. But some of the scenes that when you're kind of dissecting it, I'm like, you guys are thinking too much, man. The scene is so small. He made it bigger. Some of the scenes were like added, it's just a fun scene to put on or anything like that. When you guys comment on when Dignan gave Dignan her first breastless the first gift, it's actually the the four leaf Clover.
Oh, was it? Damn yeah it's a four leaf Clover. That's why it's a gift fit. Fit thing for exam is a full good is a good luck sham. That's even better. Thank you. Yeah, I knew she put thought into it. How did you approach adapting Blank the novel into ATV series? I first read Blank when it was like a web novel before it was published. So that was like five years ago. And I kind of like the story and I know it's problematic.
So the way I approach this is that when I was first hired as a screenwriter, as a scriptwriter, and we talked to Kunwan and, and the production team at the first season and they just told me this curve of things like, OK, it's going to be 12 episodes and she wants to split it in half, six and six. So then at that first meeting, I was like, OK, fine. Then I'm going to end the first season with that scene.
I don't know how I'm going to actually like do an episode breakdown right now with this first meeting, but I know that scene is going to be the end of the first season no matter what. And then I have like an an idea of like which scenes from the books that I would take out and which scenes from which like, and something that I would like to add in. So like the song storyline was something that I proposed to the
meet the first meeting. I want to emphasis on this because I felt like it's such a lost opportunity that the novel didn't quite go there. And I felt like as a part of the character and to make her human, like big name a little bit more human. I felt like that's something you need to emphasis on because it's not going to be easy to go in, to go back to the place where you grew up and now it has no one left that you used to grow up with.
Like there's no more grand man, there's no more Kun Song and Kunsan is already like out of the palace. And all of that is like, it's quite a lonely place. And I felt like it's such a good platform and a foundation for like the characters to just bond. And that's why I propose the audience like I felt like I want to do this. I want to emphasis that this will stem out to be something that that this person is not
perfect at all. And beside all that, the facade and everything, it's just very human, very traumatizing, very, you know, she has this traumatic thing going on. And I felt like as an adult or you told yourself you are an adult, basically, when you go back to that place where you were like growing up, it's kind of pretty much reverted you back to being a child. It's a challenging thing because of my experience in, in Thai dramas.
We tend to do this kind of small things too in Thai dramas because that's how we let the audience know some of the background story we have, but not all the time that this kind of ideas got elaborated. So I'm glad that Kun one kind of bought this idea and, and, and, and make me able to do this. And I often say on Twitter that I am really thankful for this project because she gave me such a creative freedom to do this because not every production will let you do this.
Sometimes they don't let you have this and run with it. So I'm glad that she understand how this is a pivotal moment for both of them and how we set up like a good relationship for both of them. It's so easy to show like the sweet side and and all that lovey dovey side, and it's an easy scenes to write too, I'm not going to lie. But with all that sugary things, when it come to real sense of like relationship, relationship needs to stem for something
that's stronger. And with this, the the theme of the book is is like circling around the word worthy. So I figured like if I have to answer this question, why Lillian is worthy of this? Not just because she has a big heart and really like a true believer in love, but she is really, really good emotional support. And that is something you barely find in the good partner because as humans we all have flaws and all that.
But for a girl that young, she has such a big heart and, and that's why it's such a good pillar for this relationship to work. I, I used to like tweet a fan on Twitter and then like maybe the na na na persona that you see the, the QC thing, it's just a facade, you know, maybe it's just a facade just to draw an attention to it. And people often times always say it's like when you started watch blank, they start to say like, they, they find big little
nun annoying. But my point was like, but that's the point. She was that annoying. So that big nun gave her attention because she has nothing else to, you know, like I couldn't fend off this annoying little girl. So I, I like sure, girl, what you want. It doesn't mean that she has that affection towards little men, but it's just like, OK, fine, what do you actually want with me? You know, that's that's more in that sense.
So I felt like if little men came to big name being all serious and being all mature as she did in the second-half, she wouldn't have that attention. You know, sure, she might intrigue my big name might be a little bit intrigue of why this girl is so mature, but it wouldn't spark her interest as much because that behavior was like, demand your attention. It's persistent and an audacity as it is. Yes, so much audacity. I find that cute in the books
too, the audacity that she has. So that's why it kind of like make her a bright character. But when you start to find it's, it's also the theme of her character too, is like, despite all the shiny smiley facade that she has, deep down, she has so much, so much more. When big men find that, the more part, it's just so hard not to love her. And Yoko did a wonderful job on that. If she makes you annoyed, if she makes she succeed, she's really good at acting. Yes, exactly, if the actor is
doing the actor's job. So if you hate shit, if you hate shit, then that's mean. He did a great job. He did a great job. He did it with a punchable face. He's a sweet guy though, too. Like I, I, I met him at the event once, like the last EP, I think the season 2 last EP and, and met him and like he actually is a, he's a sweet guy. And I'm like, man, but you're really good at acting because I, I, when I wrote that, I'm like, jeez, you are so punchable, man.
How did you choose which scenes to keep for the show? When I work with this, I kind of do like an episode breakdown I sent to Punuan to see like if she liked the pacing of it. Because for someone for people who who read the books, you will understand that I didn't actually transfer all the scenes from the books. I tend to merge them and then
mix, mix and match them. So the story is pacing was quite fast in in the sense because sometimes you can't really do any one to one adaptation because it is an adaptation. And that's why I did like a one to 12 pacing, doing the highlights of the scenes like this is going to happen at the beginning, this is going to happen at the middle, and this is going to happen at the end. Do you like where it ends or
not? And then the second episode going to be this third episode going to be this, this is and then it will end like this. The point where could one kind of worry the most is actually that I think it is a 98910 episodes because, well, if you read the novels, you will understand once they kind of like be in the relationship, the sex scenes they take off. See, there's no story in it. Let's just say it. It's just a lot of of sex scenes and and there's no story in that.
Those kind of like scenes, that driven story nowhere. It's just basically like waiting to be found out or caught on. So I have some worries about that. That's why I told Kunwan that I want to bring in Kunsong storyline because that would be a big hole to fill. And then we kind of worry at the 9/10/11 episodes. Like I saw like you guys saying, it's like how after the birthday presents is it's so it's changed so swiftly. That's is because I have to shorten it for the fact that
that even happened in the book. So I have to bind it as much as as possible because yeah, the event in the boat is that this scene happened in Phuket. Literally the hotel they were staying was Shed's parents hotel. And as much as I like the the being almost get caught scene at the shower and and everything it it felt like I found it a bit odd. Like no man like like how can you not put two and two together Shed like that's beyond blind
you know. But in the series from from my point of view is that it was his intention from the 1st place. Like at the beginning, he just want to use Lithonen as an excuse to bring Kuneng to bring big along. It doesn't matter if if Lithonen enjoyed it or not. He just want her big men to be there because he's wants to propose to her because everything light up in this man
head. Like we fits perfectly well on the paper and obviously my daughter love you and we could just be like a little happy family, which like dude, like dude cheerlessly said to you like don't cross the line. She even blossomly said it like I only talked to you because of listening. I only talked to you because you are a listening father. Like bro, it couldn't be more
blunt. But I, I think it's the kind of thing that I think from Chase, like background and, and his family and how he's came from like it's a man with power. You know, the, the guy who grew up with, with such an elitist family background, like being a prime minister's son and and all
that. He's kind of get used to what he he wants and that's why he that's why he doesn't listen even like at one point at one point I think it on Twitter, maybe I just did say something about Shannon's like he's he's that kind of the character that he probably raised that way. So like if you see it in in the family unit, like shed the grand
man and PM 5:00 PM five. I think it's she's just kind of like a victim on this too, like the, the superficial stuff that goes in on like how her mom was this social climber and just like how she thinks about social more than than the family unit itself. So this is kind of reflected on the, the culture that just like basically think about what other people think about you rather than you being you.
That's a that that's theme in in this series and in this books too, because you care so much about other people, but you don't care much about your own family. So this is the way things kind of like blow up into your face. He's kind of brought up in that sense to like so much realism into like gift, gift things and think that's giving something is actually really good thing to do when the point of this whole series and the whole situation with we don't know.
He's like, yeah, but that she needs it, that she wants it. And that's why didn't always elaborate. I, I can't remember exactly if this like in the book or not, but I kind of want to emphasis on this like child upbringing is not about you give them stuff, you listen to them. And maybe that's because how my mom raised me So. So I kind of like putting that elements in into it a little. So that point in your podcast and you was saying like blank is pretty much not an ensemble piece.
We stick with the two mains. And I think like this kind of adaptation, you can't do an ensemble piece on it because the noble is so one point of Bill. And to have like a little points of view in this show is really hard for me to feel into like I have to go back and then do a lot of bad story on on her and like why she race that way and how so I have to go back and and kind of retracing whatever that was was written in the book and
trying to figure out how this whole household function really like how the grand man would would raise. And then I have to go back and see how like, why is she straight? What is her motivation ultimately, because it wasn't so clear in the book. So I have to go back and and try to emphasize, oh, because she was ashamed before that she raised her daughter and then it is a teenage pregnancy and then she doesn't want it to be reprid. So that's why she's
overprotective. But over protective for who's sake? So that's is the question that I want to ask. That's is why little knowing has so much emotional immaturity, because as much as she find that restricted, she's still love her grandma. So it's a toxic relationship, you must say. And I think it it's really like the poor girl just has to have that kind of like strong mentality to put that every day.
She's a very strong person. That's one of the remarkable things about the character and I'm really glad you took the time to really highlight that because like you said, the novel is very much you're in big nuns head, you see the world through her eyes, you see little Nung through her eyes. So I like that you took the time to really think about that with Little Nun because she like with all of her audacity and stuff, like she is a very strong person.
And so I like that you really got to the roots that like how she's kind of a survivor in a in a way and and does have this complicated relationship with her caregiver, her grandmother, and she's very strong because of it. I find that in her escape to nobles and radio shows, she learned something from it. I felt like for her to have such a big heart and believing in true love that much, it's kind of like just I think 1 of you says something about Disney stuff. And yeah, it's Disney.
Yeah. It it's kind of that illusion And and I felt like, yeah, but if if big men is not that good of the character, if she's not, you know. It could turn out really, really bad. Yeah, for sure. That can be dangerous.
Definitely. In the show, the way you kind of like paste everything out to depict their relationship, there's a variety of different moments that depict this full relationship that show how intimate it is, from like heartfelt confession or conversations to like them just being domestic to like the physical intimacy, intimacy scenes that makes it feel real, like a real relationship, like
they're real people. And we've mentioned several times on the podcast that we view this as a healthy and realistic relationship, like you mentioned earlier. Was that your intention when adapting the series and how would you describe their relationship between the two of them? That's the thing that I want to showcase for for the show. And most of the time I think it's because I wrote so much side drama in terms of like the heterosexual relationship and we tend to have this small moments
of being cutesy. It's kind of like, yeah, it's not about being cutesy. Lovely all the time. Felt like it's in such a way that a character with that age and mentality, like big name. I kind of find that this kind of relationship is more grounded. I felt like it is a relationship
that everybody wants. It doesn't need to be so much about fanfare and all like the the the dates and all that you can do that, but at the end of the day, it's just how you spend your time with your loved ones And it's not about going out with a romantic dinner or whatever. It's just that small moment of time.
And and I think it's partly because how couldn't one adapt my screen pay into like the actual scenes too, Because these kind of things I always say is like it's a team effort, not just because the script was written in in some ways. And it it it's about how those people in like the production team, the producer sees and then produce it out and then be that
what you saw. It's a blessing that we agree on that is a good outlook for those two relationship and I I also use that kind of my own experience. It has that line. But instead of doing just that I kind of like want to make the audience sees like yeah she's grow up that way that her love language is is food. And I kind of kind of capture that from how many scenes of big men in the novel was like asking people to just feed her
virtually good foods. It felt like that for her is like an expression on love, not just because she's trying to survive and all that, but it's, it's also like, just like you said in in your podcast, that in some cultures, food is really like eccentric. And so in Thailand too, it's it's the same thing. And it's like how we center ourselves around being a family unit and all that.
And there's this like golden triangle of relationship in terms of psychology that you have like a passionate love, a platonic love and things like that. So that's theoristic and into my mind. And I felt like there's something I could translate to, to like a perfect relationship would mean that you need to go
beyond that passionate face. You know, your relationship is good, love is good, you have attraction that is good and then you started on to have a love and then you have the passionate face and then after all that dies down, it's just being platonic and being just a partner in life. So to make people buying it like rooting for them really with this much age gap and feel like it's I want it to work. So I have to to make sure that it works.
It doesn't need to be all sweet, but it is sweet in a sense. That's why. And I felt like Yoko and Phi make it look real. That small moments they share to each other. It's it's so natural that you can feel like, OK, that's cute, even though they're not doing much, but it's cute When Bignon was designing her gallery and then they didn't came along and I felt like I want learning to be a part of that because that's when your audience know that
she's a partner. And the reason big thing didn't tell her because she doesn't have the chance to just to say it. And at the same time, she has her own insecurity, to be honest, like the first time I the first draft of that scene was emphasizing the fact that
she has this guilt. Big thing has this guilt that she she's inheriting this mass fortune because her sister is not here anymore and she's not sure that she's worth it to use this fortune to do this and she doesn't want it to fail because she's still really guilt written. It's so much like baggage on her. I I felt like in a good relationship, it's about not everybody was like clean and perfect and not without wounds and cuts and scars. Little nun has her own scar, but
it's not as many as big nun. So for her to have that huge love to envelope all of that baggage and say it's fine to lay it on me. It's fine. I am your like say father because I I one of my favorite novels is the greatest knight. And it has this line of like when the main character was with his wife and then at the end of that passage, he just like he finally found his safe harbour. And I felt like I want Lieutenant to be that safe harbour for Big Oh. My God, I love those scenes.
And it's so hard to find a good, healthy relationship, especially on screen, because it's it's oftentimes like, and I think in general of like LGBTQ media, we tend to find like it has to either end up being traumatizing, you know, like how I know how people like Carol and all of that. And it's like, dude. But in the end of at the end of the day, it's still pretty much quite toxic.
As much as I like how the movie pans out, it just felt like, do we really like, I don't know, Or maybe we just like ended up with like, are we something? Are we not? It's not going deep into how actual relationship work, like how heterosexual media would display their relationship and how like complicated their marriage life would be or anything like that. Like in the media itself.
In I, I think I you would understand like how in the Western media would display all this for heterosexual couple, whether it's just like for the side characters or the main characters. We will see how the the drama pans out in their relationship, but barely. Barely. We see healthy relationship on any shows. The way they're displaying trauma. It's just like I have my own trauma, you have your own trauma. We both have trauma so we can be bitched a bitch to each other.
And I felt like why? Let's traumatize each other. Let's traumatize each other more. That's a good relationship. Why not? I know why they did that because it's on on television. It looks good. I just, I'm grabbing and everything, but in a sense it doesn't show you why it's good to enrich yourself to be in love. At the end of the day, it's just we want that someone as a human
being. You want that someone who understands you and and this show in particular is felt focused on the family side of things. So for me, it's like when big men lost lost a grand man. And when Kun Sam says like we are the only one left in the family, like just the two of us. So in a sense then without their life partner, they wouldn't have anyone else anymore. So in the end, you know, that is such a big thing that could hang over your head. And I felt like it's such a
traumatizing experience. And I felt like that would be the main message of the book, too. That's why the sex scene in the episode 6 was so important. Like that issue came up when when we talked in the meeting too. Like when one asked me, what did you think about that scene in the book? I'm like, I don't have problem with it. I find it if you done it right, by right, I mean you're not over sexualizing it. It needs to be translated as comfort. She's trying to comfort someone
she loves at her own expense. It's not like she doesn't know what she's getting herself into. She knew, but that's the way she love, you know, and I think that's the advantage of little men because of her age, of her innocence, of her believing in love that much, that love conquers our thing. When we were young, we believe in that. And I think that is such a good thing that this character has.
And I felt like if you met someone who willing to do to and willing to go on to that extent, how could you not love that person when they're sacrificing themselves for you? And then you as a good person, you wouldn't like want to exploit that. And I think Bignam as a character wouldn't exploit that too. And that's why she just felt like she wouldn't dare to
displease you. Your fan asked me, like, if the grand man didn't die on Episode 6, what did you think it would happen in that fight, after that fight? And I I remember a reply. They're going to have a angry sex scene. Yeah, that makes sense. The dynamic between their relationship would be different than what we saw. She wouldn't have that audacity to to say reset. That would never happen. She wouldn't have the audacity to like say let's reset this
because it's it's an angry sex. It's not a comfort sex anymore. It's just different. That would mean she admits something else and the power that they make in their relationship would change a lot. The grandma's storyline is something I, I, I want to emphasis to like how they try to make that relationship work. But in the end, it doesn't because in the book it wasn't emphasis.
It's just like touch and go. I talked to Kunwan and I says, like, yeah, let's emphasis this a bit more with a few scenes. It's such a hurtful blow that you had the chance to make amends, but then you decided not to. And then the end came suddenly and it it made things a little bit more worse and you felt like you were a monster not grabbing that chance. So I want to just set it up for that so, so people would understand why she broke down
that much. The flashbacks to like how she ate with the grandma when she was younger and her being introducing to art and all that. It wasn't in the books. So I I have to emphasis on like what if it was her grandma that started it all and she forgot that at the beginning it was this. It's such a gut wrenching scene to write. I remember writing that scene and I thought migraine after I finished it.
Like not just because it is a sex scene, but there's so many things going on when you are a scriptwriter, you're not, you're not writing for one character. So every time that there is a dialogue or there is an action, you put yourself in that character's shoes. So I I was like being big name, little name and then come back to big name again and being little name again switch back and forth.
Next question is from Zora. So Zora's asks, looking back on how you started with this project compared to to now, how do you feel knowing you have made a beautiful series that so many people won't forget? What is sound arrogant if I say I know it's going to be good since the beginning, it's good.
No, I I to be on on a serious note, it's like this is the first story that I wrote that it is a woman love woman story, a Suffolk series and I have been dying to write 1 and I found a good like producer, which is couldn't one that she has the same passion for this story too. That barely anything that you find in the industry. Sometimes it's just like you, you did a story just because you want money basically. But for this project, it's it's just a product of love.
Like I want to do it, she wants to do it. Everybody wants to do it. That's what make it so memorable and make make it so good because the people involved with just like, so wanting to make this good. So yeah, the answer to that, in short, was like, I knew it's going to be great. Yes, absolutely. That's why that's why we love it so much. Like you can tell like people cared about it.
So it's nice to hear that like from the creative side that like it was a good team that cared about it because that's what we got on screen. So thank you for sharing that. Let's talk about the family dynamic because there is a lot going on there. The family dynamic is it's like a spider web. They're so intertwined with each other. It's too much that I need to like rethink things, Like I need to cut this storyline off.
We talk about this like the the possibility of like adapting it and we talk about shade being the one that engaged with big men and then being little and fatter. It might be a little bit too complicated. It might be a little bit too much. How about we change that chair is just someone who just engaged with Kunun and and little nun is like little nun real father is his brother and that died or something. So that would not make things a little bit like too much.
And I was like, it's not going to make sense with with people who read the novel. And then if it did this change it would be too much. Well, I love the messiness of this family dynamic. And something else we loved about the series is that Little Nung had a podcast, and a very successful one too. I remember your comment on your podcast was like, oh, I don't think it's a better businesswoman than and Sam was like laughing at that. Sam and Gap is a terrible businesswoman.
At least Gap the series Mon saved Sam many times. I'm just laughing about that too. When we were doing this and I was like, what should I do with with with Luton and how it's going to pan out? Not being like I want to be a DJ and not doing anything about it. In the book, it just doesn't yeah, explains at all. It's just like, yeah, she just want to be a radio DJ.
So I felt like, OK, before in this day and age, like the the novel itself is written like five years ago and the podcast wasn't really like the thing back then. So I kind of updated it a little bit and say like, OK, she's going to do a podcast, but what kind of podcast, just to be fair, we are creating right now is so many things that's just not about talking to people, you know, and not how like those kind of things that we have to find something that different.
So in Thailand, the content where someone reading a book summarizing a book or a novel is really very lucrative. So it's really big thing in YouTube in Thailand YouTube area. So I felt like, OK, if linen find interest in that, it would be fine. She has a lot of resources in in that palace or in that library. It has so many books in it. I I did like put some like tidbits in here and then it's a more details in the scene, like people might catch up and people might not catch up, but it's
it's fine. When antonym says mastermind Curry is big name favorite food, it shows that quite ritually because mastermind Curry was like back into like Royo Rama, like King Rama, the second he wrote in a poem even before he was like the king. So it was like something that a royal would eat and it was in the royal cuisine and it's passed down. So it's a thing that would make
sense. And then they would cook and in Thai culture, like even the royal family cooks and and it's another recipe that passed it down. So why not add it that a little bit of a touch to that. And like the Romeo and Juliet, just like Rama the six was the one who translated from English. So that's why everything like in that was to emphasis how it is about being royal. The Romeo and Juliet as a play that translate into Thai is actually like a very limited edition.
You can find it on online, but it's the actual books is really like rare to find because it actually like given out to like a small circle people. I think it's a very few first few of the translation that he made he study in in England, like Rama the six was his education is England. So he's like in the boy school when he has a background in in TSN and all of that. And he's really well versed in Thai language. So when he came back to Thailand, he's like translate a lot of that.
He has like his own plays and a lot of things about literature. So yeah, that's why the idea of the podcast came out, because people didn't know about this, you know, so why not put it in there? I think I saw your question like a bit on like how people know that it's her. It's not actually UE and and folk managing the podcast. My Luton was doing the podcast. She was doing a radio at the university. She was in radio club.
So when she was live as a radio DJ at the university, people recognize that her was matched the podcast and start in boxing in into like a Facebook page of the of the club asking is that this DJ is the same one who doing the podcast. And then once they match that they knew that it is literally. So that's why that's that dialogue where you say it's fine. I already told the senior not to tell anybody that it's you. Got it. That makes so much more sense. Oh my God damn I can't believe I
missed that. OK, that makes sense. Look at she's dzing all over the place. It was set it up in the books that She's and You is in the radio club. That's amazing, good for her and her podcast and so successful. Yeah, in Thailand right now, like if you find those channels these days, it's going to be AI voice. So with a real voice like like listening, it's rare. And it's like once you found out, once she's good looking to, she's clearly know how to speak,
it's like that's that. Something I have been wondering about is how did Chet know that Big Non shared the relationship on the radio? I think it's because the the radio show was so masked like in Thailand is because in the series we can't mention the actual radio show but it's based on a big popular show in Thailand that make it into a
series. You might know as Cup Friday the series Club Friday the city that in Phi and Charlotte played into because Club Friday the series was actually a drama based on those story was that telling on the radio show Oh. No way. I didn't know that was. Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, Top Friday was actually like the very first like drama project that actually have the goal of story to be honest before gap series and it's based on the real life story that people will call in and consult
about their love. So the radio show that Chad and. They don't listen to is cup Friday where people would just call maybe like he just constant and like listen to or he just knew from someone. Maybe he knew it from like the Grand Mam, or maybe he was just like TuneIn or piano Fan knew it's it could be all of those options. That line came from the novel. He was angry. Like you have to tell that to everyone because he tried to tell you and you didn't listen. Oh my God, so many you stupid.
OK, wait, quick question. Did you get a headache writing some of those scenes where like Big Nong is talking to Chet and she has to repeat herself like 10 times? Like tell him the same thing over and over again? Did you get a headache writing that? You're like, I got to write this again because he still doesn't get. It which I think I told him down to be a concerned father in a sense.
In the book, he's a little bit even more pushier than I don't know if the the translated version would capture that, but in the Thai version, he would like speak like an old gentleman, like the way the gentleman in the elite society would talk to women. He would just end up trying to
be cute. See with like look, ha, like if you notice that he sometimes talk with little men with like the the the car, which is usually used with female use it, but he's a male and and he talk like a woman sometimes because in the elite society, in tight elite society, sometimes for a gentleman to speak like that with a woman, it softens their
their masculine persona. And sometimes because they were brought up in such a elitist way, they tend to talk like a softer manner kind of thing because you don't have that in in English. But in the book, I think Chad is more pushy. It's just he's just so pushy and nosy and extremely, extremely homophobic. So yeah, I think that we turned him down a lot in the book. He's kind of like, because I love you. Like, you know, like my feeling is so damn important.
We just translate into how how the series work went out. The scene where he took big men to to dinner and then the to the lunch thing and he barely listened to her. And he just like eat this and do that. And then he just called him out. Like, yeah, you'd ask me for to come out for lunch because you want me to be captured with you and make a pay 6 meals again, like things like that.
That scene in particular was something I want to point it out to the audience that it's not like big men didn't know what shade is up to. She knew she was smart enough to know what what she's like, but she's doing and to be honest, I find it in a way that Sam and Mon would involve in this too. What I planned was when Chad did that announcement on the news, like they were going to go back together and reunite and then all engagement going to come back and let things like that.
The whole like big Sam and Mon was like, sure, we're going to like hit back. We're not going to let him like hit us and we're going to hit back. So they kind of sneak in like into a little interview that they have to like promoting the the Gary. She was like having a new a sit down interview with someone as a content creators and then like introducing the Gary and all that and just have a sit down conversation. And then the last question was like, are you single?
And then big nun would say yes. And then we would transition to like, little nun seeing that big nun say, yes, she's single. And that would make it a little bit like a dent into the relationship they have. Yeah, So But Kunwan didn't buy that idea. So we scrap that off and then have whatever we have on the show. You can fake news all your wants, but I can qualify it in just one go. And then and that would just end you and have no interest in you. So stop it.
If I say it to your face and you're still not getting it, I'm going to say it to the public that I am so effing single that you don't have the chance to come back at me again. And it would make more sense because Sam in cap was doing something about content creating and all that. She would know how to play with the media. And that would make more sense of why Linden would choose folk
to be her fake boyfriend. Because it has also like getting back to like you were saying you're single fine. Then I having my fake boyfriend like 2 can play this game. It would be like a different dynamic on what we have on the show. A fan DM me in Twitter and they didn't like the scene where little men were like saying that folk is her boyfriend. Like why do I have to like pick that plot up when I could just like changed it and I answered it based on like little men point of view.
Like she didn't do it because she want to hurt big men. She did it as a kid. She did it as a younger person who see it as a solution, which is what she say on on the in her dialogue. She's being honest that she's like, yeah, but if you were in her position with what what would you do? She you would do the same thing because it was easy to do, you know, I would get rid of the the fans attention. Then people would just stop bothering me because I have folk already.
My father's would just like stop being a homophobia to me. And it's just like, to your point, like, yeah, but it would undone all the things that Bignam already is doing. And and that in Bignam's mind would be like, yeah, but I am so trying so damn hard to like soft landing this thing. And you just like exploding everything up. It's just that dynamic of how people would experiment and people without experience thinks and how they see things pans
out. Like what you said, if she's if little, just stop and look at how it is a little bit more. She would see that big man already think of her as a life partner that would just go on and on. It's not just this moment. You know, big man already dead on being like, I don't want anyone else. I want you. I truly meant it when I wrote that scene when she said it wouldn't be a problem because we would love each other anyway, that they proved it to them that
we love each other. But Lillian didn't understand that for big news like it's not a problem to her because she knew she loved her enough. That it doesn't need that assurance to like be around each other all the time. Being separated would be a nice thing too. Maybe because in the end, if our feeling doesn't change, then
what's the big deal? Big news points of doing that it's just being like being in love doesn't mean we have to be with each other all the time and that's just mature love realistically, like with that amount of money she can just buy a villa in America and just. Say like she's not going to randomly show. Up Like, not only do we love big Nun and little nun, but Phi and Yoko are absolutely perfect in these roles. We know.
Anyone who come up to be these characters need to be like really solid actors because there's so much going on. And I'm so glad it's fine doing like oh that episode 4 that she Hawk and. Cry. Oh my God, that was. So good. That was so good. I like that scene because it's, it's so like beautifully executed how she like let her tears hang for a minute and it's. So good. The way she does that is insane
actually. And I have to like props for Yoko for acting through that glasses like, come on, people didn't. Yeah, that's true. Commented on that enough. Like that glasses was so damn thick. But I'm like you were really, really good at at conveying episode like the emotions on all of that. There's always a purpose of like why things were happening on screen when it was intimate, like either physically intimate or emotionally intimate. It added to like the evolution of a relationship.
It was paced very well and I, I appreciate that that there is clearly like intent and thought behind a lot of like not a lot all the scenes including like the intimate scenes that it made it feel real. Like, you know, we've said over and over again in the podcast just feels real, like a real relationship versus just like this is fan service or whatever. I think that's the purpose of like how we talk at the breaking
of the project. And I was like, I don't want to to just to make it like this is going to be highlight, you know, this is going to be a fan service. But I did do something like fan service.
See with the rain scene, the piggyback scene, we didn't see this on GL at all like but we saw this inside dramas all the time that actually she seen in the book is like she little nun came to big nun apartment and just pretend to be faint and that people around them was just like what the hell happened?
The the big man was so embarrassed and like OK I gotta carry her up to the apartment now because people was just like looking at me. So I changed that to like the bus stop just like I want to take her home but the damn girl fake the faint at the bus stop and that would be more making sense. Like it's raining and I just like she fake fainting and I don't know how to process this.
Fine I would just take her home. The scenes where the glasses fell off when I first wrote it, it's not actually like she sneezed and the the the glass fell off initially it was Kunun took off the glasses and just noticed for the first time that that Leonnen's eyes looks really good. Like she fell in love with that. For me when I wrote that, since she didn't think about it that much, she just think it from like an artistic person and like you will look better without the
glasses kind of thing. And then when she took off and then she shows in awe, you know, But I'm glad that that she changed it into destiny sing scene and it make it more essential rather than like intentionally put it off like like that. But I'm glad that that she changed it into destiny sing scene and it make it more essential rather than like intentionally put it off like like that. It kind of flirty in a sense.
People were asking like I'm wondering if there was such thing as an intimacy coordinator in Thailand because in the US for example, there's a person that helps exert Jesus into intimate scene. No in blank that intimacy coordinator is good one. She wears many hats. She's very called intimate scenes because I think it's it the the way that people doesn't felt that it's so like aggressive. It's because it was from like women's eyes. It's how a woman would perceived
sex and on screen and all that. They were finishing filming like 3 days before the last episode was supposed to be air. What a time crunch. They were in the Trump crunch, like real time crunch, like they were shooting and editing at the same time. Like the scene in season 1 where where they were in the right breed. That's also a Ray shoot. That scene wasn't in the book. Big name was say that she loved Little Nun ever until like the
very, very end. But I added that scene because I felt like it would make the acumen that they had later on make more sense, not just because of the kiss because when I write that scene, if it's just the kiss, then it doesn't have that much weight, but you have that admittance and you go like, good thing I didn't hear that you love me. And to be honest, I I wrote that scene because I didn't know the physicality of like the rivalry and all that.
I was paying homage to the actual cover of the book and poster. I didn't know like how the location was going to work out. But actually she wasn't supposed to sleep on the shoulder, but she was supposed to like at first it was on the shoulder, then big men would slide her her chair a little bit just to let little and lay her head on the lap so it would be more comfortable.
I kind of designed big men to be like a big comfortable hacker and lovely person than she actually looks like because in in the book she's kind of mean at some point, like the way she speaks, she she she could be really really mean. I'm sorry, I'm laughing at the comments. She was like she was Co as fuck in the book it. Was. People wouldn't be that cold, you know, like in in real life. I know that that should be some aspects of her that could be reasonable to fall in love too,
not just about being perfect. Like people were just asking like what's the point? What make like little thing different than Shade and Pianfa for liking big men because both of them Pianfa and shade was just liking just the thing that look from the outside. She's perfect. She's ML, but not the human that that is inside her that the trauma and all the things and all that. I felt like that is more interesting as a human being and she has a softer side. She's not that cold.
That's just to particular in a bit. She has a softer side. I think it's the crumbs that in the books too that that leads to how like we display such a healthy relationship between the two. But it just not amplify enough in the book. So that's why we amplify it a little bit more to just like see, it's not about the the age thing. It's about the personal chemistry and how much they care for each other. And it's just a give and take
situation. Like I think most of people would think like they didn't give a lot to this relationship, but I think it's because she's young and she has a lot to give because when you are younger, you are willing to, you have the capability to love more. Like you were like less cynical. You were positive about your outlook in life. So you tend to give people chances more. But once you grow older, you turn cynical and you felt like you give a lot already and nothing, sometime nothing return
to you. And it felt like you become more selfish as you grow older. So it's kind of like, I don't want to give anyone's space to be with me because I don't feel like anyone would give me that kind of thing because I don't want to feel pain and I don't want to give anybody pain. So I exclude myself from that. And she's kind of very cynical about about life, about love, about relationship, because everybody's just looking for to take advantage of her, to take
advantage of her status. And in the sense it's, it's just felt like, why do I have to care? But nobody care really care what I feel inside. She's in the sad place, to be honest. The the teaching scene, that the drawing, the teaching of the drawing. Yeah. Yeah. The book that that that big name taught how paint at first I intend to be like a water watercolor. I study in animation production. So we do a lot of paintings and all that.
And back in the day when I was in high school, I was majoring artists like, so I like, I understand how the theory behind watercolor is that you need to know where to leave the gap or the blank space, the negative space. So if it was like initially, like how it was in the script, it would related to how their relationship would coordinate because you need to know how to leave the blank and fill the blank space with colors. Oh my God, that's. So beautiful. It hurts.
Oh my God, that just blew my mind. That's poetic. Thank you for sharing that. That just blew my mind. Thank you for your time like this is incredible. And thank you for talking with all of us for so long and answering the questions in the chat. Like we really appreciate every bit of insight and everything that you shared, especially your experiences as a screenwriter because one of the big reasons why we're all here and why we have this show.
So like, thank you for all your time and dedication that you put into it. Like we've say all the time on the podcast, it really does show. And so hearing from your perspective was just incredible. Like I said, I saw your podcast and then I was like, this is kind of people that I wanted to have a chat with because I know like, you know your stuff enough to like, we can talk, you know, the the star in the books enough to know what the difference
between the series and the book. It's always fun to talk to people who actually pay attention to the show. I'm glad that you guys took so much time and dedication to just like watched it so intensely. And I am like so grateful that you do because just like I said, you know, like the little details that we that I didn't put in that that they didn't put in or something that I can share about like the water cooler stuff and all that stuff. Like it took some time.
It makes like you need to talk to some people that that understand to re understand it what it meant. So it's not that other channels or other content creators are not great. It's just that the fact that, like, I know from the tone of your podcast that I can talk to you and, and you will understand what I mean. So that's the important things for me to like reach out for you because I enjoy your content and I enjoy that you loving the series as much as I love creating it.
So I think for the behalf of the production team, I'm, I'm glad that you like loving it this much and sharing your love of this so to the world this much too. And I'm glad that I can reach out to people who, who actually loved it the way that you, you 2 loved it that that was great. And I just want to do that. I hope everybody in the audience, you guys got something out of this and you enjoyed our first ever live interview on Discord.
Yeah, maybe if you, you 2 have more questions you want to like ask me about it and sure, let's have another chat. You got it. Because it's fun. It's fun talking to you guys we're. Glad you had fun. That's our goal, just to make everybody have fun. Well, I hope you enjoyed hearing wanna sort of talk and learning all the things about Blank this series. We know we had fun. If we ever do this again, we will again advertise this on social media like we did last time.
So you can all come to the live Discord discussion, if you're able to, to hear the entire thing. So we hope you enjoyed this. Hopefully we'll do it again. That was our first time doing this. Let us know in the comments what you thought. And come join our discord no matter what. Yeah, just join the discord anyway and keep up the discussion. And until next time, hydrate for lesbian Jesus. And get up all over the place.
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