WRITER AND HEROINE OF SEX AND DEATH – MELBOURNE’S LATEST INDI ONLINE SERIES
Sex & Death is a six-part comedic web series that follows an amateur actress Charlie and her lost cause attempts at romance. Haunted by duplicitous lovers, selfish friends and a tyrannical acting coach, Charlie’s greatest performance is pretending to be normal.
Writer/Director: Kathleen Lee
Kathleen Lee completed her Bachelor of Film & Television in 2011 at Swinburne University. She has since been working freelance in the industry directing music videos, content videos and creating her own short films. In 2016 her short film “Bush Trip” won the audience choice award at Melbourne’s Reel Good film festival. She has created music videos for several Melbourne acts including Leisure Centre, Hayden Calnin, Christopher Coleman and Canary. In 2017 she
joined the production company KEWL and has worked on multiple projects ranging from commercial campaigns, music videos, branded content and narrative series including the feature-length documentary ‘Now Sound’ that premiered at MIFF 2018. In 2019 she directed her first web series, Sex & Death, available from March 2020. Kathleen’s offbeat romantic comedies depict eccentric but warm characters and celebrate the zeitgeist and landscape of the world around her.
Watch the series free online now https://www.sexanddeath.online/
Q ARE YOU A CAT OR DOG PERSON?
Dog – I pestered my parents and finally got a mongrel! He was the naughtiest dog ever!
Q WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE ACTOR?
Benedict Cumberbatch – I think he plays complicated characters going through inner turmoil with such realism.
Q WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE ACTRESS?
Cate Blanchett – She brings quite theatrical, physical acting from the stage to her movies and pulls it off.
Q WHAT MOVIE DID YOU LOVE HER IN?
The Woody Allen film Blue Jasmine, as she simply nails her character unravelling.
Q WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK?
The Brothers Karamazov by Dosoevsky as it is so passionately philosophical.
Q WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CHILDHOOD MEMORY?
Until about the age of 6 we lived on a “fruit pickers” block near Silvan – my favourite memories are just running through the endless fields.
Q WHERE IS YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE OR DREAM DESTINATION?
Queenscliff, when I was a child we visited there during the summertime.
Q WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST REASON FOR WRITING THIS PIECE?
It was something I wanted to understand. That is, it was my way of understanding these people and the way they acted. I came up with a formula to explain them and to tell their stories, and their motivations.
Q DID IT FULFIL THOSE REASONS?
Yes, absolutely.
Q HOW DO YOU FEEL NOW THAT YOU HAVE DONE IT?
I feel more complete.
Q IT IS A HUGE THING TO NOT JUST WRITE BUT ALSO TO PLAY THE HEROINE – HOW DID IT FEEL DIRECTING AS WELL?
It was certainly a lot easier this time as I had done it before. This time I had Tobias Willis on board as Producer and he just helped me out so much. He was just so great at setting things up and organising everything. When I wasn’t appearing in scenes, I just got to focus on direction.
