Power couple: Interview with Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope

It’s a hard fact of life in show business that success in one field does not necessarily buy you much credit in another. And it’s a fact married producing duo Robyn Butler & Wayne Hope, who run the prolific production company Gristmill, were continually confronted by while trying to get their feature comedy Now Add Honey off the ground.

Despite being responsible for such TV shows as Stories from the Golf, Very Small Business, The Librarians and Upper Middle Bogan (which has just filmed its second season) the couple admit they found the process more difficult than they expected.

But finally Now Add Honey is out, written and starring Butler and directed by Hope.

Butler plays Caroline Morgan, whose dysfunctional family is thrown into deeper chaos with the arrival of her celebrity niece Honey (Lucy Fry). The star of a hit kids TV show, Honey has been persuaded by her substance-loving mother/manager (Portia de Rossi) to do a sexy music video to extend her shelf life.

Beneath the film’s busy comedy shenanigans are serious themes about marriage, middle-age anxiety and the commodification of teen sexuality, an issue Butler feels especially disturbed by.

In this lively interview the pair discuss the meaning of the film and the difficulties they faced making it. They also respond to some direct criticisms and address the proposal by the Australian Directors Guild to assign 50% of Screen Australia funding to women directors.

Please enjoy.

BELOW: Watch the interview with Robyn Butler & Wayne Hope

View the railer for Now Add Honey