Interview with Vanessa Alexander – Producer

Vanessa Alexander (30) initially came to South Pacific Pictures' attention through Magik and Rose – a low-budget feature film she wrote and directed which received great critical acclaim and awards.

Although Alexander went to the Victoria College of Arts in Melbourne, her film and television experience prior to Magik and Rose consisted of getting turned down for approximately 19 proposals for short film funding and a 6-week work experience stint observing on the set of Murder Call in Australia.

She was nearly about to give up on the industry and try out for medical school when she heard about a low-budget feature film scheme aimed to encourage young writers and directors. She decided to make one last-ditch attempt and wrote her first feature film proposal.

Much to her surprise, Magik and Rose was accepted and she was plunged into filmmaking. In addition to teaching Alexander about the fundamentals of film production, it also enabled her to display her creative ability. It was this flair that caught the eye of South Pacific Pictures and led to Alexander's involvement in Being Eve.

"I was attracted to Being Eve because of the terrific scripts," says Alexander. "I preferred them to any of the film scripts I was offered. Being Eve was so well written that it inspired great creative thoughts about what I could bring to the series in terms of how it was made.

"The series is closer to my sensibilities – energetic, funny with moments that are quite mad. I was a terrible nerd when I was a teenager so I was instantly endeared to the character of Eve. I could definitely identify with her gawky side.

"Magik and Rose was low budget and had very little camera equipment so it was a performance driven piece and quite static technically. Being Eve is crazily different. It's just about all Steadicam, fantasy sequences and special effects. It was a learning curve producing the show – but great fun."

Talented young directors Peter Salmon (short films) and Armagan Ballantyne (short films and commercials) were brought on as the first series directors and they worked closely with Alexander to set the style of the show. Television directors Britta Johnstone and Andrew Merrifield were brought in later. "All the directors came from different genres which meant we had a huge range of experience," explains Alexander.

"We also had young heads of departments, many of whom were in those positions for the first time, which helped the fresh creativity of the show," she says. "Both the directors and the crew loved the series and worked the extra mile to make it happen. It was a really steep learning curve for everyone and it needed that kind of passion and hard work for it to come together."

As the show's producer Alexander set the example of going the extra mile for the production by moving out of the producer's chair on several occasions. "I ended up directing a number of scenes. I was acting and doing voice-overs. I made all the fake television shows that appear on Ned's TV. Even my 8-year-old daughter, Floyd, appears as the young Eve in the show."

In addition to the efforts of the crew and cast, Alexander gives full credit to lead actress Fleur Saville for the contribution she made to the show. "Fleur is amazing," she says. "She's not at all like her character which was actually a big asset because the demands on Fleur as an actor in the title role were so great she needed the confidence and strength to cope physically and mentally. Fleur has fantastic energy. For the last two weeks of production she was in every scene that was shot and she never lost it. She was tremendous."