Next Tuesday, April 4, 2023, it will premiere at from the movie his new original series, self-bandcreated and featuring Joan there I watched Vilapuig. On the occasion of its premiere, beyond being able to enjoy all its chapters before anyone else (read the review here), I had the honor of speaking with these two young women with very clear ideas. And after a long conversation, I have the feeling that Joan there Miriasisters also in real life, They are going strong and can revolutionize the Spanish audiovisual industry.
Selftape is part of a story that has a lot of reality: Joana and Mireia Vilapuig will share a cast in Red Bracelets. From there comes the idea of making a story marked by the distances created from a life that crossed paths too often in adolescence. And that’s what its real protagonists told me.
Interview with Joana and Mireia Vilapuig by Selftape
“What was it like working together, being sisters in real life and playing on your own? It can’t be easy”
Joan: “There was a time when, after what happened to us, we were both part of the same cast for Pulseras Rojas and Mireia also worked on Héroes with Pau Freixas and we both wanted to be actresses… We we both found ourselves alone at home, wanting to do Selftape. I think they had about 6 very strange years as sisters, it’s not very normal for this to happen to you with her. There was a moment when they wanted us for the same character, we compared ourselves… And we understood that there was maybe a story behind them“.
Miria: “There were moments of everything, as you said at the beginning. First you say, let’s do it… And then you realize that you have to take some distance, that you have to talk a lot, about what happened… Everything was incredible, but that’s not why there weren’t moments for everything“.
“And we already know that the premise that it starts from is real, what’s real in Selftape and what’s fictional?”
Miria: “is the question. We always say that there is always a lot of truth and a lot of fiction, like a 50-50, so as not to go into details because this is not a debate in which we want to enter. This does not seem relevant to us. Of course, we wanted to play with that and with the archive videos of Pulseras Rojas it’s clear, it gives the feeling of a lot of reality… And suddenly this fiction is so well finished, with this look of Bárbara (the director) who does something very precious… It makes the fiction part take on a lot of weight. It’s true that everything that happens in Selftape is linked to a real experience and we could not write it or interpret it if it were not like that“.
Joan: “It’s also true that in the process of writing and creating art, we strayed a lot and created a lot of fiction. Then we connected with the truth and with the essence. And after the connection, we were able to make fiction from this place“.
“Aren’t you afraid of this exposure you make of some of your experiences, whether it’s partly fictional or partly true? Afraid of being judged?”
Joan: “It’s just that people can always judge, but in this case, I think Mireia and I are very aware of the extent to which we expose ourselves, and so far we feel comfortable. This is something we have been very clear about. There were times when we felt comfortable being “too much” and we slowed down, because we created a series that we felt comfortable with.“.
“By functioning as executive producers and as a sort of showrunners, you will have had control over the project. Do you think that in Spain this role of showrunner yet to explore? What do you think of being if that’s the case?”
Joan: “We always, when we started, were very clear that we wanted to be executive producers because we wanted to have control over everything if we were exposing ourselves so much. It is true that in America they already have it more widespread… Although I don’t know at all how it works in Spain, I am clear that in America this figure already works naturally and more and more “.
Miria: “So, Joana and I, when we said we wanted to be showrunners, it was from a very naive point of view. But we didn’t really know what it meant to be. Well, we knew that, but I realized everything behind it and the responsibility of this character. But we couldn’t be behind anything happening behind Selftape without us being there.“.
“You created Selftape at the Malaga Festival, how was the reception after the public saw your series for the first time?”
Joan: “I was very, very nervous. In addition, it was the first time that I presented something so personal, where I see myself as a child. And I was very nervous until the end of the exhibition, we did the Q&A and then, when I started to see that people liked it and started to ask, I relaxed. It’s very cool and people like it very much“.
“The script, in addition to being written by you, there are also other writers who helped you. What did they bring and what did you learn? And what did you teach them? brought ?”
Miria: “For us, it was very important to have a script team. Joana and I wrote the pilot like the two of us, but obviously it was tweaked to make sense throughout the season, but of course. Having a team with us was very important to generate debate, to help us build a story where Joana and I weren’t exclusively involved. Have an outside point of view that could help us write. And we had never done it either, so we had to learn and feed ourselves. Of course, we were very important on the script team because we were the ones with the experiences. In short, we carried the soul of the project, by saying which path we wanted to take; and it was the team that helped us put it in the script in the technical part“.
Selftape premieres Tuesday, April 4, 2023 on Filmin.