candice moll, an aussie actress in america, aussie english

AE 686 – Interview: An Aussie Actress in America with Candice Moll

Learn English in this interview episode where I chat with Candice Moll about being an Aussie actress in America and her new show G’day Let’s Play!

Transcript of Candice Moll Interview.mp3

G'day you mob. Welcome to this episode of Aussie English. Today is a wonderful interview episode with my dear friend Candice Moll. Now Candice is an actress who lives in America, in the United States over in L.A. and she's been there for quite some time now, getting different jobs, working as an actress on TV shows, on films, and her most recent work is her own creation called "G'day Let's Play" a TV show for Kids and it has a strong Aussie theme. Obviously, if you can hear in the title, "G'day Let's Play".

So I thought it would be awesome to have her on the show to talk about her experience moving from Australia to L.A. in the United States, becoming an actress, what it's like in Hollywood, what the world's like, how to get a job, everything like that over there and then also about her new production, "G'day Let's Play" how that started and how hopefully that'll help your kids grow up, learn English, but also develop their confidence and themselves as young people. Anyway, without any further ado guys, let's get into today's episode. I give you Candice Moll.

G'day guys, welcome to this episode of Aussie English. Today, I have Candice Moll on the podcast to talk about today to talk about everything I guess. Your new show is G'day Let's Play but we've been in contact for one. I know that you're an actress over in the U.S., so, how's it going anyway? What's going on? How's your day going?

Oh, look, I had a busy day. I just said before you hit record that most of my day is usually spent in traffic because I'm in Los Angeles, which is a lot of fun. But yeah, things are going well. Los Angeles is a bit of a beast in itself in that it's any type of performance is always feast or famine. And so when it's almost like when you've got a job, you've got no time to enjoy your life. And then if you don't have a job, then you've got no money to enjoy your life. And so you jump back and forth between the two. But that's half the fun.

So started saying, how did an Aussie girl from Adelaide end up in the US, in Los Angeles?

Yeah. Well, I mean, I've been acting for a number of years and I was doing that in Australia. I was on a show called The Fairies, which was also a kid show. And so basically after that show ended, I kind of went, well, what do I want to do now?I'm in Adelaide, do I want to move to Sydney or do I want to move to L.A.? And L.A. just sounded a bit exciting. So I just hopped on a little plane and came on over.

But we hear about those stories, right? Yeah. If you want to make it interesting, you go to L.A. or you go to the US, to the West Coast. But surely it's not as easy as just getting a plane there and then being like, "g'day guys, I'm here, give me a job". What's the process like? Because I mean, do you have to have more planned out? Do you just find somewhere to live? And then you just start handing out resumés? What was it like?

So, you start by getting a visa. And so that process is very long and drawn out. So for me, I started my application while I was working in Japan. I was working at Universal Studios. Which was great because I was having that very fun experience while I had a visa processing. So it took a bit more than a year from start to finish to get my visa.

And what visa was that? Was that specifically because of acting?

Yeah. Yeah, it was a visa to be an actor basically. So you need to find somebody to sponsor you. So either a production company or a manager or an agent or someone who basically is willing to say, you know what, I think that you're a bit of alright. So come on over and work with me and let's work together and the visa specific to that.

But this is before you even get a job, right? I take it.

Yeah. Before you leave the country. So the nature of the visa is that, you know, acting work is always contract by contract. So it's basically having someone whose job it is to help you get work. So like an agent, for example, who is saying, yes, I want to work with you because I believe that you will, in fact, work. And so we'll get this visa together so that you can come over and work. So, you know, after that. You get on a plane. Then you pop on over. And then it's literally one day at a time, you know? Have you seen Frozen II?

No, I've seen number one but yeah, I haven't seen number two. I'm gagging for it. I'm so desperate to see it.

You got to get on it. Frozen II.

There's a moment in Frozen to where Anna sings a song and she sings. Just do the next right thing. Yeah. And honestly, that is just the motto for life in Los Angeles. Like something will pop up and you kind of have to gauge, is this right for me? And you can take into consideration all the things you can take into consideration. Money and passion and is this the direction I want my career to head? If it's not, do I need the money bad enough to take the hit in this one situation and then gauge, you know, often jobs will come up and you go, you know what? It doesn't sit right with me at my core to do this job, even though I'm broke.

So what? So what sort of job would cause you to feel that way? Is it a kind of job where it's a controversial topic or is it more that you're like, oh, this isn't going to help me on the career path that I'm sort of going along?

Yeah. No for me, it's case by case. But an example for me when I first moved out here and I was really running out of cash. Quick, smart. Yeah. I had the opportunity to be on a reality TV show. But it was a bit like. Have you ever seen the show Cheaters?

I think I vaguely know. I mean, I can already guess what it's about.

So basically they get a person, whether it be male or female, to be the bait. And it's a full set up situation where in my case it would have been I would be a woman in a bar approaching a man who was the target and basically just seeing if I can get a phone number and then like the camera's swoop in and you think caught and, you know, very entertaining reality television

And you're like "my career is over".

Well, technically, it is an acting job. Yeah, but I looked at it and I was like, it pays really well.

And it would really help me out with paying my rent this month, in the short term. Yeah. But you know, you have to think about and that's what I mean where you kind of weigh it up and you go "do I want to take the hit on this one for the sake of survival?"

No, I think I'll just eat rice this week. And, you know, maybe an egg if I can afford it. So you know, it makes for really good stories in the end.

So was it a real struggle when you ended up over there to begin with? What was going through your head? How did you feel? Because it must have been like letting go of one vine as you're swinging through the air, about to grab the next vine right? You know, you must have been crapping yourself at one point?

A little bit, I suppose, but it's more for myself I had to basically just figure out what I wanted from this life. I was just talking to my friend, actually, right before this conversation. Ruth Vallon is also an actor. And, you know, we were talking about the notion of trust and enjoying the process. So you really need to enjoy the life that you're living, regardless of whether you are currently working on a project or your next project might not be for the next couple of months. Or you don't know when the next project is going to be like you really need to be okay with whatever is going on.

And so the learning curves for me when I first moved out here rather than the, you know, the financial struggle being the main thing for me, it was more I'd have a really good day where I would, you know, have three auditions and nail it and then be sure that I was going to book one of those next week and be really elated and then the following day not have a good day and be crying on the couch going, what am I doing here? And so it was after about 12 months that I basically thought, all right, well, I need to make sure that my joy is being found in more important things, in my relationships, in my faith, in, you know, the other things are important to me rather than in my circumstance. So the learning curves for me were more in that region rather than what am I doing here and is it going to work?

Is it really as cutthroat as it seems? Because I think the only exposure that most of us are going to have to Hollywood is Hollywood itself. And so we see TV shows, you know, like The Entourage and everything like that, showing what it's like to try and get jobs, to try and, you know, make it as an actor. I guess the cliché is that more people fail than make it, obviously, and that it seems like at least on those shows, which is probably, you know, a stereotype, but that people are very bitchy and, you know, it's very cutthroat. Is it really like that in reality or is it a different story entirely?

I think that everything you see on TV, good and bad, is a representation of stuff that exists here. So you will meet those people that are really cutthroat and not very nice. You will also make people who are really floaty and, you know, kind of airy fairy.

Like airy fairy. Yeah, like I met a lady whose job, she was, what did she call herself? A holistic kitchen designer. And her job was to, people would pay her to read or organize the kitchen from a holistic approach so that their energy could be better spent in the home and has more of a Zen type of experience when they come home at the end of the day.

And I listened to her speak, and it made no sense to me but she was so passionate that I've gone, "I can see why people pay you to do this".

I didn't know what you do but here's my money.

Yeah. I mean, if somebody believes that, you're probably going to help.

Isn't that a con man kind of thing where you're like "I don't know what this guy does, but he sounds convincing".

Well, maybe. But you see, her whole thing was, you know, "it has to be right for your body", you know? So she would always separate the body from the mind rather than saying to her kids, "Don't do that, I don't want you to hurt yourself". She would say, you know, "I don't want you to hurt your body".

So you've got those people. And then, you know, I've met some of the most wonderful people out here as well who were doing the same thing as me and just really loving to create things and, you know, everyone's doing, there's no correct way to manage Hollywood. Yeah. Everyone's experience will be different and then everyone's successes will be different, too, like there is no. And that's kind of the struggle. Like if you decide to be a doctor, you get good grades in high school and then you go to uni and then you get you know, you go to med school and you do all of the things and then you start your first position and you go in an entry level position, working in a hospital. And then over the course of 10 years, now you're a doctor and now you can get a job. So I've been studying essentially since I was 16.

Sorry, there's noise of a guy whippersnippering in the background. It turns out that our neighbours have decided to have their lawn cut today.

Gardening, it's gonna smell delicious. Freshly cut grass.

Sorry. Keep going.

So there's no sure fire way to succeed and then also different people's idea of success will look different, too. So that's kind of when you, people often ask me if you've got a high school kid that wants to be an actor. What's one piece of advice that you would give to them? And my advice is, if you can do anything else and be just as happy, do that.

Brutal.

If you can't then I understand. And by all means, pursue it. But yeah, it's living a life of uncertainty.

Yes. So that must be the most difficult part. Right. And I feel like you and I are apparently in a similar boat where we're not necessarily on. We don't have a job where we're getting a steady income for a contracted period of time for years and years. Like my parents both work for universities and for different companies and it was always you'll get paid this exact amount and, you know, it's going to be a five year contract and then we'll probably extend it out to 10 years or, you know, it's pretty stable.

But for you and I, it seems like it's much more by the seat of your pants. Right. And you're kind of like well, hopefully, you know, it's almost like waiting for the rain, for your crop to grow well, and you're like this year, hopefully this year its going to grow and we get a good harvest.

So what is it like going through the audition process? You know, so you've come to L.A., you've got off the plane, you've obviously made some networking connections and found a place to live. You've got your money, enough to get by. What do you then do to try and find work?

I mean, ideally, you'll have an agent or a manager helping you to source auditions. But then there's also like there's a lot of websites where you can just admit yourself. Which was brand new information for me coming from the industry in Australia works a bit differently. And the auditions are few and far between. Whereas over here you can literally submit yourself for jobs every day.

Online like a resume thats like an email or something like that effectively?

Yeah so you set up your profiles on these different acting websites and then put up your demo reel and your headshots and whatever and then submit yourself for jobs and get yourself auditions that way too. And you know, some of the jobs I've got have been that way. And then the other way to get work is to create it. So kind of like I've done with "G'day Let's Play" and, you know, other projects that I've worked on as well. So, yeah, that's how you get work.

So is it hard? Does it get easier, though? Like, is it hard to get your foot in the door at the start to find your first job or two and then after that you start building up your mixtape or the thing that you're going to be able to show people. Does it get easier and easier or is it always just a battle?

It comes in waves. Yeah. And so like I said before, it's either feast or famine. Yeah. And when you're on when you're on an upswing, it's great. But then I mean, you can listen to interviews with people like even someone as famous as Jack Black. I heard an interview where he said that, you know, one in fifteen auditions you'll book. Yeah. And he's so famous and he's so talented. But 14 out of 15 times he won't get the job.

I guess the trouble with someone like him, though, this is the guy tribute, you know, "this is just a song". Yeah. Yeah, exactly. What would you say? What's the term where someone is very kind of character locked. Right? He's kind of the overweight, funny, loud guy.

And so it's hard for him to play, you know, a romantic film role where the guy's buff or something right?

Yeah that's true. Although what was that movie he was in with Cameron Diaz and the..

The one where he can't see that she's really overweight. and..

No, no, no. That was Shallow Hal. How I like it.

No, no, no, no. Oh, maybe Cameron Diaz. No, she was in this one, but he played like a really sweet musician. It was a house swap story. Yeah. And he played a really, really lovely, sweet musician. Was it Kate Winslet that was in that?

I'm not sure, you're the movie.

Very good movie. Yeah. Movie buff, the holiday I think it might be called, maybe. But yeah, he played a very sweet boy next door, musician, composer, who was the love interest? I liked him in that role.

Maybe he should have struck out that way instead of the comedy and music.

Maybe. Maybe. Who knows?

So who are some of the actors and actresses that you really look up to and why?

Good question. I don't know. I know who I like to watch.

But they're quite cliché like Meryl Streep, Meryl Streep's amazing because everything that she does is right. She can't do anything wrong. But then I do really enjoy it when I really enjoy it when I am watching a movie and someone will say, oh, that's that's that actor from that other TV show. And I go, Who? And I have no idea who they're talking about because they are so different that I've forgotten that they were a real person in real life. And all I'm seeing is the character. Yeah, those it's those under the radar actors that once you notice them, you realize they're in absolutely everything. And you didn't even realize. And I can't think of an example right now.

I know what you mean, I know what you mean, though. Yeah. They are so good and that they just go from one thing to the next. Like from something so different from one character into the next. You know, there's a guy who's the guy that's in the new not Harry Potter films, but the ones by J.K. Rowling. That is the protagonist in those films. And he played, I think, a woman in another film. And, you know. Oh. So there's one way he's done that. You know, it's a guy. And you don't even know, though, when you see the character. And the same for the Bob Dylan film. Right. Who was it? Scarlett Johansson or somebody played Bob Dylan in that film. And it was actually a woman playing Bob Dylan. I can't remember who it was, but that was another example.

You just get lost and you're like, wow. Wait, what? This is a woman playing a male and you don't even notice. You know.

It's true, it's true. It's like listening to an audiobook and the same person is doing all of the character voices. But you totally forget because you get lost in the story.

Sorry, does that become a bit of a curse, though, for many actors? Because they kind of want to let the parts, the roles kind of speak for themselves. But once you get too famous, it becomes your face. And people are just like, oh, it's Brad Pitt. Oh, it's Johnny Depp, you know? And they kind of don't see the characters as, I guess, effortlessly as they would with an unknown character.

Yeah. I mean, I don't know, because I'm not Brad Pitt.

Wait, wait. Where am I? I imagine that it would be, you hear about this a lot, specifically with people who do commercials and get really famous from a commercial. Like do you remember Duggie, the pizza guy in Australia?

Probably would if I saw the ad..

Yeah, it was a number of years ago. Now there's the progressive commercials, Flo from the progressive commercials. So these actors who and I don't know Flo's real names and I just know there's a big Australian one who did that with "your mum's another one who loves it". Do you remember that ad? With the noodles? Is his name Angus something?

I'm not sure. But these actors, they kind of get locked into these commercials because now they're known as that commercial.

Yes. Like, I imagine it would be so incredibly frustrating that now, like, it does lose them work from that standpoint where these commercial actors try and get, for want of a nicer term, real acting work. It's all acting work, but they want to do a drama or something. And then it'll be well know because you're Flo from the progressive commercials. And that's all I see when I look at you. But at the end of the day, they also make a lot of money doing those commercials. They get paid very handsomely, or at least they should. If the agents have negotiated their contracts correctly, that money to be in those positions. And so I think that, yes, it's probably very frustrating for certain actors whose faces are too well known, but there are bonuses to having that as well. And like talking about A-list celebrities. Often it's those lesser known actors who can play all of those roles, and you don't even notice that it's the same actor. They get very frustrated because they'll go out for the same role as a Brad Pitt and they don't stand a chance because obviously Brad Pitt's interested. He's got the job.

So that's part of the difficulty right with casting, because quite often they must be caught between quality of acting and fame in terms of the draw. So, you know, we can put Brad Pitt's face on this film and it could be complete garbage.

But because it's Brad Pitt, people are going to be like, holy crap "I want to see the next Brad Pitt film". Yeah. Whereas if it's a no name it could be the best thing in the world. But no one's gonna go to find out because they're like I don't know who this guy is.

Yeah, exactly I imagine that when it comes to making movies, everything's dependent on budget. And so if you have the budget for a Brad Pitt film, then, you know, perhaps you'll get him. If you don't then, I actually have a friend who often goes out for the same roles that Hemsworth might go for.

Oh, geez.

And yeah and so he basically has accepted the fact that he will get those jobs that the Hemsworth's turned down.

When Chris Hemsworth is busy, you'll get the job.

Yeah. Or the budget maybe isn't good enough or it's not a good enough story. And like my mate's a very talented actor and he's very good looking. And so he's like, yeah, yeah. I get all the Hemsworth cast-offs. Yeah. And he's okay with that. He's like, I get to do really great roles. I'm consistently working. This is great. But he knows that if a Hemsworth wants that job, he's probably not going to get it, at this stage in his career.

How does someone in his position break through to the Hemsworth level? So he's obviously talented, good looking, he can act, he can get jobs. What is it that takes you, though, to Chris Hemsworth level, where he's probably the most highly paid actor in the world now? How do you get to that point? Is it just a lucky break?

The short answer is, I don't know.

I guess if you did, you'd be like, yep. I'm the next Nicole Kidman, right?

Yeah, that's right. Look, I think it's probably like I said, everyone's journey is, no one's journey is going to look the same. Yeah. So you do hear those stories of someone walking down the street and an agent going, here's my card. Usually when that happens, run away because that's a scam.

It's casting couch. Come on in.

Oh, yes. So one of the acting classes that I've taken over here, the teacher's main thing that she loves to say is, you know, I hope that you get that lucky break that someone comes up to you and gives you a card and offers you a three movie picture. And I hope it's with Fox and I hope it's amazing. But that is the one percent. You are in the 99 percent. So you're gonna have to work really hard. And she'll say it every class. You know, I hope all of this happens for you. But let's just be real and say that probably you are not in the 1 percent. You're in the 99 percent. So let's work, which is a pretty good attitude, I think, or a pretty good approach to this industry as a whole.

Does there exist a kind of judgment of those kind of actors or actresses then that do make it into the 1 percent where the 99 percent are kind of like, you know, there isn't as big of a difference between us in terms of quality acting. It's just that you got a lucky break, you know, like you got struck by lightning and that was the difference between you and me.

Well, I suppose that some people would have that attitude. I mean, you'll meet people that become quite bitter if they haven't reached where they thought they would be at this stage in their life. Or it's like when you know, when people who win Australian Idol get that big break and other musicians who have been slugging out for, you know, ten or fifteen years get annoyed. You can appreciate they're getting annoyed by that. But then you also have to go. Okay. But this lucky break that this Australian Idol winner got didn't really come from nowhere, like more often than not. They have also been working for fifteen years.

Well, that's the story Tones and I right, do you know that song at the moment? Like Dance Monkey, Dance Monkey. Yeah.

So she was playing in Byron Bay. She wanted to play in Melbourne on Bourke Street, but she had to audition. She had to, you know, receive a certain certificate or something saying she could do it. She was like, screw this, I'm just going at Byron Bay where I don't need a licence. I can just sit up and play. She did it for years and then suddenly got noticed, made this song and then made the video, put it up online, announced like the most downloaded song at the moment in the world. And she just overnight, you know, but it was all on her back and she used YouTube. So, yeah. Is that the same sort of thing with acting now where a lot of actors are becoming famous not because they're in films or anything, but because they put stuff out on YouTube and that's where they get discovered.

Yeah. YouTube is awesome. I love YouTube. And the reason is because it's accessible to everybody. So it is a way. I mean, you know, with your Aussie accent videos.

Anyone can watch them and go, oh, you know what? This is really cool. What else has this guy done? I read somewhere recently that more than 1 billion hours of YouTube is viewed every day.

And so it's like it's just it's another platform now, like where in the past we only had network television.

Now we have a bunch of streaming sites. We have YouTube. We have, even Instagram is you know, they've got IGTV now. There's so many different ways to create great and entertaining content. From an actor's perspective, it's good and bad. It's good because, you know, you can create your own content and you can put it up or people can see it, and sometimes, you know, sometimes that is the goal. Other times the goal is then to be discovered, so to speak.

And, you know, I'm sure that that happens, too, but all of these different avenues for new TV viewing we'll say, Netflix and you know, all the things, it waters down the pool of jobs. There's more jobs. But because the viewing is less, as in the amount of eyes that watch that program, it means that the contracts kind of come down in value to an extent.

Isn't that sort of what's happened with music? Cause you think about the 70s in the 60s and the 50s. I wasn't obviously alive then, but those bands like The Beatles, but just massive because they had no competition too right? Like there was a handful of bands that came out of that period that just dominated. But it seems next to impossible to replicate that today because every man and his dog can start a band and put stuff up online, get on YouTube. Yeah. And now the streaming services, too, like Spotify just have dominated CD sales and everything like that.

So the only way for you to have money is to tour constantly to try and do it, is it sort of the same thing where that the biggest of the big in the movie industry, like the music industry, there's very few of them, but everyone else is kind of left touring and picking up the scraps and more opportunities, but they don't pay as well.

Yeah, I suppose you could put it that way. There is definitely an element of truth to that. And you kind of like as an actor in the industry, you kind of have to look at it and go, OK, well, let's not reminisce in the good old days and what my life might have been if I was doing this, if I was this age 20 years ago. And instead, let's look at the opportunities that are presented to me at this time. And so, personally, I love as a viewer, I love having so many options. I love that I can go to any of these streaming apps, including YouTube, and look for absolutely anything and watch great content. And then as an actor, I do really love that there's like so many opportunities for roles that I can audition for and potentially book.

So it's not, my goal has always been to be a working actor. It's never been to be like, you know, that big name and big face that everybody will recognize. Maybe that's why I really love those actors that go undetected because I think doing such great work and I find that really inspiring and exciting.

What do you think it is about the ones who do become so famous that leads them to just losing the plot? Right? Like Johnny Depp comes to mind where his life just seems to be unravelling, right? Like he seems to be, he's drinking something like thirty thousand dollars worth of wine a week. And that's not a lot of wine. It's just very expensive wine. He's having an issue with his wife at the moment. Domestic violence has been recorded, put up on YouTube and heaps of stuff seems to be happening.

But what is it about the super rich, super famous actors that quite often you would imagine they would have an amazing life? You know, they could attract the best partner imaginable. They would be the happiest person imaginable. But when you really peel back the layers of the onion, they seem like anyone else with, you know, everyday problems. Yeah. But some of them seem to really lose the plot.

Some of them do and the truth is that, you know, we've all heard the phrase money doesn't buy you happiness. What money does do is really just heighten the person that you already are. So if you meet somebody who suddenly wins lottery and then they become like a bit of a bad person. The truth is, they were already that person.

Now they just have the ability to do it more so.

Now they just have less consequences because people respect money in a way that they probably shouldn't. With money comes power. So it's like, yeah, I think that with these, you know, A-list celebrities that we see that appear to be going off the rails based on what the media shows us, which isn't always accurate as well.

But let's say that it is you know, we all know in stories where that has happened to people. I think that being in that position would be a really lonely place because you don't know who your real friends are. You would also have people in your life that would be too afraid to be honest with you, because they wouldn't want to be cut off. It's a lot of self-interest.

It's like being the king, right? Everybody wants to be the king except for the king himself.

Yeah. And it's sad. Like it's really for those circumstances that that is the case. I can't even begin to imagine how hard that would be. It's really easy for those of us who don't have that kind of wealth to go "Oh yeah poor little rich kid". But at the same time, like that must be really, really difficult I think.

Well you sell your soul to some extent, right? Because you can't get it back once you become Johnny Depp. There's no putting the genie back in the bottle. "I'm just going to go somewhere in the world that people won't recognize me."

I don't know, Britney Spears did, didn't she? Didn't she go off and do volunteer work or something?

I'm not sure, I haven't been following her career to be honest. But she definitely has disappeared off my radar and it's probably, though, because she just stopped producing music and did her own thing.

No no back in the day when she went off the rails and she disappeared. I thought the story was that she went to somewhere in Africa. I don't know which country. But I remember reading that she was doing voluntary work, you know, with a community and was off the radar for a while.

That must be another level, right? Because that's not just fame and wealth. That's childhood fame and wealth, right? And so you kind. Right. Right. It's like you know, that's probably the worst combination of things is to become rich and famous at a very young age, like, I think Justin Bieber. I don't know what Justin Bieber is like these days, but it seemed like he was off the rails and he was like not even 20 years old when he was doing all this stuff going crazy and you're just like, I hope he gets it together. But it must be so difficult at that point where you've been given everything. Everyone loves you. Everyone's probably praising you constantly. And you start believing everything you're told.

But it's also, it's a lot of pressure, too. Like, I just watched Taylor Swift's documentary that was on Netflix recently. Fascinating to watch.

My wife watched that recently, too. I think I could hear it in the background so sort of listening.

Yeah. Yeah. Really fascinating.

Like, small town girl and suddenly has all of this fame and success and the pressure that is on her to be this or be that. And the way that the media rips these celebrities apart and then also like I try to, It's hard enough as a young person to try and really discover who you are and who you want to be as a person when you have so many voices coming at you from management and fans and accountants and agents and, you know, whatever else.

It must be deafening. It must be so difficult to really hone in on what do I want? What is the person that I want to be? And I think those that can come out the other side of that and actually, you know, find that and be secure in that. It's a huge achievement.

Miley Cyrus is another one I think that comes to mind for me. She was definitely always the good little girl in a lot of her tv shows.

She had to be. Yeah she was on that Disney contract.

So you'd know more about this than me.

But then as soon as I don't know what happened was she probably in her early 20s and she took up a completely different persona. That was a little sloppier, right? And she's sort of rode that wave. And I don't know. There's no wrong or right, I guess, because that probably propelled her even further right into the world. But it was definitely interesting where you're like, she's probably been turned into this monster or this beast because she's been pandered to and told you have to be good, you have to do this.

And it's like the pastor's daughter who ends up being a, you know, a whore. She's just like been told, you can't talk to boys. You can't do anything. You can't go out. And then that's all she wants to do later on in life, right?

Yes. Yeah, I think it's that way. I think it's that way for any kid who is put in a position where they're being told one way and then they discovered that that's not actually who they are. And in the case of Miley Cyrus, there is you know, I've heard opinions that perhaps that was actually a very clever marketing ploy, because when she did change that image into going from like good girl into a very sexually free woman, she got a lot of attention.

Well, it was in the media for days, weeks, right?

Everyone knew her name. And then she's come out of it. And now she can do whatever she wants and no one's going to blink an eye because, you know, she got all of that press previously. And so. Yeah. So now she really is free to be whatever type of artist she wants to be, which good for her. You know, that's great. It's very difficult to break out of the mould that has been created for you by an organization like Disney. And don't get me wrong, I love Disney because I like watching Disney movies. I'm that person. I love a happy ending. And so I love Disney. I love Hallmark. I love anything where there's going to be like a happily ever after.

So what did you think of Game of Thrones? Did you want to cry at the end of that? Or were you just like, ugh.

You know what? I can't remember what happened at the end.

They completely botched it. They completely screwed the last season. Have you seen the IMDB ratings?

I think you know, I think everyone was just a bit too opinionated about what they thought it should be.

I think my problem so much the way that it ended. It was how fast the directors clearly just were just like, let's just hammer through this. Done. I want to do Star Wars.

And you're just like "Dude! You've done so many seasons just make the last one good God damnit!". I can't remember the last TV show that ended well.

Yeah, but you know why. Right. The books were never written. Yeah, a hundred percent.

I mean, and you know, hindsight's a gift, right. So we can obviously see what they do and then look back and be like garbage. But they were happy to do it. They were having to part pave a way through the forest, right? That was uncut and make their own path.

Yeah. Yeah. But it did seem like a lot of the choices were cliche or rushed. And you were just like, surely any B-grade writer could have done a better job, you know than what you guys decided to do with some of these things because it was like.

I don't know, I still liked it, though. Yeah, I remember that I wasn't angry. Everyone was angry.

I was.

And I was like, maybe I'm just too accepting.

I think and, you know, not to sort of beat this dead horse. But the worst thing for me with Game of Thrones was making Khaleesi this strong, you know, wonderful character who had so much to her and just one little thing happens and she becomes genocidal, you know. And you're just like, come on, man.

She wouldn't have been so upset that she would just suddenly burn thousands of people to death and be like, "Yeah, screw you, Cersei". So that was the thing. Spoiler alert, by the way, guys.

Yeah. You were not wrong. Yeah.

And there was also quite the upset that once again, the only strong female character in the series had to be genocidal and crazy. And so which is a bit of a pattern in certain genres from what I understand. But I don't know a lot about it, I can't really speak knowingly on those things because I never looked into it. But that's just topics of conversations that have floated past my ears.

Yes, she was quite genocidal. It was a shame.

Well, the last scene with her standing there addressing the crowd was totally reminiscent of Hitler doing that in Germany, right and you're like wow alright, we see she's bad. Jesus, you don't have to paint a picture any clearer.

She's a bad lady.

Finishing up. Let's talk about G'day Let's Play your new show. Oh, yeah. How did that come about? Tell me about the process of how that came about. And yeah, I thought you were back in Australia. G'day Let's Play, that sounds Australian to me, but no!

Well, so my mate Anthony O'Donohue actually was on Here's Humphrey in Australia. And fun fact is that while I was doing the fairies, he was doing Humphrey and we aired on Channel 7 and he aired on Channel Nine.

Ooh competition.

We met. Yeah competition. All in good fun though. We met throughout the course of doing kids entertainment in Australia. And I moved out here a few years before he and his wife moved out and then when they moved out here, they contacted me and said, "hey, we'd love to meet up. We don't know anyone in Los Angeles". And so we met up with them and, you know, became really good friends and I've always loved doing kids entertainment. It's something that I find really, really rewarding and really necessary.

And like I was saying before, because YouTube is so accessible now, there's a lot of kids content on YouTube and I've watched some of it. And what I feel like I didn't see is something that really focuses on, there's a lot of shows that include friendship and, you know, saying sorry. And those lessons that it's important for kids to learn. But what I hadn't found yet was any programs that have a focus on self-compassion. So that notion of being kind to yourself and loving yourself. These are things that as adults we really struggle with. You know, that notion of "I'm really good at that thing. I did a really good job", will immediately get shut down.

I have this issue with my wife quite often, where she'll say things to her about herself or to herself that no one would ever say to her as a friend or anything like that. I always try and pull her up on it and say don't do that. If you wouldn't say that to me, or you wouldn't say that to any other friend, why are you saying it to yourself? You know you've got to be your best friend, right?

That's exactly right. And so that's what through chats with Anthony. And then also, we ended up getting a child psychologist on board as a consultant to talk about how this works. Yeah. Lisa Shetler's based in Adelaide and she's phenomenal. She's a guest speaker at Adelaide Uni.

Topics of child psychology and she has her own clinic in, near Gawler, I can't remember the name of the town, but basically we spoke about this and if you look into the research behind it, basically kids who have really healthy friendships, they are just happier people. They perform better academically. They have better self-esteem. They have less problems with body image and then also you can follow that thread into the cause of bullying and, you know, bullies are still children. You know, why are they acting this way? Why are they acting out this way? And a lot of the time it comes down to having a low self-esteem or not really being educated. All the time, you know, parents are very, very busy.

So what we're trying to do is create content with this show that will support that notion. Support parents in their quest to teach their kids how to be really good friends. And then also to start that conversation of, like you said, how to be your own best mate or on the show, we say be a great mate to yourself. So the notion of saying kind words to yourself and saying kind words to other people, too, is basically the focus. So it came about because Ant and I, we both had this passion for kids entertainment.

And then we also just really wanted to work together. He's phenomenal. He's you know, he's a great writer and a really great on camera host. And he lives 15 minutes up the road, which in Los Angeles is very close. Could almost walk there! Well, its 15 minutes on the freeway. So maybe not.

How was it done? How is it made? Like a kids TV show like that, is it? You know, we see them there half an hour long. Does it take half an hour to make. What is it like behind the scenes?

Yes. So we've made our episodes, because it's in the YouTube format. And you know, like I spoke about before. I love YouTube just because of its accessibility. Anyone can watch it. Most parents would just pull it up on the phone now or every kid has an iPad. So it's a really convenient way to access kids entertainment.

And so we've kept our videos shorter than seven minutes and then, you know, if you want to watch for longer you just hit that playlist and they can run straight through as though you're watching a 30 minute TV episode. But the way the process really for us was because we're doing this ourselves and we kind of, you know, we're still working on other projects with different companies and so it was whenever we found the time, I would write out a script, Anthony would write out a script. We'd swap them, give each other notes. What do you think about this?

We'd consult with Lisa over Skype and she would basically approve all of our scripts and give us you know, this is a bit of a red flag for these reasons. Perhaps you could say it this way instead so that the implication heads in this direction or that direction. So it took a number of months just to kind of nut out what we wanted the format of the show to be and the direction of the content. And then after that, you know, we got our production team together, which really consists of people that we know and people that we've worked with and everyone wanting to create something that's really good. That was how it came together.

Where do you film it? Do you have to hire a place or do you have friends who have a place and then you film it there?

It's all of the above. So we do have friends who, you know, have access to different studios. We also film some of it outside, which is relatively easy as well. So, you know, a lot of our stuff is done on the green screen. So really we could do it anywhere. Yeah.

Awesome. So how can people find out more about G'day Let's Play. Where can they find it? Obviously on YouTube.

On YouTube. Do a search for G'day Let's Play. If you have the YouTube kids app that makes it even easier. I was just playing on YouTube Kids the other day. So yeah G'day Let's Play is what it's called on YouTube.

Well Candice Moll. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast.

Thank you for having me. This was a long time coming wasn't it?

A long time overdue for sure. Anyway we'll have to get you on in the future because I've got so many more things I'd love to ask you, especially about being in L.A..

Thank you. Thank you for your interest. This has been really fun.

My pleasure. Till next time.

All right guys, thank you so much for joining me. Don't forget again, if you want to check out Candice's TV show. G'day Let's Play. You can find that on YouTube. Simply typing "G'day Let's Play" and you'll be able to get access to all the episodes there. Thanks again, Candice, for coming on the podcast. It was an absolute pleasure having a chinwag with you. And guys, I will see you next time. Peace.

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