From pottery, pyrography and macramé, to carving, crocheting and even a Chris Hemsworth lampshade, Making It Australia is set to premiere September 15th on 10 and 10 Play.
Mediaweek spoke to host Susie Youssef about how the crafty new series came together.
“I found out that Making It was coming to Australia and that they were going to make an Australian version. I was so excited, I had watched the American version and was pretty pumped,” said Youssef.
After an audition alongside co-host Harley Breen, Youssef was over the moon to be offered the gig.
“Harley and I had known each other for a few years, actually probably close to 15 years from around comedy festivals. We just had a ball. I was like ‘if they don’t like that audition then I don’t know what else I could do. That’s the most fun I’ve ever had doing an audition!’
“Then to get the gig was a total dream, and then we spent the next few months filming the show just laughing at each other whilst all those amazing people made crafts around us.”
Youssef and Breen
Making It Australian
The Making It format was created by Parks and Rec stars Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman. Youssef said that while the original show is American, the Australian show is far from a straight copy.
“You want to honour the original on the one hand, and then on the other hand, the cultures are so different. We wanted to really make it as Australian as possible. Harley is a Queenslander from Bundaberg, there’s no way we were going to have the same vibe. And I am far from being even remotely as talented as Amy Poehler! We tip our hats to the American version, and we take all we can from this brilliant format that they’ve created, but it really is truly Australian.”
Judging It
Judging the creations the makers come up with are Benja Harney and Deborah Riley. Master craftspeople in their own fields, Harney is a world-renowned paper engineer and Riley is a production designer and art director.
“Harley and I have a ball together but when Deb and Benja are there, it was a really fun, exciting atmosphere. They are astounding human beings,” said Youssef.
“Benja is one of the most brilliant paper engineers in the world. I didn’t know what a paper engineer was before I started doing Making It, and then when I saw his work I would blink and go ‘how do you do that with paper?!’ He is a really colourful, exciting human and he brought a lot of bouncy energy to the show.
“And then Deborah Riley, I feel really lucky to have met Deb. She was a super funny, kind human being, but also one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. To go from working on the biggest film sets and TV sets in the world, and the sort of production design that she does, I felt like we struck gold by having Deb on set.
“When you think about these iconic pieces throughout cinematic history she’s worked on – Game of Thrones, Moulin Rouge, The Matrix – she’s got the Midas touch.”
Youssef, Breen, Harney, and Riley
Branching Out
With the makers coming to the barn with their own different strengths, it was watching them experiment that took Youssef by surprise
“The thing that blew me away was that we have 13 makers, and they’ve all got the thing that they do best. So whether they’re a metal worker, they work with fabric, or they’re an architect or a party planner, there are all these different disciplines that they come from or different crafts that they usually make. But throughout the series, they learned a lot from each other, and you see people adapting and learning and trying out new things.
“The example I’ve given before is Andrew, he’s a bushman who works with metal and makes these amazing artistic sculptures out of bits and pieces he finds around the farm. Then throughout the series, he starts working with clay and falls in love with that.
“He just looked like a five-year-old kid when he got to play with different things, and that was the thing that really surprised me in the best possible way about the show.”
Bringing Inspiration
With large parts of Australia currently living under Covid-19 restrictions, Youssef hopes that Making It brings a bit of creativity to lockdown.
“These are some of the toughest times that I’ve ever gone through in my life, and I know that a lot of people would say the same.
“What’s really great about the show is that part of it is an escape – it’s a bright, colourful, very ridiculous show about craft with heaps of comedy and laughs in it. But I also hope that people take away a bit of inspiration, I hope that they look around the house for as long as we have to be locked down, or not out in the world as much as we usually would be, and see there is still heaps that you can do.”
And you don’t have to be the next Leonardo da Vinci to start.
“I’m certainly not a terribly crafty person, I’m lucky that my main job was to steer the ship and to make the jokes as opposed to cutting paper in a straight line,” said Youssef.
“There are going to be people who craft at a professional level, people who do it for fun, and then there are going to be people like me who as a kid walked around watching a very creative family making things at home, and was just astounded by it. You can be a craft observer, and that’s fine! Not everyone has to be an amazing craftsperson, but I don’t think that should stop you from giving it a go.”
Making It Australia. Premieres Wednesday, 15 September At 7.30pm on 10 and 10 Play On Demand