Big Little Leading Lady

In the lead up to the most recent Emmy nominations I spent a lot of time delving into everything related to it; what and who were eligible, what and who had been submitted and the many online predictions (GoldDerby shows up an embarrassing amount of times in my search history) In the midst of all of that  had a light bulb moment ‘When did Reese Witherspoon become the Queen of Television ?’. If one thing is clear Reese and her production company ‘Hello Sunshine’ have found their spotlight on the small screen. From her law studying head to toe pink Elle Woods to where she is today, the Reese TV takeover of the last few years has been incredible to watch and so quietly and intentionally orchestrated.  

In 2012 Pacific Standard (which would later become the legend we know as ‘Hello Sunshine’) production company was created and by 2014 they had debuted with Jean-Marc Vallee’s ‘Wild’ starring Witherspoon herself and Laura Dern. Although ‘Wild’ grossed over $52M in a $15M budget and earned the actors oscar nominations it was the success of David Fincher’s ‘Gone Girl’ film adaptation starring Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck that thrust Pacific Standard into the limelight. Gone Girl has quickly established itself as a cult classic (If film twitter hasn’t harassed you at least once with a clip of the ‘cool girl’ monologue have you ever even logged onto the app?).  The movie grossed just under $370 million, more than 6 times its budget, over 90 award nominations with over 25 wins including a Critics Choice award for ‘Best adapted screenplay. . 

With the commercial success of shows such as ‘Game of Thrones’ premiering in 2011 and ‘Breaking Bad’ premiering in 2008, TV was having its butterfly moment. One movie release later it was time to move from its home on the silver screen to the small screen. In 2016 production began on HBO hit series Big Little Lies. It marked the second collaboration for Wild costars Witherspoon and Dern and director Valle with the addition of an all star ensemble cast including actors from Nicole Kidman to Alexander Skarsgård. The show became a smash hit, the freshman run earning lead Emmy and Golden Globe wins for Kidman and supporting wins for Dern and Skarsgård.

Jumping forward to this year where although she didn’t receive any Emmy nominations, Reese was eligible for nominations for three projects in one awards season: her portrayal of Madeline in Big Little Lies, Bradley in Apple TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ and Elena in Amazon Prime’s ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ (she was robbed of her limited series nom and this a hill I will happily die on). So what exactly is the equation to her success? 

Female Focused Story-telling

‘We are about shining a light on female authorship and agency’

Hello Sunshine’s mission statement is a commitment to shining a light on issues directly affecting women and amplifying womxn storytelling. Much of their success comes from filling the desire for more womxn central stories whilst tackling issues that are current and at the forefront of public conversations. A clear example of this is MeToo being the focal point of The Morning Show, looking at how power dynamics and certain work cultures can allow sexual misconduct to go on unchecked in the workplace. 

Casting

If there’s one thing Reese and ‘Hello Sunshine’ are gonna do it is bring fan favourites to the comfort of your living room. There isn’t a clearer example of this than the ‘Big LIttle Lies’ cast stuffed to the brim with some of film’s heaviest hitters (Streep, Dern, Kidman to name a few) . They also play a lot on TV nostalgia in both ‘The Morning Show’ and ‘Little Fires Everywhere’. Taking ‘The Office’s’ Steve Carrell and ‘Friends’ Jennifer Aniston out of the comedy places in our hearts and putting them in roles that completely subvert TV viewers’ expectations of them and by taking Kerry Washington outside of her home in ‘Shondaland’ after years of us only seeing her as Olivia Pope to draw audiences in. I would argue that Reese surrounding herself with these people on many occasions forfeits her characters from receiving the praise that her counterparts receive for example her performances in TMS and LFE in my opinion were on par if not exceeding Aniston and Washington, but they managed to score themselves Emmy noms and she did not. ‘Hello Sunshine’ also have a knack for casting talent that have already established themselves as buzzy or ‘next up’ – Woodley and Kravitz in BLL and Gugu Mbathaw-Raw in TMS, drawing in curious audiences wondering if they will match up to their buzz or fizzle. 

Anywhere & Everywhere 

While many creators are signing overall deals with streaming services or television networks and committing to house their productions in one place, ‘Hello Sunshine’ is branching as far as their roots can take them. With shows currently on air on HBO, Apple TV, Amazon Prime and now an upcoming series on Netflix, ‘Hello Sunshine’ is monopolising the market. You don’t have cable TV? You only have a subscription for one streaming platform? You live outside of America and don’t have access to certain channels/platforms? ‘Hello Sunshine’ has a solution for it all, meaning that regardless of access almost everyone has a means of consuming at least one of their projects.

She is Truly That Girl

Here begins my completely subjective and entirely biased ode to the greatness that is Reese. For a long time Reese was unable to shake her ‘Elle Woods’ image, she was the funny blond feel good movie actress. In many ways TV was an ideal platform to shake this image, it was becoming a more recognised and celebrated medium and in turn so was she. I have always unapologetically been a fan of Reese and her acting (I can literally hear the cinephiles rolling their eyes), she has always had the ability to keep my attention whether it’s her razor sharp comedic timing or her ability to play the hell out of of an overbearing white woman (If you’ve watched LFE you know what scene i’m talking about), she just simply has it. With the success of her current shows and the upcoming projects she has alongside ‘Scandal’ being long over and ‘How to Get Away with Murder’ just finishing its final season, I think it may be the beginning of Reese dethroning Shonda Rhimes as TV resident it girl. I can’t wait to see what she is able to create next and if she just happened to create a limited series starring Zendaya I would have no complaints, it’s what the people deserve (its me i’m “the people”). Reese is truly that girl and when the world goes up in flames and the inevitable race war begins I will be saving her, all of her tv shows and Mark Ruffalo from the ruins.

– Thea