Cooking up Ina: Rachel Maxine-Anderson discusses making her shortform, almost real-time comedy-drama

Filipino-Australian comedy-drama Ina follows TV producer Madeline, who is forced to cast her estranged mother as the guest star of her cooking show. Creator Rachel Maxine-Anderson tells DQ about this story of intergenerational relationships, mother-daughter conflict and producing for YouTube. Filipino-Australian shortform comedy-drama Ina, from creator Rachel Maxine-Anderson, is set over the course of a single day on the set of a daytime TV cooking show. It’s here that Madeline, a highly strung television producer, is desperately trying to keep her sinking production on air. When her celebrity Japanese guest chef walks out minutes before the shoot, Madeline is forced into a desperate, career-saving gamble: she replaces them with someone she deems just as “diverse” – the studio’s cleaner, who also happens to be her estranged Filipino mother, Gloria. As the chaotic shoot day unravels, the frantic energy of the workplace collides with years of unresolved family tension, in a story that confronts themes of intergenerational trauma, cultural identity and the complex reality of a mother-daughter relationship. Shot in near real time, the series stars Lena Cruz as Gloria and Triona Calimbayan-Giles as Madeline. It is a Sweet Mess production, produced by Rae Choi of Limina Pictures and Danielle Redford of Contra Stories, with Kerrin McNeil and Filipino actor Ruby Ruiz executive producing. With the show now streaming on YouTube following its world premiere at French television festival Canneseries in April, writer-director Maxine-Anderson explores the characters at the centre of the story, explains how the series reflects her own Filipino-Australian … Continue reading Cooking up Ina: Rachel Maxine-Anderson discusses making her shortform, almost real-time comedy-drama →