A young woman is full of excitement and enthusiasm. Last weeks have been busy with meetings and organizing. Still she is full of positive energy. The hard work that started in the beginning of the year will culminate in the coming weekend at the launch party of a new comedy series named Millie&Midge.

– I´m very excited that we have come as far as this and that we have received so much support and encouragement along the way, smiles Maarika Pinkney.
She is the script writer and one of the two main actors of the new series. – Everything in the whole project is new to me and therefore very interesting. I´m more experienced with theatre, so film acting is an inspiring change.
Maarika Pinkney graduated from University of Toronto majoring in drama. She knows that getting acting jobs can be hard and one has to be active and ambitious getting any contracts.

– I have studied film studies as well and was interested in exploring that area. Same goes with my good friend Alaine Hutton, who is doing the other main role in the series. Because for recently graduated actors it can be hard to get employed, especially without a good agent, we decided to start this project, create work, experience and visibility for ourselves.
Aiming for television

The project that started from scratch soon got bigger and now Pinkney and Hutton have started a production company together to aid upcoming projects.
– While writing and filming I noticed how much time and money it took to create the series, it felt silly to leave it just there as an experiment. I´m hoping that this will be something big eventually, but we will have to see.
The comedy series will be broadcast in the internet. There are six episodes filmed, each ten minutes long.

– Even though we are not the first ones to broadcast a series in the internet, it is still quite a new way of publishing. That makes is challenging, but also interesting. There are no set rules to follow, one learns by doing, Pinkney tells.
The goal at the end is to get the series to television as a half an hour sitcom. Before that the response of the viewers plays an important role.

– In the following seasons, which hopefully will happen, I would like to concentrate more on the friendship of the women. I think that is really important in the times when it sometimes seems that women have a hard time encouraging and supporting their woman friends. As if others success would harm them in some way.
Pinkney´s own role models on the comedy scene are the strong women actors such as Bea Arthur, Elizabeth Taylor and especially Jane Curtin.
–I have to say that the best advice I have received in the acting business have all come from women.

Strong women characters

Comedy series Millie&Midge is about two young women, best friends, and their experiences in the romantic relationships.
The other one is waiting for the knight in white armor, but is too awkward and inexperienced to act on. The other has enough experience, but is too scared of commitment to start a relationship. It is slapstick comedy about intelligent and strong women.

– It was important for me to write about strong women lead characters. Too often women are left secondary to men in comedy.
Maarika, who is Finnish from her mother´s side has wanted to be an actor since she was a child. However, she started studying journalism at the university until the encouragement of her father and the acting professor got her back on the track.
– I love acting, I could not not do it. And while working on my own projects I get to do the writing part as well, which is really important to me.

Although Maarika Pinkney would like to perform in versatile roles, she is a comedian by heart. If all her dreams would come true she would be living in New York, acting in Saturday Night Live, performing on Broadway and doing films on the side.

Multicultural confusion

Growing up, Finland and finnishness have always been important factors to her.
– All my childhood I was told that I am Finnish instead of Canadian. Sometimes this was very confusing. At points I was frustrated even by my own name, which is such a give away from my ethnic roots. Now, as a grown up, I´m more comfortable with my roots. I have studied Finnish at the University, which was to show my family that I care about my heritage.
It was not until Maarika visited Finland with her grandmother a few years back that she really understood that she was not as Finnish as she had been told.
– My looks are of a Finn, but there I noticed how Canadian I really am!


You can follow Millie&Midge comedy series at http://www.milllieandmidge.com