Grace Huberstafforford Gets Her Own Comedic Romance… ACK!
Fakist political reporter Grace Huberstafforford is as unlucky in love as Kanye West is with his political aspirations. When an old crush with a fancy beard gets a job at The Fakist, Grace hatches a plan to overturn the HR policy keeping them apart. But what secrets will she find when she goes undercover to investigate Bertram Kcom?All that, plus more Rom-Com tropes than you can shake a stick at, in the second chapter of The Fakist: One Last Day, a standalone story set in the world of The Fakist.
I’ve always loved rom-coms. My love for them isn’t ironic. There’s something about the surreal world of romantic comedies that really excites me… The heightened reality. The bizarre choices the characters make in service of the structure. The sense of playful mischief, often with a dark subtext, when you really think about it.
When I decided I was going to write a rom-com satire for The Fakist this year, I decided to celebrate the genre’s tropes, while making the sorts of weird decisions you’d never see in a Lifetime movie. The kind of decisions only I’d make, or things that built on the characters we established in the first two seasons.
Our heroine is Grace Huberstafforford, a no-nonsense political correspondent, inspired by the flat delivery of NPR reporters. Dry. Factual. Monotone. Everything Anne Kendrick isn’t.
When she’s not making up the news, Grace teaches Stripping for Seniors at the local community center. Not my choice. The actress who plays Grace brought the idea to me, and I’ve done my best to “yes, and” her suggestion, despite how uneasy writing “sexy” makes me, even in comedy. So, sexy comes out silly, resulting in a fun scene involving two Season 3 villains. Nothing too raunchy. Just don’t let the kids listen. Or your co-workers, unless you want HR to get involved.
This is the first episode this season with it’s own “theme song,” a loose parody inspired by a song from Four Weddings and a Funeral performed by Erun Halpin. We’ll feature more of these throughout the season. I originally intended to have a lot of comedic songs and parodies in The Fakist, and I’m pumped I’m finally able to execute on that idea thanks to some help from some very talented musicians.
I hope you get as much out of “Love Is All Around” as you would any romantic comedy, or satire of romantic comedies, at any rate.