KEY POINTS:
Joanna Hunkin goes behind the scenes of Go Girls, TV2's new local dramedy series about love, friendship and (bottle) blonde ambition
Sitting in an Auckland cafe, Bronwyn Turei and Alix Bushnell are huddled together, giggling madly about something. Turei had been telling a story, when Bushnell cut
in. With a single word and a hand flap - a sort of secret code indecipherable to a casual observer - the women are in fits.
It's the type of scene played out in cafes across the country, every day, between old friends. The only difference here is the pair - who co-star in TV2's upcoming local dramedy Go Girls - have known each other less than a year.
Their chemistry is undeniable, and is one of the reasons they won their roles, playing best friends, alongside Anna Hutchison (Shortland Street) and Jay Ryan (Being Eve, Sea Patrol).
New to the professional acting scene - Bushnell was still at drama school when cast and Turei had only done the odd advertisement - the pair weren't the most likely candidates to take starring roles.
It wasn't until Turei pitched up to the recall weekend - in her hoodie and jandals - that she began to realise the size and scale of the production she had auditioned for.
"All these people were turning up with giant trolley bags and were like 'Oh, I just flew in from Wellington,' or 'Oh, I just arrived from Sydney'. And I was like, 'I just caught the bus from Mt Roskill'. I didn't really understand the gravity of the situation and what it was."
But creators Rachel Lang (Outrageous Fortune) and Gavin Strawhan (Burying Brian) were instantly drawn to the 25-year-old, who plays the rough-around-the-edges but fiercely loyal Cody.
"She's such a find," grins Strawhan. "We just saw her and went 'wow'."
The four actors, who play childhood friends navigating the perils of quarter-life, instantly hit it off and have remained firm friends since filming wrapped last September.
"When we were casting, we did a lot of recalls, where we put different groups together," explains Strawhan. "We knew that they had to be friends.
"The fact is, you can over-explain all this stuff, but people become friends for all sorts of strange reasons. What we wanted was a sense that these people felt good together."
As two of the country's most seasoned television writers - their credits include everything from Outrageous Fortune and Maddigan's Quest to Mercy Peak and Shortland Street - Lang and Strawhan were given a long creative lead by South Pacific Pictures, including the right to choose their cast; the best actors to bring fortune-seeking Amy (Hutchison), fame-seeking Britta (Bushnell) and love-seeking Cody to life. And of course, the narrator and bloke of the piece Kevin (Ryan), a down-to-earth mechanic who is slightly befuddled by his female friends.
With the four principal characters and several supporting players all aged in their 20s, the creators knew they would need to draw on less experienced actors to complete the line-up.
But it is balanced by a wealth of older talent, in the form of Jan and Nan (Annie Whittle and Irene Wood) and other peripheral characters, including Theresa Healey, Ingrid Park and Stephen Lovatt.
"We just cast the best people for the characters. We weren't thinking 'oh they'll do a good job of holding the younger guys' hands'," says Strawhan.
The familiar faces also lend a distinct New Zealand flavour to the programme, which was an important directive for the creators.
Set over a year, the series sees each of the three girls set themselves a simple goal - to be rich; to be famous; and to get married.
"I liked the idea of having a quest," explains Lang. "It seemed like New Zealand. It's got that can-do, Kiwi spirit thing."
But don't expect this to be a non-stop feel-good fairytale. Lang doesn't subscribe to the power of positive thought, Secret-style school of philosophy.
"The whole thing nowadays is anyone can do anything if you just believe it. Which I think is a pile of crap."
Strawhan adds, "And that's one of the things we explore. That it is a pile of crap."
But while things don't necessarily go to plan for the girls, the writers were careful not to belittle the characters, or mock them for having such fanciful dreams. "There is an essential kindness underneath it, which is one of the reasons we wrote it. We were tired of cynical, nasty, bitchy TV," says Strawhan.
They were also keen to steer clear of another, whiny female narrator, as favoured by so many American programmes, instead choosing to tell the story through the eyes of Kevin.
"There's been this run of Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives and all the rest, with this all-knowing female narrator whose voice comes over all, 'Sometimes a wall is just a wall. And sometimes a wall is something to walk around. And sometimes you need to put a door in the wall ..."' he says putting on a particularly good Meredith Grey voice.
"Listening to all this pseudo-profound crap, we thought 'wouldn't it be nice to have bloke who was quite dry and a bit confused and trying to make sense of the world?"'
Lang adds, holding up a box-set of Sex and the City DVDs, "It's the anti-version of this". Although, she later admits, they did place a certain emphasis on wardrobe for a SatC element of 'What are they wearing this week?'.
Turei and Bushnell also bring up the "incredible" wardrobe, laughing and averting their eyes when asked if they pinched any items. And for any blokes thinking this female-dominated series might not be for them, Bushnell's wardrobe may give pause for thought.
Asked what the biggest challenge of the series was, Bushnell replies, "The weather. It was filmed in winter, and, well ... Britta doesn't wear a lot."
Set in the leafy suburbs of Auckland's North Shore, the location plays an important role as both a symbol of the series' theme and to differentiate it from other local programmes, in particular Outrageous Fortune.
"There's a parody aspect to Outrageous," explains Strawhan, "but we haven't done that with the North Shore. We just wanted the sense that people move to the North Shore from all over the world and New Zealand to make a better life."
Hailing from Wellington, Bushnell had never been to Auckland until her first audition and was unfamiliar with the "Shore Girl" stereotype. But she's quick to point out it was never a barrier to playing the character or understanding the humour of the series.
"They're friendships I think everyone can relate to," says Bushnell.
Turei agrees. "It's the way these characters have been written. I feel, personally, Cody is every woman. The average New Zealand woman sliced right down the middle and exposed. I felt a big responsibility to do her justice and make a good job of her because of that."
Lowdown
Who: Alix Bushnell, Bronwyn Turei and Anna Hutchison are the Go Girls, stars of Rachel Lang and Gavin Strawhan's new local series.
What: Three women on a quest for fame, fortune and love, seen through the eyes of their confused mate Kev (Jay Ryan).
When: Premieres Thursday, February 19 at 8.30pm on TV2.