'No, it will never work': Why the Courtney Act scrapped the idea for its TV pilot

There’s a twist in Courtney Act’s new celebrity interview, which is part of the Ten’s Pilot Showcase. Before discussing the guest’s life journey, presenters with their most attractive clothes.

Your show Courtney’s wardrobe is part of Ten’s Pilot Showcase. Give me the elevator pitch that gave you the slot. The idea came from when I was in Alice Springs and did Project. I’m dragging, it’s forty degrees, I’m standing in some animal park, hot and sweaty and there’s a delay on the autocue. It’s all very challenging. And then on the plane on the way back, Hunter [Smith]producer and writer at Project, like, hey, I had this idea for show. And I’m like, Not, it will never work, I’ve tried it before, it doesn’t work. I don’t like the idea. And then a few days later, he was like, so I mentioned it to people and they really liked the idea… and I was like, no… I’ve tried to get people dragged in before, it didn’t work, it was really awkward . And then he was like, Ten loved it so much and they took it to the pilot, and I was like, oh GoodI have to make it good.

Courtney Act in Courtney’s Wardrobe.Credit:

Making it good is often a difficult thing. How do you do it? What I didn’t realize was, the next time I tried it, it was a Christmas special, with musical numbers and guests and stuff, and I put Jonnie Peacock, the paralympic, in a drag. At the start of the show, it happened in the dressing room, someone else did and there was a big reveal at the end. I don’t like it. But the thing is, this show is an interview show. The whole show is about this one thing. The idea is that I talk to my guests, to really draw out maybe childhood inspiration they never brought with them as adults, or things they’re passionate about. You know, Luke (McGregor, subject of the pilot episode) has an economics degree, he likes Ghostbuster, he likes all these things. And I was like, I want the pull that I create to really reflect who the person is.

So despite being forced to put on a show, you end up getting into it. I came along, and I’m glad I did because… I guess as a drag player in the corporate world, I’m going to often have different shows where you’re going to have, like, straight-up versions of what a drag queen likes or doesn’t look like. So it’s very important to me that this is an authentic representation of the pull and weird side of life. I didn’t want a makeup mirror with a boa feather dangling over it – I really focused on getting lots of freaks involved in the creative process, making sure it was truly original.

Courtney Act with guest Luke McGregor.Credit:

Do you feel that bringing someone into the context of drag is a good way to penetrate into someone’s depths? I think it reveals things. The great thing about drag is that I know we traditionally think of a man dressing up as a woman – that would be the most reductive description of drag. But for me, I don’t dress up as a woman, I, I guess, dress as a transvestite. At first, I started dressing up because it was a way to express femininity that I couldn’t express anywhere else. And it’s not just femininity: I’ve dressed up as all sorts of things, like Pinocchio, the Riddler – my best friend, Vanity, dressed up as all things childhood like She-Ra and Barbie. It’s like Halloween every night of the year, but a Halloween with femininity rather than horror. So I think Luke, talking about all his inspiration and then putting on the clothes and looking at himself in the mirror, I know he feels really strong. He said “I feel like I can go and fight crime”. It’s great to see her confidence, what happens to her when she sees something different looking back in the mirror.

So it really opens up a person. Yes, and I think there’s something nice about it. This show is not like, everyone has to be a transvestite; it’s more about sharing the joy of what I know from dragging, with other people. It’s like, literally, walking a mile in my shoes. And through that experience came to understand what I love about this.

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Do you feel that now – or over the last 10 years, perhaps – those barriers have entered the mainstream, or entered the consciousness of more people? Yeah, I guess one story we’ve seen over the last few hundred years, – no offense if you’re one of them – straight white male narrative…

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