Talking with Stav Idisis (BLOODY MURRAY)

A few weeks ago, I was invited by gleichgestellt.de to recommend five films or series for their weekly watchlist on Instagram. A nice idea, but not an easy task. This Thursday, my five tips – five series – will appear as the watchlist. And some day, I’ll discuss my five selected series and a few more in greater detail here on the blog.

Number One on the list is the Israeli series בלאדי מורי BLOODY MORI (German: DANA & MURRAY, YES Studios). Here’s the Trailer.
Today I am pleased to publish my interview with Israeli actress and writer Stav Idisis, creator, writer and showrunner of the series. Ahead of the five series recommendation blog text, because it’s getting long as it is.

Ten questions for Stav Idisis סתיו אידיסיס

Intro

Can you give me your logline for the series?

It’s not the offical logline, which I can’t find. But here’s something similar:
Bloody Murray is an 8-episode romantic comedy, at the center of which is Mor – a 35-year-old single, film lecturer, controlled and cynical, who, against all odds, develops an obsession with the romantic comedy genre. The endless preoccupation with the principles of the genre, its laws and its rationale – take over her lifestyle, her consciousness, her decisions, and her way of thinking. As a result, Mor begins to be convinced: Lior (the new partner of her best friend – Dana) is actually meant for her.

“8-episode”? On arte channel there are 9?

Correct. It’s an old logline, and initially, the series was supposed to have 8 episodes. Only at the end of the writing process did I realize I needed one more episode, and the producers approved.

This is really good news and says a lot both for Stav’s convincing powers and the open-mind of the production company YES Studios. And finally, what about the title and the name of the main character? Mor? Murray?

True, the Israeli name is Mor and the nickname is Mori. YES Studios decided to change to Murray for the international audience.

So the original title is BLOODY MORI, internationally known as BLOODY MURRAY – which was already too much for the German version of IMDB, because they unceremoniously turned Mori / Murray into a man (sorry, can’t translate this into English, because the German „a film lecturer who“ grammatically reads ,a male film lecturer who (male form)‘. And someone at arte (?) decided to change BLOODY MURRAY to DANA & MURRAY. Why, actually, and why this order when Mori / Murray is clearly the main character? Perhaps a question for the What kind of title is THAT? section.

But now on to my ten questions and the answers from Stav Idisis – thank you very much! תודה רבה לך

Question 1: How did you become „an actress who also writes“ or „an actress turned writer“?

I grew up in Rishon Lezion, a city in central Israel, not very far from Tel Aviv. In high school, I studied at an arts high school in Tel Aviv, so I spent all my teenage years in Tel Aviv, and to this day I live in Tel Aviv.

I’ve always been drawn to theater and cinematic and television production. I can’t quite pinpoint where it comes from. It was the thing that interested me the most from a very young age. There’s a chance I caught the bug because my dad is a screenwriter, and I would go with him to work on the sets of series, watching actors, rehearsals, and how everything operates; it fascinated me. But I’m sure there’s also a strong natural attraction to the field within me—telling a story. Psychologically, I think my interest in acting stemmed from the need of a very shy girl who struggled to show the world who she was, her sense of humor, that she was cool… and acting, embodying a character, surprising, moving people helped my ego. I was good at it. Today, I can say that I’ve stepped away from acting. It’s a mentally challenging field, and in the end, I didn’t succeed as I wanted, and I got tired of trying. But I really got tired. Not out of despair. The enthusiasm just faded for me. A little enthusiasm isn’t enough. Maybe what I needed was recognition, and I achieved that. I’m happy with where I am. But if they offer me a really amazing role, it’s possible I wouldn’t be able to refuse.

Question 2: Are there parallels between your own life and the plot, and between you and Mori?

There are many parallel points between me and mory; we are both late single. We share the same professional passions and the same desires and dreams in our personal lives. We have similar ways of thinking, with shared critical views and cynicism. Mory is just more extreme—she says everything I only think. She does things that I sometimes only imagine I might want to do. By the way, Dana and mory together represent me. I’m also analytical, perfectionistic, ambitious, and organized like Dana. But I’m also lazy and a procrastinator like mory. It’s complicated 🙂

Question 3: When did you have the idea for the story and what was your motivation and ambition for it?

My motivation was to write a series that I created for adults. Until then, I had only written for children’s shows, and for years I wanted to create something from the heart. But for years, I didn’t have anything to write about and didn’t invest much thought into it because I was always busy with other things that took my attention and resources. The general idea for ‘Bloody Mori’ about a film professor teaching a seminar on romantic comedy and starting to blur the lines between genre rules and her own life just came to me one evening in 2018 when I was working with a production company that believed in me and asked me to make an effort and think of an idea for a series. Sometimes a person just needs a little push of belief from someone else.

von links: Rotem Sela (Dana) und Naomi Levov (Mori). Foto Ohad Romano

Question 4: When did you start pitching the series and how did you sell it, roughly how long did that take?

As mentioned, I was already in contact with a production company that immediately loved the idea. So I received immediate positive feedback—and a boost to start writing the pilot. I didn’t receive any compensation, right? I just decided to do it because there’s nothing like a written dialogue to prove to the network that the product is special. Then I enrolled in a writing course that forced me to sit down and produce. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. I had a deadline. There was a class where I had to submit the script to the class and receive feedback, which gave me the strength to sit down and write. By the way, the fact that I managed to take a moment to write something without money is thanks to a tiny inheritance I received from my grandmother who passed away. When I finished the course, I already had two episodes in hand. It happened really quickly, within three months, and soon after, they read it, loved it, and gave me development for the series.My process was extremely fast. Within a year, a season was already written, and I went into production.

Question 5: Why are you not in the series as an actress?

(I know of actors, esp. Women 40+, who start to write or develop scripts, because the roles on offer are not good or don’t exist – this goes for Germany. So they want to write the sort of story they would like to be in, and usually they are taking a bigger role when it’s filmed. But you are not in your series, neither with a short cameo, nor as a supporting or an episode character. How come?

The truth is that the goal was to write myself the role of a lifetime. I intended to play Mori. I even did an audition for the role. But in the end, I can say that I backed down. I felt it was a complex role and wasn’t sure I could handle the task. Additionally, I really struggled with whether I should direct to ensure that what I imagined comes to life. So it was definitely a challenging time during the casting process. It wasn’t an easy decision, and when I felt that those around me also preferred that I not act, it really broke me and made me retreat. I didn’t really fight for it. It was a combination of low self-confidence, lack of experience, harsh self-criticism, and a lack of encouragement from my work environment.

Stav Idisi und Naomi Levov, Series Mania Festival 2022, Beste Comedyserie

Question 6: What was your part in the project after you sold the script?

I was very involved in every stage of the project. I chose the director, whom I knew from my film studies at university. He’s also an actor-director, and we had good chemistry; I knew he was talented and very funny. I had the final say on the cast, of course, along with the producers (YES), and also on important crew members like the cinematographer. I was the showrunner on set and was present every shooting day. The actors consulted with me all the time, and there was a fruitful artistic dialogue between me and Yogev, the director. I also sat in the editing room every day, alongside the director and editor. In short… I did a great internship, and I will direct the next season myself.

Question 7: Where has the series been sold to so far?

The series has so far been sold to ARTE and, truthfully, I don’t remember but also to a few other countries… about more sales- I am not allowed to disclose at the moment, and the decision is solely up to YES. I can only hope to make as much money as possible from this. 🙂

Question 8: Has anybody approached you about a remake and what are your feelings about that?

I’m not allowed to talk about it beyond what I’ve already said. I can say that as long as it’s done well, I’m all for it – the opportunity to reach a wider audience is a dream, and of course, the financial reward doesn’t hurt.

Question 9: I was a bit surprised to read on arte that the friendship between Mori and Dana „is their guarantee of survival in a society in which women still suffer under the burden of tradition“. What are your thoughts on that?

I don’t remember writing this, but I do think and have written somewhere at some point that the fact that both girls are late singles makes it easier for them to cope with loneliness and the social pressure that definitely exists here in Israel to “normalize” and find a partner. Both Mori and Dana really want to find love, they just haven’t found it and haven’t compromised. Therefore, and not only because of the social issue, it’s a problem for them. A problem they would like to solve in their lives. By the way, late singleness is becoming more and more common, but the social stigma from the previous generation and even from my generation is still not easy to digest and sometimes disrupts the mind.

Question 10: Is there anything you can tell me about the second season – like e.g. which of the supporting characters will be in it, will we learn about Dana’s family. – or is this still a secret?

It’s a secret 🙂

Thank you very much for your time, Stav, and your personal answers! תודה על זמנך ועל התשובות הפתוחות, סתיו היקרה! אני ממש נרגש לראות מה יקרה אחר כך.
You can watch DANA & MURRAY / BLOODY MORI in the original Hebrew version with German or French subtitles in the arte Mediathek until 16.11.24.

I have shortened the questions for this text. The interview and parts of it can only be reprinted with my permission. Please contact me with any enquiries.