Ahead of the premiere of Quill In The Big City, Sparkk TV sat down with members of the cast and crew for the first interview about the new series. The conversation touches on the show’s warm sitcom-inspired feel, Quill’s evolution, the continued growth of the Hurtniverse, and what viewers can expect when the series begins streaming June 1.
What can viewers expect from Quill in the Big City?
Josh
A warm, 90s sitcom-esque with a modern... So I'm visually here. We went for like a warm sitcom feel, especially with the color records and everything.
Molly
I think people can relate on Quill's character. Just kind of what you just said about the lighthearted existential... I cannot pronounce that word, existential crisis, whatever.
I do think people can really relate to that, especially in this day and age with not a lot of job openings, houses being the prices they are. So I think people... I know it's a smaller scale in Quill in the City, but I still think it can touch people's hearts in more ways than just one.
Anastaisia
I love that, Molly.
Molly
Yeah. How do you say that? Extensional...
Say that again. Existentialism. Existentialism.
Kyra
Okay, that's such a hard word. But Molly, going off of what you said, I think people can also relate to Jackie's character a lot because I think that's something that everyone in this day and age can also relate to. It's watching people that you love struggle with the weight of our society and trying to make their way through it, but not really knowing how to approach it because everyone is in the same boat.
And so you're watching people struggle, but maybe you're struggling too. And it's like, does anyone really know what to do? And so I feel like Jackie definitely goes through that a lot, is she's watching her partner struggle, but her partner is not reaching out for help, is not accepting help, and it puts her at a standstill.
And I think that's something I go through in all my relationships on both sides. I'm on both ends of the spectrum. Me and you both.
Josh
Well, there's also that isolation that Quill's kind of putting herself into by kind of pushing away rather than accepting the help around her and trying to deal with things on her own because she thinks that it somehow lessens her to reach out for help. And more like isolating herself because that's what she thinks strength is.
Anastaisia
Yeah. I like that. Well, you all give such beautiful answers.
Molly
We're beautiful people, duh.
Anastaisia
Love that.
Did you watch any past Hurtniverse projects? How did they impact your approach to this project?
Kyra
I mean, absolutely. I was in the very first season of Hurt, so I've definitely seen a lot of the Hurt and Verse before. It was interesting because this is so much different from where we started out, but really not different at the same time.
Those themes of Hurt never go away, and I think that you guys have such a way of highlighting it. It's so relatable, and it really paints it in a light of not demonizing it, just mostly so people can understand it. And we all understand it in a way, but I think we have trouble relating to each other.
And that's the great thing about this series as a whole, is it helps us relate to each other, and that hasn't changed. The show has grown so much and gone in so many different directions, but that core theme never changes. So while this is really completely different, it wasn't that different to me.
The team is different, the story is different, the style is different, but the idea is still the same. And so it was really just an extension of exploring what I did way back in, oh my gosh, I think 2022. Summer of 2022.
Josh
Watching the previous stuff, especially the stuff with Kiri in it, definitely gave me... And just seeing how you could kind of... They weren't afraid to show people's weaknesses and everything, and it wasn't about all the characters looking cool or whatever.
So it kind of opened that up to what we were able to do here.
Molly
And I saw an episode or two before we filmed, and I kind of piggyback off of what everyone said. And I really like, not that you even asked about this, excuse me, oh my goodness, I cannot get comfortable. I really like how you portray, if I remember correctly, the main characters as middle class.
Because most, I mean, I don't want to speak, not most people are middle class, but it's not something so obtainable. We're struggling, but we're upper class, so it's not tone deaf. I don't know, it's something I wanted to say just now.
Maybe that's a weird, don't be a smartass, Molly, but...
Josh
Well, and the fact that it was not filmed in New York or LA.
Molly
Exactly.
Josh
Not these imaginary affordable apartments and things like that. That people actually, it showed real struggle as opposed to the more highlighted, amplified sky struggles of a lot of shows.
Molly
I like that you put it really well, because you're right. Most of these shows are based in New York or LA, and it's amplified issues. It's always boy issues.
Kyra
I feel like media nowadays is very all or nothing when it's portraying struggle. It's either glamorous, high end, this glittery billionaire world, or it's absolutely bottom, the most struggle ever, the worst hardships you've ever heard. There is not this normalcy in Hollywood anymore.
You don't see what the average person deals with, and I think that's what's special about this, too. And also part of what makes it so relatable, like I was saying earlier.
Anastaisia
Yeah. I would like to piggyback off, because it's like these two hyperbolic extremes. It's like, ooh, the problems of the wealthy 1% in media, or then it's just poverty porn, like trauma porn or something.
So there's a definite middle ground. I love that. That has kind of not been there.
Josh
Well, and showing that there is a middle class, but it is closer to the poverty end than the glam end. The middle class is shrinking or whatever, and showing that people are finding a way to make it through life without being poverty porn or whatever. Like everyday people still have these struggles that aren't really voiced in media a lot.
How does the Quill we meet in QitBC differ from versions we may have seen in the past?
Kyra
She is kind of off her high horse. She's still very high strung, but I think she's lost this almost cocky edge to her as she's gone into the real world. When she was living with her siblings, it was a little bit cushier, and she was the one in control, and now she's not in control anymore.
And that's something that she really has to struggle with and navigate. And it changes how we see her a lot, because I feel like Quill has become a lot more humanized in this knocking off her high horse, if I would say. And it's interesting, because she still has those personality traits.
She's headstrong. She's a little high strung. She's outspoken.
She's easily frustrated. But she also kind of has a softness to how she approaches things, because she realizes that she can't always get the outcome she wants, and she has to be a little more resourceful. Rather than already knowing what she's going to do and having it all planned out and knowing that the plan is going to go to a T, she has to think on her feet more and kind of improvise, which is not something the quill we used to know would have ever done.
She would have never had to improvise anything. And so I think that definitely sheds a new light on her, because it's almost kind of like she realizes she's not as mature as she thought she was. She realizes that she's still growing up, which is interesting, because especially in season one, when we last saw her, Stone 100% knew that he still had things to figure out.
He didn't kind of have that backtracking of, wait, I have more growth to do than I thought I needed. And that's what's interesting about her is now we see her and she's like, I actually do need to grow up still.
Josh
Just having recently moved to the big city from a more rural era myself, I related to quills kind of having to lean on the people around her and being afraid to do that. Not wanting to be the burden, but realizing that it takes people around you to grow and become what your goal is. Because you will have rejections and fallbacks.
But learning to lean on the people around you to help you accept those rejections that you had growing up.
Anastaisia
I do want to say that I loved what Hira said, because it's true, she has a lot of growing up to do, but she always has that wit and sarcastic humor that she's always had. I want to know that too. But I love that.
What was it like building out Quill’s corner of the Hurtniverse?
Anastaisia
Well, for me, for this, it was... I have to give a backstory for this. I always thought Quill was her brother's keeper in the first season, so I wanted to just expand that.
But for the world, I wanted to create this fun, very fun, lighthearted... It's still in the city, so obviously there's going to be city problems and a lot of hustle and bustle. Lightheartedness, tenderness, friendship.
Friends you can rely on. Just an inner source of stability that you never know what's going to happen in this life, but you have friends to surround you with. And kind of like lightheartedness and just...
Kind of just like... I don't know. This is a tough question.
Honestly, a more city scene. Because in the previous Hurt Universes, it's all been very suburban, not very with a city. And so with a city like Atlanta, it's very big, it's very otherworldly too.
But I wanted to kind of just move that from more of a suburban setting to a city setting, if that makes sense.
Kyra
And I'll say, this is not really about the world, but about Quill. What was important to me in portraying her a second time around was showing that she wasn't infallible. Because of course in the first season, we could tell that she was a flawed character, but she was so self-assured.
And coming to a city like this and branching out on her own and being fully independent, she is a little bit out of her depth. And so that was important to me to show that that assurance isn't 100% for anyone, even Quill.
Anastaisia
Almost like she was the big fish in a small pond, if you want to speak. I love that.
Josh
Using Quill's frustration and franticness to kind of show the fast pace of city living a little bit. We didn't really show much of the city, but just her franticness kind of displayed that fast paced city living a little bit.
Are there any teases you can give for Quill in the Big City?
Anastaisia
Expect a lot of queer representation and trans representation. Expect to laugh, expect to feel it give you the aww feelings.
It'll give you the feeling like, oh, I might hate this person, but they're slowly coming around. Or I love this person. Expect some short shorts, all that jazz.
Kyra
As true, you will get to see me roller skate. This is my first character who canonically skates, which is fun because I've been skating for a while. So I'm very excited about that.
Something else that viewers can look forward to is that in this season Quill gets her own Timothy.
About Sparkk TV
Sparkk TV is the home of independent streaming, featuring original series, films, and podcasts from creators who don’t follow formulas — they create their own. With a growing slate of Sparkk TV Originals and curated indie stories, Sparkk TV delivers bold storytelling you won’t find anywhere else.
Stream Independent.
Quill In The Big City begins streaming June 1 on Sparkk TV.
