"To find virgins, the producers spent a lot of time on the internet on Reddit and in forums, with nudists my producer went and lay on a nudist beach and spoke to people that way, for other topics they go through the media or organisations, it's just really good research work. "That helps us determine what those final eight episodes might be and if you can actually find the people to be on the show - we've often suggested 'lotto winners' and it is just impossible to find the people to participate. "Then we tend to go out publicly with a list of 12 topics and ask people if they've got questions they'd like to ask or if there's people who might like to be part of that group on the show. "When we sit with the producers and we have a list of 15 or 20 questions, like with porn stars we had endless questions - you know this is a good sign, this is a good topic. "So, we have these 'buckets' and then we think, 'Are there 10 burning questions that you would want to ask this group of people'? That's a really good test to see if the topic would work. And then we try to have something topical - last year we did Chinese Australians to try and look at coronavirus from a different angle.ĭocker (top right) filming an episode on nudists. "It was an idea that we'd had for a number of years, that we thought would be really interesting to investigate, how your life could completely change on a dime. I was particularly interested in suicide attempt survivors and we did that, domestic violence, people who have killed someone by accident. "When #MeToo was prominent, we looked at sexual assault.
#CILEBERTY GAY VIDEOS PORN SERIES#
"We think of the topics as a series of buckets, so mental health, gender, sexuality, sex, a disability, then we will often have something that's a really challenging topic, a heavier topic. "And that's something we strive for - moments that make your eyebrows stand up, things that people can discuss the next day, that challenge your own ideas, your own stereotypes, your own biases, that's what we're trying to do. "As content makers, we try to make stuff that excites us, that challenges us, that creates "f.k me moments", which is what Andrew Denton used to ask us for in the office. Loading How do you come up with a topic to focus on and find the people willing to go on the show? "I think there's a number of reasons why it's successful and, first and foremost, it's the candidness and the honesty with which the people speak." I think it's the playfulness and the humour, which makes it really accessible. "You Can't Ask That could have easily been a show that, I think, could be really worthy or really boring if you're being too careful with it. It's a challenging world making content and it has to remain relevant. We had to really campaign hard to get a second season, third and fourth season. "So, it's really cool to see it all around the world but it wasn't easy. "For example, Italy did a transgender episode in their first season similar to us and it was very, very different. "That's as exciting as it gets for us because it's one thing to sell your show overseas and people watch our content - that's a nice pat on the back – but what's great about the show is it's localised, it's local, misunderstood groups, answering local questions so when you see it pop up in other countries they have their own curiosities and their own things that you can't ask. "It's the most successful ABC format in history, it's one of the most successful Australian formats in history. "And there's now something like 35 different seasons of the show around the world in nine different languages. It takes about six months of research, filming, editing and post-production to complete an eight-episode series of the show. "When we were making it, internally, the ABC went 'Wow, there is something in this' and they decided to put it on the main channel and it went from there. "So, it was a combination of all those things that came together and, at the time, iview was commissioning content and we got a 10-by-10 minute slot. "We wanted to tackle that environment and, rather than shy away from having these big conversations, actually confront them head-on and pass the mic to the person who never gets a voice and let them speak for themselves, as opposed to experts or commentators speaking on behalf of misunderstood and marginalised people.
"People with the big voices, politicians or celebrities or people with big social media presences, explained to us how we should or shouldn't behave. Everyone was really worried about what to say and how do you address people for fear of causing offence. "And, in 2015, if you remember, political correctness was a really a hot topic. "So, we really loved this sort of format, and we were also captivated by this sort of 'ask me anything' type thing that was happening on online at the time. Kirk Docker filming vox pops for Hungry Beast.