Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine on wrapping up their delightfully cringey coming-of-age comedy.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for the final season ofPen15.
In the end, Maya and Anna’s friendship survived seventh grade.
Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine on ‘Pen15’.Hulu
The “Posh” episode was the first time it was really hard.
Or any time something’s hard for Anna, it feels hard for me.
I remember filming those episodes pre-divorce made me feel emotional, especially the happy times.
Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle on ‘Pen15’.Hulu
But it’s therapeutic, I think, ultimately.
Sometimes masochistic, but ultimately therapeutic.
We wanted to ensure we didn’t skip that more illicit content that felt really truthful.
We also wanted to bring a little more of a hint of a documentary feel.
Then by the end of the season we want the feeling of going back home.
Going back home to yourself, re-establishing our innocence again.
You all did such a great job capturing that.
With blankets as walls.
ERSKINE:But see I was the friend, I wasn’t getting any action.
KONKLE:I was the third wheel too!
You’re conditioned to think, “Yeah, I gotta give him good head.
I gotta get to that first step.”
And it’s like, why?
KONKLE:And without thinking, “What is my pleasure?”
It’s just, “Am I doing this right?”
KONKLE:Dark times.
It feels like society is opening up and that’s changing for the younger generation.
[IN UNISON]:Thank you!
I’m interested in the conversations surrounding “How far do we go with this?”
We had done a presentation where Maya did go a little farther.
KONKLE:Like a short film.
The kiss was one thing, but doing other things wasn’t something we wanted to do.
So how far do we go?
How do we do it?
So high school boyfriends opened that up.
KONKLE:And casting other adults in those roles.
We talked about hearing how to give a good bl–job a lot.
Always keep eye contact!
And the logistics of that are f—ing hilarious.
ERSKINE:And no teeth!
How perfect and how for-the-man it’s all supposed to be.
ERSKINE:I find it devastating in a way.
You’re watching this loss of innocence happen right before your very eyes.
It’s something that I find really sad to watch.
They go through these things and you’re going to have to see that.
That’s what happens at that age.
It was scary, though, to commit to doing that.
And it was a crazy, wild thing to film.
KONKLE:You’re amazing in it.
ERSKINE:It was a dildo, by the way.
And it burned my mouth and my throat.
KONKLE:Didn’t they give you the wrong lube or something?
ERSKINE:I don’t know what, but I was like, “This is burning.”
Where did the idea for that come from?
I’m so happy we got to do that.
And then Maya’s directing and writing, everything took it to a level that for me was mind-blowing.
I’m usually on set constantly.
With this episode, I was never on set.
ERSKINE:That’s true, you weren’t there every day.
ERSKINE:That’s very nice.
Who is Yuki as a person outside of Maya’s tunnel vision?
That was a really humbling, eye-opening experience.
There’s a version of this show that follows Maya and Anna through high school and even college.
Why end it now?
ERSKINE:I think if each season they changed grades I would keep going with it.
But we’re sticking to the idea that they’re in seventh grade forever.
I think this is where naturally the story ends for them.
KONKLE:Yeah, and I think too, so much of the show is autobiographical.
We were only 13 for so long.
ERSKINE:You don’t want to jump the shark.
KONKLE:Yeah, so that’s the main reason.
But it is scary trying to wrap my head around what’s next.
We came up with this 10 years ago.
This has been a huge part of our lives.
For this to be the first major writing endeavor, I’ve learned a lot.
I just have to not be afraid of failing, because that’s howPen15came to be.
For now it’s going to be a lot of misses.
Let’s talk about the final scene: Why did you want to end it there?
Because I’ve had both.
I liked the idea of playing with that.
KONKLE:I think it struck a balance of all the different things.
ERSKINE:It also ends where we started in the first season, in your bedroom.
KONKLE:Yeah, we wanted to go back to the beginning.
