Everything’s trash except for Everything’s Trash. Phoebe Robinson stars and produces the new Freeform series, which premieres on July 13. The show is inspired by her bestselling book Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Phoebe about adapting her book for television.
“I knew I definitely wanted to have my own TV show, but I never thought I would adapt it from a book,” Phoebe told HollywoodLife. “So it’s been really exciting, and I’m so pumped. I think that people who read the books are going to be fans of the show, and hopefully, the show will reach a wider audience and people who’ve never heard me before will really get into it as well.”
The series features Phoebe, a 30-something podcast navigating her messy life. The real-life Phoebe noted that the show will definitely hit on “money issues, funny dating stuff, local politics. We’re really trying to find a way to make that interesting and fun as well. I think people are really going to fall in love with these five characters and the friendships they have. It’s going to be a lot of TV Phoebe being messy. You might see some pixelation. There might be a boob popping out, so who knows? I think it’s going to be real fun and funny and a little wild, but I think it’s going to be a good time.”
Phoebe pointed out that the relationship her character has with her brother, Jaden, in the show is “a little more heightened than how it is in real life. But my brother and I have just been double trouble ever since we were kids, and we’re pretty close.”
More storylines on the show were taken directly from the show’s writers’ room. “It’s cool to have that mix of some things that happened to other people, and then things happened to me. Like when I graduated college, I was trying to find a job at a film company, so I worked on this political campaign for Tom Suozzi when he was running against Eliot Spitzer. I did the canvassing and the phone banking. There’s a nice sort of plotline with canvassing in the show that’s really funny and silly. I think it’s a good combination. I think it’s like 60 percent from my life and 40 percent bringing stuff in from the room,” Phoebe explained.
When the show begins, Phoebe admitted that her character is a “little bit of a mess.” She added, “She’s kind of just doing her thing. That’s always kind of worked for her. It’s certainly worked for the podcast because the podcast’s successful, but I think now her antics are kind of crossing over into her brother’s lane a little bit. He’s very put together, so I think when we start the series, Phoebe is a little bit of a wildcard. He’s a little more put together. I think throughout the series, you really want to show that even if you do have it all ‘put together,’ you still have ways that you’re flawed, that you’re messy. You get to see that neither of them are perfect, but they really need each other because they bring out the best in each other.”
Phoebe loved exploring this “brother-sister relationship like that because I don’t think you necessarily see that as the prominent relationship in a show like this. I think it’s cool to see that she has her moments where she’s sort of on it and he’s not. It’s surprising for both of them, so I think that’s what we can expect throughout this first season.”
Phoebe’s character will also have romance(s) in the first season. “I think we’re going to have fun watching her not only focused on her podcast career and her shenanigans with her friends, but you’re going to see her have some cute little dates and smooches. It’s nice,” she teased.
The show was filmed on location in New York City and showcases spots like Sunset Park, Crown Heights, and more in Brooklyn. “We really want to give that sort of life and vibrancy that Brooklyn has. I think a lot of times when people shoot shows in New York, it’s like, we’re just going to show gentrified Williamsburg or Soho, Tribeca, and I’m like, there’s so much more here than just those areas. We really want to celebrate them and honor them,” the comedian said.