24 July 2025
Workmates, the new film from writer/director team Sophie Henderson and Curtis Vowell, will have its World Premiere at the upcoming Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival. Starring Henderson and Matt Whelan, this is a funny, heartfelt comedy romance about best friends, art, ambition, and messy feelings in messy theatres. It’s a love letter to theatre, friendship and the creative community.
I braved a shaky internet connection for a Zoom chat with Sophie and Curtis to talk about theatre, love stories and how you work with your significant other without breaking something.
I first met the couple at a Q&A for their debut feature Fantail when I was running the Paramount in Wellington. We reminisced about that theatre’s closure and how Workmates reminded me of those years spent holding things together with no money and a rag-tag team of cinema-lovers.
Sophie laughed. “All the venue owners and exhibitors in the screenings have been cringing because they get it. They know.”
I asked Sophie and Curtis what they think audiences can expect from Workmates.
“It’s a scrappy little love story,” Sophie said. “It’s based on my experience running the Basement Theatre, so it’s a true story made untrue by exaggeration. It’s about how hard—and how fun—it is to make art at the bottom of the world for no money. And about being in love with someone at work you probably shouldn’t be.”
Given its personal nature, I asked how autobiographical the film really is.
“It started off completely autobiographical - the character was called Sophie, and it was based on my time running the Basement Theatre. It’s the same with a lot of my films. It starts as you but grows into a story belonging to someone you made up and it’s freeing to let go of the literal truth and find the emotional truth. The feelings are true and the way I felt about that space are true. But there was room for the character to grow and be MUCH worse than me.”
Sophie plays the role of Lucy ,that started off based on herself, and I asked how she found playing that part.
“It wasn’t healthy, and I wouldn’t do it again,” Sophie said with a slightly hysterical laugh. “I was playing a character who worked in the same job as me, wore my clothes and… It got very blurry. We were trying to be authentic and Curtis kept saying he didn’t want to see any acting.”
Curtis broke in with, “It was easy because you could just lock into it because the character was so close to yourself. The difficulty was separating yourself again.”
“We shot fast,” Sophie said. “And I was hanging out with my real-life friends from the theatre world. I love the idea of people watching it and trying to guess which parts are true.”
Having now made three films together, I asked how their working relationship has evolved.
“It was easier when we didn’t have kids,” Sophie said with a wry smile. Fantail was pre-kids.
“We know more now,” Curtis added. “Back then, we relied heavily on our cinematographer and our editor, Richard, who’s been with us all three films. But our goal hasn’t changed: tell the best story possible with the best actors. Something we both connect to, and hope others do too.”
“We share a vision, taste, and humour,” Sophie said. “There’s creative conflict, but it’s always about the film—not personal. We get obsessed. During Workmates, we only talked about the film or our kids for months.”
“I don’t think we’re fun to be around when we’re in that process,” Curtis said. “We’re very different people when we’re making a film. There’s an unrelenting desire to forget about everything except the film, to the detriment of our social lives. It’s a sacrifice, but you know it’s only for a year or so. And it’s so worth it at the other end when you get to share it with everyone.”
“I wouldn’t want to make movies with anyone else,” Sophie said. “I’m involved in the edit too—it’s me, Richard and Curtis as a creative trio. Curtis is so collaborative. If the runner has the best idea for a shot, we use it. There’s no ego.”
The film was shot in the actual Basement Theatre and includes scenes in both the abandoned St. James Theatre and the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre.
“The theatre community truly rallied around this film,” Sophie said. “The Basement gave us their space free, Auckland Live gave us access to their venues and Chloe Swarbrick got us the St. James. One hundred extras came. There are famous actors being extras in the audience for the shows. The whole thing is just a love story to the Basement and my time running it.”
I asked what it was like going back into that space, with a different hat on this time.
“It took me right back—the smell of it: sweaty actors, spilled drinks, cheap paint. I can point to the exact spot where I met Curtis, or where Donna pitched the idea for Snort, or where Rose Matafeo’s poster went up. That last scene, where I take down a poster—that’s hers. The fake ones are bad; the good ones are real.”
Curtis added, “We had to call all the artists to ask if they were okay with us replacing the Basement logo with our fake Crystal Ballroom one. No one said no. Everyone stepped up.”
I asked how it felt to be having a world premiere at the Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival
Curtis jumped right in. “So good! Especially at the Civic… Such a beautiful theatre. And the Embassy in Wellington.
“If we can sell out the Civic and the Embassy, dream done,” said Sophie.
To wrap things up, I asked what the couple have coming up next.
Sophie answered first. “I’m the new artistic director of Silo Theatre. I’m taking some time away from screenwriting to lead this theatre I love. It was a big decision, and my literary agent asked me what the heck I was doing. I finished a bunch of scripts before I started – I’m going to be here four or five years and I’m excited to make theatre, lift up other writers and bring audiences back to theatre.”
“I’ve been working on Shortland Street in between films,” said Curtis. “Which is great because we have two young daughters. We went over to the UK, and I made a feature film and a TV series with Stephen Merchant, but we decided to come back and make New Zealand our home. Which is the right decision.”
“A big budget film next,” Sophie added, sounding almost gleeful. “The script I just finished will be millions and millions. We keep making stuff under $2 million, but this one’s a family epic and I’m not writing to budget at all. We’ll need overseas money for sure.”
“It’s a big leap for us,” Curtis said. “We’re so used to being creative without being able to throw money at it. This film is going to need to go all in to make it the film we want to make.”
I wished Sophie and Curtis all the best for their Auckland premiere and promised to catch up for a drink after their Embassy screening.
Workmates has its World Premiere screening at Auckland’s Civic on 1 August, and will screen at Wellington’s Embassy Theatre on 15 August. You can purchase tickets here.
- by Kate Larkindale
