Tegan and Sara on Bringing High School to the Screen & Creating a Safe Space on Set for Stars Railey and Seazynn Gilliland
In 2019, Canadian alternative music duo Tegan and Sara released their New York Times best-selling memoir titled “High School,” which detailed their experiences not in their musical success, but in growing up as queer teens in the ‘90s. Now, three years later, they have teamed up with long-time collaborator Clea DuVall to bring those stories to the screen with Amazon’s Freevee in their new series, High School.
During a press junket last month, Tegan and Sara, as well as their mini-me’s Railey and Seazynn Gilliland, sat down to discuss the making of High School, the legacy of the band, and creating a positive experience on such a queer set.
High School follows Tegan (Railey Gilliland) and Sara (Seazynn Gilliland) as they navigate sexuality, sisterhood, and music, all while trying to survive high school in the mid-1990s. Kicking off in the aftermath of a particularly transformative summer, High School finds Tegan and Sara at odds, growing apart as they face major life challenges alone. However, that all changes when they discover a guitar in their basement, jump starting a journey of musical development as they find their way back to each other. It’s an extremely intimate look at the two sisters, but still feels grounded and universal.
“I think our story is really unique, but there’s so many universals about it. Everyone’s an adolescent, everyone struggles […] and I’m just glad we got to tell our story, and that people are relating,” Tegan said of adapting their story for TV. The universal aspect of the series even aided in the performances of High School’s stars, who are new to television, “I had a little bit of myself [in the role] and that made it easier […] I related to Tegan,” said Railey. “It doesn’t feel as if it’s just Sara’s experiences, they could be anybody else’s,” added Seazynn, “It really just felt as if I was, for the most part, playing things that I had gone through.”
While most biopics favor the glamor of the most successful parts of a musician’s life, High School explores the humble origins of this band, spending numerous episodes on their lives before writing music is even a factor. “It’s like, ‘Why would we want to go back and look at how Tegan and Sara became Tegan and Sara? That’s boring, let’s talk about them when they became successful,’” Sara joked of the limited scope of the series, “Getting to work on this project has allowed us to go back and really honor the young versions of ourselves that were so confident and charismatic. I really learned to find young Tegan and Sara awesome.”
When DuVall came to the duo with the idea to adapt their memoir into a series, the answer was easy. “It was super important to Sara and I that it be a woman to develop the show with us, and the fact that it ended up being a friend, and someone who grew up in the ‘90s and was queer was like icing on the cake,” Tegan said of working with DuVall. “For me and Tegan, we really are surrendering a lot of control to Clea […] there’s a lot of trust that’s required,” Sara said. “I can’t even imagine having worked on the show with anybody else.” DuVall acts as executive producer, co-showrunner, co-writer, and director of 6 of 8 episodes, and in wearing all those hats, Tegan remarked, “I’ve done a lot with her, but never like this […] she’s been incredible, she’s a powerhouse, and I’m so proud of her.”