Kyra Sedgwick on the Guilt Faced By Working Mothers, and How That Plays Into ‘Ten Days In The Valley’ — Turn It On Podcast
After seven seasons in her Emmy-winning role as “The Closer,” Kyra Sedgwick was excited to try something different with “Ten Days in the Valley.”
This time, Kyra executive produces and stars as Jane Sadler, an overworked single mother who’s the executive producer of a popular TV cop drama. When her daughter goes missing, Jane’s world starts to implode and she doesn’t know who to trust — including her ex-husband, the cop informant she’s working with, and her secret drug dealer.
The series is deeply influenced by a recurring nightmare that creator and showrunner Tassie Cameron had. Cameron shared that dream with TV critics this summer: “I was working alone late at night in my writing shed about 10 feet away from my house, and that it would be I’d finish writing, and I would come, and my back door would be locked, and I’d break in, and my kid would be gone.”
That’s the opening premise for “Ten Days in the Valley,” with each episode in the ten-episode spanning a day in the investigation. IndieWire’s TURN IT ON recently sat down with Kyra Sedgwick to talk about her producing duties, and what brought her to “Ten Days in the Valley” in the first place. Listen below!
“I was interested in telling a story in ten episodes, that had a beginning, middle, and end,” Sedgwick said. “A taut thriller.”
The actress/producer/director was also drawn to the possibility of working with a female showrunner (Cameron) and said she was excited by, and could relate to, the character of Jane. “She was a flawed, very complex, interesting person that I recognized… there were a lot of things that were familiar to me and different to me.”
Plus, “I’m fascinated by writers. They’re such weird creatures!”
Sedgwick said she was also intrigued by Cameron’s nightmare, and how it stems from the “inherent guilt that comes with being a mother. Especially when you work, you feel guilty already. I felt that way. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. You go out to work, your kid’s sleeping in the middle of the night and you’re asked to do this Herculean task. Then you think you’ve dotted all your ‘i’s and made sure the child is safe.”
Meanwhile, Sedgwick also discusses her growing directing and producer career; what a Season 2 of “Ten Days in the Valley” might look like, and her current TV diet (including “Fleabag” and “Better Things”).
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Below, the trailer for “Ten Days In the Valley.”
