How Zoe Lister-Jones' Spirituality And Daydreams Inspired Her To Write Slip - Exclusive
When filmmaker Zoe Lister-Jones sat down to write a new script during lockdown, she was intrigued by the idea of what Buddhists refer to as the hungry ghost — "this insatiable hunger that we are all always contending with for wanting more," she explained during an exclusive interview with The List.
That — combined with her interest in the intricacy of relationships — was when the idea for her newest series was born. In "Slip," the main character, Mae, is constantly imagining exactly what her life would look like if she had taken a different path. "I wanted to explore that through the lens of modern relationships, particularly sex and sexuality," Lister-Jones told us.
Though Mae does love her husband, the spice that was once front and center in their relationship has dwindled. Mae, like a hungry ghost, hungers for some sort of spark again — which she searches for as she experiences what her life would look like in alternate universes without her husband by her side. "My interest in Buddhism was a big part of me writing the series," Lister-Jones said, "and it did take me on a spiritual journey that totally had an influence."
This Buddhist concept had her thinking about what it would be like to live alternate lives
The series "Slip" repeatedly references what it would look like to live out your life in alternate universes — whether that be while you're asleep dreaming or whether you've physically transported to a world where you can be someone completely new. "I thought it would be so fun to take viewers on a wild adventure that was escapist," Zoe Lister-Jones explained of her new series. "But also about the fantasies that we all tend to fall victim to, about, 'What would my life have looked like if I had taken a different path at any given juncture?'"
Mae's escapade begins when she is out one night without her husband. At a local bar, she starts speaking with a stranger and wonders what her life would look like if she had been with him instead. She ends up in his bed that same night, and the next morning wakes up to a life where she is married to him.
From there, Mae is sent traveling through alternate dimensions where she is married to someone new. Although these lives may be new and exciting, all she wants, in the end, is to get back home where she belongs — wherever that may be. "Ultimately, her journey is to find home in herself," Lister-Jones told us. "That was a good lesson for me too, personally."
The first season of "Slip" is available to stream now on The Roku Channel.