Nishitha Dutta
Created by Simone Finch, ‘Single Drunk Female’ is a comedy series that documents the story of a 20-something-year-old girl, Samantha, who returns to her hometown and begins to live with her overbearing mother after an ugly public breakdown. It stars Sofia Black-D’Elia, Ally Sheedy, Rebecca Henderson, and a few other actors who look promising enough. As Samantha struggles to forge a new path in her life, alcohol adds to her misery. Addiction and existentialism have become common tropes in TV shows because people go through them on a large scale. It makes us think whether ‘Single Drunk Female’ is based on true events. If you’re curious about the same, here’s everything we know!
Is Single Drunk Female Based on a True Story?
‘Single Drunk Female’ is partially based on a true story. It is written by Simone Finch, who has taken some inspiration from her own life. She admitted that she had problems with alcohol in the past, and the series was likewise penned in 2012 before she became sober. The storyline mainly focuses on the helplessness and cluelessness faced by the protagonist Samantha who is obligated to leave her past life behind. The road ahead looks blank, so she needs to find her ground and pave a new path.
Freeform’s (its home network) President Tara Duncan excitedly stated that “this show really embodies the strategy that I’m putting forth at Freeform; it’s very funny, and it’s also grounded in authentic stories from one of the writers, Simone Finch.” She additionally revealed how the story “feels so of the moment. It’s about figuring out that journey and what you want to lay out for your life in terms of what’s going to happen next. It felt very relatable and sticky with what’s currently happening for our audience.”
Quite evidently, ‘Single Drunk Female’ is a product of creator Finch’s early days coupled with experiences that people go through on a wide and common basis. Alcohol addiction is a trope that has been adopted by a number of hit shows where one of the characters or the protagonist’s life hits new lows because of this problem. A few of them include ‘Bojack Horseman,’ ‘Californication,’ and ‘Shameless.’
Every script designed for ‘Single Drunk Female’ went through an alcohol consultant and a sobriety consultant so that they are accurate as possible. Finch added that the show is primarily about a girl getting sober. She called it a “living script,” which evolved with time as she stopped abusing alcohol. As of January 18, 2022, she has been sober for seven years and eight months, and she credited a big part of it to AA. Besides that, the alcoholism portrayed in the show also affects the relationship between Samantha and her mom Carol (Ally Sheedy).
Sheedy revealed that her real-life experiences as a mother show up in Carol. Besides the different aspects of character fed to her through the script, she still drew inspiration from her own life. So it can be noted that the show has tried to keep it as authentic as possible despite not being a direct adaptation of a true story. It has been roughly derived from real-life experiences that touch our hearts. So, ‘Single Drunk Female’ is a fictional but poignant tale of struggle and self-discovery that seems relatable to people on a deeper level.
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