“Single Drunk Female” enlisted the help of a sobriety consultant in order to accurately portray what life is like for newly recovering alcoholics. That included one very important rule.
“One of the things that came up was treating dating and romance, and dating other people in the program responsibly,” executive producer Daisy Gardner said Wednesday during the upcoming Freeform series’ TCA panel. “A lot of times people recommend that you’re sober for a year in a day before you launch into things. And so that became a thing that we examined in the show.”
“Single Drunk Female” is from creator Simone Finch, a recovering alcoholic who is more than seven years sober. She was able to use her own experiences with Alcoholics Anonymous and added that the no-dating rule is kind of an unwritten one.
“There’s nothing written about the first year and not dating. It’s kind of a unwritten rule. And a lot of people take it really seriously. And so there was some back and forth about that,” she said. “My favorite movie about getting sober is ‘Rachel Getting Married.’ It’s also just one of my favorite movies of all time. I think Anne Hathaway does an amazing job at portraying that — the same way that our Sophia did — like unfurling of skin when you’re newly sober.”
The series stars Sofia Black-D’elia as the “irreverent alcoholic” Samantha Fink, who, after a “spectacularly embarrassing public breakdown,” is forced to move back home with her “Smother” to sober up and avoid jail time, according to Freeform’s description of the series. “But when her childhood BFF reveals surprising news, Samantha starts to learn there is a fine line between party girl and walking disaster.”
In addition to Black-D’Elia, the series also stars Ally Sheedy as Samantha’s mother Carol; Rebecca Henderson as Olivia, one of the greeters a Samantha’s Alcoholics Anonymous meetings; Sasha Compere as Brit, her ex-BFF; Lily Mae Harrington as Felicia; and Garrick Bernard as James.
Finch, a former staff writer on “The Conners,” is writer and creator of the series. She executive produces alongside Konner, Phill Traill and Nora Silver. “Russian Doll” co-creator Leslye Headland directed and executive produced the pilot.