Interview with Sandra Uredat and Meike Gottschalk of Web Series Emma Stahl

By Anna McFaith on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - 21:31

One of the major reasons to go to this year’s amazing L-Beach event was the chance to meet up with the Emma Stahl crew.

Meike Gottschalk, who plays the title character in the web’s most exciting new lesBian web series, and Sandra Uredat, who is the creative brain and producer behind Emma Stahl, took time out of their busy party schedule to sit down with me and discuss their project.

It’s nearing eight PM when I meet up with Meike in the crowded hallway of the resort that houses the L-Beach. I’ve joined the rest of the Emma Stahl crew about an hour-and-a-half before and they have been showing me the grounds. While the rest of the group orders dinner for us, Sandra, Meike and I find a relatively quiet spot to talk.

EurOut: Before we begin, let me thank you for taking the time to talk to us!

Sandra: Not a problem! We love eurOut!
Meike: Absolutely!

Okay, great! Meike, how did you end up playing Emma Stahl?

Meike: [Sandra] and I met three years ago, through a friend, and she said "Let’s make a web series with a lesbian James Bond and I need someone to produce with me." So we started to think up ideas, but after a while I had to say that it was a lot of work and I needed to get on with my profession; I couldn’t do it as a producer. We parted ways and after a couple of months she called me to say everything was going well and to ask if I wanted to play Emma Stahl. And I said — Because I had been waiting for this question… [laughs]
Sandra: [laughs] She told me today she was very annoyed with me because I didn’t ask her before and I was like okay but--
Meike: She was the other way around! She was waiting for me to offer!
Sandra: I was just afraid to ask a professional actress like you!
Meike: And I just wanted her to ask me! But that’s what happened; I said yes!

Meike, you have done a lot of TV work, right? And stage work as well?

Meike: Yes, all the time!

And you sing, right? You were in Grease so you must be able to!

Meike: Yes!

So are you going to sing as Emma Stahl?

Meike: Err… not yet! [laughs]
Sandra: We haven’t planned anything yet, but we can talk about the title song! [laughs]

Oh! Great idea!

Sandra: When I saw you as Agneta [in Agneta & Ich] I thought "Well, that could be an opportunity!"
Meike: Yeah and I have a writer now, my pianist, so maybe she could help me write something? [laughs]
Sandra: Meike has a play on stage, it’s called "Agneta and me" and I saw her singing there a few weeks ago and I thought "She is so lovely, so good," and I thought "Well… maybe a title song?"
Meike: You know, Agneta from Abba?

Oh, right! So, maybe a title song in the future!

Meike Gottschalk as Emma Stahl

Tell us, where did the Emma Stahl idea come from?

Sandra: It was my idea. I was annoyed about the fact that there are only those ‘girl-meets-girl’ romance movies out there…

Or they die!

Sandra: Oh yes, or they die! [laughs] Oh yes, or they have a small part in the film and they don’t have a sexual life. It’s only revealed they are gay, but that’s it. If they are main characters it’s usually a girl-meets-girl story and it’s not that I don’t like those but there has to be more. There was this movie called Bound about 15 years ago or so and after that there never was a thriller or a crime series or anything. I wanted to change that.