How To Write Yourself a RomCom: Starstruck Star & Creator Rose Matafeo on Being the Male Gaze

In fact, the opening scenes may or may not be based on Matafeo’s own experiences. 

“You can kind of find yourself in these encounters where you, like, meet a total celebrity on a random night out,” she says. “I have had friends who that has totally happened to. Actually, me. It has happened to me, as well, in weird and wonderful ways. It’s all gonna be added to the memoir one day.” 

The show includes a whole lot of herself—written by Matafeo for Matafeo—and sometimes it’s a little too close for comfort in other ways. 

“You are writing yourself lines that are like you’re flirting with yourself when you’re writing, and you’re like, ew, that’s gross,” she says. “It feels weird. It feels like, ‘Oh, you think someone would like you this much, Rose?’ Sometimes you do feel pathetic, fantasizing about someone liking you, and you’re like, ‘What the hell am I doing, writing this poor guy into this sordid tale of one night stands and falling in love?'” 

She compares herself to Jimmy Stewart in the movie Vertigo, when he gives Kim Novak a makeover to turn her into his perfect woman. 

“Like, I feel like the male gaze now, which is disgusting,” she jokes. 

source: eonline.com