Mood | Interview with Mia Jenkins (Megan)

What initially attracted you to this drama, and your role?

We all got sent the scripts and I instantly found the story so gripping, there’s so many twists and turns and it’s so relatable. It’s a social commentary on things that really do happen especially in modern life with social media platforms and influencer culture. So that was interesting and when you meet Nicôle Lecky, the creator of Mood, and our directors, Dawn Shadforth and Stroma Cairns, you see how much they love this project and all the time and effort going into it. It’s their baby and it makes you really want to be a part of it. You want to be a part of that kind of family and that project, it’s amazing.

Can you tell us about your character, Megan and whether you can relate to her?

Mood revolves around the character of Sasha and how she begins as a sort of a failed musician and then ends up trying to work her way through London and the scene, the glamorous lifestyle and she kind of ends up falling down some dark rabbit hole. I play Megan, who is Sasha’s little sister. Megan is going through that really awkward stage in life where she’s finishing puberty and she’s trying to fit in in school, I think everyone can relate to that in a way. I know when I was growing up in school, I felt all the teenage insecurities that you get about silly things, and I know that Megan’s really going through that at this point. I also found that I kind of connected with, Carly (who is played by Lara Peake), who ends up being Sasha’s best friend when she moves to London. She’s this really big extravagant character, but I think a lot of the time that can be borne out of insecurity and wanting to feel like really big when you’ve come from something quite small and humble and I kind of relate to Carly in that way. I’m also very loud with a really big personality.

Why do you think this is an important story to tell?

This drama comments on some really important issues that are prevalent in today’s society, the exploitation of young women and the hyper sexualisation of their bodies, the fact that they can be sold like a commodity now. It’s something that’s really important to talk about, it’s important for this to be addressed. A lot of people skirt around it when they talk about influencers, and they only talk about the glamorous elements of their lifestyle when really there can be quite a lot going on behind the scenes.

Do you have any specific memorable highlights from filming Mood?

A very memorable highlight that I’ve had during filming was the scene between me and Nicôle where we have a little physical scrap. We had to get the stunt coordinator involved, I was being thrown onto the floor, we were eating food, a duck dish, and we had to fling that around the kitchen and that was really fun to film, I love doing physical things like that. It always makes the day so much more interesting, we had to redress the set so many times because it was covered in duck, it was quite funny.