For years, Erin Foster believed that her tumultuous dating life would keep her career afloat. If nothing else happens, you can get a lot of humor out of a failed relationship. But as she tells Krista Smith on Netflix Skip introduction After finding a real partner on the podcast, she had to rethink her approach to writing. Input: Nobody wants that.

Inspired by Foster’s real-life love story with her now-husband, the series stars Kristen Bell as Joanne, an agnostic dating and relationship podcaster from Los Angeles, and Adam Brody as Noah, a dream rabbi, who fall in love despite the forces opposing their union. Joanne and her former Erin had a lot in common.

“For a decade I wrote about everything that happened in my life. And every project had a real cynicism to it because I was cynical about relationships, myself and love,” she says. “It wasn’t very hopeful because that’s exactly the state I was in. It was always about a woman sabotaging herself, destroying herself in some way, and choosing the wrong things. And that has completely helped me in my career. In a way it was like art was imitating life and I found myself in this situation where I had to repeat my life over and over again. And if I had a bad date, I’d think, “Oh, it’ll be really good to write about it.” I wouldn’t even care that my life was falling apart. I was excited to use it. And when I met Simon, who is now my husband, I honestly thought he was going to kill my mood.”

Sara Foster, Erin’s sister/producing partner/business partner, quips, “He wasn’t good for our career.”

Ultimately, however, Erin realized that there could be something “interesting, fun and compelling” about a healthy relationship. Of course, healthy doesn’t necessarily mean boring, as it can actually be incredibly fun to watch “two people who are supposed to be together fall in love.”

It was easy to write about her past relationship mistakes because “it’s really easy to be with the wrong person,” she says. “You can blame them for everything. If someone cheats on you, lies, betrays you or doesn’t follow through on their goal – then it’s all their fault and you are perfect. And then you meet someone who is healthy, loving, and emotionally present, and you realize that you’re not perfect and that you can’t storm out of a room in an argument. You can’t say anything bad to them in an argument. You have to be a real person and it’s much harder. And I thought, “Okay, it’s interesting to write about.” ”

It’s certainly hard – and frightening – to write so openly about your own life, but there’s also something difficult about doing it with your sister, and the Fosters have finally figured that out.

“It’s hard not to show up to work without the foundation of 40 years together,” Sara says. “There are a lot. And later in life we ​​realized we had different childhoods.”

They may have grown up in the same house with the same loving parents, but both coped with the turmoil of their childhood in different ways. Erin says: “We had a complicated childhood. There were a lot of marriages, a lot of divorces, a lot of step-siblings, a lot of half-siblings, a lot of people coming and going. And it was complicated. Sara and I dealt with it very differently. She was the oldest in our household. I was the middle. These two roles have very different paths.”

She continues: “Sara really went inward and protected herself. For example, “I’m going to isolate myself, put blinders on, and not deal with what’s going on in my house.” It made me feel really let down because (she) was my big sister, so I leaned on ours little sister and became her second mother. I loved being needed by someone, getting attention from her, and teaching her things. It gave me purpose. I really loved it.”

These complicated dynamics are reflected in the show – but so is love. And ultimately that’s the core of Nobody wants that and the Fosters’ other works. Sara says: “It’s nice because we live in this hectic culture where everyone is so thirsty. By the way, including me. It’s like nothing is enough. “I have to have a podcast. I have to have a brand. “I have to do this, I have to do that, or I’ll fail.” And I look at Erin and Erin isn’t thirsty at all. … Deep down she wants to cook for her husband, take care of her baby, and if the career works out, it works out. And I think that’s why everything works out.”

Hear more of Sara and Erin Foster’s conversation with Krista Smith in their Skip introduction Consequence. Nobody wants that is now streaming.