Fires, floods, a global pandemic, toilet paper aisle battles, and the rest… 2020 is in desperate need of some light-heartened escapism, and The Inspired Unemployed are just the two to bring it. Created by self-confessed “Aussie battlers” Jack Steele and Matt Ford, these two aren’t afraid to undergo a little personal parody in order to bring you all the lols.
Case in point, this week saw The Inspired Unemployed launch their “Get What I Love” video clip with singer Thandi Phoenix and hip hop star Tuka. Produced by Klarna and Universal Music, the clip pokes fun at the iso shopping habits of Australians. And, just like what we’ve come to expect from the two boys, it’s bloody funny.
Off the back of the film clip, we decided to sit down with Jack and Matt to talk everything from how they first became friends to the filming process to whether or not there is anything they wouldn’t do for a laugh.
What made you decide to launch The Inspired Unemployed?
We travelled to Europe together knowing we wanted to do something but not really sure what. We were in the French alps and got snowed in at an AirBnb with no Wifi and no service, so we started making videos to fill the time. Thankfully they turned out to be kinda funny!
Were you friends beforehand?
We’ve been friends since year 7 at school – but became best friends when we started going to festivals together, lol.
You have a massive social media following. Did this grow quite fast? How did people start finding out about you?
We grew pretty slowly at first, like 10k followers over 8 months or so. Then when we released the Berlin video that Brown Cardigan shared, we all of a sudden just started to gain momentum. We started creating more and it just grew from there.
Why do you think you’ve gained such a prolific following?
We create relatable and light-hearted content. I guess working with our friends makes it more interesting too. It brings a bit more to our page, adds a few more characters than if it were just the two of us.
What’s the process behind your videos? Is it a collaborative effort?
Definitely collaborative. We’re constantly sharing ideas and working on things together though. We come up with baseline scripts, but mostly leave it to be made up on the spot and just choose the best take. Half the time we’ll just build on the first take until we shoot something we’re happy with. Jack’s the perfectionist. He usually spends way more time on the edits than I do.
Where do you typically find your inspiration?
Everyday life. We’re constantly looking for and thinking of content. Sometimes the most mundane things make the best ideas for funny videos.
How long does it normally take for you to put the videos together? Is it normally just one take?!
Used to be one take wonders! But as our audience has grown, we now take a bit more time to film things. We filmed a cringing video a while back without any dialogue at all, and that was really hard to capture because it’s a tricky thing to fake for the camera in a way that is funny but also authentic and emotive. We took ages on it which was worth it in the end because it performed really well.
You’re obviously not the traditional choice for brands and publications like Fendi, Vogue and GQ – what do you think is the key reason they were drawn to collaborating with you?
For whatever reason, Edwina McCann loves us. She’s the editor-in-chief at Vogue and she’s been a massive help. She put us in touch with a lot of brands and helped us come up with a few ideas. We work closely with Vogue and GQ now.
What’s the best bit about doing The Inspired Unemployed?
It’s so fun. It’s what we love doing. We’re constantly laughing. We also get to go to events and fun trips and things – that’s amazing and we’re always pinching ourselves. Being our own bosses most of the time is great too, the freedom to work on what we want.
Are you ever uninspired?
Not really, it comes and goes. It depends on your mood. That’s also the benefit of being a duo and involving our friends. If one of you is lacking ideas, there’s almost always someone nearby who has an idea!
Don’t judge us for asking this… but your videos sometimes feature hot girls. Are these friends/girlfriends?
Just friends, haha *giggles*. It can be hard to find girls to get involved, but we’ve got some really fun girls, friends, girlfriends who have been in our videos. We often just dress up as girls now – people seem to find that funny.
Did you know that the number one related search on Google for Inspired Unemployed is ‘what is your age’? So, giving the people what they want… how old are both of you?
We’re both 26.
Is there anything embarrassing you wouldn’t do for a video?
Probably not. We wore tiger print G Strings in our film clip for Klarna. We probably wouldn’t run naked through parliament house… actually, we probably would.
Talking about the film clip. You just joined forces with Thandi and Tuka to poke fun at iso shopping habits in Klarna’s ‘Get What I Love’. What was the funnest part of doing the music video?
The whole day on set we had a ball. It was so fun because we didn’t have to be behind the camera as well as in front of it. We basically just got dressed, got fed, and then did our part on set.
Are we likely to see you doing more things like this in the future?
Yeah, 100%. Hopefully a lot more!
Are we also likely to see you on the big screen (or perhaps your own TV show) any time soon? Is this something you would be interested in?
Definitely interested in. We’d love to. Future goal. WATCH THIS SPACE.
And lastly… What is the ultimate goal for The Inspired Unemployed?
A travel show. A funny travel show. We love filming and we love travelling, so that would be the absolute dream.
All images: The Inspired Unemployed | Click here to view the ‘Get What I Love‘ film clip for Klarna
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