Season one of the cacklingly funny web series How To Buy A Baby chronicled one couple’s struggle with infertility. The second season, released on CBC Gem this past week, follows 30-somethings Jane and Charlie as they shift gears and start the equally invasive process of adoption.
It stars newly minted Vancouverite Meghan Heffern, who relocated to the Lower Mainland in February. “I love it!” the actor says of her new home. “It’s so nice and bright and sunny, and with all the flowers it smells great.”
Flowers feature prominently in the first episode of season two: Jane (Heffern) scrambles to fill the home with fresh flowers and plants before a representative from the adoption agency drops by, the better to prove that she and husband Charlie (Marc Bendavid) can actually keep things alive.
Writer/creator Wendy Litner has buried some touchy subjects just beneath the surface of all that humour: apart from the fertility and relationship issues the couple go through, there are jibes about gender bias and prejudice. It’s suggested that the couple tone down Charlie’s Jewishness, for example, because “birth mothers prefer full Christmas.” It actually happened, according to Heffern. “That was a real thing. It’s really shocking all the questions people are asked, the hoops they have to go through.”
In preparing for the role, Heffern spoke at length to Litner but found that others were reluctant to share their stories of infertility. “Honestly a lot of people are so ashamed and quiet about it,” she says. “I did have people who came up to me afterward, people I didn’t even realize were going through it. It’s not something people really talk about, but I hope that changes.”
It is vitally important that the series is written and directed by women, says Heffern. “There’s a lot of nuances to the story that only a woman would truly understand; it’s very painful physically and emotionally. Plus I think women really understand that clock inside so it was crucial that a lot of women be involved.”
The actor has done web shows in the past and so was “on board right away” with the idea of doing a digital series. “I’ve always been a fan of that avenue… It allows you to do a lot with a little time.” Season one won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Web Program or Series – Fiction. Episodes are only seven minutes long, which works perfectly for viewers’ increasingly short attention spans; you can watch an episode or two on your commute to work.
It wasn’t exactly a love of acting that initially got Heffern into the industry. “It started embarrassingly,” she admits, at age 14 or 15. She was a major fan of teeny-bop band Hanson and desperately wanted to meet them, and figured she stood a better chance if she was a famous movie star. “Along the way my Hanson dreams fell by the wayside but I realized I loved acting.”
Then, when Heffern was 29, a makeup artist friend working on a morning talk show surprised her with a face-to-face meeting with the boy band. “I managed to keep it together somehow, and then they left and I cried,” she says. “I was like ‘I can stop acting now’!”
So when she picks up her Oscar she’ll be sure to thank Hanson in her acceptance speech? “I will. And they’ll play ‘MMMBop’ as I
accept it.”
She stuck with acting and found herself in such varied productions as American Pie: Beta House, in Atom Egoyan’s Chloe, and in a spate of holiday movies.
Between her work in Hallmark productions and her recurring role as Beth Gardner in Wynnona Earp, Heffern found herself with two loyal fan groups: the Hallmarkies and the Earpers. “I love fandoms. I think they’re so great. And a lot of the fandoms overlap, so you’ll get people saying ‘we need to Earp your Christmas.’ It’s crazy!”
Heffern loves doing Hallmark movies. “They’re really fun and romantic, nice to look at. And I’m a huge fan of Christmas.” Her family loves holiday movies even more than she does: “Of everything I’ve done they love the Christmas movies the best,” she laughs.
In her spare time – and before holiday film binge-watching begins – Heffern plans to explore Vancouver’s hiking trails with dog Lola and seek out new coffee shops. Just don’t ask her to watch your plants.
“I just bought my first plant and I am so stressed out! I’ve been texting my friend about the plant – there’s a whole conversation about it – and my mom has been saying ‘maybe if you touch the plant?’ and ‘maybe the plant missed you’….”
“I have kept my dog alive for eight years, which is impressive,” she jokes. “We’ll see what happens.”
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