Two film and TV producers have brought a bit of Hollywood to the Isle of Wight.
Leaving behind the glamour of Tinseltown, Peter Sussman, one of the driving forces behind the hit cult TV comedy Schitt’s Creek, and his wife Sara Curran, whose film and TV credits include The Favourite and The Night Manager, bought, restored and now run a hotel, Foresters Hall, in Cowes.
"If you’d told me this ten years ago, I’d have said, 'Not a chance'," says Canadian-born Peter who, along with Sara, has never worked in hospitality before. However, both the hotel and film industries rely on putting on a show and the couple, who juggle the business with their TV and film projects and are often found on their laptops sitting at the bar, are aware of the glamour and intrigue their respective jobs add to the place – as well as some of the guests.
Famous faces who have stayed include The Queen’s Gambit and Love Actually actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster with his actress fiancée Talulah Riley, and musician and presenter Jarvis Cocker.
"A lot of people are quite taken with the film stuff – they love talking to Peter and me about it," says Sara, who is currently working on a BBC drama about the 1988 Lockerbie disaster, to be screened next year. "What we realised is that if you love wine, love food, love design, love art, love people, it’s a wonderful way to exist," says Peter of the hotel.
"And we’re fortunate enough that we can run it – as I half-jokingly say – somewhere between a hobby and a business."
He has enjoyed significant success as a producer, with Schitt’s Creek being the jewel in his crown, having known the show’s co-creator and leading actor, Canadian comedian Eugene Levy, for more than 35 years.
"It was never meant to be a worldwide phenomena," he says. "In the history of US television, no show, not M*A*S*H, Cheers, Friends, Seinfeld, no show has achieved at the Emmys what Schitt’s Creek did. It won every major category: Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Best Comedy Series. This little tiny show from this little tiny platform no one had heard of."
Sara adds: "We were on a second date in Miami when Peter was helping Eugene put the show together and all I kept hearing Peter say was: ‘Schitt’s Creek, Schitt’s Creek,’ and I thought: 'I think Peter’s life is going really badly'."
DISCOVER: I’m a Londoner living in America, and this is the New York hotel I love