ATX Books Comedy Culture Lifestyle SXSW TV

SXSW 2019: Busy Philipps Shares Her Hustle Secrets with Hillary Kerr

If you grew up on the show “Freaks and Geeks” like me, you’re likely familiar with Busy Philipps, the actress who played the role of bad bitch Kim Kelly. Now a host of her own talk show, “Busy Tonight” on E!, Philipps has built her career since a young age, but her road to success was not always so easy.

Philipps recently joined her friend and workout buddy Hillary Kerr, co-founder of Who What Wear and Second Life podcast host, on stage at SXSW to chat about her journey as an actress, establishing her voice and hustle, and her success telling stories through Instagram.

The session opened up with Philipps sharing her gratitude for having started her career on “Freaks and Geeks” and how those she worked with on the show, particularly Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen, inspired her to eventually pursue her own projects and creations.

However, her newfound confidence soon was tested after accepting a role on “Dawson’s Creek,” where she first experienced the pressure to be something she wasn’t and to look away she didn’t want. Like many have experienced in Hollywood, Phillips felt as if the industry was saying “You’re not fucking good enough,” which caused a bumpy road for years as she struggled to create her own content.

Through her frustration and boredom, Philipps found her voice in another, unexpected way: Instagram. As she began sharing her personal stories through her feed and stories, Philipps’s following quickly boomed and she eventually moved on to write her New York Times Bestseller, “This Will Only Hurt a Little.”

Soon after, she had a crazy idea to host her own late-night talk show, which eventually became a wild success. “There has to be a woman’s voice in late-night television,” she reiterated. One of her greatest successes thus far, second to her family, “Busy Tonight” has allowed Philipps to inspire others through a new platform and pave the way for future females in late-night television.

For more coverage on SXSW, click here, and to follow the Shuffle team’s whereabouts during the next week be sure to visit our Instagram and Twitter.  

Featured image & photo gallery credit: Leigh Kettle/Shuffle Online

1 comment

Leave a Reply

error: Content is protected !!
%d