Megan Park remembers how it felt to say lines she didn’t believe in, to wear clothes that felt weird, to spend hours in a chair each morning as makeup artists layered on foundation. Blond and slight, Park, 39, played adolescents well into her late 20s, which became increasingly unfulfilling.
“The more I think about it, the hair and makeup trailer killed it for me,” she said. “As an actor, I was like, I can’t sit here any longer.”
Gradually, she shifted toward writing and directing. Her first film, “The Fallout,” about the aftermath of a school shooting, debuted in 2022. Her second, “My Old Ass,” about a teenage girl who meets her older self by way of psilocybin, was released in 2024. Amazon MGM Studios, which bought that film, asked Park to consider creating a young adult series. That series, “Sterling Point,” premiered on Wednesday on Prime Video.
Set in the Muskoka Lakes region of southeast Ontario, where “My Old Ass” was filmed, it concerns a teenage girl (Ella Rubin) and her twin brother (Keen Ruffalo), who discover that they have inherited an island there belonging to a grandfather they never knew. They also discover a sister (Amélie Hoeferle).
Park, now a mother of two, insists that teenage girls aren’t her only source of inspiration. (Her next film, she promises, is all about adults.) But her movies and this new series allow her to give young performers a voice she didn’t have. “I remember being that young on set and being in their situation,” said Park, who also directed four of the first season’s eight episodes. “It’s fun to go back and be like, How can I do it differently?”
On a recent video call from her home outside Toronto, Park discussed how she left acting, why she trusts young performers and what makes Gen Z unique. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
What made you turn to acting?
When I was 6, they were doing a local production of “The Sound of Music.” My best friend was auditioning, and I was like, I want to audition, too. I got the part and I was hooked. Acting took off for me in a great way. It took me to L.A., and it got me my green card, and I met all these incredible people. But I felt — it’s going to sound terrible — a little bored. I was watching people around me be so driven and feel so connected to it in this way that I knew I didn’t really fully feel. Most of the things I acted on, it wasn’t a super creative atmosphere.
You were stuck playing teenagers well into your 20s.
That was the job. You look at shows like “The O.C.” and “One Tree Hill,” everybody’s like 30, playing a teenager. But it did start to feel unnatural at a certain point. And I was always like, This is not really how young people talk or live.
How did you break out?
I was in this movie “What If.” It was one of the first sets I’d been on that felt creatively fun and free. Zoe Kazan and I played sisters. She was already writing and directing things. She hung the moon to me. I was pitching her an idea for a story. She was like, You could write it. I was like, Wait, Zoe thinks I’m smart enough to write? So I opened my computer and just started writing. I was like, Oh my God, OK. This is literally so fun. This doesn’t feel like work. This is addictive. It was so satisfying to me, instantaneously.
That first thing you wrote was about a girl trapped in a TV show, right?
Yeah, it was about a girl who was in a “Hannah Montana”-esque show, in her late 20s playing a 12-year-old, living a total double life both on camera and behind the scenes — a dark 30-minute comedy.
You don’t have to stretch to see the allegory.
No, totally. Everything I write, there’s always a piece of me in it.
That doesn’t get made, but your next script, “The Fallout,” does. So far all of your greenlighted projects have focused on teenage girls. Is that accidental or on purpose?
A little bit accidental. “The Fallout” came out of being so horrified about high school shootings in America and becoming a parent as I was living in the states. I was flabbergasted that kids had to go to school every day with this fear hanging over their heads.
When I was writing “My Old Ass,” I wrote it thinking about it through the emotional lens of the older character. But people were like, Wow, you are able to take a young female voice and make it feel authentic; how would you feel about doing that in the TV space?
I just want teenage girls to be given the autonomy and the respect and the authenticity they so deserve, for them to have that space and that freedom to be themselves — letting them pick out their clothes, letting them have a real say in their hair and makeup. Young women, especially this generation, are so intelligent, so poised. They see the world in such an interesting way. It would be so sad to not give them the content they deserve and not just the light, fluffy stuff that drives me crazy.
What was the inspiration for “Sterling Point”?
I’d always wanted to do something about the nature-versus-nurture conversation because it’s been so prevalent in my family’s life. There’s so much adoption on each side. And Muskoka Lakes, I grew up going there every summer. I also went to a summer camp on an island there as a teenager. It’s so dreamy.
You emerged as a writer and director around the time that you became a parent. How does that influence you?
I always say to my daughter, “You’re the reason I found what I love,” because I was pregnant with her when I started writing “The Fallout,” and the day I went in to have her was the day it got greenlighted. “My Old Ass” was watching her splash in a puddle and being like, Oh my God, time! Truthfully, my whole world is my kids, so naturally those things are going to blend together. At least they do for me.
How do you make sure that you portray teenagers authentically? How do you and the other departments make sure this feels realistic?
Check your ego at the door. Know what you know, and know what you don’t know. One of my most important jobs is finding incredible, talented young people and passing the characters over to them. You have the resource of all these people who are actually young and know what’s cool. Let them tell you.
What do you love about Gen Z?
They’re so kind. My experience as a millennial, there was a lot of bullying and cattiness. These young people — I call them kids; they’re not really kids — I witness them be so kind to each other, so respectful. I don’t know if I’ve just gotten lucky, but with the young people I’ve worked with, they’re really thoughtful. I would rename them the heartfelt generation. They lead with their hearts.
I love that word, “heartfelt.” It’s the lamest word to say in the industry. But I want to make heartfelt stuff, and if people think that’s dumb, whatever. I like characters that even if they’re flawed, even if you don’t understand them, they are inherently good and kind. That generation really represents that.
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