Hamish and Andy gave up millions of dollars to create True Story

HAMISH and Andy turned down millions of dollars — and took a break from television — to create their new show, True Story.

TAKE the money and run. That was the temptation that faced Hamish Blake and Andy Lee at the end of 2014.

The comedy pair’s Hamish and Andy’s Gap Year South America had just screened to more than 1 million viewers per episode.

The series brought an end to Blake and Lee’s lucrative deal with Channel 9 signed in February 2011, which was worth a reported $15 million to $17 million in its first two years alone.

Rival networks circled. It was a seller’s market. Blake and Lee could have asked for a blank cheque but instead they chose to walk away.

It is a decision that has probably cost the pair upwards of $10 million.

Hamish and Andy’s Gap Year South America. Picture: Supplied

Two-and-a-half years later, True Story with Hamish and Andy is the result of that risk — a new and original format completely different from Gap Year or the pair’s earlier Caravan of Courage.

There isn’t a traxedo in sight.

“There were offers of ‘we’ll give you money to develop something’ and it is tempting in the moment to go ‘we need that income stream’,” Lee says.

“People get scared and go ‘you’ve got to keep up the momentum’. But if you are putting those things (obligations) on you, it can tarnish your creativity. We said ‘thanks but no thanks’.”

Blake and Lee knew they needed a complete break from TV to get their mojo working. Blake was already juggling his new role as a dad.

Hamish Blake and Zoe Foster Blake on 60 Minutes. Source: 60 Minutes

Blake and wife Zoe Foster-Blake’s (The Wrong Girl) first child, Sonny, had been born the previous May.

“It (new TV show) might have taken one year, it might have taken five years — there wasn’t any time line on it,” Blake says.

“It was having faith in that process of ‘if we don’t have any financial obligations to any network and any time restrictions then let’s see what happens’.

“The theory was that we would gravitate towards something new that we would truly love making.”

True Story with Hamish & Andy — (L-R) Tim Bartley, Hamish Blake, Andy Lee, Ryan Shelton.

Blake and Lee admit there were a few false starts. They would get temporarily excited by the idea for a show but then realise they didn’t want to devote two years of their lives to making it.

It wasn’t until they hit on the True Story concept that things jelled. Take great pub yarns told by everyday Aussies and reimagine them using a cast of actors and comedians.

But there were risks. True Story was way different to Gap Year. Blake and Lee would only appear in the interview segments and not in the re-enactments. How would fans react? They took a chance.

“A lot of things could have gone wrong with this show,” Blake says. “It is obviously a big departure from Gap Year and anything else we’ve done before.”

Rachel recounts a shocker restaurant experience in Hong Kong. Stubby tells of an embarrassing spectacle at the State Lifesaving Championships. Sammie’s pregnancy is a comedy-of-errors and more.

Channel Nine's True Story with Hamish & Andy.

Guest cast include Craig McLachlan, Kat Stewart, Mick Molloy, Kitty Flanagan, Madeleine West and Ryan Shelton. Wayne Hope (Upper Middle Bogan) directs.

“Re-enactment shows are generally crime-based, disaster-based or history-based,” Lee says. “We thought ‘why aren’t there re-enactments of funny things’. That was a light-bulb moment.

“Finding a show that can encapsulate that buzz you’re getting when you’re hearing a really funny story for the first time was really appealing to us.”

Behind the scenes during the Nine Network's True Story with Hamish & Andy (left to right) Tim Bartley (with cap standing), then seated Andy Lee, Hamish Blake, Ryan Shelton and foreground director Wayne Hope is in the foreground.

Just to prove that money is no object, Blake and Lee are set to quit their Hit Network radio show at the end of 2017. The show earns them a reported $4 million per year.

Television, hopefully including a second season of True Story with Hamish and Andy, is their future.

“The problem is that we keep making stupidly inefficient television,” Lee says. “Finding the people on this (True Story), capturing their stories and filming took more than a year.”

Blake adds: “A lot of people could hate it (True Story) but we’d hate for the thing that went wrong to be that we were too split-focused (radio and television). At least we won’t have that on our heads.”