Hill is something of an accidental online star, having first used YouTube simply to archive old flipchart routines and odds and ends sketches. Then she discovered that people were discovering her work more and more through the platform.
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“So I started doing the reverse,” she explains. “I would do a flipchart, upload it to YouTube first, then do it at the shows. I think it’s more impressive to watch live than on screen because I have to choreograph it and learn everything the timing. Sometimes it goes wrong live, but that makes it all the more special.
Hill’s wholesome nature of comedy meant that when she branched out into performing and writing for children, she didn’t have to change her approach too much.
“Strangely, I’ve created stuff specifically for kids a few times, and it works much better with adults,” she explains. “Children watch, read and learn on a level far beyond what many people give them credit for. You don’t want to talk down to them or underestimate them.
the horror heights The series is just one of the projects Hill has in the works. She has a podcast with fellow Australian, “recreational mathematician” Matt Parker, titled A squared problem, and present Take away food, a fun arts and crafts show for children.
“It’s incredibly stressful,” she says of juggling creative outlets. “But I can’t imagine doing one thing and nothing else. Some days I say to myself “I don’t feel like writing today”, but luckily there is always another project. I kind of use each project to delay the other.
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The Adelaide native has been away from home for more than two years, but she hopes to return for a book tour and comedy shows for children and the general public.
She has plans for up to 13 stories in the horror heights series. “All the books take place at exactly the same time, and each is a different story from a kid in the same class. There’s a lot to find; my goal is to get people trying to find connections between the stories and come up with their own theories.
Planning the logistics of this spooky, sprawling story gets complicated. “I have a cork board with a piece of string on it for each timeline…looks like I’m investigating a murder.”
Bec Hill’s Horror Heights: Now LiveScreaming Book 2 is now available through Hachette Australia.
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