Tilda Cobham-Hervey could have chosen Hollywood, but Adelaide has the story she really wanted to tell.

The award-winning writer, director, producer and actor is making her feature-length directorial debut with It’s All Going Very Well No Problems At All in her hometown – giving Adelaide itself a starring role.

"The city has a really strong character in this film," she says. "I just couldn’t imagine making this anywhere else – I love Adelaide so much."

"A lot of movies made in Adelaide often pretend that it’s somewhere else – but I really wanted to celebrate this place where I grew up, have spent most of my life, and had some of the best creative experiences and friendships."

She specifically wanted to tell "a modern story about a young woman based here" – bringing a contemporary Adelaide perspective to the screen.

From actor to boss

This isn’t just another gig for Tilda – she’s going all-in by producing, directing, starring in, and writing the film.

It’s a move that shows just how far she’s come since her breakout role at 16 in acclaimed South Australian film 52 Tuesdays, the feature directorial debut of Sophie Hyde, another internationally acclaimed South Australian creative.

In the 14 years since, Tilda has portrayed iconic feminist singer Helen Reddy in I Am Woman, starred opposite Daisy Ridley in Disney’s Young Woman and the Sea, taken on a challenging role in Apple Cider Vinegar, and worked alongside Hollywood heavyweights like Sigourney Weaver (The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart), Olivia Colman (Jimpa), and Jason Isaacs (Hotel Mumbai).

She’s also demonstrated her talent behind the camera before: Her debut as writer/director, A Field Guide to Being a 12-Year-Old Girl, won the coveted Crystal Bear for Best Short Film at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), while animated short Roborovski, which she wrote and directed with her partner, actor Dev Patel, won the Yoram Gross Award for Best Australian Short Animation at Flickerfest 2021.

But this new project is her most personal yet.

"The story was very much inspired by things I was going through," she explains. "As an actor, you read a lot of scripts, but it’s rare they’re exactly what you want to make. So I asked myself, what do I really want to make? What stories feel important?"

What’s the film about?

It’s All Going Very Well No Problems At All centres on "a young woman in her 30s who is very lost and teetering on the edge of a collapse," Tilda reveals.

"She’s an artist who works at a care home and forms a bond with an 80-year-old man. It’s through this profound connection at the end of his life that pushes her to start her own life."

What began as a solo theatre piece evolved over five years, mirroring Tilda’s growth as a writer and director.

She says the film’s central theme of human connection runs through all her work – a topic that feels especially relevant now, given how disconnected life can sometimes feel.

The Adelaide advantage

For Tilda, Adelaide isn’t just a filming location – it’s a creative powerhouse. She’s assembled a dream team of local talent, including production designer Jonathon Oxlade, costume designer Renate Henschke, and co-producer Carly Maple.

"It’s a privilege to collaborate with extraordinary Adelaide creatives, some whose work I’ve admired for years and others I’ve grown up with," she says.

The project has received crucial backing from the South Australian Film Corporation and Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund – support Tilda describes as "incredibly important – films in Australia couldn’t happen without it. When I tell people in the UK and the US about the way we make movies here, they can’t believe the support we get."

The city itself will feature prominently. And unlike the cutthroat environment of bigger film hubs, Tilda credits Adelaide’s creative community with giving her "space to think".

"Adelaide is such a fertile place to create," she says, challenging the notion that artists need to leave to succeed. "Plus, it has amazing food, wine, and quality of life. I’m very close to my family and friends here, and I enjoy the lifestyle, so it’s hard to beat."

While Tilda and Dev still work internationally, they’ve made Adelaide their home base – splitting their time between here and LA.

Producing partners

Adding another layer to the project, Dev is also a producer on It’s All Going Very Well No Problems At All.

"We’re both so excited by our work that we accidentally end up working on each other’s projects," says Tilda, who was co-producer on Dev’s directorial debut, Monkey Man. "Every project we do becomes the conversation around the dinner table."

Far from complicating things, she says their personal connection creates "a real shorthand" professionally. "He’s incredibly supportive and encouraging throughout, and he’s a very good producer – I’m lucky he also happens to be my boyfriend! It makes it very fun."

Where it all began

The creative arts have shaped Tilda from day one.

"My dad [Geoff Cobham] was a production manager at the Adelaide Festival for a long time, and my mum [Roz Hervey] was a dancer and performer," she recalls. "I was always in the back of theatres. Seeing the amazing work that comes through the Adelaide Festival and Adelaide Fringe hugely influenced the creative I want to be."

But it was local institution Cirkidz that put her on the path to a creative career. "That’s the whole reason I got into the arts," she says. "When I was 14, me and a group of teenagers at Cirkidz were precocious and decided to make a theatre company called Gravity & Other Myths."

Today, that same company tours the globe to international acclaim – showing exactly what’s possible when Adelaide creatives dream big

In the years since, Tilda’s bond to Adelaide has stayed strong.

Since working together on 52 Tuesdays she’s frequently collaborated with SA filmmaker – and local legend – Sophie Hyde, including on the TV series F*cking Adelaide, which she remembers for "the outrageous amount of fun we had making it".

She also starred in the stage adaptation of the cult Adelaide-set novel The Dictionary of Lost Words, and most recently brought her passion for connection to WOMADelaide with Dear Stranger, an interactive installation encouraging strangers to swap handwritten letters.

Creative career realities

When asked what advice she’d give young South Australians choosing between a creative career and something more "sensible", Tilda is refreshingly honest.

"That’s hard, because a couple of years ago, I probably would have asked myself, 'why didn’t I do accounting?'" she admits. "But my feeling about life is it’s short, and you should do something you enjoy."

She’s quick to acknowledge that her path hasn’t always been smooth. "I’ve been very lucky in my opportunities as an actor to get roles and be able to support myself that way, but there’ve also been years I really haven’t been able to support myself acting."

"The way I survived was by learning to make my own work. It doesn’t always just come to you – sometimes you have to create it."

For those battling self-doubt – which is pretty much everyone in creative fields – Tilda offers solidarity rather than platitudes.

"Self-doubt is a really natural part of the artistic process. For me, it’s been learning to live with that and knowing it’s normal more than solving it, because I think it’s also what makes you investigate your work and makes it the best it can be."

She also lets us in on an industry secret: "The people that you think are the most confident in the world usually aren’t. Some of the most amazing actors I’ve worked with, you go, 'Oh gosh, you surely don’t get nervous still?' And they all do! So I always find that comforting."

Coming soon

Filming for It’s All Going Very Well No Problems At All starts "terrifyingly soon," Tilda jokes – within the next couple of months.

There’s no release date yet, but she’s clearly excited to see five years of effort paying off. "I can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on," she says.

This story originally appeared on The Post - a media partnership between the Government of South Australia and Solstice Media to inform young South Australians about the policies that underpin issues affecting their lives.