Sex and the City creator Candace Bushnell opens up about media and marriage

Candace Bushnell wrote a popular sex column for the New York Observer that eventually became Sex and the City.

In an interview with On The Money, she talks about the state of the media industry, how the economy of marriage has changed and her own happiness with dating apps.

Lydia: The media industry has changed a lot since the 1990s. Could Carrie Bradshaw feed herself with a column these days?

Candace: Many of these online digital platforms are going out of business. Everything is changing – including the TV landscape. Insiders say network and cable will go away, and streaming won’t work either. So who knows. There are still people who make a lot of money writing books. Hopefully there are always opportunities to make money in the creative field. It may not be books or media, but it could be something else. As for the media, people always want to know what’s going on. As a species we are obsessed with knowing what is happening.

Lydia: How has New York changed since the pandemic?

Candace: The big difference is the mobile phone and social media. And then there are the dating apps. When they first came out, nobody wanted to go for it.

Lydia: There was a stigma.

Candace: There was definitely a stigma. I use a few apps including Bumble and Hinge, but I still meet more people in real life than through dating apps. I meet a lot of people I already know on dating apps, including ex-boyfriends. It’s still possible to meet people while going out because New York and the Hamptons are very sociable.

Lydia: Do you like the direction “And Just Like That…” is taking?

Candace: I enjoy it. It’s about the characters and I like the new characters so I’m enjoying watching them and I hope it runs for six seasons.

Lydia: Do you feel like it still reflects your life?

Candace: No. It’s its own business – it has its own logic.

Lydia: Her work has spawned many spin-offs – Carrie Diaries, Lipstick Jungle, etc. Are there more spin-offs in the works?

Candace: Yes, but there’s a writers’ strike, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Lydia: What’s your best advice for someone trying to make it in New York?

Candace: It’s about doing your own thing and continuing to do it. There’s a lot of rejection and it’s hard. It’s harder now because of social media — which means it’s easier to get depressed thanks to FOMO. There is much comparison and despair. In the past, it wasn’t so easy to compare yourself to other people.

Lydia: Has the quality of men changed since the original SATC in the ’90s? Are people still just as interested in marriage?

Candace: People are definitely still interested in relationships, but dating has changed because of technology and the things we can get away with and how we live our lives. It used to be difficult to be alone in the world. A hundred years ago you couldn’t go to the supermarket and buy a meal just for yourself. Thanks to technology, the future will be single.

Lydia: The economy has certainly changed.

Candace: In the past, women, unless they came from wealthy families, had to earn their income through sex or caring for children, their husbands, or other people. As women, we don’t have to do that anymore. That’s what SATC was really about: women in their 30s who could make a career and make a living. What is their sexuality like when women have their own money and earn their own money?

Lydia: Given these changes, are women happier in relationships today?

Candace: The biggest complaints I have are with straight women trying to find long-term relationships. It doesn’t matter how old you are. If you are heterosexual, the weight will be in favor of men. men have the money. Whoever has the money has a choice. If women come out and make as much money as men, it’s going to be very interesting.

Lydia: So if the wage gap closes, will there be a level playing field?

Candace: Hope it helps. But who knows? robots are coming. sex bots are coming.

Lydia: What’s your latest project?

Candace: A one woman show. It started Off-Broadway at the Daryl Roth Theater and I’ve performed it twice at the Carlyle. I’m doing it now at Canoe Place Inn on August 17th and at Greenroom 42 in mid-October. It’s called Candace Bushnell: True Stories of Sex, Success, and Sex and the City. It’s about how I made Sex and the City, how hard I worked to make it, why I created Carrie Bradshaw and what happened to me after that. I love making it and it got a great response. Over the next year I will be touring with it in Chicago, Palm Beach, California as well as South Africa, Canada and hopefully England.