Triple Threat: New Trier grad writes, produces and acts in new Amazon Prime series

New Trier High School alumna Lily Long certainly has not been fluffing about since she graduated in 2017.

Life has taken Long to New York, Dublin and, now, your television screen with the Thursday, July 9 premiere of the children’s series “Fluff Piece” on Prime Video via the Wonder Project channel.

Long, who was raised in Winnetka, produces and stars in the show, and she even wrote one of the episodes, titled “Evil Twin,” for the show’s second season set to premiere at the end of the year. 

“It’s insane that I can tell people that I’ve acted, written and produced a show that’s on Amazon Prime,” Long said, calling it a “dream come true,” and adding, “I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to make this TV show for kids, because they all really care. We all really care about trying to create a better future for the youngins and the adults. This show is for everyone.”

“Fluff Piece,” which began filming in 2023, follows journalist Fiona Flash and her curious dog, Fluff, as they investigate small-town mysteries.

Young viewers, playfully called “Newshounds,” are invited to follow along and help crack the cases. 

“The show’s goal, [alongside] being entertaining, is to help kids learn how to ask questions, and how to ask the right questions when they’re curious about things,” Long said. “That goes hand in hand with the media literacy and critical thinking skills which, in this day and age, are very important.”

Her character, Stevie the Plumber, is high energy, sometimes inadvertently spreads rumors, and loves her job as much as she loves telling dad jokes.

Long said Stevie tells a dad joke approximately every minute that she’s on screen, much to the chagrin of Fluff.

“Fiona and Fluff try to help calm her down a little … and think more clearly about the outcomes of these rumors, like potentially what would actually be happening in the real world and not to overthink,” Long said of her character. “She kind of represents the viewer, like the feelings that young kids may have about things that they hear. I think that’s lovely, but I definitely try not to have Stevie be a caricature. She’s high energy, but there’s definitely a real anxiety in there that I think people can relate to.”

As Stevie, Long performs two of the show’s original songs, “Ten Thousand Smells” and “Hysteria,” by composer Devin Delaney.

When filming for Season 1 wrapped, with planning was already underway for Seaon 2, Long said she took a risk and decided to write the script for an episode to show creators Sylvia Brindis and Brian Donegan.

“That was kind of me weasling my way into that behind-the-camera side of production,” Long said jokingly. 

But the risk paid off. That episode is “Evil Twin,” which has already been filmed.

Long’s journey to “Fluff Piece” sounds like an organic extension of a childhood dream and decades of hard work. She began acting when she was 4 years old and honed her craft across the North Shore, taking classes at the Actors Training Center in Wilmette and participating in improv training at The Second City.

She participated in New Trier’s drama program, starring in the lead role of “She Kills Monsters” as a junior. Long credits the “large, competitive” drama community in New Trier with incentivizing her to “work harder and to be better.”

After New Trier, Long received a bachelor’s of fine arts from New York University Tisch School of the Arts and then turned her attention to another key passion: screenwriting.

“I have been interested in writing basically since I learned how to write, but it hadn’t really been the thing that I thought I wanted to do,” she said. “Acting had always been the main priority. But after I graduated from NYU, I realized that writing was just as important to me as acting.

“And I think, in this industry, you have to be a multi-hyphenate to have success. Of course, that’s not a hard and straight rule, but I think having as many … hands in the game [as possible] is good … as long as you’re not stretching yourself too thin.”

So, Long received a master’s degree in screenwriting from University College Dublin.

“It was right after the second season of ‘Fluff Piece,’” she said of the MA. “I moved myself into the apartment [in Dublin], flew back to film Season 2 of ‘Fluff Piece,’ and then flew back the day before classes started. It was a whirlwind.”

Reflecting upon her creative and career journey thus far, Long offered advice for those also hoping to pursue careers in the arts.

“Don’t give up,” she said. “If it’s something you really want to do, and there is not any other passion that you want to do, then keep going, even if it means having a day job or having some other money-making thing. Keep going if it brings you joy.

“It can be so easy to stress about making it in the industry. I think you need to just enjoy things as they come and know that everything will be OK.”

Now that “Fluff Piece” is out in the world, Long is looking forward to the prospect of more projects with her “Fluff Piece” co-workers and is staying true to her own advice: “[I] enjoy things and they come and just keep going.”

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