Love in All the Small Places: Sarah Cleveland on Dating, Friendship and starting over at 40

What inspired you to create Love in All the Small Places, and why did you want to tell Sasha’s story at this point in your career?

Sarah Cleveland: Honestly, it came from looking at my own life. Hitting my 40s and watching my friends navigate this new chapter made me realize something…where are these stories on TV? I wanted to see our experiences represented with real humor and honesty.

Sasha’s story was born out of that desire and to show what being in your 40s actually looks like in a way that makes women say, ‘Yes, that right there!’

The series explores modern dating, friendship, perimenopause, and self-discovery with both humour and heart. Why was it important for you to tell these stories authentically?

Sarah Cleveland: Authenticity was important because this is my reality and the reality of the women I love. I’ve watched so many friends struggle with perimenopause, just trying to understand their own bodies. We are all going through such profound, yet completely different, life changes right now.

For me, it’s seeing my kids grow up and move on, leaving me to figure out what’s next. For others, it’s navigating a divorce, or even the devastating loss of a spouse, and wondering if it’s too late to show the world who they are and find love again.

I also have friends in their 40s who are having their very first babies. Being in your 40s is this incredibly unique, weird phase where you have friends starting families, some becoming grandparents, and everything in between.

As for why it’s important to tell the story with humour and heart…I think if we can approach anything in life with laughter and caring, it makes life so much more doable. We all face things we just can’t wrap our heads around, and if you can find a way to laugh about it instead of crying, it softens the blow during those hard times.

Sasha is going through something so traumatic and yet unfortunately very common – the end of her marriage and a complete crisis of identity. Because she is navigating such a difficult transition, it was essential to surround her with kindness and humor.

As both the creator and lead actor, what was the biggest challenge and the biggest reward of bringing this series to life?

Sarah Cleveland: The challenges? Oh man, I could go on and on, because there were so many hurdles we had to clear just to make this show a reality. This wasn’t a big-budget production with a long shoot timeline. Instead, we were working with a very small budget and shot the entire thing in just a week, bringing together people from all over Ontario.

But the most rewarding part was our cast and crew. Their sheer talent and dedication, going above and beyond to create something we all believed in, is the only reason we pulled this off. That team is the heart of this project, and I couldn’t imagine making this series without every single one of them involved.

Many people find themselves starting over in unexpected ways. What do you hope audiences take away from Sasha’s journey, and is there a particular moment you’re most excited for viewers to experience?

Sarah Cleveland: I really want people to realize that things go upside down, life isn’t over. You just have to keep pushing forward. It’s going to be incredibly messy and awkward. You’ll make mistakes, you’ll think you’ve finally figured things out, and then you’ll stumble again. And that is perfectly okay! That messiness is exactly what makes us human.

There’s one particular scene I can’t wait for viewers to see, where Sasha’s neighbor, Marilyn, comes over. I love it because Sasha finally starts letting her guard down after being so hurt and her walls are up.

The most beautiful and funny part is that this big moment of vulnerability has nothing to do with dating or finding a man. It’s about finding a connection and starting a new relationship with an unexpected friend.

Love in All the Small Places premiered at Hot Docs Cinema. What does this milestone mean to you, and what are you most looking forward to as audiences experience the series for the first time?

Sarah Cleveland: We really wanted to go all out with a red-carpet premiere because we wanted the series to be seen on the big screen, exactly how film is meant to be experienced. Having a theatre packed with an audience completely immersed in the show was unforgettable.

I forgot how magical it is to hear a room full of people laughing out loud, yelling at the screen, and just feeding off each other’s energy! Plus, we wanted to give our cast and crew the chance to see their hard work showcased the right way.

Hot Docs was the perfect location because the venue is so beautiful and the people running it are incredible. Now that it’s playing in people’s homes, I just hope viewers get all those same feels. I want the laughing, the crying, and the yelling, because if they’re reacting like that, it means we’ve created something that truly connected with them.