By Natalie Simpson
Survive till 25 was the mantra. Filmmakers and entertainers who had been thrown out of work first by Covid, then by the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, were hoping this year would mark a return to normal. In hindsight, the perfect storm was only gathering momentum. Between skyrocketing local production costs, media mergers, and the end of “Peak TV,” instead of rebounding, production in and around Los Angeles this year dropped by roughly 25 percent.
Many have left show business altogether. A determined few, however, are producing their own stories, and a healthy percentage of them are women.
Tina Vonn and Susan Rudick, who met in acting class, noticed “a strange invisibility that descends upon women after 40.” So, the friends co-created roles for themselves with the TV pilot, Bad Alice, a dark comedy about a woman ruthlessly hunting down scammers who exploit the elderly.
Ellen Ancui, a writer/director who has worked as a staff writer for both networks and Netflix, wrote and directed Saverio, a short film based on an incident she witnessed that shocked her: an elderly man abandoned at a grocery store. Ancui learned that the phenomenon, known as “granny dumping,” was a nationwide epidemic. As with Bad Alice, Saverio sweetens a serious message with humor, which helped it become a sensation on the festival circuit.
“We have been accepted into 27 festivals around the country and in Mexico, Italy and New Zealand.”
Saverio has racked up awards as well, including four Audience awards. Ancui plans a feature-length version and uses the newfound attention to promote her podcast, Filthy Milfs, about sexual health and wellness for women of a certain age.
Other filmmakers’ work comments on the very forces arrayed against them professionally.
“Most creatives I know are very nervous about AI,” says Tatiana Blackington James, a Writers Guild member who made two short films after walking the picket lines. “It was one of our key issues during the strike.”
Her most recent film, Lawyered Up is a dramedy about a woman who unknowingly hires an AI divorce attorney and falls in love.
“I like to turn my anxieties into art,” she says, “so other people have to deal with them.” Producing her own work also allowed Blackington James to direct.
“Not only did directing make me a better writer,” she says, “it changed me as a person. I learned to trust my instincts more.”
Lawyered Up will premiere on October 17 at the prestigious Newport Beach Film Festival.
USC Film School grad and screenwriter Lisa Steadman, who has written bestsellers on breakups and relationships, is also fascinated by the siren song of AI. She quit the corporate writing job that had sustained her during the downturn to make tAInted Love, a short film about a dinner party gone wrong when a power outage exposes half the guests as glitchy android companions. Her shoot begins in a few days.
Even with grants, crowdfunding, and calling in favors, all the filmmakers had to dip into their personal savings at a time when the financial future is uncertain, but each had her reasons for doing so.
“For me,” says Rudick, “it was about generating my own work to get more work, but as the process went along, I realized I loved being my own boss and making the decisions. We want Bad Alice to go to series, so our goal in doing the festival circuit is to meet producers and network to find a home for it. In addition, I did just land a great manager.”
Steadman was inspired by female colleagues who were bringing their ideas to life without waiting for anyone to give them a green light.
“You look around and say, ‘What resources do I have?’ adds Blackington James. “In my case, I knew a lot of very talented but unemployed people who were willing to work on a low-budget short just to practice their craft. My Production Designer had worked on The Morning Show. My DP had shot episodes of The Lincoln Lawyer. Both agreed to do Lawyered Up because they thought it was a cool story.”
After her success on the festival circuit, Ancui is already planning her next short film as well as accepting gigs directing indie shorts and features.
“As long as I keep collaborating and creating art, I’m moving forward.”
