How This Female Comedian Went From Master of None to Master of All
There's no such thing as a career path.
Noël Wells spent one-season on Saturday Night Live before she landed opposite Aziz Ansari on Master of None, where she played Rachel.
She's also writes and sings lead in her band @t.h.e.m.a.r.y.s. and Power Couple (working title) a show she created, wrote, and is attached to star, was picked up by Comedy Central.
If that's not enough, earlier this year at SXSW Wells made her directorial debut in Mr. Roosevelt, a coming-of-age comedy that Wells wrote, directed, and stared in. The movie follows a young comedian Emily, played by Wells, who has gone "viral" with a spaghetti vid. But going viral isn't all it's cracked up to be, and when the titular character (spoiler: her cat) falls ill, Emily treks it back to her hometown of Austin where she must face the life she left behind. Namely, her ex-boyfriend and his Pinterest-perfect new girlfriend, who has gallery-walled the living room space and has the pair off coffee.
What follows is a frank misfortune of events (plus some smack talking on LA Mexican food) that leaves Emily wondering WTF happened to her life? We caught up with the quad-threat to real talk airbrushed armpits and why "Hollywood is just a bunch of weirdos trying to find their way."
Important question first: Why name the cat Teddy Roosevelt?
I wanted the cat to have a sort of timeless iconic name, the sort of name a younger person would think to name an animal, but also one that could sound like an actual important person so audiences who haven’t read the synopsis could have the potential of being surprised about who Mr. Roosevelt is. Originally I named him Mr. Rogers, which felt very much like “childhood” and burying the past, but my producers were working on a Fred Rogers movie already and so we had to change the name. After a couple of ideas, Teddy Roosevelt felt like it matched a big, orange cat and had the gravitas of something bigger. Since then we have had a lot of weird Teddy Roosevelt coincidences surrounding the film, so it feels meant to be.
Second: Do you really think LA has bad tacos?
Well I think my real battle is the big burrito/taco standoff. Tacos beat burritos, hands down. As far as LA tacos vs. Austin tacos, I like smaller taco trucks in LA, but I think generally I prefer Mexican food in Texas. It’s just more flavorful! Please don’t hate me!
Now...Working with Aziz you said that you felt the two characters were “on equal footing.” Why, besides the obvious, was this important to you?
I just am not interested in being an actress or creative that doesn’t have some say in what’s happening. I like collaborating, I want to be engaged. I have too many things inside me and I need places to put them. When I don’t, I get really depressed and despondent.
Do you feel like you’ve been able to be your authentic self in Hollywood?
I’m sure we all cave to some pressure to be like “something” else in order to fit in, and as much as I think I’m always being true to who I am, I see many ways I chase after the wrong things or people in this town. That being said, Hollywood is just a bunch of weirdos trying to find their way, and because of that, I’ve been able to find my true self more and more and it’s even welcomed. The most awkward things for me are glamorous events. I’m not great on red carpets or photo shoots, but I’m learning how to have fun with image where before I would think I was a liar or faking if I dressed up. I think I’m realizing I’ve been in the glamour closet and I actually like being fabulous. Time will tell.
Wells in Mr. Roosevelt
You’ve been promoting your directorial debut, Mr. Roosevelt, which, you also wrote and star in. More women are taking their careers into their own hands. Why was this an essential part of your journey?
I am always thinking about things to make and write and create, it’s always in my head and I go crazy if I’m not making something. This just felt like a natural progression of that journey. I think now it stands as proof to myself and other people that I have the capacity to do much bigger things.
Speaking of your journey, in the movie your character, Emily, works an editing job while pursuing her dream, what are some of the odder jobs you’ve taken while hustling your dream?
Oh boy. I’ve been working since I was 15, oftentimes having 2-3 jobs at a time so I’ve had many an odd job. A few that come to mind: I was a manager of an ice cream store, I created Wikipedia pages for businesses, I wrote and photographed how-to articles for listicle websites along the lines of “How to make a smoothie” or “How to give yourself a pedicure”...and I used to make my own clothes and sell them on eBay.
Mr. Roosevelt addresses the aimlessness that so many young women feel. What’s your advice to them?
We are in uncharted times economically as so many careers shift into tech and so much is being outsourced. I think my advice is really about healing and community. We’ve become so fractured as a culture, the only way to sustain ourselves is to come back together, and if you take care of yourself and get better, you’re going to be able to help other people too. This gives you a sense of purpose, and you get better, so it’s a win-win.
"The only way to sustain ourselves is to come back together."
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There’s a brief moment in the film when Emily looks at her diploma that’s been left in a box in a shed-- and there’s this universal feeling of 'oh, right, this thing. What IS this THING?' And she puts it back. Have you had similar moments?
Yeah. My favorite part about college was that I picked up a lot of useful skills in production classes, but I think in many ways, it seemed like a developmental delay. A diploma doesn’t really mean anything, really. After college I sort of realized I was trying way too hard to succeed in a system, and that success wasn’t really making me happy. I missed out on other real-world experiences I should have been having. But it’s different for everyone!
This also might seem rather minute, but when the she meets up with the crew at the swim hole, no one has perfectly shaved armpits. And it felt like another fresh breath of relief. Let’s not airbrush armpits! Let’s not airbrush life. There’s obviously some poking at Pinterest-life throughout the movie. “Pecans from another state,” meltdown in mind here. Would love hear your thoughts on this.
My big thing in life, is I’m just not interested in manufacturing or falsifying anything. Beauty is all around us in many shapes or sizes, and in many ways it’s all perception. We get to say what is beautiful. So for me, confidence is beautiful. Love is beautiful. Genuine self-expression is beautiful. So images can be beautiful, but often times, beauty gets distorted, and then the essence of what is beautiful is twisted, and it confuses people and makes them feel bad about themselves. I grew up hating everything about myself because of these distortions, and this has been my personal journey as a woman, to just learn to love myself. And part of that has been by seeing through these distortions, and also recognizing other people who are distorting things are also confused. So Emily’s critique of these perfect women is also problematic, if that makes sense. She’s not seeing them for who they really are, which are hurting women just like her.
"Beauty is all around us in many shapes or sizes, and in many ways it’s all perception."
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Accepting that everything changes is part of growing up. Do you remember a point like that in your life?
This is going to sound dumb, but just making this movie is a major lesson in everything changing. You have something very set in your head about how it’s going to go, you have all these plans and goals about what it will be and look like and what it will do for you, and by the end, if you held onto that image, you wouldn’t have made any progress and you would be in despair because it absolutely is not anything like what you wanted. But that’s okay, it’s been an insane ride and I honestly know I’m better off for it being so difficult and challenging.
Female friendships are super important in the movie. How did you find support while making the movie?
The female actors on the shoot were all really incredible, and they kept me going, and my cinematographer Dagmar Weaver-Madsen was my rock through the shoot. She totally understood the spirit of the film from the beginning, and is also incredibly perceptive about the pressures and roadblocks that women face day-to- day on set. Anytime I would get discouraged, she was there pumping me up and supporting me unconditionally.
Do you feel supported by Hollywood?
Hollywood isn’t really one thing or one entity. I will say I have found my people in the city of Los Angeles, and I’m working to find my creative partners as well. Like anything in life, it’s a journey trying to find where you fit in.
Do you feel stronger doing something on your own?
I’ve always been one to do things on my own, but this has shown to me you really could take everything away from me, put me on a desert island with nothing but some stick and some sand, and I’d still figure out a way to put on a show. But also, I don’t WANT to be on an island alone, I’m really sick and tired of doing everything alone. I want to make things with people.
What type of roles are you most interested in?
I like looking at people’s darkness, the thing that makes someone tick, and also the things that make them lovable even if they’re outwardly being bad or insufferable.
We recently talked to Zoe Lister-Jones who employed an all-female crew, which we found incredibly inspiring. Who have you recently been inspired by?
I’m really impressed with a lot of my female friends as of lately. After Trump was elected, it’s been a year where everyone is looking inside and at themselves and figuring out what they can do to change themselves so they can be of service to the world. I have friends who are hosting salons at their homes, organizing writer’s groups, spear-heading political fundraisers, getting us together to volunteer across Los Angeles, and creating content like I’ve never seen before. No woman I know is content with despairing for too long, we’re all figuring out how to come together.
Given the recent exposure of sexual assault stories in Hollywood, what would you like to see change in the industry?
I just think I’m exasperated by the abuse on all levels. I am here to make art, and I wish more people were into the creation process rather than the fame or money or accolades. That may not change, so I think just rooting out abuse in all forms is what I’d like to see. Outside of sexual harassment, there are a lot of bad bosses yelling and screaming and abusing their employees, and there are people who commit a lot of creative “crimes” to get ahead. I wish more people would operate from a place of integrity and accountability.
Have you experienced situations that have made you uncomfortable and how did you handle it?
All the time. I’ve never gotten it quite right. I’d say about 50 percent of the time I stand up for myself in violating situations, and 100% of those times it initially appeared to backfire on me. But as time is playing itself out, I see now that defending myself or leaving a bad sexual situation or standing up to bullies was the right thing to do, and that will hopefully empower me to do that always. It’s better to be ejected from toxic environments than to stay and be eaten alive.
"It’s better to be ejected from toxic environments than to stay and be eaten alive."
What’s coming up next?
A lot of writing, a lot of percolating. Hopefully more directing and acting.
To check out Mr. Roosevelt, click here.
Top photo credit: Beachside
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Guess Which First Time Female Director Broke Records This Weekeend?
Is that a double power pose we see?
Merie Wallace / A 24
You might know Greta Gerwig from indie-movies like Frances Ha and Mistress America, but this weekend the 34-year-old actor, writer, and first time solo director broke box office records with Lady Bird.
A coming-of-age story about a young woman in Northern Cali, Lady Bird, charts the ups and downs of teen Christine McPherson, who has a clunky relationship with her mother and requires people in her Sacramento town to refer to her as "Lady Bird," the nickname of LBJ's wife.
(Side bar: Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson was First Lady of the United States, as the wife of the 36th President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson. Notably well-educated for a woman of her era, she proved a capable manager and a shrewd investor.)
Speaking with Rolling Stone, Gerwig said, "Writing this character was an exploration of all these things I didn't have access to or I couldn't be. In that way, it almost felt like this fairy-tale invention of a deeply flawed heroine, but one who I admire. I think she shows courage and a lot of character even when she's flailing."
Gerwig wrote the script between 2013-14, stumbling through numerous drafts and titles. The hard work paid off. Lady Bird broke box office records last weekend.
The lead semi-autobiographical character is played by Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan. The movie has been dubbed a smash success by critics-- "perfect" according to Rolling Stone-- and moviegoers, who turned out in droves this past weekend to see the film. Opened to limited audiences its first weekend, the movie showed in four locations, a "specialty box office opening." It grossed $375,612 in four theaters, with a theater average of $93,903. Those numbers blow typical small box office openings out of the water, making it the best speciality box office opening of 2017. Those numbers also make Lady Bird the best ever limited debut for a movie directed by a woman. With Patty Jenkins’s Wonder Woman breaking the record for highest-grossing live-action film directed by a woman in the world, it’s a landmark year for women in Hollywood.
Keep on soaring, LB. Keep soaring, ladies.
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Actress & Director Zoe Lister-Jones Just Took on Hollywood in a Major Way
She's a bit of a Wonder Woman herself.
Zoe Lister-Jones does not drink coffee. In fact, the writer, director, actress, and producer of Band Aid, her new indie film, says “I don’t drink any caffeine.” If you rattled by this (what, how, why, how?) you’re not alone. But there’s a pretty simple reason.
“I never really started,” Lister-Jones shares. “I was a barista in high school at a coffee shop. I opened the shop one day at 5am and drank about six shots of espresso and got so violently ill that I’ve never gone back.” Espresso barfs aside, she still has her human share of the 4pm slump like the rest of us. But java does not jive with the NYU Tisch grad. Like a true artist, Zoe says, “I just suffer through it.”
Luckily, the only suffering in her new movie is that of the protagonist couple tortured by all of the things that torture married couples: Dishes, blowjobs, banality.
In Band Aid we’re witness to the world of Anna (Lister-Jones) and Ben (Adam Pally), a married pair hanging on by a pinky promise and some vows. Everything is out of tune, so the duo attempts to salvage their relationship by starting a band called the Dirty Dishes, turning all of their fights into songs.
The industry vet actress (did you know three-year-old Zoe starred in her mother’s short film?) and writer (her 2009 work for Breaking Upward was possibly the inspiration for Gwyneth Paltrow’s “conscious uncoupling,”) not only took on her first solo directorial role with Band Aid, but she challenged herself further.
Band Aid employed an all-female crew. From producer Natalia Anderson, director of photography Hilary Spera, and a team of female art directors, camera operators, electricians, sound editors— the WHOLE squad was women. Brooklyn Decker, who also stars in the film, told NPR, “Let me tell you, the efficiency on that set was unparalleled. These women are like, I have families to get home to. I have to feed my child at 6 o'clock. I've got to clean my house when I get home. Let's get this shit done, you know?”
As a first time director, Zoe understood that women face certain double-standards. “I think there was a part of me that was looking for as supportive an artistic community as possible.” She’s quick to clarify that she has “wonderful working relationships with a lot of men,” but acknowledges the female crew, “definitely shifted the energy on set in a way that was palpable and impacted the product for the better. The energy on set, it did feel more intimate. It was a really calm, quiet, and supportive energy that allowed for us to go to deeper places in some ways.”
She mentions the physical intimacy in the film. “As an actress, I felt my most free in those scenes to not be encountering the male gaze.” Others on crew and cast were quick to agree.
“I think what was so exciting every day was that as new actors came to set, immediately they all wanted to talk about the energetic shift that they were experiencing. And as the all-female set had normalized for those of us who had been on set for days or weeks, it was cool to get a fresh perspective on it.”
She also loved getting feedback from Pally, whom Zoe says was often the only male on set. “He now says he only wants to work with predominantly female crews or at least to push for more female crews. The decks are stacked against us. Until there is more equity you have to put more focus on it.”
She says, “I think as women we have to walk a tenuous tightrope. We have to be fearless in a lot of ways and lean into our confidence, especially in the workplace, but we also have to play the game because we also are still living in a patriarchy.”
Which brings up the fact that it’s not just Hollywood. Zoe is aware that the inequity exists across all industries (and is quick to praise Brooklyn Decker and Finery “that she’s moving into the tech space, especially as a woman.”)
Zoe claims that the idea that we’ve moved past any issues or injustices is the most dangerous flaw that continues to feed into these broken systems. “It does require such hyper-vigilance because we all have to confront our own biases every day. It requires so much self-awareness and awareness of others in a way that can be irritating to people. People want to continue on with their habits and way of life-- it’s hard for anyone to shift their lifestyle. We all get really stuck in our habits, especially when those habits have gone unchecked for so long. It requires work on everyone’s part.” For Zoe, putting in the work beyond the words is where change occurs.
“In Hollywood, when it comes to the gender disparity, the number of female directors and crew members has actually gotten worse in the last few years. We can talk about it, and talking about it is important, but so is walking the walk.” It’s exactly why making a movie this way was so important to her.
The LA Times agreed, taking a big stance with their headline: “Zoe Lister-Jones made 'Band Aid' with an all-female crew. Your move, Hollywood.” “That headline shook me. It’s an amazing headline. It’s something that people in the industry definitely read. “And,” the director adds, “it’s scary to be the face of that headline.”
Her indie film also happened to open the same weekend as Patty Jenkins’ superhero box office triumph, Wonder Woman. “It’s been an incredible moment in history to even be a small part of,” Zoey says. “The fact that we opened on the same weekend, it wasn’t something any of us really thought about, but to be in conversation with what Patty Jenkins and Wonder Woman mean in the grand scheme of things and what Band Aid means in the grand scheme of things is really cool. It’s nice to see it all working together.”
Guess she doesn’t need caffeine— she’s a bit of a Wonder Woman herself.
Arianna Schioldager is Editor-in-Chief at Create & Cultivate. You can follow her @ariannawrotethis.
Band Aid is currently playing in New York City and Los Angeles and will open in Chicago and other major cities on Friday, June 16.
Photos: Zoe Lister-Jones/Band Aid
Photo Credits: Mister Lister Films
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How These 5 Women Are Fighting Gender Bias in Hollywood
Don't ask for permission.
photo credit: Happy Print Co.
For 16 years LUNA has been promoting women storytellers with LUNAFEST. Every year they program and travel with 6-8 short films, bringing awareness in different cities to female directors. They also partner with local women’s non-profits in the cities where films screen to raise money for local charities.
And last Sunday at #CreateCultivateSXSW, in keeping with the spirit of the day and LUNAFEST, four amazing female storytellers took to the stage to talk about the realities for women directors in Hollywood. They were introduced by Suzy Starke German, the brand marketing manager for LUNAFEST, who told the audience "About two years ago we decided we wanted to look at the careers of the filmmakers who had toured their films through LUNAFEST.” The company also partnered with USC’s Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative to complete a study about women in film. "Like in many areas, women directors are underrepresented,” said Starke German, bringing to the stage Mynette Louie, President of Gamechanger Films, an equity fund that exclusively finances women directed narrative features.
Joining them on stage were: Jennifer Brea, director of “Unrest,” a first time documentary filmmaker who used the medium to explore her personal medical journey, Rachel Holder, the writer and director of “I Love Bekka and Lucy,” a female friendship comedy which is the first digital series to be accepted into SXSW, and Kim Sherman, a production executive with Stage 13 representing “I Love Bekka and Lucy,” at the festival.
The women candidly discussed their journeys and where they feel the conversation (and action) needs to go.
1. DON’T ASK FOR PERMISSION
She’s from a little town in the Midwest but Kim Sherman told the audience, “I don’t think I ever thought, ‘I can’t do this’ or ‘I shouldn’t do this.’ I just started making movies. Every feature seemed to lead to the next. Eventually, thanks to amazing women like Mynette, I was recommended for this new digital initiative, Stage 13.” Stage 13 specifically works to support emerging artists in underrepresented communities-- “women being part of that,” she shared.
Rachael Holder got her start with an MFA from NYU/Tisch. “After graduation I wrote a lot of scripts, but no one was reading me. So I decided to not wait for permission and I made a web series. That web series was purchased by WB. With that platform I created ‘I Love Bekka and Lucy,’” she explained. “The beginning of my creative process was creating these characters, because I wanted to have a walking resume. Something people could click on and get two-minutes of content, hear my voice, and hear my POV. That’s how you do it, it works.”
photo credit: Smith House Photography
Nodding to Holder’s narrative about how she got her start, Brea picked up on the theme of permission. “I think ‘permission’ is a big theme about how women get their start. Who are the gatekeepers and do you need to ask for permission? For me, I was pursuing a totally different path in life. I was an academic, it was a safe path— but I had a strong impulse to tell a story that I really cared about and believed that it had to be visual that I had the idea to make a documentary. I think it’s because I had reached a place where I was so sick, I had lost everything, there was nothing left to lose. It was from that place that I felt I could take the risk.”
“Make your art without asking for permission,” Brea encouraged.
“Make your art without asking for permission.”
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2. DON’T KNOW WHERE TO GET FUNDS? KICKSTARTER ACTUALLY WORKS
Both Jen Brea and Rachael Holder relied on Kickstarter to launch their projects.
For the first “I Love Bekka and Lucy” vignettes, Holder used Kickstarter, relying on friends and family for donations. She made a web series with 5k.
“I also relied on Kickstarter,” shared Brea. “It was essentially me asking the audience, ‘Do you want this film?’ And they said, ‘Yes,’ in a resounding way.” Her project raised over $200,000 on Kickstarter. “Had it not been for that I don’t think anyone would have given me permission to make this film.” Kickstarter also allowed Brea to believe that it was a story people wanted to hear and that it mattered.
3. WHAT ABOUT THAT HOLLYWOOD GENDER BIAS?
Holder, who writes about women a lot, said she doesn’t feel restricted by the kind of subject matter she can touch. She does admit: “In terms of my female characters that have empowering sex, it sometimes feels like there’s an expectation to make that character fucked up in some way. ‘She’s craa-azy, she likes orgasms.’ I like to fight against that."
“‘She’s craa-azy, she likes orgasms.’ I like to fight against that.”
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Sherman, who got her start in the horror genre shared that she never felt restricted but she did feel alone. “I was often the only woman on set, aside from the actors. We would bond with each other because we were in a very male-dominated genre. It was interesting to go to festivals because I felt like my role in things was often overlooked or diminished. For me, that was really frustrating. As someone who champions filmmakers and directors, I noticed the difference in reception I would get when going out with a female fronted project vs. the projects that were attached to a male director. The men seems to be more free to experiment and more free to come to the table with something that was their voice and vision. Where women, depending on the distributor, there were a lot more concessions to what they could make and a lot more notes. No matter what their background was or what they’d already accomplished there was a tendency to want to tell them ‘how it is in the industry.’”
Brea who admitted she is “new to this,” said that in some ways she’s “happily naive.”
Sharing: “I know there are institutional barriers, but in some ways you can’t think about that. You have to hold onto the belief that you can do anything. That type of ownership of the world is the privilege of being a man, but it’s something that I think we as women storytellers need to own. But talk to me in ten years.”
4. ONLY 4% OF DIRECTORS ARE WOMEN
The EOC has found that Hollywood is guilty of discrimination. But just what can women in Hollywood do about it?
“Studies and numbers are on our side now,” said Sherman. “It’s not just anecdotal anymore. I think that’s the first step, but it has to be acknowledged at the higher levels. That science has to be felt. I think about this a lot. It would be amazing if even to start— every time a male project was greenlit for millions and millions of dollars, a female project was also greenlit for millions and millions of dollars. Apples to apples. Let’s get women in these major roles.”
"Women outnumber men going into film school, so why is that not translating to higher jobs? Where along the way are we losing?” asked Sherman. “How do we make sure people at the beginning of their careers have access to audience? If you going to give hundreds of millions of dollars to men, do it for women too. Let’s start there.”
For Holder, this was a point to bring up the importance of intersectionality. “We need more female directors and storytellers, but we also need to have women of color be a part of the conversation too. Not only not male, but I’m also not white and damn,” said Holder.
All women agreed that the conversation needed to be much more inclusive and is a conversation has been brewing for a long time.
Mynette also brought up the point that, "Women are expected to only direct other women.” But pointed out, “A woman inhabiting the male perspective is as feminist and apt as directing a female protagonist.”