Meet Amy & Nancy Harrington! Amy & Nancy are Women’s Empowerment Activists and Podcasters, Amy and Nancy live in Los Angeles and they’re sisters on a mission. Amy had a long and successful career in film & television, where she worked her way up the post-production ladder at Warner Brothers, to eventually become the first woman in the history of the film industry to hold the position of Vice President of Post Production and Visual Effects at a major studio. And Nancy is a serial entrepreneur who built a successful graphic design business and theater company in the heart of Boston before she moved to L.A. While Amy was at Warner Brothers she oversaw work on over 250 films, including the early Harry Potter movies and the Matrix franchise. When Nancy first got to L.A. she took on her first, and only office job at an agency where she worked on Academy Award campaigns for Miramax and Paramount Classics. In response to the #MeToo & Time’s Up movements, Amy and Nancy decided they wanted to strike out on their own and start a new adventure. They felt a calling to become advocates for women’s empowerment and find a way to become activists for positivity, change, and passion… and The Passionistas Project was born. In, 2020 they started the Passionistas Project Women’s Equality Summit, and on September 21st – 23rd of 2022, Amy & Nancy will host the third annual Power of Passionistas Summit to empower women to create a world in which there is equality for all. Now, I’m so excited to bring you my chat with Amy & Nancy. Not only do we chat about what it’s like to be a woman in the Industry, but we talk about so much more, including how important it is to support one another as women and how meaningful working as an advocate in the women's empowerment space can be. Connect with Amy & Nancy on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/thepassionistasproject/ Connect with Amy & Nancy on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/PassionsProj Check out the Passionista Project and the Summit on its website: https://www.thepassionistasproject.com Learn more about the Blissful Spinster Podcast and connect with Cris on the website: https://www.blissfulspinster.com
Amy & Nancy Harrington - Women's Empowerment Activists & Podcasters
[00:00:00] Cris: Hi, and welcome to Blissful Spinster. This week's guest, our women's empowerment, activists and podcasters, Amy and Nancy Harrington, Amy and Nancy live in Los Angeles and their sisters on a mission. Amy had a long and successful career in film and television where she worked her way up the postproduction ladder at Warner Brothers to eventually become the first woman in the history of the film industry to hold the position of vice president of post production and visual effects at a major studio.
[00:00:28] And Nancy is a serial entrepreneur. Who built a successful graphic design business and theater company in the heart of Boston before she moved to LA, while Amy was at Warner brothers, she oversaw and worked on over 250 films, including the early Harry Potter movies and the Matrix franchise. When Nancy first got to Los Angeles, she took on her first and only office job at an agency where she worked on academy award campaigns for Miramax and Paramount Classics in response to the me too.
[00:00:58] And times up movements, [00:01:00] Amy and Nancy decided they wanted to strike out on their own and start a new adventure. They felt a calling to become advocates for women's empowerment and find a way to become activists for positivity change and passion. The PaaS project was born in 2020. They started the Passionistas project's women's equality summit.
[00:01:19] And this month on September 21st through the 23rd, Amy and Nancy will host the third annual power of passionista summit to empower women, to create a world in which there is equality for all I, for one, can't wait to attend and hear from all the inspiring speakers they've got scheduled and to connect with other women who are following their passions.
[00:01:40] I'll leave the link to the summit and the show notes so that you can go check out the event and maybe I'll see you there. Now. I am so excited to bring you my chat with Amy and Nancy. Not only do we chat about what it's like to be a woman in the industry, but we chat about so much more including how important it is to support one another as women and how [00:02:00] meaningful working as an advocate in the women's empowerment space can be.
[00:02:04] So, however you found this podcast. Thank you for tuning in and please enjoy this week's episode. Hi, Nancy and Amy.
[00:02:11] Nancy: Hi. Hi, how are you today? Thanks for
[00:02:13] Cris: having us. I'm good. Thanks for coming on my podcast. You Amy and Nancy are one of the first people that followed my podcast on Twitter. I don't know if you knew that.
[00:02:24] Did not know that. Yeah. And that's kind of how you got on my radar. And I was like, oh, these women are really cool.
[00:02:29] Amy: oh, that's awesome. Well, we like what you're doing. Oh, happy
[00:02:31] Cris: to support. Yeah. And I, I bought a ticket to the summit, so thank you.
[00:02:36] Nancy: Thank you. We appreciate it. We're so excited for the summit.
[00:02:39] Can't believe it's only a month away.
[00:02:42] Cris: it happens
[00:02:42] Amy: on my birthday. Excellent. That's
[00:02:44] Cris: totally cool. Yeah, but we'll talk a little bit more about. A little later, um, cuz I, I, when I first started this, my conversations would jump around. So I kind of like starting the beginning now, but I was wondering, how did your, I know one of you was into film and the visual effects side and the other [00:03:00] one did a lot of theater and marketing.
[00:03:02] And how did you guys get on that kind of artistic journey? Well,
[00:03:05] Nancy: um, we are sisters and we were born in Massachusetts. Our parents were very artistic. We came from a very artistic family. So we were encouraged at a really young age to follow our passions and pretty much in our DNA, our passions were arts.
[00:03:20] So I followed in my dad's footsteps. My dad had his own advertising agency and I followed in my dad's footsteps, studied graphic design and became a graphic designer, had my own graphic design agency for years. I was an entrepreneur right out of school. I never had a real job. And then in the nineties, my husband is a composer and he started writing.
[00:03:39] Theater. And we thought, why wait for someone to do it? Let's just do it ourselves. So we started our own theater company, so I had two artsy businesses going on at the same time. And Amy was out here on the west coast doing film. So I'll let her tell you what she did.
[00:03:55] Amy: Cool. Yeah. And so I was always into, we basically spent our [00:04:00] childhood in front of the TV, eating COA puffs and watching nonstop television.
[00:04:04] So I was always really into television and film, like star wars, seeing star wars when I was nine, was a light changing event for me. So when I graduated from college, I moved right out to LA and started working in production, worked on a TV show called Matlock, and then jumped around a bit and ended up Warner brothers had.
[00:04:27] An interest in creating its own visual effects department. And I had just been, uh, working on, I had done a couple visual effects projects with, um, my boss at the time. And so he, we started a visual effects company within Warner brothers. And through that, the people at the studio itself got to know me and they asked us to come over and run visual effects on all the feature films.
[00:04:53] And then I ultimately that became me being in second commander, visual effects and post production for all the [00:05:00] movies. So I worked on about 250 movies while I was there, including the first couple Harry Potter movies and the first matrix, trilogy and perfect storm. And you've got mail. Anything that was done in the nineties.
[00:05:15] I pretty much worked on and then ultimately Nancy and I decided at the same time that we wanted to have a new adventure. And so we struck out together to, uh, figure out what that was, cuz we didn't really know for sure.
[00:05:28] Cris: That's pretty, pretty cool. That's now you were in Boston or outside of Boston, right?
[00:05:34] Initially mm-hmm yeah, we were in a town called Braintree. That's cool. I, um, I'm the youngest of six. So I think I read somewhere. You guys had five in your family. Five
[00:05:42] Amy: of us. Yeah. I'm the youngest of
[00:05:43] Cris: five. Yeah. Yeah. We're uh, We're special breed.
[00:05:47] Amy: absolutely.
[00:05:49] Cris: What was that like Nancy, to build those kind of two concurrent creative companies, you know, like your graphic design and your theater and how did they feed each other?
[00:05:58] Um,
[00:05:58] Nancy: it was really exciting. And I [00:06:00] think because of our dad, I had a built in entrepreneurial spirit. I was also really lucky to have a good network of people that fed me clients. I didn't really need to go. And, you know, pound the pavement and get clients. I carved out sort of a niche for myself where I mostly had female clients.
[00:06:17] I don't think it was even conscious, but that's how it happened. And, um, when the theater idea came along, you know, I was in theater in high school of, we always had a soundtrack to some production playing in our house at any given moment. So we were always big theater people. So that was a natural thing for me.
[00:06:37] And I think, I think they fed each other. Mostly because, and this has helped fit the pistis project too. Being a professional graphic designer and marketing major, I sort of had that component built into it. So it was second nature to just be making ads and doing programs and creating graphics and logos and all sorts of things.
[00:06:57] So I think it, it was nice that they went hand in hand and we [00:07:00] had that built in. So it was one less thing we had to outsource and go out for. It was also just really hard to have to say, when I was doing that, you know, I had a business, I would get up at five or six in the morning and work an eight or nine hour day.
[00:07:13] And then we'd, we lived an hour away from our theater. So we'd drive commute for an hour work till, you know, one or two o'clock in the morning, drive an hour. Start all over again. So it was, it was a, uh, very hectic schedule, but a really exciting time. It was so much fun to have a theater. I do miss
[00:07:30] Cris: it. Wow.
[00:07:30] That's a lot of not to take a word from your life, passion behind that. Yeah. to work that hard, but it's interesting to me, cuz you, you said you had a lot of, uh, women clients, I mean, seems to be like early on whether you knew it or not, you were kind of tapping into a, wanting to support women kind of thing.
[00:07:48] Right. Build community. Yeah. And Amy, you moved out here. I I'll tell you similarly, but I literally moved out here with a backpack in my computer and that was it. And didn't know anyone. Is that kind of [00:08:00] similar where you, like you moved out and what was that like? Because I, I know how daunting that could be for a young woman who didn't have connections out here.
[00:08:09] Well, I
[00:08:09] Amy: was really lucky because the summer before I graduated from Boston university, I had two internships. One was in New York at MTV. And the day I found out that I got accepted to an internship in LA, that show I was working on and MTV got canceled. So they were like, great, go. That's fine. So I ended up getting an internship in Los Angeles with the television academy and I got an eight week paid internship in LA, which at the time was really unheard of.
[00:08:43] And so I came out here for eight weeks, the summer before I graduated and met a bunch of people who were other interns and friends of interns. And so I had a built in little community [00:09:00] when I came back and I went back to BU I never unpacked my boxes the entire year. Cuz I knew that I was gonna come here.
[00:09:10] And literally the day after I graduated, I went downstairs to my parents and said, I need you to take me to buy a car, cuz I'm moving to LA next week. And I drove with our other sister. We drove cross country and moved out here. And so my first week here I had, I had come out once in between the summers and had stayed with one of the girls that I had met over the summer.
[00:09:35] Her name was also Amy. So when I got back out here that first week had dinner with Amy and our friend Carolyn and Carolyn said, oh, we need a post assistant. Do you wanna interview with the guys? I can introduce you. And so I literally went in to that interview and got the job. So I, and I had a temp job, like when I got here.
[00:09:57] So. Pretty much was [00:10:00] out of work a week when I got to LA and never really, besides some summer hiatuses and a chosen year off after I left Warner brothers, I never had been without work. And I had that built in stable of young 20 somethings who were just here and excited and fresh to the whole thing. So besides the fact that I was the first in our, in, in our entire family to move away for good, which was really hard, cuz I was the youngest.
[00:10:31] It, I was really lucky when I got here.
[00:10:33] Cris: So you kind of fell into post or had you had that in like, did you know what you wanna do? Or you just wanna work in tears? I
[00:10:38] Amy: want it to be a sitcom writer. That was my dream. I was gonna write sitcom and my least favorite professor in college said to me, right before I left, don't be so sure that you know what you wanna do when you get there, because there's so many opportunities that if you pigeonhole yourself into one.
[00:10:58] you're gonna miss out on a lot of cool [00:11:00] stuff. And I was like, yeah, right. I'm gonna be a com writer. And I got here and they offered me a job in post production and it was like, it's a job I can get in. These people seem really nice. And I really liked it. And then one day my boss in post-production said to me, if you could do anything in the entertainment industry, anything at all, what would it be?
[00:11:21] And I was like, I wanna make creatures for like science fiction movies. And he was like, Hey, you should do that. And it was like right before a hiatus. And literally two days later, we were at the post production facility. And this woman that worked there came in and said, do you guys know anybody that's looking for a summer internship or a summer job?
[00:11:42] Cause the head of paramount post production for films, they need an assistant for a night rider movie. And I was like, oh, it was in visual effects. And I was like, yeah, I was just talking about that. I would love that. So I ended up not getting the night [00:12:00] writer thing didn't happen, but I got a call three days later from the same people.
[00:12:04] And they offered me a job on the cone heads movie, um, which was all Saturday night live. So it was like all these television people that I had had worshiped my whole life. So from there, I was just off and running on the visual effects track, and then ended up bringing, being brought back into the post production part at Warner brothers in the film division.
[00:12:23] So, no, I never, in a million years growing up, would've thought that would've been the thing, but I absolutely loved it. It fed. My interest in like technology. I mean, it's so creative. There's just so much creativity to it. And frankly, cuz a lot of the movies ended up being like you're in post production and it's not as good as you would hoped.
[00:12:45] It would be. You kind of get to be creative story wise and work with the directors and producers and writers and studio execs to try and fix things when they're falling apart. And so it really just, and I got to know the marketing people and the attorneys [00:13:00] and I just had this like completely, I think more than anybody at the studio being in post production, we touched every other department in a way that none, no other positions did.
[00:13:11] So it was amazing. So cool.
[00:13:13] Cris: I um, I, I was a PA on all kinds of things when I first got here and one of 'em was a, a visual effects reshoot unit for Armageddon. Cool. The movie Armageddon. That's cool. So, but I love that. I love your journey and how, what your professor said. Yeah. Because it also. it folded into later on, in life with what you're doing with your sister a hundred percent.
[00:13:36] So, Nancy, what did you learn from being an entrepreneur and what, and how I'm assuming it still serves you
[00:13:41] Nancy: today? Absolutely. I, um, when I came first, came out to LA, I moved out to LA in 2000, my husband and I had decided that we loved theater, but. There was no money in theater and he really wanted to try to get into film scoring and, and sync [00:14:00] music.
[00:14:00] So Amy had been trying to get us out to LA for 10 years. So we finally said, all right, let's go. And so we needed money. We needed to work. So I, um, actually for the first time in my, well, not the first time, second time in my life took a full time job working for someone else, which was interesting for me.
[00:14:18] I'm not really a nine to five kind of girl, so it was kind of hard. But I started working at an advertising agency that does the academy award campaigns for Miramax and paramount classics. And, um, I don't regret the job for a second because I met a couple of my dearest friends that I'm still close to today, but I really had a hard time.
[00:14:42] Being having a boss and, and just doing the same thing over and over every day, it was hard for me to, to have that repetition. Um, and it was mostly, it was just a really stressful job. And all I kept thinking was I need to work for myself again. I [00:15:00] need to work for myself again. And that's the biggest thing I took away from being entrepreneur is that I really need to be in charge of my day to day life and my destiny.
[00:15:10] Like, I, I don't like having my life in someone else's hands. So I think that's probably the biggest thing, but you know, also I just learned all the skills you need to run a company. I learned marketing and bookkeeping and client relations and everything you need to do. So it really sort has served us well.
[00:15:30] And I think maybe the biggest thing was just the idea of perseverance. And the idea that, and when Amy, Amy was the opposite and Amy had never, you know, had her own business and, or freelanced or anything. So she, it was a big change for her to leave that security behind and start our own thing. And I kept telling her the money comes when you need it.
[00:15:56] Most, it always does and I think that's one of the [00:16:00] lessons I learned being an entrepreneur through the years, you know, you'd go through your tough times, you'd have your struggles, but it always worked out in the end, if you just worked hard and persevered. And I think that has served us well through the years also.
[00:16:12] Cris: That's, that's interesting. I, most of my life has been freelance. You know, I do work in the industry, but I've never physically worked for a studio or a production company other than I think I was a runner at the beginning for a couple. But again, those are, they might last a few months, but you're not, I mean, unless you're like, I'm gonna be development, you know, and try to get yourself.
[00:16:32] Promoted that way, but you, you just said, I mean, for whatever reason, the money always comes. Like my car's broken down. How am I gonna, and somehow. some check comes that you didn't expect or somebody loans you money that you didn't expect. And yeah, there's that support system. That's almost, you just know it's there.
[00:16:53] Yeah. You don't know how or why, but it's, it's there, you know, if you're just gonna persevere you can't [00:17:00] completely fail. And what did you Amy learn from working in the studio system and visual effects? That's taken you through your life?
[00:17:07] Amy: Oh, man, I learned a lot. The first thing that popped into my head is it always takes as much time as you have.
[00:17:13] It's easy to get stressed out about deadlines and trying to get things done. But at the end of the day, when it's time to ship the film off and have it end up on the screen, it's gonna be the best it can be. And it, it is what it is, cuz that's the amount of time you have, you know, my biggest skills I think I learned were prioritizing things and okay, I should get this done, cuz that's gonna feed somebody else who then can be doing that while I'm working on this.
[00:17:40] I learned how to manage other people through a crisis. I'm really good. I think the best example of that is from Monday Nancy and I were in a car accident and Nancy was injured. She was at the end of the day she was okay, but she was sitting on the curb, waiting for the ambulance and our [00:18:00] friend had like broken her foot and she was on the curb and I was like walking around, talking to the paramedics and finally one of them looked at me, said, where did you come from?
[00:18:09] And I said, oh, I was driving that car. He was like, you need to sit down. But I had just kicked into that mode. Okay. I'm gonna call Nancy's husband. And then I'm gonna call our friends who we are gonna go to meet, and then we'll make sure you get your ambulance and you get there. And it's just like this natural instinct from me when, when it's somebody else's emergency, which that felt like to me to kick into, like, I can get us through this.
[00:18:32] And, um, yeah, I think I learned that really the most important thing for me was working on things that I was really passionate about. And when that job stopped being exciting and interesting, and I stopped learning new things, it was time to find out what that next passion was. And now I think Nancy and I have a really good perspective on making sure we're keeping that [00:19:00] in check.
[00:19:00] Are we still enjoying this? Are we still really. Into what we're doing, because I never wanna be in that position again, where I'm staying here now it's gone beyond being passionate about it. Now I'm staying cuz the money's good or cuz it's what it's, what's expected of me. It's what you do when you get a job like that, you don't leave it.
[00:19:18] And now it's more like, yeah, but am I do I still really like this? So those are just a few of the many, many .
[00:19:25] Cris: Oh, that's great. I mean, cause I think it's important for people to learn that for like the listeners out there. It's all well and good if you've got a great job, but if you're not actually in love with what you're doing, it could be time to pivot and it sounds scary, but it could be just be the thing that drives you to your next level, if you jump off.
[00:19:44] Absolutely. And I,
[00:19:45] Amy: I really thought I would be there forever and it was really scary and it took a while, like I said, for us to find our footing. And it's still not perfect. It would be great if we could make more money being, being an activist, isn't really the most high paying job in the [00:20:00] world, but you know, we're super, super passionate about what we're doing.
[00:20:03] And really, and I had always said when I was at Warner brothers, like when I get to the point where I don't really love this job, I have to leave because these are the kind of jobs that should have somebody who really loves them doing it. Cuz it's a huge, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. And I don't wanna just be going through the motions.
[00:20:23] Somebody who like really loves this
[00:20:25] Cris: should get to do it. Well, I can only imagine too. It's the kind of job that if you love, you don't watch the clock. You don't even realize cuz those are jobs that take a lot, you know, to get a film fully formed and out there to what people see my work in post and unscripted it's hours and hours, but I love.
[00:20:46] Editing. I love going out and getting the show and I love editing it. And you know, I've got a film which we'll talk about in a second, you know, I've written the script and then when you go out the actors, write it again for you or the DP, why would they capture? And then it's a third [00:21:00]time you're in the edit and you're like, I didn't even see you do that.
[00:21:02] That's brilliant. You know, like whatever the performance is or the frame. And so your, your story gets told. Three times, but if, if you're just going through the motions for any of that, including visual effects, you know, the money might be great, but it's gonna wear on you eventually. You're gonna be like, why am I here for hour 18 trying to get this one
[00:21:22] Amy: spot ready?
[00:21:23] Yeah. There are easier ways to make money. If that's all your goal is go to wall street or, you know, work at a bank or whatever. Um, you know, there are a lot harder ways to make money, but, um, it's definitely like you gotta have the passion for it or it's not, you know, I used to work like Nancy was saying my worst couple years, I was getting up at six to drive across town, working all day, then going in and working on starting the visual effects company and getting home at like two or three in the morning and then waking up.
[00:21:55] So I was getting like three or four hours sleep a night for a year or so. [00:22:00] And, uh, and even at once I got in a groove at the studio. I know I had popcorn for dinner five nights a week, a lot of the time, which was great. And it was fun, but I don't wanna be doing that now. Not my life goal. .
[00:22:13] Cris: I mean, I would also say the passion that the people have behind making a film or a theater production or in your, your work now, which is activism, um, that shows and that's what gets people either come to the theater or come to your mission.
[00:22:29] Enjoy. Absolutely. That's why I reached out to you, cuz I looked at your website. I told, you know, like there was an energy there and I'm oh, I wanna talk to them. And it's the same thing with a film. That's I think the ones that really make it big, you can really feel the passion of all the people who worked on it.
[00:22:47] Not just the director in that a hundred
[00:22:49] Amy: percent.
[00:22:49] Cris: Absolutely. So you both came up careers that are a little bit male dominated in the past. What was that like? And how was that navigating? All of that. I, [00:23:00] I, I don't know if. Amy, you have more stories than Nancy, cuz Nancy's kind of been on her own, but that's also been kind of a people.
[00:23:06] I think people don't realize how many women are entrepreneurs. I think they think it's all men, but that might be more what you've encountered rather than just doing it. I don't know. Yeah. I think
[00:23:16] Nancy: for me since I started my journey so young and since our parents were so support. It didn't occur to me that what I was doing was unusual.
[00:23:25] I didn't realize till much later on that I was in a very small minority of women that had their own businesses. I didn't know that what I was doing was odd. And I, like I said, I carved out a niche. Uh, uh, one of my sources of clients was, um, new England women in film. And I, I did all sorts of movie posters and flyers and brochures and logos and stuff.
[00:23:49] So I had, I just had a lot of women clients, and I, like I said, I didn't do it intentionally, but I think subconsciously that's where I was comfortable and they felt comfortable [00:24:00] hiring me. I think in retrospect, I think a lot of men didn't feel comfortable hiring. So I ended up with women clients and I loved them all.
[00:24:09] It was great, but Amy definitely has more war stories from working in a male dominated. Yeah. I mean,
[00:24:15] Amy: again, I have to say I was really lucky, you know, I, when the me too movement started, everybody I knew was like, did you have Eddie? And, and I, I did not, I was never put in any kind of one or two situations where it was creepy, but not for never anything like that.
[00:24:34] So first and foremost, thank God for that. But I was young. I was like 27 when I got the job at the studio running post-production and visual effects. And so I was the youngest. Person in the room most of the time. And I was the only woman in the room. A lot of the time, the majority of the time, or there would be one other woman who would kind of tend to be like a creative exec or a casting person.
[00:24:56] So I was more like the production post [00:25:00] had to fit in with the guys kind of thing. And, um, and so that's what I did. I, my goal was 100% for them not to think of me as a woman. That was my mission. On a regular basis. If somebody made a joke and then turned to me in the room and said, oh, I'm so sorry. I hope I didn't offend you.
[00:25:20] I would get so bummed out because it was like, no, they're not supposed to think about the fact that I'm a girl they're just supposed to treat me like I'm one of them. So I, that was my mission and I was pretty good at it. I think by the time, a few years into it, most of the guys that I worked with just thought of me as one of the guys.
[00:25:39] But, you know, I was always aware that I had three women that worked for me in the visual effects side of things who were rock stars. And, um, so I had that safety net with them to go back to and I had ma I had three or four, so I had three, I would say significant male mentors early in my career that [00:26:00] really treated me with respect, gave me opportu.
[00:26:03] Move me along through the process in a way that a lot of guys wouldn't have, and I'm really grateful for all of them. They treated me like they're equal and really helped me have a career. But at the end of the day, part of the reason I left the studio was there were political changes. And one of those changes, the leadership of my department shifted to a guy who was a counterpart of mine and he became my boss and it just didn't feel right.
[00:26:33] It felt like the glass ceiling, like in retrospect, it felt like the glass ceiling and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. And I'm grateful for it now, but at the time it was devastating and there was little things that you look back now. And, and I think, oh, you know, that probably wasn't very cool that happened.
[00:26:49] And at the time I didn't complain about it. And even now I tend not to bring things up. And I realized about a year ago that I don't bring them up [00:27:00] because I feel like I'm complaining. About having had one of the greatest career moments anyone could have, but then I realized that women are taught not to talk about things that aren't necessarily right.
[00:27:17] And because we are meant to feel like we're whining about them when they happen. And if we keep not talking about them, cuz we don't wanna seem like we're whining and ungrateful, then they're never gonna get better cuz we're not talking about them. So that's why I started talking about things like the political stuff that went down, cuz it shouldn't happen to somebody else.
[00:27:38] And someone with qualifications that might not necessarily, they better, better might not be better than yours shouldn't necessarily get a position just because they happen to be a man. And, and that needs to be talked about more, you know, we, yeah. Weird
[00:27:52] Cris: condition is women that we're conditioned.
[00:27:55] Accommodate for everyone or to take care, you know? So we get into those [00:28:00]positions and we are, you know, and I've seen it. I've seen women, all of a sudden trying to take care of all of their male executives that are either below them or above. We're also taught to say, sorry, a lot, which I give that speech to every woman I meet, or if I'm on a crew and I'm like, someone will say, sorry, I'm like, you need to stop.
[00:28:18] Mm-hmm you didn't do anything to apologize for. Mm-hmm we need to stop. I need to work on it too. If you hear me saying it, tell me to stop. That's great. Because that's where a lot of it starts. Yeah. And I was
[00:28:29] Amy: a shy person, so I, I didn't to, I didn't like to talk in the meeting, but the trap that I fell into was.
[00:28:36] I would do all the work and then slide it over to the guy who would then go into the meeting and say everything that I had done all the work about. And it it'd be like, wow, he's so good at what he does. And it was like, he is good at what he does, but that was actually me. And the only reason you don't know that is cuz I'm shy and I'm not standing up for myself.
[00:28:56] So that's like a huge piece of advice. And something I [00:29:00] learned is even if you need to push yourself through the shyness, speak up and let it be known that you're the one that did the work. Yeah. Those who know and they figure it out. But it takes a lot longer for those people to figure it out than if you just are your own best advocate.
[00:29:15] Cris: Yeah. You have to be your own best advocate. You Al I, I also make a point of reaching back because it was done somewhat for me, but not always. I mean, I think you guys are around the same age group that I'm in and there was this clear, like one seat at the table and I don't think that's. Odd for like that was across business.
[00:29:35] And I got stomped on more by women than men actually coming up. Men have a very, it's almost like the standing tradition of mentorship that women haven't had. I think it's changing now and we're getting a lot of that, but I saw that I'm like, okay, I've gotten some opportunities to pay it forward. I'm going to reach back and make sure [00:30:00] I either teach or mentor or show around so that the next generation has that as what they're looking at.
[00:30:08] Yeah. You know, not one seat at the table. Absolutely. But oh, we're supposed to reach back and help each other up because when we all show up at that table, that's when it's undeni. not when we just put one person there. Yeah, I
[00:30:23] Amy: agree. I, I, it was interesting when I worked at the studio, one of the, there was like a corporate retreat that we all had to
[00:30:28] Cris: go on.
[00:30:28] Just sound like you were a fan. Oh, it,
[00:30:30] Amy: I swear to God. It's one of the reasons that I left. Like, if I go on one more corporate retreat, I'm outta here, but you know, they break you up from the smaller groups and there happen to be a day where they broke us up into a group and it was like five women, which was completely unusual.
[00:30:44] And, um, and one of the women said, you know, she, I think she was about my age, maybe a little older. And she was like, she said, I never grew up with team sports. Like we are at that age group where it was like couple years after us girls were starting to like really have the teams [00:31:00] in school and stuff. And, um, cuz I never grew up with team sports.
[00:31:03] So I never learned how to be a good teammate. She's like, I'm really good at doing my work, but I'm not like, I don't know how to like hand the ball to somebody else. And it was like, oh yeah, like guys are taught from a very, especially back then guys were taught from a very early age. Like we're all in it together.
[00:31:22] We're gonna, you know, go to the super bowl together. And we were taught like, get your work done. Be a good girl. And, and it really opened my eyes at that moment, but I had similar experiences, the women that I knew, it was never like, besides the women that worked in my department with me, the other colleagues around the studio, it was never like, oh, we should get together.
[00:31:44] We should talk about how we can make this a better place for each other. And the other women that work here like that never happened. Well, I don't
[00:31:52] Cris: think I ever thought it that way. I, so I started my school's, uh, women's soccer team with two other [00:32:00] friends when we were sophomores in high school. So we.
[00:32:04] Started petitioning when we were a freshman and I'd been playing goalie since I was eight, uh, on the playground. And I ended up playing through college and then I play, I think I played on the basketball team and some other stuff like that's always, and theater is very much a collaborative, regardless of whether you're an actor, a writer, a director, a scene designer, you all have to, yeah.
[00:32:25] You all have the play part to play, to make that production, which is the same as film. So I think that was just always in my bones, you know? And, and so when I came out here and I'm working in things and I run into it, say a woman like that, who only gets how to do their own thing, I was like, this is so weird to me.
[00:32:43] Yeah. You know, and why are you stomping on me? I'm not after your job. Yeah. Like, and that was what was so weird sometimes is I've never been in competition with anyone else. Competition to me was always something I did for myself. Mm. How can I do this better this time? How can I make this a challenge for [00:33:00] myself?
[00:33:00] It was never about the other people. How do we make this better? by doing it better yourself. That's cool. And so that was always alien to me. Yeah. Um, but that makes so much sense what you're saying. Yeah. You wouldn't learn about that if you didn't participate in those activities. Yeah. Whether it was a performance art or a sporting activity, you know, athletic activity, I guess I like this conversation.
[00:33:21] Fun. That's true. So, so you both pivoted and started new career working together. What was that like? And do you have any advice for women out there who are thinking of pivoting? Mid-career, you know, even if they've risen up to what anyone would think was kind of the Heights, right? A VP at a, a studio and starting something new or going back to something they used to love.
[00:33:42] Yeah.
[00:33:43] Nancy: I, I always say that when people are like, I don't have a passion, I don't know what my passion is. I always advise them to go back to their childhood. What did you do? I mean, when I go back to my childhood, we did crafts. We made, we did made art. We made puppets. We like, those are the things we love to do.
[00:33:58] Now. We love to tell [00:34:00] stories. And, but when we pivoted it. We were lucky we had each other. So we both had good days and bad days where, you know, one of us would think, oh God, what are we doing? Why are we doing this? And we could pump each other up. So I think that made it easier. But I think advice to women who are pivoting is just do it, just take that first step, because I think we're, it's ingrained in us that we shouldn't start something till we have it all mapped out and everything's planned and we know exactly what we're doing and it's perfect.
[00:34:29] And if you wait for perfection, it's never gonna happen. So just take the first step and then take another one. And then the steps will get bigger and you'll find your people and your support system along the way.
[00:34:41] Cris: And just do it. Do you have anything to add Amy or
[00:34:43] Amy: no? I think that it's challenging. It's not, I think you need to be prepared for the fact that nothing is gonna come easy, but it doesn't mean that it's not worth doing it.
[00:34:53] And I, I think we always remind people like, it's okay if your passions change, like we never, in a [00:35:00] million years thought we'd be doing what we are doing today. We're really shy, introverted girls. And we, now we interview people for a living and, but we just. Took the opportunities, you know, that like year of saying yes thing where it was like we needed work.
[00:35:14] And so every time somebody was like, why don't you shoot a red carpet interview? We'd go like, okay. We don't know how to do that. That's all we'll show you. Okay. Okay. Why don't you edit the clips? It's like, we don't know how to do that. That's okay. Just here's the manual. And we just kept saying yes to stuff.
[00:35:29] It's kind of become cliche and corny, but open yourself up to new experiences, trust that you can handle things that you maybe think you don't have the capacity to do, you know, learn a new technology or read up on a subject that is unfamiliar to you. If it's of interest to you. And, and the other thing that someone reminded us recently is even something like activism can be fun and should be fun.
[00:35:53] Even if you're doing something that seems super serious or you're scared, cuz it's something new, like [00:36:00] considered an adventure and enjoy. The newness of it and the weirdness of it, and, you know, laugh at your mistakes and move on to the next part of it. And we had an intern last year, who we talked to recently and she gave that's the best advice that I've had in the long time.
[00:36:19] She, she said, I can do anything for a year. Like I'm gonna take that job. And if I don't like it, then in a year, I'll do something else. You don't have to commit yourself for a lifetime. If you wanna go out and experiment with something new and see if it is really something you enjoy doing. That's great.
[00:36:36] Cris: Yeah. It's hang on a second. Yeah. My cats keeps rubbing the microphone.
[00:36:42] Amy: won't be heard.
[00:36:44] Cris: Yeah. He's particularly vocal today. If you end up listening to any of my podcasts intermittently you'll, you'll hear him it, the other two don't tend to, to Meow, but they do visit every once in a while, but yeah, you're so right.
[00:36:56] You're never gonna be a hundred percent ready. Because the [00:37:00] reality is you need to do it to even get to ready without that experience. And yeah, you can do anything for six months a year. You really can, you can get through it. And by then you'll you'll realize, yeah, this is the right thing. Or, oh no, I need to pivot.
[00:37:15] I need to do that. So that's really good advice. Thanks. Thanks for that. I'm hoping this, this podcast is not just documenting my journey, trying to get the film, but also just a place for people to also through that journey and through these conversations, learn things that I'm learning as well. Great. I'm having all these conversations.
[00:37:33] I'm having all these experiences trying to get this film off the ground. Yeah. Why not record a lot of 'em so there're these little capsules in time. and someone who's in my same position, whether it's trying to make a film or trying to do almost anything, a new passion project of sorts, there's little nuggets in there for them.
[00:37:51] I love it. What part should your passions play in what you choose to do? I think they
[00:37:55] Nancy: should play every part in what you choose to do. I think that that's what brings you, [00:38:00] the joy in life is doing something you love. So I think if what you're doing, doesn't bring you joy. You shouldn't do it.
[00:38:07] Amy: yeah. And I think, I think we come from a, a privileged place.
[00:38:11] And so it's slightly easier for us to say that. I think there are a lot of people that would love nothing more than to just start fresh tomorrow. And that's not always an easy thing. So I think it definitely is important to make sure that you are thinking rationally and responsibly about how you're gonna be able.
[00:38:32] Pay your bills or support your family. And I, I know Nancy wasn't implying anything else, but I do think like there, I think there are a lot of people who just throw out, follow your passions, it's this? Oh yeah. Just follow your passions. And for us, it's like really make a plan. Like, how are you gonna, how are you gonna do it?
[00:38:50] What are you gonna do? And for us, it's like following your passion doesn't necessarily have to mean that's your career. Like you could just wanna carve out every weekend to volunteer at [00:39:00] a homeless shelter or to join a hiking club or something. But it really is a fulfilling life. Even with the struggles, if you can incorporate what you're passionate about into what you do for a living, it really, if you're able to do that, you're I think you're one of the luckiest people on the planet.
[00:39:19] Cris: That's great. Let's chat a little bit about why, how did you start the Passionist Easter project? Like why and how. And what are you most proud of when it comes to the passionista project and what are you most surprised
[00:39:31] Nancy: by? Well, we started it, I mean, after we left our jobs and we, like Amy said, we did all sorts of odd things for a long time.
[00:39:38] And then we stumbled into the world of celebrity interviewing and we did celebrity interviews for, we had been doing them for over a dozen years now. And it opened up this new world to us of interviewing people. And that's when we really found our passion for that. And so we, you know, we did over 1400 interviews, some archival interviews that are four hours long, lots of red carpet [00:40:00] interviews, lots of phone interviews.
[00:40:02] And around 2016, the me too movement started happening. The time's up movement started happening. The presidential election was going on and we just felt like we really wanted to take, you know, what had always been a very positive spin on pop culture, but we wanted to. Take that and use those skills to do something a little more impactful.
[00:40:25] So that's when we started the passionista project and it started with podcast where we interview women who are following their passions to inspire other women, to go out and do the same thing. And then we, we realized as we were talking to all these women that so many of them had amazing products and, you know, women businesses get a fraction of the funding that men's businesses do and none of the attention.
[00:40:49] And it's just a struggle to start. Product based business for women. And so we started the pistis project pack, which is a quarterly subscription box [00:41:00] full of products by women own businesses. And then three years ago, we started the pistis projects. It was called the women's equality summit. Now it's called the power passionista summit.
[00:41:11] And we, our whole goal is to just spot shine, a spotlight on women who are following their passions and doing incredible things to change the world. And I think the most inspiring, the most thing I'm proud, big I'm most proud of, I should say is the actual women that we shine a spotlight on. I was, I went to the beach a few weeks ago and I sat down with my husband and his sister and a couple friends and the friend's daughter pulled out a book and she was reading a book and I looked over.
[00:41:41] And it was a book written by one of our passionista and you would've thought that she was reading my book. I was so excited. I was like, oh my God, where did you get that? How did you hear about, you know, like I just get so proud of all these women that are doing incredible things. Um, and I think the most surprising thing to me is that at the [00:42:00] end of the day, I think the more the Mo the biggest thing I get out of it is for me, it's become a selfish thing.
[00:42:07] Like I look forward to our interviews because I learn something every time we talk to someone that I needed to hear that day. And I'm just flabbergasted by this community of women that we've built, that are there to support us. When we started working on the summit this year. They flock to us to help us put it together.
[00:42:25] And I was, it just surprises me every day. I agree with that a hundred
[00:42:29] Amy: percent nothing to add, loving to add
[00:42:32] Cris: well, it looks like a lot of fun. It is fun. I mean, it
[00:42:34] Amy: really is. It's I, and maybe that's one of the surprising elements too, of like some of the time some of the stuff we're doing when it comes to the summit is really, you know, these conversations with women really intense, like learning about the issues that like really learning, not just hearing on the news, but really learning about the issues that are affecting women in the disability community or a API women.
[00:42:57] And you, we all have the surface [00:43:00] info and we're not experts by any means, but we're constantly like getting new facts that are just mind boggling and it can get, it can be a bit of a bummer sometimes when you. Just feel like it's a mountain of issues and how are we gonna climb them all. But, but it's fun.
[00:43:19] I mean, these women are, especially the women who come from marginalized communities. We were saying the other day, like we think part of the reason men, especially don't want to give women power is cuz they know that especially women from marginalized communities are the most capable, badass, get anything done faster and better than any single other human being on a planet kind of women.
[00:43:45] And when they're in charge, we're not gonna need a lot of this white men who are really nice and confident, but there's nobody. Better at what they do than these women that we've been meeting and working with [00:44:00] they're, uh, inspiring mind, boggling people. And so I think sometimes I'm just shocked that like, these people even talk to us and consider us their peers and friends, cuz I'm like, you're like one of the coolest human beings on the planet and know my name and, and everybody should know their names cuz they're the real rock stars in the world.
[00:44:22] And so I'm just super grateful that we've been able to have a small part in their daily lives. That's so
[00:44:29] Cris: cool. Yeah. They, you know, I've got several friends from marginalized communities and I grew up in Mexico too. I didn't grow up here. And I think there's a resilience that you're just born with when you come from a community like that, that in a drive, like nothing is, is better at putting that fire in you to get things done.
[00:44:49] There, there is no other option if they don't get it done. I. Long for that day when that's, who's in charge in getting things done, you know, we, we won't [00:45:00] recognize the world, you know, and, and I love championing, like my script, the lead character, although she's based on me, I want a, there's a woman called panto.
[00:45:09] Who's a, a biracial British actress who I want to play that role because I want all women to see themselves in this film, not white cisgendered women, which is what it's been, you know, I mean, you mentioned you've got male. I mean, I love that film a little stalkery when you actually get down to it, like now that we understand everything, but still, you know, it is those two have an undeniable chemistry and whatever, but we need to start seeing other.
[00:45:37] Faces in those roles so that everyone feels included. You know, if I can do that little part, it's all super important to me. I've also been tracking artists because I know that that character is now African American. You know, her dad, her dad's white and her mom's black in my universe. But during 2020, during the, um, black lives matter and stuff, there was [00:46:00] a lot of artists being promoted and I've got them all earmarked because I'd love to get some of their artwork in the film, just in places that you just see it it's just normal.
[00:46:10] Cuz the more we do that, the more we just show that stuff, just being up and it's normal or an African American woman, just being a character. That's a woman going through her life that ha doesn't have a specific trope attached to it. The more we normalize all of us, seeing that them seeing themselves and then.
[00:46:31] The white community, just seeing them as normal. And, you know, I just, I wanna be a part of that. I want to use, we should all be using our platforms to help with equity, not just equality, but with equity, you know, and that goes behind the camera. I have a DP, who's female. I have a, a costume designer attached who's she's herself as African American and, you know, a woman.
[00:46:53] Um, and so that I'm searching them out as I'm piecing things together so that I can bring all of that [00:47:00] energy into this piece of art. But yeah,
[00:47:01] Amy: that's so cool. Love that. That's great. Love that. Um,
[00:47:05] Cris: how important, like we've been talking about this, but how important is it for women to support other women?
[00:47:10] What have you seen happen when communi
[00:47:12] Amy: is built? I mean, it's critical. It's the only way we're gonna make that final push to make the big change. , you know, it's ridiculous that this is still a conversation. It's ridiculous that we're taking steps back. Politically like it is infuriating. And I think we all are at the point right now where we're just like taking our deep breath before the last push for the elections and then seeing what happens in November and then getting ready for 20, 24.
[00:47:46] But if we don't really lift each other up and stand shoulder to shoulder, then we're never gonna get the rest of the way. And I think one of the things Nancy and I have thought is really [00:48:00] interesting since the road decision is we've been going to all the marches and being good soldiers over the years.
[00:48:05] But, but this last wave of marches when the Supreme court made that horrible decision was the first time that it went from like a couple of guys who were like dutiful boyfriends going along to the women's March to like 40%. Of the people there were guys, because they finally realized like this is gonna affect them too.
[00:48:28] Like, they felt badly for us with the me too movement. And some of them probably felt a little guilty or whatever. And so they were showing up in drips and DRS, but now it's, oh, my girlfriend might be affected by this, which means I might be affected by this. You know, we gotta stand behind the women's, which is great.
[00:48:44] If that's what brings them to the table. That's totally cool. But we need men to stand with us too. So women need to support women and men really have to like depth it up and do that final, like to get over yourselves. If whatever's holding you back from supporting [00:49:00] women and hiring women and giving women funding, whatever those things are, like get over it.
[00:49:06] Cause this backwards motion is gonna be a landslide and wipe out a bunch of other things. That also, probably really matter to you too.
[00:49:18] Cris: yeah. It's, it's gonna affect you in so many ways. It's the first brick that they were able to pull. It was either that, or it was gay marriage, or it was like one of those things, but this was the one they were aiming for, which, you know, you look back in 1973, there wasn't that much of a protest when it got, it was all a right wing, Republican move.
[00:49:40] After that going, we can whip up the Christian base, but we all know that. I mean, the problem is, is I don't think the history, we have a problem with generational memory and I think that's, what's going on here. We grew up in the wake of that passing and in the wake of finally getting the right to have a credit card [00:50:00] or our own bank account or in the wake of Mary Tyler Moore being on TV.
[00:50:04] We don't have a Mary Tyler Moore on TV right now. Isn't that mind blowing. isn't that mind blowing, right? That's the wave of feminism that we kind of let's make it great for everyone. And then I watch on the steps of the Supreme court during decision day must have been a 19 year old girl saying the fetus has rights.
[00:50:23] I'm like, what, what universe did you grow up in? Yeah. Do you not see, this is not an attack on that fetus. This is an attack on you. Yeah.
[00:50:32] Amy: This has nothing.
[00:50:33] Nancy: This has nothing to do with babies. this has to do
[00:50:37] Cris: with power. No, this has everything to do with controlling you and your person. Yeah. And who manipulated that, that out of you that you can see that, right?
[00:50:49] The, you know, and it's generational amnesia that we have, they weren't around for the fight, so they don't see it. And now. They see it, but you're, you're so right [00:51:00] about young men showing up, I went to a March in Santa Monica and I was , I've got a loud voice and towards the back, and I just started doing the callouts cuz no one else was doing it.
[00:51:12] But towards the end we were, one of the callouts was my body, my choice. And I was standing next to next to some young men and somebody started my body and they were all of a sudden, these deep voices went their choice. And I was so struck by that, that they had, that was, they had figured out how to make that chant supportive.
[00:51:39] And I happened to be walking back to my car, like where we, we were parked. We were both like in the same area. No, we took the train that's right. I took the train cuz I it's near me, but they were walking towards their car, but it was same direction. And I'm like, thank you. And they were like 25, 26. They were like, well, no, it was like, they're like, I don't know what made us think of it, but it was weird to be chanting my body, my choice when [00:52:00] it's your body, your choice.
[00:52:02] And I was like, but you don't realize never in all the years I have been to these marches. Have I heard something like that? I'm hoping you're the change because it's not gonna change unless they're part of the chorus too. Absolutely beautiful. Yeah. It's so true. Um, and now that we've gone on our political rant, it was inevitable um, how does it feel to have your idea, you know, come to fruition, see it blossom into this diverse network of women who love supporting each other's dreams.
[00:52:32] because that's what I see when I see you two and I see what you it's
[00:52:35] Nancy: it's mind blowing. It really is. You know, it started as just this little idea to do a podcast and help some women out. We would, we didn't think we were gonna be changing the world. And here we are, like, we have a global summit. We have people from Australia and Canada and Singapore.
[00:52:53] We did a podcast interview this morning with two women from South Africa who were dying to be part of the summit. It's [00:53:00] just, I never in a million years expected it. And honestly it wasn't planned. It wasn't the path that we were going down, but here we are. And everything we've done in our lives has led us to this point.
[00:53:16] And it's really, we're really proud.
[00:53:18] Cris: Good. That's awesome. You should be. I know you didn't realize that's what you were building, but you have built it. My, my film, which happens to be called a lone girl. Is a coming a middle aged story wrapped in an unromantic comedy and I've taken the RO come and turned it on its head.
[00:53:32] So she, she basically builds to, you know, that giant proposal. We all know, and she turns 'em down. Cuz she's realized she's found her happy. She likes being happy. She likes being single. And I think independent filmmakers have a lot in common with entrepreneurs like yourselves. Uh, you know, cause I'm in the funding stage, I'm trying to raise the money, whether it's development funds or the whole thing.
[00:53:51] And I've come close four times to the development funds since fallen apart for various reasons. um, anyway, what advice do you have for [00:54:00] me while I'm on this journey to get my film made my passion process,
[00:54:03] Amy: just keep believing in yourself. Don't let the fact that fell through a few times, lead you to any feelings that's because of something you did or because it's not good enough or.
[00:54:16] Any of those things. I worked on movies that took it within the studio system, even that took 20 years to get made. And I don't believe that's the path you're on, but it, it's not an instant, it's not an instant success kind of business. And, um, the people who get stuff made are the people that are the most committed to their concepts that really believe in themselves that know that what they've done is good and worthy that they're worthy.
[00:54:47] And, um, and it'll come to you. I honestly feel like once you get into the system, which you're in, you've been doing production, you've been writing like just a matter of time and it will happen. And I, I, [00:55:00] I, I really do believe that.
[00:55:01] Nancy: I think, I mean, just to add to what Amy said is I believe that everything happens.
[00:55:06] When it's supposed to happen. You know, we, um, we, co-produced a film with our older sister. Who's a filmmaker. And she started a film about the original Carter family, which is June Carter's ancestors. And she started it and it was gonna be a, a small little PBS film. And she had the same thing, a really hard time getting the funding.
[00:55:31] She had a Grammy nominated film before that she's had a lot of success through the years. It, it kept falling apart at different points and the funding fell through and various things happened and she asked us to come help her. And like, can you help me figure out why this isn't working? And we worked on it with her for a few years and.
[00:55:50] It took her almost 10 years from start to finish, to make the film. But the film was so much better because of things, [00:56:00] certain things that happened along the way, including the fact that she was introduced to, she knew Roseanne cash from her previous film. So she was introduced to Johnny and introduced to June and wow.
[00:56:11] Got to interview them right before they passed. Oh,
[00:56:14] Amy: Johnny, she
[00:56:15] Nancy: didn't get to interview June. Yeah. And, or Johnny not, she didn't get to interview June, but Johnny right before he passed. So if she had gotten the funding three years prior, it would've been a completely different film and it wouldn't have been the film that she was destined to make.
[00:56:28] So I just think perseverance is the key and it will happen when it's supposed
[00:56:35] Cris: to happen. Yeah. I have that feeling. I'm like it's things happen all. Everything that's happened so far has all been none of it's because we were like, oh, well, those are failures. And I'm like, no, they're not failures. They're all learning experiences.
[00:56:49] Every single one of those steps has gotten me more confident has gotten me more assured, um, has taught me how to deal with something or how to go about something, or that's not the [00:57:00] way to go about it. And it's all putting little building blocks inside the foundation of my success that I wouldn't have right now.
[00:57:07] If I hadn't gone
[00:57:08] Amy: through, it's kind of like why pregnancy is so long. So by the time you have the baby, it's okay. That's fine. I'm ready for the baby. Just, yeah. So I, here, I have never had a baby, but like, I think if you just got pregnant and had the baby the next day, he'd be like, whoa, I'm not ready. I think that you go through what you go through.
[00:57:24] Cause making the film is gonna be fricking hard and, but you're gonna be so prepared for that. Having gone through what you've gone through, it's like, oh, you know, I can handle that. I've been. Fighting, you know, finance people for four years,
[00:57:39] Cris: you know? Well, it's funny. I, I interviewed a friend of mine, his name's Jack Perez.
[00:57:43] He's a director on this podcast and I was his assistant and a PA on one of his first films. And he ended up winning the best film at the Austin film festival, like their second or third year. So in the nineties and we were laughing because we, you know, he's been through it several [00:58:00] times, obviously with films, trying to get them.
[00:58:01] Cause he is an independent filmmaker, but he's like, you know, you spend three to five years trying to get the funding, trying to get this thing, you know, you prep for months. And then he goes, how long's your shoot? And I go, 22 days, he goes, yeah, for 22 days. And then you go into post for months. Right. And the fun part, everyone sees is production.
[00:58:23] It's those 22 days. And that was in response to me asking him, what, what should I like? What advice he has. He goes, make sure you prep, give that as much. Energy as you give production and in this, in this area, you know, and I think it was a really good piece of advice, but, and it's so true. Everyone thinks of that shot of you being on set.
[00:58:48] That's this much of getting that film made this much. I'm glad
[00:58:53] Amy: you liked post too, because posted is such a huge part of it and it is fun. And I'm glad you have that passion for [00:59:00] post cause that's the, you know, that's where mm-hmm to me, that's where the film can really
[00:59:04] Cris: transform, you know? Yeah. That's where it, I think that's where you really Polish it into what it can really be.
[00:59:11] I've always believed in learning everything I can about everything in the thing I do, because it helps me, even when I wrote my script it's I've said this before on the podcast, but it's akin to a blueprint, but I always like to think of it a few years ago. I started thinking of it. It's more of a conversation.
[00:59:27] It's a conversation between me and everyone else. Who's going to bring this. Thing on a piece of paper that came outta my brain into reality into a concrete reality. So if I have experience in all of those areas, I know how to communicate to them through my written word, because it is at the very end of collaborative art.
[00:59:50] I can't make a film by myself.
[00:59:52] Amy: And if you respect the people, I've told this story before, but I had a friend who was, had become a producer on like TV [01:00:00] shows in the nineties. And, you know, it was pretty high up level and came home after working on TV shows, or we met one time working on TV shows and she was like, I was in the editing room today and they had this, the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
[01:00:17] And I was like, oh, it wasn't. She was like, it was a computer. And they were editing on the computer. and I was like, yeah, what was like a new, what was it called? She was like, it's called avid. And I'm like, you've been working in television now for 67 years. You're a big producer. And you're just learning that the editors work on an avid, which is like the industry standard.
[01:00:41] And this is the first time this has been interest to you. And I've always carried that with me, cuz I I'm like you I'm like, I wanna know what everybody does and why they wanna do it. And it fascinates me. And so I think the best filmmakers, the best directors are the ones who actually care what the other [01:01:00] people are doing and can speak to them in their language.
[01:01:02] Talk
[01:01:02] Cris: to me a little bit about the summit. We've mentioned it before, but let's talk just about it and what it is and it's coming up in September. I will be airing this before that so that people can still get tickets if they want to join and
[01:01:14] Nancy: see. I forget whose turn it is Amy minor. Yeah. Turn on. Go for it.
[01:01:18] So the summit is September 21st through 23rd. It's called the power of passionista and it's a three day event. It kicks off Wednesday night, the 21st with Luna Fest, which is a short film festival of, uh, short films made by and four women I've been
[01:01:33] Cris: rejected by them before, just so you know. Oh, it's
[01:01:36] Nancy: so sorry on above perseverance.
[01:01:39] Keep at it, apply again. It's a great film festival. And so we're doing, we're screening the festival and then we're doing a Q and a with a bunch of the filmmakers and then all day, Thursday, and all day Friday, we have panels. The panels are storyteller events. Each panel has a topic like the power of knowledge or the power of authenticity or the power of media.
[01:01:59] [01:02:00] And we have a panel of cross sectional women intersectional women. So we have representation from all sorts of marginalized communities and they each tell a five minute story. Personal story about how that topic affects them. And then they are gonna have a round table discussion about what they just told each other.
[01:02:19] So they're really powerful events, more than just a regular panel with a moderator who asks questions. And then Thursday night we have our third annual Passionist as persist awards. So we give out awards to women who have persisted in their fields. And the first year we gave one to the actress, Bella young, from scandal.
[01:02:39] And then the second year we gave award to the comedian and actress, Margaret Cho, and our personal hero. Dr. Jane Goodall. And now this year we are giving an award. The icon award is going to Lorraine Newman. Oh, cool. From who's an original cast member from Saturday night live. I love her. Yeah, she's amazing.
[01:02:59] And [01:03:00] um, and then we're also giving four other awards to just amazing activists and various communities and authors and activists. And then we also are giving a sixth award this year to a woman who has founded a woman centric charity. So that's Thursday night and those, so that's an award ceremony where we give them an award.
[01:03:18] And then there's an interview which each of those women. So that's sort of our big event on Thursday night. And then the whole week, the whole three days culminates in our final event, which is a voting session so that we can discuss all of the topics that we've discussed over the past couple days, we can then have some action items and some takeaways to all right.
[01:03:38] We have five weeks till the election. What do we do? go out there and get it done. It's gonna be a really powerful event. And we're so excited for the caliber of the women that have signed on is
[01:03:51] Amy: just amazing. And I should add it's a virtual event. So no matter where you are in the world, you can watch it.
[01:03:58] And every of each, one [01:04:00] of the panels was recorded. So even if you can't see there virtually on the day, if you buy a ticket, you have access to watch everything at your own pace. And we have women from Australia and Canada and France and Singapore, and all over, across all across the United States participating.
[01:04:18] So our audience in the past has come from as far as Kenya. So we're, we're, everybody's welcome. Men are welcome only women and non-binary people speak and are on the stages, but we've actually had men come to the summit and tell us that they love it because these are the conversations that we have when they're not in the room.
[01:04:37] And so it's very enlightening to them. And like we were saying those men that actually wanna be advocates and be supportive of women's issues, they actually get to hear how we really feel about these topics and not editing for their benefit. Everybody's
[01:04:51] Cris: welcome. Oh, that sounds so amazing. And I'm so happy.
[01:04:54] I found you guys. So for the listeners, how could they help or get involved or with [01:05:00] the passionista project that this is peak their interest. What do you got for them? The best way to get
[01:05:04] Nancy: in touch with us is to go to our website passionista project.com and you can find all of our social media links and everything there.
[01:05:11] So DM us or email us, let us know you're interested in helping we, Amy and I are a two man show. And we do everything ourselves. So anybody who wants to help is absolutely more than welcome the best, easiest way to support us. If you can afford it is to buy a ticket. And we're also always looking for sponsors and we have sponsorship ticket packages.
[01:05:33] So if you have the means and can buy a group of tickets, because we also have scholarships. So if you really want, we, because we especially are focused on marginalized communities, we don't wanna exclude anybody who can't come that wants to come. So if anybody wants to come, can't afford a ticket to shoot us an email.
[01:05:53] And we have scholarships that other people have bought tickets and donated them. So just drop us an email and let us know. Yeah. And
[01:05:59] Amy: we [01:06:00] have student tickets at a discounted rate, cuz we'd really love students, younger people to come in the past. We've had panels that are specifically targeted toward younger people.
[01:06:10] And our, our charitable partner is an organization called Sheros rise, which is teaching young girls. All the things that they need to know that you don't learn in school, like confidence and loyalty and these pillars of being a good human being. We have a discounted ticket for younger people as well.
[01:06:28] And yeah, and, and share us on social media, follow us on social media, retweet us and share our posts and help spread the word we met you thanks to Twitter, which I never thought I would say in my life like, wow, we're meeting cool people on Twitter, but we are. And the more people hear about us and the more we connect with other people, then, uh, the more we'll build this community and we'll be able to support more women and build a stronger base for everybody to
[01:06:56] Cris: work off of.
[01:06:56] That's amazing. So you you've mentioned the scholarship and being [01:07:00] able to be a recipient of it. How do you donate to that scholarship fund to make that ticket available for someone who might not be of means like
[01:07:08] Nancy: it, if you go to our. Website, the fashionistas project.com. There's a tab menu for, um, the ticket sponsorships.
[01:07:16] And you go to that page and there's a place where you can there's packets already set up, or you can just select it and buy however many tickets you
[01:07:23] Cris: can afford. Awesome. That's great. Um, I love that there's a function to be able to pay it forward, even just as a small thing that it might be, but you, this event might be that one spark that person needs to mm-hmm, help them move forward with whatever idea they have that might change the world.
[01:07:40] Yeah. So I love that. Do you have any advice for our listeners out there? I know we've been packed with advice, but is there anything you guys have been thinking about? Amy? Can you think
[01:07:48] Nancy: of anything?
[01:07:50] Amy: I mean, I just think follow your passions, do what you can to make every day enjoyable. I heard, so I heard the director, that director, Sean Levy, who [01:08:00] did night at museum and everything.
[01:08:01] I heard an interview with him the other day and he had a really. Tough childhood. And, um, and he said the other day he said, uh, I just chose to have a happy life and a fun life. And he wasn't even talking about the work he's doing and everything. He just meant like day to day. And it was like, yeah, you know, being happy and having fun and all that stuff is a choice.
[01:08:23] And I'm the, you know, first person to say, that's not always easy. And I have my hard days as much as the next guy, if not more. But like when you really consciously choose to look at it from a place of joy and kind of onerous amazement than, um, it's much, much easier to get through a crappy day . So I don't know just the, where, where I'm at right now is trying to just choose to be happy, even when things might not seem as easy as you'd like, and to be grateful for all the good things that are going on.
[01:08:56] Everybody can find something to be grateful for. Yeah. I heard
[01:08:59] Nancy: someone [01:09:00] say the other day they were asked if they see the glasses half full or half empty. And they said my glass is overflowing I
[01:09:07] Amy: liked that. That was good. I bet you, that
[01:09:09] Cris: was smartless. It was, did you listen to it? Yeah. Oh, yes. Yeah. Um, he also, I love the part when Sean Levy was talking about how he had been chasing the box office because that's early on in his career, he got a lot of studio films.
[01:09:24] And so he had learned to equate success with the box office when really the success is just getting to do what he does and enjoying the journey. And it was, I think, Bateman who really, you know, he is like, there's one person out there who this film is their favorite that's who you're making this for.
[01:09:42] And I just love that. That was, I mean, I've, I've always thought that way, but I was like, it was great to hear those two people, Sean Levy, getting advice from Jason Bateman. Who's been in this industry since he was. Six or seven. And for him to have that viewpoint was still [01:10:00] beautiful
[01:10:00] Amy: to me. I just quoted that to somebody yesterday.
[01:10:02] Cuz I thought the same thing, I thought that is one of the best things of, you know, cause it's easy to, and he was talking about it like easy to measure success just by how much money you make or what your title is or what your next gig is gonna be. And that like, this is gonna be one person's favorite film was like, that was one of the, my favorite things I've ever heard anybody say.
[01:10:22] And I just think it's so inspiring. I'm glad you heard that too. All right.
[01:10:25] Cris: And turning the tables. Do you guys have a question for me or are we, I
[01:10:28] Nancy: just would like to know what stage, so what stage you're at with the film you're still in fundraising stage.
[01:10:34] Cris: Yes. So the simple answer is I'm in the funding stage, but I've got all of the structure around it.
[01:10:39] We have a production company already started a bank account waiting for that money because things had come close before. So all of that's ready and I've already collected some of my crew. That I'm really happy with and really talented. And I'm just excited to be on the journey and to try to get this out to the world.
[01:10:55] And the podcast is part of that, where, and I talk both about the journey the film is [01:11:00] on, but also things we've been talking about, which is all the things that are important to me as a woman in her fifties navigating this world. Yeah. So I
[01:11:07] Amy: have a question. So what's been the biggest highlight of this process so far and what are you most looking forward to once things move to the next level?
[01:11:17] So
[01:11:18] Cris: the highlight, the biggest highlight from the funding stage or from just everything,
[01:11:23] Amy: from everything, from when you first had the idea to where you are now, it's,
[01:11:26] Cris: it's learning that people wanna listen, that people do like you, you have this idea and this was born. The script was born out of a, a simple conversation I had with a friend, a male friend of mine.
[01:11:38] It basically at its heart is you meet a woman. Who's happy, but doesn't know it. And the journey is her realizing. That she was happy just the way she was when she, when she's single. So that's the journey. So, yeah. And I think learning that people wanted to hear that story as I'm telling it, regardless of whether they're [01:12:00] a woman or not, or in a relationship or not, because everything I went through to get to this point, all women have gone through.
[01:12:09] Yeah. Whether they're in a relationship or not, whether they're gay or not. If they're trans they've gone through this. Yeah, for sure. Lastly, is there anything you wanna get the word out and I know we've talked about the summit, but like maybe there's something you wanna say.
[01:12:24] Amy: Yeah. I mean, I think we always would love to have more listeners and subscribers to our podcast.
[01:12:29] And we do have a subscription box, which is full of products from women owned businesses and with written interviews, with all of the women who create the products or, you know, manufacture the products. And so you get to know the woman behind the product women's own businesses still get far less funding, far less attention, the male own businesses.
[01:12:48] It's still a huge uphill battle. You know, when you're thinking about your holiday gift giving or corporate presence for your bosses or your female bosses or aunts or grandmothers or [01:13:00]sisters, um, or nieces, the passion's project pack is a quarterly lifestyle. Everything inside is hand wrapped. So you feel like you're opening Christmas in a box and, uh, you're supporting women while you're doing it.
[01:13:13] And yeah, and we just want, wanna meet as many amazing women. Non-binary people, gender, non nonconforming non-binary people who wanna be a part of our community. Everybody's welcome. And we hope that you'll come to the summit and get a sense of what our community's all about.
[01:13:33] Cris: Cool. Well, thank you so much for coming on my podcast, Amy and Nancy, it was, it was amazing.
[01:13:38] Amy: It's been a pleasure. We really enjoyed it. Thank you so much for having us. And, uh, hopefully this is just the beginning of a long
[01:13:43] Cris: friendship. Thank you so much for tuning into bliss. Spinster. If any of these conversations are resonating with you, please subscribe on apple podcast, Google podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
[01:13:53] You can find bliss will spinster on Instagram and Twitter and through our website, bliss will spinster.com. Again, thanks so much for joining [01:14:00] me on this journey and until next week go find your happy.