Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Fagan, Kathleen Simmonds and Chelsea B. Lockie.
Stephanie, Kathleen and Chelsea, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Kathleen: Our collective started in 2017 over a coffee in NYC. We had just graduated from The Actors Studio Drama School, survived the summer (barely) and were now in a desperate hunt for a place to funnel our creativity. Having spent the last three years in an intensive program together, we were intimately familiar with each other’s work, styles and sense of humor. Stephanie is one of the finest actresses I know and a brilliant writer and musician to boot. Chelsea is a Director who understands and appreciates actors – she gets performances out of me that no one else can. I respect these two women so immensely. It only made sense that we would want to make things together.
Stephanie: On top of being a superstar talent, Kathleen also had a lot of experience producing. That came in real handy as we discovered the trials and tribulations of making your own show.
Chelsea: The show started as a series of short sketches Stephanie created with the characters of Jenny and Nicole. We were getting ready to shoot the series, and Steph called us and said, “I am re-writing the series, I know what this is about.” We then had the show that you see, we decided we wanted to make it right away, on our terms, and let it lead us. 26 festivals later here we are!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Kathleen: From the very beginning, we made a pact that all of our choices and decisions would be unanimous, and we have a “no a**hole policy”. That is a very difficult thing to keep up with in practice, but our first series “Woe is She” has benefited greatly from it. The entire way through pre-production, principal photography, post, marketing and now choosing what projects to take on next, we have always agreed on the course of action. If one of us doesn’t feel comfortable with a decision, we don’t proceed and we don’t ask why. It’s made us incredibly close and respectful of each other.
Chelsea: Most of our struggles were financial, but one of the things I love most about this team is that we decided we were going to make it, and we did. We used everything we had and just made it happen.
Stephanie: As it turns out, making tv is expensive. We were freshly minted MFAs when we started making this, so you better believe we had zero dollars. Money is a real obstacle, but it can also be an interesting challenge. I feel like I learned how to make our modest budget last, ask for help when we needed it, come up with affordable solutions when things went wrong (thing always go wrong). Most importantly, it was never a chore. Even when it wasn’t smooth sailing, it was fun. It was white water rapids fun.
Of course, many people know that our first project “Woe is She”, like most web-series, was made with only the resources we had. We did no fundraising until we had a shot all seven episodes and needed some support to finish the post-production and apply to festivals. That meant we shot the next episode only when we had saved enough money, we used Stephanie’s Nikon, Kathleen’s apartment, Chelsea’s light kit, a LOT of gaffers tape, and asked favors of our friends. We are pretty proud of the way it turned out! And you can certainly see we got better over time…
Woe is She – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Chelsea: Our business was primarily created as a means of bringing Woe Is She to the world. It is our inaugural project, and we are continuing to use it as an avenue to create work on our terms, about themes and characters we want to explore.
Stephanie: As Chelsea has pointed out, our business is just getting started – but one thing special about our company is that the three of us have worked together for years before starting Woe Is She. While we’ve only recently made our collaborations official, we have spent the better part of the past five years creating together. I’m proud of that collaboration, but I think I’m most proud of our sense of humor and wonder. We’re big dreamers. When you dream big, you have to be ready to take some big hits, fall down often. We’ve taken every bump and scrape in stride, and we say thank you to our mistakes (because they teach us). I’m glad we did so much learning on this project; it made us more capable storytellers for the next round of tragically funny tales that come our way. We also still crack each other up, which is always what I delight most in.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Kathleen: When I look back on my career and my career before I started in the arts (I was a lawyer before turning to acting full-time), there seems to be a thread which puts women and women’s rights in the center. From my acting roles to the films and tv series I have produced to the legal work I have done, my success has come from projects which I am most proud of – those which honestly and predominantly represent women, their lives and their struggles. For me, an experience is a “success” when I have learnt something, added value to the world even in a small way, and made meaningful connections. If a project doesn’t look like it will achieve any of those three things, I won’t take it on.
Stephanie: I have a hard time with the idea of success in the arts. Ending a shoot on time for the day is a success. Keeping everyone safe on set is a success. Finishing the dang project – success. Solving problems that arise can feel successful, can feel like relief. Making money doing what you love, also success. Changing someone’s life for the better because they watched your work – big success, but hard to measure. It can be difficult to feel the small wins in this industry. I try to feel the victories as they come. To me, saying yes to making art is a radical act in itself. So, maybe, success is consistently coming back to work. Continuing to make art.
Chelsea: In art, I feel most successful when someone feels like they can relate to the work.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.woeissheseries.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/woeissheseries/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/woeissheseries/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/woeissheseries
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6619394/
Image Credit:
Photo point at cheeks (Woe is She creators – Chelsea B Lockie, Stephanie Fagan, Kathleen Simmonds); Crown and glasses (Kathleen Simmonds plays “Nicole”, Stephanie Fagan plays “Jenny”); Four filmmakers on set of Episode 7 (Stephanie Fagan, Leah Kreitz, Chelsea Lockie, Kathleen Simmonds); Poster – designed by Kate Melvin; Male and female photo – “Insecure’s” Alexander Hodge plays “Hot Steven” with Stephanie Fagan as “Jenny”
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