Conversations with Giovana Quintanilla Frediani

Today we’d like to introduce you to Giovana Quintanilla Frediani.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I don’t think it was one thing but a collection of a million little things that got me where I am today. I’m so lucky to have started off in the arts with the support of my family and the people around me always encouraging me to embrace who I was.

I started auditioning for acting roles in film and television before I could read. Then, after taking time off and getting into sports, I brought it up again that acting was the career I wanted to pursue. My family again encouraged me to take acting classes inside and outside of high school, and I started auditioning again. They even supported my choice to get a Theatre Arts degree in college.

After I graduated, I did what every theatre kid did: I got a job and started auditioning. The thing was that I noticed there weren’t a lot of roles for girls who looked like me. The restless nature in me couldn’t imagine waiting around for someone else to give me permission to act, so I turned to my other favorite medium of art, writing. I just started to write myself, a Latinx woman, into my screenplays. Problem was, I knew nothing about writing, so I kept bothering my best friend, who had a screenwriting degree, Janette Danielson, for advice. I guess you could say the rest is history.

Since 2016, when I first started writing screenplays with my best friend and now writing/producing partner Janette, we’ve written 6 features and 3 pilots between us. We’ve received recognition for our writing from the Atlanta Film Festival, Screencraft Screenwriting Fellowship, the PAGE Awards, and the Final Draft Screenplay Competition, among others.

Through writing and acting I sort of fell into producing and eventually created our production company Fred&Dan Productions LLC. Once we finished our first script, I had the crazy idea to make a proof of concept. I had no prior experience other than the college sets I’d worked on, but probably due to the fact that I was 22, I was crazy enough to believe we could do it.

So I quit my job, moved home, took out my 401K to fund the project (not something I normally recommend), couch-surfed when I needed to be in LA, and took up any odd-end job I could. As most project do, we realized we needed more money so then I crowdfunded the rest with my best friend and newly minted business partner. Before I knew it we were calling wrap on my first project as Executive Producer and Lead Actress, MGirls. Hiring and managing a 40-person cast and crew, being on set with all my friends, and seeing my words, my art come to life…oh, I was hooked.

Since then, Janette and I have found a nice little niche for ourselves in the indie production world. We help small businesses bring their message to the world through commercials, and we champion other artists like ourselves who are ready to take on self-producing their narratives. That work led us to projects that have garnered accolades at film festivals like SeriesFest and Austin Film Festival, along with 8 official festival selections in 2024 alone. It’s been so fun to make a life out of art and live out my passion for film. I feel so lucky, and it feels like the journey has just begun.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No one has a smooth road, but something I always say on the first day of set is, “It’s not a good set day until something goes wrong.” Aiming for perfection on set or in life is an exercise in futility.

I truly think the concept of struggles is a perspective in this business. We see it time and time again that those who succeed and become “overnight successes” are actually building for decades in the shadows. That’s what I think of my career. I have heard “no” so many times, been ghosted, and told that it would never happen, but every year has a clear benchmark of success and growth. Each year sticking to it, each accolade, or each “good” meeting shows me my hardheadedness isn’t for nothing.

I don’t mean to diminish the grit it takes to keep going because, to be clear, it’s not like I always see things so rosy. I more often than not think, what am I doing? What crazy person thinks they can get a movie made, let alone make it themselves?! This is Hollywood after all! I’m only human. The louder voice, though, is the one that reminds me how much I love being an artist. I love film, I love bringing people’s stories to life, and I love making them laugh with my off-the-wall comedy writing.

All of the “struggles” have actually led to all of my best work. If it wasn’t for a certain no in acting, I wouldn’t have gotten into writing. If it hadn’t been for a classic ghosting from this manager or that producer, I wouldn’t have gotten into producing myself. If the road had been smooth, I would have never thought to start my own production company with my best friend. We’re in the business of art, and art is messy. We’re only real creatives if we can take what we have in whatever form it’s given, and make magic out of it. That’s what being a real artist means to me.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am one of those classic LA tropes of being an actress, writer, and producer. It was quite an accident that it happened, but I’m so glad that it did.

My writing and producing is mostly in comedy, and it’s been really fun to win awards for it because for a long time I didn’t think I could write let alone that I was funny. It’s hard to say what I’m most proud of, but I think hearing how much fun our cast and crew have on our sets is something I am always proud of and really want to set us apart as producers. I’ve been yelled at as an actress or worked with very testy artists and crew, so I really didn’t want to bring that to sets I run. I also think what sets me apart as a writer/producer is that all of my work has women of color at the forefront and it always has a subversive layer to the writing. I truly believe comedy is a great vehicle for change and can help people see things from a different vantage point. That’s what we weave into every script we write at Fred&Dan Productions.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
The words that come to mind are grit, resilience, and creative thinking. Or, in other words, being scrappy. No one is going to hand you anything in this industry, in fact, they’re going to tell you to kindly go away and get into a different career. Either heed their warnings or buckle in, because this certainly isn’t for the faint of heart. That, to me, is what I feel is the most important to my success and what makes it all worth it.

Don’t look for the right way in. Make a way…any way you can. That’s just being scrappy and why I think I’ve made it this far. I don’t wait for permission, I’m not afraid to talk to anyone no matter if they are a huge studio head or an aspiring artist. We’re all in this together and can help each other.

I always think of that story of Mozart:
A young man, around 25 years old, goes to Mozart and asks him, “How do I write a symphony?” Mozart tells him that he is too young to write symphonies. The young man gets confused and reminds Mozart that Mozart himself had been writing symphonies since he was 10 years old. Mozart responds, “Yes, but I wasn’t asking anyone for advice.”

Scrappy isn’t just about being a good creative or being good at the business side. It encapsulates a little of everything. If you want it bad enough, you’ll figure it out. Then one day you look up, you see or hear about your hard work paying off, and you realize you were doing it all along. You got scrappy and made it happen.

Contact Info:

• Website: fredanddan.com
• Instagram: @fredanddanmakeamovie @gii_mami
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/giovana-frediani
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/@gii_mami

Image Credits
Heather Cox