Conversations with Old Girls Entertainment

Today we’d like to introduce you to Old Girls Entertainment.

Hi Old Girls, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Old Girls Entertainment started out of a need for platform to display our creative work and be able to employee more Women and people of color in front of and behind the camera, and is now a full service Woman-owned and founded, Los Angeles–based independent production company. Co-Founded by Writer and Director Jessica Payne, and Producer and Union Actor Monique Schwaneman, the mission of Old Girls Entertainment soon became clear; to amplify Women’s voices through original film, television, and podcast storytelling, to champion Women-led narratives, elevate underrepresented perspectives, and create space for authentic stories.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Challenges in this process have luckily never been about finding incredible artists and people to work with. We have a deep network forged over years of diverse people across an array of professions in the TV & Film spaces. The main hurtle has been building the train as the train is moving. The admin, the LLC set up, and the taxes of it all are never what creatives enjoy most about starting a business, but they are so imperative to do and do well in order for the business side of operations to best support the performance and creative side of the company. Luckily we have found incredible mentorship in Women led organizations we’re a part of like AWD (the Alliance of Women Directors), Moonshot Initiative, Women in Film, and Women Independent Producers, as well as from the CEO of Onni Creative, Geonni Sigl. It has been so vital to be able to come to our network of Women in the industry and ask anything from technical business questions, to career trajectory advice, and we are so grateful.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
The Old Girls Entertainment team have been producing together since 2020, and have won accolades from the Raindance Film Festival and the Peach Theatre & Film International Film Festival, and have been official selections of the California Women’s Film Festival. and the Burbank International Film Festival, to name a few.

In addition to our film work, we are immensely proud of our Get Set! Podcast. The Get Set! Podcast is a Top Rated Women in TV & Film Podcast, where we aim to demystify the idea of an overnight success while highlighting the array of diverse jobs within the industry, with a focus on Women in the Film and TV spaces. 

We are currently in the middle of Season 5 of the Podcast, and Season 6 will be coming soon later this year.

Recent guests on the pod include:
2026 Oscar Winners Natalie Musteata⁠ & Alexandre Singh
2026 Oscar Nominees Julia Aks, Steve Pinder, & Elli Legerski
Producer of SEND HELP starring Rachel McAdams, Zainab Azizi
Director of F*** Mary Kill starring Lucy Hale, Laura Murphy
… among many other amazing creatives from FX Makeup Artists to full time PAs, to Script Supervisors, and more!!

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
In addition to the Get Set! Podcast, we have a short film currently in post production called For A Moment that mixes story told through movement with the idea of our consciousness being uploaded to “the Net” digital server in the future, that will be hitting the festival circuit soon.

The major new project we’re in development for currently is our Feature Film CREDIT, a social justice film about the importance of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Based on true life events, when Jeanne’s husband and father of their child files for divorce, her struggle to get a credit card in her own name becomes a history making news story.

Jessica Payne is the screenwriter and director of CREDIT, which is based on her Mom’s lived experiences (including a true life interaction with the JANE FONDA herself!) and the film is Produced by and Stars Monique Schwaneman as the leading role of Jeanne.

This story is unfortunately still so timely and the passion from the team to make it has been there since the idea’s inception when the initial Roe V. Wade court ruling was overturned in 2022. Jessica began making the connections to the family-lore of her mom, Jeanne, raising her son on her own in the early 1970’s after her husband abandoned her in the middle of the night.

Jessica then wondered, if they’ve taken away the right to our bodies, what will they take away next? CREDIT highlights the themes of activism, allyship, Womanhood, motherhood, and friendship, reminds us what we still have to fight for, and that there’s “more work to be done”.

We are currently crowd-funding for development fees in order to kickstart pre-production for this 1.5 million dollar feature.
The money raised will go to lawyers, casting, and our line producer, so we can attach the right people, with the right contracts, on the right timeline. Help us get CREDIT made by donating to our campaign on Seed&Spark BEFORE THE MAY 7TH deadline at:
https://seedandspark.com/fund/credit-feature-film

Pricing:

• “Day Player” Patreon Subscription for only $1 a month
• “CREW” Patreon Subscription for only $5 a month

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oldgirlsentertainment
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/old-girls-entertainment/?viewAsMember=true
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@oldgirlsentertainment
• Other: https://www.patreon.com/c/OldGirlsEntertainment