Meet Nina Kramer of Bad Millennial in Silver Lake

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nina Kramer.

Nina, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Oh, woof. I think a lot of things contributed to what I’m doing. The basic rundown is that I write, direct, act, produce and perform comedy around LA. Rather indecisive person, but having my hand in everything keeps me interested in what I’m doing (even though I wish more than anything I just had one single focus). Obsessed with time! MANIC ABOUT TIME!

I was born in Chile and raised just outside of Silicon Valley, so had a very suburban existence until my mom uprooted us to live in Argentina for a while during high school. Through all of these change and adjustments, I leaned pretty heavily on media (specifically John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, SNL, 60 Minutes) to walk me through our culture at large.

I then went on to study at Second City in Chicago for my first two years of college, then jetted back to LA to finish my undergrad at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Now I’m a writer-director at a creative agency while producing projects and performing regularly.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Oh god no, no no no. But that’s what give the whole thing texture and interesting. Creativity is difficult, producing is difficult, everything is rooted in repeated failure and problem-solving. I’ve had a handful of wrenches thrown in my direction, but I’m always happy to walk away with some kind of perspective change when that happens. It makes you evolve!

Sorry for being vague, there are just constantly things that pop up (rejections, sets that don’t land, projects that don’t play the way you want them to), but that’s a big part of why I hope people are doing it. The more you learn from your risks & failures, the better you’re able to navigate future projects.

Bad Millennial – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I have a few little endeavors but the two main ones at the moment is an all-female, entirely diverse, production company called Yas Queens, where we lean pretty heavily into dramatic narratives that explore culture. All of the members were friends from USC that wanted to push ourselves outside of school and through graduation.

I’m also a writer, director and performer for an all-female sketch team (live & digital) called The Matriarchy. I also met all of the members at USC through improv mainly. We currently perform around LA and release sketches weekly. Total joy.

These two projects provide a nice lil’ balance.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Hmmm. It’s always changing. I think the more I learn about the industry, the less it becomes about laurels and the more it becomes about building something with a group of people who are collaboratively driven. It becomes less about having a packaged product and more about the months in between where you are forced to spend every hour of your day with people who bring things to the table you could have never conceived on your own.

I feel like I’m trying too hard to be poetic about it, I just want to laugh all day. Whether it’s a dramatic project, comedic, or commercial, I just want to laugh.

Like, if you want me to paint a picture, I’d say my ‘big girl dream’ is to have a little house on the East Side with a dog that I can go back to after a long day of working with funny people. Make enough to get by while still getting to work on projects I get to have a say in, whether it be acting in something for a few months, developing a project or directing TV. It’s all very sexy.

Also, I love cars so there’s a sliver of me that’s working towards getting a dream zoom (which for any car-heads would be a Mercedes 230SL or the new Targa).

Contact Info:

• Website: ninakramertv.com
• Instagram: ninakramerr
• Twitter: ninakramerr
• Other: thematriarchycomedy.com

Image Credit:
Jeremy Lee

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