Photo Credit: Marie Charvet
When I got a facebook message inviting me to join a group of creative people to brainstorm ideas for a web series, I ignored it. First of all, the message was from an actress who’d been a student of mine, and, as a casting director, I’m always reluctant to pursue relationships with actors I don’t know. Second, I was too busy (the primary theme of my life). So, I let the message sit in my message box unanswered for about a month.
Over the Christmas holiday, when I had time to breath, I decided to start the new year fresh — cleaned out closet, cleaned out body, cleaned out message box. And there was that unanswered message from that actress. Before I could talk myself out of it, I hit ‘reply’: “If you need a director for your project, I’d be interested”. I hit ‘send’, then ‘delete’, then forgot all about it. A few days later, I got a reply from the actress saying that yes, indeed, she’d be interested in having me as the director. And I immediately started to panic. I knew nothing about directing a web series. I’d watched my share of YouTube, and I work with actors as part of my job, but to take on the task of directing in a medium in which I had, um, no experience — the prospect was terrifying.
Photo Credit: Marie Charvet
When I entered the world of Mother Eve’s Secret Garden of Sensual Sisterhood I was introduced to a group of actors and writers who were fun, hard working, creative, and almost all women. The fact that this was a group dominated by women didn’t strike me as odd or strange or unique, I guess because I am accustomed to being around highly accomplished, strong women who, get this, are nice to, and even like other women! And though I am one of those women who has women friends, I was not comforted in the least by this when faced with this group, knowing I was essentially going to be their leader on set. Regardless of working with men or women, I still had to have a plan of action, and I was having trouble finding the confidence to take control.
The closer the first day of shooting got, the more I prayed for pneumonia. No such luck! The day came and I had to assume the position. Getting through our very first shot was a stumble. On our first take, after yelling “Cut!” I said, loudly, “That was terrible”. Our DP (a really great guy named Ben) leaned over and said “Maybe you shouldn’t say things like that”. On our next take, I actually offered direction (finally doing my job!) that made the scene a little better. The next take I gave more. The next I gave even more. And, eventually, I got in a groove. And, I stopped being afraid.
Photo credit: Marie Charvet
OK, that’s a total lie. Over the five day shooting schedule I faced new challenges every day. Mother Eve’s is particularly unique because each episode includes a musical number. Like I said, I hadn’t directed anything on camera, and that includes musical numbers. I didn’t have a vocabulary to talk to our very experienced DP. And our AD, God love him, had to tell me how to do my job more than once. But we got through it, and even though there are some things I’d change, I’m still amazed at the results. We shot six episodes (with musical numbers!) in five days. Six really good episodes that you should go watch right now!
At one point on that first day I looked around at all the amazing people who’d devoted their time and energy to make shooting possible and I was so proud of them, of us. Even though I pride myself on being a person who tries to judge others based on their actions instead of their race or gender, I couldn’t help but be moved by the fact that our team is made up of mostly women. From our lead producer, Maitely Weismann, (that actress who contacted me via facebook), to our ensemble of actors, to one of three of our writers, to our editors (both sound and picture), a group of women run the Secret Garden! I hope, one day, this will be something we can all take for granted. The fact is we’re not there yet. The fact that any of us are still raising our hands shouting “Hey, we’re a bunch of women, we can make cool stuff, too!” is quite frankly kinda sad. But this is where we are. Until we get to that Battlestar Gallactica place in our minds, I for one will be the first woman shouting and singing the praises of the accomplishments of women, particularly the accomplishments of the awesome women in the Garden.
Erica Jensen
Director of Mother Eve’s Secret Garden of Sensual Sisterhood
Fantastic article. What an interesting journey…and
I LOVE the series!!!