Sex comedy Hannah Has a Ho-Phase is launching on iTunes today, and, with it, two ladies bound to take the comedy world by storm. Nadia Munla and Jamie Jensen are a dream team on a mission: to help strike down negative portrayals of female sexuality in movies and make the world a better, more welcoming place for women of all lifestyles. The pair were kind enough to answer some of our burning questions concerning their newest and hilarious flick, so sit back, relax, and take in the power of their Boss Ladyism.
1. Congrats on the iTunes launch! And thanks so much for taking the time to answer some of our questions! How does it feel to have your work out there at last? Any plans for some well-earned rest and relaxation? Partying? Taking over the world?
Jamie: Thank you for taking the time to interview us and allowing us to play on Comediva for a day. We are huge fans of the site as well. Nadia and I have been working on the film for so long, so it’s a weird feeling to have it finally go out into the world. It’s like we’re sending our child to college and we don’t know if she’s going to become a binge drinking party animal or a professor’s assistant. It’s a weird feeling. I’m certainly excited to see what the audience feedback looks like and how people respond to the level of raunch and the topic of sexuality from a comedic, female perspective.
I am definitely cracking open a bottle of champagne tonight! We won’t be taking over the world, just Comediva for the day – but that’s close enough, right? Rest and relaxation sounds nice, although I’m not yet sure the work of an indie filmmaker is ever really finished. I know I will definitely have a little more time to work on my other screenplays now though, which is exciting.
Nadia: The great thing about a film having such a long life is you have a reason to throw a party every stage of the process: Got the financing? Great, let’s throw a party. Shot the film? Another party! It’s going to distro? More champagne! (or in our case, prosecco.) But in all seriousness, it does feel amazing to finally have it out there. It feels like our kid has graduated and is going off to college. Hopefully she’ll make many friends and use a condom.
2. Hannah Has a Ho-Phase is such a fun, interesting, and different take on female sexuality than we usually get from rom-coms. What messages are you hoping to spread? What inspired you to take this approach and create the loveably troubled leads, Leslie and Hannah?
Jamie: Thank you. We found inspiration in women we knew personally; some of them more sexually conservative and others more liberal. No one wanders into intimacy perfectly and handles it “right.” It’s a sticky subject and differs from person to person. We wanted to take the extreme concept of “slut” and “prude” and turn it on its head. For Leslie and Hannah, their real issue is control and they each attempt to control intimacy in their own way; Leslie by objectifying men and Hannah by avoiding them. Neither of them is correct in their method. We wanted to take them each through a journey where they lost themselves and learned to become vulnerable and shatter their own notions of what makes someone a slut or a prude.
The underlying message here is that being a “slut” has nothing to do with how many people you sleep with, but whether you are hurting people in the process. Also, I believe that authenticity is more important than security, so my hope is that every film I work on inspires people, women in particular, to be fearless and true to themselves.
Nadia: We were stuck in LA traffic on the 405 talking about the woes of dating and realized that there just wasn’t anything out there that was an American Pie- equivalent for women. This was way before Bridesmaids or Girls was out. We basically wanted to explore these words that are constantly thrown around, “prude” and “slut” and understand what that really means – within a funny and light context.
3. Were there any concerns — about, say, certain themes or audience reception — that came up while developing, and ultimately making, the movie?
Jamie: Yes and no. We knew people would have a strong reaction to the concept of a young woman going on a sex spree. Nadia and I wanted to make something that would create a reaction, whether positive or negative, because we wanted to make a statement about what is considered “acceptable” female sexual behavior. Along the way, nudity was debated a few times as well. Ultimately we decided we didn’t want to shrink our casting pool based on who was willing to get naked in front of the camera. We wanted to cast the best people for the film and we couldn’t be happier with our cast.
Nadia: Definitely. We knew there are people who will be offended and others who will complain about not enough raunch. We simply did what felt honest to our realities and our voice as filmmakers. We are sexually open women but we also are sensitive human beings who ultimately are seeking connection. And that’s part of what we wanted to do with this film: show the world that you can have both, that women are multi-dimensional and the same woman can be a “prude” one day and a “slut” the next but her essence is still her.
4. What were some of the most rewarding or most memorable experiences while working on the movie?
Jamie: Too many to name! However, I would sum it up by saying: the best moments were when someone on our team surprised us. Our cast was so incredible and they brought so much to the table and truly elevated the script with the characters they created. I loved seeing facets of my characters I didn’t even realize were there. The women on set were stellar and how much they inspired us with their creativity every day was amazing. And in post production we had the best team anyone could ever dream of. Our editor Katie Ennis is really like our third musketeer with how much she helped bring the story together in the editing room. Our sound designer was an absolute pleasure. Our composer kicked ass, we had a blast creating original music. Working with an amazing creative team is honestly the most rewarding part for me. Being surprised and inspired by them and watching the project come together in a way I never dreamed is something I will never forget.
Nadia: It was lovely, and such an honor, to get a chance to work with my best friend and soulmate every day for five years. And it was absolutely amazing to get a chance to hire talented women for every role! Before HOPHASE, most of my work was with older men as my producing partners or directors. I always felt I had to work so much harder to be taken seriously.
With our film, we were hoping to create a collaborative environment where gender didn’t matter and we were all on the same level playing field. We’ve gotten backlash from some about being anti-men by hiring women but we considered it our own version of affirmative action. We never hired someone that wasn’t right for the job, we just finally gave women the chance to show their talents in an industry that usually shuts them down. For example, we gave several young women who wanted to become grips a chance to learn from mentors who were also women and who wouldn’t ridicule them about doing a “man’s job.” The atmosphere on set was great and the teamwork was impeccable. And no, we did not all sync up if that’s what you’re thinking.
5. The entire cast in Hannah Has a Ho-Phase is so great. What was the process for finding perfect fits and preparing each cast member for his/her role? What comediennes, dead or alive, do you dream about working with?
Jamie: Thanks! We love them too! We had an incredible casting director Erica Palgon who was passionate about our project and helped us see literally every actor in New York. Aside from Mike Nelson, who plays Seth, we cast all of our leads through Erica. Mike, who is one of the funniest and sweetest people ever, had worked with Nadia on a web series previously and we knew we wanted to work with him again. Thanks to Erica we were able to book Kate McKinnon, who we immediately loved in the room, and Matt Servitto, whose creative contribution to the film was paramount. We had a team of truly talented, professional and incredible actors and we miss them all since the film has wrapped!
I mean, if we’re really reaching here, I dream of working with Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Rebel Wilson.
Nadia: We looked long and hard for the perfect casting director to help us in the process and we came across Erica Palgon, who has worked on films as big as MEAN GIRLS and as independent as one of our cult favorites, SHORTBUS. She was pivotal in helping us find our amazing cast. She brought in Kate Mckinnon, now on SNL, when Kate didn’t even have an agent yet. She brought us Meredith Forlenza, who plays Hannah in the film and was the perfect blend of hilarity and heart, from the theater world. She knew we wanted to work with unknown talent with a knack for improv and that’s what she got us. We all had the exact same taste in the casting process so picking our favorites was quite easy. Mike Nelson, who plays Seth, was the only actor we flew in from LA. I had worked with him before and had enjoyed working with him so much that I felt he was worth flying out.
Our favorite comedienne’s are definitely Tina Fey, Chelsea Handler, Kristen Wiig, Sarah Silverman, Jenna Marbles. I know Jamie is on an Amy Schumer kick right now. I love Betty White too – nothing funnier than raunch coming out of her mouth.
6. It’s not often we get to see badass women not only play central leads, but also take the reigns as writer, director, and producer in comedy. What kinds of obstacles have you run into during your careers, and is there anyone or anything that makes fighting the good fight worthwhile?
Jamie: Three cheers for bad ass women! There are tons of obstacles. Getting people to take you seriously when you don’t look or dress that much differently then when you were a teenager is rough. When Hannah Has a Ho-Phase first went around as a script, we were asked to bring men into the picture. We knew that in order to make a studio movie, that was what we would have to do and we felt that compromised the integrity of what we wanted to accomplish. I even had one agent tell me “I don’t really want to see this girl get railed for two hours.” Really? Then why do people watch porn? It’s culturally okay to see as long as there isn’t a personality and story attached to that female body; as long as the audience is not being asked to invest emotionally. There is already pushback on the project and I’m sure after tomorrow there will only be more. Nadia and I have hit a lot of walls in the process of getting this film made but we wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. What makes the fight worthwhile is the hope that we are inspiring others to do the same.
Nadia: I feel like I answered this a little in question 4 but the biggest obstacle is being taken seriously as a woman. It’s a little absurd that this is still the case. I wish I could say it wasn’t. I constantly find myself working with older men and I find I have to work twice as hard to be accepted into the unspoken boy’s club. I think financing is always a big obstacle no matter who you are but it’s twice as hard when you are two green FEMALE directors.
Back when we were still in LA, the script got us a meeting at a top Hollywood agency but the feedback was always the same. This is great! Now tell us the male version of this story. It was frustrating that no one has adjusted to the obvious: women are consuming as much content as men. And in fact, if you write something for women, chances are they will go out of their way to see it because not that much content is made with them in mind.
7. Do you have any other projects in the works we can all look forward to?
Jamie: I have been working on a handful of other feature comedy projects as well as some television pilots. In addition, I currently write two blogs; one about bartending in New York City and one about writing. There may be some shorter web comedy projects in the works as well. No feature films set to go into production anytime soon just yet.
Nadia: I am writing my first screenplay, MISS LOLA, a drama I would like to direct, which will include a mix of live-action & animation. It’s a coming-of-age story of a Lebanese teen girl. It’s still about female sexuality but the dark side we don’t talk about as much.
We’ve discussed working together on another film but don’t have anything in the works at the moment.
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Be sure to be a part of Nadia’s and Jamie’s sexual comedy revolution by checking out the trailer below and downloading Hannah Has a Ho-Phase on iTunes!
