One of the coolest things I have worked on this year is a Funny or Die series called F’d. After a successful first season, the gang reunited and have recently launched season two! I caught up with one of the stars, Julia to have a chat about the show and also to get her intel on creating your own content!
Tell us about the premise for season two?
Season 2 of “F’d” finds Molly, Ryan and Julia in a brand new RV but up to the same old dumb stuff. No lessons learned, no hurdles bounded, no soaring phoenixes. Also, I’m very, very prengant.
After a successful season one, what were your main goals for season two?
We had a blast producing and acting in Season one and were excited to try new locations, directors and introduce new characters. Mostly, we wanted to work with our comedic heroes and friends and be action heroines.
What were some of the challenges you faced during this process?
There were three big issues we ran into in Season 2.
I thought I’d be able to give birth and bounce back to producing and acting way faster than I was mentally able to. Them babies like to eat! And not sleep! So getting back into the swing of things took a lot longer than we all anticipated.
We had to do a bunch of restaffing with our crew due to schedule conflicts. That made for lots of last minute scrambling. Luckily, we had incredible connections and worked with the best during and after production.
This season needed more locations than inside the RV on someone’s driveway, so we had a lot of scouting and securing of locations. A week before we were supposed to film in Newhall, there was a huge fire 10 miles away that loomed over the area. The damage done by the fire was devastating to the community, so we were sure we would need to relocate. Luckily, that area was not affected.
Creating your own content seems to be the norm here in LA. What is your stance on this and the importance of generating your own content as a performer?
With the rise in technology, creating your own content is so much easier than waiting by the fax machine and hoping you’ll get your sides for “Waitress #2” in that Michael Bay movie where a malnourished 20something plays a helpless victim to a 50something white hero. YOU get to create what YOU want to see, which is a great way that past auteurs have been able to shake Hollywood up. In the 90s we had a rich indie film movement that, for awhile, did great things to what we were seeing on the big screen. The rise of indie web/tv content is lending itself to some of the best storytelling we’ve seen on the tiny screen.
You wear a lot of hats in this entire process. As well as starring in the series, how did you balance life as a mom/activist as well?
This season was a bit different, we had more moving parts and last minute scrambling, so there was a constant re-reading emails and there were many sleepless nights, where I would shoot up in the middle of the night and think “DID RYAN REMEMBER HIS FAKE POT JOINT?”
Producing “F’d” after becoming a mom made it quite challenging. But the key to being able to get everything done without losing complete sanity (Alas, some sanity was lost. Ya know, cost of doing business.) was the amazing women that help me care for my family. Elizabeth Chavez is my son’s nanny; she loves him so much. While I was on set or prepping before set, I knew Gus was safe, loved and well fed. Kelli Rose Jacobson, “F’d” Associate Producer, initially started babysitting Gus when he was very small. My husband and I realized that Kelli is literally good at everything she does, so it was a no brainer to ask her to join the “F’d” production team. She’s increased the visibility of “F’d” this season, helped keep Ryan and me sane and she’s done it with poise, grace, intelligence and spunk.
What did you learn from this experience?
Producing is really f’ing hard. But super rewarding. After we wrapped our final episode, I knew we accomplished something truly special and amazing.
F’d is also part of some festivals, can you tell us more about that?
“F’d” has been accepted into the NYTVF this year and will be screening the first three episodes of Season One in NYC on Tuesday, October 25th.
“F’d” was nominated in the 2015 LAIFFA Film Festival and for 5 Indie Series Awards this year, and won for Best Directing for Behn Fanin for Season One.
“F’d” was also in the Brooklyn Web Fest 2015 & LA Web Fest 2015
You have not only a strong core cast but lots of guest stars in each episode who are heavy hitters in the comedy world. How important was it for you to include such a range of comedians from on screen and stage / groundings, UCB etc.
We recognized that not many would recognize Ryan, Molly and me, so we selfishly thought “Why don’t we hire our HEROINES” to join us on set? And they miraculously agreed.
Can we expect a season 3?
I hope so! Season 2 gave us so many new hilarious characters that we’d love to get to know better, and a few new ideas that would be so fun to see. Ryan and I are also working on developing some other projects, so we’ll see what we can get to first!
You can watch F’d here – http://www.funnyordie.com/fdseries
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