Fear(ful)less: Filmmaking from the Edge

Naomi does her last episode of Fear(ful)less and leaves you with an enigmatic Buddhist story to ruminate on.

Naomi talks about the radical and inspiring work of getting the leaders of the women in film revolution into a “Circle” together to figure out the future of the industry and gives  a little window into what that might look like. Favorite Things This Month: The Male Glance: How We Fail to Take Women’s Stories… Continue reading The Women in Film Revolution

Naomi talks about the regularity with which the word “fear” has come up in doing research for her book – as in, there’s a giant pit of fear at the center of the film industry that is fueling all decisions being made – and why there is a glorious land of indie film if we… Continue reading On the Other Side of Fear

Naomi gives an evaluation of the state of the women in the film movement several months after the Weinstein revelations and the resulting cultural wind shift. She talks about what’s happening with The 51 Fund, what she learned about strategies around arriving at gender parity in the Irish film industry, her new book deal, and… Continue reading State of the Women in Film Revolution

Naomi drops in briefly to announce that she is going to switch Fear(ful)less to being a monthly podcast so that she can continue giving it the attention she would like to, while also not having a nervous breakdown in the middle of everything else she’s doing. Check back in three weeks for the next episode.

Naomi – freshly back from her speaking engagement in Asia – talks about the cosmic gathering of – not change – but the opportunity for change in the women in film movement and the possibilities and necessities for this year. She also speaks to what it feels like when, after 10 years of dancing in… Continue reading When someone flicks the lights on

Naomi talks about the difference between success and fulfillment and the oddly inverse relationship that can sometimes happen between the depth of passion you have for something and the amount of systemic success you achieve with it and why that doesn’t ultimately matter. Favorite Thing this Week: The Disaster Artist – Naomi has been no great fan… Continue reading On the nature of success v. fulfillment

Naomi talks about her recent descent into the artistic chasm of despair and why, no matter where you are your career, there is truly nothing to do but wait out those inevitable periods. Favorite Thing This Week: The delightful new Amazon series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Treat yourself over the holidays to this wildly original, whimsical, and laugh-out-loud funny… Continue reading The Artistic Chasm of Despair

Naomi talks about rethinking how we set goals – moving from accomplishments to instead designing our ideal days – and the problem with simply becoming a human data processor for our inboxes. She references: Designing Your Life: https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Your-Life-Well-Lived-Joyful/dp/1101875321 Hidden Brain’s Life Interrupted: https://www.npr.org/2017/12/01/567834281/radio-replay-life-interrupted Favorite Thing(s) This Week: Mudbound: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2396589/ I, Tonya: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5580036/?ref_=nv_sr_1  

In the first episode of Season 2, Naomi speaks about the roller coaster ride she’s been on since her TEDTalk got posted to TED.com one month ago and the weight of wrestling with responsibility to herself and the larger of women in film cause that this tidal wave of opportunity has provoked.

Naomi announces the start of season 2 – the week of November 20th – and what that will entail!

Naomi talks about the insane, overwhelming, amazing, joyous tsunami that has landed in her lap in the wake of her TEDTalk release and what it feels like in the moment after.

Naomi shares several pieces of BIG BIG BIG news that are converging in her career and leading her, for the first time, to feel like maybe, just maybe this is really “the moment before.” She also lets you know that you can see the very first sneak peek of footage from Bite Me and asks whether you… Continue reading Mini-pode: The Moment Before and an Ask

Naomi talks about the final week of production on Bite Me, what it feels like to be wrapped, and what happens next.

Naomi reports in after the completion of Week 3 of production on Bite Me, as she looks ahead to the final five days of filming.

Naomi talks about week 2 of production on Bite Me – the utter bliss that can only be accessed by doing the thing you were put on earth to do and the joy of being able to give other people the same thing.

Naomi talks about week 1 of production on Bite Me and her mandala moment.

Naomi talks about the final week of pre-production, including their first table read with the full (or most of the) cast, and is able to finally announce their leading actors! Interview: Naomi talks to Naomi Grossman, who will very soon playing Chrissy in Bite Me, best known for playing Pepper in seasons 2 & 4 of American Horror… Continue reading Final week of pre-pro and cast announced! feat. Naomi Grossman (actress)

Naomi talks about week 3 of pre-production for Bite Me: casting, locking locations, negotiating with agents, watching the project suddenly spring to full 3-D life, and what it’s like to walk around with electric blue hair. Interview: Naomi talks to dynamo advocate for women and girls Tiffany Dufu about her book Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less. They… Continue reading Springing to Life: feat. Tiffany Dufu (advocate for women and girls, author)

Naomi gives some fantastic news regarding Bite Me and describes their first full week of pre-production. They’re off to the races! Interview: Naomi talks with her best friend since was 13, Veronica Hunsinger-Loe – one of the founding members of the award-winning experimental theater company Skin Horse Theater in New Orleans, founder of a new experimental company Nat… Continue reading Off to the Races; feat. Veronica Hunsinger-Loe (maker of things)

Naomi gives an update on the final and crucial high wire act of working to complete their minimum raise in time for the first checks to be written, as they officially enter pre-production for Bite Me.  Interview: Naomi talks Brian Ogilvie, a successful actor who has appeared in three Broadway shows (Something Rotten, Mary Poppins, and Gigi) scads… Continue reading A High Wire Act; feat. Brian Ogilvie (actor, Broadway musical theater performer, family man)

Naomi gives an update on their mad and wonderful week in Bite Me-land as they race to close financing on the film and lock their cast, while also beginning the first week of pre-production. Interview: Naomi talks to (her brother) guitarist and singer/songwriter Obadiah Jones about the similarities and differences in their professions and how one… Continue reading On the Brink; feat. Obadiah Jones (guitarist; singer/songwriter)

Naomi briefly breaks her hiatus to bring you some really, really, really good breaking news.

Naomi announces a 4-week hiatus for the podcast as well as the workshops she’s going to begin offering for other filmmakers (more information for those on her website here: https://www.naomimcdougalljones.com/classes ). Interview: Naomi talks to actress, creator, and tomato farmer Paten Hughes about what it is to make the lifestyle choice of telling stories, her crippling fear… Continue reading Balance; feat. Paten Hughes (actress, creator, tomato farmer)

Interview: Naomi talks with Greta McAnany and Lauren Tracy, founders of Blue Fevr (Netflix for Millennial Women) about their exciting new start-up, the challenges/successes they’ve experienced so far, and why they think a whole new platform is necessary to create a better eco-system for female filmmakers. If you are a female filmmaker (or really any… Continue reading Netflix for Millennial Women; feat. Greta McAnany and Lauren Tracy (founders of Blue Fevr)

Naomi re-records her (lost) interview with former Northeastern University student Elif Mamak, who worked in Gregory Goodale’s “Advocacy Writing” class with fellow classmates on a research paper entitled, “Audience Data/Attitudes Towards Female Representation in Film.” In order to write the paper, Elif and her classmates surveyed 116 film viewers on their habits surrounding choosing content… Continue reading Mini-pode: Audience Attitudes Towards Female Representation in Film; feat. Elif Mamak

Following Naomi’s TEDxTalk, Northeastern University professor Greg Goodale reached out and offered to dedicate his Spring “Advocacy Writing” class to helping Naomi with whatever research/writing she needed in support of her women in film revolution. The class was assigned two research papers. In this week’s episode, Greg comes on the show to talk with Naomi… Continue reading Where do the female filmmakers go? Feat. Gregory Goodale (Professor, Advocate, Post-Humanist)

Naomi speaks about turning 30 this week. Interview: Naomi talks to her manager Joanne Zippel who also currently works as a career coach through her company Zip Creative and has over 25 years experience as an entrepreneur working in theater, live event production, marketing, promotion, sponsorship, development, and literary management. Joanne offers invaluable advice to artists… Continue reading On Turning 30; feat. Joanne Zippel (manager/career coach)

Interview: Naomi talks to the marvelous writer/actress/director/sometimes-producer Hannah Cheesman about getting her web-series Whatever, Linda turned into a TV show, writing for Canada’s biggest TV show Workin’ Moms, and what a path through self-doubt has taught her. Hannah is the co-creator, writer, and star of Whatever, Linda,  which is currently being adapted for TV by the Mark Gordon Company. Hannah’s… Continue reading Writing for TV; feat. Hannah Cheesman (writer, actress, director, sometimes-producer)

Naomi outlines 5 fundamental lessons that she has learned about how to most effectively raise money for projects. Interview: Naomi talks to multi-multi-hyphenate Catriona Rubenis-Stevens about the process of crowd-funding, going back to school, the difficulties of managing a multi-multi-hyphenate career, what it’s like to earn your living as a 1st AD when your heart… Continue reading Raising Money; feat. Catriona Rubenis-Stevens (actor, writer, director, producer, 1st AD, musical theater degree-earner)

  This week Naomi interviews her husband, Stephen McDougall Graham, about his long and now quickly blossoming journey towards becoming a professional violinist (hint: he took a highly unusual decade-long detour through non-profits and international family planning services). Stephen talks about what it’s like to return full-time to your passion after years doing something else,… Continue reading Necessary to Blossom; feat. Stephen McDougall Graham (classical violinist)

Naomi dissects what the fundamental role of stories are in a society and how streaming content, social media, and that eastern European guy with the hydraulic press may have fundamentally changed our roles as artists. Interview: Ira and Carol Williams – Ira and Carol are an insanely delightful retired couple living in Missouri. Naomi talks… Continue reading The Role of Story Today; feat. Ira and Carol Williams (film/tv viewers)

Naomi talks about the challenges of structuring and balancing her days and weeks when working as an independent artist and the ways in which she’s cracked the mental health code of this for herself. Interview: Peter Lalish – musician (multi-instrumentalist and songwriter): currently of the massive indie breakout band Lucius (if you haven’t heard of them, you’ve… Continue reading Time; feat. Peter Lalish (musician)

Naomi reports back after spending three days at the Women’s Media Summit in Provincetown – a serious gathering of those 102 women (and 3 men) working dedicatedly to bring more women into film. The goal of the gathering? To devise a coordinated, nuts-and-bolts action plan for bringing about real change. Interview: Maria Giese – a film director… Continue reading Report from Women’s Media Summit; feat. Maria Giese (director and women in film superhero

Naomi breaks with the show’s format for one week to talk about the surprising pain, depression, and isolation she experienced in the wake of the success of Imagine I’m Beautiful and how she has found a way to reconnect to the joy of the work. As always, the work of this podcast is for Naomi to… Continue reading The Unexpected Complications of Getting What You Want and Re-Locating the Joy in the Aftermath

Naomi talks about how global trends in the macro-economics of the film industry are affecting what kinds of films are being made and how completely bonkers it is, on a practical level, for filmmakers not to have access to viewing or monetary data from Netflix, Amazon, and, iTunes. Interview: Rene Bastian – a prolific indie film… Continue reading The big black box at the center of the film industry; feat. Rene Bastian (founder of Cinelytic)

Naomi talks about the latest developments with Bite Me and how, sometimes, when the bomb you most fear goes off, the biggest thing that remains is gratitude. Interview: Sarah Wharton – a beautiful soul, actress, writer, producer. Sarah is one of the producers of Bite Me and also the star/producer of the gorgeous micro-budget indie That’s Not Us (available on Netflix) and The… Continue reading Every little thing is gonna be all right; feat. Sarah Wharton (actress, producer, writer)

Naomi talks about the exhilarating and terrifying moment of “trust fall” they are in with Bite Me, which may be a critical moment of most indie films. Interview: Jack Lechner – the producer extraodinaire of Blue Valentine, The Fog of War, The New Yorker Presents, former executive at Miramax, HBO, and Film Four, and much else. He’s an Associate… Continue reading Trust Fall; feat. Jack Lechner (producer)

Naomi talks about losing their longtime director this week for her feature film Bite Me, which is slated to go into production in two months – so…yeah – but then also how they managed to pull things back on track and, somewhat miraculously, find a new director within a a matter of days. It was just another… Continue reading And some weeks…you lose your director; feat. Meredith Edwards (our new director)

Naomi laments the complete lack of women represented in the directing, editing, and writing categories of this year’s Oscars and talks about why, despite 50% of film school graduates being women, that women only direct 18% of even micro-budget films. She explores the ways in which women themselves can work to improve that number. Interview: Marilyn Chinitz, a lawyer… Continue reading #OscarsSoMale; feat. Marilyn Chinitz (lawyer and master negotiator)

Naomi breaks down what the process is really like to cast a “name” actor in an indie film and why it matters. Then she interviews actress Katie Morrison who co-starred with her in Imagine I’m Beautiful , co-starred with last week’s guest Sonja O’Hara in her film Ovum, and also stars in the upcoming film Unnerved, which will premiere  at the Phoenix… Continue reading “Name” Casting; feat. Katie Morrison (actress)

Naomi does a mini-pode on the questions of whether art even matters anymore in these crazy times (hint: yes) and what our responsibility is as artists under this regime. She talks about doing a Bite Me re-write for the first time since the election and wrestling with how much it should be changed to reflect the world… Continue reading Mini-pode: Art in Trumpland

Naomi explains why the ideas of “making it” or “not making it” are myths and defines what success means to her. She also interviews fellow multi-hyphenate female content-creator and red-head Sonja O’Hara, the multi-award winning creator of the indie feature film Ovum, available on Amazon, iTunes, and GooglePlay starting in April and now of the award-winning pilot Doomsday, which… Continue reading The Myth of “Making It”; Feat. Sonja O’Hara (storyteller – writer/actress/producer/director)

In the 3rd and final installment of the what’s-happened-up-to-now series, Naomi talks about getting Imagine I’m Beautiful out into the world and the spider-web changes and benefits it has brought in her career up ’til now. Also…the work of this podcast is for Naomi to help you and herself crack the nut of how to have a… Continue reading Backstory 3 of 3: Imagine ’til now

In the second of three “backstory” episodes, Naomi talks about the making of Imagine I’m Beautiful, her first feature film, which she wrote, acted in, and produced. After listening, you can watch Imagine I’m Beautiful on iTunes, GooglePlay, or Amazon. You can watch the trailer HERE.

Naomi introduces herself and lets you know what this podcast even is.