135. Mandy Fabian: Fiercely Feminine Film Director

In today’s episode Kate and Betsy interview Mandy Fabian, an actress, comedian, singer-song writer,  screen writer, and director based out of Los Angeles and now London.  Mandy’s directorial debut is called “Jess Plus None” and will be coming out on a streaming platform in the next few months.  Today we explore the challenges of being a female director,  and how Mandy thrives on change and new adventures.  Plus we laugh a lot – Mandy is hilarious! In today’s episode we discuss:  Mandy’s early years moving several times and then ending up in a no stop light town in central Texas.  She became the youngest member of a sketch comedy troupe at 16 years of age that started her love of performing and creativity. Why Mandy loves change and believes it keeps your brain sparking and centered in the present moment. How she never envisioned being a director, but how it brings together so many of the skills she picked up along the way including editing, choosing a music score, timing and rhythm, and directing and welcoming the energy of everyone on set. How her film is 100% funded by women (Mandy realizes this during this interview and has a moment!) We talk about the plot of her new femininst rom-com Jess Plus None, including how it talked a lot about female sexuality and romantic relationships of all kinds. Mandy’s new projects, including one that allows her to listen to Taylor Swift non-stop. Bio: Mandy Fabian grew up in a tiny no-stoplight town in central Texas, moved to Austin and became the youngest member of a professional sketch comedy troupe before attending Vassar College to major in film. After doing sketch, improv and theater in downtown NYC spaces much cooler than she is, she moved to LA, bought a horse, and worked as a singer-songwriter, producing 3 albums and playing on the capitol steps, until finding her home as a writer-director. Since then, her passion has been creating female-driven stories and characters. Mandy co-created and directed The Young Hillary Diaries, Lifetime’s first digital series, and wrote the Amazon digital series Dropping the Soap, which won Jane Lynch an Emmy for Best Actress in a Short Form Original in 2017. She was awarded a fellowship from the Sony Pictures Television Diverse Directing Program, was named “Best New Filmmaker of the Year” by NewFilmmakers LA and her screenplay, Late Bloomer, featuring LGBTQ+ characters and women over 60, was selected for the NYWIFT Meryl Streep/Oprah Winfrey Writers Lab. Recently, she was one of six directors chosen to lead an all-female crew for the Women’s Weekend Film Challenge, and the independent pilot she directed, Vicarious, won Audience Awards at Dances With Films and the LA Indie Film Festival. Mandy lives in LA with her husband Patrick Fabian (https://www.patrickfabian.com/), her daughters Abbey and Delilah, and an impressive collection of reusable water bottles. http://www.mandyfabian.com IG:  @mandyfab About Jess Plus None: Currently, Mandy’s first feature, Jess Plus None, which she wrote and directed, was awarded a finishing fund grant from Warner Bros. One-Fifty and the WIF ReFrame Stamp, which serves as a mark of distinction for projects that achieve gender balance in hiring, both on-screen and off. It’s a modern day homage to The Big Chill, and a feminist rom-com.  www.jessplusnone.com Past Episodes You Might Like With other Women Creators   Episode 130:  Rachel Yoder: Night Bitch Episode 123: Delores Reynals: A True Women of the World Episode 103:  Lyz Lenz: This American Ex-Wife  Episode 18:  Raye Zaragoza: Radical Alliance Today’s Episode sponsored by: Kate Moreland Coaching Dr Yoga Momma Heartland Yoga Want to Meet Betsy & Kate in Person on Retreat? Join us on a feminine reclamation journey to Paros, Greece in the Fall of 2025.  There are just a few spots left. All the details here! Source