Tina Cesa Ward is an award-winning filmmaker. She is also the executive producer, writer and director of the much-loved web series, Anyone But Me. Jen Kilchenmann, for So So Gay, was able to sit down with the Writers’ Guild honouree to find out more about making movies, web series and equality in the USA.
SSG: Tell us a bit about your background
Tina Cesa Ward: I came from independent film. I had about six films under my belt. I had a short film called In Their Absence that did well on the festival circuit and brought home a few awards. It was recently just honoured at the II Festival Lésbico MíraLES as one of the best short films of the decade for which I was extremely honoured.
How did your web series Anyone But Me come about?
In a lot of ways Anyone But Me is product of my frustration with the independent film industry. I was prepping a big project with some fantastic actors and then it just didn’t happen. I was heartbroken over it and a friend suggested I try the web. This was back in 2007 when there weren’t too many noticeable web series, so I was hesitant. But then I decided doing something episodic may be a fun challenge, so I started to think about it and then the story and the character of Vivian just came to me. I went forward from there.
Anyone But Me is very much about growing pains, are any of the storylines close to your experience?
Well, in all honesty I’ve never been much of a writer that writes from personal experiences. But that’s not to say I haven’t experienced the emotions of Anyone But Me. The emotion and conflict of a story is what drives me to write – not necessarily the plot or circumstances: those are just tools for me to get the characters into conflict to experience real emotions and hopefully tell a tiny bit about how we all feel in the world.
How hard is it to fund a web series?
Very. Next question! It is getting better out there. More brands are willing to take the gamble. But, when you make a web series you at least have a chance to monetize as opposed to a short film where there’s very little chance to make your money back. Or to get it seen the way it deserves. So the web is now a great outlet to get your stories out there.
I understand you and your Anyone But Me co-creator Susan Miller are working on a final episode for the show, can you tell us a little more or is it a big secret?
Well it is tightly under wraps at the moment. I will tell you it should be satisfying and not a frustrating series finale.
Can our readers help with funding? Where?
We just wrapped up a very small outreach we did to our fans to ask for funding. And thanks to that we are now in the position to move forward with production in February. But I will say that if you go to the Anyone But Me website there are still ways to donate. We’ve certainly never been in a position to turn people away.
Thanks to Anyone But Me you and Susan Miller won a Writer’s Guild Award. How has that impacted on your life? Has it made getting new shows out there easier?
It was incredible to win the Writers Guild Award for the first time in this new category of Original New Media. The Writers Guild deserves a lot of praise for recognising the validity of this new medium. And having won the award certainly doesn’t hurt when you’re trying to get new work produced.
Good People in Love
You’ve been working on a new show called Good People in Love. What’s the premise of this series? How did the idea come about?
Set on the night New York passes the Equal Marriage Bill, Good People in Love is a dramatic miniseries about a dinner party to celebrate an engagement that turns into a night of manipulation, dissection and revelation when the story’s narrators, Scott and Sarah set out to prove their distinct points of view on love using the party’s two couples as unwitting examples opening up a Pandora’s box of trouble for everyone.
At its core it’s about our most complicated emotion, love. Our two narrators of the story have different views of love. One who believes love will conquer all and one that feels love is pain. And what they both need to come to realise is that the truth is that love lies in the middle of those perspectives and if we can work our way to the middle we’ll do all right.
How did you choose your cast for this?
Mostly, just as I normally do: through casting calls and auditions. But I met Renée Olbert over a year ago in Toronto when I was there speaking on a panel. Obviously I knew of Seeking Simone but having the chance to meet her I got to know Renée, and after the script was finished for this I knew I wanted to get her on board to play Beth. I knew she would be fantastic and she is. Of course, Rachael Hip-Flores plays Vivian in Anyone But Me and there are very few people I adore more as an actor and as a person. Rachael will also be starring in a new sci-fi adventure series I’m currently developing called Guards of Dagmar.
When will the first episode of Good People in Love be available to stream?
15 November. I am releasing the first three episodes on consecutive days with the last two episodes coming in December.
Do you think there is a way of waking the conservative parts of the US government to full equality?
My biggest frustration about this country is that the majority of our citizens cannot separate their religious beliefs from basic human rights and also recognise their own hypocrisy when it comes to the institution of marriage. And DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) is a great example of that. I think we’re a long way from full equality. But I also feel the country has made strides in the right direction. The fact that I can marry is something that still amazes me and makes me proud to be a New Yorker.
Follow the latest Good People in Love news on Facebook. Watch all the episodes on Anyone But Me: http://www.anyonebutmeseries.com/. Follow Tina Cesa Ward on Twitter: @tcwnyc
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