Jennifer Kaytin Robinson is best known for creating MTV’s “Sweet/Vicious,” a comedy about two college students who have a secret life as vigilantes targeting sexual assailants on their campus. The series, though recently canceled, has a cult following and is now being made into a comic book. Her next project, “Someone Great,” tells another timely story.

Billed as a modern rom-com, the Netflix film sees “Jane the Virgin’s” Gina Rodriguez playing Jenny, an aspiring music journalist who lands her dream job at an iconic magazine. The only problem is that the mag is based in San Francisco, and she lives in New York City. Rather than do long distance, her boyfriend of nine years breaks up with her. Brokenhearted, Jenny resolves to have one last epic night in NYC with her best friends (DeWanda Wise and Brittany Snow).

We talked to Robinson about collaborating with Rodriguez and producer Paul Feig, and why she believes the industry is finally getting behind women filmmakers and women’s stories.

“Someone Great” drops on Netflix April 19.

This interview has been edited and condensed. 

W&H: Who helped you champion getting “Someone Great” to the screen?

JKR: Paul Feig, Jessie Henderson, and the rest of the team at Feigco Entertainment were my original champions. They were the people I brought the idea for the film and script to. Paul sat next to me in the original pitch meeting and said, “I have complete confidence in this woman — give her everything she wants!”

It was a similar lovefest when Gina and I met. She read the script, told me she loved it, and was immediately all in.

I basically wanted to write and direct something that I’d never seen before, so I did.

W&H: This isn’t your typical rom-com. Is it getting easier post-#MeToo to write the kinds of stories where [not everything revolves around a man]? 

JKR: I think that was always my intention, starting in 2015 when I began writing this script. I don’t know that there’s been a groundswell that’s inspired me. I basically wanted to write and direct something that I’d never seen before, so I did.

W&H: I read that Nora Ephron is a huge inspiration for you. Did you channel her vision of bringing modern love to the screen in this film?

JKR: I grew up on Nora Ephron — not only on her films, but also on her books and her writing. I think that she had an amazing ability to create incredibly vivid, poignant, nuanced characters — especially women — that could be messy and fine all at the same time. I wanted to take that and be able to put my own spin on it. But I also think that she was an untouchable force, and I would never try to be the next Nora.

W&H: As both the writer and director of “Someone Great,” what was it like being at the helm of something you created?

JKR: This movie was so born out of my soul that I knew it so well. You get into pre-production and production and you’re making the story you’ve been living with. I just understood it in such a deep way. I had such a clear understanding of what I wanted this movie to be that I was really able to take a step back and let the collaboration of the crew and the cast come in. That was when I was able to create magic — by letting everyone be involved in the full creation.

W&H: In the film’s credits, I noticed that you had a lot of women on the crew. How important is it to you to hire and work with women?

JKR: It’s so incredibly important for me to hire women, people of color, and LGBTQ folks. We had 74 women in front of and behind the camera. When you’re at the top and you can say this is how I want my crew to look and this is how I want my crew to feel, it’s important that you are able to use that voice and that platform to amplify voices that have not had the opportunity to be in these positions before.

It was an amazing thing to be able to make this film for women with women.

W&H: How does it feel to be working with Netflix on the film? 

JKR: It feels amazing. There is no place that you will get the kind of reach and visibility like with Netflix. You make a movie for the audience. I went in very specifically to make this movie for women and wanted it to reach women not just in the U.S. but also in over 100 countries.

It’s just really beautiful that this inclusive love story — not just about romantic love, but self -love — is going to be consumed by women, men, and non-binary people around the world.

W&H: Inclusivity played a pivotal role not only in the casting but in the film’s storyline. How important are those aspects to you in your work?

JKR: I wanted to make a rom-com for the intended audience. For me, it’s not just about finding inclusive actors and checking a box in terms of having different races and sexual orientations in your movie. I wanted this film to feel not just authentic, but also authentic to New York. New York is a melting pot of culture, and I wanted that reflected in the film.

W&H: Looking at the future, who are some of your dream collaborators?

JKR: Phoebe Waller-Bridge – I just saw Season 2 of “Fleabag” on BBC and it’s an absolute masterpiece. Awkwafina is also incredible. Tina Fey and Natasha Rothwell are two other dream collaborators of mine. I love them.

W&H: It seems like an exciting time to be in your shoes as a writer and director. Do you feel that more opportunities are coming your way?

JKR: Definitely. Talk about the right time and place. I am coming up in a moment where the industry is finally really, seriously, and meaningfully getting behind women filmmakers and women’s stories.

These are not just stories about women. The industry is putting women in front of the lens, behind the lens, and behind the computers, writing the stories. They’re making sure we are an equal part of this industry and are doing the job of storytelling.

I intend to use this moment to my full advantage and continue to tell stories about women.

W&H: I’d be remiss not to mention “Sweet/Vicious,” which tackled rape culture on college campuses. How important is it to address social issues in your work and causes you want to advance?

JKR: I think it’s really important and I have no plan to stop. For me, what’s so great is the opportunity to shed light on these very important issues in an entertaining way which brings people into the issues without feeling polarizing. Emily Levitan, a producer on “Sweet/Vicious,” always said, “We hide the peas in the mashed potatoes.” That is what I hope to do for the rest of my career.

With “Someone Great,” it’s a rom-com, it’s fun, it’s whimsical, it’s a journey through New York, but really it’s a movie about self-love. It’s a movie about a woman choosing herself, which I think is a deep, meaningful story kind of wrapped up in the ribbon of this really fun rom-com.