Andrea Blaugrund Nevins is an Academy Award-nominated, Emmy-winning director, producer, and writer. Her credits include “Still Kicking,” “The Other F Word,” “Play It Forward,” and “Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie.” She received an Oscar nomination for the former. Next, Nevins is partnering with Bron Studios on a feature film about Barbie’s creator, Ruth Handler.
“Hysterical” is screening at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival, which is taking place online March 16-20. The film will premiere April 2 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on FX and stream the next day on FX on Hulu.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
AN: “Hysterical” explores the traditionally gendered world of stand-up comedy and takes us on a journey, with 15 very different female comedians, through the crack in the glass ceiling. It’s a fun, funny, sometimes emotional ride into a changing world for women stand-up comedians.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
AN: When I finished “Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie” in 2018, I didn’t feel at all done exploring the historical landscape of female representation in America. “Hysterical” was a way of taking my exploration of women during the last six decades into the next decade by looking at women who are breaking boundaries, which is the job of the stand-up comedian. Boundaries say so much about our current terrain.
W&H: What do you want people to think about after they watch the film?
AN: I hope they laugh hard and are a little shocked. I hope the audience engages in the ride all these funny, candid women took to find success, then rejoices with them. But I also hope they come away with a little righteous indignation for the ways women are still not on equal footing with men.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
AN: One was just scheduling. So many women are finding such success, finding time in their schedules, pre-COVID, to stop and talk was hard within our shooting window. There was a lot of juggling. And some women were afraid we were going to rehash the ridiculous axiom that women aren’t funny. No one wanted to be part of that film!
W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
AN: I’d been a photographer since my dad gave me his old Olympus OM-1 in middle school. I loved capturing stories visually. In college, I saw Barbara Kopple’s “Harlan County U.S.A.,” and I knew that’s what I wanted to do — tell stories on film that move people, maybe motivate them, maybe reveal a world they might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
AN: The best advice from a mentor early on was, “Don’t take no for an answer.”
The worst was from a lawyer I had an interview lunch with for a college internship. He said, “Eat faster.” I didn’t become a lawyer.
W&H: What advice do you have for other women directors?
AN: Take yourself seriously. At the end of “Hysterical,” Sherri Shepherd says, “Positive self-talk. This is your moment.” It’s true.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
AN: I love Chloé Zhao. Her film “The Rider” blew me away in its blending of the narrative and documentary forms, recreating both so movingly and cinematically.
W&H: How are you adjusting to life during the COVID-19 pandemic? Are you keeping creative, and if so, how?
AN: I was editing “Hysterical” with the fantastically creative Dava Whisenant all through COVID. We had so much fun in our Zoom edit bay. Dava was holed up in New Mexico, I was in New York and L.A. We finally met in person for the first time in the final mix!
W&H: The film industry has a long history of under-representing people of color onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — negative stereotypes. What actions do you think need to be taken to make Hollywood and/or the doc world more inclusive?
AN: Don’t make a move without checking your blind spots. Think about inclusion, representation, and hidden biases in every single decision you make.
