Whether or not they knew they wanted to pursue a career in comedy, none of these women majored in film, film production, or screenwriting. I hope you’re beginning to note a pattern. Lena Dunham was taking liberal arts classes at Oberlin College. Tina Fey was at The University of Virginia earning a bachelors degree in drama. The daughter of two teachers, Amy Poehler was at Boston College studying communications. She would eventually join “The Groundlings,” the comedy troupe where she would meet “Bridesmaids” co-writer Annie Mumolo. Kristen Wiig was studying art at the University of Arizona, before dropping out and moving to Los Angeles to become a florist, graphic artist, and decorative painter. Mindy Kaling was majoring in theatre at Dartmouth, writing her own plays, performing in both a comedy troupe and a capella group, and submitting a regular comic strip to her college newspaper. Like many of us, they were on college campuses. But where were they before their ascent into fame? They create or portray strange, relatable characters. Think of “comedy,” and these women or the shows they write come to mind almost instantly. Kristen Wiig made “Bridesmaids,” and Tina Fey began preparing a graceful exit from her seven-year run as real-life writer and show protagonist Liz Lemon on “30 Rock.” Lena Dunham was catapulted into the spotlight by creating, directing, and writing for her surprising (but well-deserved) hit HBO show, “Girls.”
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Last year, Mindy Kaling transformed herself from an annoying-but-beloved caricature on “The Office” to star, series creator, and head writer of “The Mindy Project.”Īmy Poehler earned writing credits for arguably the smartest, most poignant, and best episode from last season’s run of “Parks and Recreation” (“The Debate”). Joe is a first year student planning to major in Mass Media Arts within Grady College and a writer on the Filmmaking Union Blog’s content team.Īccording to my television, it finally seems okay to be “weird” and a woman in entertainment. First up will be Austin, Texas, so stay tuned. If you’re trying to figure out a post-collegiate game plan, or just want to know what’s happening in the film world, hopefully these articles will be of some use to you. They list out the film industry’s economic contributions to each state as well (a useful guide if you just want straight figures). The MPAA also has a comprehensive list of each state’s tax incentives for the entertainment industry and recent production history. We’ll focus primarily on the cities of Atlanta, Austin, and Seattle, but Moviemaker Magazine has a wonderful list of ten filmmaker-friendly cities that is far more concise. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be examining some of these film industry boomtowns. Things are growing at a steady pace and show no signs of stopping anytime soon. As aspiring filmmakers, we are fortunate enough to be living in just the right time to take advantage of this. A variety of cities around the country are beginning to carve out industrious niches in the film world. Luckily, this is beginning to change, as LA and NYC are not very cheap places to live and not everyone’s ideal kind of environment. LA and NYC had the reputation, the community, and the well-established studios necessary for any large production. No matter how big or culturally vibrant they were, there just wasn’t a film industry presence significant enough to maintain steady employment. Other cities just didn’t seem to have the opportunities a filmmaker was looking for. For the longest time, anyone who wanted to make it in the film industry had little choice but to go to one of those places.