Women in Hollywood have made monumental strides in the last year, with the success of Kristen Wiigs Bridesmaids and Lena Dunhams Girls. What you dont hear as much about is that there have been equally major advances for women behind the scenes.
For example, at Gary Sanchez Productions, the production company of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, a woman holds a major executive position. Jessica Elbaum produced the Sundance hit Bachelorette, which was written and directed by Leslye Headland. The film became the number one pre-theatrical download on iTunes in August. It plays theaters this month and you can still get it online or VOD.
Bachelorette stars Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan and Isla Fischer as high school friends who grudgingly play bridesmaids to their friend Becky (Rebel Wilson). The girls begin the film as angry, resentful, promiscuous, and/or addicts (some combination of the aforementioned afflicts each character). The night before the wedding they cause a series of disasters that will take all night to fix, if theyre even able to before the wedding.
We got to chat with Elbaum by phone about her career as a female exec for some of the hottest comedy producers in Hollywood. She had a lot to share about the current climate for female-led comedy, her film Bachelorette, and the latest Gary Sanchez production, the long awaited Anchorman 2.
Suicide Girls: Did you pick up Bachelorette from Sundance or was it always a Gary Sanchez production?
Jessica Elbaum: It was always Gary Sanchez. I was actually working on a TV show with Leslye Headland and Id seen the play. Actually a show that we were developing with HBO for Lizzy Caplan so Lizzy and I went to New York to see Leslyes play, and then both obviously flipped out for it. Then while I was working with Leslye on this other idea, I had asked her more and more about the play and why she wrote it and how she wrote it and when she wrote it. She had told me, I actually wrote it as a feature first but it got a little bit held up in the studio system. At that point nobody was rushing to make a dark female comedy. So she developed it into a play. I asked her to read it, read it, flipped out for it, had Will and Adam read it and they said, Absolutely, lets go.
SG: I wish I had seen the Sundance cut, because I heard it was even more brutal?
JE: Oh, the ending and how it was written was the last shot is just of them on the bench, Are we going to be okay, you guys? Oh fuck it, lets get a drink. And then the movie ends. People were not into that. I personally was but I think it left people a little bit like, its disturbing. So we changed some things around and I think we give people a little bit more of what they want in this cut.
SG: I dont know. I dont see how if you made it that far, thats what would be too disturbing for you.
JE: I know, but its so funny. Listen, we didnt have time or money for reshoots so we got in there and did what we could with what we had and it was just a matter of switching around a couple scenes. It plays dramatically different. Its crazy for me because Ive been with it for so long. Its also never not interesting. Its never not interesting depending on the audience you see it with.
SG: I hope someday that cut becomes available as a study.
JE: I would love to have it, I don't know that they would ever actually sign off on this, but another DVD set. Like heres this one, heres that one.
SG: And its not like you gave it a happy ending.
JE: No, by no means, but it certainly is a happier ending. I think that just seeing the girls dancing, when theyre with their arms around each other and jumping and theyre happy, makes people happy. I think that theres something about seeing that, that they all came together and the four of them are going to be okay, it makes the girls slightly more likeable. Theres something about that.
SG: Maybe I know too much about human nature but I didnt think they were going to be okay.
JE: By the way, theyre not going to be okay.
SG: What do you think of this conversation were now having in the media, from Bridesmaids to Lena Dunham and Girls about not only womens comedy, but dark womens comedy.
JE: Its interesting to me, and I made the mistake of saying its a dark comedy. For me, I should abandon the word dark and just say real because Lenas show and Bachelorette to me are I guess you could say dark, but very real to me. So Im so over the moon that that show exists, that we were able to make this movie, that Bridesmaids sort of paved the way for all of us, but the flip side is weve been trying to do this for years. Get a grip, you know. Women have been trying to tell these stories for a very long time.
SG: Women have been trying to tell these stories for a long time, but unfortunately so many of the ones that got made were those stupid trying to make everyone likeable and not funny versions.
JE: Yeah, and then we got a little bit derailed, even though Im a fan, because of Sex and the City. Its interesting, Sex and the City was I guess relatable a couple of years ago, or five-ten years ago but something has shifted. Now I watch Sex and the City, Im like, What on earth?
SG: It was still at the height of the greedy fantasy 90s.
JE: Its like wish fulfillment weirdness.
SG: Is likeability in a way the death of comedy?
JE: Well, depends on who your audience is. Meaning that this movies more difficult because the girls are not likeable.
SG: I guess, but as I asked that I remembered Robin Williams and Jim Carey, people who are funny and likeable.
JE: Yeah, and I think Will Ferrells very likeable too.
SG: But, he does play some real asshole characters.
JE: I mean, theres nobody better than Will at playing a dick but people still loving him in the end. Ricky Bobby, Cam Brady who he just played in The Campaign, even Ron Burgundy.
SG: I always wonder, how are the high maintenance career girls of most romantic comedies considered likeable? I dont like that.
JE: I dont. Thats so not something that I respond to so they are the least likeable to me. Kirsten in Bachelorette is way more likeable to me because I see parts of myself in her. I dont see myself so much in 27 Dresses or whatever those movies are. I don't know why theyre likeable. Also those are more glossy. Those are just glossy movies.
SG: I definitely enjoy watching Regan, Gena and Katie more, but I still wouldnt want to hang out with them. Theyre dangerous.
JE: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Its dangerous for sure but Ive been there.
SG: Are you invigorated by the VOD approach and all the opportunities that provides to get movies to people?
JE: I am. I didnt know really anything about this model because Gary Sanchez had never been involved with a release like this so we were learning as we went. The news of being number one on iTunes and breaking that pre-theatrical record has been incredible. We continued to do well and I think for a movie like this, that was made for a price and theres not a ton of marketing money and P&A behind it, its like a built in campaign. I think its the best thing that could have happened for this movie and movies like this I think are going to start being released this way. I think its exciting because theres so much more opportunity to make these films. I think if this model continues to prove its working, I think independent film is going to just blow up even more. Theres such an opportunity here. Its funny, at first I was like, VOD? I want it to be on theater marquees everywhere. And the exciting thing is its still going to be. Its sort of the gift that keeps giving.
SG: Ill tell you, theaters arent all theyre cracked up to be. Theyre kind of the worst place to see a movie now.
JE: I agree and we talk about it a lot over here. Times are changing. People want to see movies when they want to see it on their iPads. They dont care about the picture and the color and the sound. Unless its a big tentpole movie, I think watching movies at home or on your computer or iPad is just whats happening and its going to continue.
SG: Well, you can see it without distractions from all the people making noise in a theater.
JE: 100%. 100%. And the cool theaters are gone. Sunset 5, thats gone. The Landmark in Santa Monica is a shithole. Theres just no cool theaters. There was a theater on Wilshire in Santa Monica that I used to love going to see movies at, done, gone. Its all boarded up and gone. One of the coolest theaters I enjoy going to the most now is still the Laemmle in Encino. Thats kind of a civilized theater to go to.
SG: Was it important to find four very different looking women for Bachelorette?
JE: Its funny, it was always in the script Regan was blonde, Katie was redhead. Its as if the roles were written for these girls, but they werent. No, we never at least said it out loud but I think that when it happened, it was kind of fate. We kind of loved how it came together that way and the contrast of how they all looked just made it even better, but no. It was definitely not high on the list.
SG: And you got Rebel Wilson before she exploded?
JE: We got Rebel before she exploded which was such a get. I just saw Pitch Perfect last night and she is amazing.
SG: What had you seen her in at that point?
JE: I had seen clips of her from Bridesmaids and that was kind of it. I knew that she was coming out in Bridesmaids but nobody had seen the movie. The way she played the scene in the bathroom with Kirsten when she read for it was just incredible. She made you want to laugh and cry. Her confidence, only Rebel can pull off being called pigface and still being okay.
SG: How sensitively did you have to discuss the script with her, because the script does indicate how they treat her, she does have to be heavy?
JE: It was never an issue with her. Some of the bulimia stuff, she was like, I would like to tone that back a little bit, but she was like, Call me pigface. She never had an issue with it.
SG: Anchorman was before your time with Will Ferrell so what is it like to work on a sequel to the legendary movie?
JE: Thats the next thing Im jumping into over here which is so exciting. Theyre writing it right now and were just sort of in the pre-pre-production phase, but are you kidding? Its incredible. To be on Anchorman 2? Actually I started, my first day, I was Wills assistant, I started with him nine years ago, my first day with him was on the reshoots for Anchorman January nine years ago. Nine years later Im producing Anchorman 2 so thats kind of a fun full circle story.
SG: Were you there for the teaser shoot?
JE: I was.
SG: What was that like with everyone back in costume?
JE: Amazing. Incredible. Just very, very surreal. There was never a question. Of course theyre all going to come back to do this which is really cool.
SG: After all the hurdles of trying to get the studio to sign off on Anchorman 2, how did the idea for the sequel change?
JE: I don't know that it ever changed more than they just got on board. They just realized it was going to be a big mistake to not do this.
SG: So it was always the 80s and a custody battle between Ron and Veronica?
JE: You know what, I don't know if thats still going to be the story. Theyre up at Wills writing every day and we havent seen anything yet. So we shall see.
SG: You have to do a trilogy now.
JE: Oh, are you kidding? For the rest of my career, if I could just do Anchorman and an independent movie every year, those two movies every year, Im good.
SG: Is that how you hooked up with Gary Sanchez, being Wills assistant?
JE: Yeah, so I started with Will nine years ago, Gary Sanchez happened about five years ago and it was just Will, Adam, myself and Chris Henchy. Now its just grown into a big legit company.
SG: What is the environment for women there?
JE: Excellent. The guys are open to everything. Theyre huge Lena Dunham fans, obviously Leslye Headland. Lizzys always kind of been in the family and now Isla and Kirsten, they love it. I certainly think Im pushing the female voice around here, not so secretly anymore, but its kind of one for all.
SG: Have you always had a raunchy sense of humor?
JE: I mean, I guess. My parents saw the movie and I thought they were going to freak out but they loved it, thank God. I don't know if its raunchy so much as I guess raunchy. Real and raunchy? Bachelorette is raunchy but its grounded you could argue, right? Or you think Im completely off the rails saying that.
SG: Like I said it was scary because you know how real those women are.
JE: I mean, we all know women like that so I guess the raunchiness always came second to me just being so into how real it felt to me.
SG: Theyre not shitting in the street.
JE: Exactly. Like that, Bridesmaids I loved so much but I don't know that I would say, Hey, Isla, now youre going to shit in the street because I think thats funny. You know what I mean? The subtle things that the girls do, when you just watch the way Isla moves and runs and the stuff she does with her eyes, then Kirsten. They all improvised so much and they brought so much to this movie, its incredible. Kirsten falling on the bed, that was just something she just did. One of my favorite lines is Kirsten saying, This hotel is disgusting, totally her. Little things like that make me laugh.
Bachelorette is now available for download or streaming. It opens in theaters September 7.
For example, at Gary Sanchez Productions, the production company of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, a woman holds a major executive position. Jessica Elbaum produced the Sundance hit Bachelorette, which was written and directed by Leslye Headland. The film became the number one pre-theatrical download on iTunes in August. It plays theaters this month and you can still get it online or VOD.
Bachelorette stars Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan and Isla Fischer as high school friends who grudgingly play bridesmaids to their friend Becky (Rebel Wilson). The girls begin the film as angry, resentful, promiscuous, and/or addicts (some combination of the aforementioned afflicts each character). The night before the wedding they cause a series of disasters that will take all night to fix, if theyre even able to before the wedding.
We got to chat with Elbaum by phone about her career as a female exec for some of the hottest comedy producers in Hollywood. She had a lot to share about the current climate for female-led comedy, her film Bachelorette, and the latest Gary Sanchez production, the long awaited Anchorman 2.
Suicide Girls: Did you pick up Bachelorette from Sundance or was it always a Gary Sanchez production?
Jessica Elbaum: It was always Gary Sanchez. I was actually working on a TV show with Leslye Headland and Id seen the play. Actually a show that we were developing with HBO for Lizzy Caplan so Lizzy and I went to New York to see Leslyes play, and then both obviously flipped out for it. Then while I was working with Leslye on this other idea, I had asked her more and more about the play and why she wrote it and how she wrote it and when she wrote it. She had told me, I actually wrote it as a feature first but it got a little bit held up in the studio system. At that point nobody was rushing to make a dark female comedy. So she developed it into a play. I asked her to read it, read it, flipped out for it, had Will and Adam read it and they said, Absolutely, lets go.
SG: I wish I had seen the Sundance cut, because I heard it was even more brutal?
JE: Oh, the ending and how it was written was the last shot is just of them on the bench, Are we going to be okay, you guys? Oh fuck it, lets get a drink. And then the movie ends. People were not into that. I personally was but I think it left people a little bit like, its disturbing. So we changed some things around and I think we give people a little bit more of what they want in this cut.
SG: I dont know. I dont see how if you made it that far, thats what would be too disturbing for you.
JE: I know, but its so funny. Listen, we didnt have time or money for reshoots so we got in there and did what we could with what we had and it was just a matter of switching around a couple scenes. It plays dramatically different. Its crazy for me because Ive been with it for so long. Its also never not interesting. Its never not interesting depending on the audience you see it with.
SG: I hope someday that cut becomes available as a study.
JE: I would love to have it, I don't know that they would ever actually sign off on this, but another DVD set. Like heres this one, heres that one.
SG: And its not like you gave it a happy ending.
JE: No, by no means, but it certainly is a happier ending. I think that just seeing the girls dancing, when theyre with their arms around each other and jumping and theyre happy, makes people happy. I think that theres something about seeing that, that they all came together and the four of them are going to be okay, it makes the girls slightly more likeable. Theres something about that.
SG: Maybe I know too much about human nature but I didnt think they were going to be okay.
JE: By the way, theyre not going to be okay.
SG: What do you think of this conversation were now having in the media, from Bridesmaids to Lena Dunham and Girls about not only womens comedy, but dark womens comedy.
JE: Its interesting to me, and I made the mistake of saying its a dark comedy. For me, I should abandon the word dark and just say real because Lenas show and Bachelorette to me are I guess you could say dark, but very real to me. So Im so over the moon that that show exists, that we were able to make this movie, that Bridesmaids sort of paved the way for all of us, but the flip side is weve been trying to do this for years. Get a grip, you know. Women have been trying to tell these stories for a very long time.
SG: Women have been trying to tell these stories for a long time, but unfortunately so many of the ones that got made were those stupid trying to make everyone likeable and not funny versions.
JE: Yeah, and then we got a little bit derailed, even though Im a fan, because of Sex and the City. Its interesting, Sex and the City was I guess relatable a couple of years ago, or five-ten years ago but something has shifted. Now I watch Sex and the City, Im like, What on earth?
SG: It was still at the height of the greedy fantasy 90s.
JE: Its like wish fulfillment weirdness.
SG: Is likeability in a way the death of comedy?
JE: Well, depends on who your audience is. Meaning that this movies more difficult because the girls are not likeable.
SG: I guess, but as I asked that I remembered Robin Williams and Jim Carey, people who are funny and likeable.
JE: Yeah, and I think Will Ferrells very likeable too.
SG: But, he does play some real asshole characters.
JE: I mean, theres nobody better than Will at playing a dick but people still loving him in the end. Ricky Bobby, Cam Brady who he just played in The Campaign, even Ron Burgundy.
SG: I always wonder, how are the high maintenance career girls of most romantic comedies considered likeable? I dont like that.
JE: I dont. Thats so not something that I respond to so they are the least likeable to me. Kirsten in Bachelorette is way more likeable to me because I see parts of myself in her. I dont see myself so much in 27 Dresses or whatever those movies are. I don't know why theyre likeable. Also those are more glossy. Those are just glossy movies.
SG: I definitely enjoy watching Regan, Gena and Katie more, but I still wouldnt want to hang out with them. Theyre dangerous.
JE: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Its dangerous for sure but Ive been there.
SG: Are you invigorated by the VOD approach and all the opportunities that provides to get movies to people?
JE: I am. I didnt know really anything about this model because Gary Sanchez had never been involved with a release like this so we were learning as we went. The news of being number one on iTunes and breaking that pre-theatrical record has been incredible. We continued to do well and I think for a movie like this, that was made for a price and theres not a ton of marketing money and P&A behind it, its like a built in campaign. I think its the best thing that could have happened for this movie and movies like this I think are going to start being released this way. I think its exciting because theres so much more opportunity to make these films. I think if this model continues to prove its working, I think independent film is going to just blow up even more. Theres such an opportunity here. Its funny, at first I was like, VOD? I want it to be on theater marquees everywhere. And the exciting thing is its still going to be. Its sort of the gift that keeps giving.
SG: Ill tell you, theaters arent all theyre cracked up to be. Theyre kind of the worst place to see a movie now.
JE: I agree and we talk about it a lot over here. Times are changing. People want to see movies when they want to see it on their iPads. They dont care about the picture and the color and the sound. Unless its a big tentpole movie, I think watching movies at home or on your computer or iPad is just whats happening and its going to continue.
SG: Well, you can see it without distractions from all the people making noise in a theater.
JE: 100%. 100%. And the cool theaters are gone. Sunset 5, thats gone. The Landmark in Santa Monica is a shithole. Theres just no cool theaters. There was a theater on Wilshire in Santa Monica that I used to love going to see movies at, done, gone. Its all boarded up and gone. One of the coolest theaters I enjoy going to the most now is still the Laemmle in Encino. Thats kind of a civilized theater to go to.
SG: Was it important to find four very different looking women for Bachelorette?
JE: Its funny, it was always in the script Regan was blonde, Katie was redhead. Its as if the roles were written for these girls, but they werent. No, we never at least said it out loud but I think that when it happened, it was kind of fate. We kind of loved how it came together that way and the contrast of how they all looked just made it even better, but no. It was definitely not high on the list.
SG: And you got Rebel Wilson before she exploded?
JE: We got Rebel before she exploded which was such a get. I just saw Pitch Perfect last night and she is amazing.
SG: What had you seen her in at that point?
JE: I had seen clips of her from Bridesmaids and that was kind of it. I knew that she was coming out in Bridesmaids but nobody had seen the movie. The way she played the scene in the bathroom with Kirsten when she read for it was just incredible. She made you want to laugh and cry. Her confidence, only Rebel can pull off being called pigface and still being okay.
SG: How sensitively did you have to discuss the script with her, because the script does indicate how they treat her, she does have to be heavy?
JE: It was never an issue with her. Some of the bulimia stuff, she was like, I would like to tone that back a little bit, but she was like, Call me pigface. She never had an issue with it.
SG: Anchorman was before your time with Will Ferrell so what is it like to work on a sequel to the legendary movie?
JE: Thats the next thing Im jumping into over here which is so exciting. Theyre writing it right now and were just sort of in the pre-pre-production phase, but are you kidding? Its incredible. To be on Anchorman 2? Actually I started, my first day, I was Wills assistant, I started with him nine years ago, my first day with him was on the reshoots for Anchorman January nine years ago. Nine years later Im producing Anchorman 2 so thats kind of a fun full circle story.
SG: Were you there for the teaser shoot?
JE: I was.
SG: What was that like with everyone back in costume?
JE: Amazing. Incredible. Just very, very surreal. There was never a question. Of course theyre all going to come back to do this which is really cool.
SG: After all the hurdles of trying to get the studio to sign off on Anchorman 2, how did the idea for the sequel change?
JE: I don't know that it ever changed more than they just got on board. They just realized it was going to be a big mistake to not do this.
SG: So it was always the 80s and a custody battle between Ron and Veronica?
JE: You know what, I don't know if thats still going to be the story. Theyre up at Wills writing every day and we havent seen anything yet. So we shall see.
SG: You have to do a trilogy now.
JE: Oh, are you kidding? For the rest of my career, if I could just do Anchorman and an independent movie every year, those two movies every year, Im good.
SG: Is that how you hooked up with Gary Sanchez, being Wills assistant?
JE: Yeah, so I started with Will nine years ago, Gary Sanchez happened about five years ago and it was just Will, Adam, myself and Chris Henchy. Now its just grown into a big legit company.
SG: What is the environment for women there?
JE: Excellent. The guys are open to everything. Theyre huge Lena Dunham fans, obviously Leslye Headland. Lizzys always kind of been in the family and now Isla and Kirsten, they love it. I certainly think Im pushing the female voice around here, not so secretly anymore, but its kind of one for all.
SG: Have you always had a raunchy sense of humor?
JE: I mean, I guess. My parents saw the movie and I thought they were going to freak out but they loved it, thank God. I don't know if its raunchy so much as I guess raunchy. Real and raunchy? Bachelorette is raunchy but its grounded you could argue, right? Or you think Im completely off the rails saying that.
SG: Like I said it was scary because you know how real those women are.
JE: I mean, we all know women like that so I guess the raunchiness always came second to me just being so into how real it felt to me.
SG: Theyre not shitting in the street.
JE: Exactly. Like that, Bridesmaids I loved so much but I don't know that I would say, Hey, Isla, now youre going to shit in the street because I think thats funny. You know what I mean? The subtle things that the girls do, when you just watch the way Isla moves and runs and the stuff she does with her eyes, then Kirsten. They all improvised so much and they brought so much to this movie, its incredible. Kirsten falling on the bed, that was just something she just did. One of my favorite lines is Kirsten saying, This hotel is disgusting, totally her. Little things like that make me laugh.
Bachelorette is now available for download or streaming. It opens in theaters September 7.