Let’s Talk About Periods: An Interview with Tessa Ingham and Ania Smolenskaia — By Lola Sherwin
WING is a multi-award-winning creative content agency and Campaign Magazine’s Brand Film Festival Production Company of the Year 2019. Founded in 2007 by husband-and-wife team Will and Tessa Ingham, WING creates and produces advertising and branded video content for some of the world’s largest brands.
Tessa is the Chief Operating Officer of WING, and Ania is a Senior Editor/Director who has been with the company for 8 years.
“When the gorgeous Ben invites Hannah on holiday after just four dates, she thinks she’s hit the jackpot — until she gets her period on the flight over. ̋ Higher Ground is a light-hearted take on the clash between reality and old-fashioned attitudes, where openly asking for a tampon can cause as much stress and panic as a decompressed airplane cabin.
What was it about Higher Ground that made you want to work on it?
Tessa: Higher Ground is our first self-funded film; we’ve always talked about doing a film that wasn’t for a client, and we were fortunate enough to be in a position to be able to do so when we came across this script. When I read this script, it really spoke to me, I thought it was well written, witty, clever, and most of all it was tackling a very important subject. I was actually on a plane when I read it for the first time, which probably helped me to visualise it a bit!
I have four children, two girls and two boys, and our eldest daughter was approaching 12 when I read this script, so I knew this was a topic that we would be discussing with our children fairly imminently. I just felt that it was such an important message, and it was handled in such a brilliant way that we decided that this was the script that we wanted to make into a film. It was a no-brainer, really.
Ania: On behalf of all the rest of the female crew, I think it was very appealing to see something that is so relatable. It’s put in a humorous form, which is good, and also I think every woman will be in a situation like this at some point in her life, not necessarily on a plane, but in some way, we all go through this. It’s important to put that up on screen.
Tessa: I was just so aware that I didn’t want my daughters to feel embarrassed about this totally natural thing that was happening to their bodies. We also have two younger sons, and I feel really strongly that they need to see periods as a totally normal part of life. If boys and men can feel more at ease around periods, then that will help women to feel more at ease. It’s really important for everyone to be talking about this topic, and the way it was handled in this script wasn’t preachy, yet it still managed to get the message across.
What was your biggest challenge when you were making the film, and how did you overcome that challenge?
Ania: It was definitely finding the plane! So many people came to us with suggestions, but it was really difficult to find something that worked for us. Somebody suggested using a green screen, but this is a self-funded film, Will and Tessa had put their own money behind this project, so we didn’t have a Hollywood budget. Plus, we didn’t want to just stick a few rows of chairs in front of a green screen and kid ourselves it looked believable. Somebody offer us a plane that a connection of theirs had, but it was parked on an airfield near Lisbon, and we couldn’t possibly transport the entire cast and crew over there. So when we finally found a plane we could use, that was amazing.
The other big challenge for me and the team was to pull it off in a day. It’s our debut film, it’s 8 minutes long, we had a lot of extras, and they all needed to be looked after. But everyone did such an amazing job, this project truly is a team effort, and it’s a testament to how tight the crew is.
Tessa: Yeah, as Ania said, we didn’t have a huge budget, and usually you can find a way to mock something up or make it work in another scenario, but not with this. We did have conversations about setting it somewhere else, but really it had to be set on a plane, so we had to find one! The plane we found is a disused 747 which is now only used for film shoots, and we had it for the day. Everyone was absolutely fantastic at getting the job done, but it was a huge undertaking!
Why do you think periods are still such a taboo subject?
Ania: I think people find stereotypes hard to let go of! They help us get through life. Obviously, I’m joking, but all jokes have some element of truth behind them. All over the world, people are starting to have a conversation on this topic, whether you look at developing countries or wealthy countries, but it’s hard to move past old attitudes. I think it’s the leftovers from a prehistoric society where things were set up in a certain way, it’s not easy to shake off years of historical conditioning. Feminism is also a relatively new movement, so unfortunately, it’s taken a while to push forward on this topic.
Tessa: I think there’s also this historic notion that period blood is somehow unclean. If you bleed from a finger, you can ask anyone for a tissue or a plaster, yet for some reason to admit that you’re bleeding from your uterus often throws people into a bit of a frenzy. There’s an absurd notion that it’s a different type of blood, which is why in the film we try and get across that it’s only blood. I think that goes back to the impact of the patriarchy and the ways in which girls have traditionally felt ashamed about their bodies; these attitudes have been perpetuated throughout society. That’s why I think that it’s really important that men and boys become part of this conversation as well, because they need to understand.
Ania: It’s still viewed as a shameful thing, and it’s presented in that way all around us. It’s seen as a secret, something that should be hidden, so just by talking about it we are already making a big difference. The crew that was involved in making the film was half men and half women, and it was really interesting to hear what the guys said when the project was wrapped. They said they didn’t feel as tense talking about periods anymore; at the start of filming, it felt really tense, and by the end that had gone away. It shows that just having this conversation at all is already starting to address the problem.
Tessa: I also think it’s exacerbated by the fact that the onset of periods happens at the point that girls are going through puberty, which is already an awkward, self-conscious time. Then, to add to that, sex education is done separately for boys and girls, so boys don’t even hear about periods, meaning this shame and embarrassment around periods just ends up snowballing, because you feel like you can’t take about it.
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Often, conversations about periods are dismissed as being feminist rubbish. Do you think that tackling the subject through comedy will help to make it more accessible to a wider audience?
Tessa: Definitely! Something I felt really strongly about when I read the script was that it doesn’t preach, it’s just pointing out the sheer absurdity of the stigma around periods. I think it was dealt with very cleverly, and I definitely think comedy makes it far more accessible. Our kids are my litmus test for a lot of things, and they watch it over and over and laugh every single time. There are very funny moments in the film, but it still manages to get a very important message across. In order to open up a conversation, you need to reach as many people as possible, and the comedy element really helps to do that.
Ania: I think there’s so much stress that’s already associated with periods that we don’t want to add to that, we want to alleviate that stress, and laughter is one of the best ways to do that.
Tessa: It’s quite a political subject, which of course is very necessary in terms of period poverty and topics around that, but we didn’t feel that that was our role. We weren’t here to politicise anything, we just wanted to open up a conversation and be part of the movement.
Ania: It’s such a serious subject matter, but sometimes the most effective way of getting your point across is to crack a joke rather than shouting big, clever words at your opponent. That’s what I think we’ve tried to do here with the comedy angle.
Do you think that WING will do more films on topics like periods, or will this be a one-off?
Tessa: I think it was always considered a one-off. It’s a big risk for a small company to do a self-funded film, it’s years in development and we obviously wanted to make sure that we did the script justice and we worked really hard to create a beautiful film, so we put as much budget as we could behind it, but it’s always a risk. We had everybody in the office pitching in to help, it was a big undertaking, and I think at the time we didn’t see it as opening up an opportunity for us to venture more into this field, it was just feeling good to be a part of this conversation generally, but never say never. We’re so proud of what we’ve achieved with the film and we’re really excited for it to be released, there’s been a lot of build-up for us to get to this point. So never say never, we’ll see. If something speaks to us the way that did, we’d love to open up more opportunities.
What would you do if you were in Hannah’s situation?
Ania: I think we’ve all been in that kind of situation! Her reaction wasn’t unbelievable, you probably would try your best to hide it, which is ridiculous. There have definitely been a couple of occasions that I’ve started my period in public and ended up having to wrap a sweater round myself to try and hide it.
Tessa: I would have been mortified! I don’t think I ever would have spoken over the plane speaker like Hannah did, I wouldn’t have been that brave. Hopefully now more people will be brave, after seeing the film. I probably would have tied clothing round my waist to hide it, though!
Ania: Obviously, asking your flight attendant would be the go to, you wouldn’t expect them to react negatively! But I think for a long time when I was younger I would have found it really awkward to ask anyone for a tampon, even another woman.
Tessa: My twenties were a very long time ago now, but looking back, I probably never asked anyone for a tampon.
Ania: When we were starting work on the film, I checked on a couple of planes, and there were never any tampons or pads in any of the toilets. There’s toilet paper, hand soap, tissues, but never any pads or tampons. These things should be freely available!
Tessa: It’s no wonder that women still feel shame around their period, because it’s still so hidden. So many of us are ashamed of such a natural thing! You end up hating your body for something that’s entirely natural — every single person comes from a uterus! This shame can have such wide implications with health conditions and kids missing out on school when they’re on their period, and it’s absurd that it’s still got such a stigma around it.
T: You saying that Ania, it’s no wonder that women still feel shame around it because it’s so hidden. We’re ashamed of something that happens naturally to our bodies, I’m going to bang a drum again now, and you lose confidence, it’s so easy for girls to not feel confident, especially in their teenage years, and that just exacerbates things. You hate your body for doing something that’s entirely natural, every single person comes out of a uterus! It can have such wide implications with health conditions and kids missing out on school because they don’t want to go to school when they’ve got their period. The ramifications can be so large that it’s ridiculous.
Would you like to share your story or expertise with our readers? Contact our editor-in-chief, Rafael dos Santos, by clicking here.
High Profile Magazine Editor-in-chief Rafael dos Santos
