Sofa Queens Interview: Kelly Harvey-Mykula and Ellen Shaw
“Feminism drives my filmmaking because up until recently, we’ve only seen a specific type of womxn and I want to normalize the stuff that you don’t often see, like gals pooping.”
Welcome to day… 100 and something?… of quarantine and working from home. If you too have lost all concept of time and are tired of scrolling endlessly through Netflix selections, have I got just the thing for you.
The webseries Sofa Queens! It’s a Toronto-based show created and produced by Kelly Harvey-Mykula, who also stars in it, and directed by Ellen Shaw.
It’s funny as hell, not afraid to “go there,” and Kelly and her cast have uhhhhhh-mahhhhhh-zing chemistry. There are four episodes out right now with more to come in the future (curse you, Rona!). Will they take up days and days to consume? Well, only if you watch them like a hundred times each, which is absolutely fine if that’s the journey you want to take—you do you. But even though they’re short, each episodes is a perfect little pick-me-up, which is just what we need right now.
I had the chance to chat with Kelly and Ellen at the start of quarantine and I’m super excited to be finally getting to share this interview with all of you.
Be sure to subscribe to Sofa Queens on Youtube!
Kelly Harvey-Mykula is an emerging actor/filmmaker with a taste for all things deemed “taboo”. After graduating from Humber College’s Acting For Film & Television program in 2016, Kelly found herself on both sides of the camera. Inspired to create better content for women, Kelly started writing and producing scripts for her film company Sideshowpathic.
Ellen Shaw is a director, DP and photographer who loves all aspects of filmmaking from set construction to make up. Born in the US but raised in Canada, alternating between Toronto and Montreal. Ellen strives to make people feel valued as well as making them laugh, and tries to bring that philosophy into everything she makes.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got involved with filmmaking.
Kelly Harvey-Mykula: I come from a fairly creative family and found myself drawn to acting at a young age, but it wasn’t until my 20s that I started to get an interest in filmmaking. I attended Humber College’s Acting For Film and Television program and during my time there we would have to search for scenes to perform. I found that whenever I had to search for interesting scenes between two womxn, it was slim pickings. So after I graduated I decided I wanted to change that, and started making my own projects with the intention of making better content for womxn and underrepresented groups.
Ellen Shaw: I did a lot of music and acting when I was younger, and then got into photography towards the end of high school. I ended up going to university for Art History but had to leave for health reasons. I then tried my hand at art school specializing in photography but I was still dealing with medical issues so I had to drop out once again. At that point I was thinking, “Well, I don’t know which day is going to be my last so I might as well just do what it is I want to do,” and I realized I really wanted to work in film. So I started taking workshops on everything from producing to colour grading, going to networking events, trying to find any social connection to the film world that I possibly could. Eventually I found Kelly and jumped at the right opportunities and the momentum built from there.
Tell us about Sofa Queens. Where did the idea come from/how did you get involved with the show?
ES: Sofa Queens came from all of the amazing friendships we’ve had with womxn and the realities of how weird and gross womxn can be. The story of how I came to work on Sofa Queens could be its own episode. The first time we met, Kelly and I were at a filmmaking workshop run by Kazik Radwanski and we decided to swap contact information at the end. Kelly was mid-sentence explaining how much she loved Lord of the Rings when she let out the most impressive burp I’d ever heard and just kept on talking as though nothing had happened. I just knew in that moment that we were destined to be friends. Kelly and I worked together on some indie gigs (which she brought me onto by the way! #womynhelpingwomyn) and eventually she told me about Sofa Queens. I loved the concept and was so honoured that she asked if I would be interested in directing!
Can you talk a bit about your creative process/how you go about making each episode?
KHM: My creative process consists of a lot of scheduling and timelines or else nothing would get done (lol). But when writing each episode, I have a Note App where I dump all my ideas into. I sift through those ideas to find the really funny ones that could work for an episode, decide what character it will happen to and then fill in the blanks from there. A lot of the episodes are about real life situations, or ideas I wish I could’ve acted on. Here’s looking at you, Episode 2. ;)
What’s been one of the best things about creating a web series? What’s been the most challenging?
ES: I love the flexibility that comes with making a webseries. It’s still such a new format, so there isn’t the same level of rules or expectations really. That’s why I think so many great TV series have have started as a webseries, but also why a lot of them don’t translate to the traditional television format.
The greatest challenge for me was trying to create a world that was enticing for people who knew nothing about us. I think the ability to have really short episode lengths helps though. Whenever I start a new show I worry about investing time in something that won’t pay off. With Sofa Queens, it’s only 3–4 minutes! There are gif recipes out there that are longer than that.
We’ve seen Divacup dilemmas and the concept of consent — any lil hints at themes to come in later episodes? *sad puppy eyes*
KHM: Let’s just say that you haven’t seen the last of Pat on the toilet. But, you can expect to find Pat & Lianne empowering a teenage girl after her boyfriend pressures her to have sex.
Can you tell us about some/all of the other amazing womxn/non-binary persons who worked on this film?
KHM: We’ve had the honour of working with some truly amazing womxn. Out of a crew of 14, half were womxn. Our editor, Jennifer Kidson of At Shutter Speed, is an incredibly talented editor. We’re so pleased with her work, she combines her technical skill with her creativity and comes out with a hilarious final cut. Shanice Bowrin, who plays Lianne, is an amazing up-and-coming actress who is so passionate about what she does. She is so easy to work with and brought so much more to Lianne than what was on paper.
ES: Our sound recordist Zina Bibanovic is amaaaaaaazing. She found creative solutions to difficult situations and she did it all with a sense of humour and professionalism. Our Art Assistant Mary was incredible with keeping peoples spirits up and enthusiastically taking on any errand asked of her. Mary also helped out a lot by volunteering her apartment as a filming location. A’kay was wonderful and you’ll get to see her character get some advice from Pat and Lianne soon. A’kay gives such a great performance, and brought a lot of positivity to the set.
Tell us about why you are a feminist and why it’s important to your filmmaking.
KHM: I’m a feminist because I believe in equality for all genders. I feel that there is still a resistance towards female-centric themes, more people are grossed out by the period-talk over the poop-talk in Episode 1. Feminism drives my filmmaking because up until recently, we’ve only seen a specific type of womxn and I want to normalize the stuff that you don’t often see, like gals pooping.
ES: Kelly said it the best way I could, I believe in equality for all genders. I’m only 26 and I’m already so exhausted by being a woman. I don’t want that existence for anybody. We need to do better to one another and for me, intersectional feminism seems like the answer. Feminism is important to my filmmaking because I think media has far more influence than we care to admit. When you can experience genuine interactions between characters on a screen, it can help you understand real life interactions as well. Something revelatory for me as of late has been seeing the womxn directed films and immediately feeling how much more genuine the connections are between the womxn characters. I didn’t realize how much I’ve been settling when it came to personally connecting with womxn characters until recently.
Who are your favourite womxn working in the film industry?
KHM: I really admire women like Lilly Singh, Issa Rae, Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. They’ve created something out of nothing and came such a long way with their hard work. I also gotta say my aunt, Gail Harvey, who is a Canadian Director, and my cousin Katie Boland, because they are kicking-butt in the industry and helping pave paths for more talented womxn in film. As well as the ladies over at Her Film Company because they are so passionate about their work and always try to ensure that they are being inclusive with everything they do. We need more people like them!
ES: I look up to the likes of Mindy Kaling and Jane Fonda for their incredible contributions to popular culture and media. But I’m so thankful for the womxn I know personally who have helped me. Christine Buijs is an amazing DP/Director who assisted me early on with career advice and an amazing lighting workshop. I look up to Heather Rumancik and Sabrina Spilotro for being the respected badass techies in this industry that they are. Morgana Mackenzie is an incredible DP/Director who helped me get my first real camera gig and I’ll always be grateful for that. I’ll always look up to the ladies at Archipelago Productions for teaching me the ropes and being my professional role models. A special shout out to my girl Nicole Ng for being so incredibly patient with me and just for being herself! Everyone should have the pleasure of working with Nicole. I am also grateful to have worked with the amazing director Cara Mumford, whose work is inspired and empowering. And a thank you to the super cool Erika Schengili for taking a chance and letting me shadow her.
What’s the best advice about filmmaking you’ve ever received?
KHM: Find your people. Find the people who are just as passionate as you are. Find the people who you are willing to support and are willing to support you. I wouldn’t have been able to bring Sofa Queens to life without all of my amazing friends that helped me make it.
ES: I can overthink myself out of doing anything so the best advice I got, and get consistently, is just do it. Opportunities come up all the time, but if you’re not prepared to take that opportunity then it might as well not exist.
What are you working on now/next?
KHM: Sofa Queens releases monthly, so I will be working on this until the day I die… JK, just until September. I am also in the final stages of Post-Production for a short film that I wrote/produced, which will soon be brought to festivals.
ES: Like Kelly mentioned, we’re going to be working on Sofa Queens for a bit so that’s going to occupy some of my time. However I have a whole stack of ideas I’d like to start producing soon, from comedic sketches to more emotionally driven shorts. That being said I also work crew gigs so we’ll see what time allows for!
If you could hold any Guinness World Record, what would it be?
KHM: World’s the loudest belch.
ES: World’s strongest person
What movie/TV quotes do you use on a regular basis?
ES: “Everythings coming up milhouse!” — Simpsons; “Cool cool cool” — Community and Brooklyn 99; “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” — Network 1976
Finally, recommend one #MUFFApproved film for our blog readers!
ES: Booksmart! Olivia Wilde nailed it!
