“Working on Wild Wild Yogis as actress and producer was quite the challenge,” she said. “When I did Mimi’s Misadventure, I had a highly experienced director, cinematographer, and crew, so once we were settled into the new day, it was easy for me to switch to my actor hat and leave it there until the end of the day.”
“Wild Wild Yogis was a different animal in multiple ways,” she exclaimed. “First was while we did hire Naeem Seirafi, the same DP that did Mimi, and Keith Jefferies as an additional cinematographer the rest of our crew were volunteers and each director is a member of our group Thursday Afternoon Films who was looking to expand their director’s reel.”
She continued, “This created a need to keep my Producer Hat on while acting, sometimes even while standing on my mark getting ready to roll on a scene! Sage is this free-spirited woman who just wants to please everyone, and switching from my Type A producer Boss B*** into sweet, bubbly Sage wasn’t easy. ”
“Wild Wild Yogis was also my first series, and due to budget constraints, we couldn’t shoot one episode at a time. We had to shoot it like a feature film, shooting out one location at a time. This meant switching directors once or twice a day which led to some confusion with styles and episode tone changes. All that said, everyone in the cast and crew was so committed to the vision and committed to the challenge,” she elaborated.
“Everyone was wearing multiple hats and dove into the structure of the day to make everything run as smoothly as possible. In the end, I think we have a fantastic series and no one can see the technical challenges we faced! It’s pretty darn funny too. I’m extremely proud of what we did,” she said.
She had great words about Noreen Taylor Diani and Anthony Famulari. “Noreen and Anthony are wonderful humans,” she exclaimed. “I’m so grateful to have had the chance to work with them on multiple occasions. Noreen came to the project when a mutual friend and colleague, Tiffany Radner, introduced us and told her we were raising money for Wild Wild Yogis and wanted to bring on some amazing Executive Producers.”
“Noreen loved the script and the pitch we put together and came on board,” she said. “It wasn’t until I produced and starred in Rekindling Christmas that I got to work with her as a makeup artist. Anthony has been a part of our creative mastermind group Thursday Afternoon Films from our first productions. TAF was meeting once a week as a place to brainstorm ideas, give feedback on scripts and pitches, and hold each other accountable for our creative goals.”
“We then made a commitment to create one short film per month together to really push our skill sets and our creative limits. We ended up doing 10 short films in 12 months. Some were awful, I mean really bad, and others, like Cole’s Crew, won some great awards at festivals,” she added.
“After that first year is when one of our members, Erin Goulet, brought us the idea for Wild Wild Yogis. Anthony’s ability to jump into cooky characters made him a no-brainer for the role of The Guru. He’s so funny and I love how he’s just willing to try anything! He has a little short called Trust Ball that cracks me up and then he invited me to help him with another of his shorts called Last Words. He’s just a funny guy, and I love watching him work,” she said.
On being an actor and filmmaker in the digital age, Atwood said, “You know, as much as I love the Golden Age of Hollywood, there’s no way we would have been able to create this show. The creation of not only the digital camera but online streaming services has given the creative storytellers the ability to see those productions to fruition. My entire career exists because of the digital age of media. I love how accessible it is to express our ideas. The only downside in my opinion is the over-saturation of content that makes it even harder to break through the noise.”
Regarding her future plans, she said, “Well, we are presenting Wild Wild Yogis ‘For Your Consideration’ for the Primetime Emmy’s short-form comedy series award! We’ve very excited about that, and Rekindling Christmas is being presented for the Daytime Emmys. I’m actually being considered for ‘Outstanding Performance By a Lead Actress in a Daytime Fiction Program’.”
“I’m extremely honored about that one since the role of Annika Marshall in Rekindling Christmas was so personal to me. I have big dreams in film production, I’m just letting the Covid restrictions lift before I go back out “balls to the walls.” Am I allowed to say that? The health and safety of my cast and crew have always come first to me, and it’s just not worth the risk to me as a producer. I will say that I’m eager to get started again,” she said.
Regarding the title of the current chapter of her life, she responded, “Healing.” “There’s been so much emotional damage to my psyche during the almost 30 years I’ve been performing. Starting with professional and competitive dance at the age of 12 through today the pressure to be skinny, young, beautiful, and the feeling of never being good enough has taken its toll. I’ve sacrificed so much to have a career in entertainment,” she said.
She continued, “I’ve made it my entire life and transformed myself to be what I thought Hollywood would accept that when it was all taken away in March of 2020, it almost took my physical life. I had to get some help to navigate a new path. To find alternate purpose to go alongside my dreams of film and television.”
“To find a love for me from within versus chasing the love from audiences and critics. That’s been a huge focus for me starting in quarantine and moving forward. Screw perfection…I’m not perfect, I’m wonderfully flawed, and I’m finding love for that person,” she added.
Atwood concluded about Wild Wild Yogis, “Other than go watch it (on YouTube) or vote for it for a Primetime Emmy? I guess I’d say that in these days of Social Media and immersion into what we’re led to believe are other people’s real lives, I hope you’re able to find some humor in the obsession we’ve created for ourselves and our Social Media “idols.” I think there’s a character in our humble yet funny show, that everyone can connect with. The good, the bad, and the ugly. It makes us who we are and hopefully, we can embrace that and just laugh it out a little.”
