Naomi McDougall Jones is an American actress, writer and producer.[1][2]
Naomi McDougall Jones | |
|---|---|
| Born | 19 May 1987 |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, Actress and Producer |
| Years active | 2006–present |
She is best known for her work on films Bite Me, Imagine I'm Beautiful, The New Yorker Presents and more.[3][4]
Life and career
editNaomi grew up in Aspen, Colorado. She studied acting at Cornell University and graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.[5]
Naomi wrote, produced, and starred for Imagine I'm Beautiful, directed by Meredith Edwards.[6] She won The Don Award for Best Independently Produced Screenplay at the Cape Fear Independent Film Festival and Special Jury Award for Best Performance at the Arizona International Film Festival in 2014.[7][8] She is a vocal advocate and activist for bringing gender parity to film, both on and off screen.[9] In 2016, Naomi gave a TED Talk on the subject at TEDxBeaconStreet.[10]
Naomi served as a writer on Amazon's original series, The New Yorker Presents, which premiered at Sundance 2016.[11] She wrote and produced the 2019 feature film Bite Me, also directed by Meredith Edwards, in which she co-stars alongside Christian Coulson, Naomi Grossman and Annie Golden.[12] Bite Me is a subversive romantic comedy about a real-life vampire and the IRS agent who audits her. In the spirit of transparent filmmaking, Naomi created the Fear(ful)less: Filmmaking from the Edge podcast to document the process of making Bite Me from pre-production through post-production.[13] The film premiered at Cinequest, won Best Feature Film at VTXIFF, and was then self-distributed online with partner Seed & Spark and across the United States on the Joyful Vampire Tour of America, a 51-screening, 40-city, three-month release roadshow that incorporated the film, live Q&As with the cast and creative team, and "Joyful Vampire Ball" parties.[14] The entire tour was filmed by documentary filmmaker Kiwi Callahan for a YouTube docu-series with each episode released week-by-week during the tour. The release strategy behind the Joyful Vampire Tour of America was intended by Naomi and producing partner Sarah Wharton to be a case study for improving the indie film distribution landscape, to create a more economically sustainable ecosystem.[15]
She is currently at work on a book, The Wrong Kind of Women: Inside Our Revolution to Dismantle the Gods of Hollywood, which will be published by Beacon Press on February 4, 2020.[16] Inspired by the TED Talk, The Wrong Kind of Woman examines the systemic exclusion of women in film—an industry with massive cultural influence—and how, in response, women are making space in cinema for their voices to be heard.[17]
She is also at work on her third feature screenplay, Hammond Castle, a magical realism film that explores themes of identity, legacy and gender through a modern-day seven-month pregnant woman's unexpected interaction with the brilliant, eccentric and deceased inventor John Hays Hammond, Jr.[18] For the screenplay, Naomi became the first recipient of the artist-in-residency program at Ernest Hemingway House, author Ernest Hemingway's final home in Sun Valley, Idaho.[19]
Filmography
edit| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | The World's Astonishing News | Joanna | TV series |
| 2010 | Out of Focus | Kate Henderson | Feature Film |
| 2011 | Blood Moon | Claire | Short Film |
| 2011 | The Path of Avarice | Mariah | Short Film |
| 2011 | Boardwalk Empire | Screaming Secretary | TV series |
| 2011 | The Night Before She Walked Down the Aisle | Naomi | Feature Film |
| 2011 | Friday | Short Film | |
| 2011 | Come Home Raquel | Nina | Feature Film |
| 2012 | Stunods | Emily | TV series |
| 2012 | The Perfect Secret | Cecilia | Short Film |
| 2012 | Like Ingrid Bergman | Taylor | Short Film |
| 2014 | Indigo | Lizzy | Feature Film |
| 2014 | Imagine I'm Beautiful | Lana | Feature Film |
| 2016 | '79 Parts | Andrea | Feature Film |
| 2017 | Woman | Woman 6 | Short Film |
| 2019 | Nothing About Chloe | Chloe | Feature Film |
| 2019 | Bite Me | Sarah | Feature Film |
As writer
- Imagine I'm Beautiful (2014)
- The New Yorker Presents (2016)
- Bite Me (2019)
As producer
- Imagine I'm Beautiful (2014)
- The Seal (2019)
- Bite Me (2019)
References
edit- ^ "Why It's a Great Time to Be an Independent Filmmaker". indiewire.com. 2014-11-13. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
- ^ ""Your Obstacles are Basically Everything": Writer/Actress/Producer Naomi McDougall Jones Talks Grassroots Female Filmmaking". filmmakermagazine.com. 20 April 2015. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
- ^ "IMAGINE I'M BEAUTIFUL (NR)". laweekly.com. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
- ^ "Vampire Comedy 'Bite Me': A Love Song to the Weirdos". indiewire.com. 2017-08-12. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
- ^ "Lauren Sowa's October Installment Profiles Filmmaker and Activist Naomi McDougall Jones". independent-magazine.org. 2018-10-05. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
- ^ "Imagine I'm Beautiful". independent-globalnews.ca. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
- ^ "CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS". cfifn.org. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
- ^ "From a Dream to the Big Screen: Filmmaker Naomi McDougall JonesReturns to Aspen with Film Premiere". aspendailynews.com. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
- ^ "What it's like to be a woman in Hollywood". ted.com. 24 October 2017. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
- ^ Jones, Naomi McDougall (24 October 2017), What it's like to be a woman in Hollywood, retrieved 2019-09-30
- ^ "How 'The New Yorker Presents' Got Made for Amazon Streaming". indiewire.com. 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
- ^ "Christian Coulson To Topline Indie Film 'Bite Me'; Kevin William Paul Cast In 'Stano'". deadline.com. 2017-08-11. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
- ^ "Naomi McDougall Jones on her film, Bite Me, and why she skipped traditional distribution in favor of a 50-city tour". Mirror Box Films. 8 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
- ^ "Joyful Vampire Tour Of America". Bite Me | Official Movie Site. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
- ^ Williams, Mac. "Bite Me Interview with Naomi McDougall Jones". Fanboy Planet. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
- ^ "How Gender Inequality in Hollywood Affects Everyone, with Naomi McDougall Jones". speaking.com. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
- ^ Jones, Naomi Mcdougall (2020). The Wrong Kind of Woman: Dismantling the Gods of Hollywood. ISBN 978-0807033456.
- ^ Catherine (2019-07-30). "Bite Me indie film screening at Hammond Castle #GloucesterMA & candlelit tours". Good Morning Gloucester. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
- ^ "Artists take up residence in Hemingway House". Idaho Mountain Express Newspaper. 4 September 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-30.