Julianna Pitt is an Award-Winning Actress, Director and Screenwriter.
She is 1st generation Polish-American; her parents fled Communism from Poland. Her Best Actress Award was won with a Cannes Officially Selected Director. She’s known for her roles on HBO’s “High Maintenance,” recurring role as “Ellen” on ABC’s “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt 23,” and her role as “Lola” in the feature film “Sanctuary.”
She trained at Sanford Meisner’s Playhouse West in Los Angeles, and The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) Theatre in New York. She’s performed for several networks and many national commercials.
She’s been in 2 films at the Cannes Film Festival and attended. She starred in the musical “The Fantastic Clown Club,” and played a supporting role in “Choices,” which won Best Narrative Short. She speaks fluent Polish.
A University of Florida alumna, she has a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Anthropology. She’s written an 8 episode Sci-fi series, and a Sci-fi medical pilot.
Film And TV Now recently spoke with Pitt about two short film projects, HIPSTER-ON-HUDSON and PANDEMIC ZOOM.
HIPSTER-ON-HUDSON
What was the spark that got you into film-making?
I grew up having to memorize poems and routinely perform in plays at my Saturday Polish school. Everyone at the school was made to do it, and while others didn’t continue down the Arts path, it certainly resonated with me.
I have always been a writer, and then starred in plays in High School. I thought I would go to law school, which is a type of acting if we can be honest!
What was the start-off point for the script?
The writers Jaime Mac, Christl Stringer and I were brainstorming a story; it was this or a very serious story that involved a child. We opted this narrative.
The film focuses on town politics in a quirky left-field way. What are your political influences when it comes to film-making?
I am first generation Polish-American so the nascence of my political influence are the stories my parents told of fleeing the Communist party that occupied their country. It seems America in the 80’s was this mecca, to the whole world. I guess my own personal politics are rooted in compassion, tolerance and understanding. I suppose every single person politics daily on a small scale for things they want.
Tell us about your cast.
Our cast was fantastic,
Jarrod Zayas really slayed it as Mayor John Barickle. Ms. Bond and her daughter were played by real mother and daughter duo Courtney and Lucinda Scott, my great neighbors and non-Actors, but we were all confident I could direct them.
Maximilian Querci played Giovanni Ferraro, and our amazing 1st AD Liza Friedman doubled as Lyudmila when I learned she could speak Russian, we had her speak a bit of politically charged dialogue. That was a quick re-write on set with the Writer.
And I had a cameo as Daisy Moonstone, which seems to be a trend in the films I direct.
Tell us about your production team.
I recently read someone say that anytime a TV or Film production is getting made, it’s a small miracle.
The production team really are invaluable. On this film, Alyssa Berdie (Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj) came in to produce, Ivo Stainoff DP’ed and Byron Andreas was 2nd AC, Liza Friedman was our 1st AD, Alexandra Guerrero was my Assistant, Rod Hilton Belle helped with casting, Jizelle van Zyl was our HMU, Monika Piechoczek was our Locations, Mike Laurence was our Sound Design and Composer, and Izzy Cohn and John Bartley edited.
Where did you shoot and for how long?
We shot in Forest Park in Woodhaven NY for half a day, and in my home in Brooklyn NY for half a day.
How did you raise finance for the short?
I self-financed this film.
What issues and themes are you keen to explore in your future works?
I’m currently in post-production on the most recent film I directed, One Percent.
It’s a narrative film that’s based on the actual events of US judges having been found guilty of accepting bribes from prison owners for accepting bribes to imprison youth in for-profit juvenile facilities that feed into for-profit prisons. Ironically, those judges have found themselves in the same prison system. …
I like exploring justice, ethic and humanity issues… and female re-empowerment. I say re-empowerment because there was a time historically that females were the village elders and leaders, and somehow we got stripped of that, no pun intended; so I’m dubbing it a re-empowerment campaign.
How has the festival circuit helped your film?
I got my first festival acceptances with this film, and even was a Semi-Finalist at a festival. It certainly lit the fire in me to get awards with my next films.
Who and what are your cinematic influences?
Oh, there are so many. I’m influenced and glean so much from any film-maker, really. But I revere Scorsese, Spielberg, Tarantino and Kubrick. I also admire Lena Dunham, Greta Gerwig, Taika Waititi and Marielle Heller for their adamance to simultaneously directing and acting.
Would you like to expand on this short into a feature idea?
I don’t think it would be a bad feature or series even, a small town with a funny mayor and a botched vote… it could go many ways and genres! I’ll keep that in my pocket.
What’s next immediately for you?
I mentioned Post-Production on the film One Percent. We’re hopeful for a Cannes World Premiere, the festival circuit, then major streaming platform(s). I’m attached as Director to several projects in development, features, pilots. I’m looking forward to directing episodics and commercials too.
How has the global situation affected your personal development and evolution as a film-maker?
Well, it’s certainly given me more time to watch cinema [at home, some in the theatre now] and to study people via news, books, periodicals. If I can’t physically be around people as much as I used to be, I’ve gotten this yearning to know the human condition more, as I’m sure everyone else yearns for and misses, so it’s been this deep dive.
Finally, what are you most proud of about this short?
I’m extremely proud of this short! This was the first project I ever directed. I’m proud of the comedy that got stirred up in the storm of the town’s problem-solving. I could never have imagined that it would be picked up for streaming distribution, on Roku in the US!
PANDEMIC ZOOM
The short follows a common visual technique that has been used through many films that have been shot during the global challenge. Where do you feel that Zoom technology will have a part to play in future productions?
Zoom and other virtual meeting technology is here to stay, in TV/film production and other industries.
It’s one of the good things that has come out of this global challenge, and makes you say “what, why weren’t we doing it this way before!?” As far as on-screen depiction of Zoom technology, I think it may become somewhat commonplace, like for instance seeing a character use a cellphone on screen.
What was the start off point for the short?
I worked with Jaime Mac the writer again, and this time she co-wrote with Megan Robinson… we were bound by what we were able to shoot in NYC at the height of the pandemic in July 2020, so we kind of wrote around who we could shoot with live and remotely. Sometimes constraints are helpful creatively.
Tell us about your cast.
Monica Mulkey, the lead young girl is played by my daughter, Viktoria Milton.
She won a Best Actress award for the role. Although I wanted to strictly direct this film, because of public health constraints at the time I played the role of the judge Rhonda Mulkey. Rick Walters played David. Renee Xie played Renee. I
In a casting pinch, our writer Megan Robinson played Shannon. Lucinda Scott again, played Veronica. And our Sound Design Mike Laurence recorded the voice of the newscaster at the beginning.
Tell us about your production team.
Our producer was Kayla Rudess.
Our screenwriters were Jaime Mac and Megan Robinson. Sound Design and Composing was Mike Laurence again. We had 2 DP’s: Yuri Semenyuk shot with us in the park, surprisingly the park was full and we drew some attention.
And our other DP for the interior shots in our home was my partner Tudor Jones (Stranger Things, Ozark, etc.). Again, Izzy Cohn edited and Jizelle Van Zyl advised HMU remotely. And our Colorist was Lou Daumas.
Tell us about the music in the film.
I’m glad you asked that. Both my first 2 films, I worked with Mike Laurence, who not only Sound Designed, but composed the music himself.
How long did it take to make and edit?
A weekend.
What has been the most liberating element of film-making now that restrictions are in the process of being lifted?
Going out and interacting with other adults collaborating on a project together!
You dedicate the film at the end to those who have worked through the pandemic and also Black Lives Matter as well. What has been the immediate effect on your own family and close friends?
At the time we shot this film, June 2020, we were at the height of lock-down and the BLM protests in NYC.
There was the clanging of pots and pans and clapping out of windows at 7pm nightly for the healthcare workers on the frontlines; and there was the BLM protests and marches, some right outside our Brooklyn home… this was a really emotionally charged moment in time.
We are allies to Black Lives Matter. I remember calling my daughter, then in the 7th grade to look out our window anytime either of these things happened. I can’t imagine living through a pandemic in my adolescent years; really the youth deserve a lot of recognition for dealing with it during an already innately difficult time, adolescence.
My brother had to keep working at an airline throughout the Pandemic, and got Covid; luckily, he’s OK. My father caught a bad case, and my Mom who nursed him never got sick; my father is also luckily OK.
What are your plans for this short?
Pandemic Zoom is currently streaming on Roku in the US.
Finally, what are you most proud of about this short?
I’m proud that this film was even made.
I had just birthed my son in February 2020, while the west coast of the US was already shutting down and terror loomed over the eastern seaboard of what future lay ahead.
I just barely gave birth before the NYC hospitals prevented the presence of birthing partners… then we were in very strict lockdown for months. About 3 months of that drove many stir-crazy, and my remedy for that was creating again.
Check out some of the awards that Pitt has received via this IMDb link :
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2845638/awards?ref_=nm_awd
