fthisweekly

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Thanks for stopping by.

F This Weekly Season 1 has wrapped but you can still tune in below or on iTunes, SoundCloud or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Stay tuned and feel free to write me at fthisweekly [at] gmail [dot] com for any questions, suggestions or just to say hello. GIFs are always welcome.

Much love,

Paola

P.S. More about what I’m up to next at paolamardo.com.

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Episode 27: TTYL

It’s been a wild ride here at FTW Podcast. Without further adieu, we present the Season Finale. This isn't goodbye, this is talk to ya later.

Featured Music: Uffie - Hot Chick Podington Bear - Delta Nicki Minaj - Beez in the Trap

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Episode 26: Women for the Win Recap

A recap of F This Weekly’s first LIVE event - Women for the Win, a conversation with Effie Brown (HBO’s Project Greenlight, Dear White People), Janet Yang (The Joy Luck Club, Shanghai Calling), Pamela Tom (Tyrus), and Lena Khan (The Tiger Hunter). Today’s recap partner is none other than director/producer/actor Patrick Epino.

Featured Music: Uffie - Hot Chick Podington Bear - Wednesday Night Flavor

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Episode 25: Women for the Win

This week’s episode features a conversation with producers Effie Brown and Janet Yang and directors Lena Khan and Pamela Tom for F This Weekly's first LIVE event: Women for the Win, a panel discussion held at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival’s Conference for Creative Content on Saturday, April 23, 2016 at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles.

We talked about everything from #OscarsSoWhite to Ghost in the Shell to women things to David Blaine. It was a magical time indeed. Thanks to all who came through to this fantastic discussion. Click on the player above or links below to listen to the episode. Keep reading to view photos from the event and learn more about these kick ass filmmakers.

Special Thanks: David Magdael Abraham Ferrer Francis Cullado Milton Liu Patrick Epino Katrina Alarkon Sthanlee Mirador Steven Lam

Featured Music: Uffie - Hot Chick Podington Bear - All Hot Lights

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Episode 24: Catcalls, Cheeseburgers, and #WomenFTW

In this edition of “it’s not easy being a woman”, actor/writer/producer Tess Paras dishes on the ultimate question: “What if Catcalls were Cheeseburgers?”

Tess plays Jayma Chan on the musical comedy TV show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I spoke with Tess about acting, musicals, playing Pocahontas, and her YouTube sketches last week. Today we talk about one of her earliest sketches, which you can check out alongside other great videos like Typecast and Make Your Face Great Again here.

This episode also contains a very special announcement about F This Weekly's first LIVE event: Women for the Win, a panel featuring kick ass women filmmakers at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival's Conference for Creative Content this Saturday, April 23rd at 2PM at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles. Get tickets here.

Featured Music: Uffie - Hot Chick Podington Bear - Disco Sheik

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Episode 23: Typecasting, Musical Theater, and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" with Tess Paras

Tess Paras is an actress, writer, and producer. After graduating from New York University, Tess went on to perform in musicals, Broadway plays, and on television. She studied acting at Primary Stages and improv comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade.

Tess was a cast member and writer for the 2014 CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcase. She writes, acts, and produces sketch videos for F-Comedy. She has also starred and produced YouTube videos including Typecast, a musical parody of the hit pop song “Royals by Lorde that satirizes racial stereotypes in the media, and Make Your Face Great Again, a parody on makeup tutorials and Donald Trump.

Tess has had guest starring roles on NBC’s Grimm and USA Network’s White Collar. She currently plays a recurring role as Jayma Chan on The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, a musical dramedy about a young woman who abandons her life in New York City in an attempt to find love in the unlikely locale of West Covina, California.

The show has been praised for its portrayal of Filipinos onscreen, inlcuding a well reviewed Filipino family Thanksgiving episode. The season final is this coming Monday and revolves around the wedding of Tess’ character Jayma and will feature special guest star Lea Salonga.

Featured Music: Uffie - Hot Chick Podington Bear - T-Shirt Weather

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Episode 22: How to YouTube

It’s not easy being a woman, let alone a woman on the internet. Anna Akana is a director, producer, actor, and comedian who is known for her YouTube channel which currently has over 1.4 million subscribers and over 146 million views.

I spoke with Anna last week about her family life, career, and upcoming projects. We also talked about her life on YouTube, how she deals with cyber trolls or bullies, and what it’s like to meet fans online and in real life.

Here’s Anna with her experiences and tips on being a YouTuber.

Featured Music: Uffie - Hot Chick Podington Bear - Grebe Podington Bear - Delta Podington Bear - Halter Top

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Episode 21: Comedy, Filmmaking, and Honing Your Craft with Anna Akana

Anna Akana is a director, producer, actor, and comedian. She is known for her YouTube channel which currently has over 1.4 million subscribers and over 146 million views.

In 2007, when she was 17, Anna’s 13-year-old sister Kristina committed suicide. Several months after her sister’s death, Anna watched comedian Margaret Cho perform on a Comedy Central special and laughed for the first time since the suicide. She decided to pursue a career in comedy and has since embarked on projects in both digital and traditional media.

Anna’s YouTube videos span a range of topics such as dating, relationships, feminism, and racism. Her videos include Please Don’t Kill Yourself, where she explains what it feels like to have a family member commit suicide, and How to Put on Your Face, a parody makeup tutorial video likening the power of loving yourself and being confident to the power of putting on makeup.

Anna also has several credits in film and television. She has written, directed, and starred in short films including Hallucination and Loose Ends. She has appeared on the MTV show Awkward and on feature films including Ant-Man and Hello, My Name is Doris.

Anna is a known cat lover and currently owns four cats. Her YouTube videos, which come out every Thursday, usually feature one of them.

Featured Music: Uffie - Hot Chick Podington Bear - In and Out

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Episode 20: Binders Full of Writers

Conversations with writers at BinderCon, a writing conference that is part of Out of the Binders, a non-profit devoted to advancing the careers of women and gender non-conforming writers by connecting them with the skills, knowledge, and networking opportunities they need to get ahead as authors, journalists, screenwriters, TV writers, playwrights, poets, and more.

Featured Music: Uffie - Hot Chick Podington Bear - All Hot Lights Podington Bear - Anthem Summer

Subscribe to FTW Podcast on iTunes and rate & review please.

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Episode 19: Breaking into Hollywood

In Hollywood, you hear a lot of stories about folks working for famous celebrities or filmmakers, or perhaps working at the big studios or talent agencies. Last week’s guest, writer-director Minhal Baig, interned at the legendary Scott Rudin Productions and International Creative Management (ICM), before getting her start in the mailroom at United Talent Agency (UTA).

Minhal talks about what it was like breaking into Hollywood (sort of) and what she learned from the experience.

Minhal is the writer and director of the upcoming One Night and Hala.

Featured Music: Uffie - Hot Chick Podington Bear - Dog And Pony Show Podington Bear - Bumble Podington Bear - No Talking on the Dancefloor

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Episode 18: Film Twitter, Fan Fiction, and Making Movies for Yourself with Minhal Baig

Minhal Baig is a writer-director from Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from Yale University in 2012 with a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts. She wrote and directed several plays including All the Sad Young Literary Men (2011), about a young novelist in the midst of a creative and personal slump and This is Los Angeles (2012), about an aspiring assistant’s descent in Hollywood. In 2013, she was slected as one of six fellows for the first annual week-long screenwriting residency in Las Vegas, hosted by The Black List.

Her most recent work includes her feature directorial debut, One Night, a drama that follows two couples as they reconnect over the course of one night at a hotel. Her short fim, Hala, is about a young Muslim American teenager’s sexual coming-of-age.

Featured Music: Uffie - Hot Chick Balún - I Shouldn’t Do This Podington Bear - Floating in Space

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Episode 17: After #OscarsSoWhite

Thoughts on the "D*" word after Oscar season, #OscarsSoWhite, and those dreadful racist Asian jokes. Featuring director/writer/producer/film marketer/film distributor Ava Duvernay's inspiring keynote address at Film Independent Forum 2013.

*Diversity, duh.

Featured Music: Uffie - Hot Chick John Legend and Common - Glory

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Episode 16: Asian Hair Problems

Director/Producer/Actor Patrick Epino of National Film Society has always had a distinct set of locks. He tells a very hairy story that may be the reason why.

Featured Music: Uffle - Hot Chick Avitek - Native Project Avitek - Victim Avitek - Red Chairs

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Episode 15: Being an Awesome Asian (Bad) Guy with Patrick Epino

Patrick Epino is a director, producer, and actor most recently known for co-founding and co-starring in YouTube videos for National Film Society, a digital movie studio that produces brainy, offbeat, and original content. He also co-directed and starred in Awesome Asian Bad Guys, an action comedy now playing on iTunes and awesomeasianbadguys.com. Patrick’s videos are available on the National Film Society YouTube Channel and his credits include Mr. Sadman, Void, and Spunk which we get into on the podcast.

Patrick is an accomplished director, actor, and online personality, with a soft spot for Spike Lee movies and awesome Asians, which makes him the perfect candidate for our first man interview on FTW.

Featured Music: Uffie - Hot Chick Goh Nakamura - Mr. Sadman

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Episode 14: Breaking Hearts and Stereotypes

Sometimes you don't fit the mold and that's A-OK. Christine Chen, a producer/manager/writer most known for her producing work with Wong Fu Productions recounts how she broke stereotypes (and obviously hearts) as a teenager growing up in Arcadia, California.

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Episode 13: Producing for YouTube & Film, Women Things, and Bruce Willis with Christine Chen

Christine Chen is a producer, manager, and writer most known as the producer for Wong Fu Productions, a new media production company with over 2.5M subscribers and over 402M views on their YouTube channel. Asian Americans seem most prominent on the internet with the likes of Wong Fu, Ryan Higa, this guy, and so forth. But there's a lot of Asian American dudes in the space, and I have my own thoughts on what that leads to. So, naturally, I had a TON of questions for Christine, the woman behind Wong Fu.

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Episode 12: F YEAH! Vol. 1

The first of many in a series where we feature ladies (and other folks) who make you wanna say, “F YEAH!”

This week, we talk about Crissle of The Read Podcast, Tokimonsta, Anna Akana, Ann Friedman & Aminatou Sow of Call Your Girlfriend podcast, and Effie Brown.