Writer and producer Jen D’Angelo shaped the Hulu original film Quiz Lady from her personal experiences. The film, which stars Awkwafina and Sandra Oh, is about two estranged sisters (Awkwafina, Oh) who travel cross-country to win enough money on their favorite quiz show – Can’t Stop the Quiz – to cover their mother’s massive gambling debts. Granted, D’Angelo’s personal story doesn’t involve her mother’s gambling debts. Instead, she wanted to make something that would make you smile, which was a big part of making Quiz Lady the film it is. Here, in an interview with Awards Daily, she describes some of the personal aspects of her life that she incorporated into this film, how great contradictions make for great comedy for her, and that she has a secret script that combines two very different films that we’ll probably never see.
Awards Daily: What was the inspiration for this story?
Jen D’Angelo: Originally, it all started with an idea about my brother, who is a Jeopardy genius. Playing with him is very frustrating, which I learned very well as a kid because I always lost. He loves Jeopardy, he’s auditioned for the show a million times. When I moved to LA, I was working on a Sony show. I would drive to the Sony lot and past the Jeopardy stage every day. I thought, “This is the thing. If I could just get my brother on the show, his dream would come true!” So I fell in love with this idea of this seemingly simple goal that has so much emotional weight and means so much to these two characters. I love the idea of doing a comedy road movie based on that.
Awards Daily: This emotional bond is especially between the two sisters, and it sounds like you have a similar bond with your brother. Is that the reason for the idea?
Jen D’Angelo: Yes, but I also have a sister and I’ve always loved the sister dynamic. We’ve tried that a little bit in movies and comedies, but it still feels like it’s very mature territory. The other original inspiration for it was a romantic comedy, but the central relationship is between two sisters, not a romantic one. In a sister relationship, the emotional highs are so high and the lows are so low. I just wanted to explore that.
Awards Daily: How do you proceed as an author?
Jen D’Angelo: It varies. I’m kind of all over the place. With Quiz Lady, I had this idea and I really wanted to write it. At the time, I was still getting into the film world, and my main film example was this script I wrote that is completely unproducible. It’s basically a Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, but for the movie Titanic. I wrote it because it made me laugh and I enjoyed writing it, and I felt like it would show the world my voice. But then I thought I should write a film example that is actually doable, even though no one is probably going to make it. So for Quiz Lady, I just sat down and wrote it, and similar to how I approached the Titanic script, I tried not to think about where it would exist in the world. I won’t think about studio notes too early and just write the version that makes me laugh. So that’s usually where I start. Then, as the project grows, you get more and more voices and collaborators. It can be really great and also really frustrating. It’s the magic of creation. A fun but also crazy process.
Awards Daily: Speaking of comedy, one of my favorite parts was literally the little scenes at the end about what happened to the characters. I was curious, when did these story ideas come up?
Jen D’Angelo: Those are in the very first draft and it was just a silly idea of mine. I love that the characters on Quiz Lady are just regular people and it really makes me laugh that we even care what happens to them. Like, oh, they got inducted into the Hall of Fame, even though you usually see freeze frames like that at the end of sports movies. We want to know what happened to Anne and how many games she won, so it felt like a natural segue into this device where we’re now literally checking in with everyone. There was a time when I wanted to do it with everyone and started getting into the crew, so we had to scale it back a little bit.
Awards Daily: You mentioned that this story is about normal characters, but there are also these beautiful extreme moments, like Anne going off and on certain drugs to get through the audition. And then my personal favorite, the gangster Ken, who really cares about his dogs and is so decent. When did you decide to incorporate some of these big contrasts?
Jen D’Angelo: I just love contradictions and I love when you think someone is one thing and then they turn out to be something else. Like Ken, who has a thing for dogs and it kind of ruins him. (laughs) I can relate to that because I spent an incredible amount of money on my dog myself. I just spoiled him and made sure he had the best life. With the drug scene, I really liked showing those two sides of Anne and seeing her go to the extreme where she relaxes for the first time in her life and lets all her fears go away for a second because she’s on these powerful drugs and suddenly everything is wonderful.
So it was fun to see her like that and then introduce a stimulant drug trip that takes her out of her state and forces her into this hyper-focused hellhole. I thought that would just be a fun way to see both sides of her. And then also a way to really visualize her anxiety, because all of a sudden she has to list all these things or she thinks she’s going to die. That’s what her inner life feels like all the time with her anxiety. I love being able to explore those contradictions and nuances in the characters through comedy. Because we all have our own weird quirks.
Awards Daily: You’ve worked in television for a while, whether it’s TV shows or TV movies. What gets you interested in a project?
Jen D’Angelo: It really all comes from character. I love TV and movies. I’m the youngest of four kids, so I always say I was basically raised by TV because my parents were so tired! I really fell in love with characters and I love the idea of just introducing people to characters and letting them fall in love with those characters and really jump into what they’re doing. When you really love characters, that’s why you keep coming back to movies. I just love watching something that’s comforting and that’s the kind of thing I want to make for people: something they put on when they’re sad to cheer themselves up. I think all of that comes from character. When you have a connection with those people or you care about them, you can open up to them.
Awards Daily: In your television career, you have worked as an actor, screenwriter and producer. What inspired you to take on all three roles?
Jen D’Angelo: That’s a great question! I’m starting to direct now to add one more question. I’ve always wanted to be a writer since I wrote a book about my dog when I was seven and it was like that was my opus. Then when I got to high school I started doing comedy so the two always went hand in hand. Then producing came as a natural progression from writing. I love all three and producing is so fun to be on a project the whole time. Otherwise it’s just a stretch where you get into pre-production or if you’re the writer sometimes you don’t do production or post-production. Being a producer and seeing every single phase of the process and being on the project the whole time is so satisfying. Then acting is just so much fun! When you’re just acting it’s kind of the best. You think this is great, I’m just coming for a couple of days and then I’m leaving and you guys have to deal with all the problems. This is unbelievable!
Awards Daily: So acting is basically your stress relief.
Jen D’Angelo: Exactly, yes!
Awards Daily: Speaking of production, you’re not only a writer on Quiz Lady, but also a producer, so you’ve been involved throughout the entire project. Did taking on both roles change your perspective?
Jen D’Angelo: It was so much fun. I love creative problem solving, and that’s what producing is all about, so it was fun to be on guard as a producer and a writer at the same time. We have this budget problem. What’s a creative solution to make this something good for the project without taking anything away? It was a fun way to do both jobs at once. You’re making the movie all the time. There’s the movie you’re writing, the movie you’re shooting, the movie you’re editing, and the movie you’re releasing. It’s just constantly evolving, and as a producer, you get to be there for all of that evolution, direct it as well, and then also be in the room as a writer the whole time. I have this idea for a little joke and I can just throw it in. It was so great! Also, our director Jessica Yu was so collaborative and our cast was wonderful, so it was just great to be able to work with everyone the whole time.
Awards Daily: Congratulations. You received your first Emmy nomination! How did that feel for you?
Jen D’Angelo: It’s so exciting! In this world of streaming, you never know who’s watching something, so to be recognized for it is so beautiful and gratifying. I’m so proud of Quiz Lady. Throughout the whole shoot, we kept saying we couldn’t believe we were making this movie because it felt like the kind of movie people don’t make anymore. Everyone felt so lucky to be able to work on it because it was such a fun crew and a really great environment. We felt like the original little comedy that could do it. To be recognized for that is really amazing and I’m just so proud of everyone who worked on it.
Quiz Lady streams exclusively on Hulu.
