Sometimes it takes having their world turned upside down for people to not only realize their strength and worth, but also muster the courage to pursue their true dream. That’s certainly the case for filmmaker Dana Marisa Schoenfeld’s protagonist of Ella Goldman in the new comedy television series, ‘East.’ The character decides to finally follow her childhood dream of being an actress after losing both her law career and fiancé.

Besides starring on the show, Schoenfeld also wrote, directed and edited the six episodes of the project’s first season. She also served as a producer alongside her co-star, Jolie Curtsinger. In addition to Schoenfeld and Curtsinger, the comedy’s first season also features an ensemble supporting cast that includes Natalie Roy, Stephanie Weppler, Jeanine Bartel, Nicholas Baroudi, Beth Chamberlin and John Bolger.

In the first season of ‘East,’ when Ella, a New York City corporate attorney, gets engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Josh (Baroudi), she is ecstatic to embark on the next stage of her life. With a wedding to plan, and a blossoming career, Ella thinks she has it all.

But when she suddenly loses her job and catches her fiancé cheating, Ella’s world comes crashing down. This devastating turn of events forces her to confront the truth about her life – and what it is she really wants. Convinced that this is a wake-up call, Ella pursues her childhood dream of being an actress.

‘East’s 32-minute pilot episode screened during the Pilots Group 5 block at the second annual Dances With Film NYC festival on Saturday, December 2 at the Regal Union Square. To celebrate the screening of the series, which was filmed in New York City, at the festival, Schoenfeld and Curtsinger generously took the time to talk about scribing, helming, starring in, producing and editing the project during an exclusive Zoom interview.

Film Factual (FF): Dana, you wrote the teleplay for the new comedy television series, ‘East the Series.’ What was the inspiration in penning the script?

Dana Marisa Schoenfeld (DMS): Well, the inspiration for the show came from my life. (Schoenfeld laughs.) In my early childhood, people, especially in my family, thought I was going to go to law school. I was headed in that direction, as I was a political science major and history minor in college. I also interned at a bunch of television stations, so I thought that I also may want to be a journalist.

But then when I graduated from college, I realized I wanted to be an actor. I shared that with my family, and I was a little nervous about that. When I did, it sort of came as a shock.

Since the beginning of my career, I realized that just because you have a dream, the day-to-day nuances of what it takes to get there is difficult.

I then realized that that would be a great premise for a show. I think it’s something that’s totally relatable. Everyone has a dream to do something they love. A great question is, what happens when you step into that dream, and realize what it takes to get there?

FF: In addition to penning the show, Dana, you also directed the first season’s six episodes. How did writing the series influence the way you approached helming the project?

DMS: Directing the show was a dream for me. I love to direct and act, and I had such an incredible group of people who I worked with. While directing is something that I really love, knowing that I also had the responsibility to jump into the scene as an actor, I felt it was important to have an incredible team around me.

I knew that Jolie, as an executive producer and one of the other stars of the show, had my back. If there was a producorial need that needed to be handled while I was acting or directing, I knew she would be able to handle it.

I also worked with some incredible cinematographers, including Toru Nishikubo and Jerry Aquino, which really helped me as a director and actor.

It was just really fun. I love to direct comedy. I also love to give actors the opportunity to step into their roles and really let them breathe and come up with some really fun moments on the spot. So I loved directing this series.

FF: Speaking about starring in ‘East,’ Jolie, you portray Lacey. Why did you decide to appear on the comedy?

Jolie Curtsinger (JC): Dana and I were actually introduced by a mutual friend, Jen Rudolph, who’s also on the show. I had seen bits and pieces from this community that we’re both a part of, and I had known Dana and the show.

There was a previous iteration of the pilot that I had seen bits and pieces of, but I hadn’t seen the whole thing. But I thought, that looks really cool!

Then when we were introduced, I was very inspired by, and interested in working with, Dana. Also, what I had seen of the cast that she had assembled at that point looked like an amazing group of people and artists. They were all really funny, so I wanted to play with them. So we decided to work together for the rest of the season, and then went into production.

I had the luxury and privilege of developing this character with Dana. We were tossing around ideas about how we were going to do this. There was a root of this character, but we took it a lot further.

As the season goes on, it’s really fun to watch her humanity and coping mechanisms come out. It was a really fun role to play. Having something written for you is such an honor and a privilege, and it was super fun.

FF: Once production began, how did you collaborate to build your characters’ arcs and relationships?

DMS: I love to collaborate. I think it’s so important to have a vision, and I knew what I wanted. I knew that I wanted an ensemble cast because this world of filmmaking is so collaborative; you can’t be an actor or director alone in a room. No one will get to see your work if you don’t work with an amazing group of people.

As I was casting a lot of these characters, I knew who I wrote for, and why I wrote those roles for them. It’s always been really important to me to allow actors to shine. It’s such a difficult job to undertake…so if I can be helpful with my background as a writer and director, as well as my understanding of what it means to be an actor, it’s really important for me to do so.

I created many of these roles years ago when I shot a different iteration of the pilot. Then a lot of times on set, little pieces of magic that the actors brought to help bring these roles to life would come out. That was such an incredible experience to watch.

So I’m so grateful to the whole cast, and I’m so proud of everybody. There’s so much talent on this show, so I just feel so lucky to have been able to work with such a great group of people.

JC: Yes, when you’re creating on this level, there are long hours. So it’s great when you have a set full of people who are so enthusiastic about the project and the beautiful roles that Dana created for them.

When you’re tired, you’re holding each other up, but you think, this is good; we’re creating something awesome here! That makes it fun, even when you’re tired and you’re not sure how you’re going to get through the next hour. We created a family amongst the cast and crew, and we both feel super grateful to all of them.

FF: What was the experience like of creating the series with the rest of the cast? Did you encourage the other actors to improv while you were filming?

DMS: Many of the jokes were written into the script. Comedy has always been the mechanism I’ve used to get me through life.

But as a director, it’s really important to me to allow actors to step into their own nuances and talent. So there was a lot of improv on set, as well. I would say the show is a combination of the scripted jokes that I wrote and also the brilliance of the cast that brought these characters to life, and I love that.

When an actor comes up with something unexpected for their character as we’re shooting, it’s just magical. I love that, so I always create space for that on set as a director.

FF: Speaking about the ensemble cast, ‘East’ also stars Beth Chamberlin and John Bolger, What was the casting process like for the show?

DMS: We were really lucky. We had an incredible casting director, Mia Cusumano, to help us cast some of the bigger roles, most notably the actors who played my (character’s) parents – Beth Chamberlin and John Bolger. Mia also helped cast some of the other actors who were in some of the other episodes throughout the season.

Jen Rudolph, who Jolie mentioned and introduced us, helped suggest some of the actors for the other roles. So we had a lot of support while we were casting this season.

It all just came together. That’s one of the things that I love about making movies and television shows; when you really set off to do it, beautiful things happen. People show up, and it’s so much fun to see miracles od creation.

JC: Yes, I agree. Since we shot the whole first season, we were casting as we were shooting, kind of like a television show that’s happening in a studio form. So that was fun to know, next week we need to cast these roles. So new people were constantly joining the family and bringing in new energy. So that experience was really awesome, and we feel really lucky for that.

DMS: Throughout the course of the production, which I think lasted about two-and-a-half months, I think we had about 100 actors come in in various roles. So it was a big family! (Schoenfeld laughs.)

FF: The comedy is set in New York City. What was the experience of shooting the series on location in the city?

JC: Yes, our goal, obviously, was to shoot the whole thing in New York City. We scouted some amazing locations and we got lucky with a lot of them. We pulled in a lot of favors for this, and it shows throughout the season. To have an independent project with locations that we think are so spectacular, and really add quality to the production, is amazing.

FF: Like you mentioned earlier, you both also served as producers on ‘East’. Why did you both decide to also produce the show?

JC: We wore a lot of hats! (Curtsinger and Schoenfeld laughed.) But I don’t think Dana wanted it any other way – being under pressure is how we operate best. Like Dana said earlier, supporting each other in our various roles was so important, especially when we were both acting.

We really found that balance of making sure that everything was getting covered when it needed to happen. It’s a lot of work, but it’s so gratifying.

DMS: I have written, directed, produced and acted before on other projects in the past. So I was experienced in wearing all of those hats, but this was the largest project that I had ever taken on as a person wearing all of those hats.

So I can say it’s really a testament to all of my partners, especially Jolie. They all helped me be able to do all of this and handle of my responsivities. I felt really supported by so many people who love working, and just want to see what’s best for the show.

Jolie’s right; I don’t think we would have done it any other way. But I also think that having a great group of people around you helps that process a lot.

JC: Yes, our previous producing experiences definitely set us up for success on this one.

FF: Dana, you also editor all six episodes of ‘East’s first season. How did you determine how to put the final version of the series’ episodes together?

DMS: That’s a great question, thank you, because editing is obviously such a big part in how a show turns out. So I edited all of the episodes, and had help on the pilot from another editor, Cliff Birbrower.

I then ended up re-cutting it because comedy can be so personal, especially in the take and style. So I really wanted to make sure that certain nuances of jokes that I had written and directed translated the right way.

So I re-cut the pilot and cut all of the rest of the episodes. I would then send them to Jolie, who would give me notes on what she thought. I would then incorporate her notes into the edit.

So it was a long process, but such an important one, and I loved it. It took me nearly two years to edit the whole show. (Schoenfeld laughs.) So now I’m back out in the world.

FF: With a show like this, why do you both feel it’s important to have strong females in front of, and behind, the camera?

JC: I think that’s one of the things that drew me to the project, and kept me interested as the process went on. Our main cast is mostly women, and we’re not in our 20s. So we don’t have main characters who are young and fresh to Hollywood; they instead have life experience. So I found representing this time in our life, including the power that comes at this age, to be really compelling and beautiful.

Also, they’re not traditional gender roles; they’re not married with kids. Instead, they’re following their own personal dream and passion. So it’s nice to represent that, as well – stepping out of that traditional idea of what women are supposed to be by a certain time.

DMS: Thanks, Jolie – I totally agree. I never considered my gender to be a factor in stopping me from doing anything I wanted. I’m a human being who loves to create and work. I also love the business side and the creative side. Being a woman is a part of me, and I’m so proud to be a woman, and support women 100 percent.

But I think when you let anything stop you from doing what you want to do in life, whether it is to get married, have kids or have a career, you’re putting limitations on yourself that don’t need to be there. So I’m a huge advocate for everyone going for their dreams. It doesn’t matter who or what you are; just get it done, and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t.

That’s ultimately my mission and the message of the series – go for your dreams. People are going to try to stop you, but don’t let them, as they don’t have the right to do that, since it’s your life. So just go for it!

FF: ‘East’ screened at Dances With Films NYC 2023. What does it mean to you both that the series played during the festival?

JC: I feel like we waited a really long time to have that moment! (Schoenfeld laughs.) There have been so many people waiting to see what we’ve been working on for the last two-and-a-half years. So to be in the theater with our friends and family was a dream come true. It was also so exciting to be around all of these other amazing filmmakers.

The whole Dances With Films family is so incredible, supportive and passionate. So it was such an honor to be a part of that and be inducted into that family. We enjoyed every second of it, and our screening was such a dream.

DMS: I was so impressed by how the film festival was handled. It was so professional, and they take such care in making sure that the filmmakers feel supported. That’s a really unique and beautiful aspect of this film festival, and I’m so grateful that we were a part of it.