Insights into Indie Dramedy Filmmaking With the Team Behind ‘Lady Parts’

No Film School: Tell us a bit about the inspiration for Lady Parts?

Bonnie Gross: I’m sitting at a doctor’s office, in agonizing, chronic pain, with my mom and dad. The pain is in my vagina. The doctor is a vulvar specialist. A nerve ending problem. Pain. Knife stabbing pain to the touch. If it was on my shoulder we could fix it in a day, but you know what they say? Location, location, location. Meanwhile my mom and dad watched intently as the doctor used his fist and hand to show how vaginismus and pelvic floor tightening means that nothing can go in. It hit me, quite literally, at that moment. If I ever wrote a film it would have to be about vaginas and family.

For years I was struggling with vulvar pain, which included pain during sex, tampon insertions, and even just wearing tight pants or riding a bike. It seemed that no one was talking about the “taboo” subject and even I was scared to talk about it, especially after years of medical gaslighting by medical professionals across the nation. After years of doctors not believing my pain, I found a specialist in New York that correctly diagnosed my vulvar vestibulitis and vaginismus.

Eventually, I got a vulvar vestibulectomy surgery and did a year of pelvic floor therapy with dilators, which meant moving back home with my parents. My vagina truly became a family affair. After all was said and done, I wondered why no one was talking about this and why I couldn’t find any media about the subject. I wrote a blog post about the surgery and ended up receiving over six hundred views and an overwhelming response from other people out there, who were experiencing similar issues. Once I was able to get myself healthy, I began writing Lady Parts to finally put something out there that no one was talking about but needed to be heard.

When it came time to make the film, I got tired of waiting around for someone else to give me permission (money). If there isn’t a chair at the table, then bring a damn folding chair. I emptied my life savings and self produced the feature starting in 2020 and have never looked back. Watching audiences feel seen and heard for the first time on screen is payment enough every time.

Edith Belmont: I met Bonnie in 2022 and was blown away by her script. I came from a background in medical science videography, having filmed three face transplants in my four years at a large medical institution in NYC. I also experienced some of my own medical gaslighting for decades around my endometriosis. I loved that she found a funny and heartwarming way of telling this story, and that she didn’t shy away or apologize for any of it.

NFS: How have y'all found the Austin Film Festival? What have been some of your favorite experiences from the fest this year?

Gross: The Austin Film Festival was truly an experience of a lifetime, especially coming here with an indie feature that meant so much to myself and our entire team. One of my favorite moments was actually coming on the No Film School podcast surrounded by spectacular micro-budget filmmakers with powerful stories to tell. We joked about it being group therapy, but in the micro-budget indie film world, every day is insane, unpredictable, and sometimes your highest highs and lowest lows are within the same hour.

Hearing how each team brought their vision to light even with no resources, and finding creative ways to tell their story was so inspiring and got me already thinking about the next feature. It truly is an honor to be surrounded by such incredible talent all week.

NFS: What cameras did you shoot on (and why)?

NFS: Could you share a bit about the editing process? How much of the story changes or is developed in post for y'all?

Belmont: Bonnie and our director Nancy offered a ton of freedom and flexibility and trust in the edit, which I’m so grateful for. I cut a first assembly and relied on comments through Frame.io for the first few rounds of notes. Later on, Nancy (who is based in LA) and I connected over remote edit sessions to work towards a final cut. We looped in our composer Hollie Buhagiar pretty early on, which was fantastic as there are a couple of montage sequences that rely pretty heavily on the music for timing.

The script was already so solid that not much wound up changing in post. The only big rewrite was a nightmare montage when Paige goes under general anesthesia for her surgery. There’s a sequence in which four to five doctors look straight to camera and gaslight Paige about her pain (all lines of dialogue lifted verbatim from Bonnie’s real life experience). That sequence was actually scripted pretty early on in the story, about scene 11. In the cut however, it just wasn’t quite working.

The nightmare montage was also a bit short in the cut, so by moving the gaslighting clips to the surgery scene, we were able to not only pad out that sequence for time, but also add more dramatic significance as this is the point in the story when Paige is finally getting the help she needs, and we could show all the pain, frustration, and disrespect she had experienced bubbling up in her subconscious in that moment.

NFS: Could you share a bit about what type of budget y'all had for the project and how the team was able to pull off the film with limited resources?

Gross: The budget of our film was proudly around 50k. I say proudly because I want people to know they can also go make their film. I met our other producer, Meghan Griesbeck, as we both work at Light Iron, which is owned by Panavision. We were very lucky due to Meghan’s hard work to receive a Panavision Camera Package as well as dailies and all color correction from Light Iron for free. Our whole team is so thankful to Panavision and Light Iron for believing in their employees' projects and allowing us to pursue our creative films.

Also, I was working my full time post production job at Light Iron remotely on NY hours (still am at all these festivals, too), while being the producer/exec producer on set 14 to 18 hours a day in LA. I poured my entire life savings out to make this film, and working while being there was sadly the only way to get this done and make sure we could still feed the cast and crew. There were times when I’d be taking a Teams meeting while leaning on a Saint Andrew's cross in a BDSM dungeon as the team continued filming in the medical play room, which we were using as our main doctors office (yes, I have a picture I can share of this).

This is a good transition to locations, which we got all for free including the dungeon. All of our office scenes were shot in a plumbing and hardware supply company in LA. My dad works in their New Jersey offices and was able to help us get in. Shoutout to Jones Stephen! All we had to do was avoid getting the toilet seats in the shot.

Our Airbnb that was sleeping some of our cast and crew was also the main house of the family. Our amazing lead, Valentina Tammaro, was actually sleeping in her character’s childhood bedroom at night then having to act in it almost every day. A quick shoutout also to Lauren and Mark VanKirk who not only let me stay in their she-shed for an entire month, but also let us use the exteriors of their house at all hours of the night. Another shout out to my friends Darryl and Vinnie who let us overtake their apartments.

With such a tight budget, everyone was wearing multiple hats. We were blessed to have the team we had, who were willing to jump in and do what was necessary each and every day. We were so low budget that I was driving the truck of equipment every day, working as the locations manager, prop master, ordering crafty, and now making 1,000 plus friendship bracelets for marketing. A quick shout out again to our entire cast and crew. This was not an easy project due to our budgetary limitations, but every person involved turned setbacks into creative gold, and came with positive attitudes even when the cards were stacked against us. FIlmmaking is collaborative and I am so proud of our entire team for coming together to rally behind Lady Parts at all stages in the process.

Lastly, we called in every favor for donations when it came to extra money on our Indiegogo rounds or even people willing to donate a meal to set. This also included partnering with brands that aligned with our niche such as Intimate Rose, The Pelvic People, and Tight Lipped. I am so fortunate to have the support of my friends and family who have shown up whether it be through monetary donations, allowing us to use their resources, or simply shouting about us from the very beginning.

NFS: What inspires you all to be filmmakers and work on projects like this?

Gross: The beauty of stories like this one, is that it takes a huge real world problem and makes it digestible to the public. It is able to capture the audience in a story instead of spewing medical facts and sending us down a swirl of depression statistics. It instead humanizes our characters who are experiencing chronic vulvo-vaginal and pelvic pain in a way everyone can relate to, even those without a vagina. Seeing the impact this story had on audiences makes everything worth it. The long nights, the back breaking days on set, the mounds of credit card debt. I’d do it all again if it means this type of reaction to the film.

Any story that can transcend the film itself, and go on to elicit real change gives me the motivation to do this everyday. Plus there is nothing more cathartic than laughing at yourself and writing through your own healing journeys. Writing and working on projects like these keeps me sane in this chaotic world.

Belmont: I was a spacey and dreamy kid with my own trauma, and stories and storytelling saved me time and time again. Thanks to Bonnie’s beautiful and empowering script, we’ve shared a story that hopefully gives voice to a population who is so frequently ignored, not studied, disregarded.

The best response has been from folks who have not previously felt seen or heard, who approach us after a screening and overshare about their own lady bits, often even before telling us their names. We laugh and assure them we completely understand their excitement at finally seeing themselves represented and understood. It’s a blast to entertain audiences and while we’re at it, if we’re able to move the needle on the hearts and minds of a few folks, or embrace folks who are feeling a little invisible, then it’s all worth it.