Sassy Mohen, Founder of Director Sassy Mohen
Name: Sassy Mohen
Founder: Director, Sassy Mohen
Who is Sassy Mohen and what does she do?
Sassy Mohen's innovative, bold, confident style has emerged as a pioneer in the genre of female-driven comedy. She has written, directed, produced, and edited multiple award-winning films, TV Pilots, Music Videos, Commercials, Specs, and Web series. Her hot-topic comedy satire HOW TO HACK BIRTH CONTROL is currently smashing the festival circuit and has won BEST TV SERIES, BEST DIRECTOR BEST EDITING.
What does BEING a FoundHer mean to you?
I've been pursuing a career in filmmaking since I was 17 years old, and as my success and opportunities grow, one of the most important things to me is to give back and help others achieve their own dreams. When I was younger, there weren't any female filmmakers/producers for me to look up to, let alone contact for advice, so now that I have gone through my own journey, I want to help other women and marginalized members of our society overcome the obstacles I did, make it easier for them and learn more myself along the way. Women deserve to understand their possibilities and know how to get ahead. One of my missions through my work is to help provide that.
How do you support other female founders and women in business?
Firstly, all my films are about strong female characters who break the mold of a stereotypical "female." I always make a point to have the majority of female crew members and search out women to work with in general over men. I've mentored younger female filmmakers for the past eight years and am part of many women's film groups, such as Film Fatales, Women in Film, FilmmakHERS, and more. I also do speaking sets with my tv pilot 'How to Hack Birth Control' *www.birthcontrolhacks.com, where I talk about female empowerment and reproductive freedom. Anything I can do to help support women in business and the film industry, I will do and will always jump at an opportunity.
At what point did you make your company a full time gig? How did you know the time was right?
Let me tell you, it has been a process to get here! I've been working towards being a film director since I was 17-years old. I directed/wrote/produced an independent feature film in college that ended up making its money back, getting screened around the country and getting distribution. One of the executive producers at this company recognized my talent & ambition and managed to get me a better job at another production company. From there, pretty much the entire team ended up getting great jobs in the film industry because of the film. For the next four years, while continuing to make award-winning projects that gathered hundreds of thousands of hits, got international distribution, a fan base, and were critically acclaimed.
One of the reasons that my films had been doing so well is because I had been utilizing social media to make interactive content whether it be vlogs, blogs, photos, anything and everything I could put out there. People in the industry started asking me to teach them how to do social media, and/or run their social media campaigns for their own projects or companies. This often came with an ask for graphic design or a website, which I didn't know how to do. I then had a lightbulb idea of starting a social media & branding company called ArdentLife Media with a colleague of mine, which really took off quickly because of the relationships I had built within the office I worked at in conjunction with the quality of services we were offering. Going freelance/committing to this company full-time was very scary, especially because I knew that ultimately I didn't want to be doing social media & branding. I had realized that as female filmmaker, there was no natural ladder for me to climb up within the industry. I was just going to have to keep blazing my way inside.
It's an interesting question "How did you know the time was right?" It's kind of a vague answer, but I feel like if you really listen to yourself, you will just know. Those first few years working on ArdentLife Media were very hard, I was young and I struggled and knew it would be so much easier if I just gave up and got a "real job," as my parents loved to remind me I should be doing, but I knew if I could just figure out how to get to the next phase, everything I'd been working towards would start to fall into place, and it did.
What lesson or skill did you take with you from a prior job to help you succeed in your role today?
ArdentLife Media turned out to be a great launching point for me because, in addition to clients needing graphics & websites, they also needed video content, and this is when I started getting my first directing jobs. ArdentLife provided me with the opportunity to make my next big project because, in an effort to save money, I taught myself how to edit those paid spots I did for clients. Because of learning an understanding of editing, and then an understanding of how to brand yourself online, my next big project a tv pilot called "Weedland," led to me getting bonafide directing, producing, editing & writing jobs, and from that point forward my career has been an amazing journey continuing to go faster and faster.
When I look back at when I was 21 and at that first job and how much I was not too fond of it, how jealous I was of all the male directors, many of them my age, getting these fantastic opportunities, I admire her. Because instead of sitting around and being angry about it, I thought, okay, well, this method isn't working; let me try a different one. Because of that tenacity and drive, I got to where I am now and am currently a successful director/writer/producer/editor. I get paid to do daily what I could only dream of back then. I have full control of my day, my job, and my hours, and am in a very fortunate position to have work come to me. I don't think there's ever one "right" time to take a plunge into your future. Still, if you work very hard at it and listen to yourself and those around you, you'll be able to get yourself to a point where even if you don't want it to be, the time will be right because if you don't do it, the universe is going to do it for you. That "right" time is something you can create, it can be today, in 2 years, but it'll happen.
What is something you do differently from the industry standard?
Well, we can start with, I'm a director, and I'm a woman. Yeah, it's better now, but if you look at the stats, we are very few and far between. But putting sexism aside, I think one thing I do differently is money. I grew up in a family that was always broke. Because of having very little to work with, I learned at a young age how to make a mountain out of a molehill. Most people I know in the industry will only make a film if they have "enough money" the "time is right" when this person is available, or when this new piece of equipment comes out. I have never been one to wait. When I started, I had no money to work with and no resume to go off of, but I just said, let's make a movie. Everyone thought I was crazy, but there wasn't a single part of me that went, "Oh, maybe I shouldn't do this because it probably won't be as good as I want it to be." I just went, "No, it's going to be great because I'm going to make it great." Because of that mentality, as I've gotten actual budgets for my film, I can still turn a mountain into a molehill and make $50k look like $500k. I understand how to get discounts and deals and the value of building a relationship over the years instead of paying for one (something I see all the time in the industry.)
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