Tribeca Film Festival - Fabled
Refinery29 debuted its all new anthology television series, Fabled, on April 23rd at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival as part of TriBeCa TV: Indie Pilots block. The series, which takes classic fairy tale narratives and puts modern, unconforming twists on their stories, is directed by Jennifer Morrison and written by both Evan Jonigkeit and Zosia Mamet, who married in 2016.
Fabled stars Zosia Mamet and Norbert Leo-Butz were both present for the premiere. I spoke with Zosia as well as writer/producer Evan Jonigkeit at the debut of the first episode of Fabled, which tells the story of Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz coming together after both have been admitted to a mental health facility. This episode is entitled “Anodyne.”
Synopsis: Allie and Dee are both creative young women that blaze their own trails and stray away from societal norms. They crave adventure and dream bigger than what the world tells them is acceptable. After meeting at an extensive behavioral therapy center, they find solace and fortitude in one another. Their bond illustrates the strength of friendship and the power that women can harness when they come together.
When asked about the collaborative creative process of making Fabled, Evan explained that “Writing and producing was great. It was a long road from when the idea got from its infancy to now teaming up with Refinery29 and working with the cast we have. It was amazing to see some words that you put down on paper come together and being able to bring the people together to make that happen. It was incredibly rewarding.”
Zosia went on to say, “Something that was really invaluable in us both being producers on this project and also having our partner Alex Gayner was that when one of us was acting, the other one was able to sort of team up with Alex and we could put on the producer hat . . . That’s definitely one of the benefits of being a team on the same project."
Fabled touches on themes of sexuality, gender, and relationships. I asked Zosia if her role in HBO’s Girls in any way influenced her in this work, and while her two characters in these shows differ greatly, she did say that both “touch on issues dealing with women in modern day society, which is obviously something that was sort of the kernel of the seedling behind Fabled. The Cinderella episode, which Evan and Trace Lysette star in, which was written by our friend Matt Flanders, was actually Evan’s idea of wanting to play with the Cinderella concept using a transition story.”
Fabled definitely offers viewers a reimagined interpretation of fairy tales unlike any other. This Refinery29 series is sure to wow audiences with its talented and inventive writers and actors.
