Carrie Certa Saves The Day As "Plain Jen"

Photo Credit: Birdie Thompson

When it comes to the film and television industry, there isn’t much that Carrie Certa hasn’t done. As an editor, producer, actress and writer, Carrie has definitely left an impact on Hollywood as a woman with many talents and she continues to go against the grain with the release of her new film where she stars as ‘Plain Jen’.

“A Day In the Life of Plain Jen” premiered at the Action On Film Festival on July 28, 2011. In this interview Carrie Certa tells why she became an actress, what’s the difference between film and television work and she introduces us to ‘Plain Jen’.

You’ve been working in television and film for quite some time. When did you get your start?

I first came out to Los Angeles in 2000. It took me 18 months before I got my first production job. I was getting desperate because no one in town would see me since I didn’t have any experience. I moved from Chicago as a Stage Manager for live theater, experience everyone here in LA seemed to look down upon. I ended up volunteering as a Production Assistant on an extreme sports show with Tony Hawk. Before the day was over, the crew approached the Executive Producer and told him that he had to pay me for the day. He did one better, he paid me AND hired me as an Associate Producer for his company.

Growing up, did you always want to be an actress?

When I was seven, my mother took me to a stage production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”. I couldn’t stop smiling for days! Finally, my Mom asked me why I was so happy, “That’s what I want to do, I want to entertain people so they can feel like this!” It didn’t matter to me if I was the next Madonna or Meryl Streep, I simply wanted to make people laugh and forget their cares for a couple of hours. I ended up receiving a theater degree with an emphasis in acting and stage management.

Photo Credit: Mary LeGault

You’ve worked on some of our favorite shows (ANTM, Bridezillas, etc.) What was that experience like?

Top Model was one of my favorite jobs! I had a team of five people and we were pretty much left alone from the rest of the production and were in a completely different side of the city from the main offices. Even though the show was huge, my department still had the small and intimate feel to it, which really let us connect more as a team and become close friends.

Bridezillas was one of the best and worst shows I’ve ever worked on. I was a Field Producer for season two and Gretchen, in Chicago, was my bride. Directing three cameras in the midst of five cops coming to the house to take the bride’s statement against a couple of rental car employees was the type of chaotic excitement that led me to think I should direct a narrative film. I loved the directing part and telling each camera where to go for the best story, but in a narrative, no one’s really in danger of going to jail.

You went from producing television shows to starring in and producing your own films through Ursa Productions. How has that transition been?

You may not think it, but TV and film are different animals. I come from reality television where most of the productions are “run and gun”. You can only ‘plan’ so much. There are no guarantees to what each individual will do. In film, everything gets to be carefully plotted out and you’re not waiting for some to…say… Bridezilla-out, but the actors, if they’ve done their job, walk on set, get into character and no one gets hurt in the process. I truly enjoy film and the transition has been very smooth because I’ve also been able to surround myself with great people. As the saying goes, “I want to be the stupidest person in the room.” And that was easy to do on Plain Jen when the director has claim to three oscars in visual effects and the production design team had emmy nods… the list goes on, but in short, I was the stupidest person in the room.

Tell me about the film Plain Jen.

Jen is a simple, geeky girl from the midwest that moved to Los Angeles for excitement and adventure. She’s a junior accountant at the same company as her fashionista cousin, Crystal, who wants Jen to fit in instead of embarrassing her with her t’shirt and jeans fashion and quirky sense of humor.

The only way Jen would wear the Manolo Blahnik shoes and fancy dress, was for a hefty bribe so she could purchase a 1977 Star Wars original one sheet. Crystal happily complies.

The fancy designer clothing gets her noticed, gives her a new sense of self-esteem and is the same exact day she gets caught up in an international money laundering scheme, which has the CIA protecting her while the mob is out to kill her.

What made you write this story? Is Jen a character that you relate to?

Plain Jen was a story that was swimming around my head for years. It really makes fun of myself. I’m a huge geek, I love Star Wars and Battle Star Gallatica, anime and the likes. But being a geek comes with it’s own set of negative connotations. I would love to be the superhero and in Plain Jen, I let her put on the cape and save the day. Look at Peter Parker, Steve Rogers, Chuck Bartowski… I wanted to make the female version of these stories.

You wrote, produced and star as Jen in the film. Were you ever overwhelmed by it all?

When I first came out to LA to be an actor, I was wide eyed and hypnotized with the glitz and glamour of what Hollywood ‘is’. After six months, I started producing. I couldn’t stand the way directors, casting agents and producers would treat actors in auditions. Auditions are extremely stressful, so when you’re given attitude from the people you could potentially be working with, it puts a bad taste in your mouth and you end up not wanting the job. So I decided that I would produce and when I was a good enough producer, I would cast myself. It took me ten years to cast myself. Yes, there were times I was overwhelmed, I won’t lie. Producing is the hardest job in production. You have all the responsibility of the production on your shoulders. If the DP messes up, its the producers fault because you hired them! If the script is bad, it’s the producers fault because you didn’t fix it! And the list goes on and on. I had a co-producer to help run things but my producer hat never really came off while I was acting. I don’t think that would be even possible now that I’ve been doing it for so long. Would I have not cast myself if I had know that there were some overwhelming moments? No. I wouldn’t have changed that.

Ryan Haake & Carrie Certa in "A Day in the Life of Plain Jen", Photo Credit: Spencer Brennan

She’s every woman. She wants to find love, she wants excitement and she’s not a size zero. It was really important to me that the lead in this film be a-typical of women to emphasize that anyone can be a hero, it’s not just the Jennifer Garner, Angelina Jolie’s of the world, but curvy women can save the day too!

Where can people support you by purchasing the film?

As of right now, people can like us on our Fan Page on Facebook. We are still running the festival circuit and we’ll be making announcements on where you can see the film, accolades and more fun stuff on the cast and crew!

As a side note, Lucas Films, Manolo and NBC Universal (for Battle star Gallatica) all gave us permission to use their logo, photos and products in our film gratis. All were huge producing wins and, of course, a geek’s dream come true! I literally cried with happiness when LucasFilm. Ltd sent me their release after reading the script. Thank you Lucas!