Microsoft Women in Business & Technology
podcast interview
"We hear from writer, director, and producer Serena Schuler about her upcoming comedy TV series focused on a female founder, Makeshift Society. Our hosts interview Microsoft’s Chief People Officer Kathleen Hogan about the company’s culture transformation. We wrap with Procter & Gamble’s pledge to have women direct 50% of ads by 2023." -Colleen O'Brien, co-host of the Microsoft Women in Business & Technology podcast
"Jennie Frisbie, co-founder of Magnet Management, and literary manager of screenwriters and directors in TV and film, joined for the 2nd Dinner with Dames SF. She advised on subjects such as funding, career development, and playing to your strengths. She remarked, “Right now is a great time to be a female filmmaker, especially in TV,” noting the rising popularity of television and the various new distribution models and opportunities in the medium." -Film Inquiry
"A young television writer and creator Serena Schuler has a different point of view when it comes to television: Tell the stories that can inspire things to be different. Because those stories do exist. Women may only make up some 3% of CEOs of venture backed companies, but they do exist. And it’s possible, a story about someone overcoming even more odds than the typical startup founder just might make for more interesting television." -Sarah Lacy, Founder of Pando
Featured on Sarah Lacy's podcast 'A Uterus Is A Feature Not A Bug'
"Several high-powered women in the Valley agree, and have backed Schuler’s new proposed pilot called “Makeshift Society.” It’s the story of a Silicon Valley rising tech star named Alex, who spurns her bro boss’s advances, becomes an industry pariah, and winds up in a co-working space where she amalgamates her own Silicon Valley crew with those around her. In the story, Alex had always dreamed of starting her own company, but never quite had the courage until she was pushed. Yep. Sounds like the Silicon Valley I know: I took a newborn baby fundraising for Pando after my job was giving away while I was in labor. We invited Schuler on our podcast to tell us more about her journey and her project." -Sarah Lacy, founder of Pando
digital cio
Paging Dr. Dana Scully: More media representations of women in STEM needed
Popular shows still portray tech as a ‘boys club’
"That last point is especially important, I think, because despite #meToo and #TimesUp, media representation of women (especially black, Hispanic, Latinx, lesbian, queer, trans women, and most especially women in STEM) is really lacking. While Anderson’s Dana Scully arguably paved the way for the success of characters like Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan, Firefly’s Zoe Washburn and Kaylee Frye, as well as more contemporary characters I love, including The Expanse’s Dominque Tipper as Naomi Nagata and Mr. Robot’s Darlene, shows like Silicon Valley and The Big Bang Theory still perpetuate the notion that STEM in general and tech in particular is a “boys club” and that “adorkable misogyny” is harmless and humorous.
As Marykate Jasper writes in The Mary Sue, “This sort of portrayal has some scary implications, since — as [The Big Bang Theory series creator and narrator] McIntosh points out — in the real world, misogyny and sexual harassment aren’t harmless. They push women out of politics, out of certain industries, and off of social media platforms."
And it can make women even less likely to consider careers in their fields in the first place or make them even more likely to leave because of the toxic environment. It’s one reason Serena Schuler is creating Makeshift Society, her pilot about a woman tech entrepreneur who strikes out on her own after enduring harassment.
I’m encouraged to see more powerful women characters in the Scully mold on television — the aforementioned Naomi Nagata and Darlene Alderson, but also Chloe Bennet’s Daisy Johnson, Elizabeth Henstridge’s Jemma Simmons, and Ming-Na Wen’s Melinda May on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. And I can’t wait to see Schuler’s Makeshift Society bring even more amazing, inspirational women to the small screen. I hope these characters will do as much as Dr. Scully did to encourage girls and women in technology and STEM fields — because if you can see it, you can be it."
Behind-the-scenes of Dinner with Dames, where emerging female filmmakers met with Blye Faust (Producer of Oscar-winning film Spotlight).
Makeshift Society uses comedy to tell an important story about women in tech
"A new TV series takes a funny-because-it’s-true look at a female founder’s journey to success in Silicon Valley. While the characters and the events in the series are fictional, they’re inspired by many women Schuler has met in the tech industry, whose stories deserve a wider audience. These female founder stories from Silicon Valley are dramatic and fascinating — and they haven’t been told before." -Sharon Florentine, CIO
"But then came The Ten Plagues by the witty Serena Schuler, and watch out for her, because she has a future in ‘the biz,’ as my New York City agent used to say. As much as I love to cry at movies, I love to cry while laughing even more. And this 10-minute delight made me do that." - MARINA TIMES
"Even when you have a date and love cheesy Hallmark holidays, it’s still pretty impossible to have a good time. As illustrated by this music video about a woman who just wants to enjoy her damn Valentine's Day, for once." - WHOHAHA
"If you’re a Crazy Ex Girlfriend fanatic like myself, I think you’ll love this new musical Valentine’s Day parody of the classic song from My Fair Lady, “I Could Have Danced All Night.” Actually, you’ll love it if you’ve ever been in love with love (and not the insane commercialization of it)." - COMEDY CAKE
"The Ten Plagues literally had us falling out of our seats."
- BAY AREA WOMEN IN FILM + MEDIA
"A hilarious short film about Passover." - NJ STAGE
"The story is about one woman’s hilarious antics getting ready for the big day, and ultimately getting overwhelmed by the holiday.... Serena wrote the lyrics and recorded with vocalist Kaeli Quick at the legendary Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco, where musicians such as Joan Baez, Green Day, Earth, Wind & Fire, and many more have laid down tracks before." - FUNNYWOMEN.COM
