Rolla Selbak Launches the 'Grrl's Guide to Filmmaking'

The star-maker machinery of Hollywood runs through women by the dozens, but it's rare to find them behind the camera, calling the shots. That's what prompted award-winning filmmaker Rolla Selbak to train her camera on the top female filmmakers of our time, and how they get their writing done.

"I wanted to raise the visibility of female filmmakers and inspire those who want to get into filmmaking, especially women," said Selbak. "We want to hear the stories of how these successful filmmakers made it, and any advice they have."

She used to do the event as a live panel series with audience interaction, screencast once a month. But something was missing.

"I noticed that it wasn't really giving us insight into a day in their life, and thought, wouldn't it be great if we actually went into their creative spaces?" said Selbak. "So I did. I went into filmmakers homes, studios, offices, gardens and backyards the places where the filmmakers actually create, to give this series a more intimate and candid view of the filmmakers."

Selbak sneaks us into the Paramount writers room with Faith Soloway, writer on the breakthrough Amazon series Transparent; stumbles into Cathy DeBuono's backyard; gets the juicy details from Guinevere Turner and how she came up with the title "The L Word," and more.

"One of my biggest highlights was going into the writers room in Paramount," said Selbak. "I sort of sneaked the audience in when Soloway sneaks us into an actual writers meeting. We get a fun little insight into the business as we interrupt their work."

She also treks to the home of celesbian Turner, who writes for "American Horror Story," and viewers can tag along as she "shows us her writing table and the way she documents and doodles on things, which is part of the creative process for her."

She said that where in the past, filmmakers tended to be stiff during sit-down interviews, whereas just us going into someone's home or studio gives the artist a much more intimate, connection and raises the audience's level of appreciation for filmmakers. Selbak usually follows up the interview with a bit of history about the filmmaker.

"Its inspirational for me, and one of things I do before and after the interview is vlog a little about how the person inspires me, how we met and how we work together," said Selbak. "I try to give the audience a bit of context about why I'm interviewing the person."

At this point, Selbak has taped five episodes, and plans to release on each Sunday starting on August 10. If people enjoy the series, she will follow a new batch of women for Season 2. So far, the interview subjects have been just as interested as the viewers.

"Any time I've approached a filmmaker about this, they have been very interested because there is not something out there like this highlighting female filmmakers," said Selbak. "We get all of these negative percentages all the time, the depressing small numbers of women in the business, so this is a great way to highlight those who are actually doing it, and smashing those stereotypes and inspiring other women to do same."

For those who wonder how Selbak manages to buttonhole these famous female filmmakers, it's because she's an industry insider herself. Known for her hugely popular web series "Kiss Her I'm Famous," starring Tracy Ryerson and Ilea Matthew, Selbak is a triple-minority in the filmmaking world: she's queer, an Arab-American and a woman. But that hasn't stopped the self-taught auteur from writing, directing and producing films that matter to her.

She wrote and directed the internationally acclaimed feature film, "Three Veils," which looks at arranged marriage, homosexuality and love within the Muslim-American subculture. Her previous feature film, "Making Maya," was screened at indie film festivals across the world. And her documentary "Green Blue Sea" about a young, Palestinian scuba diver, won the 2008 One Nation Many Voice competition.

She is part of the San Francisco Women's Film Institute Leadership council, and is responsible for creating and producing the S.F International Women's On-line Film Festival, slated to launch at the end of the year/early next year.

Share with her some of the inspiring stories of women who have successfully navigated La-La Land, and are willing to share their road map with you.

Season One of The Grrl's Guide to Filmmaking" launches on August 10 on www.tellofilms.com