Reviewer & Author Interviewer, Norm Goldman. Norm is the Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com.
He has been reviewing books for the past twenty years after retiring from the legal profession.
To read more about Norm Follow Here
Bookpleasures.com welcomes as our guests Shelly Skandrani and Natalie Marciano.
Shelly is best-known for her critically acclaimed co-star role of Leah Lubitch, in Showtime's popular Holocaust film The Devil's Arithmetic starring Kirsten Dunst and Brittany Murphy, which was produced by Dustin Hoffman and Mimi Rogers. She was born in Tel Aviv, Israel and grew up in London and is often described as a mixture of Israeli passion and British refinement.
Shelly has delved into writing scripts with complex female characters, as well as poetry that empowers women and focuses on human rights. At present, she is in post production on a short anti rape film, that she wrote and directed, wherein
Natalie helped her produce and also acted in, called Community. It has become a proof of concept for a feature film they are now writing called The Community.
Together, Natalie and Shelly write comedies and dramas, and presently they are pitching three comedy TV shows. They were also hired to write a dramatic book adaptation this year.
Natalie is a producer, writer, comedian, and actress and she was born in Montreal, Canada where she studied at Concordia University and where she earned her B.F.A. in Theatre/Film.
She also studied performance at Stella Adler and The New York Film Institute in New York. She is also known for her Stand Up comedy and during her career has worked at Showtime, CAA, and Relativity.
Shelly and Natalie are also founding members of the organization, Women Creating Change, that had the event "Stand Up 4 Her" on the 17th of November, 2019.
Norm: Good day Shelly and Natalie and thanks for participating in our interview.
How did you meet and
what motivated you to work together on several projects?
Shelly: Natalie and I met on set, a friend told me they were filming some comedy skits and that their producer was looking for my character type. Natalie was the producer, and writer, and was running the show. I could see she was a powerful women, intimidatingly so even, LOL, but I got over myself, because she was also super friendly and funny.
We worked on a few skits together, but then realized that we really got each other and we could do more. So Natalie let me read a rough version of a film she wrote called The Extras, which is a raunchy and bubbly, female buddy comedy, and
I loved it! Immediately I had so many ideas to add, and we ended up re- writing it together, our voices meshed so well that we couldn’t tell who wrote which part!
Our humor style is very different, but we both love what the other can do, so ultimately we complete each other’s abilities, and end up writing comedies that appeal to a wider audience.
Natalie: Yes, I knew right away that Shelly and I would be working together. It actually took us a few more years before we collaborated on the writing. We are such a great team because we bring very different strengths to the work and are both very focused on what’s best for the project. Our egos never decide what makes it in, the integrity of the work is like its own bossy entity that we let steer our ship.
We also help round out all genres and constantly grow as artists. For example I am addicted to comedy and Shelly is more fond of drama. As a result we write all styles to appease each others desires. It ends up making us more well versed all around. I have actually learned to love writing the heavier stuff, and Shelly has really blossomed as a comedy writer. I feel like we are able to write telepathically now, hahaha.
Norm: What do you consider to be your greatest success (or successes) so far in your careers?
Shelly: I’ve had a ton of theater success as an actress, and a few really great films I’ve been in, that I’m proud of, but ultimately my writing is the best part of me, that I have to offer the world.
As a modern woman, who’s lived in three continents, travelled extensively, and exchanged ideas with very deep thinkers around the world, I feel that through writing I can truly make a change in the way women are perceived, I can help women be understood and understand themselves better.
When I performed my poem Social Reconditioning at WCC’s Stand Up 4 Her event this month, I knew that women would connect to it, I knew it would open people’s minds, but I didn’t know that women would approach me after with tears in their eyes, thanking me for voicing their feelings so well. I was shocked, and honored.
Most of what I write has a social agenda hidden within it, about things that worry or frustrate me in the world, it’s how I calm the storm that boils inside me when I see injustice. It’s also how I write poetry, if something angers me, it makes for a powerful poem, and then I feel serene again.
I think I’m most proud of the book adaptation Natalie and I wrote this year. We were hired by producers Jason Gurvitz and Jordan Marinov, who also run the Hidden Tears Project, to write a film called Climb Your Everest. It’s based on the true story of Sara Safari, a female Iranian Mountain Climber, who raises money for at risk girls in Nepal. It was a challenging script, mostly because we cared so much about it, and I feel humbled by the opportunity to write this amazing woman’s story.
Natalie: That’s a tricky question because success is usually equated to acclaim. I have to say that for me my greatest achievements has been growth and Joy. When I started I had so many preconceived ideas about success. I had based it primarily on external validation.
Today success is that which makes me better and fills me with purpose so while I’ve had many external successes in my career my greatest has been collaborating with other amazing women, making people laugh and being fulfilled.
So on the same tangent as Shelly, the #standupforher event, definitely combined all three of those elements. I have performed many shows in my lifetime but standing up there with the community of women from WCC was #goals. It felt more poignant than other performances because of what it meant for us to be up there together.
Also, agreeing with Shelly, with respect to writing, Climb Your Everest, is what I am most proud of. I am honored that we were chosen to tell Sara’s story and I am so much better a human, a writer and a woman for it. I am also grateful to have expanded my amazing female community and have Sara as a friend.
Norm: What has been your greatest challenge (professionally) that you’ve overcome in getting to where you’re at today?
Shelly: So. Many. Challenges. Hahaha... a big one was my work visa, I spent ten years in the USA on a very restricting Artist Visa which didn’t really allow me to develop as an artist. This year, however, I achieved the Artist Green Card, and now I’m free to grow and be empowered. I even wrote a poem about it!
Also, I look very young, even though I’m 37, so often people have assumed that I’m inexperienced, or lack intelligence, and I have to work harder than others to prove my value. I usually succeed, but the process is exhausting and time wasting. That’s changing now, as my professional circle has changed, and more opportunities are being given to women.
Natalie: Well how long do you have? haha. I think the greatest challenge, and there have been so many road blocks, but the greatest has been self-doubt. When people say you have to be thick-skinned in Hollywood, they're not kidding. But, I also think we have to be in life as well. It took me longer than I’d like to admit to stop giving my power away and believe in my abilities.
I really feel that if I had wrestled self-doubt earlier, I’d have been even farther ahead today. That said, I am happy to be where I am, and feel that the journey has been so educational that I really feel unstoppable.
Norm: What do you find as the most difficult aspects in working together and how do you resolve your differences when they crop up?
Shelly: We are both strong and opinionated women, and sometimes we disagree about what should happen in the script. But there’s no ego there, we really just want what’s best for the story, so we discuss, each offering our ideas, and ultimately we end up using bits of each idea. It’s part of the process, in fact those disagreements end up creating the best scenes in the script!
Natalie: Ha! Well I actually think that with Shelly, the work is the easy part. As I mentioned, we are both really invested in the integrity of what we produce. If a disagreement comes up, we both give our most convincing arguments for why we want an idea, word or whatever, and the person with the best argument wins. We are really good at being rational in these scenarios. The tricky part is when we aren't writing, and we have to navigate feelings and emotions to deepen our friendship, lol, just like everyone else on earth.
Norm: Together you have written comedies and dramas. Where do you get your ideas from and could you briefly tell us about some of your work? Is there a message you wish to convey in your work?
Shelly and Natalie: We definitely get many ideas from our life experiences, even when we are hired on someone else’s story. We are idea machines because of our collective backgrounds and education. Writing needs to be authentic even if the story is made up. People don't want to be patronized and I think that comes out in our collaboration. Truth above all else.
As far as the message, we are definitely women that want to make an impact and contribute to society. We mostly write female led content and almost always with a social issue highlighted. Though sometimes you’ll be laughing so hard you don't even notice that we’ve tricked you into caring about activism.
Norm: What advice do you have for our readers who might dream of becoming involved in the theater as an actor, producer, director or any other involvement?
Shelly and Natalie: The best advice we can think of is find your voice, find what is important to you, as that will be your fuel, in the long haul. Then, find YOUR people. Find collaborators that feed you emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. Find people that make you feel great about your talents, and believe in you, and people that inspire you and want to contribute. Ultimately, never settle for working with the wrong people to get ahead, because it will inevitably keep you far behind.
Norm: How do you think acting has changed over the years?
Shelly and Natalie: There are so many great things that have changed and some not so great. We love that there is more inclusion and diversity in film and TV, it’s about time! The whole landscape of who we see now seems to represent more of the world and it is how it should've been all along.
The most disappointing thing to happen to acting is social media. It is upsetting that roles are being determined by how big of an influencer you are and follower counts. There is more mis-casting than ever based on what is financially projected by popularity. It is true that they've always tried to determine pre-sales on the popularity of an actress but valuing Julia Roberts is one thing because she is talented and has a track record. Using influencers in place of talent is getting very problematic. Acting is a craft that takes years to hone, we wouldn’t want to replace our Cardiologist because he’s bigger on Instagram.
Norm: What are the qualities in actors you most admire?
Shelly and Natalie: We admire depth and versatility, an actor that delves into themselves when portraying a role, can truly grip and inspire you. An impressive actor is one that takes chances with their selection of roles, and brings something new each time. And that’s true for both dramas and comedies. There’s a misperception that in comedies there’s no need to go deep, but actually the deeper the pain, the funnier the situation.
We also appreciate actors that use their platform and influence for positive change. We all have a responsibility towards the world, and if you’ve been given that power of persuasion, you should use it for the greater good.
Norm: What is Women
Creating Change all about? How did you become involved in it? Who
else is involved in it? How is it financed? What do you hope to
achieve with this organization? Where can our readers find out more
about it?
Women Creating Change is about community. It’s about women from different political and religious backgrounds, but with similar cultures, collaborating. We envision an empowered, and diverse group of Middle Eastern women, rooted in creative dialogue, with the aim to address global issues and gender inequality.
We hope that we will showcase what we have to offer, to make strides for women in entertainment and serve as an example to others, that peaceful co existence doesn't just work, it’s an evolutionary necessity.
We were both looking for a community of women that we could connect with, and really feel at home. There are many little communities in Los Angeles, but this one felt most aligned with who we are. So we joined the founding team.
Shelly: I knew Lee Broda from years back, and she invited me to a few WCC meetings. Lee actually founded the organization, she’s a very successful producer, actress, and poet (The Kindergarten Teacher, A Private War). She felt like she was marching alone in a men’s world, and wanted to bring her women with her.
Lee Broda: “Slowly more and more women joined, and they all felt the same. That it was time for us to come together and celebrate our backgrounds, stories and culture. That we can lift and support each other, instead of stand against each other. It was time we educate the world as well.”
We have a lot of sponsors that help us with our mission, and we also hold a fundraising event once a year.
This year we threw an incredible fundraising event called “Stand Up 4 Her”, which was an inspiring variety show, with female comedians, poets, musicians and storytellers from the Middle East and North Africa. It really exceeded all our
expectations, both in the way everyone sparkled on the stage, and in how the audience enjoyed, and were affected by our work!
“Stand Up for Her” kicked off with Muslim-Iraqi Comedian Reem Edan and Jewish-Israeli actress Gal Macadar “arguing” over who would serve as host. “Let’s settle this like men. Meet me outside in five,” Edan said. “Or we can settle this like women and talk about it,” replied Macadar. (The women decided to co- host.)
The show featured outstanding comedians Crystal Marie Denha, Melissa Shoshahi, Noam Shuster, Nina Kharoufeh, Natalie Marciano, Zain Shami, and Mona Shaikh, who shared saucy insights into being a modern Middle Eastern woman, revealing through humor, that they all share the same plights.
Crystal Marie Denha made the audience blush with her jokes about sex, Natalie had them Ululating loudly saying “if Gwyneth paltrow doesn’t know what it is, it must be some messed up shit!”, “I see you undressing me with your eyes,’ says hijab wearing, Zain Shami, “do you want to make me your second wife?”
To balance out the evening, poets and storytellers entered the stage with emotionally provoking performances!
Nawal Bengholam read a poem by Salma El- Wardany, Lee Broda shared her poem The Vow, from her book of poetry “Whispers from the Moon”, I promise to honor the woman in me... water her with light, feed her kindness, kiss her scars, bathe her with love.” I performed my poem Social Reconditioning, “Too busy convincing me that I don’t know my own desires, and the world admires, your strength and conviction. My smile and submission.”
Inbar Lavi (Lucifer) spoke of how women create the feeling of home, and what connects the WCC members is that they’ve left their homes behind and built a new one in Los Angeles, and storyteller Ayser Salman shared moments about her childhood as an immigrant from her book "The Wrong End of the Table: A Mostly Comic Memoir of a Muslim Arab American Woman Just Trying to Fit in".
Guests also enjoyed a special musical performance by Inbar Starr and beats from DJ Karina Kay.
The venue was gorgeously decorated in Middle Eastern flair and run by Event Producer, Tal Orion, Natasha Kermani and Lidiya Korotko. The evening wrapped up with a dessert reception, and the VIP guests even received gift bags with Converse Shoes and other goodies.
Natalie: Everyone on the team is so committed and devoted to our mission and our togetherness. We all brought our abilities to the table to make this incredible event happen. Inbal-Rotem Sagiv who’s a dynamic Producer and Musician, and the Executive Director of WCC, has been in Israel for the last few months, and has actually done so much work remotely, it’s astounding! Inbal says “We’ve been planning this event for a while, and were excited to share our vision, but little did we know it would incite such a magnificent reaction!”
Shelly: We all support each other, for example Natasha Kermani, who produced the stage show at Stand Up 4 Her, along with Lidiya Korotko, is an incredible director. She’s constantly helping and supporting women in our group, and even cast me in her last film “Lucky”, which she produced with Epic Pictures. Natasha says about the event “I was so thrilled to see this event come together through the hard work of our members and our collaborations. It was so exciting to see Middle Eastern women take center stage for the evening, and only served to show how much creativity and energy we have to give as a community.”
We have a ton of events
scheduled for 2020. We feature community building events, as well as
ones that promote us and connect us to industry professionals. You
can find out more about the work we do at by following HERE
You can follow us on IMDB and Instagram: Shelly HERE
Natalie HERE
Norm: What is next for
you both?
Shelly and Natalie: We just finished writing a comedy TV pilot with an amazing Israeli creator called Sahar Hagai. It’s currently being pitched to all the networks. It’s a very unique concept, with a strong female lead. It’s a comical quest for salvation, human salvation. But that’s all we can say for now...
We’re also writing a romantic comedy, we feel like now, more than ever, especially with dating apps and social media, there needs to be a resurgence in the genre. The romantic comedy has been almost forgotten in the last ten years, but as evidenced on Netflix and Amazon, people are craving it once again.
Shelly: Other than work, I’m really looking forward to my trip to Africa, my mom and I are going on Safari, it’s been a life long dream, that we’re both very excited about!
Natalie: I’m looking forward to some quality time with friends and family that are visiting for the holidays. As a busy single mom, I cherish these moments we have together.
Thank you so much Norm, for supporting our work!
Norm: Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors.