Chelsea McMullan on Directing a Blistering Menopause Manifesto

“I wanted these raw, intimate glimpses of real life to be interwoven with striking images of friction building, sparks flying, flames engulfing everything.” ANIMALS director Chelsea McMullan has certainly brought the heat with her latest film. 

‘Hot and Bothered’, for Sinai Health Foundation with creative from agency of record, Diamond, is a visceral visualisation of menopause and perimenopause: its hot flushes, aches, anxiety – the whole messy reality. And it is reality; the film features women who are actually going through it, acting out genuine situations they’ve been in.

The campaign is based on Diamond’s manifesto of the same name, calling time on the stigma that plagues women and prevents them from seeking support during a time unlike any other. Finally, it demands understanding, answers, and funding: fifty million dollars, to be exact, to set up a Centre for Mature Women’s Health at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Curious to learn more about the passion and purpose embedded in the making of the ‘Hot and Bothered’ film, LBB’s Zara Naseer spoke to Chelsea about their experience directing the blistering visual manifesto.

LBB> What was your brief for this campaign, and how did you originally respond?

Chelsea> The brief was pretty open, which I was excited about. Diamond wanted to bring in the director early to craft a visual approach from a manifesto they had written for the campaign’s rallying cry ‘Hot and Bothered’. I got goosebumps when I read it. Immediately I saw the potential to make people who’ve experienced menopause feel seen. I was inspired to create very visceral imagery, using texture and colour to represent such a complex physical and psychological experience. So it was a lot of fun exploring different formats, macro lenses, and contrasting red and blue colour palettes to achieve this effect.

LBB> Menopause is often treated as a taboo subject carrying a lot of shame. How did the need to defy that shape your approach to directing the film?

Chelsea> I was inspired by Diamond’s bold decision to be unapologetic in their approach. For me that meant resisting glossy stylisation to capture the messy reality of living with menopause. Representing real women navigating physical and emotional rollercoasters in an unvarnished way. For me this meant casting real women experiencing menopause instead of actors, working with them to develop a script based on those experiences, and using the real locations that put their personal histories on the screen. There’s no better way to capture a truly relatable life experience.

LBB> Were there any other pieces of work or people you were inspired by?

Chelsea> I tend to do a lot of research as part of my process. I was especially inspired by some recent books related to menopause and perimenopause, which I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to know more. Miranda July’s ‘All Fours’ is autofiction but does an incredible job of articulating the experience of perimenopause. Heather Corinna’s ‘What Fresh Hell Is This?’ is a wonderful book. Heather is non-binary so the language around menopause is really inclusive and it’s just a funny, honest and well researched take. Also ‘Flash Count Diary’ by Darcy Steinke is a really moving memoir that takes you on a journey, and is where I learned that whales are the only other mammals besides humans that experience menopause. 

LBB> Tell us about the spoken word that drives the campaign. How did that come to life?

Chelsea> I know the team at Diamond did a lot of research on the subject before writing what they coined ‘The Manifesto’. When I came on I could see how much care and thought had gone into it. We discussed the meaning behind every line. Not only did they draw on clinical research for inspiration but they were both drawing from their own experiences and those of other people in their lives. Since there’s such a history of being overlooked and misrepresented, I think everyone involved in the project felt a sense of responsibility to get it right.

LBB> What was the casting process like, and how do you think it added to the film’s authenticity?

Chelsea> The casting process was so wonderful. Shoutout to Shasta [Lutz] and her team at Casting Crane. They were amazing at helping me cast real people. Shasta truly understood the vision and the women we were hoping to find. In the callout we sent them a few questions describing their experiences navigating menopause. Then in the casting session it was partially an interview where I tried to help them relax and get to know them better and partially doing some improvisations drawing on their own experiences. 

LBB> Did you have any particular techniques for helping the actors channel their inner frustrations in a way that resonates with real women going through menopause?

Chelsea> It was a different process than I use with actors, though there’s definitely overlap. These were real women going through menopause, tapping into their genuine frustration for how they’ve been treated. I’ve been making documentaries for the past fifteen years so this kind of approach comes pretty naturally to me. I work with a small team and a light footprint and I wrote the scenes based on those past experiences. Working with non-actors has its own rules and it’s all about creating the conditions for people to be themselves.

LBB> What was your vision for the edit and music, and how they would intensify the film’s message?

Chelsea> I wanted these raw, intimate glimpses of real life to be interwoven with striking images of friction building, sparks flying, flames engulfing everything. The audience has to feel the heat! The editing needed to be visceral and dynamic. The pace builds with the rush of a hot flash in each verse, spiking up then dropping off. Musically I wanted to lean away from emotional classical music with strings towards an edgier sound that was more punk. I wanted the music to communicate the feeling of being fed up. I remembered the aptly-titled song ‘Burning’ by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs while thinking of punk bands I used to listen to as a teenager. When editor Danica Pardo laid it in, it felt meant to be. We all fell in love with it. I love Karen O and my 15-year-old emo heart is bursting. 

LBB> Did you face any tough or interesting challenges during production? How did you overcome them?

Chelsea> I’d say the two major challenges to overcome were time and getting everyone on the same page in terms of process. We shot the spot in two days. An ambitious scope and multiple characters meant a lot of setups and locations to cover. We tried to keep the crew as small and nimble as possible, with an even smaller skeleton crew that travelled with the camera to meet the talent so we could be up and shooting right away. Our DP Shady Hanna lit minimally, and we embraced natural light so we had the ability to shoot continuously in all directions. This both achieved the raw visual realism I was aiming for and gave us more time and space to shoot with our non-actors. 

The kind of authentic performances we wanted from our non-actors require a shooting approach closer to an actual documentary than a traditional commercial set, which is my wheelhouse. No wardrobe, minimal set design, real locations, small crew, and a closed set were imperative. Commercial productions tend to be pretty well oiled machines, so asking everyone to embrace a less familiar approach takes a lot of communication and trust from everyone involved. I really valued the trust I was given both from the agency Diamond and the client Sinai Health. That mutual understanding of the vision we were trying to achieve can feel rare sometimes. I think it made a huge difference.

LBB> And what was the most rewarding aspect of working on this campaign?

Chelsea> Working on this campaign was incredibly rewarding across the board. Throughout the casting process I spoke with so many women that were frustrated that their suffering is invisible. Collaborating with a group of women, in the midst of going through menopause, to give them agency in representing their experiences to a wide audience was extremely moving. I hope the care we took in making this film connects with people.