Nerdist managing editor Alicia Lutes is a comedy writer in Los Angeles with aspirations of show-runner grandeur. Her work has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, MTV, BuzzFeed, Bustle, Nerdist, Cinemablend, Hollywood.com, and more.
“Fangirling” is Alicia’s baby, a lifestyle/talk show hybrid series she hosts weekly. The show features a rotating panel of pop culture guests recap the news of the week while breaking down on-set reports, magazine-style interviews, DIY craft segments, satirical moments like the by-and-for dudes “Mansplain It To Me,” irreverent events coverage, historical tell-alls, and other stories for, by, and about women.
I recently sat down with Alicia to talk about “Fangirling,” life, nerdom, and finishing up the WonderCon Women of Pop Culture panel.
What would be your ultimate “get” in terms of a guest on Fangirling?
Alicia Lutes: That is such a Sophie’s Choice. I really want Kathleen Kennedy. She would be incredible. She is the be all and end all of Star Wars. But honestly, there’s so many people that I super admire that I would love—like Nichelle Nichols, Linda Carter, Julie Andrews. You can be a theater nerd. I was a theater nerd for most of my life growing up. There are so many people—like the woman who worked on the weapons for “Game of Thrones.” Women who are embedded in different places of geekdom that I would love to talk to and who show the wide swath of experiences you can have with women in their culture. Women who are directors and executive producers, and DPs. When I think about “Ava DuVernay and what she did with “A Wrinkle in Time,” I want to talk to all of them.
Do you sometimes follow “up and comers”?
AL: I do. I’m constantly plugged into TV and movies, video games, everything that’s going on. I’m lucky to get things early. Three months before the opening of “Blackbeard,” I had the screeners. Being able to watch women in their career trajectory is really cool. It’s just so exciting to be a woman right now. Our feelings, emotions, likes, dislikes, opinions, and what we do is just as valid and should be given as much space as a man’s. We are living in the wake of that watershed moment.
Let’s talk about the books you like. Have you read “The Light Between Oceans?” It’s a heartbreaker.
AL: Oh yeah. I interviewed Alicia Vikander. I’m such a bookworm. I grew up with books. I read all the 230 illustrated classics in like a year. That’s where my nerdom came from, reading Tolkien, RR Martin. Any high fantasy book that had a cool looking cover, I probably read.
Opinions on “Game of Thrones?”
AL: I hate that we have to wait so long for Season 8. If Drogon dies, John Snow, who is technically dead will be able to ride him. Dany and John will die and I think Tyrion will end up on the throne.
How did you segue from Nerdist to Fangirling?
AL: Alpha was looking for new show ideas. I moved to LA because I wanted to make a television show. Early on, I felt I wasn’t good enough. My mother, who is a ferociously independent woman, asked me if I really wanted to move to LA, that there are so many women who are doing what you’re aspiring to do. Initially, it was hard to give myself permission to give this a try. It’s really a scary thing when the people who really love you are asking you, are you sure you want to do this? It’s really hard to get over that and really easy to talk yourself out of it. But rather than pursue a career in marketing or sales, I came out to California and met the head writer of “House.” I was 25, just off the plane in LA when I got my first freelance writing gig. I then mentored with Geoff Todebush, an executive at Nickelodeon, who encouraged me and insisted that I would have to work in LA. I was lucky that the people at MTV and others believed in my writing talent. The Nerdist people told me that I should be on camera because “you have the personality for this.” So I pitched the show in 2015 and we did the first season in 2016, which was much smaller, we didn’t have a budget. But then Alpha came unto its own and I pitched a bigger version of Fangirling. And they said, let’s try it for 10 episodes. I was not expecting the response that it got. When Forbes wrote it up, I said this is awesome. And I’ve been so struck by the response by people younger than myself who have reached out. I say it’s okay to be a nerd. If people like something and they get joy out of it or it makes them feel like a better person, or even if it just makes them feel less alone, that should be all that matters.
So where do you want to be in 3 or 5 years from now?
AL: For me, it’s just about creating a community. Creating a space for women and non-binary folks so they can dictate the cultural conversation in a way that most straight white men have been allowed. I want to give people the space to think about the ideas that they feel they can’t talk about. I want Fangirling to exist the way it needs to exist.
What else do you want to pursue?
AL: I want to try so many things. I want to write comedic television. Dark comedy because I’ve experienced things in life that have been pretty traumatic with funny elements in it. I would love to write a movie. I want to try anything that scares me. I don’t think you grow unless you push yourself. So I don’t like to get too comfortable in what I’m doing. I’ve already written three dark comedy spec scripts and they’re “being read.” I’m also working on a book.
See the trailer for Fangirling returns.
Alex A. Kecskes is a published author of "Healer a Novel" and "The Search for Dr. Noble"—both now available on Amazon. He has written hundreds of film reviews and celebrity interviews for a wide variety of online and print outlets. He has covered red carpet premieres and Comic-Con events for major films and independent releases.
