What if anger is a superpower?
Welcome to HOT ANGRY MOM!
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I'm Mel House - the writer/creator behind our punk rock comedy series. I'm a queer middle-aged actress, comedian, and mom in a multiracial American family. A few years ago, I had a problem with my RAGE. Maybe you can relate?
Shortly after our nation elected a president who bragged about grabbing women by their genitals, the Weinstein scandal exposed the depth of harm being done to women throughout the entertainment industry. At the same time, the frequency of police brutality streaming into our homes hit a new high. I felt unsafe in my body, powerless to protect my family, and
overwhelming rage.
My rage scared me.
I was taught that good people suppress anger, because it’s ugly and destructive. But if you ignore anger, it doesn’t go away, and it can build into RAGE. But my anger felt sane, even healthy, and I became curious:
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What does healthy anger look like?
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What are destructive anger myths?
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Why has our culture gendered biological emotional states?
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And how does repressing or expressing these emotions shape identity?
I read a lot about anger, practiced somatic body work to change my relationship with my experience of anger, and performed Stand-up comedy as a character called Hot Angry Mom. What I’ve learned is that many people think about anger in ways that I believe cause harm to ourselves and others. But what if healthy anger can actually make us more whole? What if anger is a superpower?
Smash cut to our punk rock comedy series HOT ANGRY MOM that centers a people-pleasing NYC mom who must face her rage, as a video of her epic meltdown becomes a viral sensation. In 2021, we hired 60+ artists and filmed our pilot episode, which is also Season One of a digital series. Then in 2022, after 9 months with a team 10 post-production artists, we completed (or so we thought) our series and began applying to film festivals.
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In 2023-24, HOT ANGRY MOM screened worldwide at 26 festivals, including Oscar-qualifying festivals like Cleveland Int’l, Hollyshorts, and Dances with Films, earning 50+ nominations and winning 22 awards, including Best Dark Comedy, Best Director, Best Actress, and an award for Representation of Women in Film. HOT ANGRY MOM then ranked #2 in the U.S. and #5 in the world in the Web Series World Cup. And we reformatted the digital series into a half-hour pilot, which premiered at Dances with Films: New York and is continuing on the festival circuit. For a list of the festivals, our awards, and awesome press quotes you can read our EPK.
As I write this, that same person who bragged about grabbing women by the genitals is our nation's President. Despite the credible testimony of Dr. Blasey-Ford, Brett Kavanaugh became a Supreme Court Justice, and was part of the court that overturned the federal protections that ensure women and birthing people have the right make their own healthcare decisions. Even the Weinstein conviction was over-turned by a top New York State Court, because the testimony of other survivors may have biased the jury (our laws are not designed to protect victims of sexual assault).
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I find myself again burning with rage, so along with director Clarissa de los Reyes, we set a fierce new mission: reach 1,000,000 moms with our series! WHY?! Because women, moms, birthing people, survivors, and so many people need permission to really FEEL our anger and to channel it into a source of power so that we can collectively demand the protections and policies that ALL people need!
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And you can join us...
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GET INVOLVED:
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SUBSCRIBE for FREE to the HOT ANGRY MOM YouTube Channel
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Host your own WATCH PARTY and spread the word
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Rent or Buy the pilot at ENTERTAINMINT
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Watch the series on KOLD OPEN, comment & share, to help us gain visibility with studio executives to turn HOT ANGRY MOM into a full-length series!
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Download WatchieTV on all app stores and see the original webseries cut of HOT ANGRY MOM (FREE with ads)
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Follow creator Mel House on Substack to learn more about the making of the series and all things HOT ANGRY MOM https://substack.com/@melhouse
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