Caytha Jentis is an American writer, producer, director and filmmaker. Jentis' feature films include ''

Bad Parents ''Bad Parents'' is a 2012 comedy film written and directed by Caytha Jentis and starring Janeane Garofalo. The movie humorously showcases New Jersey soccer moms becoming obsessed with their children's role in the sport. The supporting cast feature ...

'', '' And Then Came Love'' and the coming out film ''

The One The ONE is a shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is built on the site of the former Tung Ying Building at 100 Nathan Road. It was developed by Chinese Estates Holdings and opened in 2010. Owner Joseph Lau Luen-hung g ...

'', her directorial debut. She is the creator and director of ''The Other F Word'', a

comedy web series Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

streaming on Amazon Prime, starring

Steve Guttenberg Steven Robert Guttenberg (born August 24, 1958) is an American actor, author, businessman, producer, and director. He is known for his lead roles in Hollywood films of the 1980s and 1990s, including ''Cocoon'', ''Police Academy'', ''Three Men and ...

and

Judy Gold Judy Gold (born November 15, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, podcaster, television writer, author and producer. She won two Daytime Emmy Awards for her work as a writer and producer on ''The Rosie O'Donnell Show''. Life and care ...

. Her production and management company, Fox Meadow Films, produced all three of her feature films and the web series ''The Other F Word''. She also wrote and produced the short film ''Dream House'' in 2010. Jentis was selected as one of

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...

's 50 over 50 in 2016.

Early life

Jentis graduated from Syracuse University's S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1984 with a degree in film and television. After graduating from Syracuse, Jentis moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

where she worked as a literary agent and in

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...

; her first screenplay was for an ABC movie that never aired. While in California, Jentis had the first of two children while attending

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, where she completed her

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in 1996. She then moved back to the east coast, moving to

Ridgewood, New Jersey Ridgewood is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 24,958,

Films

Jentis wrote and produced her first indie feature ''And Then Came Love'' in 2007, which stars

Vanessa Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American singer, actress, and fashion designer. She gained recognition as the first African-American woman to receive the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She resign ...

Ben Vereen Benjamin Augustus Vereen (born October 10, 1946) is an American actor, dancer and singer. Vereen gained prominence for his performances in the original Broadway productions of the musicals '' Jesus Christ Superstar'', for which he received a T ...

and Eartha Kitt (in her final film appearance). The movie was filmed at her alma mater, Syracuse University, where the chancellor's suite in Lubin House was converted into the apartment where Williams’ character lived. Jentis gave university students the opportunity to be interns, assisting with pre-production and post-production activities. Her directorial debut was in 2011 with the coming-out film ''The One'', starring

Jon Prescott Jon Prescott (born August 10, 1981) is an American actor. Early life He was born in Mountain View, California, but raised near Portland, Oregon. Prescott has two brothers, and a sister. He attended Emerson College in Boston. After college h ...

, Margaret Anne Florence and Ian Novick, Jentis also produced and wrote the script for the movie. The film is a romantic

dramedy Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

about a man who plans to marry a woman, when a month before his wedding, he falls in love with a man from his past. Jentis said she wrote the screenplay "after spending several nights with friends discussing true love”, and it was the fastest script she had ever written.

, released in 2012, is based on her award-winning play ''It’s All About the Kids'', and was produced, written and directed by Jentis. The film stars

Janeane Garofalo Janeane Marie Garofalo ( ; born September 28, 1964) is an American comedian, actress, and former co-host on the now-defunct Air America Radio's ''The Majority Report''. Garofalo began her career as a stand-up comedian and became a cast member on ...

Cheri Oteri Cheryl Ann Oteri () is an American actress and comedian. A nominee of a Primetime Emmy Award, Oteri is best known for her tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2000. Early life The daughte ...

and

Kristen Johnston Kristen Angela Johnston (born September 20, 1967) is an American actress. Best known for her work on television sitcoms, she twice won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Sally Solomon in ...

, and was inspired by Jentis' personal experiences as a

soccer mom The term soccer mom broadly refers to an American, middle-class, suburban woman who spends a significant amount of her time transporting her school-age children to youth sporting events or other activities, whether or not they are soccer relat ...

. The film was shot entirely in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and used several kids from local soccer teams in the area where Jentis once lived as talent for the feature. Jentis said making the film "was cathartic to go through," and it's "absurd behavior, but it's stuff that's not far from the truth". The movie won Best Feature Film in 2013 at the

Hoboken International Film Festival The Hoboken International Film Festival is an annual festival that promotes domestic and international television pilots, screenplays, non-studio films. Awards, with cash prizes, are given for the best submissions. The festival was founded by Kennet ...

. ;Short films In 2010 Jentis wrote and produced ''Dream House'', a short directed by

Darien Sills-Evans Darien Evans, better known by his stage name, Darien Sills-Evans, is an American actor, writer, comedian, and director. He is best known for Darien in '' Cosby'' (1998-2000), CSU Tech Foster in ''Third Watch'' (2002-2005) and Andrew in '' The R ...

, that explores the dark side of the suburban dream.

Web series

Jentis is the creator and director of ''The Other F Word'', a

that premiered in September 2016 on Amazon Prime. The series is set in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, where Jentis now resides, and stars

Michael Boatman Michael Patrick Boatman (born October 25, 1964) is an American actor and writer. He is known for his roles as New York City mayoral aide Carter Heywood in the ABC sitcom ''Spin City'', as U.S. Army Specialist Samuel Beckett in the ABC drama s ...

Gilbert Gottfried Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried (February 28, 1955 – April 12, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian and actor, known for his exaggerated shrill voice, strong New York accent, and his edgy, often controversial, sense of humor. His numerous r ...

and

Reiko Aylesworth Reiko M. Aylesworth (born December 9, 1972) is an American film, television and stage actress, best known for her role on the television series '' 24'' as Michelle Dessler. Early life, career start Aylesworth was born December 9, 1972, in Evans ...

. The show is produced by her company, Fox Meadow Films, and follows four women aged 40 and 50-something, who are dealing with starting over after their kids are grown. The episodes are extremely short, with none running longer than 20 minutes. According to Jentis, the "F" in the show stands for being in your forties, fifty, friendship, fearless, family and fun. Jentis also went out of her way to include many commercial products in the series that were developed by women entrepreneurs. Season 1 was a top-ranked show on Amazon for over 4 months, season 2 premiered in September 2017.

Notes

References

External links