Reena Dutt
LAAPFF Filmmaker
“…Or Die” | Friday May 3 | 9:45 pm | Directors Guild of America 2 | LAAPFF Page
“3 Puffs of Gold” | Monday, May 6| 9:30pm | CGV Cinemas 2 | LAAPFF Page

What were you doing ten years ago (2003)?
“I was making up excuses to move back to LA from NYC. SO…I started creating project ideas that would “only make sense to do it in LA” – then I got on a plane, and here I am!”

What is your favorite memory of LAAPFF?
“I went with a friend two years ago who had a film at LAAPFF and he introduced me to a couple of the Asian Film Festival programmers – and I was wow-ed by their classy, fun, laid back and super fashionable selves. Damn, South Asians need to catch up ”

Tell us why we should watch your film in this year’s film festival. 
“Try me out on Friday night the 3rd – if you like fancy screenings like the DGA, go! If you absolutely hate me as a producer, give me a second shot, and attend my LA short film directorial debut on Monday night the 6th at CGV. If you hate me as a director too, just cast me in something and let’s be done with this relationship. Your parents loved me, and I thought we were gonna get married (insert tears here). ”

Actress Reena Dutt decided to sing a parody in honor of Seth McFarlane’s Oscar skit “I Saw Your Boobs” –  check it out and tell us what you thought of it!

Yes, we admit it. We’re excited about Sex and the City 2. As a matter of fact, we’re going to a free screening tonight at the Americana in Glendale, Calif. (For those Audrey readers who managed to get tickets in our free giveaway — they went fast! — we’ll see you there tonight!)

And while I realize that much of what happens in the show is pure fantasy (Manolos on a writer’s salary? A shoe closet that size in the middle of Manhattan? A never-ending stream of fabulously wealthy boy toys?), it’s still fun to watch. Besides, the relationships among Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda are what’s so real and so relatable.

Or are they?

It’s a topic I expect Indian American actor and producer Reena Dutt will broach, along with her castmates on the popular web series The Real Girl’s Guide to Everything Else, when they chat with Tony Cox, guest host on National Public Radio‘s “Tell Me More,” tomorrow May 27.

The Real Girl's Guide to Everything Else.

The Real Girl’s Guide features a multi-ethnic cast of four close but different girlfriends. Conceived as an alternative to the Sex and the City world of wealthy, white, straight fashionistas — the opening track is a jazzier version of the famous SATC melody, the first episode has plenty of references to the movie, and there’s even a reference to “Sex and the City for brown girls” — The Real Girl’s Guide follows Rasha (played by award-winning actress Robin Dalea), a lesbian political journalist of Lebanese descent, who is convinced by her friends to go “undercover” as a Cosmo-drinking, glitter-wearing, straight “girlie-girl” in order to finance her dream project.

Vanna (Nikki Brown), right, helps Rasha (Robin Dalea) get sexed up.

A scene from The Real Girl's Guide.

Reena Dutt as Sydney in The Real Girl's Guide to Everything Else.

Indian American actress and producer Dutt stars as the brash, in-your-face Sydney in the series. Raised in North Carolina and Arizona, Dutt caught the acting bug in high school when she joined the speech and debate team. She trained in New York City with Terry Knickerbocker at William Esper Studio (Meisner Technique). She has worked on several stage, film, television and web projects in Los Angeles, New York City and Arizona. She co-founded Off-Chance Productions in 2007, with the goal of “creating work that breaks the bones of stereotypes, and creates a sense of normalized diversity in media and theatre-based storytelling, through universal ideas,” according to her website.

Dutt recently wrapped on the feature film, Troublemaker, written and directed by Geeta Malik, and has appeared on Criminal Minds (CBS), Medium (CBS) and Out of Practice (ABC). She is currently in the LAWeekly and Ovation recommended theatre production, Holy Ghost by John Tuttle.

Listen to Dutt and the other “Real Girls” talking about their series as a reaction to the genre of chick-lit and chick flicks, and the need for alternative narratives for female audiences. It’s on tomorrow on NPR. Check for local broadcast times or listen in at “Tell Me More” at NPR.org.

Watch the first season of The Real Girl’s Guide to Everything Else here.