Quinn Shephard
Writer & Director
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5 Minutes With...
Put a Quinn in it.
Cause anything Quinn Shephard (she/her) is involved in is gonna be good. She’s the writer and director of Hulu’s Not Okay (which drops tomorrow), a satire about a wannabe writer and overnight influencer who quickly finds out that she wasn't careful with what she wished for.
Here, the 27-year-old breaks down the movie’s main characters and gives us the inside scoop on her on-set proposal.
What are 3 words to describe Not Okay?
Provocative, irreverent, and heartfelt.
The main character Danni [played by Zoey Deutch] becomes an influencer for all the wrong reasons. What are your thoughts on influencers IRL?
I think making this film has given me a new appreciation for the genuine intensity and realities of what they do for a living. And I definitely think the internet loves to dunk on people who work in the internet space. Which is really unfair because it’s just a new version of working in advertising in a lot of ways. I think that the culture it breeds can be really toxic, but I don’t put the blame on influencers. And even though this movie is definitely a critique that tackles internet culture, it’s not about saying influencers or social media are bad. It’s an honest depiction of how it warps our sense of reality.
Dylan O’Brien’s character [Collin] is… an interesting guy. What was it like working with Dylan?
He’s an absolute riot. In our very first meeting about the film, he was down to go as far as we could with the character. He had even done a deep dive on internet bros [laughing]. He’s also really adventurous and does a ton of comedy improv on set. It’s hard for people not to break character because he’s so funny.
Rowan [played by Mia Isaac] is another character that stands out. Was she inspired by anyone you know?
I don’t personally know somebody like the character Rowan, but she was inspired by my anger from what is going on in the world and the lack of government action. Her character was born out of wanting to have someone in the film who represented A) What it could be like to use the internet for good, and B) Somebody who has an actual understanding of trauma and is an authentic human being.
What is something you hope sticks with viewers after watching the film?
In my dream world, the film is intended to bring about self-reflection rather than judgment of others. To me, the movie is about unpacking privilege and the impact the internet has on your mental health. I really hope the final moments of the film help audiences reflect on how they might be contributing to that and work on it in themselves rather than attacking it in others. Because ultimately, that’s the only way to have real change.
So your fiancée, Nadia Alexander, is in the movie, too. Give us the deets on your proposal!
It was so cute! So basically, she had gotten the whole cast and crew in on the fact that she was going to propose. But our shoot day was running really long, and Dylan showed up even though he wasn’t shooting. It was clearly very late, so I was like, “That’s interesting.” Everyone told me we were going to shoot a TikTok on the Lincoln Center bridge after filming, which was weird to do at 1 A.M. So we went there and she proposed and it was the happiest moment of my life. Getting that, while wrapping my film and having everyone there… I felt like I was on cloud nine. We’ve been together for 7 years and we met on my first film, so it was really sweet how our relationship started with making a movie and how our engagement ended up being on set.