Michelle Campbell Mason stops by Trending to talk about her 'Witches Anonymous' podcast with Hilaria Baldwin. The film producer also dishes on her production company titled Paramour Films.

Michelle Campbell Mason Talks 'Witches Anonymous' Podcast

Michelle welcome to the show in our new studio. Thank you so much for being here. I do want to talk about the history and empowerment intertwined in which is anonymous. What was the lightbulb moment when you're like, you know what I want to create a podcast. Well, I'd love to talk about history predominantly women and who doesn't want to know more about which is is kind of my position, but where it all came from was Hilaria and I met my partner Hilaria baldwin and she had this book out of her purse and it was titled Women's Inhumanity to Women and I was like, that is a feminist book I haven't read. And so we started discussing the content. It was just we really got on the same page with each other about female relationships and how challenging those dynamics can be. And I'm related to one of the oldest women killed in Salem in the Salem witch trials. And so I had been working on an intuition based project around that and kind of epigenetic trauma with women and what that does to our social interactions today. So it all kind of just was this perfect alchemy of timing, very, very mystical, obviously very witchy fascinating in a recent episode. It includes the journalists that Ashley broke the christian story which of course was such a huge story. How do you preach about approach each episode to make sure it's just as impactful as the last one. You know, it's it's interesting I go into every week thinking it's going to go one way and then it always just surprises me with the most gratifying results. You know, these women, you know everyone is so multifaceted that we've had on, you know, they're not just a journalist, they're not just you know, a spokesperson for L. G. B. T. Q. Rights, there's so there's so much to it. So when we were speaking with Maria about the christmas story, you know, we kind of came to all these conclusions about Mr big going down and what that represented to women and how that was traumatic for all of us because this archetype that we identified with as the aspirational Man is no is no longer able to be that person for us. Um so it through these conversations it's amazing what we can unpack. Like you alluded to the podcast looks at which is stories among other things like women empowerment. What connects us all together, can you explain the role of which is in your life besides being a descendant? Yes, well I think you know, we we all have um I guess an affinity towards the mystery in life and I love I love the unknown and I've had a lot of weird kind of metaphysical things go on in my life that have led me to believe more so in spirituality, especially as I get older, but just in terms of the witchcraft aspect, I think that it's become much more topical, less taboo. I don't know if you've seen, there's a whole thing called witch talk where young girls have spells and whatnot. You know, the whole point of this is to make being a witch empowering because a witch was just a woman who had an opinion, who was a healer, who helped others who may have been loud or outspoken and she was demonized. So we're really just trying to make that word a positive thing. I want to talk about your production company started in 2016 called Paramour. So we're moving in into a new year. Any gold for your production company. Yes. To keep fighting the good fight to tell women's stories as much as me too has changed the industry. Everything is still an uphill battle. Um I generally work with women that were left out of history or marginalized in some way, finding their stories cultivating them and finding the best platform for them. So which is anonymous, being one of those projects. But last year we had this year, last month we had a movie come out called called jane which focused on pre roe America and it couldn't have been more timely and I feel very fortunate to have been a part of that production. I'm so glad you mentioned. Called jane. What attracted you to that project specifically? Well, I've always been a huge advocate for female reproductive rights as soon as I learned what they were when I was younger and um it's been interesting to read a script. It was five years ago when I first saw the script and it just seemed like a really important history film and then suddenly we are in the world we live in today, in which these rights are up for grabs and a constant battle. So I feel very fortunate to be a part of the conversation but deeply disturbed that it is a conversation. We got very lucky, we filmed it during Covid, we, I had so many actors come in and out, but we ended up with Sigourney Weaver and Elizabeth Banks and I'm so proud of the film. It's on amazon, it's all over. I hope you have time to see it. I'm definitely going to watch it, Michelle last question with huge names like brad Pitt Margot Robbie also having production companies, what makes Paramore different? Well obviously they do amazing work and have a lot to offer. Um I think, you know, every story is creating any film, any tv show is really, it's an alchemy of a needle in the haystack paradigm, like to have everything line up to get a film or a show made is so bizarre and impossible. So I think that for all of us were just working and leading from passion, like if you believe in this story, you will ultimately find a way and I am finding that with a lot of projects like when I have bubbling now that looks like it's going to be going next year. So you just have to believe in what you're doing and just keep fighting the fight. And I think that even though there brad pitt Margot Robbie, they're all doing the same thing. Can you tell us a little bit about your project next year or do you want to come back and talk to us about? Well, I'll just tease a little bit true story about female bootleggers. Okay, insane. Because I believe truth is stranger than fiction and um we should always lean into history if we can.