Writing
Miranda Bailey
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What Making Movies (and a Website) Taught Me That a Bachelor of Science Degree Didn't
Reflecting on seven years of CherryPicks & 22 of Cold Iron Pictures…After 22 years of making movies through Cold Iron Pictures and seven years of running CherryPicks, and honestly, a whole career spent trying to convince someone, anyone, to buy what I made, let's talk about what actually stuck.
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Perimenopause, Pop Culture, and Going Through Puberty All Over Again
Relatable stories on screen for women of a certain age… Real talk: can we please discuss perimenopause? You’d think that, by 2026, there’d be fewer stigmas around such a universal topic. Nobody warned me. I knew vaguely that menopause was a thing—some distant, foggy future thing involving hot flashes and my mother fanning herself at the dinner table. But perimenopause? The years-long runway to menopause? No one prepared me for this.
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The Quiet House: What to Watch When the Kids Are Almost Gone
12 Movie and TV recs for empty nesters... Here’s the thing nobody warns you about: it’s not one big goodbye. It’s a series of small ones—each one quietly taking a piece of the daily chaos you didn’t even realize you’d built your whole rhythm around.
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Movies & Shows to Watch When Your Marriage is Over
Let me set the scene. My husband “put in his notice.” That’s how I say it because I refuse to be a victim, and “put in his notice” sounds like he was quitting a job—which, after 20 years, I suppose he was. What followed were months of crying, months of feeling like I had failed. I had built a career in filmmaking and raised two children, yet somehow, mid-life, I found myself sitting with a divorce attorney instead of a script. The shame is real. The embarrassment is real. And nobody warns you about the friends, the ones who disappear when things get hard, as if divorce is contagious. As if it’s herpes.
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11 Movies to Watch this Mother's Day
Everyone warned me that my life would be over, but they were wrong. The day my son was born was the day my life really began. So, who better than a filmmaker-turned-mom to give you the ultimate Mother’s Day movie list? Whether you’re curled up with your mom, celebrating your own motherhood, or honoring the memory of a mother who’s no longer here—press play. Have the tissues ready. Maybe some wine, too.
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14 CherryPicked Holiday Gifts for Everyone on Your List
Award-winning filmmaker and founder of CherryPicks Miranda Bailey’s holiday shopping suggestions…Being an artist, CEO, film producer, mentor, and most importantly, mom means I have little time to think about what gifts to get everyone on my list this holiday season. Here are some no-brainer gifts for everyone from your bestie to your lawyer, your youngest to your oldest, and even for that person in your life who seems to already “have it all.”
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Celebrating the Legacy of Jewish Female Filmmakers
And the impactful stories they tell… The contributions of female Jewish filmmakers to the world of cinema are as diverse as they are impactful, encompassing a wide range of genres, themes, and storytelling styles. By watching their movies—from romantic comedies to intimate dramas—we gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of life, love, and the human spirit.
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Cherrily Yours January 2024: Women Who Write
Reflecting on 2023 and anticipating a promising 2024…Happy New Year, readers and writers. It seems fitting for CherryPicks—which was created to highlight the female voices of Hollywood writers and critics—to focus on what female writers are leaving behind as we enter 2024 and what we can look forward to in the next year.
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The Latest Hollywood Shit Show Is Now Aimed at the Actresses
But there’s still hope for women supporting women…Personally, I am over the moon that Andrea Riseborough received an Academy Award nomination for her brilliant performance in the itty bitty film To Leslie. Since I, too, make itty bitty movies (The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Swiss Army Man, God’s Country), it gives me real hope that, someday, one of my little films will get that kind of attention without having to blow through a gazillion-dollar publicity campaign that benefits the studios and not the film or its profit participants.
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Founder's Special: Thanksgiving is for the Birds
Relationship dynamics that are all too...familiar...Founder’s Special is a limited editorial and digital series in which Miranda talks directly to you, sharing deeply personal stories of paving her own path to Hollywood and how she's now built a new road for women’s voices to be heard: CherryPicks.
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Movie Recommendations: Miranda's CherryPicks
CherryPicks founder & CEO Miranda Bailey’s Top Women-Made movies...Some of them I’ve worked on, some of them I wish I’d worked on. Some are very well known and have won awards, and a few are tiny gems I think more people should know about. I hope you will check out all of them (available streaming) and join me and CherryPicks in celebrating women who make movies!
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Top 10 Female Directors from Cannes
Some of the most influential female directors to have films shown at the festival...With only four of the 21 titles competing for 2019’s Palme d’Or directed by women, the Cannes Film Festival isn’t exactly racing to meet its promise to reach gender parity by 2020. But some of our favorite female directors got their start on the Croisette, so we’ve taken this opportunity to celebrate the women who broke through barriers, made history, and shared their incredible works on the international stage.
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The Critics Debate: Which Movie Deserves Best Picture?
Ahead of the Critics’ Choice Awards, six female critics share their choices for top film. I know it’s not normal for a filmmaker to love critics, but I do. I grew up watching Siskel & Ebert and Scott Mantz, the movie man on Access Hollywood, and these critics’ opinions and interpretations of films intrigued me.
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Getting Financed, The Lowdown: What Works and What Doesn’t, From the Producer of Swiss Army Man
Is financing an indie film more difficult than ever? There’s so much content out there and so few companies that can pay real money to distribute films that we moviemakers need to get realistic… and creative.
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Why Two Female Producers Decided to Make a Buddy Movie About Farts
"Swiss Army Man" producer Miranda Bailey on why the call for diversity shouldn't mean we pigeon hole the type of movies women make.
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Top Ten Tips For A GREEN Indie Production (Pt. 3 of 3)
The last two days film producer/director Miranda Bailey has guest posted sharing her trials and tribulations at trying to make indie film green. Today she shares her tips.
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Green Indie? It’s A Hard Road (Pt. 2 of 3)
A lot of people want to be green on set, but the cost associated with it rises. I had heard that being green saves you money and that makes sense theoretically, but even something as simple as recycling has its costs.
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Can An Indie Film Really Be “Green”? (Pt. 1 of 3)
Even though I have been working in indie films for the last 10 years I never thought about the waste my company or my industry was creating and outputting each time we went into production on a movie; that is until my company Ambush Entertainment got involved on a film called The River Why.
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Bumpin' Into Stardom
Naomi Odes Aytur & Miranda Bailey
A chance holiday hookup with a celebrity leaves a sensible schoolteacher facing life-changing choices when she learns she's expecting. Her decision could mean solo parenthood or a shot at love-if she dares to find him.
1st Place, StoryPros Screenwriting Contest - Comedy
Quarterfinalist, Screencraft Comedy Screenplay Contest
Directed by Miranda Bailey
Pre-Production. Shooting Summer 2025.
Another Happy Anniversary
Miranda Bailey
Tom and Jeanne want to be adventurous for their 10th anniversary so they decide to have a threesome. Easier said than done.
Based on the short film by Miranda Bailey.
In Development.
Bailey is represented by The Gersh Agency.