Set to premiere on YouTube, Love's Baby Soft is the latest project from Stacie Capone (Grey's Anatomy), who produces and stars alongside lead Alexa Swinton (And Just Like That). Capone and Don Downie's micro-studio Small Media Extra Large partnered with the iconic 70's perfume brand Love's Baby Soft using an innovative, creative brand model to bring this coming-of-age short film to audiences.
LOS ANGELES, June 22, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Set to premiere on YouTube, Love's Baby Soft is the latest project from Stacie Capone (Grey's Anatomy), who produces and stars alongside lead Alexa Swinton (And Just Like That). Capone and Don Downie's micro-studio Small Media Extra Large partnered with the iconic 70's perfume brand Love's Baby Soft using an innovative, creative brand model to bring this coming-of-age short film to audiences. Gen X to Gen Z females can relate to the sometimes humiliating and often hilarious story about a preteen coming to terms with her sense of self, body image and growing up. It is available to watch on their newly relaunched YouTube channel @SmallMediaXL at 6 pm EDT on June 22, 2023.
Watch Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nVnA_aDYlE
Watch Film on YouTube on June 22nd: https://youtu.be/3RyukPcrL4Q
The cast is led by young star Alexa Swinton in the lead role of 'Dolores,' a feisty preteen desperate to be seen as a grown-up in 1976 suburbia. She fantasizes about sex, womanhood, work... and Freddie Prinze. When her overworked single mom 'Janice,' (Stacie Capone) hires black 16-year old 'Cleo' (Shian Tomlinson) to babysit, Dolores's illusions about herself are shattered. And as their two worlds collide, each learns painful truths about what it truly means to grow up. Swinton is most recently known for her portrayal of Charlotte's child 'Rock' on HBO's Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That (Season two premieres on MAX June 22, 2023). She will next be seen in Bradley Cooper's Maestro and in the short film Kooky Spook she is producing with her mother, Inna Swinton and directed by Maria Kataeva. Love's Baby Soft is the brainchild of writer/executive producer Vicki Speegle and was directed by the late Lanie Zipoy - known for the independent feature The Subject starring Jason Biggs.
- "I think a pretty big difference between the 70s and now is that kids back then didn't have exposure to social media or streaming shows about everything age appropriate and not. Also - it is so much easier to stay in touch and to meet other kids. Things are so instant. You just text your friends when you see someone you really like at Starbucks and you can connect on snap even if you meet on vacation or something. Before you had to go home and use a landline! Or have pen pals. So growing up is just…I see a lot more, at a younger age, but Dolores doesn't know what to do with those feelings." Alexa Swinton
- "I think that filmmakers have a huge responsibility to represent women and minorities on screen. I think about the images I saw on screen when I grew up and how that affected me and I've made it a mission in my life to show real women on screen, all sizes, all shapes, all colors and doing things that I would want to do. I think what we watch really influences what we can become and what we do in our daily lives." Stacie Capone
The short marks a proof of concept for a series - think The Wonder Years for girls. Writer Speegle is creating the series pitch with Capone, Downie, and Small Media Extra Large attached as producers. Meanwhile, the short film screened on International Women's Day and at numerous film festivals including the Bentonville Film Festival founded by actress/activist Geena Davis.
Small Media Extra Large (SMXL) is a micro studio that makes big splash content for film, digital, and TV for clients including Meta, Sesame Street, Saturday Night Live, TED Conferences, Nickelodeon, Microsoft, and theSkimm. They are relaunching their YouTube presence to coincide with the new season of And Just Like That on June 22nd. Alongside Love's Baby Soft, they are releasing other award winning short films showcasing work such as the 2023 Brand Awards Winner, Best Film on a Budget - Un-Apologize: A Whitney Cummings Comedy Special, which they produced for theSkimm.
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STACIE CAPONE is a Los Angeles-based actress and producer. As an actor, she currently appears on episodes of the popular Shonda Rhimes series Grey's Anatomy and also stars in the iconic 70's perfume brand's own Love's Baby Soft film. She is attached to a feature in development, The Ghost in the Attic, starring Robert Clohessy (Blue Bloods).
Her production banner is Small Media Extra Large. Along with partner Don Downie, they founded the bi-coastal production company with clients big and small; Meta, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon, TED, and theSkimm. They are developing the feature comedy The Spirit of Detroit (an Academy Nicholl SemiFinalist), in which Stacie will also star along with Angela Lewis (Snowfall).
She is the founder and leader of a women+ film community - The FilmmakeHers - a monthly salon featuring leading industry guests and mentors, film, television, and digital content creators, with chapters in New York & Los Angeles that have brought artists together in collaboration and expansion. Stacie previously led The Professional Actors Collective, making 11 short films in one calendar year. This project served as her film school and launched both her producing career and her production company, which she still runs.
As a lifelong New Yorker, Stacie made it her mission to find great pizza and bagels in LA - and being a stubborn Leo, she succeeded! Get in touch if you want to talk about carbs…or film.
DON DOWNIE is an award-winning director, writer, and producer. He creates whip-smart comedies with a twist of absurdity and a hint of magic.
Don has extensive experience directing Hollywood-grade digital content. He directed 6 episodes of Kid Correspondent for YouTube Originals and Participant Media, featuring Rainn Wilson (The Office). Don won the New York Television Festival's Critics Award for the comedy series Royally starring Rachel B. Joyce (I'm Dying Up Here) and PJ Adzima (Broadway's Book of Mormon).
He also directed eight episodes of AMNTS - A Mile in These Shoes, featured at the 2022 Catalyst Story Institute. Previously, he directed and produced the digital series Exit Strategy for TeenNick starring Erica Hernandez (CBS' True Lies). Don's TV credits (cinematography) include Sesame Street, Saturday Night Live, and Henry Ford's Innovation Nation.
In the medium of film, Don wrote and directed two award-winning shorts: Pepper and the Salt Sea starring Kat Cunning (The Deuce) and Stacie Capone (Grey's Anatomy); and Le Creuset starring Walker Hare (1923, Babylon) He also recently directed the action-comedy short Viola - Unfinished Business and the modern film noir The Skies are Dead.
As a screenwriter, Don was a semifinalist for the 2019 Academy Nicholl Fellowships; a semifinalist for the 2019 ScreenCraft Fellowship; and a finalist for the 2017 Jerome Foundation Film Grant; all with his feature script, The Spirit of Detroit. Don will direct the feature, which is being developed by BlüRemedi and Small Media Extra Large. Trevite Willis (The Forty Year-Old Version) is producing, the cast includes Angela Lewis (Snowfall) and J Mallory McCree (Homeland).
Don is co-founder of Small Media Extra Large, a micro studio that makes big splash content for film, digital, and TV. He and partner Stacie Capone count Meta, Viacom, Microsoft, TED Conferences, and theSkimm amongst their clients. Don is also a longtime co-leader of Filmshop, and is the founder of Filmshop LA, a tight-knit collective of fiercely independent mediamakers.
Founded in 2009, SMALL MEDIA EXTRA LARGE is a production company based in Pasadena, California. A micro studio that makes big-splash content, SMXL harnesses the work-fast ethos and creative energy of indie film for clients in technology, entertainment, and culture.
A small business by design, SMXL is run by partners Stacie Capone and Don Downie, who personally oversee all projects and assure that clients' needs are met. Capone and Downie are community leaders in independent film and thought leaders in digital content, who each bring 15+ years of experience.
SMXL assembles nimble and efficient teams to dynamically scale resources to meet the needs of each project. They have built an extensive and diverse network of creatives, producers, designers, and technicians. SMXL stringently vets team members, pays contractors professional rates, and creates an ethical and equitable working environment.
Services include story consulting, research, script development, creative direction, video production and post production, visual design and animation.
Selected clients include Meta, Viacom, Microsoft, TED Conferences, MaxMara, and Sesame Street.
Media Contact
NADINE JOLSON, JOLSON CREATIVE, 1 3106143214, jolsoncreativePR@mac.com
SOURCE Small Media Extra Large
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