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‘Am I OK?’ Filmmakers Tig Notaro & Stephanie Allynne Set ‘Time And Space’ As Next Feature; Judd Apatow Producing

Anthony D'Alessandro
·3 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Days before the world premiere of Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne’s feature directorial debut Am I OK? at Sundance, Deadline has learned about the duo’s next feature project is Time and Space, which Judd Apatow will produce through his Apatow Productions.

Allynne will direct off a screenplay she wrote based on a story she conceived with her spouse Notaro. Emmy nominee and stand-up comic Notaro also will star in the project, which follows the life of a lesbian couple who are thrown into turmoil when they ditch their Los Angeles city life for upstate New York. Notaro and Allynne will produce through their production company, Something Fierce.

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Time and Space reflects Notaro and Allynne’s interest in sophisticated, entertaining storytelling with universal appeal where there just happens to be gay characters and themes.

The duo conceived Time and Space during the pandemic, though the movie is not set during one. Before Covid, the couple were set to buy a property in upstate New York following the birth of their twin sons. While the transaction didn’t occur, the duo wondered whether it would have been the best or worst idea ever to have moved to rural New York.

“There was a lot of inspiration from the pandemic,” Notaro tells Deadline, “It was inspired by hearing about conflicts that couples were going through while also thinking how crazy that must have been to have issues when you can’t get away from each other.”

She added: “The small-town aspect is like the pandemic — not knowing anyone out there and being so isolated and everything gets kicked up.”

Allynne starred and wrote on the Notaro co-created Amazon Prime series One Mississippi. Something Fierce has a number of projects in the works including the Netflix political comedy First Ladies, which Notaro and Allynne are writing. They’re also producing with Will Ferrell and Jessica Elbaum’s Gloria Sanchez, which also produced Am I OK? Allynne’s acting credits include TV’s The L Word: Generation Q, Twin Peaks, Dream Corp LLC and Comedy Bang! Bang! and the features Pacific Rim: Uprising, The Front Runner, Please Stand By, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates and In a World…, on which she first met Notaro.

Notaro is currently on a 50-city stand-up tour. She was nominated in the Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special category in 2015 for Tig Notaro: Boyish Girl Interrupted. Her TV series credits include Star Trek: Discovery, Transparent and The Sarah Silverman Program, and she starred in such movies as the Army of the Dead, Lucy in the Sky and Dog Days. Notaro is a two-time Best Comedy Album Grammy nominee, for 2017’s Boyish Girl Interrupted and 2014’s Live in the Best Comedy album category. She also scored a WGA 2017 nominee in the episodic comedy category for One Mississippi.

‘Am I OK?’ - Credit: Sundance
‘Am I OK?’ - Credit: Sundance

Sundance

In Am I OK? Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, a lost thirtysomething who gradually comes out while navigating the relationship with her best friend, Jane (Sonoya Mizuno). Notaro also stars. Allynne personally identified with Lauren Pomerantz’s screenplay. The screenwriter, like Johnson’s character, also struggled with coming out, and finally did so at age 34. Erik Feig’s Picturestart was also behind Am I OK? which Deadline reported is a hot title to be snapped up at this year’s Sundance. The film makes its world premiere in the premieres section of the festival at 2 p.m. local time Monday. The pic was shot in 21 days during the pandemic.

Notaro is repped by ICM, MGMT Entertainment and Ziffren Brittenham. Allynne is repped by Gersh, Rise Management and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols. Two-time Primetime Emmy winner Apatow is repped by UTA, Mosaic and Ziffren Brittenham.

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