'THE BLIND GIRL' Unveils a Gritty but Humorous Look at Bulimia

Starve, binge, purge, repeat. This is the endless cycle of life for anyone suffering from bulimia.

Since they always say ‘write what you know’, that’s exactly what actress-turned-creator Angela Gulner has done – twice.

First, Angela launched the pilot episode of the dark comedy web series, BINGE, late last year. The project gained much critical acclaim and public attention for its non-glamorous yet comedic approach to this very real topic.

As a follow-up, Angela recently unveiled the prequel short film, THE BLIND GIRL, providing a love-versus-bulimia backstory to her edgy eating disorder tale.

To help her get both from script to screen, Angela turned to producing partner and director Yuri Baranovsky. They also brought in actor Drake Bell, the star of Nickelodeon’s Josh & Drake now all grown-up, to play Angela’s on-again, off-again boyfriend.

Check out what Angela Gulner and Yuri Baranovsky had to say about the eating disorder tales, their artistic partnership and more.

 

Why did you want to create a film prequel to your successful pilot project?

YURI: We were so touched by the outpouring of love and support for BINGE.

ANGELA: Yeah, we've literally received hundreds of email from men and women all over the world expressing their gratitude for the project -- they've bought mugs and made us videos and lifted our spirits. They wanted us to make more, and we wanted to thank them. Valentine's Day seemed like the perfect time to do it. We also felt it would be nice to develop Angela's backstory a bit. In BINGE, we meet her at rock bottom and she's spiraling a mile a minute. But she's a real human being, and we wanted to show a bit of the lead up to her spin out. The cycles and patterns that infest our lives and drive us to rock bottom.

 

This time around you cast Drake Bell to play your on-again, off-again boyfriend. How was that?

ANGELA: It was great! I'd worked with Drake in a show Yuri and HLG Studios did with Maker Studios called DAN IS DEAD (not yet released), so we already had a nice working relationship to draw from. Drake was really invested in the story and the truth of the character. He was great to work with and we had a blast!

YURI: Yeah, Drake is launching his own YouTube channel and reached out to collaborate and make some cool content together. It was a great experience.

 

Did you find it difficult to discover the comedy within the seriousness of bulimia?

ANGELA: Living with an eating disorder for 10 years drives you to do a lot of really, really weird shit. Strange habits become normal very quickly, and the moment you step outside yourself and take a look, the absurdity is hard to miss. So for me, it was pretty easy. Mental illness isn't just one thing. It's not just pain, or just depression, or just anxiety --- you're a full person living a full life -- with messy relationships and stupid jobs, and sometimes school,  and bills, and monotony -- and with that comes a lot of humor! Yuri and I also have pretty dark senses of humor, so it was kind of in our twisted wheelhouse. Humor is how I cope, and it's how I recovered.

YURI: There’s a power to comedy. It lets people not only recognize their own faults but laugh at them, give them less power. A pointed comedy can wield more power than the darkest of dramas. So, when Angela came to me and told me her story and the many, bizarre, hilarious (and very dark) details of her experience, we both recognized that it was inherently funny and that we could use the comedy to take the fear away from the disorder.

 

Any tough moment’s on-set, personally or otherwise?

ANGELA: Nope. We're perfect.

YURI: Except that time Angela attacked me with a knife.

ANGELA: Butter knife, though.

YURI: Yeah, so it was cool.

ANGELA: This industry is tough. It can be hard to break through all the noise. Our fans our so loud and passionate, the show feels like a no-brainer to us...but TV isn't an overnight process. I'm crazy impatient. I want to start shooting a season tomorrow. But it takes time -- learning patience is the hardest part for me.

YURI: Yeah, selling the thing might be the most difficult part of the experience. I pride myself on running the most drama-free, love-soaked sets –

ANGELA: Gross.

YURI: --love-soaked sets in Hollywood. We all have a blast, laugh, joke, work hard and hang out with each other after. It’s a family. We’re like Vin Diesel’s crew in Fast and the Furious.

 

The two of you have worked together before, so tell us about your collaboration process?

ANGELA: I've known Yuri for a while now. I've acted in a lot of sketches for HLG, and in the HLG/Maker Studios show DAN IS DEAD and in a bunch of other things he's done. And we've got an easy friendship. Working together is weirdly easy. He knows all of my neuroses (there are many) and is a wonderful director.

YURI: Stop it, you’re embarrassing me.

ANGELA: These are all lies.

YURI: Okay, good.

ANGELA: We wrote BINGE really fast. Had a few brainstorming sessions, and then passed a script back and forth for a few months, and found something we were really proud of. It was pretty great!

YURI: It’s true. It was surprisingly easy and wonderful. Angela is great, she’s really talented and smart and all those other things! I honestly can’t say enough good things about working with her.

ANGELA: No, you stop it.

YURI: Done.

 

Biggest piece of advice you wish you would have followed?

ANGELA: Throw away your scale. I eventually did, but it was really hard for me to part with. A scale is bogus. Numbers are meaningless, but they are a way to hold onto my eating disorder. To keep it in my back pocket. Throwing it away years before I did wouldn't have cured me, but would have taken the edge off.

YURI: Make things. Tell stories. Tell good stories. Practice telling stories. Keep making stories until someone wants to pay you for making stories.

ANGELA: Eat vegetables.

YURI: Look both ways before crossing the street.

 

Best advice you actually followed?

ANGELA: 'Just go do it.' -- my roommate at the time I went to treatment, said super casually like it was no big deal. And then I did it. Hooray!

YURI: Don’t listen to people who tell you that this won’t work because… or no one ever does it this way… or whatever. Make your own way. Break through the walls with your own bulldozer.

 

Did you ever think about giving up on the project and what stopped you?

ANGELA: We did at first, in the pitching stages. That could get frustrating.

YURI: Yeah, now, after seeing the response, our daily refrain is, “we have to make this show for these fans.” We feel like we have to see this through, no matter how long it takes, we’re going to make this show.

 

Lastly…where do you go from here?

ANGELA: The Emmys

YURI: And then whatever award they give in Iceland for best TV show. An Icee?

ANGELA: An Icee, yeah.