Successful movie producer got her start at Skidmore

Everything is coming together for actress, writer, director, and producer Miranda Bailey ’95. Her latest production project, Diary of a Teenage Girl—which Bailey describes as a “filmmaker’s dream”—opens this Friday, August 7.

Diary of a Teenage Girl has been years in the making. Based on a graphic novel of the same name, Diary of a Teenage Girl tells the story of 15-year-old Minnie Goetze who embarks on an affair with her mother’s boyfriend, played by Alexander Skarsgard. Kristin Wiig co-stars in the film as Minnie’s mother and Bailey plays the role of Wiig’s best friend.  

“I’m very excited about this movie,” Bailey says. “It’s been a dream come true.” 

Bailey began her career in production while at Skidmore. She wrote and produced the play Light Your Own while studying as a theater major and could be found both on and off the stage. She remembers her classmates asking if she wanted to write or produce or act and wondering why she had to choose just one. 

“You can’t stop the creative process from happening. I wanted to be more than just one thing. Skidmore encouraged to me go ahead and do that,” she says, naming beloved theater professor Alma Becker as a “huge motivator who always supported” her.  

Bailey moved to Los Angeles after graduation and began professionally acting, writing, directing and producing. You can find her name under the production titles for movies such as The Squid and the Whale and as an actor and director on many others. But when the script for Diary of a Teenage Girl came up, Bailey had a “premonition” that it would be successful. 

“This is our most buzzed about project. It’s exceeding expectations.” Bailey says. The movie is being distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.  “There were a lot of changes in my life at the time and I wanted to take on a project on my own,” she explains. “I took a leap of faith.” 

The leap paid off. 

Not only did Diary of a Teenage Girl play at the Sundance Film Festival this year—a goal Bailey had been pursuing for years—it received rave reviews, including from Salon, who called it "one of the most brutally honest, shocking, tender and beautiful portrayals of growing up female in America."  

Up next for Bailey: she just finished the short film, “Another Happy Anniversary,” and is working on an upcoming documentary. She’ll be at the New York premiere for Diary of a Teenage Girl on Aug. 7.