Private Project

Bad on Paper

BAD ON PAPER takes us on one woman’s rollicking journey toward creative expression. In midlife, singer/songwriter EC is breaking new ground, musically and personally. Years ago, she was plucked by the country music establishment, briefly paraded about as the latest sweet young thing of country music, and then cast aside.

Layer by layer, EC is ridding herself of the trappings that have held her back – money troubles, family tragedies, ex-lovers in the way – and forging beyond the limited roles allowed for women in country music. We root for her as she summons the courage to make music on her own terms. The songs on her new album take on a richness and poignancy that reflect a soulful and witty writer, a hard-earned voice that she could never muster as a young ingenue.

  • Katy Chevigny
    Director
    E-TEAM, DEADLINE, ELECTION DAY, HARD EARNED, HOME
  • Nikhil Melnechuk
    Producer
    DON'T BE NICE, HUNG UP, JACK & JILL
  • Peter Gilbert
    Producer
    HOOP DREAMS, MADELINE'S MADELINE, SWORD OF TRUST, HAPPY CHRISTMAS
  • Natalie Farrey
    Producer
    HER, FLEE, THE REPORT, JUDY AND PUNCH, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
  • Katy Chevigny
    Writer
    BAD ON PAPER, E-TEAM, CAFE NEW YORK
  • Elizabeth Cook
    Key Cast
    "EC"
    Squidbillies, Upstream with Elizabeth Cook, East Nashville Tonight
  • Karen Allen
    Key Cast
    "KATHY"
    Raiders of the Lost Ark, Starman, The Last Movie Stars
  • Susie Essman
    Key Cast
    "JANICE"
    Curb Your Enthusiasm
  • David Letterman
    Key Cast
    "AS HIMSELF"
    Late Night with David Letterman, My Next Guest
  • Catherine Curtin
    Key Cast
    "MEG"
    Stranger Things
  • Charles Esten
    Key Cast
    "TYE"
    Nashville, Outer Banks, The Office, Whose Line is it Anyway?
  • Melissa Jackson
    Key Cast
    "RICKY"
    Hung Up, Fevah, Jack & Jill, The Next Three Days
  • Donal Brophy
    Key Cast
    "CHARLIE"
    The Ulysses Project, The Shuroo Process
  • Mary Bacon
    Key Cast
    "DIANE"
    Lost Girls, Elementary, The Black List
  • Zebedee Row
    Key Cast
    "CLAY"
    Vinyl, Stars Fell on Alabama
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 40 minutes 4 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 15, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    948,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Netherlands, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Katy Chevigny

Katy Chevigny is an award-winning filmmaker and co-founder of Big Mouth Productions. She has produced and/or directed over a dozen documentary features. Katy co-directed (with Ross Kauffman) the documentary E-TEAM, which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, won several festival awards around the world, was nominated for two Emmy® Awards and was acquired as a Netflix Original. In 2022, she directed two episodes of the A24 / Apple TV+ series HOME, which was nominated for several Emmy Awards, including best directing. With Marilyn Ness, she produced the Netflix Original documentaries BECOMING, about Michelle Obama which was nominated for four Primetime Emmyawards, and DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and won the Special Jury Award for Innovation in Non-fiction Storytelling, and later earned a Primetime Emmy. Katy also produced DARK MONEY, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and CHARM CITY, which premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Both DARK MONEY and CHARM CITY were shortlisted for the 2019 Academy Awards - Best Documentary Feature. She also directed one of the storylines in Kartemquin Films’ documentary series HARD EARNED — winner of a 2016 Alfred I. DuPont Award. Previously, Katy directed ELECTION DAY which premiered at SXSW and was broadcast on POV in 2008. She also co-directed DEADLINE, which premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, won the Thurgood Marshall Journalism Award, and, in an unusual acquisition, was broadcast as a primetime special on NBC. Her work has been shown on networks including PBS, NBC, HBO, Netflix, Arte/ZDF, Apple TV+ and has played in theaters and at festivals around the world. In 2018, Katy (together with Marilyn Ness and Big Mouth Productions) was honored with the Sundance Institute / Amazon Studios Producers Award.

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Director Statement

BAD ON PAPER brings me back to explore one of my favorite themes: how people make their work and lives meaningful, often against difficult odds.

I first met with Elizabeth Cook in 2017 to discuss the possibility of making a documentary about her next stage of life and career. Spending so much time with Elizabeth and her friends and colleagues deepened my appreciation for the texture of their world in East Nashville. And filming her work and life with a small camera crew over the course of years gradually re-shaped my thinking about how best to tell her story. Inspired by Chloe Zhao’s groundbreaking process of working with non-actors in "The Rider" and "Nomadland", as well as by cult classic "This is Spinal Tap", I decided to approach the story in a new way. To get at the heart of the challenges that she faces, we created a film that straddles both fiction and non-fiction — with Elizabeth playing someone very much like herself. 

Like many performers, Elizabeth has a private life that differs from her public persona, and much of this life happens off camera. I wanted to figure out how to capture these moments, so that we could understand her more deeply. With BAD ON PAPER, we filmed scripted and improvised scenes to illustrate elements of her life beyond the reach of a documentary film crew, including dreams of the future and memories of the past. The scripted material sheds light on her fascinating backstory and on the personal pressures that inevitably escape the documentary cameras. The documentary material grounds us in the authenticity of place and time, and allows the film to sparkle with musical interludes that showcase Elizabeth’s gifts as a singer and lyricist.

How can we persevere to keep making art that we care about, art that touches those near and far, year after year, decade after decade? BAD ON PAPER offers a unique way of answering this question, through the lens of a woman artist expanding her self-expression in mid-life.