446 - Isabel Hagen on Making 'On a String', Winning Tribeca, Cancel Culture, and Surviving Stand‑Up
1h 34m | Sep 18, 2026This episode is brought to you by Anthropic. Claude is the AI for minds that don’t stop at good enough—it's the collaborator that actually understands your entire workflow and thinks WITH you, not for you. Ready to tackle bigger problems? Sign up for Claude Pro when you use our link – www.claude.ai/makeit
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Hello, Hello!
In this episode, Isabel Hagen joins us to discuss her work as a comedian, filmmaker, and classically trained violist. She explains how her freelance music career inspired the feature film On a String, which premiered at Tribeca and won Best Screenplay in the U.S. Narrative Competition. The conversation also explores comedy in the age of clips, creative persistence, protecting real people in fiction, film criticism, artistic identity, and what it means to make it.
We also talk about:
- Turning experiences from weddings, funerals, and private music gigs into heightened comedic characters and situations.
- Why live comedy benefits from audiences putting their phones away while performers test unfinished material.
- Isabel’s process for becoming a stronger comedian through open mics, recordings, repeated performance, and daily review.
- The creative lessons she draws from Paul Thomas Anderson, including the scale of One Battle After Another and the score of Phantom Thread.
- How nostalgia, streaming overload, and the paradox of choice influence how audiences rewatch their favorite movies.
People, Places, Products, and Websites Mentioned:
People
Isabel Hagen (isabelhagen.com)
Films & TV
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Companies & Organizations
Music
Food & Places
MAKE IT
Mastering Film Marketing (e-book)
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