Independent Women: Faith Antman Batt

Women In Comedy: Tell us a little about your background and how you came to pursue comedy as a career?

Faith: Ever since I was a young child, I knew I wanted to be in show business. I loved to entertain family and friends and I used to recruit neighborhood kids for my productions. I’d produce, direct, write, choreograph and perform in shows that included musical numbers, comedy sketches and even a strip tease. My creativity and sense of humor was also inspired by my late father, (of blessed memory) who was an artist, advertising genius and lunatic. I believe my sense of humor developed as a survival mechanism because I grew up in a very dysfunctional family plagued by problems of divorce, mental illness, drugs, various forms of abuse and domestic violence.

As an adolescent, I enrolled in children’s theatre and gained some training on stage and behind the scenes. In high school, I performed with chorus and chamber singers and in college I studied radio, TV, film and theatre. My senior project was a short film that went on to win an Emmy Award. All of these creative endeavors helped me channel my energies and emotions in a positive way. Without the arts, I’d have been doomed.

Later, I worked in TV as a writer and producer and had some short documentaries screened in film festivals. On the side of my day job, I co-wrote some screenplays, sitcom pilots and sketches that never saw the light of day. I mostly worked on serious shows like the FOX network series “America’s Most Wanted.” I also produced documentaries and promotional campaigns for network affiliate TV stations in collaboration with my husband, Layne Batt, a 13 time Emmy winning producer, videographer and editor of Time Capsule Films.

I never thought of myself as “funny,” although I could “act” funny, as I did when I performed on stage in lighthearted comedies. I really enjoyed the laughs of a live audience. I am also passionate about writing and my memoir, “Cracking Up! Life with My Fractured Family,” was another serious undertaking. The book is an intensely heartfelt story of survival, hope and transformation. Turns out, people seem to think it’s humorous.

During some of my readings at the Delray Beach Center for the Arts Writers’ Colony, people started to laugh. The “colorful” characters and absurd situations came across unexpectedly humorous and people in my writing critique group compared my conversational style to that of author/humorist David Sedaris. It was a great feeling of release to make people laugh and to laugh along with them—even through my tears. Laughter has an amazing healing quality.

The group encouraged me to put something together for the stage, or on video, based on my story and the lessons I’ve learned, like a one-woman show—which is percolating in my brain and I would love to eventually do that. Meanwhile, I decided to practice improv and develop a stand-up act.

Women In Comedy: What's one of the biggest obstacles you've faced on your road to success as a comedian?

Faith: One of the biggest obstacles I faced was probably logistics. Even though I was working in the entertainment business, producing for national TV and acting, I was basically an outsider because I was “living three thousand miles from where everything was happening,” according to an entertainment industry veteran. I was naïve trying to launch a career as a screenwriter and actress while living in South Florida.

I didn’t have access to the industry movers and shakers or opportunities. “Who you know”, was, and still is, very important. I had an agent in New York for a while but he was basically an entertainment attorney on retainer and that became a financial drain. We came close to making a couple of deals but we would have had to sell our rights to shows and give up control and we weren’t willing to do that at the time because we wanted to be involved.

I worked hard making calls all day long trying to pitch ideas and scripts and get people to read them—which most often they wouldn’t, for legal reasons. One time I did get the head of CBS comedy on the phone—don’t ask me how, but I must’ve had a good spiel. He told me unless I had major talent onboard, or a major director connected with my project, I was wasting my time. It was very frustrating and discouraging. It was a catch 22. If you didn’t have an agent, you couldn’t get anyone to read your scripts and you couldn’t get an agent unless you were already recognized or had a bigshot involved. I felt like I was caught it a hamster wheel.

Women In Comedy: When did you first decide to start your own project what was the inspiration behind starting it? How did you come up with the name for it?

Faith: My current endeavor in comedy happened unexpectedly, as mentioned. My interests got reignited when I joined the Delray Beach Center for the Arts Writers’ Colony. I attended critique groups while working on my memoir and the writers thought it was funny enough to turn into a stage show. All my life, I was the so-called only “normal” person in my family so the title, “Cracking Up! Life with My Fractured Family,” was inspired by me literally being on the verge of cracking up mentally and emotionally but also learning to laugh about it. Members of my family being addicted to crack (cocaine) also had something to do with the inspiration behind the title.

Women In Comedy: For someone who has never been to see one of your shows (or your show/film) - how would you describe the experience?

Faith: Life altering! Just kidding. I don’t have the answer for that just yet. I hope they enjoy the experience and have some laughs. Maybe it will be cathartic for some people. My prior work on reality TV shows was serious business and so were the films I co-produced with my husband like the documentary, “A New York Painter,” featuring Academy Award winner, F. Murray Abraham, about the life and work of a contemporary representational painter who depicted many horrors of modern city life. We also produced a documentary, “Never Again,” on the Miami Beach Holocaust Memorial. For me, I just feel it’s time to lighten things up. I need to balance the tragedy with some comedy. I’ve endured a lot of pain in my life, but most of all I cherish the laughter—that’s what gets me through and keeps me going. I’ve become an expert at taking the lemons life throws at me and turning them into lemonade; maybe others will be inspired to do the same.

Women In Comedy: Why do you think it is important for women to create their own work in comedy?

Faith: A woman’s voice is unique and needs to be heard—whether in a whisper or a scream. We have different sensibilities and perspectives. We shouldn’t have to fight our way in all the time or fit into stereotypical roles created by others who really don’t understand how profoundly deep we are. We need to express ourselves and I believe there’s plenty of room for everyone’s individual voice.

It’s also important for women to create their own work if they want to have control over their content and maximize their earnings. I think it’s also great for women who perform to create their own original characters, to write original material if they’re inspired to do so and to communicate whatever it is that they feel, whether it’s social, political, or simply a mirror of the human condition and everyday life that makes people laugh.

Women In Comedy: Who has been one of your mentors/someone you look up to that has encouraged you to be an independent woman/create your own opportunities?

Faith: I have been inspired by many women, mostly through reading their memoirs, watching their performances and being inspired by how they overcame challenges and hardships.

One woman I knew personally, who encouraged me years ago to be more assertive, was Dr. Deb Schwarz Hirshhorn, PhD, an observant Jewish woman, who, in midlife, after raising her children, decided to go back to school to earn her doctorate and become a marriage and family therapist.

That in itself inspired and encouraged me as she was a strong female role model and wanted to do meaningful work and help others. Her efforts reminded me of the quote I’d heard from Oprah Winfrey, although I think it may have originated with Betty Friedan, saying, “You can have it all—just not all at the same time.” Dr. Deb also shared spiritual wisdom drawing from her knowledge of Torah. She even drew a sign for me on her little notepad, which I still have hanging over my desk many years later. Transliterated from Hebrew, It reads: “Im ain ani li mee li”—meaning, “If I am not for myself, who is for me?” To take that sage quote a step further, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now—when?”

—Hillel

Faith Antman Batt is an Emmy Award winning writer, producer and actress. She is currently developing a stand-up act and plans to publish her memoir, “Cracking Up! Life with My Fractured Family."