Miranda Kahn Goes from Producing for Lady Gaga to Directing Her Own Story, and She’s Just Getting Started
…Don’t be afraid to be creative yourself. I’ve always been really focused on the business side of filmmaking and making commercials. I was obsessed with just working and learning and working some more. It wasn’t until recently that I started carving out time to actually create — to write, to play music, to dream. So I’d tell myself: take all the moments you can to celebrate your own creativity…
I had the pleasure of talking with Miranda Kahn. Miranda is an emerging writer, director, and producer whose directorial debut Fame and Other Four Letter Words is set to premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival. The short film, a satirical look at the culture of internet celebrity and the value of intellectual labor, is a collaboration with executive producer Francesca Scorsese. It features a cast including Chloe Cherry, Francesca Scorsese, Jemima Kirke, and Devon Walker, among others. The film’s appearance at Tribeca marks a significant step in Kahn’s evolution from behind-the-scenes producer to creative lead.
Raised in Long Island, New York, Kahn grew up in a tightly knit family and was exposed to the entertainment industry from an early age. Her mother runs a small talent management firm, and Kahn recalls attending actor readings as a child, even offering unsolicited but prescient feedback to performers. A comment from one of her mother’s clients predicting she would become a producer proved accurate.
Kahn graduated from college early and entered the industry through production roles on shows such as HBO’s Girls and the network adaptation of Limitless. Her early years included intensive on-set experience and a progression through production roles, eventually earning membership in the Directors Guild of America. She has since worked on a range of projects that have screened at major festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Cannes, Tribeca, and Venice.
Over the past decade, Kahn has built a career that spans independent features, music collaborations, commercial work, and branded content. Her producing credits include projects for Oscar-winning producers Eli Bush and Molly Conners, and for musicians such as Lady Gaga, H.E.R., and Nas. She has worked with production houses and platforms including A24, Apple, HBO, ESPN, and Vogue. In 2019, Kahn launched her own production company, Mirmade Productions. The female-led company has produced four feature films and nine shorts to date.
Her short film Say Hi After You Die won the 2024 U.S. Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, establishing her not just as a capable producer but as a filmmaker with a distinct creative voice. Fame and Other Four Letter Words, however, marks her first time in the director’s chair. The film blends comedy and science fiction to critique digital culture through the story of an influencer who awakens in an alternate reality where traditional celebrity has lost its status and scientific achievement is prized instead.
Kahn’s professional background is marked by a range of notable experiences. In one, while producing a mental health awareness campaign for Facebook and the Born This Way Foundation, she ended up acting as an unlikely custodian of a bralette left behind by Lady Gaga. The garment, which some crew members wanted to keep as a souvenir, was instead quietly donated to Goodwill. In another moment, she recounts being gifted Blondie-themed cookies by Debbie Harry on set, a lighthearted encounter that stands out among many unpredictable moments in production.
The physical and emotional toll of the industry has not been lost on her. Kahn has spoken candidly about overwork early in her career, including a period when she fell asleep behind the wheel after long days as a production assistant. That experience has informed her approach to leadership. She now insists on rest for her crew and remains attuned to the less visible risks of long hours in high-pressure environments.
In recent years, Kahn has taken on campaigns across various sectors, from Broadway promotions with Stranger Things actress Sadie Sink to commercial work for Paris Hilton and Saweetie. She is currently producing content for the WNBA’s New York Liberty and pursuing further commercial and narrative projects, including plans to develop Fame and Other Four Letter Words into a feature-length film.
Kahn has said she draws strength from a consistent self-care routine that includes therapy, sleep, and time with family. She values weekends as a time for restoration and boundaries, a practice she adopted after experiencing burnout multiple times. Creativity remains central to her personal care as well, whether through writing, playing music, or directing. She plays bass guitar and integrates mindfulness into her routines through small rituals such as lighting candles and keeping lavender on hand.
Reflecting on her path in the industry, Kahn has emphasized the importance of persistence, community, and adaptability. She advises young creatives to tolerate periods of financial hardship, to maintain close ties with friends and family, and to not be discouraged by missed opportunities. A missed call with Lizzo’s team, she noted, felt like a career setback at the time. She now sees such events as part of a larger process of timing and alignment.
Kahn is also clear about her long-term ambitions. She has expressed a desire to collaborate with Higher Ground Productions, the company founded by Michelle and Barack Obama. She envisions contributing to storytelling that amplifies underrepresented voices or explores themes of social progress. These are areas she believes are essential to media’s potential impact.
Looking ahead, Kahn remains focused on both expanding her creative footprint and rethinking what types of stories are prioritized within the cultural imagination. In her view, a world where scientists, teachers, and activists are celebrated as fervently as actors and musicians is one worth striving toward and worth building through cinema.
Yitzi: Miranda, so nice to meet you. Before we dive in deep, our readers would love to learn about your personal origin story. Can you share the story of your childhood and how you grew up?
Miranda: Absolutely. I grew up in Long Island, New York. I grew up in a household of four: my mom, my dad, my younger brother, and me. The four of us were, and always have been, and always will be, a very tight unit. I’m very fortunate that my parents are still together, and my brother and I are super close. My upbringing was such a huge part of who I am. I feel like my parents both worked so hard to give us a good life and to allow us to experiment with creativity and education. I’m definitely very grateful for my childhood and very blessed. My brother and I, in particular, are extremely close.
Yitzi: So please tell us the story of how you first entered the entertainment industry.
Miranda: Well, I guess it really all started with my mother. My mom, like me, owns her own company within entertainment. She owns a talent management firm. She manages actors on Broadway, television, movies, and it’s a small company, but she was always very hands-on with her clients. I remember when I was about seven years old, she took me to a reading that she had in the city. She would get her actors together and have them bring sides — scenes from a play, scenes from a movie, something they were auditioning for or practicing. She had them all read out loud with each other, and I remember being seven years old, up there with my mom, saying, you’re too overdramatic, you’re too emotional, pull it back, or give us some more. I was really active in giving guidance to these actors who were three times my age. It was then that one of my mom’s clients came up to me and said, you’re going to be a producer one day. And she was right.
Yitzi: You probably have some amazing stories from your professional life. Can you share with our readers one or two stories that most stand out in your mind?
Miranda: Let’s see. Yeah, there’s a bunch of really funny ones. One in particular that I think is quite hilarious: I was producing a spot for Mental Health Awareness Month for Facebook — now Meta, but at the time it was still Facebook. This project was also in partnership with Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation. Gaga was the star of the piece, and we worked really hard for a week getting everything together. It was an amazing experience.
It ended up being quite emotional because of all the conversations we were having around mental health. Once we wrapped, Gaga and her team said their goodbyes and rushed off to go home. She was exhausted. She left behind her bralette — not quite a bra, more like a bralette type thing. Some of the crew started hearing about it and were saying things like, “Oh my god, I want it. I want her bra.” They were literally standing over the garbage bins, ready to grab it.
So I decided the best thing was to take it and remove it from the set. I took it back to my house and texted Bobby, Gaga’s manager. I said, “Hey Bobby, I have this bra. Do you want me to drop it off at her house? What would you like me to do?” And he said, “You can dispose of it.”
Rather than throw it out — because that’s bad for the environment — I added it to a big bag of clothes I was donating to Goodwill. So somewhere out there, someone has Lady Gaga’s bralette from Goodwill, and they have no idea it belonged to her.
I’ve got all sorts of crazy set stories. I’m trying to think of one that’s similar. Let’s see. I guess something that was really unexpected — oh, this is a fun one. Sorry, I’m trying to think, there are so many stories.
Last year I produced a film that Debbie Harry starred in — Blondie — and she literally brought Blondie cookies to set. I just thought that was the coolest thing ever. They were literally Blondie brownie cookies. That was a pretty great day — the day we had Blondie from Blondie.
Yitzi: It’s been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Do you have a story of a funny mistake that you made when you were first starting and the lesson that you learned from it?
Miranda: Oh my gosh, yeah, I made so many mistakes starting out — where to begin? I guess a really important lesson I learned early on was when I was a PA, a production assistant. I was getting super overworked. I was working 12 to 14 hours a day, which is fine, but a lot of that time I was also driving. Driving for eight hours a day can be exhausting.
I actually fell asleep behind the wheel on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, New York, and bumped into someone in front of me. We were going very slowly, just on a regular street, but I straight up fell asleep and hit the car ahead of me while working for a network television show. Thankfully, they had insurance, everyone was fine, no one was hurt.
But it was such an important lesson for me, both as a worker and now as an employer. Always speak up when you feel tired, overworked, or unsafe. Our filming environments can be dangerous. And as an employer, I’ve learned to not only ask my team how they’re feeling, but to recognize when they need a break — regardless of what they say. I’ll insist that people take 30 or 40 minutes just to close their eyes if I know they’ve been running hard. That was definitely one very important lesson I learned.
Yitzi: What has been the most challenging project or most challenging role that you’ve taken on and why?
Miranda: It’s funny. I would say that every time I’ve taken on a job with a new title, it always intimidates me. It feels like a really difficult transition. I always feel like I don’t know what I’m doing.
In the industry, there’s a natural progression. I started as a production assistant, then became a second AD, then a first AD, then a production manager, then a line producer, then a producer, and now I’m also a bidding producer. There are all these different steps, and anytime I start a new one, I’m terrified.
But then I just do the thing, and it always ends up being totally fine. I end up being more than capable of handling it. I know that’s kind of a broad answer to your question, but those moments when I’m stepping into something new — that’s when it’s most challenging for me.
Yitzi: So Miranda, you have so much impressive work. Please tell us about the exciting new projects you’re working on now and what you hope to be working on in the near future.
Miranda: Yeah, absolutely. The year has been really great to me so far. I started off doing some Broadway promotion for a play called John Proctor’s the Villain with Sadie Sink, who’s one of the stars of Stranger Things. Then I worked on a campaign with Paris Hilton and Saweetie for NYX, the makeup brand.
Right now, I’m finishing up two projects — one for the New York Liberty team, which is the women’s NBA team in New York, and another for a swimwear brand. I’m especially excited about the New York Liberty one because we’re literally creating the video the players come out to at every home game. It’ll be so fun to go to a game and see our work on the big screen.
Those are the exciting projects happening at the moment. I’m also heading to Sweden in a couple of weeks for another project. And of course, I’ve got my short film that will be screening at the Tribeca Film Festival in a couple of weeks. I’m really looking forward to attending that premiere as well.
Yitzi: So tell us about Fame and Four Other Letter Words.
Miranda: Yes! Fame is, excitingly, my directorial debut. I’ve been a producer and involved in the entertainment industry for over a decade now, and for the first time, I decided to take on the roles of director, writer, and producer. I also have a cameo in it.
It’s an amazing, comedic, and timely short film about friendship, sisterhood, and our obsessive culture with celebrity and influencers. It’s really quite a fun project.
Yitzi: What are the lessons that you hope people walk away with from the themes and motifs of the film?
Miranda: I think — I hope — the lesson is quite clear once you’ve seen it. The film is essentially about a girl who chooses to neglect her sister on her half-birthday celebration, which is a big deal in their family. Instead of spending the day going to the zoo with her sister, she ends up chasing after celebrities to get more content for her Instagram channel, Celebrity Sermon, where she obsesses over the nuances and interests of celebrities.
She’s running after a celebrity she spots, and she gets hit by a car. She wakes up in a world where celebrities, Instagram, and influencers don’t really exist anymore. So she’s forced to figure out where she fits in this new reality.
Ultimately, I hope the message audiences take away is: go to the zoo with your sibling. Spend that time with your family. Be with the ones you love. Try to be present. Even when it’s hard to be present, just being aware that you’re not fully there — that you’re distracted — is a healthy first step.
I really want people to prioritize friendship and family, their own mental health, self-esteem, and sense of self. Because at the end of the day, celebrities are just people we don’t know. They’re strangers. And nothing is more important than yourself and your family.
Yitzi: What character did you play in the film?
Miranda: I played a superfan. I played someone who’s obsessed with Celebrity Sermon. So I’m obsessed with her. I just make a little quick cameo at the very, very end of the film. I actually have the last line in the film.
Yitzi: This is our signature question. Miranda, you’ve been blessed with a lot of success. Looking back to when you first started, can you share five things that you’ve learned now that you wish you knew when you first entered the entertainment industry?
Miranda: Five things that I wish I knew…
- First and foremost: keep it up. You’re doing great. You’re doing all the right things. The doubt that I had then was actually healthy and motivating, but I had it going all along. So that’s something I would definitely say to myself — keep going.
- Second, remember that your friends and family are more important than work. I think there was a long period of my life where work was everything to me, and I completely neglected my friends, my family, my hometown. I didn’t really care about anyone except the people who could help me get the next gig or the next job. And I missed out on some really important memories because of that. So that’s a big lesson — friends and family matter.
- Third, you can live really meagerly. You can live cheaply if you need to. You don’t have to buy clothes all the time or have fancy meals. All you really need is a bodega sandwich to get through the day. It’s okay to be poor for a bit. That doesn’t mean you’re failing, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. It’s just part of going after your dream. So I’d tell myself: it’s okay that you’re broke — it’s part of the process.
- Fourth, if a really amazing opportunity goes away, there’s a reason. I remember one of the worst mistakes I ever made in my career: I had set up a call with Lizzo’s management team — and I missed it. It was the worst. I’d never missed a call in my career, and I was devastated. I knew I had ruined that relationship. But then, a few months later, all the drama with her came out. Not to say I was right, or the media was right, or any of that. It’s just that the timing clearly wasn’t right. And if we’re ever meant to align again, it’ll happen when the time is better and cleaner. So don’t be so hard on yourself when things don’t go your way or when opportunities disappear.
- And fifth, don’t be afraid to be creative yourself. I’ve always been really focused on the business side of filmmaking and making commercials. I was obsessed with just working and learning and working some more. It wasn’t until recently that I started carving out time to actually create — to write, to play music, to dream. So I’d tell myself: take all the moments you can to celebrate your own creativity.
Yitzi: Can you share with our readers the self-care routines that you use to help your body, mind, and heart to thrive?
Miranda: Oh yes. Self-care is extremely important to me. There have been many times in this industry where I’ve experienced true burnout. I’ve actually fainted a couple of times from overworking myself — drinking too much, doing things to stay awake and keep going.
So now, self-care is a real priority because I want to be healthy. I never want to faint again. I never want to feel that tightness in my chest. Everyone’s anxiety shows up differently, and mine shows up right here in my chest, so I take it seriously.
First and foremost, I’m really fortunate that my insurance covers therapy. I go every week — or at least every other week when I can. I’m also a huge sleeper. People always say, “Oh my god, you must never sleep, you work so much,” but I do. I sleep eight and a half, nine, sometimes even ten hours. It’s so important to me. I only got six hours last night because I had an early shoot, and I feel like a wreck today. One night of bad sleep and I’m all out of sorts. I have no idea what I’ll do when I have kids one day and they keep me up all night!
Sleep is huge. And then, I make sure to find the little things that keep me calm. I love the smell of lavender. I keep a little lavender satchel in my purse because just smelling it relaxes me. I love candles too. I light them all the time — even though I’ve heard lately they’re bad for your lungs, but c’est la vie.
I also protect my weekends. Unless I physically have to be on set — like for the WNBA job, where we had to shoot on a Sunday because of the players — I’m not returning your calls. If I’m texting, it’s because I want to and I have the energy. Otherwise, weekends are for my family. They’re for my fiancé. That’s our time together, and it really helps me reset and stay grounded.
So yeah, I guess my go-tos are candles, lavender, therapy, spending time with my man and my family. And of course — you’ve got to exercise. You have to let the stress out. I do a lot of Pilates, I do yoga, and I love to play the bass. Those are all my little self-care things.
Yitzi: So this is our final aspirational question. Miranda, because of your great work and the platform that you’ve built, you’re a person of enormous influence. If you could put out an idea, spread an idea, or inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Miranda: I think it would be the message at the heart of my film. I would love for us as a society to imagine a world where scientists, activists, environmentalists, rabbis — people who don’t usually get a lot of credit — were the ones at the top of the totem pole. Teachers too. If those kinds of people were what’s considered cool, what’s hip, what’s click-worthy and buzzworthy, and the ones we all idolized… Just think about how different the world would look.
We, as human beings, have created these societal norms, these trends. We’ve shaped this world ourselves. And I just find it so interesting to imagine what it might have been like if we had shaped it a little differently. Is it too late to shift things? Maybe not. Maybe we can start praising scientists, activists, lawyers, and teachers as the people to look up to — even more than, you know, Madonna and Cher.
Yitzi: That’s great. This is what we call a matchmaker question, and it works a lot of times. We’re very blessed that prominent leaders read this column, and maybe we can try to connect you. Is there a person in the world or in the US with whom you’d like to collaborate, share a coffee with, or sit down for a power lunch? We could tag them on social media and maybe make the connection.
Miranda: Oh wow. That’s a great question. Well… sorry, Rabbi, but when you ask me something like this, I’m going to shoot high. I’m a filmmaker, of course, so that’s where my strengths lie. But I also believe in good humanity and creating a better world. One of my goals — and I know it will happen, because when I set goals, I go for them and I get them — is to work with the Obamas’ production company one day.
I’d love to sit down with Michelle, see what her production company needs, find out what kinds of films or documentaries they’re interested in. I’m not really a documentary producer myself, but I know a lot of incredible documentary filmmakers. I’d love to know how I can contribute, and ideally, produce something for them that benefits the world. That would be the dream — to collaborate with them.
Yitzi: Miranda, how can our readers continue to follow your work? How can they watch this new film? How can they support you in any possible way?
Miranda: Well, there’s so much you can do, from little things to big ones. At the very baseline, just keeping tabs on the short film would be amazing. We’re going to be playing at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York — our premiere is June 13th. So if you happen to be in New York that weekend, coming to see the film in person would be fantastic.
We have a social media account for the film, @CelebritySermon, and my production company also has an account, @MirmadeProductions. And beyond that, continuing to connect me with talented directors is always helpful, and of course, I’m always looking for funding for my next film. I plan to develop Celebrity Sermon into a feature.
I’ve produced five feature films in the past, so raising money is something I’ve done before. But since this will be the first feature I’m directing, I’d love any extra support in raising funds. If anyone knows investors or high-net-worth individuals who might be interested in supporting my career — let’s get a coffee and hang out. That would be amazing.
Yitzi: Miranda, it’s been a delight and a joy to meet you. I wish you continued success, good health. I’m excited to share this with you and our readers.
Miranda: Yes, thank you so much for everything. I’m looking forward to seeing it as well. And I hope you have a lovely rest of the day.
Yitzi: You too, Miranda. Thanks so much.
Miranda Kahn Goes from Producing for Lady Gaga to Directing Her Own Story, and She’s Just Getting… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.