Last month, Mizzou’s own Anna Chellis, Faith Glasgow, and Brooke Taylor traveled to Los Angeles and won two Emmys for “Girls State,” an Apple TV documentary that came out earlier this year.
And if that first sentence doesn’t impress you, then I don’t know what will.
I got a chance to talk to Anna about her experience.
While she is now a sophomore at the University of Missouri, when Anna was a rising senior in high school she went to Missouri Girls State, a mock-government program that consists of 500 girls from around Missouri building and organizing a democracy from the ground up. It’s sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary (ALA), and is a week-long program that focuses on cultivating leadership and explores American government and politics.
During the year that Anna attended, Apple TV was filming their newest documentary titled “Girls State.” “Girls State” is the follow up to the documentary “Boys State,” which came out in 2020. It follows the program and the girls behind it, who organized their own Supreme Court.
Missouri Girls State presented a perfect opportunity for Anna to immerse herself in politics and government, and after the intense interviewing process to get accepted into the program she also became appointed as a justice in the Supreme Court.
In addition to getting accepted into Missouri Girls State, the year Anna attended, Apple TV also conducted their own interviews for creating the documentary.
“There was a really long interviewing process before the week started where the people from Apple TV interviewed anybody who wanted to be in the documentary,” Anna said. “They went down the interviewing process and picked their favorites. They picked 12 of their favorites and followed them throughout the week, and then only seven of them made it into the documentary.”
Throughout the week of Missouri Girls State, Apple TV followed their chosen girls around. Instead of staging scenes and having a set plot, the crew gathered their footage of the girls organically. They set up interviews to ask the girls questions like how they were feeling and what was going on to get authentic emotions and reactions.
“They really made the plot after the whole week was over, then they looked at all the footage and chose the plot that they wanted to do,” Anna said. “It was impressive.”
For the directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine, this project was close to their heart.
“The directors are married and they have daughters who are our age and so it was really easy to talk to them,” Anna said.
Once the week was all done and over, Anna went back to her normal life as a senior in high school. It wasn’t until January of this year when “Girls State” premiered for the first time at the Sundance festival in Park City, Utah.
For Sundance, Anna wasn’t expecting the VIP treatment. Yet upon arrival, she got PR training, full hair and makeup, and a red carpet experience.
“I was just gonna be a plus one and stand on the side,” Anna said. “[In PR training] they would ask us questions and we would practice responding. It was five hours long of just talking to each other. I guess they liked my interviews, because they kept me going with all the PR stuff with them, and I was just gonna be a plus one.”
Following Sundance, “Girls State” premiered on April 5 on Apple TV. A couple of months after Sundance, Anna and the girls went to L.A. to plead their case for an Emmy nomination.
“We went back to L.A. a couple months later to talk to the academy voters and basically plead our case for a nomination,” Anna said. “There was a screening of the film and then we answered questions after.”
After the screening, the girls also went to a cocktail party to continue to network and plead their case for a nomination. At this event, Anna used her PR training to talk to academy voters and other influential people in the film industry.
“I met the costume designer for The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, who designed Ashley Tidsale’s outfits for the whole show,” Anna said.
Once their trip was over, it was back to normal life – until the Emmy nominations came out.
“We were all at home [and] Facetimed as soon as it was released. They released it on the Emmys website. Our directors texted us, but we found out first because we were waiting and refreshing to see. We got on a group call and we were like ‘Oh my gosh, we’re going.’”
“Girls State” was nominated for three Emmys – Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program, Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program, and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.
Last September, the girls once again traveled to L.A. – but this time, it was to win the gold.
“Our drivers picked us up and took us to the airport. When we got to L.A., the first day that we were there, we got dinner with our directors in the tallest building west of the Mississippi. We were on the 80th floor of this really fancy restaurant at the top of our hotel,” Anna said. “And then we went to a cocktail party for all of the nominees.”
The following day, Anna and the girls got full glam to get ready for the big event. The Emmys were at the Peacock Theater, where the red carpet and press were waiting outside. Once the taping started, “Girls State” won two awards for directing and cinematography. Afterwards, the cast got to go to a massive afterparty and meet some of the famous film legends in Hollywood.
Most memorably, Anna met some of the cast from “Shark Tank,” David and Abby from “Love on the Spectrum,” comedian Nikki Glaser and Dick Van Dyke.
Jimmy Kimmel was also there.
Anna flew back home the next day. Even though her Emmys experience is over, the impact of “Girls State” has not been finished. On Oct. 15, the documentary was nominated for a Critics Choice Documentary Award for the Best Political Documentary.
“I think the biggest impact is the relationships I’ve made with the girls,” Anna said. “Most of us didn’t know each other during the documentary, but since we’ve gotten to do all of this stuff together, we’re all best friends now.”
Anna is studying political science, and has continued to fuel her passion for politics by starting Bridge Mizzou, a club that focuses on bridging political polarization between students, and discusses various political issues.
“The purpose is to have people think about other perspectives of politics,” Anna said. “It’s to bridge the divide. It’s not to make people less of their belief, [or] make you more in the middle. Other people have different beliefs, and that’s okay. It doesn’t make you a bad person.”
Looking towards future goals, the “Girls State” experience has helped Anna guide her future ambitions.
“I need a career that is gonna benefit other people. I can’t just work and do something that I like to do, because that’s fun and everything, but if I have a job that’s really rewarding it has to be something that’s helping other people,” Anna said. “I feel like [with] politics and government, you’re just fixing it at the start – everything kind of trickles down from there.”
On this crazy whirlwind of an experience, Anna will always be grateful for the people it brought her and what she’s learned.
“The whole thing is crazy. I feel like my self confidence has grown,” Anna said. “I feel like I’m less insecure now because it’s something I can pull out of my back pocket when I’m feeling down. [I know] I’ve done cool things. I made an impact somehow.”
If you haven’t already, go watch “Girls State” on Apple TV. I beg. Here’s the trailer.