Making of ‘Girls State’: ‘How do girls do politics’ asks roundtable panel with 3 Emmy nominees [Exclusive Video Interview]

The idea of making a documentary about the Girls State program was something that was on the mind of directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine before they even began shooting “Boys State.” “We would have made ‘Girls State’ first except Girls State in Texas, where we made ‘Boys State,’ were not very receptive to having us come to their program. We love the Boys State program and we’re so proud of the film but the whole time we were thinking, ‘How did girls do politics,’” Moss tells Gold Derby during our recent roundtable on the making of “Girls State.”

We were joined by cinematographer Laura Hudock. McBaine adds that the difference between the two programs was felt almost immediately after they arrived with one of the film’s subjects. “The way that the counselors were sort of bedazzled with pom poms and it just was more of a camp vibe almost immediately than what we’d remembered at Boys State. Politics starts the second you arrive. With Girls State, it takes a long time to unroll. They keep the training wheels on the bike for a long time.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

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“Girls State,” which can currently be streamed on Apple TV+, follows several young women as they attend the annual Girls State program in Missouri. Like Boys State, the program’s participants are split into two political parties and are tasked electing people to public office and forming a mock government. It serves as a follow up to “Boys State” which won Moss and McBaine the Emmy for Best Documentary or Nonfiction Special in 2021.

Moss, McBaine and Hudock are all nominated at this year’s Emmys for their work on “Girls State.” Moss and McBaine are once again nominated for both Documentary or Nonfiction Special and Documentary/Nonfiction Directing while Hudock is up for Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program.

One of the biggest challenges for Hudock as one of the film’s camera people was just being able to keep up with everyone especially with her specific subject, Emily Worthmore. “She was the Energizer Bunny of the group. The whole thing was pretty much a marathon. She didn’t just walk across campus. She ran. I’m like running backwards, but behind her. I ran into a pole. I think at one point I literally said, ‘If you don’t slow down, I’m going to die.’” Hudock was apprehensive at first about being paired with someone with a more conservative worldview after seeing some nasty stuff while covering the Trump campaign in 2016 but with an open mind, ended up really connecting with Worthmore. “The key is just putting the camera down sometimes and having a chat and connecting as human beings and I’m not just this scary person with a camera. It’s like, I care and let’s connect as humans and that allowed her to relax and be real and not mind that I was there and just allow herself to be vulnerable.”

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