WRITER | DIRECTOR | PRODUCER | CREATIVE DIRECTOR | RETIRED COMEDIAN
ABOUT
Kendall Alex Payne is a Los Angeles–based lesbian filmmaker and retired stand-up comedian who has been telling messy, non-traditional queer stories through comedic short films, sketches, music videos, web series, and original pilot and feature scripts for over 10 years. Her recent short film “Dead End” premiered at Outfest Next! in Los Angeles. Her other short “Riis” premiered at NewFest in Brooklyn. Both “Dead End” and “Riis” also screened at Bushwick Film Festival. Riis was voted Festival Favorite and Director’s Choice at the Palm Springs LGBTQ+ Film Festival. Her earlier work “Dealing” premiered at NewFest, and her short film/pilot “Fuck Nice Guys” was nominated for Best Web Series/TV Pilot and earned her a Best Director nomination at Indie Short Fest.
Beyond her narrative work, Kendall writes and directs branded content for Netflix, Apple TV, Prime Video, and Subway, bringing her irreverent sense of humor to global campaigns.
More if you’re interested…
The only thing I love more than making films and getting laughs is being a lesbian. My goal as a filmmaker is to tell non-traditional lesbian stories that don’t revolve around romantic love or coming-out trauma. Don’t get me wrong, I love to see women kiss and spent a lot of my teen years googling “lesbian kiss scenes.” But my passion as a filmmaker is to explore queer stories that are funny, weird, and wildly messy.
I’ve always loved film and TV. When I was a teen, I’d stay up til 4 in the morning watching Criminal Minds and The L Word. To this day I am endlessly fascinated by true crime and lesbian culture. In 2011, I bought a DVD of Bridesmaids and probably watched it 40 times in a row. But I didn’t ever see TV, film, or comedy as a career option.
One summer in college I interned at the Discovery Channel and met a young woman named Tam Sackman (remember the name). My job for the summer was to create a database to show whether the murderers and serial killers in the Investigation Discovery TV shows were still in jail or not. I was shocked to find so many were not. I did not sleep well that summer. My new friend Tam told me that her dream was to be a TV writer. “You can do that?” I replied. I don’t know why, but it honestly never occurred to me.
That same summer, I became obsessed with Broad City. It was the first time I’d seen a show about women that didn’t revolve around their sex lives. It was revolutionary to me, watching Abbi and Ilana smoke weed and act like idiots on TV. I loved it. I found out that Abbi and Ilana had started their careers at the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB), so I moved to New York in the fall of 2016 and began classes at the infamous improv school. To be honest, I was never that great at improv. But I fell in love with being on stage. I transitioned to stand-up and began grinding in the alt-comedy scene in Brooklyn.
That same year, I started working as a Production Assistant on New York based TV shows and indie films. On set, I soaked up everything I could about TV and Film. It was my real-life film school. But after about two years on set, I realized that if I wanted to become a filmmaker, I needed to produce and direct my own work. And as a PA, I had no time and no money to do that. So, I took an office job at a small production company and branded content agency. There, I worked my way from Office PA to Editor to Copywriter. I spent my free time doing stand-up and filming sketches, web series, music videos, and short films. In February of 2020, I decided it was finally the perfect time to quit my full-time role and focus on my comedy and filmmaking career. That’s right, February of 2020. I quit my job to focus on two decidedly in-person pursuits two weeks before the global pandemic. Great timing, Kendall.
But, I landed on my feet. I was able to freelance as a Copywriter (turns out a background in comedy is good for something, take that Mom and Dad) and then took a full-time role as a Lead Copywriter in-house at Bark Co. In January of 2022, I took a Senior Copywriting position at Dentsu Creative. I was promoted to Associate Creative Director at Dentsu after winning two new business pitches for the company. Which brings us to the present.
Working in advertising has allowed me the time and money to direct and produce my own work. Tam Sackman is now my comedy and filmmaking manager (did you remember the name?). I am working on two short films over the summer that I am very excited about: Riis: A Gay Odd-yssey (written by Claire McClain, directed by me) and Dead End (co-written with Carly Kane, directed by me). And I have two feature films in the works: Straight Wedding (co-written with Jess Zeidman) and Cal & Monte Flee Tennessee (written & directed by me).
Stay tuned for more.