A version of this story about Megan Amram first appeared in the Down to the Wire issue of TheWrap’s Emmy magazine.
Watching last year’s Emmys, Megan Amram (whose day job is writing for “The Good Place”) decided that she could win one in the Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series category. So she filmed a web series, “An Emmy for Megan,” entirely about her desire to win an Emmy. So far, so good: She was nominated for two Emmys, one for acting and one for producing.
Talking to her about this requires becoming her straight man.
Congratulations. It would have been awful to do the whole web series and then not get a nomination.
I know. But part of me thought it’d be exciting either way. Because either I get the nomination, which is one step closer to what I really want, or I don’t, and then I can launch a full campaign against the Emmys.
So you had a Plan B.
I not only had a Plan B, I had a press release all ready to go, which said that I was sure that the Emmys had been infiltrated by Russia and there was voter fraud going on. But obviously, the Emmys have not been subject to voter fraud, because they voted for me.
You might want to hang onto that press release, in the remote chance that you don’t win.
Yes. It’s there in case I need it. There’s only two options, which is that I win or that there’s something wrong.
Your “I’m so happy to be nominated” statement did point out that the web series is not titled “Two Emmy Nominations for Megan.”
You’ve got to have that gold, or it means noting. I’m definitely going to be that person who says it was not an honor just to be nominated. It’s only an honor to win.
Do you realize that you’re up against people like Christina Pickles, who is 83 years old and a very nice lady who has been nominated for “St. Elsewhere” and “Friends” but has never won?
I mean this very sincerely: I will feel bad when I beat her. I either am fans of people in the category or have been introduced to them through this nomination, and I am truly very impressed by every single person. But still, I need to win, and I will apologize profusely.
I specifically am a huge Broadway fan and am such a fan of Kelli O’Hara, and I was like, what a bummer that I’m going to have to meet Kelli O’Hara when we’re such contentious rivals for this highly publicized award.
Apart from the Emmy lust, you must have at least partially made this in order to get involved in directing?
I really did want to stretch my skills at acting and directing. They’re things I have loved doing on the side and wanted to do something high profile. But really, again, the main reason I’m doing this is to win an Emmy. Acting and directing is falling by the wayside. The goal is really to get the prize any way I can.
You wrote and shot the entire series pretty close to the deadline, right?
Yeah. The website went live the day of the deadline, and we shot it about two weeks before we needed to put it online, in a day. I first decided I wanted to do it while I was watching last year’s Emmys — and you’d think for something that I care as much about as winning an Emmy, I would have planned it a little further ahead. But I was just so assured of my own talent.
Are you now spending time figuring out your Emmy outfit?
Oh, yes. Even before I put out the series, I was thinking about what I was going to wear and what I was going to say when I won. I’ve tweeted at a few designers who have not responded, I don’t really know why. I need to kick my Twitter — I won’t say begging, but asking nicely — into high gear.
And I’m really honing my speech. I think I may have even spent more time on the speech than the series. I promise to entertain if I win.
To read more of TheWrap’s Down to the Wire issue, click here.
