Menopause (停經不停戰), a feature dramedy by Janet Hsieh

Key art: Jo sits inside an open fridge at night with a glass of red wine and a handheld fan. Title: Menopause, 停經不停戰. The ultimate guide to giving zero f#&*s.

Saving diplomacy one hot flash at a time.

Feature dramedy, 110 minutes. Written and directed by Janet Hsieh. Budget $1.8M.

A high-powered Taiwanese politician must broker a global treaty and outmaneuver a sexy U.S. negotiator, all while managing a husband with a secret, two feral sons, aging parents, and a uterus staging a hostile takeover.

The fourth-wall-breaking honesty of Fleabag with the high-stakes anxiety of The Diplomat. Mostly English, with Mandarin and Taiwanese. Set in Taiwan.

Jo, feet up in the open fridge, drinking red wine straight from the bottle.

Because running out of eggs…

When Taiwan’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Josephine Wu, is tasked with negotiating a ruthless U.S. trade treaty over ethical AI, she is fully prepared to leverage her island’s tech dominance.

She is significantly less prepared for perimenopause.

Brain fog, phantom periods, hot flashes and a vanishing verbal filter hit at the same time as a false missile crisis, a corrupt private-school PTA, a sexy American operative, and a husband with a secret life involving women’s blouses. The polite political playbook goes out the window.

Armed with rapidly depleting estrogen and zero remaining patience, she must weaponize her menopausal rage to save her country’s economy and keep her sanity intact.

…means you no longer have to walk on eggshells.

From the script, pages 8 and 9. Jo is on a call with Congressman Sterling.

Jo takes in a deep breath.

Josephine

Yes, Richard. You are treating global economic stability like a weekend at the Wynn. These ‘babysitters’ are the Taiwanese engineers who have been spoon-feeding your entire defense sector for two decades. Roll the dice, Chairman. We will crush you...I mean... We are happy to negotiate with our other allies.

CLICK. The Chairman has hung up.

She turns to camera.

Jo (to audience)

I’m dealing with hot headed politicians while dealing with hotter headed school parents. I don’t know which one is worse...

Half the global population will go through this, and the other half will have to live with them while they do.

Audience
Adults 30 to 60
Festival plan
Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca

The team

  • Janet Hsieh Writer and director Home (Prime Video), Heartbeat (YouTube). Golden Bell Award winner, Fun Taiwan.
  • Hank Tseng Executive producer The Victim’s Game (Netflix)
  • Terris Ko Executive producer
  • Ante Cheng Cinematographer Pachinko, Severance (Apple TV)
  • Jane Wu Producer Blue Eye Samurai (Netflix)
  • Logan Potter Producer

Budget

$1,800,000

Above the line
$200,000
Production
$1,000,000
Post-production
$400,000
Contingency
$200,000

Jo’s tablet

An interactive extra. Spend a day on Jo’s work tablet, from the chip-fab drill to the snake in the principal’s office.

Open Jo’s tablet

Email Jolly Good Kangaroo Productions