About this episode

Filmmaker Andy Phillips discusses his short film WORDS and its connections to New Orleans and stuttering.

Filmmaker and stuttering ally Andy Phillips joins Maya to mark the 10-year anniversary of his short film WORDS, a story born from two loves: New Orleans and spoken-word poetry. Andy shares how a friend who stutters, late-night script pages in a dreaded Shakespeare class, and a chance connection to a Lower Ninth Ward community center shaped the film’s heartbeat. A tour with neighborhood elder “Mr. Robert,” the Katrina watermark still visible on walls, inspired the opening poem and grounded the story in place and resilience. Andy also talks about researching stuttering to avoid tired stereotypes and building an indie crew through tiny miracles that kept showing up, sometimes literally with a Steadicam. A decade later, WORDS still ripples through his life, even guiding his path into podcast producing. You can watch WORDS here . ----- 🎟 Get tickets for a community art and film event sponsored by Proud Stutter on October 9 in San Francisco ----- U.S.-based writer with a finished script/pilot/play featuring disabled characters? Apply to 1IN4 Writers by Oct 20, 2025 for mentorship, industry relationships, and a $20K unrestricted grant. ----- Big thanks to Proud Stutter's recurring…

People in this episode

Host: Maya Chupkov

Guest: Andy Phillips

Topics covered

• stuttering
• New Orleans
• spoken-word poetry
• film
• community resilience
• Katrina

Keywords

• stuttering
• New Orleans
• WORDS
• Andy Phillips
• spoken-word poetry
• Katrina
• community art

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: WORDS

Places: New Orleans, Lower Ninth Ward

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