Leah McKendrick is an award-winning filmmaker and actress originally from San Francisco. She is widely known for the critically acclaimed digital musical series which she created and starred in, Destroy the Alpha Gammas, which made her a Webby Award Honoree and a Streamy Award Nominee for Best Independent Series. Her feature film debut as a writer/producer/actress- the revenge thriller, M.F.A.- was nominated for the Grand Jury Award at SXSW 2017 and dubbed “the first horror movie to speak to the #MeToo era” by The New York Times. Leah’s romcom script Voicemails for Isabelle was preempted by Columbia Pictures and made it onto the 2019 Black List and Hit List. Her first TV show, What the Fuck, Glenn? is in the works at HBO Max with supervising producer, Bruce Miller. Leah is currently working on her dream job – writing the Grease prequel, Summer Lovin’ for Paramount.

Director Statement

My older brother and I were lucky enough to grow up around the corner from a comic book store. I’d tag along with him after school to spend afternoons scouring the shelves for a comic that seemed like it was written for me. Where was the pink in this bloody world of hulky men? It seemed that girls were not meant to be in comic book stores, because girls were scarce in comic books.

Then I discovered Poison Ivy: She was smart, powerful and had awesome hair. Yeah, yeah she was a “villain” – but we all have bad days! And unlike Harley Quinn and Catwoman – she didn’t seem completely, well, insane. I had found something that was mine in this boys clubhouse. Ivy, too, was a girl in a man’s world. Little did I know that this reckless, confident image of a woman behaving badly would inform my work through my teen years to today.
Pamela & Ivy is a nod to the little girls who grew up searching for themselves in comic book stores. While this interpretation of Ivy may not be frilly and PINK – it’s female to the core.

Plus, her hair is still awesome.