BJ & Harmony Colangelo

BJ and Harmony Colangelo are writers and film analysts from Los Angeles by way of Cleveland, Ohio. Their work, individually and collectively, has been published in Fangoria Magazine, The AV Club, Playboy.com, Autostraddle, Vulture, Shudder, Bloody Disgusting, Daily Dead, Dread Central, Certified Forgotten, /Film, and The Daily Dot. BJ has been featured in the books Hidden Horror 101, When Animals Attack, Evil Seeds, and Creepy Bitches, while Harmony is the author of the book A Year of Queer Cocktails. They’ve both contributed short stories to the Haunted Reels anthology series, and wrote the book SLEEPAWAY CAMP with DieDieBooks. They’ve both spoken at San Diego Comic-Con, frequently host and moderate panels, can both be seen in the Queer for Fear documentary series, and were recently invited to speak about Sleepaway Camp at the Academy Museum.

Together they host This Ends at Prom.

Explain This Ends at Prom in ten words or less.
Examining the coming-of-age experience through teen girl cinema.

How is it different than other movie podcasts?
Movies made about or marketed toward teen girl audiences are seldom met with good-faith film analysis or criticism, despite how formative these works are for generations of people. We’re not a nostalgia podcast that just cracks jokes about movies that people make fun of us for loving, but a show that genuinely looks to explore what messaging teenagers and young adults were fed through these movies, how it reflects the culture at the time it was released, and how they relate to our (and our guests) lives now that we’re adults and can look back at our teen years with clarity. There’s been a lot of talk about “healing your inner child” in the last few years, but folks forget that honoring your teenage self is part of that journey, and we try to do that through the lens of cinema.

How did you two meet and who hit on who first?
BJ: We were both at the Cleveland screenings for Dan Savage’s Hump! Film Festival, and I saw Harmony… but Harmony did not see me. I saw her a few times around town at a bar where she was working, and very quickly developed a crush from afar, but was too chickenshit to make a move. That all changed when I signed up for Tinder. I had purchased “premium” or whatever they call it, after having an edible one night, so I could see that “the hot barback from the film festival” had already swiped right on me, so I really had no excuse. Unfortunately, I was working on my segment for the horror anthology film DEATHCEMBER at the time we matched, so we couldn’t meet up for a date for like, a month. But we talked daily, and it was pretty evident that we were into each other, so when we finally arranged a date to hang out at Harmony’s (later, our) apartment, the chemistry was pretty electric. I’ll let her take it from here. 

Harmony: I was pretty easy-going on Tinder. I wrote out that all I was really looking for was “someone to play Mario Kart and make out with.” I had invited BJ over to the apartment, and we had planned to order food in and just see where the night went. I put on some records while we bonded over a person that we mutually hated (and still do), and just really got to know each other because we never really had to work to find things to talk about. Eventually, our food was delivered, but they had forgotten mine. BJ managed to MOSTLY keep her cool about it. (BJ, interjecting: I FELT SO BAD!) While going through a record crate on the floor for the next one to put on, I looked up at her on the couch and said, “So I’m going to make out with you now,” and we haven’t looked back since. We finally played Mario Kart, like, 2 years later. 

How are you two different? How are you similar? What do you each bring to the table for the show?
BJ: I am far more neurotic than Harmony, so I handle a lot of the Type-A jobs like scheduling, updating social media, managing the Discord, making the episode graphics, and finding the articles we reference. I’ve also got the flavor of neurodivergence, that means I’m a walking IMDb, so I’m able to pull out a lot of weird facts at the drop of a hat. I’m also way more sensitive, which means I’m not allowed to read the comments anymore. 

Harmony: I’m not as elegant or professional as BJ, so I handle more of the “manual labor” of podcasting. Recording set-up and take-down, and editing the show, which takes more time than anything else we do. In general, I’m just more loosey-goosey than BJ is, which helps when my role on the show is that I don’t really “need” to know anything since I usually haven’t seen the movie we are covering until we actually get to it. While This Ends At Prom is technically a movie review show, a historical context show, and a gay little show about our lives and feelings, I have always treated it as a comedy show. BJ is far more academic than I am.

But we’re both always going to commit to the bit if it kills us.

What was the inspiration for the show?
BJ: During the early quarantine era of the COVID-19 pandemic, when we had nothing better to do than watch movies, I showed Harmony ‘10 Things I Hate About You,’ thinking that she would fall in love with it the same way I had as a pre-teen. Pretty quickly, she started pointing out flaws in the story that I had never noticed before because I have had rose-tinted nostalgia glasses on for 20+ years. The conversation we had after the movie was over lasted over an hour, and I immediately knew this was “something.” Because I’m a writer and have decent connections with some publications, I pitched the idea to a women’s magazine (that shall remain nameless) about a monthly column where I would show Harmony a seminal film that she missed having been raised as a teen boy, and it was approved! Unfortunately, when we all realized that the “two weeks off from work” was going to be … a lot longer than that, the magazine could no longer afford the column, and so it was fair game for us to do whatever we wanted with it. We knew the idea was just too good, so we immediately started researching how to create an independent podcast. 

Tell us about the title.
BJ: The title was actually the brainchild of the incomparable filmmaker, writer, co-host of the Midnight Mass podcast, and our dear friend, Michael Varrati. The idea was that most people treat prom as the “end” of their high school experience, even before graduation. Although the scope of the show has expanded beyond high school, because we never truly stop coming of age. The running joke is that we cover the spectrum of “early Mary-Kate & Ashley movies to a quarter-life crisis.” 

What was the moment you were like…aha this is a show?
Harmony: The show was kind of fully formed from the very start. We have added a little bit more over the years, but what we are doing 250+ episodes in is more or less a better version of what we did at the very start. That said, I think it took a little time to get confident and stretch what This Ends At Prom could and should be. I think the very first episode where we both finished recording and went “Wow, it feels like we really nailed that,” was our eighth episode on ‘Casper.’ Because that film is such an “awakening” film for a lot of millennials because of Devon Sawa, it isn’t typically thought of as a coming-of-age story for girls, despite being about Christina Ricci. Because the titular character is a dead child, we ended up talking in a lot of detail about mortality and existentialism in an episode for the friendly ghost movie. It felt so good because it felt like we were covering ground that other people had not previously covered, and we were giving the film far more credit than it may have ever been given. That’s what we have tried to do ever since. 

If you two were going to start another podcast…don’t worry about how much it would cost or if it’s even humanly possible, or whether or not anyone would like it…what would it be?
BJ: I want to host an interview show where I ask people about their “guilty pleasure” movie, learn the story about why they have such an affinity for it, and help them realize that they don’t need to feel guilty about liking what they like.

Harmony: Probably something related to music for me. I care so much about music that is easy to overlook. Like, if someone’s favorite band is one of the most popular of all time (no judgment), that’s fine, but I want to know why someone loves bands that people don’t have merch at Target. Maybe something about mom rock or one-hit-wonders, so someone can finally talk about how Donna Lewis’ “I Love You Always Forever” is the Billie Eilish vocals of the ‘90s or something. 

What’s a good episode to start with if we haven’t listened?
BJ: Oh, man. That’s such a hard question because people’s tastes are so varied. I always tell folks that they should start with a movie that they’re familiar with and already love, so they can then decide if they like us as hosts and want to hear more about what we have to say. 

Do each of you have your own personal favorite episodes?
Harmony: When Adam Carter Rehmeier told us that our episode on ‘Dinner in America’ was THE definitive text on his film, that set a pretty high bar to clear for all other episodes. Just thinking about how certain episodes make me feel, my favorites are probably for movies that I’m most passionate about, either having seen them before or getting the biggest surprise. I’d have to say ‘Baby Assassins,’ ‘Perfect Blue,’ ‘Mermaids,’ ‘Sorority Boys,’ ‘Ice Princess,’ and the ‘Hunger Games’ movies because it might secretly be the most consistently great film franchise out there.

BJ: Nothing will ever top ‘Dinner in America’ for me, but I’m very proud of our more serious episodes like ‘Wristcutters’ and ‘The Fault in Our Stars.’ I also love the entirety of the ‘Twilight’ saga because Harmony is so miserable the entire time, and it’s hilarious how much of it you can hear in her voice.

If you had 100k to spend on the show, how would you spend it?
This Ends at Prom is a completely independent show recorded and edited by us in our living room, and we like it that way. But we also both have full-time jobs (on opposite schedules) that can often make arranging times to record with guests an impossibility. If we had 100k, we’d honestly use that to stay alive while going part-time at our day jobs so we could dedicate more time to expanding the show’s reach by having more guests and being able to pay for high-profile guests to join us.

Fill in the blank: you will like This Ends at Prom if you like______.
You will like This Ends at Prom if you like sleepovers with mouthy women and falling down Wikipedia rabbit holes at 3 am after drinking too much pop while listening to playlists you made in high school.

What’s a podcast you love that not enough people know about?
Certified Forgotten with Matt Monagle and Matt Donato. They exclusively talk about films with 10 or fewer reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, ensuring that even films the majority of people have never seen (or heard of) are given their fair shake.

What’s a podcast you love that most people know about?
BJ: We’re obviously huge fans of You’re Wrong About, You Are Good, and American Hysteria, as the hosts are our dear friends, but I am religiously dedicated to Panic World, The Downside, So True with Caleb Hearon, In Bed with the Right, Our Relationship Pod, A Bit Fruity, Gender Spiral, Maintenance Phase, Pretty Gay, and Happy Wife, Happy Life. I work from home, so I listen to a lot of podcasts.

Harmony: I never have enough time to listen to podcasts because I’m always busy editing our own, but I love listening to my friends’ podcasts, especially Siri Dahl’s new podcast, First Thirst. 

The world is hard. Why is something like This Ends at Prom important?
BJ: To be completely frank, the world hates women (especially teenage girls), hates gay people, hates poor people, and, especially right now, hates trans people. The fact that we are combining all of those perspectives to provide film analysis – a famously male-dominated practice – is essential, because no one else is doing it through this lens. We’ve found a way to use discussing a repeatedly dismissed subgenre as a vehicle to tackle larger issues and speak truth to power. Based on the private messages we’ve received from listeners over the years … it has legitimately helped people make sense of the world, their identities, and their pasts.

Harmony: To paraphrase Kneecap, “Every word spoken is a bullet,” and I like to believe our aim is true. Whether people listen for entertainment, nostalgia, or because we are saying things that they scream to themselves in their cars, we are doing something right, and it matters to people. And we have always cared about people above all else.

Is there anything I didn’t ask you that you wanna say?
The podcasting landscape is dominated by celebrities these days, so supporting shows hosted and produced by people who are … not, means the absolute world. 

Thank you, BJ and Harmony!