What happened next is the stuff of grammar legend.
Ellen and her filmmaker husband, Brandt Johnson, took the table on the road, visiting all 50 states as Brandt shot the grammar action. But this story transcends grammar. It’s the story of an epic quest in a divided time to bring us all closer together.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
When my wife, Ellen Jovin, first started setting up her Grammar Table, I would sit nearby and watch the hilarious and heartfelt interactions she had with people from every imaginable background. In a time of social and political division, the Grammar Table was a place of unity and connection. I needed to share with the world what I was witnessing, so I began filming.
A virtual discussion with Ellen Jovin and Brandt Johnson follows the film.
BIOS
Brandt Johnson is the director, producer, cinematographer, and editor of the docu-comedy Rebel with a Clause — and he is married to the film’s subject, Ellen Jovin. Before this project, he wrote and produced several plays and a comedy web series.
Ellen Jovin is a cofounder of Syntaxis, a communication skills training firm, and the author of several books on language, most recently the national bestseller Rebel with a Clause: Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian (HarperCollins, July 2022). She is also the creator of a traveling pop-up grammar advice stand called the Grammar Table, whose adventures serve as the basis of that book. Ellen has a B.A. from Harvard College in German studies and an M.A. from UCLA in comparative literature, and has studied twenty-five languages for fun. She lives with her husband, Brandt Johnson, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
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