Did you know the Girl Scouts sell over $800M worth of Girl Scout Cookies each year? That’s a lot of Thin Mints! It also shows that all of those young girls you see pushing product on those of us with a sweet tooth are making a lot of money. And with big money, comes big pressure. Alysa Nahmias’s acclaimed documentary Cookie Queens is about four Girl Scout cookie sellers who couldn’t be more different on the surface. But they all have the same ultimate goal: to be the best Girl Scout cookie seller they can be, albeit for many different reasons.
For adorable five-year-old Ara, she’d be happy to sell 55 boxes of cookies. But she’s just as happy doing Pilates, or playing the piano, or just having fun with her Dad. For 12-year-old junior entrepreneur Olive, anything less than 10,000 boxes sold would be a disappointment, and she’s got the machinery in place to make sure she won’t fail. These Girl Scouts come from all walks of life, but they all prove to be funny, shockingly insightful, resourceful, and driven. At the same time, Nahmias doesn’t shy away from the unsavory questions that emerge from putting so much pressure on kids to meet the needs of Big Business.
Cookie Queens has gained a lot of attention for its executive producers, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who share a connection to the Girl Scouts, as well. Markle was drawn to the film because she was also a Girl Scout in a troop led by her mother and connected to one of the girls in the film.
I had a chance to spend a few minutes chatting with Alysa Nahmias about Cookie Queens. We talked about the four girls at the center of the film and how they are all larger-than-life characters who could power a documentary solo if given the chance. We also spoke about the pressure that selling Girl Scout cookies puts on them, and of course, about what Prince Harry and Meghan Markle contributed to the film as producers.
Cookie Queens is open in theaters now. Check out the interview below and my review here!
