Juilliard-trained violist’s award-winning film offers insider view of freelance musician life

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What is life really like for freelance musicians? Many musicians are sure to say that wedding gigs, teaching, auditions, various side hustles, plus a near-constant state of uncertainty feature a-plenty.

Isabel Hagen’s comedy ON A STRING follows a young, freelance violist navigating the competitive classical music scene in New York City. Drawing on Hagen’s own experiences as a professional musician, the film offers a humorous and personal look at the realities of making a living as a classical musician.

The cast includes Dylan Baker (The Good Wife, Happiness), Eric Bogosian (Billions, Uncut Gems), Jamie Lee (Ted Lasso, Crashing), Grammy-nominated violinist Ling Ling Huang and Frederick Weller (BlacKkKlansman).

The film’s musicians are almost all played by trained musicians performing live on camera, including her brother, pianist Oliver Hagen. 

Hagen, who stars in the film that she wrote and directed, offers some insight on her inspiration to become a filmmaker:

’Music was all I knew, and I freelanced as a violist in New York City for over a decade (I did eventually become a stand-up comedian, but that’s another movie). I played weddings, private parties, backup strings for singer-songwriters, among other engagements. I’ve been a tiny part of other peoples’ big life moments, finding paradoxical intimacy in being an observer.

’It’s this role of the observer that initially inspired me to write ON A STRING, which is not about someone driven by a desire for success, but rather by a need for true connection to the world around her, with no idea how to find it.’

On the themes of the film, she continues: ’While the film tells a tale of a classical musician navigating a specific world with which many may be unfamiliar, I was interested in using that specificity to capture an experience I find to be universal – that of confronting the reality of following your dreams and accepting life’s inevitable limitations.’

The film won Best Screenplay in the US Narrative Feature Competition at the 2025 Tribeca Festival and opened in select theatres in September 2026.

The Lone Screen will host an online screening of ON A STRING on 12 November 2026 at  9pm ET / 6pm PT, followed by a live chat with Hagen.