New Documentary ‘Cookie Queens’ Puts Spotlight on Local Girl Scouts and Their Cookie-Selling Hustle

A new documentary about the business behind Girl Scout cookies is drawing local troops to the movie theater — and Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama hopes its message resonates. “Cookie Queens” premiered this month at a theater in Daphne, focusing on the roughly $800 million in Girl Scout cookies sold nationwide each year and the girls who work to sell them.

The documentary follows four Girl Scouts, ages five to twelve, from across the country as they strive to become top cookie sellers. Among those in the Daphne audience was 10-year-old Reagan Schemer of Troop 8017 in Fairhope, who said she blew past her own sales goal this year. “My goal was one thousand two hundred, so, got past that by 50,” she said. Her sales helped send her troop on a trip to Washington, D.C., this summer. “You feel like a sense of happiness cuz you like, yay, got my goal and also your trip is paid for cuz that would’ve been a lot if cookie sales didn’t cover it,” Schemer said.

Behind the Documentary

The film, directed by Alysa Nahmias with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, serving as executive producers, is independent from Girl Scouts of the USA. It explores how cookie sales help girls build confidence, learn money management and public speaking, and face adversity. Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama CEO Karlyn Edmonds said those themes still resonate more than a century after Girl Scouting began. “I hope that audiences will take away just the spirit of our girls. They’re resilient, they’re tough, they’re learning things,” Edmonds said.

The movie isn’t only about competition — it also touches on the friendships formed through scouting, from roasting marshmallows to setting up tents together. Fairhope troop leader Allison Marlow said that sense of community is central to the local Girl Scouts experience. “We’re just going to make friends and have fun and just have a place to just relax and be okay,” she said. Fifteen-year-old Baylee Reed of Saraland, who watched the film, said those bonds mean more to her than the cookies themselves. “I love them so much. They’re practically my sisters in every way,” she said.

Girl Scout Membership Trends

Nationally, Girl Scout membership has remained roughly flat over the past decade, and local numbers have fluctuated as well. Edmonds said the organization saw a boost before the COVID-19 pandemic but has worked to rebuild since. “We did see a spike pre-COVID in our membership numbers and that was a really exciting thing, and then COVID hit and much like many other youth-serving organizations, we have struggled,” she said. Cookie sales remain voluntary, but the proceeds matter: after paying the bakers, girls earn about a dollar per box to put toward trips, programming and community service projects, while the remainder helps the council cover expenses like camp properties and science and nature programs. “It’s so much more than a single box of cookies,” Marlow said. “It’s an entire world inside that box. It’s the best six bucks you’re ever going to spend.”

Girl Scouting in the United States dates to 1912, when Juliette Gordon Low founded the organization in Savannah, Georgia.