TYLER MARIE: Breaking Barriers as a Female Director | EPISODE 11 - The BASIC Show

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
90% of the film is accurate to real life.
At least I can write.
I still have my ink.
I still have my paper.
At least I can write.
And I never really had seendirecting as an option.
I'm a very feminine person.
I always thought of a directoras like Steven Spielberg, you
know, baggy pants, baseball cap.
I want to show people thatyoung, beautiful, objectified
young women ask themselves thesame questions that Dostoevsky

(00:23):
did.
I began to independently direct.
I sold my car to direct my firstshort film because I had no
money.
Writing is so easy you just sitdown and bleed.
And I feel that with this film,that I just sat down and let it
all out.

SPEAKER_02 (00:40):
They say luxury is a lifestyle.
I say it's a mindset.
And this one comes with roomservice.
Here at The Mayborn, whereEuropean charm meets California
flair, I don't just check in, Ireset.
Because real power isn't loud.
It's knowing when to ghost thenoise and draft something far

(01:03):
more lasting behind the scenes.
The Mayborn, Beverly Hills.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09):
All

SPEAKER_02 (01:25):
right.
Hi, Tyler Marie.
Hi there.
Welcome to The Basic Show.
Thank you for having me.
Oh, very excited to have you andshare your story with our
audience.

SPEAKER_00 (01:34):
Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 (01:35):
You look fabulous.
Always sparkly.
I love the eye makeup.
You always

SPEAKER_00 (01:39):
look like a beautiful fairy.
I'm a connoisseur of glitter.
You

SPEAKER_02 (01:42):
are, and it really fits you really well.
Thank you, yeah.
So introduce yourself a littlebit.
Give us the background, how youstarted in filmmaking.
So you're an amazing writer,producer, filmmaker.
So give us a little bit of thetease.
How did you start in filmindustry?

SPEAKER_00 (01:59):
Yeah, so I'm a lover of stories, always love
storytelling.
When I was in high school, Ireally fell in love with
literature and I saw myself as awriter.
I was obsessive.
And when I began college, Ibegan as an English major.
But there was a film electiveand I always loved films growing

(02:20):
up.
My dad's a huge film buff.
So I thought, you know, I'mgoing to do this for fun.
And when I was on that set, Iwas a script supervisor.
And I remember we were shootingat like four in the morning on
like a 12 hour day.
It started to pour rain and weall had to wear garbage bags
because we didn't haveraincoats.
So we'd like cut out garbagebags or wearing it.

(02:40):
And the moment that we shot wasso beautiful.
And I never really had seendirecting as an option.
I'm a very feminine person.
I always thought of a directoras like Steven Spielberg, you
know, baggy pants, baseball cap.
But when I had that moment onset, you know, I can imagine it
right now.
Um, I had the feeling thatdirecting was like visual

(03:01):
storytelling.
Like it was visual writing,everything that I was attracted
to and loved in writingdirecting was that and more.
Um, so I was 19 years old andthat was almost 10 years ago.
And I really haven't looked backsince, you know, I was, that was
in Dallas, Texas where my familywas.
Um, and then I knew I had to goto LA.
And I packed my two cats up,Renoir and Thomas O'Malley,

(03:23):
shout out, my gold velvet couch,my few belongings, and I moved
to LA with like$800 to my name.
And I went to an apartment inKoreatown.
And I was like, I don't have ajob or anything.
And I spent a month reaching outto like 20 billion people on
LinkedIn saying like, hi, like Iwas reaching out to any place
possible.

(03:44):
And by a weird and magicalsituation, one of the HR people
at Warner Brothers responded tome and said, hey, Monday
morning, come in for aninterview.
And, you know, again, that wasalmost 10 years ago.
I worked at Warner Brothers forfour and a half years.

(04:04):
I worked for DC Entertainmentand Development and really got a
crazy cool side of the industryand And on my lunch breaks, I
would like specifically packlunches.
So on my lunch breaks, I couldwalk on this Warner Brothers lot
and just like look at the stagesand think, oh my God, you know,
what a cool thing.
So I really, and I was so inlove with old Hollywood, like

(04:26):
stories of Betty Davis andLauren Bacall and, you know, old
Hollywood stories were reallywhere I found women having
strong voices, whether it was,you know, their kitschy
interviews on, you know, or justtheir pronounced characters.
I felt such strong voices fromwomen.

(04:48):
So really loved old Hollywood.
And then from Warner Brothers, Ibegan to independently direct.
I sold my car to direct my firstshort film because I had no
money.
Wow, the sacrifices.
And almost everyone on that setworked for free because they
were excited about it.
And my selling my car, which itwas an okay car, Sorry, what

SPEAKER_02 (05:06):
was the first project you said you did?
My first short

SPEAKER_00 (05:08):
film.
Your first short film?
It's called Here or There, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (05:10):
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (05:11):
Yeah, it was called Here or There, and I sold my car
to make my first short film justto cover the camera equipment.
And, you know, I had alreadybeen working at Warner Brothers,
but I told myself, I was like,okay, Tyler Marie, if you cannot
direct a short film, you cannotbe a director.
Like, if you can't do this firststep, you have to turn away and
not try this anymore.
And I felt so, not helpless, butI didn't know anyone in L.A.,

(05:35):
who would work on a crew.
I didn't know DPs.
I didn't even know where tobegin because I was in the more
corporate studio side of things.
But I gave myself the challenge.
I said, okay, make this shortfilm.
And if you can't do it, then Idon't know, stay at Corporate
Warner Brothers.
So I made the short film, whichwas crazy.

(05:59):
And it happened during COVID.
And my actress like, You know,all the actors or whatever had
changes because we shot thefirst half of the film before
COVID and then after COVID.
So the whole thing was so funnyand it just reminds me of how,
you know, funny filmmaking canbe sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 (06:19):
You know, you mentioned one interesting thing.
You said, oh, some magichappened that the studio got
back to me.
And I feel like it wasn't magic.
I feel you put your effort intoit.
You wasn't, you weren't justsitting and waiting.
for the opportunity to come yourway.
You actually came heredetermined, even though you
didn't have connections, youstill found the way to get
through and then situationsaligned to fit your purpose.

(06:41):
That's incredible.
So that wasn't magic.
You actually did some work.

SPEAKER_00 (06:45):
Definitely, definitely.
You know, I've had many an oldboss say, I'm a persistent
person.

SPEAKER_02 (06:53):
Persistency and consistency to me is almost
equal to talent.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (07:00):
Yeah.
It's even, it's so funny when Iwas in college, there was this
magazine that I ended up workingat called Living Magazine in the
Dallas area.
And I was like a junior incollege and they weren't hiring.
And almost every day, knock,knock, knock, I went to the
physical location and said, Isaid, I'll do work for free.
I'll do whatever you like.

(07:20):
I will do whatever I want to behere.
And my editor, Megan Camp, who'sso wonderful and a good friend
to this day, she said she waslike, it was definitely your
persistence because we weren'teven hiring.
And then we thought, oh, we'llmake you the social media
manager.
And I went from that toassistant editor to and my being
an assistant editor at LivingMagazine is what helped me get
my job at Warner Brothersbecause I began as an assistant

(07:43):
editor for DC Comics.
So it's, you know, that wholejump.
And then from DC Comics, I wentto television development at DC
Entertainment.

SPEAKER_02 (07:51):
Wow, that's incredible.
So you said you receivedrejections.
You didn't take it for ananswer.
You went, you knocked on thedoors, you made connections.
And this way they said, okay,let's give this girl a chance.
That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 (08:03):
Yeah, I did it with a smile, but I was definitely
probably annoyed to some degree.
But

SPEAKER_02 (08:07):
also proves that you knew exactly what you want to
do, right?
You didn't take it for ananswer.
Like, okay, you know what?
I'm going to try something elseand work in McDonald's.
I mean, yeah, no,

SPEAKER_00 (08:17):
totally.
And I always felt very muchlike, You know, once I decided I
was going to be a director, thatwas it.
And I knew I had to get there.
And I didn't always know how Iwas going to get there, but I
just knew that was the callingon my life.
That's what I was supposed to dowith my life.
It was never like, oh, I'mtrying out different things.
It was just once I knew, it'slike when you fall in love, you

(08:39):
just know and you fall.
And I fell in love withfilmmaking.
I fell in love with cinema.
I got bullied in my littleprivate university.
Because everyone loved DavidFincher.
And I wanted Sofia Coppola andJean-Luc Godard and Wong
Kar-Wai.
You know what I mean?
I love foreign cinema.
And yeah, it's just so funnybecause it really felt like a

(08:59):
deep love affair that began thenand has been continuing ever
since.

SPEAKER_02 (09:03):
Well, congratulations.
I mean, I'm saying this becauseI recently saw on your Instagram
the announcement that you workedon your first debut.
It's called The Pretty Babies.

SPEAKER_00 (09:14):
Yes.
Yeah, Pretty Babies.

SPEAKER_02 (09:15):
Pretty Babies.
So and...
It's incredible because it's anall-star ensemble, right?
We have Ashley Benson, we haveEmily Ellen Lindt, Madeline
Page, and Sadie Stanley.
Congratulations is big.
So can you tell us a little bitmore about this project?
How did you get it?
And then what's the theme, astory behind this film?
Is it a short film?

SPEAKER_00 (09:36):
Feature.
Feature-length film.
Wow.
Yeah.
Okay, tell us more about it.
So, you know, it's so funny.
I, you know, in college, becauseI got my degree in English and
film, Two separate degrees.
So I was writing features then.
But nothing ever clicked aslike, this is what I want to
make my directorial debut.
And it was 2020.

(09:57):
I remember I was folding clothesin my closet and I just had this
image in my mind and I had thebasic storyline, which is, you
know, on the Variety article.
I had the basic storyline and Ijust thought of it and I was
like, that's going to be mydebut.
I just know.
And that was 2020.
That was five years ago.
There were like possibleattachments and then it didn't

(10:20):
happen and then it didn'thappen, possible producers.
And I never honestly was goingafter like big name, big talent
or anything.
I really thought, you know, Iwas, I believe the story was
necessary and important.
And I thought, you know, If Ihave to get a more expensive car
and sell that and make thismovie, I'll do it.

(10:41):
The car's in work for you.
Yes, I know.
You know, half legs will travel.
You know, I just thought nomatter what, I need to tell this
story.
So maybe I'll get like a smallamount together or something.
I don't know.
I rewrote that film 20 billiontimes.
Same storyline, but likedifferent scenes and different

(11:01):
arcs and all that stuff.
And early...
Yeah, early 2024, I had likethis 120 page script, but it
didn't feel like what the scriptshould be.
And I just moved into this housein Silver Lake.
I was by myself with my cats.
And I remember having thisrealization of, oh, this is me
and my best friend.
And it became very personal andit became very emotional.

(11:23):
And I took that 130 page scriptand I made it my script that I
have now.
And it's so funny because I waslike, I'd never been to Cannes,
you know, the film festival.
And I didn't have the money tohave gone to Cannes.
So I did a payment plan for myflight.
I was like, I think I can affordthis amount.

(11:44):
And I'm just going to get myselfto Cannes.
And I don't know what's going tohappen.
Maybe I'll fall asleep on abench.
But I just wanted to be in aplace where cinema...
I told you, cinema is andprobably always will be my
number one love affair.
And I wanted to be in a placethat loves cinema too.
So I went to Cannes and...
that at some event, I met myproducer, Jordan Wagner, who's

(12:07):
one of my closest people, who isone of the main reasons that
this film is where it's at now,because he saw the vision, he
saw me, and he gave it wings tofly.
So

SPEAKER_02 (12:18):
you're not just a director, you're a writer.
You've wrote the script amillion times.
You found a way, come to Cannes,and then you found the producer?

SPEAKER_00 (12:27):
Yeah, and like I said, Jordan...
You know, I couldn't haveimagined a better producer.
I couldn't have, you know, giveme a magic lamp or something
and, you know, you have thewishes.
I couldn't have wished up abetter producer.
He is so perfect.
We're such great collaborators.
And he really, like I said, putwings on this project and made

(12:49):
it fly.
So

SPEAKER_02 (12:50):
how do you even approach him?
Like, what did you say?
Like, excuse

SPEAKER_00 (12:53):
me?
I honestly didn't even pitch himthe project.
Like, we met.
We got along really well.
We became really good friends.
And then from that friendship, Ithink like a trust established
and we both had similarbackgrounds in growing up.
So we saw a deeper part of eachother.
Like I'd say, he's probably oneof my closest friends.

(13:15):
And he just saw the potentialand he started to ask me what
project I was doing.
I'm kind of a shy person.
Like when I meet people, I'm notlike...
I would never tell.
Look at you, so well-spoken,charismatic.
Thank you.
No, I can be very shy.
I definitely don't approachpeople and say like, oh, here's
my script.
Right.
But because of an interest ineach other and a friendship in

(13:37):
that sense, you know, he askedme, what projects are you doing,
etc., etc.?

UNKNOWN (00:00):
?

SPEAKER_00 (13:43):
And that began the conversation.
And then he asked me to send himthe script.
And I've never had this happen.
I remember I sent it to him at10 a.m.
And at 4 p.m.
the same day, he texted me andhe was like, I want to produce
this.
Wow.
And it was so surreal.
It was July last year.
It was a year ago.
Wow.
And I can be a little cup halfempty in the sense of like, is

(14:06):
this really going to happen?
He's working on all these otherprojects.
I don't have attachments.
I don't have anything right now.
But he really...
stayed the narrow course, builtit with me.
He did so much work that hedidn't have to do.
You know, for me, I see thevision, I see the story, and I
have that belief in it.
But he really came in and helpedto such an incredible degree.

(14:27):
And we worked on it together tobring it to the point that it
is, which is like, it honestlyfeels like a Cinderella story.

SPEAKER_02 (14:34):
It is a Cinderella

SPEAKER_00 (14:35):
story.
Yeah.
It's a Cinderella story.
Finding these actors who fell inlove with the story, fell in
love with the characters.
And what I love and that's soconsistent amongst every
collaborator on this set is alove and a passion for cinema
and a love and a passion forstory.
We don't have big paychecks.
We don't have glitz.
We do have glamour.

(14:55):
We have the glitter.
We have the glitter and theglitz.
But it truly is people lovingcinema and loving these
characters and loving the story.
And I know...
without a shadow of a doubt thatthat's going to come through in
the piece because it's how webuilt it up, you know.

SPEAKER_02 (15:12):
Well, congratulations again.
Thank you.
That seemed like a reallyincredible story that you will
see through.
And it's exciting because thisis your baby, right?
This is your project.
It's like a pretty baby.
Pretty baby, you know.
You will be able to, you know,look it through and direct it
exactly how you envision it,right?

SPEAKER_00 (15:30):
It is such a lucky thing because I know so many
directors sometimes will writeand they're not able to direct
or...
They're waiting for the script.
And like I said, this story, Ijust feel it in my bones and a
deep part of myself.
I think a big part of directingis you have to see the vision of
the story.
It has to be so clear in yourmind, even clearer than real

(15:54):
life is sometimes.
And thankfully, I have that withthis one that I'm so excited
about.

SPEAKER_02 (15:59):
So you cannot, I know you cannot say a lot about
it, but can you give us just theteaser what this story in the
movie is about?
Yes, yeah,

SPEAKER_00 (16:07):
it's about two best friends who, sorry, can you tell
me what the, I just have

SPEAKER_02 (16:14):
to make sure I'm not adding anything.
Yeah, actually, I'll read itout.
So this story follows twoteenage girls running away to
chase stardom only to face thedark underbelly of sex work.

SPEAKER_00 (16:27):
That is, I know.
Is it

SPEAKER_02 (16:29):
something that you personally had to encounter in
terms of the plot?
Or it came just as inspirationfrom, like you said, a cutout of
the newspaper?
How did it come?

SPEAKER_00 (16:39):
I went through so many.
I'd say most of the film is, I'dsay 90% of the film is accurate
to real life.
And that's what I find specialabout it for myself is it's so
personal.
There's a famous quote, it'sHemingway.
He says, writing is so easy, youjust sit down and bleed.

(17:02):
And I feel that with this filmthat I just sat down and let it
all out.
And so it was less building astory concept and more therapy.
I'm not someone who's like, oh,I write five pages a day, check.
I'm someone who in breakups, intragic moments, in difficult

(17:22):
times, we all have our vices.
And for me, it is opening upthat laptop and writing it out.
When I'm hurt, when things Idon't quite understand, when
there's situations that I can'teven give answers to sometimes,
I open up that laptop and scenicwriting is what gets me through

(17:44):
it.
It's really therapeutic for me.
I don't write to just achieve ordo something like that.
I write because I need to.
Because how else am I going tohold this?

SPEAKER_02 (17:55):
It's interesting you say that because in my mind,
it's not easy to sit down andfinish the project from A to Z.
I know a lot of writers havewriter's blocks or they want to
do something, they're sopassionate, but they can't
really pass through certainblocks they have to finish the
story.
In your case, it's opposite.
You were feeling and living thatmuch.
So you just almost like in onebreath.

SPEAKER_00 (18:17):
Yes, I know.
I have like pen, yellow legalpads, so many docs with just
like scenes typed up and in themost unorthodox way.
And then I go, I sit down and Ilook at the computer screen and
then I begin to mesh the storytogether because then I really
see it.

SPEAKER_02 (18:35):
So as a director, what are your anticipations
before you start filming?
Like, what do you expect?
Have you ever been on the setthat big I mean it's probably
the first feature

SPEAKER_00 (18:45):
I've worked yeah first feature it's so huge
what's daunting is of course thetimeline the amount of days you
know I've shot short films andcommercials and music videos and
things but you know you have oneto three days obviously a
feature is much longer but I amwalking into this with such a

(19:05):
genuine passion for cinema withyou know I'm known for very
decent work ethic and I believethat I don't know that the souls
of my mentors will guide me thatbeing like the Wong Kar Wai or
the Jean-Luc Godard or you knowthe Scorsese and Sofia Coppola

(19:28):
and you know um Sandra Locke youknow I don't know but I believe
that the um Jane Campion too allthese uh directors who I love
who feel you know like parts ofme um will guide me because I'm
coming to it with like a genuinedesire to touch people and make

(19:48):
a beautiful film

SPEAKER_02 (19:49):
that's really beautiful what you said I don't
know half of the directors youmentioned but tell me so you
said you're very quiet and shyso being a director you need to
get the actress to the pointwhere they fulfill your vision
how do you feel about you knowsettling for certain scenes or

(20:12):
getting them to where you wantthem to get, kind of overcoming
your shyness?
Or it's a whole differentpersonality that comes out of
you when you direct?

SPEAKER_00 (20:20):
It is.
I feel more like myself when I'mon set directing.
And because I care so much aboutit.
And I also usually cast actorswho have a deep understanding of
the characters and the story andwhy we're here.
It's definitely not forclose-ups.
Like it's for the story.
I 100% feel more like myself.

(20:40):
Like that's what I'm supposed todo.
I think in regular life, I cantend to be more shy because I
just don't want to exert toomuch energy towards things that
I'm like, oh, I don't care.
I don't care where we go to eat.
I really don't, you know?
So I'm going to be quiet aboutit versus on set when it's a
scene that I really care aboutor a moment or a shot or
something.
I'm so zoned in.

(21:01):
But also, I believe there's noreason to be aggressive or cruel
on set.
I love how David Lynch wouldtalk about his sets and always,
you know, you know, treating hiscrews and cast with kindness.
And that's something that Iaspire to do as well, is to
always treat, whether it's a PAor makeup or anyone, whoever is

(21:24):
on that set, I want to tell themthank you for being on my set.
What if they're

SPEAKER_02 (21:29):
not fulfilling your vision?
Would you have the strength toreally put them in their place?
Or you would rather just go...
Go along with it.

SPEAKER_00 (21:37):
I think if they're not fulfilling my vision, then
I'm not communicating correctly.
So I need to change or work onmy communication because I think
that's one of the biggest prosof a great director is their
ability to communicate to anyonethe vision properly.
So I think it's less, oh, thisperson's doing something wrong

(21:59):
and more like, oh, how can Icommunicate this better?
And but also when I'm hiringcrew and the people that I've
already brought onto thisproject, who I just want to say
I'm in love, absolutely in lovewith my heads of department.
Jonathan Guggenheim, ourproduction designer, and Lauren
Gutuarez, our director ofphotography.
Again, I could not have dreamedup a better combo.

(22:21):
And, you know, it's so funnybecause even like when we're not
working, Jonathan and I willlike look through books and be
like, oh, Robert Altman's ThreeWomen and just, you know,
fangirl over cinema.
And then he went to the thriftshop when we were working and he
got Spike Lee's diary that hemade when he was making his
first feature.
And we were getting teary eyedreading, you know, Spike Lee's

(22:44):
statements and all of that.
So it's like, I feel likethey're my people.
Like when you find your people,you just find them.
And I really feel like I foundmy people.
Lauren as well will stay up liketill one in the morning, just
like, oh, this scene fromChristiane Epp or this scene
from this film or this scene,you know, and you can just see
the love of cinema.
It's so fun.

(23:04):
It's so cathartic.
I love seeing the passion in

SPEAKER_02 (23:09):
your voice and your eyes.
I'm so excited for you, youknow, for this project.
It seems like a dream team comealong.

SPEAKER_00 (23:17):
It is.
The whole thing is such a dream,and it really is.
I have so many friends who aretelling me, like, how are you
going to feel 12-hour days, allthis work, you're going to be
out of L.A., you know, etc., AndI'm like, I can't stop smiling.
I can't sleep.
It feels like, oh my gosh, Ihave the opportunity to do what
I'm supposed to do on thisearth.

(23:38):
And it's so fun and it's socool.
Cinema directing is creatinglife on camera.
It's a little Frankenstein'smonster.
You're creating life.
You're doing something almostgodlike in a sense.
And it's just such a privilege.
It's so beautiful.
And then to find collaboratorswho see that too.

(23:59):
And aren't on set for status oranything like even the actresses
are so passionate about cinemaand what and agree that it's
such a privilege that we get todo this.

SPEAKER_02 (24:09):
So speaking about that, how would you describe
your style, I guess, filmingstyle, your aesthetic when
you're shooting?

SPEAKER_00 (24:16):
Well, I would have to say two of my biggest
influences are, you know,foreign cinema.
I love Bergman and Godard andAgnes Varda and you know so much
of foreign cinema has influencedme and it's a lot more emotional
you know i actually last nightwas just re-watching hiroshima
monomore and the opening scenewhat is it what is it uh

(24:40):
hiroshima monomore it's um itwas made i believe in the early
60s or late 50s okay but it'sabout the hiroshima bomb but how
the how the film opens it's ofthese two lovers cradling each
other and you see this dustfalling on them but it has like
a weird glow and it's the it'sso melancholy and sad because
obviously the bodies were buriedalive you know moments like that

(25:01):
where an image and an image incinema creates the whole feeling
creates everything that's sopowerful so foreign cinema has
been one of my biggestinfluences um as well as old
hollywood i love films i have afunny story actually um my
family became very religiousthey became born again born

(25:21):
again christians when i was um13, 14.
Okay.
And I wasn't allowed to watchany movies like after the 1960s
because they, you know, were abit strict about it.
So that was when Netflix had theDVDs that you could have sent to
you.
So every movie I got, you know,in my...

(25:42):
I'm not too old.
So like every movie that I gotin that time was like a Greta
Garbo film, Charlie Chaplin, youknow, all these films from a
previous period that not a lotof my peers...
had been watching, but I wasgetting them on Netflix because
I was trying to watch it.

SPEAKER_02 (25:56):
Even the way you look, the way you dress,
definitely

SPEAKER_00 (25:59):
inspired me.
I love old Hollywood.
I love the glamour of that wholeperiod and era.
I love silent films and pre-codefilms, like all of those, so
fun.
And then also literature hasdeeply influenced me.
I took a feminist lit theoryclass in college.
A feminist lit?
A feminist lit theory class.

(26:19):
What is it?
So it just goes into literaturetheory, you know, a lot of the
feminist writers.
So like Simone de Beauvoir,Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath,
Edna St.
Vincent Millay, a lot of femalewriters.
I need a list.
Yes, yes, I love.
I'm a huge reader.
I love literature.
But I think also those voiceshave influenced my work as well.

(26:40):
I, you know...
I

SPEAKER_02 (26:43):
hear a lot of female voices because even the
directors you mentioned, most ofthem, except the Sofia Coppola,
are male directors.
So you pretty much represent...
There aren't a lot, yeah.
It's really funny.
Okay, give me three top worldfamous movies directed by
female.

SPEAKER_00 (27:03):
Virgin Suicides is one of my all-time favorite
films.
I'm a huge Virgin Suicides fan.
The Piano by Jane Campion.
was a film that I watched thewhole thing, and then I was
like, rewind, I just watched itover and over.
Also one of my top films.
Was

SPEAKER_02 (27:17):
American Psycho also directed by a female?
Yes, American Psycho.

SPEAKER_00 (27:20):
That's the only one I know.
That's another one of myfavorites, actually.
I love American Psycho.

SPEAKER_02 (27:24):
Cannot

SPEAKER_00 (27:24):
beat that.
Yeah, yeah.
I know, I can't believe they'redoing the remake.

SPEAKER_02 (27:28):
But to me, honestly, it feels like most of the times
when a female is directing, italways comes out a little weird.
I don't know why.

SPEAKER_00 (27:35):
Well, and I think sometimes...
There's been a push for femaledirectors, but we're still
placing...
But especially if they're notwriting, sometimes it feels like
placing the female directorstill in the construct of the
male gaze.
My story is very much the femalegaze.
It's very much a female voice.
It's not just having a femaledirect an action movie so we can

(27:57):
say, you know, we dotted our I'sand crossed our T's.
But I think women in generalwant to hear women's stories.
Absolutely.
And the way...
women experience and see andtouch and live and breathe and
die.
And that is, I think, howfeminist literature has
influenced me.
You know, the yellow wallpaper,famous short story, Virginia

(28:21):
Woolf.
What is it about?
The yellow wallpaper.
It's really interesting.
It's about a young woman who isbeing treated in a very...
animalistic way for mentalhealth issues but she's being
treated like a lesser person andit goes I believe I actually is

SPEAKER_02 (28:40):
it also from

SPEAKER_00 (28:40):
the 60s?
I think it was written in the60s yeah I think I haven't read
that since college but it wasdefinitely like a story that
stuck with

SPEAKER_01 (28:47):
me

SPEAKER_00 (28:48):
but you know female stories are also human stories I
also love male writers like JohnKeats and

SPEAKER_02 (28:55):
I just want to see more badass women right?
in film too represented becauseI feel There's more emotional
depth in the stories, but we'restill lacking the drama, the
speed, you know, the action.
And it's really hard, I feellike, for female directors to
bring those elements, but stillhave the female voice, you know,
her.

SPEAKER_00 (29:15):
Yeah.
Honestly, Sofia Coppola was onethat really, I thought she did
such a fantastic job.
Virgin Suicides, again, one ofmy favorite films, I think, is a
really...
Beautiful bit of storytelling bya woman lost in translation.
It feels so real.
And like I said, it feels femalegay, like the feminine gaze.

(29:36):
So I feel, you know, I can'teven help but write from the
feminine gaze.
Like I said, I'm a very feminineperson.
So it just naturally comes out.
I have, you know, I have asister.
I'm very close with my mom.
Most of my friends are women.
Most of the people I surroundmyself with are women.
you know, most of my characters.

(29:58):
If you look at this, it's like,oh, it's literally all women
because that's who I understandand know how to write and be in
a sense for film.

SPEAKER_02 (30:07):
Well, we definitely will be looking forward for
that.
When is it going to premiere?

SPEAKER_00 (30:12):
We're hoping festival season 2026.
Wow.
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (30:16):
Well, fingers crossed.
Yeah.
Looking forward.
So being as a director, what arethe differences between
shooting, directing, let's say acommercial or a fashion film or
a feature film?

SPEAKER_00 (30:28):
Well, so, you know, fashion, I always like to tell
some sort of story.
With a fashion film, it's veryvisual and, you know, sometimes
moody or things like that.
It depends on the concept.
But you're playing a lot withcolors and temperature and
movement and minimal dialogue oralmost no dialogue.

(30:48):
Commercials, you're working witha brand.
I actually love commercials andprefer them over music videos
because I feel with commercials,you can think of a really smart
way to sell a product.
In 30 seconds.
Yes, exactly.
You can tell a story.
You can get someone's emotions.
I actually, well, I can't.
Yeah, that commercial hasn'tcome out.
I recently did a Chinese laundrycommercial.

(31:10):
I know, I know.
That was one of my favoritecommercials to pitch because
it's very much a human story.
Even though it's a commercial,so you watch it and it feels
like a short film almost.
Even though it's short, a veryshort film.
Even though it's selling a pairof shoes, but you wouldn't have
guessed that at the end.
And I think that's a really coolthing to do with commercials.

(31:30):
But feature films, it's likethat's where it's at.
That's the great American novel,you know?
It's telling a full story,telling a character's whole
journey.
How would

SPEAKER_02 (31:43):
you compare a full...
A full feature to, let's say, aTV show.
Would you like to one day directa TV show?
Or are you more, you know, thefine art form of the cinema?
I'm

SPEAKER_00 (31:57):
a little bit of a commitment-phobe.
So I think television shows seemdaunting.
Because it's like, okay, when isit going to end?
Are we still on this topic?
Some of them are

SPEAKER_02 (32:06):
really great, like The Penguin.
I

SPEAKER_00 (32:08):
like to watch...
It's so funny.
I actually worked on the earlystages of development on the
Penguin.
You did?
Oh my God,

SPEAKER_02 (32:14):
such a great

SPEAKER_00 (32:15):
show.
Television development.
I loved it.
But yeah, so with films, youknow, for me, it seems like
every, well, this is the first,but even like my second film,
like I have the beginning piecesof that and it's a whole
different chapter of my life.
You know, still very femininegays and female gays and

(32:35):
feminine characters, but adifferent chapter of my life.
Whereas this one is about thischapter.
So I feel like with narrativefeatures, you have an
opportunity to discoverdifferent parts of yourself.
Where I would guess, you know, Iworked in television development
when I was at Warner Brothers.
It's just longer and a differenttype of storytelling.
I'm not.
It's

SPEAKER_02 (32:56):
interesting.
You said that it's in a sense,like you said, a therapy for
your introspective.
So it's not just you are tellinga story, kind of giving a little
piece of you.
Which is really interesting.
It's not like some projectyou've been hired to do, right?

SPEAKER_00 (33:10):
No, it's totally different.
That's why I have such acathartic release with it.
It just has the coolest feelingbecause it feels like it's
literally a child.
Especially you worked on

SPEAKER_02 (33:22):
it for more than five, almost

SPEAKER_00 (33:24):
five years.
Yeah, exactly.
And I remember an old friend ofmine, we had seen, I think it
was like Goodfellas orsomething, some Scorsese film.
And after we saw the film, wewere talking about it.
And we were talking about how,you know, he took a part of
himself to make that his life.
Like, you know, it was probably,you know, people in that film

(33:49):
might have been like charactersin his life and just like the
parallels there.
And how a director and writer,you know, takes part of himself
out or herself to make thisstory like Paul Schrader's
story.
how he talks about taxi driverand that's what he was going
through.
He was just driving around andgoing through these similar
feelings.
It's like you create thesecharacters, not everyone, but a

(34:11):
lot of these auteur directors,which I consider myself an
auteur director.
Which director?
Auteur.
So more like a more poetic, moreemotional, poetic type of a
director, more of a singularvoice.
You know, it's sort of how youcan say that's a Tarantino film.
It's

SPEAKER_02 (34:29):
specific voice and style.
So what is one word you can saythat defines your style?

SPEAKER_00 (34:35):
Oh, that's a good question.
Sparkle.
Sparkle.
I'd say something connected.
Like, you know, I will give thisa little

SPEAKER_01 (34:44):
bit.

SPEAKER_00 (34:45):
In all of my short films, and maybe the future, who
knows, I have a similar theme ofcharacters having to confront
their fantasies, their dreamlife.
And realize what the truth is.
Like we all have our idealisms,romanticisms, things like that.
And I seem to consistently showa character's inner dream world

(35:08):
or idea of life.
And yet they have to confrontreality in a sense.
So that's, I don't know ifthat's...
When I've seen

SPEAKER_02 (35:16):
your short films, they're to me very ethereal.
Ethereal is a good word.
Dreamy, ethereal.
I love that.
Very sensual.
Yeah, very sensual.
I love that.
Vintage-y.
Yeah, yeah.
I love that.
Yeah, you definitely have...
I love all those words.
You have definitely a definedstyle and we need more of that.
We need more female voicesshowcased because, I mean, tell

(35:38):
me from your perspective sinceyou worked in corporate
Hollywood, What is the stanceright now for female directors?
Is it something just for them toput a tick and saying, OK, we
just need more female directorsor they're genuinely interested
in exploring female perspective?

SPEAKER_00 (35:54):
I think it's both.
And like, I think obviouslyyou're going to have the people
working the nine to five life.
And this isn't everyone, butpeople working the nine to five
life that want to fit a quotaand say and then go home and
have dinner with their family.
And that is that.
And then you have people who arehungry to work.
hear and see female stories andare hungry to feel like they're

(36:17):
being spoken to and they'rehungry for these universal
stories that females tell.
So I think we have both.
We have the people who aren'treally that emotionally involved
with it, just want to do thework, show that, yes, we're
representing females and that'sthat.
But then you have the people whoare like, no, but we want the

(36:38):
real stories.
We don't want to just place afemale director in a male
construct.
We want to show the story andhave

SPEAKER_02 (36:50):
them be specific female experiences.
That's where you're supposed topay attention to it.
I just want the art to speak foritself.

SPEAKER_00 (37:07):
I also want to be known as a great director, not
just a great female director.
I don't want to be a quota, butI also do have a decent amount
of confidence in myself thatI've had some comments from male
directors specifically.
who are like, oh, that's justhappening because you're a girl.
And I'm like, okay, you know,all right, you can think that,

(37:29):
but I know that's not true.

SPEAKER_02 (37:31):
Success is the best revenge.
Exactly.
Oh,

SPEAKER_00 (37:33):
yes.

SPEAKER_02 (37:35):
Love

SPEAKER_00 (37:35):
a good success.
Yeah, you're definitely, I mean,

SPEAKER_02 (37:37):
you're already living the dream, especially
without having huge experience,right?
You're just kind of putting yourfoot down.
It's

SPEAKER_00 (37:46):
very exciting.
I feel definitely supported.
So it's really incredible.

SPEAKER_02 (37:50):
Well, congratulations again.
Thank you.
So tell me a little bit moreabout your, let's say, I
wouldn't say final, but yourultimate dream in filmmaking.
How do you see your stardommoment?
And you, after that moment,you'd be like, okay, you know,
I'm happy.

(38:12):
I can just go retire for likefive years in the Bahamas.
Until

SPEAKER_00 (38:16):
I make another one.
Yeah.
You know, it's so funny becauseeven with this film that I'm so
excited and working on, I havemy like second film in mind that
I'm excited and also, you knowwhat I mean?
So it's like I want to make onefilm and then the next and then
the next.
I feel just so excited to work.
I love working.

(38:36):
So I don't necessarily imagineretirement.
But what would make me feelbeyond fulfilled?
There's a famous story aboutthis director who decided i
think he was like in paris orsomething and he decided he saw
a showing of one of his moviesand he decided to go in and see
it and when he walked out thisyoung girl went up to him and

(38:57):
said oh you're the director andhe said yeah and she said you
know that movie made me realizei had a soul and i saw that and
my you know oh i i heard ididn't see that i heard that And
I thought that would make me sofulfilled for young women, young
men, old women, old men, peoplein general, for people when they

(39:19):
watch the film to have thisrealization or that they're
reminded of their potential,that they have a soul.
You know, it's so funny when Iwas at Cannes last year pitching
my film, my opening line wouldbe, I want to show...
I want to show people thatyoung, beautiful, objectified

(39:41):
young women ask themselves thesame questions that Dostoevsky
did.
You know, I want to show weplace, we compartmentalize
people into different groups allthe time.
And I think there's auniversalism in real human
thoughts and real human achesand shared human feelings and

(40:03):
emotion.
And for someone to watch a filmof mine and feel heard and feel
understood and connected and tothink, holy shit, I have a soul.
There's so much potential in me.
I'm capable of so much.
That's my fulfillment.
I'll go to the Bahamas.
But

SPEAKER_02 (40:22):
probably once you get to that point.
it's not worth living anymorebecause you want to keep going
writing.

SPEAKER_00 (40:29):
You know, and it's so funny.
One of my all-time favoritenovels is John Steinbeck's East
of Eden.
And another thing I read abouthis writing was that, you know,
East of Eden was, I believe, hislast or one of his last novels.
And he said that every otherbook he wrote was in preparation
for East of Eden.
He was trying to figure out howto write East of Eden.
And he wrote Grapes of Wrath, OfMice and Men, like these famous

(40:52):
pieces of literature.
And he said, oh, I was justpreparing to write what I felt
like my life, what my lifeshould be, which is East of
Eden, which is what that booksays.

SPEAKER_02 (41:03):
Can you give us a one-liner what that book is
about?

SPEAKER_00 (41:06):
East of Eden?
Yeah.
It's about two men who sort offit the archetypes of Cain and
Abel.
You know, in the Bible, Cainkilled his brother Abel.
So one of the brothers, Adam,is...
sort of like the good guy thateverything goes well and he's
good and he's soft and he's shyand kind and then you have the
Kane character who James Deanplayed in the Ilya Kazan film

(41:31):
who feels like his soul thatthere's something wrong with him
and a really beautiful thing atthe end of the novel is they go
over in the Bible when God castsKane out of when he casts him
away they go over the Hebrew ofwhat that meant.
And in Steinbeck's East of Eden,it's this word timshel, which

(41:53):
translates to only you have thepower to overcome yourself.
So the book is this conversationof fate and character and who
decides which if people havesuccess stories or if they
don't, or if people are good orbad or whatever.
And the book ends on thisincredible note that really
changed my life, which is Whocares?
Because only you have the powerto overcome yourself.

(42:15):
Only you have the power to bewho you want to be.
And I have goosebumps.
Yes.
And you see Steinbeck's previousnovels, The Grapes of Wrath,
people in terrible situationswho had dreams and ideas of
their life.
And they're all gone becausehere they're in the Dust Bowl
and it's the Great Depression.
And still, he says, only youhave the power to overcome
yourself, you know.

(42:36):
And I think that is a beautifulstory.
And for him, I think once hefelt like he got that out in an
appropriate way, he wasfulfilled.
And I think for me, I'm nottelling that story.
I'm telling my own story.
I think with so many directors,they're telling the same story
over and over and over again,just in different disguises.
And I think this feature isgoing to be my first attempt at

(42:57):
the disguise of telling acertain story, that if I do it
correctly, I would feel a greatsense of fulfillment.

SPEAKER_02 (43:05):
Would you ever sell your soul for the commercial
project if you would be open?
But let's say personally, youwouldn't be connected to it?
It's impossible for me.
Are

SPEAKER_00 (43:15):
you sure?
Actually, funny story.
I had someone approach me beforethis who said, I want you, you
can direct a thriller.
We'll get you a big actor.
You know, it's so much easier tosell a first-time director on
something that's more gimmicky,risk-averse.
And I said, I remember I was inVegas with my aunt because

(43:36):
that's where my aunt and unclelive.
And my hand was shaking.
And I said, no, I have to doPretty Babies.

SPEAKER_02 (43:44):
You should have agreed, bought a car, sold that
car.

SPEAKER_00 (43:49):
I'm just selling cars left and right.

SPEAKER_02 (43:51):
Put into your passion project.

SPEAKER_00 (43:52):
Exactly.
But it's, you know.
I think it's integral for thedirector to be connected to the
material.
And I feel like I'm not living.
I'm not living.
And, you know, my mom once shecalled me actually pretty
recently and she said, you know,you've been in some bad
situations since you moved toL.A., like not having money, no

(44:13):
car and things like that.
And she said, not once have yousaid, I wish I never moved here.
I wish I wasn't going after thiscareer.
She was like, so you'recertainly not going after money.
And I was like, no, I'm not.

SPEAKER_02 (44:25):
It made you stronger, right?
Also made you realize what youdon't want to do.

SPEAKER_00 (44:30):
And the whole thing was to make a good movie that's
going after constantly to tellthe story that I want to tell.
So I can't have spent 10 yearsgoing after telling the story I
want to tell.
To only say, oh, I'm notconnected to that story.
I don't really like it.
Sure, because send me apaycheck, you know.

SPEAKER_02 (44:46):
Because that's what most of the directors do if you
think about it.
Yeah, I can't.
Get a paycheck, you know, make ablockbuster, make another
franchise.
Yeah,

SPEAKER_00 (44:54):
I'm, you know, I can't remember.
I think it's called The MoveableFeast.
Hemingway wrote about, like, hewas so poor and his stomach was,
like, his stomach was in pain.
He could not afford food.
And in his, like, diary journal,whatever, he was like, well...
you know, at least I can write.
I still have my ink.
I still have my paper.
At least I can write, you know,and I'm just like walking around

(45:16):
Paris and I'm so hungry and Ican't afford anything and my
stomach hurts because I can'tafford anything, but at least I
can write and I'm not sellingout.
And don't worry, I can eat.
I have food, you know, but Ican't ever sell out because it's
like the art is the thing.
It's not fame.
Well, I think the

SPEAKER_02 (45:33):
hunger drives creativity.
I feel once you have thatstarvation in a sense that it's
pushing you to break the limits,right?
To create.
It's like I was thinking aboutthe example of Leonardo
DiCaprio.
He's such an amazing actor, buthe never got an Oscar throughout
his career.
And then once he finally, and Iwas like, oh my God, please
don't let him to receive theOscar because after once you get

(45:56):
the hugest accolade, you kind oflike relax.
You stop hustling, you stopgrinding, you stop you know,
creating.
And I feel once you have alwaysthat almost like a carrot in
front of you, which may be yourgoal or your dreams or any kind
of objection you have, you canbe more creative rather than
when you have everything, youknow, at the tip of your

(46:17):
fingers.

SPEAKER_00 (46:17):
Yeah.
And I feel for me, like, unlesslife stops happening, the art
can't stop.
Because like I said, I have like10 legal pads, notebooks with
like This is what happened tome.
And I write in my diary a lot.
I write everything.
Yeah, I usually write.
And then I take it all to thelaptop.
But I write so much and, youknow, so many moments and

(46:38):
things.
That's what directing is.
It's like all these differentmoments and things that you go
through.
So many.
So as long as those are stillhappening to me, you know, I
think I can still be makingthings because it inspires and
that's when you want to create.
So what

SPEAKER_02 (46:53):
can you tell to people who say, I don't watch
TV?
Like, I don't care about themovies.
I don't watch TV.
And then you speak with suchpassion about the craft and
you're so excited about what youdo.
And the story told me that itchanges people's perception of
life.
They're finding their soulwatching certain movie.

(47:14):
What can you tell to thesepeople who say, I don't watch
TV?

SPEAKER_00 (47:18):
I think even if you don't watch TV or movies or
whatever, somehow it'll findyou.
I believe that.
I think in my darkest, difficultsituations, I'll like, you know,
be crying in bed, whatever.
And then I'll think, what'splaying at the AMC?
What's playing at the Arrow?

(47:38):
It's like that hunger, thatneed.
And people go to, you know,maybe they play golf or they
play, I don't know, something ordo some sport or whatever.
But I think There's always thatlittle itch of wanting to hear
another human story, wanting tohear or see something else.
And maybe it's just myexperience.
But yeah, I feel like no matterwhat, no matter how busy I get,

(48:01):
there's that desire to connectto another human through art,
whether that was literature,poetry, you know, even TV shows,
films.
But there is something soromantic and beautiful about
like a rainy day and then goingto a theater.
I remember it's so funny.
When I first moved to LA, theArrow Theater would do like

(48:22):
director weekends.
And I had baby cinema knowledge.
And I remember one weekend, itwas like the Tarkovsky weekend.
And most of his films are likethree and a half hours.
And I went to the beginning andI got all these like canned
roses and put them in my bag.
And I just saw people going inand out.
And there's this older man whowas like in his 70s.

(48:42):
rose across and we just likemade eye contact because we were
there the whole time which waslike all day to like two days
connected and I was like moviesare my friends movies are my
friends littered books are mynovels are my friends like these
are my best friends sometimes Ifeel so disconnected to people I
would go you know I was a 21year old in LA and my friend

(49:03):
would be like oh there's thiscrazy cool pool party come blah
blah blah blah And I would bringmy book, my, you know, something
like that in my bag.
And I remember like sitting bythe bathroom and reading because
it's like, I want thosethoughts.
I want to be talking about thosethings.
I want to be talking aboutBrothers Karamakov, like not
just, hey, where'd you get yourdress?

(49:26):
Cool.
What do you know?
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,blah.
I'm not good at small talkeither.
But, you know, I would bringthose books and things because
it brought me life andconnection and It just felt so
necessary.
I

SPEAKER_02 (49:36):
feel nowadays reading is luxury.
Yeah, I know.
It's always on the phone beforeit was a necessity or a leisure.
It's just how you spend yourtime.
Nowadays, to me, if I'm taking abook, wow, I have so much extra
free time.
I have peace in my mind.
I have silence.
Then I can actually flip thepages and read the book.
Do you read a lot still?

SPEAKER_00 (49:56):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, right now, obviously, I'min prep for the film.
But is it a year and a half ago,actually?
I started a book club.
It's actually, it was calledFeminine Mystique.
It's like a little feminist bookclub, but we just read female
stories and it's all women.
And that book club changed mylife.

(50:18):
Again, another thing, becauseit's so special to you.
And we were reading so manydifferent things like Truman
Capote's Unanswered Prayers whenthe Swans of Fifth Avenue came
out.
Wait, hold on.
You just

SPEAKER_02 (50:30):
come into some area club, you pick up a book, And
one person starts reading itout?

SPEAKER_00 (50:35):
Well, no.
So we basically pick a book atthe beginning of the month.
So say February is UnansweredPrayers by Chuma Kapodi.
So we read separately in ourhomes.
And then we come at the end ofthe month.
And then I would have, forexample, for the swans.
So you discuss it.
We would all dress up like theswans of Fifth Avenue.
And we would have themed foods.
And we would discuss the book.

(50:55):
And we did it with so many.
We did it with Gertrude Stein'sParis, France.
And a lot of modern books.
A lot of classics.
Um, but it was really cool.
Cause then, you know, you begin,you know, for

SPEAKER_02 (51:09):
the opportunity to dress up.

SPEAKER_00 (51:10):
Yes, I know.
We have so many themes.
Um, but it was so fun and it waslike, I think our group is like,
do you still have this?
I saw this group.
I haven't read the last twobooks cause I've been working on
this film, but I told them, Isaid, September 15th.
I'll be back.
I'll be reading.
So how can women or is it just

SPEAKER_02 (51:28):
a female women's club?

SPEAKER_00 (51:31):
It's at my house.
It's like a very intimate likegroup of

SPEAKER_02 (51:33):
10.
So what's the casting process tobe part of

SPEAKER_00 (51:36):
the secret book club?
You just say you talk to me.
You slide

SPEAKER_02 (51:40):
into

SPEAKER_00 (51:41):
your DMs.
You just slide into my DMs.
You get in the book club.
I also follow a lot of bookclubs online.
I think people having book clubsis so important and so great
because I think You know, wehave so many things that are
supposed to better our careers,our relationships, you know, our
health.
But what about our interiorlives?

(52:02):
What about our minds and thingslike that?
And I think reading does that,you know.
Food for thought.
Food for thought.
Yeah, it deepens us as people,connects us to other people,
allows us to understand theirexperiences and thoughts.
It's so powerful.
So having my little women's clubjust, you know, moves me to read

(52:24):
more and connect with others.
It's really fun.
You

SPEAKER_02 (52:26):
make it almost like an immersive experience.
It is.
In a sense, it's reading, butalso you make it fun.
It's always the outfits.
So what is three books you wouldrecommend anyone to read who
want to be a director?

SPEAKER_00 (52:44):
Ooh, that's a good one.
I would say Hitchcock Truffaut.

SPEAKER_02 (52:49):
Which

SPEAKER_00 (52:49):
one?
Hitchcock Truffaut.
That's what it's called,Hitchcock slash Truffaut.
It's when Francois Truffautinterviewed Alfred Hitchcock
about every single one of hisfilms.
And it's their dialogue back andforth about every film.
And it's very, it's technical.
And it's just, you know,Hitchcock's the master of
suspense, one of the greatestdirectors.
And then you have FrancoisTruffaut, who's one of the

(53:12):
greatest directors of French newwave cinema.
And they're just talking aboutfilm.
And it's this big, thick book.
And it's in my suitcase, and Ihope it doesn't make my suitcase
too big right now.
It's your Bible, huh?
It's my Bible.
It's my Bible.
So that one is one of myfavorites.
Ilya Kazan's book.
He directed Streetcar NamedDesire, East of Eden.
He was Arthur Miller andTennessee Williams' key

(53:33):
director.
Is it a biography or what is it?
It's his diary, basically, hisjournal about directing.
So he talks about eachcharacter.
He talks about building thecharacter of Blanche Dubois with
the actress opening on Broadway.
So yeah, Elie Kazan's bookchanged me with directing.
It was so good.
And then Bergman's Images, whichis Imar Bergman, his journal, in

(53:56):
a sense.
So it's kind of like ourdirector's journals.
So you kind of like

SPEAKER_02 (53:59):
more read on the internal thoughts and their
perspective.

SPEAKER_00 (54:02):
Yeah.
You know, Bergman, I love histhoughts on cinema.
And then, you know, he talksabout getting sick after every
production.
And I'm like, I feel thatbecause you're just exerting so
much energy.
Because I guess

SPEAKER_02 (54:12):
emotionally you

SPEAKER_00 (54:12):
drain,

SPEAKER_02 (54:13):
right?

SPEAKER_00 (54:13):
Totally, totally.
Yeah.
So I'd say those Bergman'simages, Francois Truffaut,
Hitchcock, that book, and IlyaKazan's, I think it's called On
Directing.
But yeah.
Very

SPEAKER_02 (54:26):
good list.
Thank you.
Of course, yeah.
And so you picked such aprofession that to me always
sounded like an elitistprofession because directors,
like the conductors in theorchestra, right?
They manage every little detail,right?
And it's, of course, you have acompetition amongst the actors
and the production designers andthe costume designers, but

(54:48):
directors, you can count themprobably by hand, how many there
are directors.
So do you ever see yourselfbeing like, what is it called,
starstrike?
When you get super famous, superpopular, your movie's going to
be in every single cinema, doyou feel like you're going to
really kind of get bougie andlose your sense of passion, I

(55:12):
guess?
The rawness that's about you?

SPEAKER_00 (55:14):
I don't think so.
You know, it's so funny.
When I was little, likeelementary school, my mom worked
two jobs to send me to this veryalmost elitist private school,
very expensive private school.
And my parents did not havemoney.
We drove a van.
My sister's disabled, so we hadthis van that they got for her

(55:36):
wheelchair.
But we called it the Scooby-Doovan because it was constantly
breaking down.
It was a piece of shit.
And my mom was working afull-time job in marketing and
selling Avon door-to-door to payon the side for me to go to this
private school.
And I saw so many kids fromreally well-off families and
money being a thing.
And I saw a lot of pain there.

(55:57):
I saw a lot of money doesn'tsolve everything.
It doesn't automatically depressus, but it doesn't solve
anything or everything.
So I think having that growingup and Realizing, you know,
having a sister with healthissues, you realize what's
really important in life, whatmatters, and that's love and

(56:18):
relationships, passion,creation, film.
So I think, you know, and I'mnot looking into the future.
I have no idea what's going tohappen, you know, tomorrow or
anything.
But I don't think I will everlet go of this desire to tell
beautiful, real stories.
It's so much a part of me.
Yeah.
Even, you know, the Bahamastheme, like Bahamas sound fun,

(56:40):
but oh my God, let me tell youabout the second feature.
You know, that's what excitesme.
So, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (56:46):
And a little more like a technical question.
So directors who are working onthe short films, do you think
it's a good advice for them tosubmit their films to film
festivals?
Or I guess what's the route theyshould take to get noticed once
they film the project?

SPEAKER_00 (57:04):
To be honest, I think the best reason to make a
short film is for the act ofdirecting.
To be directing, to learn yourstyle.
Like, I made mistakes on earlierfilms, as I should because I was
an early director.
And I think even, you know, it'sso funny.
When I was working at WarnerBrothers, I, again, moved here
with not a lot to my name.

(57:25):
I didn't have a laptop at home.
And I would reach out to actorson Instagram, film them with my
phone.
And then I worked nine to six atWarner Brothers and I didn't
have a laptop at home.
So I would edit.
I don't know if they know that Iwas doing this.
I was editing on my work laptopfrom six to like 11 p.m.
and then going home because Iwanted to experiment with these

(57:46):
clips.
And I wasn't like getting bigequipment.
I wasn't getting anything likethat.
I hope those never see the lightof day, you know, but it was me
learning my voice and learningwhat I liked and learning what
moved me and how the sceneswork.
So I think, you know, If you arepassionate and have a story to
tell, and if you have a scriptthat's ready to be told, I don't

(58:08):
think my script was ready to betold back in 2021.
I don't think it was ready to betold back then.
I think when it's ready to betold, you're going to meet your
match, it's all going to happen.
But in the meantime, the act ofdirecting, the act of
storytelling, whether you'reusing your phone or an old Hi8
camera, or you're using yourwork laptop when you're
technically not supposed to bethere, so you have to dim all

(58:29):
the lights.
No matter what, just to alwaysbe doing and practicing and, you
know, working at it.

SPEAKER_02 (58:36):
That's a great advice.
Thank you.
Did you have any freakyaccidents on some of your sets
or something that wasextraordinary?

SPEAKER_00 (58:48):
I don't know if I could share this, but I will.
I rented a Pure Space set forthis big party scene.
I was so excited.
I was trying to make it likeValley of the Dolls, like really
cool.
And...
the whoever shot there rightbefore didn't clean it up and
i'm pretty sure it was a pornvideo because there were these

(59:08):
condoms and like weird thingsand my producer of that uh like
short film was like hold onactors we're gonna say let's
leave it part of the set make itnatural it was just so funny
because you know that's a funnything i'm trying to think if
there's like any accidents um Imean, knock on wood, wherever
there's one that I know of.

SPEAKER_02 (59:30):
Anything weird with the model?
I mean, with the actors oractresses?

SPEAKER_00 (59:34):
No, I really, I consider myself an actor's
director.
I spent a lot of time, I'm beingmentored by a great teacher,
Harrison James, who taughtrehearsal method to directors
and things like that.
She was a great mentor of mineand really taught me about that
relationship between directorand actor and that it's a

(59:55):
collaboration.
And she introduced me to, youknow, Stella Adler and Larry
Moss and Nancy Banks and thesegreat teachers.
I think one of the greatestacting, some of the greatest
acting teachers, you know, andeven like the Ilya Kazan, that
type of director was, you know,running the actor's studio,
which Paul Newman and Monroe andhe discovered James Dean and

(01:00:18):
Marlon Brando and all theseactors.
So I think that relationshipbetween actor and director, it's
almost poetic.
It's like not just saying thelines and performing, it's
having this deeper understandingof why you're doing this.
I'm always thinking about why.
Like, I have zero desire tofulfill a quota.
I have zero desire to be like,ooh, shiny thing, look at what I

(01:00:39):
have here.
I really want to make adifference or make an impact on
someone.
So I need the actor tounderstand that.
And while we have some glitz andglamour and it's fun, it's
always that relationship betweendirector and actor of that
deeper understanding.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:53):
Yeah, just in my mind, I was thinking, how would
you actually bond?
So apparently I have already ascript of a movie.
How would you bond with yourlead, you know, shooting a
movie?
Is it some kind of technique youhave, how you as a director
would bond with your lead,actor, actress?

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:11):
It really is like a deep friendship.
I love doing lookbooks.
I love...
Mm-hmm.

(01:01:37):
Of course, there's likeclassical acting techniques I
like.
I lean more towards StellaAdler, Larry Moss, like I said.
So what acting technique isthat?
Lots of different ones, likedifferent rehearsal techniques
and things like that.
More specific like animal workand words of the world and
things like that.
Animal work?

(01:01:58):
What is animal work?
So animal work, a great exampleof animal work is Streetcar
Named Desire.
You have Vivian Leigh playingBlanche DuBois and Marlon Brando
playing Stanley Kowalski.
Ilya Kazan taught animal work.
And if you see it, Vivian Leighhas the rhythm and movement of a
hummingbird.
She's constantly flighty.

(01:02:18):
She's very fragile.
Her breathing is very quick.
And Stanley Kowalski's streetcarnamed Desire, Marlon Brando,
gorilla.
He wants to smash things.
He comes in with this ruggedthings.
So sometimes when an actor feelslike they are hitting a wall
regarding the character or ascene.
It's like, what is yourcharacter's animal?
And when you physically emulatethat, you feel a physicality of

(01:02:43):
the character.
Like some people behave or feelor have the rhythm of a gorilla.
Some people have the rhythm of aleopard.
Some people have it of ahummingbird.
So it's a way to understand andtranslate a character's
movement.
And it's used a lot in theater.
Little things like that.
Never

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:59):
think that way.
Yeah, it's a fun one.
So if you were an actress, whowould you be?
If I was an actress?
What

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:08):
animal?
What animal?
I would be a leopard.
I would be a leopard.
Of course.
I'm a huge cat fan.
There's something very, like yousaid, sensual, ethereal about
leopards.
And you're very graceful.
Thank you.
Definitely.
But I'm a huge cat person.
So at least one of the cats, butleopards are my favorite.

(01:03:30):
I have my favorite necklace.
Maybe Lynx.
That Ty gave me actually is alittle leopard, little gold
leopard necklace.
I can see that.
That's my spirit animal.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:38):
Wow, interesting.
And then to wrap it up, whatadvice would you give to
filmmakers who are just startingoff and they need to pick maybe
just one route, which route youwould recommend them to take on
the way to success?

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:55):
I would say finding your storytelling voice is like
the biggest thing.
Writing, practice it over andover, get more personal, get,
you know, Tarantino talks aboutit, the nakedness one should
feel when their writing is onthe page.
It should feel like exposure,like, oh, gosh, this is all out
there now.

(01:04:17):
They should have that feeling, Ithink, regarding style and
voice.
And then just, you know,surrounding yourself with
like-minded people, whether it'sbeing on set and working as a PA
or working at Warner Brothers orworking with a production
company or knocking down doors,you know, with a smile.
But just always going after it.
Always believing in yourself,always believing that you have a

(01:04:41):
worthy voice, that your storyshould be heard, and then
realizing the work that ittakes, the exposure, the, you
know, don't say no to watchingsomething because it has
subtitles, you know, whichseveral people have said, but
like, watch it anyways, youknow.
Find yourself alone drinkingrosé wine, watching a weekend of

(01:05:02):
Tarkovsky.
With a grandpa.
With a grandpa, yes.
You know, your life will change.
Take a weekend watching Bergman,your life will change.
Take a weekend watching SofiaCoppola, your life will change.
And whether you make a movie nowor in 10 years, you as a person
will change because that's whatcinema does and that's what's so
powerful about it.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:19):
Well, great words.
And I would like to wrap up thisgreat advice.
Thank you so much for thisconversation.
Thank you for being on The BasicShow.
We had Tyler Marie Evans.
Look out for her new movie.
Pretty babies coming out soon.
Next year.
Next year.
I mean, soon.
Yeah.
Almost.
Almost.
Make sure you follow her onsocials.

(01:05:41):
What is your Instagram wherepeople can find you?
Living with freckles.
Since I

SPEAKER_00 (01:05:44):
was 16 years old, living with freckles.
Sparkling freckles.
I know.
That's the next one.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:50):
Well, thank you so much.
And have a good luck and safetravels on your trip tomorrow.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Bye.
Bye.

UNKNOWN (01:05:59):
so

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TYLER MARIE: Breaking Barriers as a Female Director | EPISODE 11

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}TYLER MARIE: Breaking Barriers as a Female Director | EPISODE 11