April 27, 2025 • 36 mins
In this episode, comedy writer Sophie Estourgie (based in The Netherlands) shares her incredible story of winning a prestigious L.A. screenwriting competition and getting her script, “The B Word”, produced. Sophie reveals how a script she almost set aside, gathering dust, is now set to be produced in L.A., and she might even land one of the leading roles herself!
But that’s not all. Sophie is also working on a dark comedy titled “Somewhere Between Here and There”, about a ghost who shows up at her own wake. With a team of 8 actors, they are currently fundraising to bring this script to life—and they’ve even secured sponsorship - from a funeral home! (Yes, really!) Support their campaign by clicking the link in the description!
In this episode, host Cindy Claes and Sophie dive into writing, comedy, overcoming failures, and the process of turning ideas into reality - no matter the obstacles.
Whether you’re a writer, filmmaker, actor, or just someone who loves the behind-the-scenes magic of storytelling, this episode is filled with both practical insights and inspirational takeaways.
Crowdfunding link to support “Somewhere Between Here and There” and help bring this unique dark comedy to life:
https://www.voordekunst.nl/projecten/19048-somewhere-between-here-and-there-1
IG Short Film:
@somewherebtwnfilm
IG Host:
@cindy_claes
IG Guest:
@sophiestourgie
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Loud Whisper Takeover podcast.
Today we will be talking aboutwriting screenwriting.
We will be talking about wherethe inspiration comes from, we
will be talking where thechallenges lay, and then, of
course, we're also going to lookat different genres.
I personally am really bad atcomedy, even though I always
wanted to really be successfulat it, so I invited today
(00:24):
somebody that is really good atwriting comedy dark comedy.
She's also working on a newshort in the Netherlands with a
beautiful team of actors, soplease welcome Sophie.
Hi Sophie, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Hi, cindy, I'm good.
Thank you for having me on yourpod, really excited to have you
here.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So can you perhaps just introduce yourself in a
nutshell who you are as anartist and as a writer.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, as an artist and a writer, they are the same
thing for me.
I am mostly a writer.
I'm also an actor.
I went to acting school about ayear ago and before that I went
to film school where Ispecialized in direction and
writing, but I've really focusedmore on writing in the past
couple of years, so that'sreally my main area of expertise
.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Can you tell us a little bit more about this new
short that you are developing,which is called Somewhere
Between here and there?
By the way, guys, there will bea link in the show notes,
because they are fundraising atthe moment, so tell us more
about this project.
How did it come about and whatare you working on now?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So the new short is called Somewhere Between here
and there, and it actually wascreated by a group of actors.
We all went to acting schooltogether and we were doing a
scene group, a weekly scenegroup.
We were doing scenes togetherjust to keep the acting muscle
alive and just to have funreally.
And after about a year of thatwe were like, okay, I think we
(01:49):
should.
We think we should createsomething together because we
feel like we have so many ideasand we each bring something to
the table.
Everybody has like something toadd to it essentially.
So we decided to make a shortfilm.
First we thought about doing atheater production, but we
eventually settled on short filmand we've been working on it
for about three to four months.
So we started really with thebase of actors, which is mostly
different from how other shortfilms would start.
(02:10):
They usually start with, well,a writer and maybe a director
and a producer, but here wereally started from the actors.
And so the way we approachedthe story was also from a point
of view of how can we make astory where we can fit eight
people in, because we are witheight.
It's quite a lot, it's quite achallenge.
That's basically how it started.
I wrote it.
(02:30):
I had two co-writers, but Iwrote the majority of the script
and together we made the scriptthat we're going to be shooting
in about a month right now, andwe're looking at a late 2025
release.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
So it's been very exciting so far, difficult and
challenging, but in a good waywe're going to talk about how
sometimes, um, restrictions canalso help creativity, because
when I was speaking to theactors that you were working
with, I heard, okay, that thescript was written to give equal
weight, or at least a bigweight, to all the actors
(03:05):
involved, and not that one wouldcarry the whole story and
everybody else would be an extra.
So I think it's like arestriction as a writer, but
also it can open up doors for alot of creativity.
So we're going to talk aboutthat.
I just want to bounce back onthis thing, which is, for me,
the center of a lot of ourthings as artists is that you
(03:27):
were meeting with a bunch offriends, essentially to keep the
muscle of acting alive.
I am currently the ambassadorof the actor's home for the
Benelux house and we want to dothat as well, to have like some
sort of a little hub where wecan keep the muscle alive.
But I believe that this canalso bring a stronger bond
between people and this cancreate friendships.
(03:49):
I'm totally in that spirit offriendships.
First, that you know that wewant to do something together.
First, because as artists,sometimes you cannot wait until
you have all, all, all, all, allthe ideal fundings in place.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I agree with what you're saying.
Like community is everything, Ithink, especially in this
business.
But I think even before westarted this short film, we were
already a very close group.
We did the whole acting diplomathing together, which was a
full year, so we already spent alot of time together.
So it really just started out,for me at least, as a way of
like I want to keep seeing youguys and stay in in this kind of
(04:25):
mindset with you guys.
So we thought of the scene groupas a way to keep bringing us
together and I feel like thatjust even doing the scenes
leaving the short film aside fora second really just really
brought us together already insuch a way that this short film
just felt like the like nextnatural step for us and I think
it will continue to grow.
(04:46):
I mean, we were shootingpictures the other day for the
poster and there's just thisconstant sense of like we're
doing this together.
It's crazy, like two years agowe didn't know anybody and now
we're doing this together and weknow everything about each
other and we spend so much timetogether but it's going so well
and we're bringing in exactlythe type of energy that everyone
needs.
So I think it's really the baseof this movie, like it would
(05:08):
never been able to exist if we'ddone this with eight strangers.
I think it's so easy for thingsto fall out or for people to
have other expectations, but forus it was just so clear from
the start what we can expectfrom each other, how everyone
works, that it really has madethe collaboration easy so you
say there is this strong senseof we are doing this together.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Am I right in saying that every single person, every
single actor, is actually alsoputting something else on the
table?
Like somebody is taking on abit of production, somebody is I
don't know doing makeup orfinding a makeup artist, or has
everybody a little bit moreresponsibilities within this
production, or not at all?
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, no, this is correct.
We decided from the beginning,like we have limited resources,
so everyone's going to have togive something extra.
So I wrote most of the scriptand I'm also doing set design.
But there's indeed twoproducers.
Two of the girls in the groupare producers.
Somebody is directing.
We have, uh, even the sillythings like taking care of the
(06:09):
food, taking care oftransportation, outfits.
We have a, like a, a costumeperson.
So everyone is chipping in in away which has been really nice,
and it just it alleviates theworkload immensely when you have
eight people to.
You know, uh, to break it down.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
So now let's dive into you as a writer.
So you actually won acompetition in los angeles, yes,
I did tell me more about that.
So what did you win thecompetition for?
What was?
How did it feel to win as wella competition like in los
angeles you based in the nNetherlands, like it's a big
thing.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, absolutely.
It was really crazy and alsoreally random, which the best
things in my life really arevery random.
But I written a script reallyjust before we started the short
film, so around December,january.
We were like okay, let's make ashort film together.
And I want to say, maybe two orthree weeks earlier I'd written
a different script with thefull intention of making that.
(07:06):
I was going to be like this isgoing to be in 2025.
I'm going to make this script,I'm going to produce it or
whatever.
I had no idea what all thedetails were going to be like,
but I just I had it on paper andI wanted to do something with
it.
This group was saying we want tomake a short film together.
I was like, well, obviously Iwant to be in on that too.
So I'm going to join you guysand I'm going to put this other
(07:27):
script on hold.
There will be another time forit.
And actually somebody in myacting group she read it, she
gave me feedback on it and thenshe tagged me in this, this,
this poster, the story onInstagram from Heavy Shovel
Productions, which is aproduction company based in Los
Angeles, and she said said,they're doing a script
(07:47):
competition and you can hand inyour script.
It has to be a short filmscript and if you win, they will
produce it.
This came out of nowhere.
She knew the production company.
She'd been following them onInstagram, so it was really just
a divine timing in that sense,because everything aligned.
They were looking for a scriptno longer than 15 pages.
My script was exactly 15 pages.
They were looking for comedies.
My script was a comedy.
(08:07):
They were looking for scriptswhich featured mostly females.
My script had that as well andit had to take place in one of
four locations the two locationsin Los Angeles.
There were two in New York aswell, but the two in Los Angeles
were either an art deco houseor a diner, and my script took
place at a diner.
So I literally didn't have tochange a single thing.
I just kind of finalized it, Iput a title on it and I sent it
(08:30):
their way.
And then, about two weeks lateror so, I was looking through my
spam and of course I had amessage, an email from them
already a week earlier that saidcongrats, you're part of the
final three.
They had already sent me twofollow-up emails in that time
like hello, are you there andplease respond ASAP?
I just caught it just in time.
They were about to kind of goon with the competition when I
(08:53):
responded oh my God, thank you,I'd love to be involved.
And then there was a table readin Los Angeles where they would
actually read my script aloud,with two other finalists the two
other scripts were written byAmericans and I joined that
table read on Zoom at four inthe morning.
So that was a tough one, butreally fun to see the script
(09:17):
come to life.
They had amazing actresses whoreally made it even funnier,
honestly, than I had imagined itto be, and the audience there.
There was audience that hadbeen invited and they voted and
I won.
So that was the news came atlike 6 am in the morning on a
Saturday that I won thecompetition.
So this means now that they'regoing to be producing this short
and the production for that oneis starting in, I think,
(09:38):
september or around that timethe later part of 2025 anyway.
So, yeah, that was.
It was a crazy ride, but it allhappened in a very short time
span as well, so it was kind ofdifficult to even grasp at
certain points.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Oh my God, I think it's like freaking phenomenal
that not only you won acompetition, but it's going to
be produced, and in Los Angeles.
So let me go to the firstquestion I have for you, because
as a writer, I have also lookedat entering competitions, but
most of these competitions arequite expensive.
(10:13):
It's a bit like when you do afilm festival circuit with your
short film you have to pay tosubmit every time, but most of
the screenplay competitions I'veseen online are quite expensive
.
Did you have to pay for thisone?
Did you just say, well, I'monly going to choose one or two
to submit it to?
Or was it just the most randomthing?
(10:35):
Yeah, I submitted to one andlet's see what happens?
Or did you have a full strategyfor the script?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
No, absolutely not.
Like I said, I fully put it tothe side because I wanted to
focus fully on the short filmthat I'm making with the actor
group now.
So I wasn't doing anything withthe script.
It was really just gatheringdust in my laptop.
So this is the only one that Isubmitted it to.
I did have to pay something.
It was a very small amount I'mthinking $10 or $15 max.
So for me it was fine to dothat and I'd never submitted to
(11:02):
anything like literally anythingbefore.
So it was a great introductionin that sense.
But yeah, even as I was doingit, I was thinking like, okay,
this is a very fun way to getyour stuff out there.
So I already had in my mindlike, if this doesn't work, I'll
maybe submit it to other things.
But yeah, I never got that farin that sense, because this one
already panned out successfully.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
It's going to be produced in LA.
Are you going to be a part ofwhat is happening next or is it
absolutely in the hands of theproducer and the director and
everything else now?
Will you be invited on set orwill you only be invited once?
Well, it's finished and editedand there is the premiere.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, I spoke with the producers, with the
production company.
We had a small littleproduction meeting in which we
just basically laid out the planof like okay, they're doing
other things now, so productionis going to start in the last
part of 2025.
And yeah, they were very opento me coming over there and not
necessarily being part of theproduction behind the camera,
but just being there seeing theworks and meeting the people
(12:03):
involved.
Just being there seeing theworks and meeting the people
involved.
And I will be auditioning forboth the roles.
There's two girls in the.
The main characters are twogirls.
They're both around my age.
The thing is is that I initiallyactually wrote the script
literally for myself, becausethis goes pretty far back.
But I had a conversation withone of my fellow actors from
this acting group back inSeptember of 2024.
(12:25):
And we were both kind ofstruggling, like where do we go?
How do we do this?
How do we get ourselves inthere?
And he said to me he said, ifyou know nobody's going to offer
you the perfect role, thenwrite the perfect role for
yourself.
Just go out and do it and makeit and see where you end up.
And that's really whatkickstarted everything, because
that's when I started thinkingof like, ok, I really would love
to play a comedy role.
(12:45):
I think I'm, like, as an actor,very strong in comedy, so I'd
love to play a part in that.
And so I wrote one of the rolesin this short film specifically
for myself.
So when I had this productionmeeting with the production
company, I expressed interest toalso play one of the roles and
they were very open to meauditioning not just for the one
that I wrote for myself, butalso for the other one, because,
(13:05):
who knows, maybe it sticks.
Of course, that's still all upin the air.
I told them as well if you findanother actress that is much
better than I am, then there'sabsolutely no hard feelings.
I want the best for the film.
But even just getting theopportunity to audition for that
is very fun.
But yeah, for sure I'm going togo out there to see the whole
shebang in action.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I cross fingers that you get the role.
Yeah, me too.
It's quite funny that you'regoing to have to audition for
the role as well, but yeah, it'spart of the game.
I would love to ask you nowmore questions about writing
comedy in general.
Something you said earlier onis there was a table read and
then you said, oh, the ladiesthat were reading it made it
(13:46):
even funnier.
Yeah, so in your creativeprocess you're writing a script,
you're putting it on the side,so I'm guessing that nobody has
read it for you at the time ofsubmitting it.
It's a comedy.
You feel it's a good comedy,people are reading it.
So when do you feel that thecomedy is working?
(14:06):
It's really in the writingprocess.
It's not even like reading itloud.
When do you feel that thecomedy is really?
You nailed it.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Honestly, that was one of my biggest fears going
into the table read.
I was like what if no one findsit funny?
That was one of the main thingsthat I was constantly
struggling with, because I knewthat I thought it was funny.
That's just the baseline, right.
You write something that youthink is funny, but then you
know the next thing comes towill other people find it funny?
And that's really difficult.
(14:35):
You never really know ifsomething will hit or not.
So I, yeah, with full honesty,I sent it in not really knowing
if other people were going tofind it as funny as I did.
But I do think that the actorsare such a big part of comedy
because you can have thefunniest script ever and then a
less than fortunate actor comesin and kills the script.
In a sense it's possible.
But it also works the other wayaround.
(14:56):
You can have a not as funnyscript, but if you're a very
skilled actor it can still befunny.
But with, specifically, thetable read in LA, I did feel, as
I sent it in and they starteddoing the table read and the
first few lines hit and peoplewere laughing in the audience.
It was kind of an instant whereI was like, okay, it works,
I've already almost heard enough.
After the first page I was likeI know it works.
(15:16):
These actresses, they know theenergy that I tried to put on
the paper.
They understand it.
They're giving their all,they're not doing half-assed
work and that's why I said Ireally think they made it even
funnier because they werehitting the beats.
It's a pretty quick script inthat sense.
The characters are really goingback and forth in quite a fast
pace and they really nailed thatand I think that made it
(15:38):
funnier.
Just, yeah, just a joy to lookat really.
But if yeah, there's never aguarantee that it's going to be
really funny until you see thataudience react or you see an
actor bring it to life have youever written something thinking
it was a comedy, and then actorsare reading it or I don't know.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
There was some sort of yeah, you start playing
around with it and actually it'snot working at all.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I actually have not had it that explicitly, but I
went to film school right.
So I made several short filmsthere and comedy was never
really my thing.
I only started that like well,I don't want to say recently,
but more in the later years Istarted going to comedy more,
actually for the sole reasonthat I was thinking if I can get
people to laugh, I can get awaywith really shitty filmmaking.
(16:27):
That was really my thought as astudent in school.
I was like if the film is badlighting, like ugly outfits and
cheap locations, if I can getpeople to laugh, they might
forget just about all of that.
So that was really the firstreason of why I got into it.
But one of the short films Imade in my last year of school
was my first comedy and I lookback on it now and I find it
(16:50):
deeply unfunny.
As I was writing it I thoughtit was working, but then you
know, actually shooting it, itgot way more serious vibe to it.
The lines that maybe meant assarcastic or witty were
delivered in a more serious way,which is also fully on me
because I was the director.
So like I should have at thatpoint gone in and been like,
well, that's not really how Iwrote it.
(17:10):
I was a student, I didn't knowany better, so in that sense
I've definitely had that onemovie.
That was intended as a comedy.
It ended up becoming a moreserious drama.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I'd like to go back to your analysis of why it
wasn't funny.
So you said maybe you mademistakes as a director.
But do you think that at thecore, if you had to look back at
that script, was it a scriptproblem?
Do you think it was a wrongcast, you know, unexperienced
director's problem, or was itactually the script you've
written that didn't really cometo life as something funny?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah, I do think it's a mix of more things.
I do think also me as adirector I made some some
mistakes in that and because theactors I had then were actually
, they were quite nice and theythey did understand the vibe and
the feel of the movie.
But yeah, also just thedialogue.
Dialogue is very difficultactually to really write
properly.
I even criticize and that'scoming from me who I don't have
(18:06):
that much experience under mybelt, but often I see certain
dialogue in even big movies andI just go really that doesn't
sound natural at all.
It's very hard to write verynatural dialogue.
I think a lot of writersstruggle with that and in that
movie, the one I made in school,I think the dialogue was a big
part of that.
It didn't feel very natural, itfelt very much almost
(18:26):
slapsticky at certain points andI think that's why it just
didn't translate well.
But I do think the core of thestory was correct and was a good
choice and it was right.
Yeah, I think it really justcame down to the final points of
what the director does, the waythat we shot it, the points in
dialogue that weren't perfect.
(18:47):
It was just really a mixture ofmany things in your personal
life, are you a funny person?
oh, that's interesting to answer.
I don't know, I would say so Ido think people people around me
, have said to me that they findme funny.
So there's there's that, Idon't know.
I think think I very deadpansarcastic type of humor which
works with some people doesn'twork with others.
(19:09):
So yeah, I'm in the middle, Idon't know.
I think I'm funny, but I'llleave it at that because I'm
asking that?
Speaker 1 (19:19):
because I don't know if it's a true story or not.
But Moliere, who's the FrenchShakespeare kind of thing,
Apparently he always wanted tobe really good at drama and he
ended up always writing comedyand he felt like a failure
because he couldn't step out ofthis comedy box.
But he was good at it and Ifeel I'm a bit the opposite.
(19:41):
I think I would have a sense ofaccomplishment if one day I
could write something thatreally makes people laugh,
Because one day I wrote it wasactually a one woman show and it
was meant to be a comedy and itwas quite a long piece, and so
one day I performed it andliterally I kid you not I had
(20:02):
one audience member after theother that just broke down
crying.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Like it was, so I would have thought so.
It touched people very deeply.
It was, it had impact, but itdidn't have the impact that I
thought it would have.
Like literally, I saw peoplelike melting on their chairs,
like head in between their hands, crying because they were so
(20:27):
touched by it.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
So that was my comedy career.
That's great, don, even if youcan elicit such a strong
reaction from people.
I mean, I still that's a win.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
That's amazing.
Now my next question is what is, for you, a good recipe?
If somebody was to come to youand say, hey, I'd love to write
a script, here is my idea.
How can I turn it into a comedy?
How can I be a comedy writer?
And what is the recipe?
Because you said that also, asan actress, you feel that that
is your forte.
(21:00):
So what is for you the recipeof a good comedy actor, actress
and a good comedy writer, or agood comedy script?
What would be the recipe Forscript?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
writing.
I don't think there is onespecific recipe that has worked
for me.
I think there's many differentways of approaching it.
I really am just very muchmotivated, or like I work in
like bouts of creativity thatkind of come out of nowhere and
I really let those lead me.
(21:30):
I know that the way that I workis not at least it doesn't feel
conventional, but I think oneof the most important things is
to start small.
Really with any script, this isnot just even for comedies, but
sometimes people have theseideas and they want to
immediately think of the biggestpicture there is and everything
that comes in.
But really what I do is to methe details tend to come first.
(21:51):
Sometimes it's a location, orsometimes it's just one line of
dialogue that I think ofrandomly when I'm just in the
supermarket and that's where theentire story blooms from.
So I don't try to get ahead ofthat by immediately jumping into
the pit and thinking, okay,what's the message?
Or like how's it going to?
Okay, what's the message?
Or like how's it going to end,or what's the arc.
(22:15):
I leave all of that.
That will find its way in thereonce you're writing.
So, in terms of a recipe forcomedy specifically.
I've written a few comedies andmy approach was different every
time.
But for just script writing ingeneral, I would say, yeah,
start small and focusing on thedetails is, I think, a strong
way, because stories are thebest when they're detailed.
I do think in any way and as anactor, you said what the recipe
(22:37):
is to be a good comedy actor.
Yeah, that's interesting.
I don't know why I say to myselfthat I think comedy is my
strong suit.
I didn't think it would be.
It's just that the reactionsthat I've gotten from my year in
acting school was that oftenwhen I was doing a piece, even
when I was trying to be serious,people would laugh.
People would think that I wastrying to be funny, when I often
(22:58):
wasn't.
So that's the other side of thecoin when you're trying to be
serious and people think it'sfunny.
But I found my way in that, Iwas like, okay, if people are
going to laugh at me, then Imight as well just go further in
on that and make it my staple.
But yeah, I think the mostimportant thing is don't take
yourself too seriously.
I think comedy lives in beingloose with it and letting it
(23:19):
take many different forms.
Comedy can be done in so manydifferent ways, and surprise
yourself with the many ways thatare possible within comedy and
don't stick to just one way thatyou think is funny, because,
again, what other people thinkis funny might differ vastly
from that.
So be in tune with the audiencewith that, because they're the
ones judging.
They're either laughing orthey're not.
(23:40):
So I'd say, yeah, like, beloose with it, don't take it too
seriously and watch theaudience, observe the audience.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Both as a writer and as an actress.
Do you keep some sort ofnotebook where you keep noticing
things in the street or at thesupermarket and you're like, oh,
that's funny, and you write itin a little notebook and you
might start a script withsomething you saw or you
overheard at a restaurant orwhatever?
Or is absolutely everythingcoming from your imagination?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, I want to say about 95% is coming from my
imagination.
Most of the time, yeah, thethings that I think of, they all
just pop up in my head.
It's not really ever things Ioverhear.
I want to say, sometimes thingsI see on social media.
To be honest, I'm a really justdisgusting TikToker.
(24:27):
Like I'm on TikTok just all thetime.
It's killing my brain.
But I do get inspired from justbecause on TikTok you see so
many different people, things onsocial media that you would
never have been able to knowlike 10 years ago, like a day in
the life of somebody living inDubai.
Like it's just all these crazythings that you see on there and
that has inspired me a lot inthe past.
(24:48):
In terms of writing things down,I have a killer memory for some
reason.
I don't know where I got thatfrom, but I remember quite
literally almost everythingthat's ever happened to me, in
both good and bad ways.
So I yeah, I don't really writemuch down.
I just I overthink it a lot.
Sometimes stories are in myhead for weeks, months before I
(25:09):
write anything down.
Sometimes I never write it down.
There are stories in my headthat I've thought of for years
and I've just always been likeyou know, they're just in my
head, but I don't find themotivation or the whatever to
really put them down, becausethey're not there yet.
They might need some moredevelopment.
But it's a lot of brain work,it's a lot of thinking and
thinking.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
So there is nothing in your work that is
autobiographical.
No.
Another question I wanted toask you as well in regards to
comedy.
Do you usually go to comedythat is written in the line, the
response, the dialogue, or isit circumstantial?
Or is it to do with charactertraits, or it really depends on
(25:55):
what kind of film you're writing?
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I would say it's my comedy mostly comes forth in the
dialogue.
I do in a way, because it'salso my type of humor, just in
text and lines.
Can you tell us a?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
little bit more about somewhere between here and
there.
What I heard is that somethinggoes wrong during a funeral, so
obviously you don't want to giveany spoilers here, but what can
you tell us about thisparticular short that you're
creating with your collective?
Now I can definitely give you alittle peek on what it's about.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
It's about a wake, and it's a wake for a dead girl.
Her name is Mia, she is roughly26, 27, and she's passed away
quite unexpectedly.
The wake kicks off.
It's quite chaotic, there'slots of people there Her boss is
there, her ex is there, hersister is there, her cousins and
she suddenly appears at her ownwake.
(26:50):
She comes from the bathroomupstairs and she's there in the
middle of it, sort of as a ghost, but she looks like the
everyday Mia.
But Mia is not visible toeveryone.
Mia is only visible to fourpeople in particular who still
have some outstanding businesswith her.
So that's her sister, her ex,her boss and also her best
(27:10):
friend, and they all havesomething that is keeping Mia
tethered to them and to Earth,and they have to figure out
what's keeping her here and,yeah, in what way they can
resolve it so that she can moveon to the next plane of life.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Where is the point of comedy for you anchored?
Is it in healing, Because she'shealing a certain amount of
relationships?
Is it in how people overreact?
Is it in the human reactionsand emotional responses to
certain things that others do?
Is it in our relationship todeath Like?
(27:44):
Where does the comedy come fromin this particular piece?
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Yeah, I mean, it's about death, you know, in its
essence so it's a heavy subjectand I tried to make it as light
as possible Because while Mia isdead, she's also right there.
So there's this fine line ofthe tragedy of a young person
passing away and the sillinessof her just being here now and
(28:08):
she's complaining about sillythings like why am I wearing a
pink sweater?
Like who thought to put me in apink sweater?
And why is this music playing.
And she's complaining aboutsilly things like why am I
wearing a pink sweater?
Like who thought to put me in apink sweater?
And why is this music playing?
Like.
And she's going after all thesesilly things and there's really
no mention of how did she dieand these heavier things that
are usually associated withdeath and things that make it
tragic.
I steered away from those thingsand instead focused on the
(28:31):
sillier things of awake of.
You know that, like what I said, clothing choices, music
choices, the people who werethere, and also what you said in
in the way that people aroundher react to it.
You know the way that her bossreacts to seeing her and uh, and
you know some people will reactmore in a heavy way of oh my
god, you're here now and all theemotions that come with that.
(28:52):
But there are also characterswho don't even realize that Mia
is actually showing up as aghost.
They're like so you faked yourdeath, what's going on?
Explain yourself.
And so then it takes in kind ofa different direction there.
So you have all these differentcharacters and they have all
their own little quirks andthey're all reacting in a
different way.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
And I think there's there's definitely comedy in
that too.
Let's now talk about therestrictions you had as a writer
I don't know if I need to callit restrictions or just the
givens.
So one of those elements wasokay, we are a group of eight
friends, let's write a shortmovie.
But there was also this senseof okay, we don't want people to
feel like they are an extra onset.
How can we give weight to everycharacter while still obviously
having a lead character andstuff, but still give enough
(29:42):
weight to everyone?
How did you handle that as awriter?
Speaker 2 (29:46):
I was very difficult because, yeah, like, even when I
started writing and I was likegosh, if I'd written the script
because I like the idea, I waslike if I'd done this just for
myself, maybe I would have putin three main characters and
that's it, made everybody elseextras and just focused on a
smaller little group.
So right from the get-go I knewit was going to be quite
difficult.
(30:06):
We knew we didn't want to goover 20 minutes at the very max,
and if you want everyone to beput on the same level, then that
means everyone needs a similarkind of arc.
They all need to have a littlejourney in there, and that was
definitely a challenge.
But I think in the end, whatreally helped is to make
everything very small.
I think what a lot of shortfilms want to do especially when
(30:28):
I went to film school, I sawthis a lot with my fellow
students is that people want tosay a lot, they want to tell a
big story and they're inspiredby all these big movies that
they watched growing up and theyhave big ideas in their heads
and they tend to write storiesthat are just completely
convoluted and just over the top, and I think that's the death
of any short film.
I think a short film works bestif you keep things small.
(30:50):
Because it's short, you can'tdo much within the time that
you're given.
So I really tried to apply thatto all these characters.
I was like, okay, they can allbe there, because when you have
a wake it's normal for manypeople to be there, so that's
fine, but they cannot all havethis fireworks moment at the end
where they are a completelychanged person.
(31:10):
So I kept some of the arcs.
Establishing an arc can be donewith just one line and you can
end it with just one line.
In this movie specifically,it's about, for example, one
character in the beginning saysthat she has she's not sure if
she wants to date this person,and at the end, when Mia has
given her the permission, so tospeak, to go ahead with this
(31:32):
person, she looks at him andthey have this little moment
together.
We're like, okay, we can takeit to the next step.
Now.
It's very short.
It's only two lines of dialoguereally that come down to it,
that's, one is introduced in thebeginning and the other is at
the end.
There is a look between twocharacters and that's it really,
and I I try to implement thatfor most of the characters in
(31:53):
the short just sorts bursts ofcharacter development that also
leaves if you're wondering,where's it going to go now?
Speaker 1 (32:02):
What other restrictions did you work with
to write the script?
So obviously you had a castthat was already given and it
was eight people.
You said you wanted a shortthat was about 20 minutes.
So you know, you sort of knewthat there was a maximum
duration.
What were the otherrestrictions?
Locations, I don't know Anyother restrictions you can think
of that were given to you whenyou started writing.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Well, obviously, just the money.
Money is always the firstthought how are we going to pay
for everything?
Location was actually setpretty early on because we just
needed a house and one of theactors in the group he had a
home that his parents owned thatwe could use.
So that was set pretty early on.
But, of course, when we werelooking at stories literally
(32:45):
first week, what story were yougoing to tell?
This is the first thing thatyou're thinking of, like, okay,
we're not going to fly to Bali,we're not going to go to some
tropical island, we can't doanything in public transport.
No crazy things in terms ofoutfits or props or anything
like that.
I do think that one was helpful, in a sense, just to not get
(33:06):
into any crazy stories If youalready know from the beginning
that they're going to beunrealistic and you're unable to
really make that happen.
Think for this one.
The biggest one that we gotstuck in in the beginning was
getting a coffin.
Some of us were like, oh, we'llnever be able.
We'll never be able to get acoffin.
It'll be too.
They're super expensive to rent.
(33:26):
So that was definitelysomething that we considered,
why we considered not doing this, this story, um, but you know,
that's, that's the beauty ofbeing with eight people there's
already always somebody whoknows somebody.
So somebody in our acting groupactually knows somebody with a
funeral home, and they have lentus a coffin to use exactly the
(33:46):
type of coffin we wanted as well.
So that ended up just workingout.
But so, yeah, I think we werevery aware of these potential
restrictions before we evenstarted writing, which really
helped in the long run of justalready writing a story that we
knew was going to be possible tomake.
One location, a couple of props, eight actors nothing, much
(34:06):
more than we need.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
There's already a lot of comedy, like you can just
have a tagline sponsored by afuneral home.
I know, yeah, yeah, it's great,right, it's great okay.
So you found a coffin, uh,you're sponsored by a funeral
home, so now you arecrowdfunding with the team.
Yes, just in summary, like, howmuch are you looking to
fundraise and what are you goingto use the money for?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
well, are looking.
We have a fundraiser right nowon Ford Gunst.
That's a fundraising companyhere in the Netherlands and
we've put our end goal at 5,500.
We are more than halfway, sothat's very good, and the costs
are mostly going to be towardsequipment, so lighting, camera,
audio equipment, that kind ofstuff and catering for cast and
(34:53):
crew and transportation costs.
The 5K is really the minimumamount we need and we as actors,
we're all doing it becausewe're passionate about it, so we
are not making any money off ofthat.
It's really just all going intothe movie.
There's also some costumes andthings that we've purchased.
So, yeah, those are the mainthings.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Just to wrap up this interview.
What is your wildest dream forthis short?
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Wow, I don't know.
I've been thinking about it alittle bit because, of course,
at some point you start towonder where are we going with
this?
I was sending this link forthis crowdfund, this fundraiser,
to everyone and I was gettingthis question.
They were like oh so are wegoing to see this movie anywhere
?
What's going to happen with it?
Really, honestly, the mainthing I would love for it is to
(35:43):
showcase the talent that we havein the acting group, and I'm
not really thinking in theseterms of, oh, I want it to be
broadcasted here or I want it towin anything.
I'm really just looking for away that this movie is able to
put us all on the radar and togive us all a good credit and to
have something on my CV thatI'm really proud of and that I
think, accurately showcases allthe talent that we have in the
(36:06):
group.
So that's my main thing, and Iwant everyone to just have a
good time watching it, find itfunny, but also heartbreaking in
the same sentence.
I think that's really the goalhere.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Well, in the show notes we will be putting the
link towards the crowdfunder.
Thank you so much, Sophie, forsharing all your artistry here
on the podcast, and I can't waitto be updated and eventually
see it.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Yes, I will definitely send it over to you
once it's done.
Welcome to the Loud Whisper Takeover podcast.
Today we will be talking aboutwriting screenwriting.
We will be talking about wherethe inspiration comes from, we
will be talking where thechallenges lay, and then, of
course, we're also going to lookat different genres.
I personally am really bad atcomedy, even though I always
wanted to really be successfulat it, so I invited today
(00:24):
somebody that is really good atwriting comedy dark comedy.
She's also working on a newshort in the Netherlands with a
beautiful team of actors, soplease welcome Sophie.
Hi Sophie, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Hi, cindy, I'm good.
Thank you for having me on yourpod, really excited to have you
here.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So can you perhaps just introduce yourself in a
nutshell who you are as anartist and as a writer.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, as an artist and a writer, they are the same
thing for me.
I am mostly a writer.
I'm also an actor.
I went to acting school about ayear ago and before that I went
to film school where Ispecialized in direction and
writing, but I've really focusedmore on writing in the past
couple of years, so that'sreally my main area of expertise
.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Can you tell us a little bit more about this new
short that you are developing,which is called Somewhere
Between here and there?
By the way, guys, there will bea link in the show notes,
because they are fundraising atthe moment, so tell us more
about this project.
How did it come about and whatare you working on now?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So the new short is called Somewhere Between here
and there, and it actually wascreated by a group of actors.
We all went to acting schooltogether and we were doing a
scene group, a weekly scenegroup.
We were doing scenes togetherjust to keep the acting muscle
alive and just to have funreally.
And after about a year of thatwe were like, okay, I think we
(01:49):
should.
We think we should createsomething together because we
feel like we have so many ideasand we each bring something to
the table.
Everybody has like something toadd to it essentially.
So we decided to make a shortfilm.
First we thought about doing atheater production, but we
eventually settled on short filmand we've been working on it
for about three to four months.
So we started really with thebase of actors, which is mostly
different from how other shortfilms would start.
(02:10):
They usually start with, well,a writer and maybe a director
and a producer, but here wereally started from the actors.
And so the way we approachedthe story was also from a point
of view of how can we make astory where we can fit eight
people in, because we are witheight.
It's quite a lot, it's quite achallenge.
That's basically how it started.
I wrote it.
(02:30):
I had two co-writers, but Iwrote the majority of the script
and together we made the scriptthat we're going to be shooting
in about a month right now, andwe're looking at a late 2025
release.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
So it's been very exciting so far, difficult and
challenging, but in a good waywe're going to talk about how
sometimes, um, restrictions canalso help creativity, because
when I was speaking to theactors that you were working
with, I heard, okay, that thescript was written to give equal
weight, or at least a bigweight, to all the actors
(03:05):
involved, and not that one wouldcarry the whole story and
everybody else would be an extra.
So I think it's like arestriction as a writer, but
also it can open up doors for alot of creativity.
So we're going to talk aboutthat.
I just want to bounce back onthis thing, which is, for me,
the center of a lot of ourthings as artists is that you
(03:27):
were meeting with a bunch offriends, essentially to keep the
muscle of acting alive.
I am currently the ambassadorof the actor's home for the
Benelux house and we want to dothat as well, to have like some
sort of a little hub where wecan keep the muscle alive.
But I believe that this canalso bring a stronger bond
between people and this cancreate friendships.
(03:49):
I'm totally in that spirit offriendships.
First, that you know that wewant to do something together.
First, because as artists,sometimes you cannot wait until
you have all, all, all, all, allthe ideal fundings in place.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I agree with what you're saying.
Like community is everything, Ithink, especially in this
business.
But I think even before westarted this short film, we were
already a very close group.
We did the whole acting diplomathing together, which was a
full year, so we already spent alot of time together.
So it really just started out,for me at least, as a way of
like I want to keep seeing youguys and stay in in this kind of
(04:25):
mindset with you guys.
So we thought of the scene groupas a way to keep bringing us
together and I feel like thatjust even doing the scenes
leaving the short film aside fora second really just really
brought us together already insuch a way that this short film
just felt like the like nextnatural step for us and I think
it will continue to grow.
(04:46):
I mean, we were shootingpictures the other day for the
poster and there's just thisconstant sense of like we're
doing this together.
It's crazy, like two years agowe didn't know anybody and now
we're doing this together and weknow everything about each
other and we spend so much timetogether but it's going so well
and we're bringing in exactlythe type of energy that everyone
needs.
So I think it's really the baseof this movie, like it would
(05:08):
never been able to exist if we'ddone this with eight strangers.
I think it's so easy for thingsto fall out or for people to
have other expectations, but forus it was just so clear from
the start what we can expectfrom each other, how everyone
works, that it really has madethe collaboration easy so you
say there is this strong senseof we are doing this together.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Am I right in saying that every single person, every
single actor, is actually alsoputting something else on the
table?
Like somebody is taking on abit of production, somebody is I
don't know doing makeup orfinding a makeup artist, or has
everybody a little bit moreresponsibilities within this
production, or not at all?
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, no, this is correct.
We decided from the beginning,like we have limited resources,
so everyone's going to have togive something extra.
So I wrote most of the scriptand I'm also doing set design.
But there's indeed twoproducers.
Two of the girls in the groupare producers.
Somebody is directing.
We have, uh, even the sillythings like taking care of the
(06:09):
food, taking care oftransportation, outfits.
We have a, like a, a costumeperson.
So everyone is chipping in in away which has been really nice,
and it just it alleviates theworkload immensely when you have
eight people to.
You know, uh, to break it down.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
So now let's dive into you as a writer.
So you actually won acompetition in los angeles, yes,
I did tell me more about that.
So what did you win thecompetition for?
What was?
How did it feel to win as wella competition like in los
angeles you based in the nNetherlands, like it's a big
thing.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, absolutely.
It was really crazy and alsoreally random, which the best
things in my life really arevery random.
But I written a script reallyjust before we started the short
film, so around December,january.
We were like okay, let's make ashort film together.
And I want to say, maybe two orthree weeks earlier I'd written
a different script with thefull intention of making that.
(07:06):
I was going to be like this isgoing to be in 2025.
I'm going to make this script,I'm going to produce it or
whatever.
I had no idea what all thedetails were going to be like,
but I just I had it on paper andI wanted to do something with
it.
This group was saying we want tomake a short film together.
I was like, well, obviously Iwant to be in on that too.
So I'm going to join you guysand I'm going to put this other
(07:27):
script on hold.
There will be another time forit.
And actually somebody in myacting group she read it, she
gave me feedback on it and thenshe tagged me in this, this,
this poster, the story onInstagram from Heavy Shovel
Productions, which is aproduction company based in Los
Angeles, and she said said,they're doing a script
(07:47):
competition and you can hand inyour script.
It has to be a short filmscript and if you win, they will
produce it.
This came out of nowhere.
She knew the production company.
She'd been following them onInstagram, so it was really just
a divine timing in that sense,because everything aligned.
They were looking for a scriptno longer than 15 pages.
My script was exactly 15 pages.
They were looking for comedies.
My script was a comedy.
(08:07):
They were looking for scriptswhich featured mostly females.
My script had that as well andit had to take place in one of
four locations the two locationsin Los Angeles.
There were two in New York aswell, but the two in Los Angeles
were either an art deco houseor a diner, and my script took
place at a diner.
So I literally didn't have tochange a single thing.
I just kind of finalized it, Iput a title on it and I sent it
(08:30):
their way.
And then, about two weeks lateror so, I was looking through my
spam and of course I had amessage, an email from them
already a week earlier that saidcongrats, you're part of the
final three.
They had already sent me twofollow-up emails in that time
like hello, are you there andplease respond ASAP?
I just caught it just in time.
They were about to kind of goon with the competition when I
(08:53):
responded oh my God, thank you,I'd love to be involved.
And then there was a table readin Los Angeles where they would
actually read my script aloud,with two other finalists the two
other scripts were written byAmericans and I joined that
table read on Zoom at four inthe morning.
So that was a tough one, butreally fun to see the script
(09:17):
come to life.
They had amazing actresses whoreally made it even funnier,
honestly, than I had imagined itto be, and the audience there.
There was audience that hadbeen invited and they voted and
I won.
So that was the news came atlike 6 am in the morning on a
Saturday that I won thecompetition.
So this means now that they'regoing to be producing this short
and the production for that oneis starting in, I think,
(09:38):
september or around that timethe later part of 2025 anyway.
So, yeah, that was.
It was a crazy ride, but it allhappened in a very short time
span as well, so it was kind ofdifficult to even grasp at
certain points.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Oh my God, I think it's like freaking phenomenal
that not only you won acompetition, but it's going to
be produced, and in Los Angeles.
So let me go to the firstquestion I have for you, because
as a writer, I have also lookedat entering competitions, but
most of these competitions arequite expensive.
(10:13):
It's a bit like when you do afilm festival circuit with your
short film you have to pay tosubmit every time, but most of
the screenplay competitions I'veseen online are quite expensive
.
Did you have to pay for thisone?
Did you just say, well, I'monly going to choose one or two
to submit it to?
Or was it just the most randomthing?
(10:35):
Yeah, I submitted to one andlet's see what happens?
Or did you have a full strategyfor the script?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
No, absolutely not.
Like I said, I fully put it tothe side because I wanted to
focus fully on the short filmthat I'm making with the actor
group now.
So I wasn't doing anything withthe script.
It was really just gatheringdust in my laptop.
So this is the only one that Isubmitted it to.
I did have to pay something.
It was a very small amount I'mthinking $10 or $15 max.
So for me it was fine to dothat and I'd never submitted to
(11:02):
anything like literally anythingbefore.
So it was a great introductionin that sense.
But yeah, even as I was doingit, I was thinking like, okay,
this is a very fun way to getyour stuff out there.
So I already had in my mindlike, if this doesn't work, I'll
maybe submit it to other things.
But yeah, I never got that farin that sense, because this one
already panned out successfully.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
It's going to be produced in LA.
Are you going to be a part ofwhat is happening next or is it
absolutely in the hands of theproducer and the director and
everything else now?
Will you be invited on set orwill you only be invited once?
Well, it's finished and editedand there is the premiere.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, I spoke with the producers, with the
production company.
We had a small littleproduction meeting in which we
just basically laid out the planof like okay, they're doing
other things now, so productionis going to start in the last
part of 2025.
And yeah, they were very opento me coming over there and not
necessarily being part of theproduction behind the camera,
but just being there seeing theworks and meeting the people
(12:03):
involved.
Just being there seeing theworks and meeting the people
involved.
And I will be auditioning forboth the roles.
There's two girls in the.
The main characters are twogirls.
They're both around my age.
The thing is is that I initiallyactually wrote the script
literally for myself, becausethis goes pretty far back.
But I had a conversation withone of my fellow actors from
this acting group back inSeptember of 2024.
(12:25):
And we were both kind ofstruggling, like where do we go?
How do we do this?
How do we get ourselves inthere?
And he said to me he said, ifyou know nobody's going to offer
you the perfect role, thenwrite the perfect role for
yourself.
Just go out and do it and makeit and see where you end up.
And that's really whatkickstarted everything, because
that's when I started thinkingof like, ok, I really would love
to play a comedy role.
(12:45):
I think I'm, like, as an actor,very strong in comedy, so I'd
love to play a part in that.
And so I wrote one of the rolesin this short film specifically
for myself.
So when I had this productionmeeting with the production
company, I expressed interest toalso play one of the roles and
they were very open to meauditioning not just for the one
that I wrote for myself, butalso for the other one, because,
(13:05):
who knows, maybe it sticks.
Of course, that's still all upin the air.
I told them as well if you findanother actress that is much
better than I am, then there'sabsolutely no hard feelings.
I want the best for the film.
But even just getting theopportunity to audition for that
is very fun.
But yeah, for sure I'm going togo out there to see the whole
shebang in action.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I cross fingers that you get the role.
Yeah, me too.
It's quite funny that you'regoing to have to audition for
the role as well, but yeah, it'spart of the game.
I would love to ask you nowmore questions about writing
comedy in general.
Something you said earlier onis there was a table read and
then you said, oh, the ladiesthat were reading it made it
(13:46):
even funnier.
Yeah, so in your creativeprocess you're writing a script,
you're putting it on the side,so I'm guessing that nobody has
read it for you at the time ofsubmitting it.
It's a comedy.
You feel it's a good comedy,people are reading it.
So when do you feel that thecomedy is working?
(14:06):
It's really in the writingprocess.
It's not even like reading itloud.
When do you feel that thecomedy is really?
You nailed it.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Honestly, that was one of my biggest fears going
into the table read.
I was like what if no one findsit funny?
That was one of the main thingsthat I was constantly
struggling with, because I knewthat I thought it was funny.
That's just the baseline, right.
You write something that youthink is funny, but then you
know the next thing comes towill other people find it funny?
And that's really difficult.
(14:35):
You never really know ifsomething will hit or not.
So I, yeah, with full honesty,I sent it in not really knowing
if other people were going tofind it as funny as I did.
But I do think that the actorsare such a big part of comedy
because you can have thefunniest script ever and then a
less than fortunate actor comesin and kills the script.
In a sense it's possible.
But it also works the other wayaround.
(14:56):
You can have a not as funnyscript, but if you're a very
skilled actor it can still befunny.
But with, specifically, thetable read in LA, I did feel, as
I sent it in and they starteddoing the table read and the
first few lines hit and peoplewere laughing in the audience.
It was kind of an instant whereI was like, okay, it works,
I've already almost heard enough.
After the first page I was likeI know it works.
(15:16):
These actresses, they know theenergy that I tried to put on
the paper.
They understand it.
They're giving their all,they're not doing half-assed
work and that's why I said Ireally think they made it even
funnier because they werehitting the beats.
It's a pretty quick script inthat sense.
The characters are really goingback and forth in quite a fast
pace and they really nailed thatand I think that made it
(15:38):
funnier.
Just, yeah, just a joy to lookat really.
But if yeah, there's never aguarantee that it's going to be
really funny until you see thataudience react or you see an
actor bring it to life have youever written something thinking
it was a comedy, and then actorsare reading it or I don't know.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
There was some sort of yeah, you start playing
around with it and actually it'snot working at all.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I actually have not had it that explicitly, but I
went to film school right.
So I made several short filmsthere and comedy was never
really my thing.
I only started that like well,I don't want to say recently,
but more in the later years Istarted going to comedy more,
actually for the sole reasonthat I was thinking if I can get
people to laugh, I can get awaywith really shitty filmmaking.
(16:27):
That was really my thought as astudent in school.
I was like if the film is badlighting, like ugly outfits and
cheap locations, if I can getpeople to laugh, they might
forget just about all of that.
So that was really the firstreason of why I got into it.
But one of the short films Imade in my last year of school
was my first comedy and I lookback on it now and I find it
(16:50):
deeply unfunny.
As I was writing it I thoughtit was working, but then you
know, actually shooting it, itgot way more serious vibe to it.
The lines that maybe meant assarcastic or witty were
delivered in a more serious way,which is also fully on me
because I was the director.
So like I should have at thatpoint gone in and been like,
well, that's not really how Iwrote it.
(17:10):
I was a student, I didn't knowany better, so in that sense
I've definitely had that onemovie.
That was intended as a comedy.
It ended up becoming a moreserious drama.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I'd like to go back to your analysis of why it
wasn't funny.
So you said maybe you mademistakes as a director.
But do you think that at thecore, if you had to look back at
that script, was it a scriptproblem?
Do you think it was a wrongcast, you know, unexperienced
director's problem, or was itactually the script you've
written that didn't really cometo life as something funny?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah, I do think it's a mix of more things.
I do think also me as adirector I made some some
mistakes in that and because theactors I had then were actually
, they were quite nice and theythey did understand the vibe and
the feel of the movie.
But yeah, also just thedialogue.
Dialogue is very difficultactually to really write
properly.
I even criticize and that'scoming from me who I don't have
(18:06):
that much experience under mybelt, but often I see certain
dialogue in even big movies andI just go really that doesn't
sound natural at all.
It's very hard to write verynatural dialogue.
I think a lot of writersstruggle with that and in that
movie, the one I made in school,I think the dialogue was a big
part of that.
It didn't feel very natural, itfelt very much almost
(18:26):
slapsticky at certain points andI think that's why it just
didn't translate well.
But I do think the core of thestory was correct and was a good
choice and it was right.
Yeah, I think it really justcame down to the final points of
what the director does, the waythat we shot it, the points in
dialogue that weren't perfect.
(18:47):
It was just really a mixture ofmany things in your personal
life, are you a funny person?
oh, that's interesting to answer.
I don't know, I would say so Ido think people people around me
, have said to me that they findme funny.
So there's there's that, Idon't know.
I think think I very deadpansarcastic type of humor which
works with some people doesn'twork with others.
(19:09):
So yeah, I'm in the middle, Idon't know.
I think I'm funny, but I'llleave it at that because I'm
asking that?
Speaker 1 (19:19):
because I don't know if it's a true story or not.
But Moliere, who's the FrenchShakespeare kind of thing,
Apparently he always wanted tobe really good at drama and he
ended up always writing comedyand he felt like a failure
because he couldn't step out ofthis comedy box.
But he was good at it and Ifeel I'm a bit the opposite.
(19:41):
I think I would have a sense ofaccomplishment if one day I
could write something thatreally makes people laugh,
Because one day I wrote it wasactually a one woman show and it
was meant to be a comedy and itwas quite a long piece, and so
one day I performed it andliterally I kid you not I had
(20:02):
one audience member after theother that just broke down
crying.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Like it was, so I would have thought so.
It touched people very deeply.
It was, it had impact, but itdidn't have the impact that I
thought it would have.
Like literally, I saw peoplelike melting on their chairs,
like head in between their hands, crying because they were so
(20:27):
touched by it.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
So that was my comedy career.
That's great, don, even if youcan elicit such a strong
reaction from people.
I mean, I still that's a win.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
That's amazing.
Now my next question is what is, for you, a good recipe?
If somebody was to come to youand say, hey, I'd love to write
a script, here is my idea.
How can I turn it into a comedy?
How can I be a comedy writer?
And what is the recipe?
Because you said that also, asan actress, you feel that that
is your forte.
(21:00):
So what is for you the recipeof a good comedy actor, actress
and a good comedy writer, or agood comedy script?
What would be the recipe Forscript?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
writing.
I don't think there is onespecific recipe that has worked
for me.
I think there's many differentways of approaching it.
I really am just very muchmotivated, or like I work in
like bouts of creativity thatkind of come out of nowhere and
I really let those lead me.
(21:30):
I know that the way that I workis not at least it doesn't feel
conventional, but I think oneof the most important things is
to start small.
Really with any script, this isnot just even for comedies, but
sometimes people have theseideas and they want to
immediately think of the biggestpicture there is and everything
that comes in.
But really what I do is to methe details tend to come first.
(21:51):
Sometimes it's a location, orsometimes it's just one line of
dialogue that I think ofrandomly when I'm just in the
supermarket and that's where theentire story blooms from.
So I don't try to get ahead ofthat by immediately jumping into
the pit and thinking, okay,what's the message?
Or like how's it going to?
Okay, what's the message?
Or like how's it going to end,or what's the arc.
(22:15):
I leave all of that.
That will find its way in thereonce you're writing.
So, in terms of a recipe forcomedy specifically.
I've written a few comedies andmy approach was different every
time.
But for just script writing ingeneral, I would say, yeah,
start small and focusing on thedetails is, I think, a strong
way, because stories are thebest when they're detailed.
I do think in any way and as anactor, you said what the recipe
(22:37):
is to be a good comedy actor.
Yeah, that's interesting.
I don't know why I say to myselfthat I think comedy is my
strong suit.
I didn't think it would be.
It's just that the reactionsthat I've gotten from my year in
acting school was that oftenwhen I was doing a piece, even
when I was trying to be serious,people would laugh.
People would think that I wastrying to be funny, when I often
(22:58):
wasn't.
So that's the other side of thecoin when you're trying to be
serious and people think it'sfunny.
But I found my way in that, Iwas like, okay, if people are
going to laugh at me, then Imight as well just go further in
on that and make it my staple.
But yeah, I think the mostimportant thing is don't take
yourself too seriously.
I think comedy lives in beingloose with it and letting it
(23:19):
take many different forms.
Comedy can be done in so manydifferent ways, and surprise
yourself with the many ways thatare possible within comedy and
don't stick to just one way thatyou think is funny, because,
again, what other people thinkis funny might differ vastly
from that.
So be in tune with the audiencewith that, because they're the
ones judging.
They're either laughing orthey're not.
(23:40):
So I'd say, yeah, like, beloose with it, don't take it too
seriously and watch theaudience, observe the audience.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Both as a writer and as an actress.
Do you keep some sort ofnotebook where you keep noticing
things in the street or at thesupermarket and you're like, oh,
that's funny, and you write itin a little notebook and you
might start a script withsomething you saw or you
overheard at a restaurant orwhatever?
Or is absolutely everythingcoming from your imagination?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, I want to say about 95% is coming from my
imagination.
Most of the time, yeah, thethings that I think of, they all
just pop up in my head.
It's not really ever things Ioverhear.
I want to say, sometimes thingsI see on social media.
To be honest, I'm a really justdisgusting TikToker.
(24:27):
Like I'm on TikTok just all thetime.
It's killing my brain.
But I do get inspired from justbecause on TikTok you see so
many different people, things onsocial media that you would
never have been able to knowlike 10 years ago, like a day in
the life of somebody living inDubai.
Like it's just all these crazythings that you see on there and
that has inspired me a lot inthe past.
(24:48):
In terms of writing things down,I have a killer memory for some
reason.
I don't know where I got thatfrom, but I remember quite
literally almost everythingthat's ever happened to me, in
both good and bad ways.
So I yeah, I don't really writemuch down.
I just I overthink it a lot.
Sometimes stories are in myhead for weeks, months before I
(25:09):
write anything down.
Sometimes I never write it down.
There are stories in my headthat I've thought of for years
and I've just always been likeyou know, they're just in my
head, but I don't find themotivation or the whatever to
really put them down, becausethey're not there yet.
They might need some moredevelopment.
But it's a lot of brain work,it's a lot of thinking and
thinking.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
So there is nothing in your work that is
autobiographical.
No.
Another question I wanted toask you as well in regards to
comedy.
Do you usually go to comedythat is written in the line, the
response, the dialogue, or isit circumstantial?
Or is it to do with charactertraits, or it really depends on
(25:55):
what kind of film you're writing?
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I would say it's my comedy mostly comes forth in the
dialogue.
I do in a way, because it'salso my type of humor, just in
text and lines.
Can you tell us a?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
little bit more about somewhere between here and
there.
What I heard is that somethinggoes wrong during a funeral, so
obviously you don't want to giveany spoilers here, but what can
you tell us about thisparticular short that you're
creating with your collective?
Now I can definitely give you alittle peek on what it's about.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
It's about a wake, and it's a wake for a dead girl.
Her name is Mia, she is roughly26, 27, and she's passed away
quite unexpectedly.
The wake kicks off.
It's quite chaotic, there'slots of people there Her boss is
there, her ex is there, hersister is there, her cousins and
she suddenly appears at her ownwake.
(26:50):
She comes from the bathroomupstairs and she's there in the
middle of it, sort of as a ghost, but she looks like the
everyday Mia.
But Mia is not visible toeveryone.
Mia is only visible to fourpeople in particular who still
have some outstanding businesswith her.
So that's her sister, her ex,her boss and also her best
(27:10):
friend, and they all havesomething that is keeping Mia
tethered to them and to Earth,and they have to figure out
what's keeping her here and,yeah, in what way they can
resolve it so that she can moveon to the next plane of life.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Where is the point of comedy for you anchored?
Is it in healing, Because she'shealing a certain amount of
relationships?
Is it in how people overreact?
Is it in the human reactionsand emotional responses to
certain things that others do?
Is it in our relationship todeath Like?
(27:44):
Where does the comedy come fromin this particular piece?
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Yeah, I mean, it's about death, you know, in its
essence so it's a heavy subjectand I tried to make it as light
as possible Because while Mia isdead, she's also right there.
So there's this fine line ofthe tragedy of a young person
passing away and the sillinessof her just being here now and
(28:08):
she's complaining about sillythings like why am I wearing a
pink sweater?
Like who thought to put me in apink sweater?
And why is this music playing.
And she's complaining aboutsilly things like why am I
wearing a pink sweater?
Like who thought to put me in apink sweater?
And why is this music playing?
Like.
And she's going after all thesesilly things and there's really
no mention of how did she dieand these heavier things that
are usually associated withdeath and things that make it
tragic.
I steered away from those thingsand instead focused on the
(28:31):
sillier things of awake of.
You know that, like what I said, clothing choices, music
choices, the people who werethere, and also what you said in
in the way that people aroundher react to it.
You know the way that her bossreacts to seeing her and uh, and
you know some people will reactmore in a heavy way of oh my
god, you're here now and all theemotions that come with that.
(28:52):
But there are also characterswho don't even realize that Mia
is actually showing up as aghost.
They're like so you faked yourdeath, what's going on?
Explain yourself.
And so then it takes in kind ofa different direction there.
So you have all these differentcharacters and they have all
their own little quirks andthey're all reacting in a
different way.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
And I think there's there's definitely comedy in
that too.
Let's now talk about therestrictions you had as a writer
I don't know if I need to callit restrictions or just the
givens.
So one of those elements wasokay, we are a group of eight
friends, let's write a shortmovie.
But there was also this senseof okay, we don't want people to
feel like they are an extra onset.
How can we give weight to everycharacter while still obviously
having a lead character andstuff, but still give enough
(29:42):
weight to everyone?
How did you handle that as awriter?
Speaker 2 (29:46):
I was very difficult because, yeah, like, even when I
started writing and I was likegosh, if I'd written the script
because I like the idea, I waslike if I'd done this just for
myself, maybe I would have putin three main characters and
that's it, made everybody elseextras and just focused on a
smaller little group.
So right from the get-go I knewit was going to be quite
difficult.
(30:06):
We knew we didn't want to goover 20 minutes at the very max,
and if you want everyone to beput on the same level, then that
means everyone needs a similarkind of arc.
They all need to have a littlejourney in there, and that was
definitely a challenge.
But I think in the end, whatreally helped is to make
everything very small.
I think what a lot of shortfilms want to do especially when
(30:28):
I went to film school, I sawthis a lot with my fellow
students is that people want tosay a lot, they want to tell a
big story and they're inspiredby all these big movies that
they watched growing up and theyhave big ideas in their heads
and they tend to write storiesthat are just completely
convoluted and just over the top, and I think that's the death
of any short film.
I think a short film works bestif you keep things small.
(30:50):
Because it's short, you can'tdo much within the time that
you're given.
So I really tried to apply thatto all these characters.
I was like, okay, they can allbe there, because when you have
a wake it's normal for manypeople to be there, so that's
fine, but they cannot all havethis fireworks moment at the end
where they are a completelychanged person.
(31:10):
So I kept some of the arcs.
Establishing an arc can be donewith just one line and you can
end it with just one line.
In this movie specifically,it's about, for example, one
character in the beginning saysthat she has she's not sure if
she wants to date this person,and at the end, when Mia has
given her the permission, so tospeak, to go ahead with this
(31:32):
person, she looks at him andthey have this little moment
together.
We're like, okay, we can takeit to the next step.
Now.
It's very short.
It's only two lines of dialoguereally that come down to it,
that's, one is introduced in thebeginning and the other is at
the end.
There is a look between twocharacters and that's it really,
and I I try to implement thatfor most of the characters in
(31:53):
the short just sorts bursts ofcharacter development that also
leaves if you're wondering,where's it going to go now?
Speaker 1 (32:02):
What other restrictions did you work with
to write the script?
So obviously you had a castthat was already given and it
was eight people.
You said you wanted a shortthat was about 20 minutes.
So you know, you sort of knewthat there was a maximum
duration.
What were the otherrestrictions?
Locations, I don't know Anyother restrictions you can think
of that were given to you whenyou started writing.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Well, obviously, just the money.
Money is always the firstthought how are we going to pay
for everything?
Location was actually setpretty early on because we just
needed a house and one of theactors in the group he had a
home that his parents owned thatwe could use.
So that was set pretty early on.
But, of course, when we werelooking at stories literally
(32:45):
first week, what story were yougoing to tell?
This is the first thing thatyou're thinking of, like, okay,
we're not going to fly to Bali,we're not going to go to some
tropical island, we can't doanything in public transport.
No crazy things in terms ofoutfits or props or anything
like that.
I do think that one was helpful, in a sense, just to not get
(33:06):
into any crazy stories If youalready know from the beginning
that they're going to beunrealistic and you're unable to
really make that happen.
Think for this one.
The biggest one that we gotstuck in in the beginning was
getting a coffin.
Some of us were like, oh, we'llnever be able.
We'll never be able to get acoffin.
It'll be too.
They're super expensive to rent.
(33:26):
So that was definitelysomething that we considered,
why we considered not doing this, this story, um, but you know,
that's, that's the beauty ofbeing with eight people there's
already always somebody whoknows somebody.
So somebody in our acting groupactually knows somebody with a
funeral home, and they have lentus a coffin to use exactly the
(33:46):
type of coffin we wanted as well.
So that ended up just workingout.
But so, yeah, I think we werevery aware of these potential
restrictions before we evenstarted writing, which really
helped in the long run of justalready writing a story that we
knew was going to be possible tomake.
One location, a couple of props, eight actors nothing, much
(34:06):
more than we need.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
There's already a lot of comedy, like you can just
have a tagline sponsored by afuneral home.
I know, yeah, yeah, it's great,right, it's great okay.
So you found a coffin, uh,you're sponsored by a funeral
home, so now you arecrowdfunding with the team.
Yes, just in summary, like, howmuch are you looking to
fundraise and what are you goingto use the money for?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
well, are looking.
We have a fundraiser right nowon Ford Gunst.
That's a fundraising companyhere in the Netherlands and
we've put our end goal at 5,500.
We are more than halfway, sothat's very good, and the costs
are mostly going to be towardsequipment, so lighting, camera,
audio equipment, that kind ofstuff and catering for cast and
(34:53):
crew and transportation costs.
The 5K is really the minimumamount we need and we as actors,
we're all doing it becausewe're passionate about it, so we
are not making any money off ofthat.
It's really just all going intothe movie.
There's also some costumes andthings that we've purchased.
So, yeah, those are the mainthings.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Just to wrap up this interview.
What is your wildest dream forthis short?
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Wow, I don't know.
I've been thinking about it alittle bit because, of course,
at some point you start towonder where are we going with
this?
I was sending this link forthis crowdfund, this fundraiser,
to everyone and I was gettingthis question.
They were like oh so are wegoing to see this movie anywhere
?
What's going to happen with it?
Really, honestly, the mainthing I would love for it is to
(35:43):
showcase the talent that we havein the acting group, and I'm
not really thinking in theseterms of, oh, I want it to be
broadcasted here or I want it towin anything.
I'm really just looking for away that this movie is able to
put us all on the radar and togive us all a good credit and to
have something on my CV thatI'm really proud of and that I
think, accurately showcases allthe talent that we have in the
(36:06):
group.
So that's my main thing, and Iwant everyone to just have a
good time watching it, find itfunny, but also heartbreaking in
the same sentence.
I think that's really the goalhere.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Well, in the show notes we will be putting the
link towards the crowdfunder.
Thank you so much, Sophie, forsharing all your artistry here
on the podcast, and I can't waitto be updated and eventually
see it.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Yes, I will definitely send it over to you
once it's done.
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