Uncompleted Works

Back in September, I was invited to speak on a panel about different aspects of short filmmaking at Roberta Munroe’s “Best Short Film Workshop Ever.” It was a great workshop, filled with wonderful discussion about writing, production and distribution of short film. (You can read my notes on the workshop, and notes from Roberta Munroe’s other events.)

Leah Meyerhoff

On the panel was Slava Rubin co-founder of IndieGoGo.com and filmmaker Leah Meyerhoff. Leah’s film Twitch won the grand jury prize at Slamdance in  2007. Twitch went on to show at over 100 festivals and received many awards and was her first foray into the film festival circuit.

Leah has been gracious enough to share a bit of her insight on her short filmmaking and how it has prepared her for her first feature length film. So, let’s get into it!

Merrel Davis: What were the circumstances surrounding the production of Twitch? When you set out to make Twitch did you have a particular endgame in mind, like getting distribution or simply visibility?

Leah Meyerhoff: I made Twitch while I was studying at NYU. I’ve always thought it best when filmmakers “write what they know” so I began with a very personal story and then expanded out from there. My mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis shortly before I was born and was in a wheelchair by the time I was learning to walk. My parents divorced soon after and I was left having to take care of my mother while I was still a child. I have always been interested in making a film about this mother/daughter role reversal and the complexities and challenges of growing up with a parent who was sick. Thus Twitch tells the story of a teenage girl torn between caring for her disabled mother and escaping into the world of adolescence with her new boyfriend. After many unsatisfying auditions in NY, I decided to cast my real mother as the mother character in the film, which meant that I needed to return to SF for the shoot. Around the same time, I was approached by a reality show called “Film School” who wanted to document the process of making Twitch for a program on the Independent Film Channel (IFC). Although in retrospect, it probably wasn’t worth the headache, at the time it seemed like an easy way to finance the film as well as secure a certain level of visibility. Although I didn’t have a set distribution strategy in mind, I knew that I wanted as many people as possible to see the film and a showcase on IFC seemed like a good opportunity. We shot Twitch on Super16mm over the course of three days with a small crew comprised of many of my classmates from film school. Afterward I edited the film on an Avid and began sending it out to festivals. [Merrel Note: If you want to see part of Leah's process, there are many clips available on Youtube of the "Film School" series.]

MD: Much short film seeks to mimic the style and pacing of television. I increasingly see “all flash, no substance” short films that feel very impressed with themselves. After traveling the festival circuit promoting your various projects and music videos, do you see any emerging trends?

LM: I agree that many short filmmakers seem more interested in making calling cards than telling a story, but at the same time I think there is a counter movement towards smaller, more performance driven work. Some of my recent favorites are films like Man, Lady Margaret, Antonio’s Breakfast, In the Morning and The Execution of Solomon Harris which don’t try to cram an entire feature into a short, but rather focus on conveying the emotional truth of a particular moment in a character’s life.

MD: At the Boston Underground Film Festival, you talked a little bit about your original career aspirations, you said you wanted to be a marine biologist. How has that skillset come in handy as a filmmaker?

LM: Although I had different interests in high school, by the time I attended Brown University I ended up majoring in Art-Semiotics, which is basically a combination of film theory, art history, postmodern thought and film production. This skillset has informed my filmmaking by provoking me to consider the meaning behind each shot in addition to the visual effect. Similarly, I am able to watch films with a more critical eye and take away specific lessons which I then apply to my work. At the same time, I think too much theory can be dangerous because the emotional truth of the story has to come first.

MD: Can you talk a little bit about your first feature Unicorns? Has your introduction to the short film and festival world been helpful?

LM: Unicorns portrays an awkward teenage girl who escapes to a fantasy world when her first romantic relationship becomes increasingly abusive.  Through a combination of social and magical realism, I hope to create an intimate, honest, performance-driven film that allows us to get inside the character’s head as well as her heart. I began writing the script as my thesis at NYU and simultaneously started fundraising as I traveled the festival circuit with my short Twitch. In fact, I would not be in the place I am at now were it not for my prior experiences in the short film and festival worlds.

MD: How did the production of Unicorns come about?

LM: I met most of the people who are currently working on Unicorns through the festival circuit. Our executive producer Allison Anders had recently mentored a film I saw at the Sarasota Film Festival as well as directed several amazing films of her own. I met producers Alexis Fish and Heather Rae through the Sundance Film Festival (where Heather’s previous film Frozen River won the Grand Jury Prize). Our casting directors Judy Henderson, Meg Morman and Sunday Boling were recommended by other filmmakers I met on the festival circuit and I initially had seen many of the actors we ended up casting in festival films as well. Similarly, many of the other crew members we ended up hiring were originally introduced to us through the festival world.

(Continued)