Dress... to Impress!

It's a New Year. Spring has sprung and our thoughts are of growth and of youth. So, what better way to celebrate January than to think about Minerva McGonagall.

Hang about! Isn't that the 'maturing' witch from Harry Potter? ( Played by the the esteemed Dame Maggie.) Why yes, yes it is! Not to play devil's advocate but isn't she well, how do we put this politely, not as sprightly as she once was?

Indeed but with a character so intriguing, my old roomie Rona thought she'd create magic and give us a glimpse of old Minerva back in the day. To wit, she's recently posted her short movie 'Minerva & The Wicked Heist' on You Tube.

I sat down with Rona and asked her how she came to be a writer and how her take on 'Minerva' came about.

So, Rona, what was the first thing you wrote?

Given that I hated writing as a kid, the first book I wrote was a two hundred page fiction novel called “The Bloody Groom” (“Glaesern” on the German market). It later become my first short script and film entitled “Hunting Snow White”.

As many good books are, it was rejected. I put it in a drawer and forgot about it. Years later I wrote a sequel to Snow White and sent it out. It lingered in the ether of unsolicited submissions, namely those from first-time--un-agented- writers. Then, eleven months later is was published in Germany, titled “Kaltgeschminkt” (Or the original title: “The Human Dress”). A new publisher started his company with three promising talents and I was selected as one of them.

Today LUZIFER is one of the leading Horror Houses in Germany, selling translations of books by Jonathan Greene and Robert Malfi. “The Human Dress” was awarded “Best horror/National Fantasy novel” of 2013 (Vincent Preis) and entertained audiences on stage for a season at the Imperial Theatre in 2015.

The plus side was I was able to dump my day job. I wobbled from con to con, book fair to book fair, through TV and Radio shows, presenting my second film work, an eerie book teaser I wrote and directed. Today the bones of that story have inspired my first feature film project, a Western version of this gothic tale.

What led you to make your movie?

Every movie I ever made was led by one idea: I’d like to see THAT on screen. I started with ambitious shorts and music videos and quickly found out there is no such thing as “impossible”. Maybe difficult, but extra work always pays off. As a bonus, it creates a habit of unlimited creativity and problem solving helping me make remarkable things with little to no money.

In the case of my Harry Potter fan film, “Minerva & The Wicked Heist”, it was the question of “what if I mix my passion for film noir with the enchanting IP of Harry Potter. It was the perfect match. The truth is that we all just wanted to make a 1950's heist movie and given that audiences don’t particularly lose their heads about good old film noir nowadays, something popular had to be attached to it.

(My sci-fi short came from a 48-hour-challenge we attended last year. I wanted to mash up dystopian and cyberpunk, while my current project's a horror western and creature-feature with practical effects.)

In the end, it is the story that sticks inside my head until I can’t help but write it. That’s the story that’s worth grabbing the camera for and start shooting asap. How easy it is to get the project made is not the question. Good stories find their way. Always.

As a director, how did you approach the project differently from your approach as a writer?

I consider myself a director before a writer. My scripts are simple with quality dialogue, which is my strong suit, so I ensure I know what I am talking about on paper. Then, I can story board it more easily. I write my scripts in a way that I can work with them easily. No polishing, no tweaking single words, no twisting around with scenes. Final changes I make on set.

As a writer/director, I have the benefits of seeing a project from both perspectives. I understand the writers and why it is so easy for them to get a heart attack with every change made. Then I see from a directors POV: what is necessary to tell the story so it is smooth and well-paced - on the screen, not on paper.

In 2017 I wrote a short for Amazon Prime UK that was directed by my boyfriend Carlos Boellinger, a fabulous director and editor. For the first (and only) time I didn’t have the vision to project my own script to the screen. Every word written was suddenly sacred to me, Rona the writer, I forgot everything I knew as Rona the director. I was ready to fight for every line, to spark a fight about a comma. I then had to remind myself of my knowledge as director. That’s what made me survive that project, haha.

As a director, I understand a writer’s POV better than my non-writing colleagues and try to remember how it feels. If I have to sacrifice a window for the writer to jump through, I’m fine with that. My peeps respect my decisions and I trust them completely to do the best they can. In the end we all want to be proud and happy with what we create.

What were your main goals and do you think you achieved them?

Once I started making music videos and documentaries I got my first official credit and name on Imdb. Having an Imdb entry was the start I worked towards, the summit of my tiny dream mountain. Time flew and a few years later, I had my name was in the Imdb credits of a short film for the first time. I was as proud as a potato.

(A King Edward? Snort! Ed.)

Then the inevitable thought came to me: what now? The answer was easy. A second Imdb credit, haha.

Looking back it makes me smile. The truth is that my main goal was to put something on screen that stood out. To explain it better I have a wee story for you.

(Just to point out, Rona has Scottish roots beside the Italian ones. So can 'wee' with the best of us. Ed.)

In 2012 I filmed an overly ambitious short called “Hunting Snow White”, which I based on my first written and second published novel.

Snow White involved four locations, one night scene including a duel and a fight, a cast of fourteen and high quality costumes. ( I got these from a lovely, trustworthy designer without having any insurance). I produced, co-directed and edited it alone, I was; costume department, casting agent, stunt fight choreographer - using my shooting and fencing skills - I storyboarded, gathered the crew, created the looks and wounds for the MU department and I lost fourteen kilos!

After the short was filmed in four days and nights straight, (surviving on pizza), I approached an investor to claw money back. I had no knowledge about these things, nor did I have any clue about the world of filmmaking. I was a skinny girl in her mid-twenties who looked like a twelve year old with a side-cut and pierced septum. When I explained my project to the investor - a producer for a TV channel - he told me in ten minutes how impossible it was to even make that short. He advised me to film a simple dialogue driven story with no more than two actors in one location, preferably indoors. I reminded him that the whole thing was already shot and the edit almost complete.

That experience pushed me to list all the projects stuck in my head that I wanted to make, the more ambitious the better. Since then I have achieved every single one of them, with discipline and by working with peers driven by the same ambition.

Another not-so-secret secret is, approach anyone who might push you higher. For the first one of two 2D animation shorts I did, I approached super-popular illustrator Tom Percival. I did the same a few weeks ago for my graphic novel. Both projects need crowd-funded, yet for both projects I have succeeded in finding the right person to support my attached team and make my project more valuable and unique. If you believe in your project you can always convince the people you want to work with. In film just as in everything else in life, if you search for something, you will eventually find it. That’s how networking - and filmmaking - work.

Were you involved in the casting and what did you look for in your lead actors?

So far, I have been involved in every casting for my films, music videos and documentaries. I go with a simple rule, looking for the spark that tells me that this actor/actress will be the person that the character is supposed to be in the end of their journey. The final outcome of the (anti) hero when he reaches the end of the story.

When I cast for “Minerva” I was forwarded reels and headshots from actors peers had already worked with. Almost all of them were first choices. In another project I was looking for my main character for ages without finding him. I met an interesting actor, driven but too young for what I needed, yet something told me that he was the one that would do the character justice. Despite his lack of experience, or stage fight experience, I pulled him on board. After a disastrous test shoot and a fight rehearsal that made me cringe, I decided that I would rather be able to make that fellow act, than re-cast one day before shooting. In the end, the guy pulled one of the most astonishing performances out of the bag I had ever dared dream of and seemingly without effort. I just had to put him on location and into costume. I high-fived myself secretly for trusting my gut. I have listened to it ever since.

Where do you find inspiration for your projects?

In everything and everyone. I constantly steal and copy from things that go on around me. That’s why you see me sat in a cafe, or in a quiet spot every now and then with my phone deep in my pocket and my eyes and ears wide open, ready to absorb. To be fair, though, I get a lot of script offers with enchanting and intriguing stories. At the moment I am in talks about directing and/or pre-producing a fascinating Canadian drama, written by Fay Devlin, while I’m working towards my first feature film, the horror western and creature feature I mentioned.

You’ve recently been on a retreat? Where did you go and why?

I recently came back from what I call my 7-day “Soul Retreat". Usually I take 2-6 weeks per year were I house-sit friends places all over the world. This time, however, I didn't go away for work, or writing, or in fact leave the country. Instead I gave myself a week in a remote spot to silence my busy mind and to reconnect with myself, to analyse the anger and negativity that had taken hold of me in the past years and to deal with loss I had experienced.

In my cosy Airbnb, I rewarded myself with one hour Netflix per day whilst I manifested habits such as; sticking to my affirmations, daily meditation, improving my awkward yoga skills and teaching myself to dance the Hula!

(Aloha... hoy! Ed)

It was a location where I asked myself candid questions about myself that demanded honest answers. The result was tears (a lot of them), deep cleansing of my mind and eye-opening insights. Other than that I created new, positive habits to replace the old ones, and a plan to keep up the good work when I reconnect with the world again. I rewired my brain and purposely at the busiest moment of the year, in early January, when I decided to start work on my first feature. And, boy, "parking" this passion project was the most difficult part! But I knew without decluttering my mind first, I wouldn't be able to make my movie.

I highly recommend such a “Soul Retreat" to anybody. You don't have to go for a week like I did. But listen to yourself in silence for a day or two. Nothing that happens in the world in your absence is impossible to catch up to. Promise. What also helped me was a lore the Celts tell: Before you were born your soul was measured and you were given a bag. That bag contains all the tasks and sorrows, tests and burdens you will carry throughout your life. It means that nothing you experience, no matter how difficult and destructive it may seem, will break you. Whatever happens to you, you can master it.

Do you find being an attractive woman in the film industry is a help, or a hinderance and can you give an example?

It’s not a secret that I am quiet when it comes to current movements in the film industry, simply because the experience I have had with abusive, or insulting male peers, has been rare. I do feel the pain of the women who experience sexual harassment. I once solved a sex joke on set by banning its creator from location and have fired and replaced others within ten minutes on set. There are always jobs for more respectful collaboratives. I work mostly with guys, all of them close friends who show me respect and trust, who support me and are honest advisors. One of those gems is Carlos.

To be fair women are used to complaining openly on social media about the industry . It has always been a boys playground. When asked why women don’t have the same experience in film than their male counterparts I think it was Katherine Bigelow who said. “Give us the jobs and we will gain the experience”.

We can show what we are capable of, project our strengths and be fair, strong and capable collaborators. Let’s not forget that there are many female driven industries. I try and get women on board for my projects, I always have “my” costume lady, the talented Caitlin Shaw and the astonishing Dulcie Mitchel in MU department. I am currently teamed up with the fabulous (and headstrong), Andromeda Godfrey, a gem amongst acting/producing talents. I go with talent, not gender or race. I work with troopers. All I care about is their drive, their creativity and if they have fun making film.

I believe women are the perfect filter for ourselves in any male-driven industry. When I experienced Cannes for the first time in 2018 I was ignored by a producer whose name I won't mention. He shook everyones hand but mine (I was the only woman in the group). When he finally reached out a weak handshake, without eye contact, I decided to ignore it. Being invisible to him throughout the meeting gave me the opportunity to observe, to pay attention to body-language. When one of my colleagues mentioned my original horror creature feature idea, he consciously looked at me for the first time. I told him to send an investment package soon. Needless to say that my horror western will happen without his production. The lesson I learned is that the male colleagues that show respect are the ones to work with, not those who stand you up for meetings, or ignore you.

My advice is find your people and stick with them. Step up together, create something remarkable and fulfil your full potential. We can all influence the industry for the better.