It was during the uncertain early months of the pandemic when Kelley Kali woke up with “this very pressing feeling” that she wanted to make a film—an urge to create something rather than “wait to be told that we can be creative again.”
That drive led to her feature directorial debut, “I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking),” which she co-wrote, co-directed, and stars in. The film won a Special Jury Award at South by Southwest last year. And it literally moved Kali, because her character—a recently widowed mother working to keep herself and her young daughter from houselessness—used roller skates to get around. “That was out of necessity, because we couldn’t put the character on a bus. It wasn’t safe for COVID,” Kali explains. “But I’m a roller skater, so we were like, ‘What if her only means of transportation is roller skates?’ You’ve got to use your resources and creativity and just lean into it.”
If you’re hoping to create and star in your own indie feature, building that kind of resourcefulness is key. Kali is one of several actors making their directorial debuts whose work is currently wending its way through the festival circuit.
For Mark O’Brien, who wrote, directed, and stars in the psychological horror film “The Righteous,” success is all about keeping the plates spinning. His feature directorial debut, which premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival last year, required an extreme feat of time management. He only had seven days to prep before filming began in Newfoundland, and he split that time with co-starring in Justin Chon’s “Blue Bayou,” which was shooting in New Orleans. Having a game plan was paramount, but so was being alive to the moment. “A lot of actors and directors talk about that: Know it so well that you can throw it away. That’s what I felt like,” O’Brien says.
James Morosini, whose semiautobiographical “I Love My Dad” took Grand Jury and audience prizes at this year’s SXSW, adds that being able to rely on the team around you is crucial for first-time filmmakers, even when the material is hyper-personal. “You have to trust that if it’s not working, they’ll say something, because sometimes you don’t have time to check playback for every take,” he says.
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The filmmakers all say that their work as actors informed—and often heightened—their experiences behind the camera. “My biggest hurdle when I’m acting is self-consciousness, and when I’m directing and acting, I don’t feel that at all,” says Morosini. “Because I’m so outwardly focused and I’m thinking about so many other things, it often helps my acting. I’m a lot less precious.”
Kali compares her experience to a dance. “It’s like, how do dancers move their hips to the left and their shoulder to the right? They just do it. It felt a lot like that,” she says, describing a scene in which she had to act while also keeping an eye on continuity, since her small crew didn’t include a script supervisor. “My body would do the acting and my mind would be in the direction. I can’t describe it any other way.”
Here's How to Sell Your Indie Film In 2022, According to Top ExecutivesAntonia Campbell-Hughes advises budding actor-directors to soak up all they can during their time on others’ sets.
“Every time was like going to school,” she says of her years as an actor in the U.K. The writer-director behind “It Is in Us All,” another SXSW entry, performed a small but crucial role in her own film. “I learned about lenses, cameras, what the gaffers are doing. I really studied so that I could have an ease of dialogue with my crew.”
In the end, there’s no time like the present. “Listen to the story you want to tell,” O’Brien says. “You don’t need to be impatient, but you’ve got to attack it head-on. And don’t listen to anybody telling you that you won’t be able to do it.”
“What I say to filmmakers and creatives and artists is: Listen to those feelings, that inspiration that motivated you to write something,” Kali advises. “Just do it—don’t be afraid to move, and don’t try to be perfect. Worry about exercising your craft and doing what you love.”
This story originally appeared in the May 5 issue of Backstage Magazine.