Question Time with Peter Baxter

Nancy Kissam’s Drool won the Slamdance Screenplay Competition. This summer she’s directing its feature production.

Years in the making or should we all believe in fairies?

Yes! Fairies do exist. They're called, "my producers" or more formally, Upload Films (as well as my managers at Elements Entertainment). Since winning Slamdance, it's been a ca-razy 18 months of casting but this nutty boat is just about to cast off and I'm pretty over the moon about it.

Why did you become a writer?

I think I'm possessed by characters who need to tell their stories. I started out as a playwright. I was continuously tapped on the shoulder by all of these people who wanted to talk and sometimes they just don't shut up, that is until I write their stuff down. Also, you get to write all that you thought about later in hindsight. Your characters get to say everything you regret NOT saying.

What's the best screenplay you've read and why?

I'm REALLY bad about reading screenplays. I read novels all the time and when I worked in the theatre, I read plays like crazy but screenplays are tougher to read, I think. That's the case where seeing it on the screen is more satisfying to me. However, the film that first made me want to write and direct film was P.T. Anderson's Magnolia. I know it should be something more intense, more film school'ish, like 300 Blows or Citizen Kane, but no, I was so completely taken by Magnolia. Anderson's camera shots were so stunning that I fell in love.

What subjects inspire you as a writer?

I seem attracted to the poor sap who finds her/his way in the world. I love seeing characters make the transformation from pathetic nobody to a person of strength and self-love. I also really like watching women kick some ass - anything from Buffy The Vampire Slayer to Dolores Claiborne. There is something so intense and magical about witnessing a woman find her voice, her strength, her muscles. It's exciting.

How did Drool come about?

Like the best ideas, Drool came to me as I was falling asleep. Those ideas are the best because you're not judging yourself and you're not so deep in a dream that it's pure psychedelics. So, I first thought that Drool was going to be a very John Waters inspired story about a woman who seeks revenge against her abusive husband and family once she gets total physically transforming plastic surgery. But then I started writing it and that idea didn't work anymore. The characters were taking me someplace else. I believe in going on the ride with your characters. Just because you have an idea in your head - or an outline - don't feel as though you HAVE to follow that. There's no "outline police."

Tell us a little about the story?

Drool is about an abused woman, Anora, who befriends an African American neighbor, Imogene. Their relationship crosses over the friendship line into romance and when the louse of a husband discovers them, he tries to kill them both. However, the tables are turned when Anora - quite by accident - kills him. The remaining family then toss daddy in the trunk of Imogene's "Kathy K. Kosmetics" car and drives him to Savannah to be buried. It's a dark comedy.

You've now pushed Drool into production and as a first-time filmmaker persuaded your investor you can both write and direct...how did you do that?

I have no idea how I persuaded my producers to allow me to direct. I think they are just open-minded enough to recognize that writers want to own their own work creatively from soup to nuts. There was really no convincing involved. My producer just assumed that I wanted to direct Drool and he was right on. It was amazing to have that kind of confidence in a producer from the first meeting.

There are few women writing or directing... fewer doing both. Why is that?

I think that that's changing. You have more women paving the way all the time. Let's face it - it's still a boy's club. Film is still very much dominated by men - in so many ways. My girlfriend is a cinematographer and she too has had to fight the good fight to be recognized as a reputable DP. And today she is highly respected by her peers but that has taken a while to establish. The good thing about film as that people want to continue to work with people they like - no matter what their sex. Women just have to continue to support other women. We have to be in this together. Hey, look at me! I won a big competition. There are people out there recognizing women and their unique voices.

Tough market out there for indie films at the moment...how are you going to succeed?

Ya got me. I just have to keep on keepin' on. The people who don't succeed are often the ones who stop. I don't plan on stopping any time soon. I will certainly keep writing and writing scripts that make me happy - not scripts that are commercial for commercialism's sake. You can't please everyone – so please yourself.

What is the Nancy Kissam rule number 1 that filmmakers should always break?

Write what YOU love not what your AGENT wants you to love.

Onward and upward Nancy!