In a few days, Emmy nominated filmmaker Becky Smith will be enjoying the theatrical release of her first feature length fiction film, ’16 to Life’. It’s your teenager coming of age and never been kissed story with a twist and a Midwest sensibility. The small film has already demanded attention at festivals internationally and now faces the test of moviegoers. Becky stepped off set to explain to us how she went from making reality TV to a feature film and why ’16 to Life’ is going to capture hearts.
When it’s so hard to get films financed and distributed, why did you decide to make an Indie?
Well, that’s a great question. I have directed a lot of television. All of the work that I’ve done has either been documentary or reality, and I’ve very much wanted to transition into feature films and scripted television. I think it’s true that once you do something people definitely see you in that particular thing, and it’s hard to make transitions. So I decided that if it wasn’t going to happen through other people (like my agent), because it’s hard, then I needed to prove that I could really work in that arena. I decided to make a feature. At the time that I began putting it together, the economy was very different than it is now. We shot it right when the economy was taking a dive. I think that if I’d waited a year to shoot it, I probably could not have gotten the funding together, so the tricky thing was that I shot it right when the economy was making a bobble, and then afterwards, as we were finishing it and putting it into festivals, the scene for Indie films got really bleak.
You wrote the script as well. Why tell this particular story?
I wanted to make a feature, and I knew that I was going to have to raise a small amount of money for it, so I wanted to make sure that it was something that I could make for the money that I raised. And I wanted to tell a story that I really believed in…that I thought would be fun and emotional, funny but poignant, interesting to people, and that was honest, and something that I would like to see myself. So I decided to tell one story that had a very true feeling in it about a teenager, the kind of film that I would love to see.
What were the challenges of wearing all of the hats as writer, director, and producer?
I wasn’t the producer on set, I was just the writer and director. It was actually kind of great being the writer and director, because I think the actors really believed in the script. When you’re the writer and director, I don’t think they challenge you as much. I think they think “well, you wrote it, so you should know about the characters.” So when you’re explaining something about the characters, there’s a very open dynamic. The actors are usually very interested to hear what you have to say about them, because you created the character.
Hirsh and Russell have gotten a lot of attention so far. What is it about their performances that are uplifting to audiences?
Halle Hirsh is a really honest young actress. She really embodied the character, and she’s believable and warm. She was a child actor. She’s been acting her whole life, and I think that this was a refreshing role for her, because she could play a normal girl who has normal feelings instead of… as she describes it the “really mean, bad girl” or the “super nice girl” on TV. I think for once she felt like she could play a very real person with real mixed emotions, and I know that people really responded to her. We were in a film festival in Tunisia, and there were five famous French actresses who were the judges of the Best Actress of that film festival, and she won. That just goes to show that she was honest in her portrayal. Theresa Russell is a great actress, and people loved her; She has a lot of followers. Theresa is just very believable in anything that she does. She really throws herself into it, and I think that she has a lot of people who admire her and are excited to see her in any film. She did a great job in this film.
What’s your hope for the film now?
We are opening theatrically in a week in the Midwest. And we’re starting with around 12 towns in the Midwest, in Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Kansas. Then if the film does well, we’ll expand it to other areas. So this is a really critical time for the film and to try to get an audience to come and see it. When we don’t have a lot of advertising dollars, we have to get creative and hope that we can get the types of audiences that will take it into other theatres. It’s a tough time for Indie films, and you have to work really hard to get them into theaters.
Make sure to check out “16 to Life” in the theaters and let us know what you think!
Written by Ashley Ellis
