Citizen Jane Film Festival 2018 - People People
Kat is a charming twenty-something YouTube vlogger with a secret: she's agoraphobic and hasn't left her apartment in two years. When she starts a relationship with her delivery guy, it pushes both of them to explore what a life offline might look like.
Interview with Writer/Director Lizzie Logan
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
It felt like the right project at the right time. When we first went into production, mid-2016, there hadn't really been movies that depicted social media or online personalities with too much nuance, but suddenly I started hearing about all of these similar projects in the works, so I thought, it's now or never. After so much toying with the script, I just wanted to get it up on its feet, see what it would be like to shoot a feature. And I specifically wrote it so that it could be done well on a minimal budget. And I like giving myself huge projects that take forever and destroy my brain!
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
It's funny! It's a comedy, and even in the dramatic moments, Natalie Walker's performance as Kat is going to make you giggle. Do you not like smiling? Do you hate laughter? What's your problem? Watch my movie already.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
It's very much a 21st century story, reliant on the Internet to move the plot forward, but it's also about young people who want what young people have wanted since the dawn of time: something meaningful to do, and someone nice to kiss. So while it's very much about the one character Kat – we get to know her well and she's in every scene – I think it has something for everyone who has been in their twenties.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The beats of the story stayed the same pretty much throughout. The first few cuts skewed toward the dramatic side, so one of the challenges in editing was to lighten it up without losing the heart of it. Oddly, the score helped a lot with that, because it could sort of cue the audience into the mood of a scene. Like, yes, there is sadness here, but it's not the end of the world, you can still laugh at these characters' pain.
We also jettisoned a few scenes completely; originally, the two characters Colin and Casey had their own sub-plot, and we saw that relationship separate from Kat's journey, which I felt was important when I was writing it. But pretty much everyone who saw a cut of the movie said that it stopped the momentum of watching Kat evolve, so even though the actors David Rosenberg and Rachel Pegram did amazing work in those scenes, we just took it all out. It'll be on the Criterion edition!
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Either people know exactly what it's about or think it has no plot, which is a totally valid reaction if the story is far removed from someone's experience. If someone knows people like these characters, they tend to find it really funny and sweet. If not, they're just like, "Oh. Huh."
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Maybe I live in a bubble but no one's given me super challenging feedback! Everyone is real nice and keeps their negative comments to themselves. A number of people have said that they really wanted to share it with their friends or kids, and appreciated that it discussed the Internet and online culture without being preachy, and that's been gratifying to hear, since it's one of the things I was going for. I never want to tell anyone how to feel about technology, that's a boring point of view for a movie to have.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Young people and women are the target audience for this movie, and WAMS is right in that arena. And hey, if you're a festival programmer who wants to screen my movie or better yet a distributor who wants to buy it, I want to talk to you!
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Anyone who wants to write about the movie, me, Natalie (she's famous on Twitter and fucking great in this movie!), etc is welcome to. Would love a distributor. And personally would love an agent because I'm trying to be a TV writer and I need an agent, hi!!!
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I know what messages and ideas I put into the script, but I have no expectation that those are the same messages or ideas that others will take out of it. I hope it makes you laugh and I hope it makes you want to call a friend or family member. I hope in ten years it seems like a true slice of what the Internet was and did and looked like at this particular moment. But the most important thing is that you laugh at least a little. Laughter is powerful and healing and essentially good.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What did you think would happen when Kat left the apartment? What did you make of Colin's reaction to Kat's issues? What would make you stay inside like Kat? Should you really put potato chips on a sandwich?
Would you like to add anything else?
Every single person who worked on this movie was amazing and if you can hire them, do it.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Natalie performs regularly in New Yorker, you can follow her on Twitter at @nwalks to stay up to date on that. DP Joshua Ruffner is constantly working on new projects so look out for his name on the indie circuit. Producer Liz Watson is the head of Lena Dunham's new production company.
Interview: November 2018
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
People Peope
Kat is a charming twenty-something YouTube vlogger with a secret: she's agoraphobic and hasn't left her apartment in two years. When she starts a relationship with her delivery guy, it pushes both of them to explore what a life offline might look like.
Length: 76 minutes.
Director: Lizzie Logan
Producer: Liz Watson, Victoria Podesta
Writer: Lizzie Logan
About the writer, director and producer:
LIZZIE LOGAN is a graduate of NYU's TV writing program and has written about pop culture for Glamour, W Magazine, Indiewire and other outlets. Her comedy writing has appeared on sites including Reductress and McSweeneys, and she writes for the indie sketch show Boogie Manja. People People is her first feature. She leaves her apartment every day.
Key cast: Natalie Walker, David Rosenberg, Rachel Pegram, Crosby Fitzgerald
Looking for: producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists
Facebook: Hey Kat People
Instagram: heykatpeople
Funders: Myself, my mother
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? TBD