Film Invasion LA 2020 – Grief Vigilantes
When a woman grappling with the grief following her father’s death has a run-in with her Type-A boss, she finds comfort in the women in her grief group. When one of them suggests kidnapping the boss to show her some “real pain”, Josie gets carried away with the unwise decision in an effort to get any kind of emotional retribution.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Aysha Wax
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
In 2017, my father, Howard Wax, passed away after a long battle with lung cancer. He was a larger-than-life man, and he left behind a giant hole in my life. My dad was a clinical psychologist, vegan, Buddhist, and well-dressed man. He admired the fact that I had turned a past tough job into a one-woman show. He would always say, “Your special talent is making something beautiful out of something awful.” After my dad passed I didn’t know how I would ever create anything again. I spent my free time crying in public places… and sometimes mid-cry getting hit on. Is there anything hotter than a vulnerable woman with mascara running down her cheeks? I went back to work shortly after my dad’s passing. Everything seemed impossible. Time stood still. It was hard enough to get up, let alone work with people. But what made it worse was a manager who yelled at me the second day back, for some exceedingly dumb reason, so stupid I can’t remember what it was now. I felt helpless. The pain was immense. The job was lonely. My dad was gone. Then, like a beam of light on a dark night, I joined a grief group at Our House a non-profit organization in Los Angeles that specializes in grief counseling. I joined GAP 65 and met a bunch of amazing women who were also dealing with the loss of their parents. Suddenly, I wasn’t so alone and suddenly there were six women on my side through thick and thin.
For the first time, I felt inspired. Maybe once again I could turn something that was dreadful (i.e. my work experience post-loss) into something creative and exciting. And I thought I could incorporate the women who had lifted me up; my grief group. What if I could have the workplace fantasy I had dreamed of when I was crying in my car after work? What if I could make a piece of art where four women got to be featured and center stage? And what if I could take the worst part of my life and make it into something lighter, weirder and funny?
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
You should watch this film because it is a fun caper film with a sad edge. It is a wish of fulfillment for every shitty boss that you've ever ever had. The movie is also a meditation on grief, which is something relatable to all of us. We all go through a million different kinds of loss and they hit us in different ways.
Also, it is very funny. I love comedy, and even in grief, there are moments of hilarity. The day after my dad died we went to the mortuary and a tiny poodle greeted my mom and I at the door and stayed with us the whole time. This weird dog harbinger of death is emblematic of all the weird personalities you meet in the grieving process. The performances are fantastic in this movie. All of the actresses are titans in the comedy community in LA. They are some of the funniest women I know and I felt exceptionally lucky they agreed to do this movie.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
I think loss and shitty jobs are very universal and we can all relate to them. There are a million different kinds of loss from breakups, to losing a dream, or a loved one. We can all resonate with wishing that things could be different. Also, at some point, we will all have a terrible job. That is its own loss in itself. When your work life is unbearable it can start to bleed into every other aspect of your life and it is impossible to shake.
The personal theme that I really explored throughout the process was feeling your feelings. I talked in therapy, grief group and to anyone who would listen about how I didn't want to feel as horrible as I did. I wanted the sadness to let up. It never did. The more I tried to push it away, the more it took center stage. The minute I surrendered to feeling sad, angry, and exhausted I started to heal. I know it can be difficult to embrace the most upsetting emotions, but it can also be liberating.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
When I started developing this film I knew I wanted to shoot it, so I tried to make the locations as easy as possible. I also knew I wanted to keep it short. I wrote my first draft and consulted with my screenwriting mentor, Tom Vaughan, who helped me unify the story and really create a through-line. I also workshopped the script at my friend Honora Talbott's house and used the feedback to refine all of the characters. Then I connected with my two producers Elba Flamenco and Casey Graf. We spent a few months assembling our cast, crew and locations. All of the locations were donated, which was a wonderful miracle. We even shot at the grief group that I personally attended, which was a special kind of kismet.
As we grew closer to our shoot the script started to change reflecting my actors and any location concerns. The actresses in this movie are hilarious. So, I did a few rehearsals with them to tailor the scripts towards their specific comedic voices. It was really fun and I loved combining my words with their sensibilities. I also had to change things in the script once we visited the specific locations. The shoot was super fun and the script continued to change onset especially with actress Jana Savage adding some flavor to the boss Isa. In post-production, we kept tightening and my editor Katy Dolle was able to make the shots come alive. Also, my composer Jack Bradley made the Beastie Boys-inspired kidnapping song of my dreams. The script changed, but it was easy to keep my vision united on this project since it reflected my own experiences.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The people's feedback I was the most concerned about was the grief group who inspired this film. The characters are all based on these strong women and I wanted to make sure that I got it right for them. We had a screening at one of our monthly gatherings and I was incredibly nervous. But they loved it and related to it. They saw themselves reflected back. They also related to how hard grief can be and especially crying in public places.
I've also heard that people love the mean boss and the main character Josie. I think that both Dione Kuraoka who plays Josie and Jana Savage who plays Isa are fierce actresses. They drive the story and make you laugh.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Coronavirus has really gotten in the way of any kind of screenings, so the feedback has been mostly from people involved with the film and it has been positive. I look forward to getting more feedback after we screen at Film Invasion LA this summer.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I am hoping that we can attract attention to how hard it is to grieve and that there is help out there. I know that my grief group and the organization Our House really changed my life. I will always be grieving my dad, but I have learned how to incorporate it into my life.
I would also love to connect with other creators who are making projects. In Los Angeles, I have a great network of female creatives who were instrumental in helping me have the confidence and initiative to make this movie.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
My team would love to talk with sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors and journalists about Grief Vigilantes. We want to be able to put it up on a streaming platform so that more people can see it. Right now, it is a crazy time for festivals, but I find the new online model exciting and a way that film connoisseurs get access to great short film content.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I would love this movie to make people feel a little less alone. Grief and sadness are intrinsically lonely emotions, but we all experience them. I feel like I just want to provide solace that we are all going through different losses and that it will be funny while we do it.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Do you think that is there a right or appropriate way to deal with grief?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
We are currently working on another micro-short that will be under three minutes. I spent a lot of time making web series and videos and I love making a short film but am also curious about how to make something impactful in a really short amount of time.
Interview: May 2020
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
Grief Vigilantes
When a woman grappling with the grief following her father’s death has a run-in with her Type-A boss, she finds comfort in the women in her grief group. When one of them suggests kidnapping the boss to show her some “real pain”, Josie gets carried away with the unwise decision in an effort to get any kind of emotional retribution.
Length: 9:20
Director: Aysha Wax
Producer: Elba Flamenco, Casey Graf and Aysha Wax
Writer: Aysha Wax
About the writer, director and producer:
AYSHA WAX wrote and directed Grief Vigilantes. Aysha has also had her videos featured on Buzzfeed, Funny or Die, Wifey TV, and WhoHaHa. Aysha has been performing in the L.A. comedy scene for the last ten years at iO West, the Upright Citizen’s Brigade and the Groundlings. Aysha also toured her one-woman show Hebrew School Horror through Los Angeles and New York. Aysha is a consistent director for the Jewish Women’s Theater.
ELBA FLAMENCO is a writer, producer, and a digital media/television consultant. Best known for launching the top-rated AVOD travel-entertainment network, Journy, Elba has also produced unscripted docu-series including Passport to Journy for the Ovation network, and Chasing the Sun: Asia, in collaboration with National Geographic Asia.
CASEY GRAF is an actor, producer and writer. Some of Casey’s credits include The Mentalist on CBS, the EPIX series Perpetual Grace, LTD starring Ben Kingsley, Fired Up! and the Baby Geniuses movies. Casey has produced multiple comedies including: the award-winning Sam Did It starring Alfred Molina, and Dream Flight, in which he also stars along with Steven Tobolowsky and George Wendt. He also produced the psychological thriller: Run which just started its festival run.
Key cast: Dione Kuraoka (Josie), Sofia Gonzalez (Willow), Denisse Ojeda (Nora), Kaitlyn Tanimoto (Bianca), Jana Savage (Isa), Richard Riehle (Moderator)
Looking for: distributors, buyers, sales agents, journalists, film festival directors
Facebook: Aysha Wax
Twitter: @AyshaWax
Instagram: @ayshawax
Hashtags used: #GriefVigilantes
Website: griefvigilantes.wordpress.com
Other: IMDb
Funders: Indiegogo
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Film Invasion LA - June TBA - Online