Seafoam
Billy tumbles down the rabbit hole after visiting her mother in a psychiatric health ward and recognizing an orderly who works there. Suddenly, he’s everywhere…
Interview with Actor/Writer/Director/Producer Izzy Stevens
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Cheers! It was the height of the pandemic when we shot Seafoam. December 2020. About 6 months earlier I had started coaching actors and filmmakers through making their own work, and I was seeing traction in their projects which jazzed me up and also lit a fire under my toosh.
I knew I wanted to make something before the year was up, and I had a goal of making a short that I both directed and acted in. In all my other projects, I've only ever done one or the other.
For weeks, this question had been popping up in my head: 'What would it feel like if you discovered that reality as you knew it was a lie?'
So I sat down on November 13th, 2020, after a day of working with clients, and I wrote this 5 page script from start to finish based on this idea I had rolling around in my head. It just came out. I immediately started calling people, and actually by the end of the night we had a shoot date in December set, with 4 key creatives signed on to the project. It happened very quickly.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
The feedback I've gotten so far (and this was certainly my intention) is that Seafoam takes you on a thrilling journey. I love making female-focused psychological thriller films where you're essentially in the experience of the character, looking through their eyes.
The sound design was essential for that. Myself and my composer Dani Teo spent months cooking up some magic together. There is a sense of paranoia in the film and I think you'd feel that even if you were just listening to the score. It was fun to create!
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
There's a trope in many thriller films that the woman is never believed, and she often appears unhinged as she tries to convince everyone of what she knows to be the truth. Rosemary's Baby is a brilliant example, but it's everywhere in psychological thrillers. The Invisible Man, The Witch, Hereditary.
In Seafoam, I was also musing on that ever-present, unsettling feeling of being watched, looked at, observed and followed that many women and female-presenting people experience in the world. It can really screw with our mental health, and I wanted to create that experience within a film, which I am now realizing is totally masochistic. Haha.
Even though none of my work yet as been strictly autobiographical, filmmaking helps me process a particular feeling-space I'm in within a moment in time. I think, when I watch it now, I can see how the Covid claustrophobia and social paranoia was impacting me at the time.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I cut a few big chunks of the film in the edit because I didn't feel like it was serving the story, both visually and tonally. I had some pieces in there which confused the film, and because it's so short, everything the audience sees on screen feels important. I'm pretty ruthless in the edit, because too many ideas or themes can make the viewing experience muddy.
All I truly want is for the audience to be impacted. So yes, there was a lot of 'kill your darlings' happening.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We recently played at LA Shorts, it was cool to see it on the big screen. The feedback after the screening was that they felt 'locked-in' and couldn't look away. That was great to hear.
People mentioned they loved the cinematography (Nathaniel Regier was my DP, he's so talented and he nailed the color!), and that they loved the sound design.
One guy said 'I couldn't stop staring at your face!' Which made me laugh because there was, for the most part, not much else to look at in the film. Haha.
I also loved hearing that people resonated and connected with that unsettling and scary feeling of being watched and observed. I'm glad that hit.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
It always surprises me!
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Eyeballs on the screen! Visibility for the project and also for the talented creatives involved. I'm developing a feature film (non-Seafoam related) right now, so I'd love to give this baby a juicy festival run and ramp up the excitement for what's to come.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I initially created Seafoam as a proof-of-concept for a feature, however gears have switched and I'm in the process of developing a different feature now. So I'd love to give Seafoam a marathon festival experience, and I'd be delighted to sell the concept. It's primed for it.
We'd be thrilled to engage with film fest directors, journalists, distributors and development execs!
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I'd love for this film to propel my key creatives into the spotlight. They're all so super talented. If this film raises the profile and visibility of our team, that'd be fantastic.
I also created this film whilst I was developing my coaching business in order to prove that what I was teaching my clients, actually works. That you can make your own work and have it level up your career. It's already been majorly impactful in that area, so I'm grateful for the process.
If I can inspire more creatives to follow-through on their ideas, I've lived a worthwhile life :)
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What would it feel like if you discovered that reality, as you knew it, was a lie?
Would you like to add anything else?
Thank you for featuring my work again! You were so kind to reach out to me in 2018 when my film Phenomena got into Tropfest, and it feels lovely to return and have this chat with you. We Are Moving Stories is an important platform, thanks for championing emerging and established filmmakers, particularly the underrepresented folk. You rule.
Also, as I mentioned, I'm a creative career coach helping actors and filmmakers make their own work, with impact. You, reading this, (yes you!), please come say hi. I love meeting creative people who want to make an impact with their work. www.indiespunk.com
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
They're all working on some incredible stuff!
To name a few, Nathaniel Regier is constantly booked up as a DP on features and shorts, Pete Szijarto was just working on Outliers, Dalia Rooni scored a major development deal and is in the process of making her first feature, David Chernyavsky is developing a really special short film right now and so is Paula Crichton, who is also constantly booked up as a director and a DP. The list goes on, they're all making it happen and I am super excited to see all that they do.
Interview: August 2022
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
Seafoam
Length:
6:22
Writer/Director
IZZY STEVENS, an Aussie/American actor, award winning director, writer and producer, is best known for starring in sci-fi film franchise Occupation (Netflix). Izzy can also be found on Amazon Prime (Underbelly) and roaming the chocolate aisle of your local grocery store.
Izzy’s films have been screened at Hollyshorts, Cinema Australia, Tropfest, Cannes Diversity, Redline Int. Film Fest, (Winner: Best Experimental Film), and LA Shorts. In 2018, Phenomena was broadcast on National TV network ABC.
Izzy is also the founder of indie spunk, a production company and inclusive content studio offering coaching and support to emerging filmmakers to build their portfolios and strategize the growth of their careers.
Producer
MORIAH HALL is an award winning independent film producer and non fiction casting director. Her documentary film No Sanctuary premiered at MSNBC’s Meet the Press film festival, and went on to win documentary grand prize at Beaufort International Film Festival. Moriah has produced a number of short films that have played at Austin Film Festival, Poland’s prestigious CameraImage International Film Festival, The Wrap’s Shortlist Film Festival and so many more.
CHARLES VELASQUEZ-WITOSKY is a Mexican-American producer that works in movies, TV, theatre, and new media. Films produced include THE GENERAL SPECIFIC, a feature film which won Best Screenplay at the Atlanta Underground Film Festival and Best New Mexico Feature at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, as well as THE PATIENT, a short that played at the Austin Film Festival, OUT at the Movies, and other festivals. Currently he works in creative development at Showtime.
DAVID CHERNYAVSKY is an LA based actor and filmmaker who produces sketch comedy and short films that showcase the heart and humor of strong characters and their strange lives.
Key cast:
Izzy Stevens (Billy), Jae Kim (River), David Chernyavsky (Cowboy), Dalia Rooni (Namby), (Amy Punt (Mom)
Looking for:
journalists
Instagram:
http://instagram.com/indiespunk
Hashtags used:
#Seafoam #PsychologicalThriller #IzzyStevens
More info: