Sarah Elizabeth Mintz is a writer-director working in New York and Los Angeles. She acquired her BFA from New York College’s Tisch Faculty of the Arts, the place she accomplished her thesis movie “Transit,” starring Dakota Johnson. Mintz was a Sundance Fellow within the 2017 Author’s Intensive.
“Good Lady Jane” is screening on the 2022 Tribeca Movie Pageant, which is going down June 8-19.
W&H: Describe the movie for us in your personal phrases.
SEM: “Good Lady Jane” is a coming-of-age drama a few lonely younger woman, Jane, who falls desperately in love with a troubled meth vendor, Jamie, and turns into entangled in his group of teenage misfits. The movie is a fly-on-the-wall type deep dive into one woman’s wrestle with substance abuse and the isolation and ache that drives her to self-medicate.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
SEM: Jane’s story is impressed by my very own freshman 12 months in highschool. I spent the higher a part of my younger life looking for a method out of my darkish emotions and the disgrace that they triggered. I felt compelled to make clear what that wrestle seemed like for me in an effort to offer consolation and therapeutic to those that have confronted comparable struggles.
It’s taken me the higher a part of a decade to develop and at last launch this movie and it’s taking place at a divine second once I can lastly look again with love, tenderness, and compassion for my youthful self.
Sharing my story and constructing this movie along with my collaborators has been a really life-saving expertise.
W&H: What would you like individuals to consider after they watch the movie?
SEM: I hope that this movie helps to encourage empathy and understanding for the struggling that pushes individuals to self-medicate. I hope it generates dialog and sensitivity about drug abuse basically, however particularly amongst our youth.
It’s isolation and disgrace that retains customers utilizing, and approaching these characters with out apologizing for them helps to take away the stigma that solely furthers the problem.
W&H: What was the largest problem in making the movie?
SEM: Title one problem? That’s not possible. I’ll identify a giant one. After practically a decade of anticipation and preparation, my crew and I went into manufacturing in March 2020. After solely 10 days of capturing, we — and the remainder of the world — shut down our set resulting from Covid-19. For a complete 12 months, the completion of this movie hung within the steadiness.
In March 2021, after reshaping the funds and our total manufacturing plan, we recruited the forged and crew and completed our final two weeks of capturing. It’s a actual miracle this factor obtained performed in any respect. The love and dedication I’ve witnessed on this challenge are unfathomable.
W&H: How did you get your movie funded? Share some insights into how you bought the movie made.
SEM: The movie is financed fully by Astute Movies. My producer, Lauren Pratt, and I had been arrange with their crew at Sundance 2019. On the time, “Good Lady Jane” was being offered by a gross sales company that had organized a type of velocity courting schedule for Lauren and me to fulfill financiers.
We had already met with fairly just a few corporations that day, however this assembly was instantly completely different. I spoke to their crew about my private story they usually provided to finance the film on the spot. I truly thought it was a joke or some type of rip-off. I’d heard so many “maybes” or “not proper for us” at that time, I used to be actually bowled over.
I knew this movie would get made as a result of I had a one-track thoughts about it, however earlier than that second, I actually didn’t know the way.
W&H: What impressed you to turn into a filmmaker?
SEM: Round 2002, I used to be about 13 years previous and there was a Laemmle movie show a couple of minutes from my home. I feel “Ghost World”, “The Dreamers,” “L.I.E.,” “Hedwig and the Indignant Inch,” and “Y tu mamá también” had been all enjoying there round that point. I’d take the bus to the theater, purchase a ticket to a PG-13 film, and sneak in by the toilet to these different movies as a substitute. I’d actually do that alone. These motion pictures had been my solely pals. They had been my household.
From a fairly early age, I felt seen by movies in a method I had by no means skilled in my actual life. It was completely unreal and magical to find motion pictures at the moment. I felt like I had this secret and that I wasn’t actually so alone or bizarre or unhappy or completely different. I can solely hope to supply somebody the consolation that these movies provided me.
W&H: What’s the most effective and worst recommendation you’ve acquired?
SEM: I discovered a keychain in one of many junk drawers at my household’s residence that claims “leap earlier than you look.” I feel that is each terrific and possibly terrible.
W&H: What recommendation do you’ve got for different girls administrators?
SEM: Be who you might be. It’s precisely who you ought to be.
And also you don’t must put on shoulder pads for those who don’t wish to.
After I was directing my thesis movie at NYU I keep in mind all the time shouting “motion” and “lower” actually loudly as a result of I wished the entire crew to know that I used to be severe and really “positive of myself.”
After some time on set, I noticed that the act wasn’t crucial. It’s okay to simply be whoever you might be. In truth, it’s flat out the most suitable choice.
W&H: Title your favourite woman-directed movie and why.
SEM: “Fish Tank,” directed by Andrea Arnold. In the event you haven’t seen it, run, don’t stroll. I didn’t see this film till school, but it surely actually helped crystalize the concept that I might truly pursue directing — that this was one thing a lady might do.
Earlier than this movie, I used to be conscious of possibly two feminine administrators, Kathryn Bigelow and Sofia Coppola. They’re each super, but it surely’s not a really lengthy record, and I actually didn’t connect with their work in the way in which I did Andrea’s. I keep in mind watching “Fish Tank” and considering that this was the kind of artwork I wished to make and it was made by a lady! Her work continues to blow my thoughts.
W&H: How are you adjusting to life throughout the COVID-19 pandemic? Are you holding artistic, and in that case, how?
SEM: I wrote one other film throughout quarantine and can hopefully be capturing that within the coming months.
To be trustworthy, I’d prefer to get again within the saddle as quickly as potential. I really feel extra alive and myself and comfortable when directing than I do at actually another time. I’m a fairly antsy individual and every little thing goes calm once I’m on set crafting tales I really like.
The following movie could be very private too, but it surely’s obtained just a few massive battle scenes, so I took it up a notch this time.
W&H: The movie trade has a protracted historical past of underrepresenting individuals of shade onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — damaging stereotypes. What actions do you suppose have to be taken to make Hollywood and/or the doc world extra inclusive?
SEM: All the time rent the most effective individual for the job and naturally you should have a various forged and crew. Talent, expertise, craft, and fervour will not be restricted to 1 gender or race. All the time take heed to your collaborators. Enable your crew to encourage, affect, and improve the fabric with their very own expertise and perception. Encompass your self with individuals completely different from you. Be open to altering your thoughts. Be open to being improper. Don’t make choices out of worry, ever, solely out of curiosity and love and pleasure. Movies inform human tales, at the start, and that’s what all of us are.
Supply: Women And Hollywood