Interview: Jessica Kaye
My Q&A with the co-writer/director/actor of the movie ‘Inheritance’.
My Q&A with the co-writer/director/actor of the movie ‘Inheritance’.
As longtime readers of my blog know, I am an avid supporter of indie films and I’m happy to feature a new movie: Inheritance. Background info:
INHERITANCE is the tale of a young woman (Kaye) who returns to her childhood home of Belize with her new lover (Ahearn) to celebrate her father’s 70th birthday, only to learn that he has died suddenly in his sleep, turning a birthday homecoming into a wake. There, with her brother (Webber) on her heels, she must face her past while fighting for intimacy in her present.
Laura E. Davis is a writer/director and a former Michener Fellow in screenwriting. Her first feature was the award-winning feature THIN AIR, which played at festivals domestically and internationally. Her pilot script, THE COMMONS, placed on the 2017 Bitch List, a ranking of the top rated unproduced scripts by or about women. Another pilot script, MANDEVILLE, ranked at the 2015 Austin Film Festival competition. Other films include an experimental short film starting Sarita Choudhury (HOMELAND) and a documentary on HIV/AIDS in Paris. She teaches filmmaking at UFM in Guatemala and was the Austin chapter leader of Film Fatales, a collective of female directors.
Jessica Kaye is a writer, director and actress. After studying Literature and Performance Studies at Harvard, she worked in New York as an actress in film, theater, and television. She has an MFA in Acting from Columbia University and has starred in the feature films ALL GOD’S CREATURES and CONDITION. She also played the baddie Rebecca Lewis in the long running ABC soap opera One Life To Live. In 2008, she produced and starred in GARGOYLE, a SAFTA (South African Film and Television Award) nominated short film shot in Johannesburg. A recipient of the Samuel and Lorenza Gary Memorial Award and the Harold C. Lloyd Foundation Scholarship, Jessica received an MFA in Film Production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2013. Her short film ANGEL played at festivals and was bought and distributed by KQED TV. Her documentary, FABIAN DEBORA, A LIFE FOR ART, screened at numerous festivals and won several awards including Best Documentary Short at Cinequest. Jessica has directed branded content for Google Glass and Zady. Her most recent short film, SHORTAGE, was executive produced by James Franco.
“Writer/Directors Laura E. Davis and Jessica Kaye have crafted a dark and delirious noir about buried secrets, sexual tensions, and hidden betrayals surrounding a woman and her lover who travel to Belize to visit the woman’s estranged father and mysterious brother,” said Richard Ross, Co-President at Breaking Glass. “This SXSW pulpy gem is a perfect addition to the Breaking Glass family.”
Here is my interview with Jessica Kaye, the co-writer/director/actor of the movie Inheritance.
Scott: What was the inspiration for your movie Inheritance?
Jessica: I was sitting in the bedroom of my parent’s house in Belize, overwhelmed by the beauty of the place. I had just finished film school and I realized that I should make a film set there. The place was so full of beauty and mystery and inspiration.
Scott: You co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in the movie. Was that always your intention or did your multiple responsibilities evolve over time?
Jessica: It definitely evolved. As I mentioned, I had just finished film school, and had intended to direct the film, but in talking with Laura, we decided to try co-directing as well as co-writing.
Scott: Let’s talk about the script. How did you and co-writer (and co-director) Laura Davis handle the writing process?
Jessica: It started with me, Laura, and Daniel Ahearn (who plays Aaron in the film). I knew I wanted to work with both of them, and to explore collaboration as a process of both development as well as making the film. I have a background in collaborative theater and knew what amazing work could come out of that kind of process. I wanted to see how much of that process could be brought into making a film. I was interested in an organic development of a story that was inspired by ideas, relationships, and themes that we were collectively drawn to. We met once a week for a few months and our conversations developed into a loose story. The three of us then went down to Belize to shoot a teaser and develop the story. Laura shot, while Daniel and I improvised as our characters, and the story grew. When we got back, Laura and I buckled down to work and had a final draft about a year-ish later!
Scott: How conscious were you of budget considerations when writing the script, i.e., limit actors, locations, production days?
Jessica: Very. It was all intended to be shot on very low budget, in mainly free locations, and written for the actors in the film.
Scott: In a way, your character (Mara) goes through a kind of Heroine’s Journey with Belize acting as the World of Adventure, a new world where there is a kind of freedom, as the story plays out, for her to explore her inner life. In that respect, Belize feels like its own character in a verdant, atmospheric way. Were you conscious of that potential in writing the script and/or directing the movie? And if so, what did Belize represent to you?
Jessica: I would say that I was fairly conscious of that aspect of the story — the whole film was inspired by that landscape. It definitely inspired my inner life as a filmmaker, and it makes sense that in writing a character I would play, it would function similarly for her. I never articulated what, specifically, Belize represented to me, but in thinking about it I would say, it symbolizes something about the mystery, beauty and sadness, of a lost childhood. Mara and Ben lost their mother, and then lost their ‘innocence’ in that place. They are haunted by a childhood they have never been able to fully leave behind, because in addition to deeply painful and conflicted, there was beauty in it, and love. That place, this overgrown garden, is the center of it all — with its haunted, ravenous beauty.
Scott: At the narrative center of the story is a triangle of characters: Mara, her boyfriend Aaron (Daniel Ahearn), and her estranged brother Ben (Mark Webber). There’s a significant and growing tension between these three with Mara wanting to be with Aaron, yet because she is reunited with Ben, their familial history pulling them toward dealing with the past. Could you talk about the dynamic of that trio of relationships?
Jessica: Mara is desperate to be able to form a healthy, committed romantic relationship. She so wants to be able to leave her past and the conflicted relationship with her brother, behind. The problem is that if you don’t confront your past, it will come back to haunt you — at least in the world of this story. So, I guess, that is the tension, the growing tension in this trio, and it exists for all three characters. Aaron has his own past that he is in some way, repeating, by being with a woman like Mara, a woman who triggers his own demons. Ben is trying to seek the comfort of his childhood experience with Mara and is profoundly unsettled with the idea of her moving on without him.
Scott: Sexuality is a key dynamic in the story and it feels like Mara uses sex both to find connection with others and to distract her from confronting her personal ‘demons’. What’s your take on Mara and her relationship to her own sexuality?
Jessica: You are exactly right — we wanted to be very specific with how Mara used sex and sexuality. She wants desperately to connect, but she isn’t able to — so sex is both a distraction to her, an addiction, as well as an attempt to connect. But she is lying to herself, and so the intimacy is false, a cover. She wants to keep her current relationship going as her past continues to push itself into her present. We were also trying to look at how our childhood experiences can imprint themselves deeply into our sexual selves. This dynamic is often unexamined because of the shame surrounding it. I would hope that stories like this can attempt to open up our conversation about trauma as it relates to sex and sexuality, and perhaps release some of the shame surrounding this topic.
Scott: The movie’s title Inheritance refers to the actual inheritance Mara and Ben have resulting from the father’s death and his last will and testament, but doesn’t it also symbolize the legacy of the father’s influence on daughter and son?
Jessica: Absolutely. We also were touching a little upon the colonial history of Belize… we all have a personal inheritance, as well as a social one, and they can intersect… and there are many layers to what we are bequeathed by our past and the past of our forefathers and mothers.
Scott: So, you write the script, then what? Could you walk us through financing, casting, and pre-production?
Jessica: We brought on producers as soon as we had a solid concept — the teaser video we made in Belize was very helpful to securing first funding as well as our first producer (Aengus James). The financing was all friends and family. Mark Webber is close friends with Daniel Ahearn, so we wrote the part of Ben for him. I took a trip down to Belize to continue writing and researching, and I started initial casting there. Once I met Myrna Manzanares (Grace) and Shamira Gil-Card (Linda), I knew they were the ones to play those parts. Laura agreed, and we continued to develop the script with those actresses in mind. Our amazing lead producer, Beatrice von Schwerin, was brought on board and the three of us went down to Belize at the end of January 2016. We spent six weeks of pre-production down there, and shot for four weeks in March into April!
Scott: How long was the shoot? Any notable production tales?
Jessica: Four weeks. We had bush guides who had to walk through our sets before each take to make sure it was clear of snakes and scorpions. We had a scorpion visit us during rehearsals — Mark and Daniel were terrified! It was really intense and exciting to shoot in Belize. There are no real rules there, so while safety was paramount, we were still able to be a lot more guerrilla than in Los Angeles… The wake scenes were shot in 100 degree weather. Our DP kept a cool towel on his head throughout the day. I’m still not sure how he did it!
Scott: The movie played at the South By Southwest Film Festival. What was that experience like?
Jessica: It was so exciting and validating. The audiences were amazing and really responded to the film. I couldn’t have asked for a better premiere experience.
Scott: Inheritance has had a theatrical run in Los Angeles and is now available on video on demand. Looking back on your journey with the movie, what are some storytelling and filmmaking lessons you’ve learned through the process?
Jessica: Your collaborators are everything. They can make or break a process and a film. Also, at the end of the day, the process of making a film is what it’s all about. Once it’s done, it’s done. Who knows who will see it, where it will go — but you will have given those hours, days, years of your life to the experience of making it, and that is what matters; what you learn, how you grow, and the relationships you develop throughout the process — including the relationship to yourself.
A trailer for the movie Inheritance:
“Well-scored and shot beautifully, the film’s dramatic pacing uses foreshadowing as foreplay, and the impending climax is substantial.”
-Jessi Cape, Austin Chronicle
“There’s an inevitable echo of Thomas Vinterbrg’s The Celebration in Mara’s big moment of truth-telling and her general eagerness to behave, along with Ben, as inappropriately as possible.”
-Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter
“Inheritance is bold storytelling, with co-creators Jessica Kaye and Laura Davis unafraid to portray the complications of victims of trauma.”
-Nick Isaac, Talk Film Society
“The writing, directing, and acting delivers tremendously and makes for [a] raw, enthralling and heartbreaking experience.”
-Mark Saldana, True View Review
The movie is now available on DVD and digital release through iTunes, Amazon Instant, Google Play, Vudu and Fandango, as well as through local cable and satellite providers.