Q&A with Kerri Fernsworth Feazell

A conversation with writer, director, and editor Kerri Fernsworth Feazell, on her short film, ‘Things Would Be Different’.

When you decided to make this short film, where did you start?

I guess I like to start my films by living them.

Yes, this film is all exaggerated, not literal, greatly heightened: but the emotional truth is real. I decided to make this short film the day after I had a poignant conversation. I wrote down a "scene" from my life, based on actual "dialogue" and immediately knew it could be a story I wanted to tell because it was significant to me. I wanted to make sense of it to myself. 

I sat on that for about a year before I revisited it as a film and when I actually sat down to properly write a script, I was motivated by the need to end a story in my life that didn't have a satisfying ending to me. I wanted to know and put to rest in my mind: what would have happened if I pushed my experience beyond the limit of what I actually did? What kind of reaction might I get? I was really interested in ending a story in my mind and, ultimately, I was interested in controlling that ending. I can't say that I'm exactly proud of that need to control things but it did help me close a chapter for myself. 

It's also worth mentioning that I did not set out to have an experience in order to create a film from it. It was important to me that I wrote from a place of trying to understand myself and my own choices. I started with a curious reflection of myself and tried to make it more universal: "I did not create or participate in an ideal situation; why did I do that? Why would a human do that?" 

What kind of hurdles do you face as a filmmaker working in short film?

A short film feels like a mini-startup company that you know will "fail" because it doesn't make money but will teach you what you need to know about creating a handcrafted film from start to finish.

Is it a hurdle if I loved that process? The primary hurdle, after completing the work, is finding an audience. I want it to resonate with people who connect with it and I'm really grateful the film can live in a library like this one. 

What projects are you working on next, and how can people who are interested best support or share that work?

I'm writing my first feature screenplay right now.

It's based on myself as a teenager obsessed with God instead of boys (or so my character claims). I'll get extraordinarily specific about how people who are interested can support it: I really want Pete Holmes to be involved in this project so if anyone is connected to him, I'll toss that up as a dream of mine! I love the process of creating which results in weirder, more experimental stuff, occasionally adding projects here.

And, much of my time right now is spent creating mini-documentary style marketing videos for business leaders: Concurrent Productions. If anyone wants to connect with me, please do!