Q&A with Lexi Tannenholtz & Eliza Jiménez Cossio
A conversation with filmmakers Lexi Tannenholtz & Eliza Jiménez Cossio on their short film, We Should Get Dinner!.
How did you first get into filmmaking?
ELIZA - I'm a comedy writer and have written for a variety of television shows. While it's a lot of fun to write for other people, I found myself wanting to make things that were entirely my own voice. So I turned to filmmaking. I should have chosen something easier. But of course this is what makes it rewarding! I'm not formally trained so I just work very hard and surround myself with people who are better than me.
LEXI - I've always loved movies and television. TCM raised me! But I never thought about a career in the Biz, because to me that meant being an actor and being in front of the camera is not for me. Cut to me trying a million odd jobs and then having a genius epiphany that in fact, REAL PEOPLE make these things called movies and not just actors work on them! Once my mind exploded and I picked up the pieces I worked on every set I could find and tried on every crew role in the process, until I became obsessed with the freedom (and chaos) and of indie filmmaking and the weird friendships that come along with it. Like Eliza!!!
What was your creative process for this film?
LEXI - We knew we wanted this story to unfold as a dinner scene. Two people around a table. Very simple. Some say boring, we say, sounds like a fun opportunity for some chaos :) With that in mind, we wanted to be very intentional with every joke and line of dialogue, no filler, all killer as they say. You be the judge! But more so, if we're gonna put people through this dizzying scene of constant back and forth, every word needs to push the story forward and tell us something about these characters. From there this foundation allowed us to add layering moments of action to further fuel momentum - water spilling, napkin stealing, glass breaking, pants peeing and so on. All things we can very much relate to.
When it was shotlisting time we wanted everything to be very specific and strange, almost feeling like a flat theater production. We wanted to play with the shifting balance of power with our camera angles being grounded in sticks before breaking out into our nauseating circle dolly and ending with our handheld scramble allowing our characters to finally break free from the dinner table. Our DP Christine Ng is a mesmerizing genius who elevates everything she touches.
ELIZA - It was a lot of the both of us talking about different ideas or events from our personal lives that struck us in some way or another. Eventually, we landed on this idea of stepsiblings as we both related to the concept of lost relationships in our lives. I would write drafts as Lexi gave notes until we had our final script. We made a vision/lookbook for us of what we wanted this movie to be, and we shared it with our department heads. Getting their input is the fun collaboration, because literally everyone on our crew brought in great ideas. Working with our DP Christine Ng to make our shotlist was a dream. And it was important to empower the actors with the script and hear their thoughts as well.
In post, having an energy come to life with Andrew Kerr’s music composition was amazing. And finally our intrepid editor Jon Higgins was instrumental in helping us sand everything down and do the last shaping of the film.
What projects are you working on next, and how can people who are interested best support or follow you.
ELIZA - First I want to go Italy and then, somewhere under the Tuscan sun, I'll think about making the next thing. Probably another short, then a feature. Currently, I am writing on Taika Waititi's Our Flag Means Death (HBO Max) and Fred Armisen's This Fool (Hulu).
People can follow me on Twitter.
LEXI - I've been lucky enough to be producing what feels like a marathon of features this past year. Chestnut by Jac Cron for Utopia, Bad Things by Stewart Thorndike for Shudder and I just finished production the other day on a comedy body horror film called Booger by Mary Dauterman. All coming to a festival, theater, or iphone near you somewhere before 2050. And maybe Eliza and I have something new cooking, who's to really say.
People can follow me and then unfollow me on Instagram.
