Walking A Fine Line: Poppy Gordon On Her Short Film "For Your Consideration"
Poppy Gordon is NYC-based director who seeks to create visually driven narratives that combine bold cinematic style with pop influenced VFX. Her latest film, For Your Consideration, was co-written by her longtime collaborator, Aldo Arias, a New York City writer by way of Texas, and focuses on a group of young women who come together with a mission to make an Oscar-winning film.
Three entitled young women meet up to make an awards-worthy film. In an unholy fusion of wokeness and cluelessness, they build a narrative from the high perch of their privilege and almost give a voice to the voiceless.
This fantastic short which takes a snapshot of American culture and dares viewers to laugh and cringe at how it is manufactured, has been selected to screen at the Oscar-qualifying festivals Rhode Island International Film Festival and Odense International Film Festivals in August. We had the opportunity to chat with Poppy about her film, her collaboration process, working with Samantha Robinson, and much much more!
How did you come up with the concept for For Your Consideration?
I wanted something with an arch that could stand on its own. Being that I had many cultural observations circulating in my head at the time – quite strong sentiments – also ones that questioned the medium of filmmaking itself, and dark satire was just what seemed to come to me naturally, I went with it and shared the concept with my writing partner, who then next leveled it.
You’ve had a long working relationship with your writing partner, Aldo Arias. What does Aldo bring to the table that’s formed such a harmonious partnership?
Aldo is an intellectual and creative force to be reckoned with. We both have strong opinions and luckily, we get each other’s sense of humor. We debate well and enrich each other’s perspectives. Also, Aldo is extremely witty and nuanced which I love.
What’'s the collaboration process like between you two?
Often times, I have broad-stroke ideas that I write out or pitch him verbally, and then he tends to break it down and run it through his filter, and he truly improves and helps evolve any seeds I bring him. Then I become the editor and I love being his editor. We read the scripts and workshop them together in character. Towards the end, we even bring in actors and hold readings to sharpen it up and sometimes, I test out what types of approaches work best which helps in the casting.
Speaking of casting, Samantha Robinson is in the film. I love her! She’s so great at playing these types of characters. How did you come into contact with her?
I was working with the amazing ladies from Treadwell Kelly Casting (who I highly recommend), and I was very lucky that they connected me with Samantha and her team. Samantha understood the material and her character of Heather straight away. She was a joy to work with. We were fortunate that she believed in the importance of the story we were trying to tell and was completely fearless in her approach.
The script really allows the performers to have a lot of fun. What kind of direction did you give them, and how were they able to bring your vision into greater focus?
All the characters are friends, and they also represent very different archetypes of a certain strata of society, so it was really about getting everyone comfortable with their character and how they engage with each other. I think most of the direction actually was set in the audition and table read. Each actor was also given their character’s bio prior to start. By the time we began shooting, everyone truly came prepared as their character and it was just a lot of fun. I wanted each actor for what they were bringing to the table so it was more about giving them the freedom and empowering them to feel like they could do no wrong and to run with it. We also did some rounds of improv where I’d make them do all their lines as fast as possible just for the sake of it. It brought a vivaciousness to the very measured and calculated tone of the script. The story is just as much about what is said as what is being omitted, which is why the reaction shots were always so important to me. And all the ladies knocked it out of the park.
The tone of film and how it lampoons our politically correct and woke times is superb. How did you discover the right tone? Were there any bumps along the road you had to overcome?
Thank you for saying so. That was really what we were going for. The entire piece walks an extremely fine line — we don’t want to discourage social activism, but we’re not going to settle for tokenistic gestures either. And it was precisely that challenge that made me want to put all I had behind it. It was the thrill of knowing how spectacularly and devastatingly I could fail, if the tone was not just right, that really had me captivated.
It was a welcome challenge, and I was aware that though I could envision it, it was about rallying others to take a leap of faith into uncharted territory and believe in my vision for it. Some seasoned producers I think were interested and supportive of the project, but it was also a risky one and I don’t think they were comfortable with the line it walked. Luckily, my producer Lysette Urus came on board who is a total fearless radical and just loved it and couldn’t be bothered and jumped right in with all her brilliant enthusiasm.
I would absolutely watch a feature centered around these women. Just out of curiosity, are you toying around with the idea of expanding this to feature-length?
I think it would make a fun series and we do have ideas on how that could look if there is interest around it. But it wasn’t the goal when making the short, but so many folks have brought this up and we do have some ideas!
Are there any films or filmmakers that inspired the film or your approach to telling this story?
So many… Robert Altman, Woody Allen, Ruben Östlund, Catherine Breillat, Todd Solondz, Ricky Gervais, Larry David, Nora Ephron were all inspirations behind the film.
What do you hope audiences take away from the film?
To be honest, I will leave that to the audiences and what they think because everyone has their own interpretations and will understand my film differently.
Do you have any future projects that you can share with us?
I’m working on a feature script at the moment along with Aldo. I don’t want to give anything away, but it’s an ensemble piece in the vain of Robert Altman or early Woody Allen, except it involves some interstitial dance numbers that are both personal and political at the same time. It’s a fun piece and unusual piece thus far.
Interested in more?! Check out the full film right now via Omeleto’s YouTube:
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!