SLFS Interview – Chelsea Zotta: Director and Writer of I MISS ME

I MISS ME screens Wednesday, July 20th at 7:00pm at The Tivoli Theater as part of this year’s St. Louis Filmmaker’s Showcase. Ticket information can be found HERE

Writer/director Chelsea Zotta’s I MISS ME tells the story of Kevin Masterson (Brock Roberts), who has everything a handsome bachelor could want: a high-powered job as an attorney, a list of women on speed dial, and enough money to get his kicks anytime, anywhere. But Calvin’s perfect life is flipped upside down when he is nearly killed by a drunk driver. Bed-ridden and depressed, Calvin must confront his inner demons to survive.

Chelsea Zotta took the time to answer questions about her film for We Are Movie Geeks in advance of it’s screening at the St. Louis Filmmaker’s Showcase.

We Are Movie Geeks: What was your filmmaking experience before I MISS ME?

Chelsea Zotta: After graduating college, I moved out to LA to become a movie actress, like millions of other wishful thinkers. I quickly fell into behind the scenes production work: I worked as an intern and assistant for director Mark David of “American Cowslip” and producer John Morrissey of “American History X”. I also did a small stint writing script coverage for Hyde Park Entertainment. I was then able to gain an acquisition/administrative assistant position with distributor B.D. Fox Entertainment meanwhile writing screenplays. After unsuccessfully finding a director for one of my short film ideas, I decided to try directing myself. I had never taken a filmmaking class and my only experience was as an extra and a production assistant on a few sets. I fell in love with the directing experience and I was strongly compelled to direct again, but on a much bigger scale – a feature.

WAMG: How did you become interested in films? Did you grow up a movie fan?

CZ: Both of my parents were film fanatics, so I grew up with Woody Allen and Ingmar Bergman. I’ve watched every single Woody Allen film and many of them, like “Love and Death” and “Annie Hall”, countless times. There used to be an art house movie store that my parents would frequent to find some of the rarer foreign films, such as “The Bicycle Thief”. I’ve watched at least four or five movies a week since I was very young.

WAMG: What filmmakers have inspired you?

CZ: The list is very long, but here are a few: Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman, Charlie Kaufman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Alfred Hitchcock, Wes Anderson, the Coen brothers and David Lynch. I’m a little embarrassed that I don’t have a female filmmaker to add. I do greatly appreciate the work of Kathryn Bigelow, Sofia Coppola and Jodie Foster, but I can’t say that they necessarily inspired me as a director.

WAMG: How did the script for I MISS ME come about and how long did it take you to write it?

CZ: “I Miss Me” is semi-autobiographical as it’s loosely based on my relationships with two different alcoholics. I discovered that you can’t help or change an alcoholic, or any addict for that matter. The decision to change has to originate and resonate within them. Half of their battle is realizing that there is a problem and the other half of the battle is not relapsing when times get tough and the urge to drink is stronger. It took me around 6 months to finish the script but dialogue was changed constantly on set.

WAMG: Were these characters in I MISS ME based on people you knew?

CZ:  The main character, Calvin Masterson, is the rather odd amalgamation of a modern day Gordon Gekko and two of my alcoholic ex-boyfriends. His love interest, Ava Gattison, is a younger, more naïve version of myself.

WAMG: If you had more time and money, what are some things that you might have done differently with I MISS ME?

CZ:  I would have hired a couple of known actors, A or B list, to fill in the smaller roles, which could have helped with the marketability of the film. Dramas are difficult to sell and dramas with “unknown” talent are next to impossible to sell unless they win awards at Sundance. With a bigger budget, I would have definitely used a higher end camera like the Red Scarlet or the Red Epic. My cinematographer, Jason Wathen, used the Canon 5D Mark 2 for most of the film.

WAMG: Tell me about casting Brock Roberts in the role of Calvin. Were there other actors you considered?

CZ:  I auditioned Brock Roberts first and knew right away that I wanted him for the role of Calvin. I didn’t want to seem easy to please, so I auditioned others and kept an open mind. However, Brock is handsome, strong and blonde, which is the “look” I wanted for Calvin and he can also portray a self-indulged, materialistic bachelor superbly well. Brock’s personality is actually quite opposite of Calvin in that he’s a humble, kind and funny family man. Casting was basically the same for Ashley Bauman who played the co-star/love interest Ava Gattison. I saw her in a couple of local plays, and she was my father’s bass guitar student, so I auditioned her first and she blew me away. This was her first film role. The other roles were much harder to fill and I had to use the help of Azalea Agency and TalentPlus.

WAMG: Do you allow your actors to have much leeway with their roles or are you strict with keeping to the script?

CZ: I want the dialogue to suit the actors, not the actors to suit the dialogue. We would discuss the objective of each scene and the objective of each character within the scene. If the actors had a better line than the one I came up with or if they were struggling to make a line feel authentic for their character, I would gladly change it. When rehearsing, I would encourage them to improvise within the structure of the scene and I would write down any good lines that naturally came to them. I did stick to the structure of the story during filming, but I also did take Brock’s suggestions regarding potential scenes or lines that I could cut to allow for more production time on important scenes.

WAMG: What local locations did you use for I MISS ME?

CZ:  Jackson Park Elementary School in University City, Melt Café on Cherokee Street, Creve Coeur Park, Faust Park, Nicole Powell’s beautiful downtown loft for Calvin’s pad, Terence Alfonso’s house for the Delila and Addy scenes, my cinematographer Jason Wathen’s house for the Frank and Martha scenes and a nurse station at Saint Charles Community College for the hospital scenes. This was all thanks to my wonderful producer April Spencer, cinematographer Jason Wathen and script supervisor Vanessa Roman. I also want to thank Respond Right EMS Academy for allowing us to use their ambulance and EMTs in training for the ambulance scene for free.

WAMG: How has I MISS ME been received so far?

CZ: The St. Louis Filmmaker Showcase is the first festival and hopefully there will be more to come. Thanks to Cinema St. Louis for giving “I Miss Me” the opportunity to be seen!

WAMG: What are your release plans for I MISS ME?

CZ:  Aside from the festival circuit, I’m partnering with Kevin Edwards of Always Late TV, who is starting an online streaming service in September. “I Miss Me” will be one of the first films to launch this service.

WAMG: What’s next for Chelsea Zotta?

CZ:  I hope to carve out a career as a director and a script supervisor when I’m not directing. Currently I’m writing a short film and I’m also considering developing a feature length script about the making of “Trout Mask Replica” by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, which is considered to be the weirdest album of all time. I would be honored if I could, in some small way, help carry on their legacy.