Meet Ayvianna Snow

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ayvianna Snow a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ayvianna, so great to have you with us and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with the community. So, let’s jump into something that stops so many people from going after their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. We’d love to hear about how you dealt with that and persisted on your path.

One issue many indie filmmakers face is the difficulty of finding an audience for their work- there is no clear pathway for an independent company to get their film into a cinema; many indie features get signed by an aggregator who chucks their film onto several streaming platforms with no care or thought- the modern-day equivalent of being on the bottom shelf in BlockBuster. These aggregators often sign several hundred titles, often poorly made pieces, as they know they will still make money owing to the sheer volume of titles they have on streaming services. In 2021, I appeared in a beautiful, sensitive film called “Wyvern Hill” about an elderly lady struggling with dementia. The distributor we had signed with first changed the title to “Hollow”, which had no relation to the story, and then also changed the poster from a tasteful image of the leading actress, to a not-subtle image of a scantily-clad woman in her twenties screaming. This meant the film received poor reviews as it had been mispackaged and misrepresented to the audience.
Incidentally, the rate of compensation for a filmmaker who puts their film on Amazon is two pence per streamed hour- an unsustainable, miserly sum that nobody can live on. The films on Amazon are usually sold for around £10- one wonders into whose pocket the other £9.98 goes.
The other route for indie horror films is that they screen at niche film festivals- I have had many film screenings at genre festivals, which have often sold out and been very warmly received, but these festivals cater to a specific type of audience who are already hard-core horror fans. It is hard to break out of this circuit and get your work seen by a mainstream audience without a very significant budget to spend on marketing which the average indie film doesn’t have.
There can also be an element of snobbery with the horror genre; it is perceived as not real cinema and horror performances very rarely win acting awards.

I persist as I believe these obstacles and hurdles can be overcome- the NHS was started by Nye Bevan; he was not a Prince or a Lord with money and resources, he was just an ordinary man from a Welsh mining community, but he started the greatest institution in Britain today. I find his story inspiring. I believe ordinary people can achieve great things.

With the right funding from our new government – an increase in arts spending to match the European average which is 1% of government spending going on the arts, or by introducing quotas for local cinemas, similar to those in Korea (e.g. at least 30 days in a year must be spent screening British-produced films), I believe British indie cinema could flourish. We have the best facilities and studios in the world- Tom Cruise would not choose to film at Pinewood if we were not the best- it is time we started to believe it.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am thrilled to announce two new films having their world premieres at FrightFest on 25th August at the Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square.

n Bogieville I play a vampire called Mary. Bogieville is an intriguing
tale set in a derelict American trailer park. It follows the story of a
young couple who find themselves lured in by the sinister caretaker,
‘Crawford’. Unbeknownst to them, Crawford is the guardian of the park’s
residents, a pack of blood-thirsty hillbilly vampires. The film is
directed by the renowned British filmmaker and actor Sean Cronin, who
also stars as the lead vampire.

Derelict is director Jonathan Zaurin’s harrowing and violent thriller of
revenge and empowerment. The film focuses on a daughter’s revenge and
the circumstances that led to the murder of her father. It’s soaked in
the tradition of British film noir, with a series of unusual characters
thrown into situations that will have repercussions beyond their
imagination.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Don’t take criticism personally; if someone doesn’t want you for a part, simply smile and move on. No good will come of mulling it over in your mind for weeks trying to work out what you did wrong; you did nothing wrong. Not everyone will see something special in you. And that’s ok. Keep going.

Learn how to hustle; this industry is about networking. The vast majority of my jobs come through people I know recommending me for something. Go to film events and premieres; chat to people. I met my agent through a recommendation via a photographer I met at a press event. Go to workshops and chat not only to the person running the workshop, but also the other people taking the class- I met Jonathan Zaurin through an introduction from Ben Manning, and I met Ben when we were both taking the same workshop. Go to festivals; I got my job in LOLA (which won two Irish BAFTAs this year), after I got chatting randomly to a producer in the queue for a taxi outside a party at the Berlinale. Get good at chatting!

Buy a ringlight; it’s worth it.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

They gave me confidence in myself, which I have realised is half the battle.
Last week, a photographer tried to force me to do a pose after I had already told him no. I calmly stopped the shoot and told him that no means no; it is not the beginning of a conversation where he pressures me into saying yes. I had to firmly establish that boundary before the shoot could continue.
When I first started acting I would be intimidated by older male directors; I have now realised that these men are not necessarily any smarter than me, nor are they automatically in charge just because they are holding a camera.

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Image Credits

Still from Bogieville, director Sean Cronin
Still From Dracula, director Steve Lawson
2 images from Equity rally, photographer Jason Perryman

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