We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Frances Chang a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Frances, so happy to have you with us today. You are such a creative person, but have you ever head any sort of creativity block along the way? If so, can you talk to us about how you overcame or beat it?
Being creatively blocked is such a bitch! (Can I say that here?) Nothing is worse than wanting to tell a story and just not knowing where to start.
What I’ve found to help me is to relax and just do things – watching tv, going to the movies, hanging out with friends, going to shows, or just being outside in nature. Oftentimes my “best” ideas don’t come when I’m trying to force it, they just come to me inspired by something I’ve seen, heard or from a conversation.
Experiencing life and being open to inspiration is the best way to get the creative juices flowing, for sure.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
By day I create content and handle media relations for clients at a boutique marketing and PR agency in Inman Park, and by night I transform into my secret identity – writer/filmmaker.
My interest in theater and the arts stemmed from high school, volunteering at all the shows to watch my best friend on stage. However, during my younger years and through my first couple of decades in Atlanta my focus was on sports. It wasn’t until a layoff during a recession and constant injuries that I turned to more creative – and sedentary – activities like writing.
My path to filmmaking is a bit Jeremy Bearimy (that’s a Good Place reference), which began with puppetry that led to indie wrestling, then from the circus to improv, and from sketch writing to filmmaking. It’s a perfectly logical progression!
I love the art of storytelling and I love comedy, so it’s only natural that I’m drawn to writing sketches. Like I mentioned before, inspiration usually comes from what’s happening, so a lot of times, I infuse a bit of social commentary into my sketches like racism, human trafficking and mental health.
And I’m not limited to just writing comedy, the last two film projects making the film festival circuit are on the horror and experimental spectrum. B Positive is a paper puppet animation I wrote and produced for the Center for Puppetry Arts’ Xperimental Puppetry Theater about a young girl suffering nightmares after receiving a lifesaving transplant and Torn Together is a collaborative effort cowritten, coproduced and costarring Melissa Kunnap, who also directed, Ava Davis and me. This is a very personal story about overcoming our respective traumas being torn between two races, two genders and two cultures to discovering our authentic selves.
Two other upcoming projects I’m excited about are a new sketch that I wrote, produced and directed in July, Pillow Talk, which is currently in post-production, about a woman’s obstacles to getting a good night’s sleep before a big presentation, and a play I will be assistant directing at Synchronicity Theater based on a Chinese fairy tale and children’s book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin.
I’ve also got two other prospective pieces I’m looking to develop, a play very loosely based on my immigrant family’s experience in the U.S. and a RomCom feature written specifically for Dave Bautista. (Dave, are you out there? Call me!!)
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
If I had to narrow it down to three, the qualities I would say are most impactful are adaptability, patience and perseverance. There is very little budget in independent filmmaking – very little. There are many times after a call sheet has gone out that someone will get booked for a higher paying gig and we’ll have to scramble for coverage. This is no one’s fault, we do this for the love of filmmaking, but people have to pay the bills, and paying gigs take priority. But because we love it, we keep at it – even if we have to wait for a more opportune time or circumstances.
My advice for people trying to get into filmmaking is to spend as much time on film sets. Like I said, indie films is low to no budget, so being willing to help out for free/low cost is not only invaluable for gaining experience but also a great place to network – and people remember. Many of us indie filmmakers are able to get things made just by bartering our services to each other. Atlanta is a very supportive community and we love seeing each other succeed.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Of course, I’m always looking for people to collaborate with. Having a network of talented partners is essential to indie filmmaking. From other writers to brainstorm or create with, performers to bring the words to life, sound designers or musicians to set the tone of the film, to dedicated crew consisting of cinematographers, recording engineers, electricians, production assistants and more to make all the things happen are all people I want to meet, know and hang out with.
Filmmaking is a team effort and everyone on set plays an indispensable role – and we sure do know how to have a good time!
If anyone is looking to connect with me, they can learn more on my website mediatigre.com or find me on Twitter (I’m not calling it X) or Instagram via my wrestling handle, @DrMelei. You can also find me at the Mighty Shorts FilmSlam events with my cohorts Michael Sokol and Alex Parkinson where we showcase Atlanta’s funniest filmmakers in a comedy film sketch competition at Landmark Theater every 3-4 months.
Contact Info:
- Website: mediatigre.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/DrMelei
- Linkedin: LinkedIn.com/in/franceschang
- Twitter: Twitter.com/DrMelei
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mediatigre
Image Credits
Julie Jones Ivey
