So, tell us quickly about how you and Lena approached this film:
"I cowrote this with her. We wrote it for me to direct it, from the beginning. I think she enjoyed the challenge of writing for something that she wasn't going to make...and I was just excited to have someone to write with! After working on You Wont Miss Me with Stella, I was happy to collaborate again."
You seem interested in female characters who are in a moment of crisis...especially in their early 20s.
"I think that's a really traumatic time in young women's lives. That's the first real moment they are really out on their own. I tend to write from fear, I think. A fear of what I'll become or what'll happen to me. I think that period is a sort of elusive period of time. You are supposed to be an adult, everybody sees you as an adult, but you are not an adult, yet, really. You aren't quite mature enough. You are learning the social codes of what it means to be a woman...kind of the hard way. By screwing up. That was kind of my experience, anyway.
"This is very different though, as a movie. It is way more narrative, but it has a darkness to its tone. It is less humorous...It's not like Martine is this character you identify with the whole time. You kind of see eye to eye with her, but you also have to think how 'on her side' you are."
Photography by Kava Gorna
"We met at a party shortly after she graduated. We didn't know each other in college. We just totally got along. We swapped works. She gave me her featurette before Tiny Furniture that she made, and I gave her You Wont Miss Me. We just had a lot to talk about. It felt very fast and natural and organic.
So, you have all these female writers from large cities who have a very honest, unfiltered perspective on what it's like to be a normal young woman, and how that can be, oftentimes, not very flattering. Is this a zeitgeist?
"Are you talking specifically about Girls? Opportunities always enable other opportunities, and ships rise together. It was like Bridesmaids, and everyone was like, 'Oh God, there are female movies to be had!' I think we are in a moment — especially in television — where we are open to hearing from younger female characters. But we see that manifesting itself in a lot of different places, whether it be Breaking Bad or Homeland...and Girls. They are all totally different shows, but they all feel so fresh to me.
Well, up until recently, you had a flawed female depicted as a "manic pixie dream girl," and saw girls who were pretty and quirky and they had problems, but not ugly problems. And now there are a group of women who are writing about how Natalie Portman-with-headphones isn't what it's like to be a troubled young woman. Would you consider yourself in that conversation?
"In a way, yeah. Because I am a young woman making art...about other fucked up young women making art, and how they fuck up. There's pressure to have really likable characters, and I don't always have characters in my movies who are adorable. They really do questionable things. That's more interesting for me to watch."
Because you have worked with smaller casts (and one movie with a friend), do you think that has made you a more collaborative director?
"Yes. I am really collaborative, and I think that's exciting. I want to work with people who have something really wonderful to offer, and to not listen to them is to kind of shut-down possibilities."
Your last movie was distinctly New York, and this one takes place in Los Angeles. How was it heading to the other coast?
"Well, it all felt new to me. Even the really iconic stuff. Like, in the editing room, we'd have arguments and someone would be like, 'That shot is in every other movie about Los Angeles.' And I would be like, 'Is it? No it's not! It looks amazing! It should be in there; it should be iconic!'
Coming from independent cinema, can you give young filmmakers a five-step plan to making a movie?
"Totally. I figured out what I was good at, where I was strong, and where I wasn't. I tried to have people fill in the gaps of what I'm not good at. I tried to get everybody excited and care about the project the way I care about the project. You can't do it alone. You need other people to rally, and you need to use everybody's skills. But mostly, it's determination and not letting anything get in the way. What keeps people back is fear..."
"Yeah, but you don't need that much money to make a film now. You can buy a camcorder for like $50, or you can shoot it on your iPhone. And if it's good, it'll play a festival. If someone shoots six films on their iPhone, the seventh might be good. I think it's about practicing your craft.