On this edition of THE INTERVUE, I always love talking to people who are from the DC Metro Area. Tonight’s guest is a DC filmmaker for about fifteen years, and involved in film and theater since she was a kid. She grew up on stage and in front of cameras. In fact, you may have seen her in Veep & Game Change, as she started her own theatre company with a couple of friends. And for three years, she served as the Co-artistic director of Molotov theatre group in DC. They are the first theater on the east coast, the second in the United States, and a third in the world. And she is a producer of the Scary Movie podcast, you gotta check it out.
She is the creator of Tarakata Films, and she’s going to talk about her upcoming short film, The Strangle of Ivy. Ladies and gentlemen, we have DC’s own homegrown Tara Garwood.
Tara, welcome to THE INTERVUE!
Hi, thank you for having me.
So glad to have you here. I cannot believe it’s been over three years since we last physically seen each other COVID. It’s a crazy world out there. But we’re surviving. We’re here. And we’re talking about the latest.
We are we are I’m so glad we’re here. And I’m so glad that I’m getting to see you again. Yeah, virtually,
We’re going to talk about your brand-new short film, which is called The Strangle of Ivy, which has launched a Kickstarter on June 7th. So, talk to us about the genesis of this short film.
So “The Strangle of Ivy” is about a woman who goes to visit home and see her older mother. And her mother is a little ailing at this point. And she goes home to sort of help her out. And they have a difficult relationship already from her childhood and everything. And she discovers a deep dark secret that changes their lives forever. So, it’s kind of it’s a gothic horror modern day. But it’s also sorts of a family drama a little bit.
I think it’s very, it’s very much grounded in things that happen in the real life, even though it’s a supernatural horror. And we are, as you said, launching the Kickstarter on Tuesday, June 7. And the way it started, was that my friend Sara Crocoll Smith, she is a gothic horror writer. And she wrote this short story. She’s got a few short stories published in in different anthology collections. She’s just published her first novel, and she wrote this, and I read it, and I just kind of it hit me.
I think partially because I’m, I’m at an age or my parents are getting a little older. And I’m starting to worry about these things, and how am I going to help take care of them is that role between caretaker and charge sort of flips as, as parents get much older, right? And mine aren’t there yet. But I see it coming down the road. And so, this story really hit me. And it’s very, it’s very moody, and pretty tense. And it’s the story, the way Sara writes somewhat visual anyways, you can very much see the story in your head. And so, I asked her, “Can I option this and make a short film out of it?” And she said, “Sure”. So, we co-wrote a screenplay for it. I’m going to be directing it we’re hoping to shoot in September. And we got a small grant from the Maryland State Arts Council. So that was really nice. So that’ll help but we’re looking for a little bit of extra funds to make it a better production, you know, to really to really make it look great.
It’s super easy. It’s www.Ivyshort.com.
As we mentioned at the top of this show you are homegrown. Born in the District, living in Maryland. How did you get started in filmmaking and in the arts in general?
So, when I was a very little kid, I used to put on “Annie” in my backyard with my best friend. Nice and make our parents watch it. I’ve always been kind of a performer and a very, very artsy creative person. And my mom recognized that and put me in a little group that did little shows that at nursing homes and stuff like that. I ended up majoring in musical theater, and came home to DC. I did some musical theater, some Shakespeare, some other theater.
I started this horror theater Le Theatre de Grand Guignol. And all is what we do. And it’s Molotov theater as you said. I did that for three years. And that was when I realized that I wanted to do the whole thing like more than just acting. I wanted to I love starting from concept, moving all the way through pre-production, production, getting the props, making the special effects, all that stuff, and then going through to see the final product.
I kind of wanted to play with toys because I’m a little bit of a tech geek. I took a course at Montgomery College: one in video editing and one in radio production just to see like which way I kind of wanted to go. And I fell in love with video hard. I went and got my digital filmmaking certificate at Boston University Center for Digital Imaging Arts, which sadly has closed,
I had a great experience there. I learned a lot and met my co-host for the scary movie project, Matt Lolich there, and we became friends. So, I found him there. We started working on stuff together. And the rest I just kind of kept going.
Now, you have worn many hats, you’ve been a producer, writer, editor, actress. Is there one medium that you prefer or do you love them all?
I do love all aspects of film but I think that directing is really what the most passionate for and writing, like I love that creating the thing. I love bringing people together for a purpose. I’m a very collaborative director. I am not an altar where I’m like, “No, you do this, you do that you do that you do the other.” I am very collaborative. I like to work with people, I like to hear other people’s ideas. I just love that vibe on set when everybody’s working towards the same goal. And sometimes someone has an idea, you know, you’re like, I think I know exactly what this thing is going to be. And some you know, an actor says, “Well, what if I tweaked the line just slightly and said this” and you’re like, “Oh my god, that changes everything. It’s perfect. Like, yes, yes, do it.” I love that moment, when somebody just has a spark. And everything is just immediately clear.
I’m so glad to hear that you love directing. And you allow your people who have creative ideas, to change something about the character, especially since they invest so much in that character. And they understand it and in bringing this idea and they understand their character.
I think coming from an acting background, I always appreciated directors like that who let me kind of own my role and, and feel like I had a big stake in it and could express how I thought that person would act. I tried to take some of the things I learned as an actor and use them as a director to make my actors happier and more comfortable and feel like they’re really contributing.
And you’ve done it so well especially, I believe this is going to be your third or fourth film that you’re directing, correct?
Yeah, this is so I’ve done a few little things. This is going to be my third actual like narrative film, I did a really short one called Lonely many, many, many moons ago, when I first got into film, I shot it on a little mini DV camera. It was it was a post-apocalyptic love story with zombies.
And then, when I graduated from Center for Digital Imaging Arts, I did a short film called The Lake which is another very, very much a family drama kind of horror film. It’s not as much as like a slasher film or torture porn or anything like that. It’s very relationship oriented. It’s very personal. So that was my second film.
Now this will be my third I took a little time off, I had some other things going on and was doing some marketing videos and I’ve been working in government and most recently in the government contractor doing video production and everything, but I’m coming back to that I think the pandemic was part of that making me realize like, I just need to get back to that creative life and really live in that.
Now you have done a lot of horror shorts for films. What is it about the genre that speaks to you personally?
Oh, geez. Okay, well, okay, so first, let me say that I would not watch horror movies until I was about 30. I was way too scared. I was a complete chicken. I wouldn’t watch them. I had seen a couple one of them I saw in high school and I walked out of my friend’s house and didn’t come back for three hours.
You’re lucky I had my first horror movie experience at age 6. I don’t know why I don’t know who was the person but somehow, they decided to show A Nightmare on Elm Street at an elementary school and I had nightmares for weeks.
So, I only just finally watched Nightmare on Elm Street because once we started the podcast last year, we watched it for our Halloween month we watched the first four. Once I started the podcast, I had missed all these older films and I thought “You know what? I’m not going to watch Nightmare on Elm Street until we review it. So that I can be like a fresh perspective having never seen it before.” So, I’ve now seen the first four.
So, I was too scared to watch horror movies until Lonnie Martin, who’s a director and his wife Cindy is an actress and producer with him. And he did a movie called Women’s Studies. And he cast me as the main bad gal Judith and I had so much fun on that set. I got to splice throats, I got to slash somebody’s Achilles heel. I mean, I got to do so many bad things and see how all of it happened.
And all of a sudden it was like, “Oh, okay. And now I can watch it and separate a little bit and enjoy the craft and the fun of it and the and the intention.” And I think to me, I really like character driven horror films. I really like horror films where people face dire situations. We sort of learned about them as people through that. That’s my favorite kind of horror film.
So, I love I feel like horror films help us face those fears that we have. Even if they’re like crazy and out there. They help you face at the root of very human fear in a safe space. So, I think they’re good for us.
What do you feel since you now have done The Scary Movie Podcast, I want to know from your perspective, what’s the secret to a great horror movie?
Oh my gosh, that’s so hard because I don’t know if there is one secret. That’s a really hard one for me because there’s so there’s so many things that are so important, right to a good horror movie, like, you have to keep building the tension, you have to have those rises, and then sort of those releases and rise and release the tension. You have to have those things, right. But I think it’s important, of course, to have good characters, and good relationships between your characters.
Although there are also some really like, goofy slasher flicks that don’t necessarily have that as well but I still love and think are fun. I think I think I’ll go with the one thing you really need is a love for the genre, more than anything, I think there’s, there’s so many different things that that you could say, technically you need to have. But I think if you don’t love the genre, you can’t. You can’t get there. You can’t, you need to go far enough, you know, to be scary. It’s hard, because you know, you’re, you’re thinking of these scary things and these awful things and, and you don’t always want to think about him, but you have to make the film.
So, I think you have to really, really do a little bit of soul searching to and you have to love it.
You’re absolutely right especially since the horror genre. And some people it’s a good thing, and sometimes it’s a bad thing. And sometimes it’s “Oh my god, what the hell did I watch thing,” you know?
Now speaking of which, as I mentioned earlier, you and your co-host, Matt, Scary Movie Project podcast, and you just hit a milestone last month, your 50th episode? How does it feel to hit that most are affected because not many podcasts hit that 50 but you did just few weeks ago?
Yeah, it’s that’s pretty awesome. I feel pretty proud of us. I mean, we started this in the pandemic, we sort of, we sort of were like, looking for something creative to do. And Matt said, “Oh, you know, he had done a few episodes of a podcast like for his production company. Do you want to do some with me? Like, let’s just talk about movies or do something?” And I said, “Yeah, but if we do it, let’s really like make it a pot like its own podcast and put it out everywhere.” And so, we just kind of started like, shortly after the pandemic started and just rolled with it. It’s been really fun. We’ve gotten to interview some people. We’ve gotten to, to talk about some, some fantastic movies and some not so fantastic movies. And really, we just have fun with it. And I’m so glad we get to do it.
Now you mentioned earlier just moments ago about some of the cheesiest horror films that you could not just look? What are some of your guilty as pleasure horror films that you cannot look away?
I’ll tell you one that I don’t that I think is cheesy as heck and I’m not gonna watch over and over again. Okay, good. Now, let me start with that. Yeah, we had an episode on Children of the Corn.
Which one?
The original, the first one. thought it was so ridiculous, and so not scary. And I’ll admit, I was probably drinking a little when we recorded the episode too. But I was just going off and I was like, “This is ridiculous. I don’t know why people think this is scary. It’s so silly.” And Matt actually said, and this this challenge still stands. He said “if somebody writes in and asks us to do it, we will make Tara watch the whole series of them and we’ll review them all”
So, nobody has called in yet or has gotten in yet but he did issue that challenge to me and I am I am like on tenterhooks waiting for that to come.
I love all four of the first of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. And I think some people think some of them are goofy, and not as good, but I love them all. I think they’re all fantastic. I’m gonna I have plans to watch every other one because I just think he’s such a fun bad guy. I just I enjoy the creativity and the silliness of it.
You’re absolutely right. I mean, now that I’m older, and I’ve actually got to see the original ones I’ve actually enjoyed, it doesn’t scare me but I will not do the torture porn films. That’s out of question as I draw the line.
Now, you actually point out something on your Instagram page not too long ago, that I’m going to tell the public for case they know. You mentioned that in 2019, only 26% of the top grossing horror features had female protagonists, and only 17% were directed by women. Now, along that lines, since we talked about Women’s Studies, which was done back at the turn of the 2010s. And since then, more women have done more horror films, both behind the scenes and in front of the camera, and it helps shape how women in horror has evolved since that and I’d like to know, from your perspective, has it evolved greatly, equally, or less than? And if it’s less than, what does it need to change to make it better?
So, we’re seeing since about 2010? Yeah, I think I think that we have improved a bit there are there are movies that I think treat women in a more realistic manner, if that makes sense, where they are not just the virgin or the monster or the psycho bidey if they’re old, right? Where we get more fully formed women like and this was a while ago, but so even back then The Descent was great. Treated women beautifully handled them very well, I think. And I’m trying to think of the name of the other movie. French film, High Tension, I think was very interesting in the way it treated the relationships between these women, right.
So, I think that we have over the years, improve the situation. I just think it could be better. I think we could improve it more. And that’s what I’ve really liked to help. Do I want to become part of that movement? For more female POV horror and from a female point of view and about female stories and with real female characters who are not just a stereotype. Yeah, that’s it. That’s what I’d really like to help happen.
In fact, you made that the goal with your production company, Tarakata Films, which according to the bio is a DC based indie production company dedicated to bringing a female perspective to the horror genre. And I want you to tell us more about your production company.
So Tarakata Films is, I’ll tell you how I named it because I think that’s funny.
Yes, please do because I’m thinking now that I’m here at terra cotta. And I’m thinking oh, yeah, it’s a play on words kind of like The Rogers Revue.
Right. Right. So, kata right, the way of or the forms that you do, and it’s you know, it’s from martial arts and stuff like that. You have the kata where you’re practicing your art. I think that makes sense for me that it’s me practicing this art, but the way it originally came up, was that my husband and one of our good friends, were talking about a really old I think, like an 80s movie called Gymkata
Never heard of that movie.
And they were joking about it. And my husband did something and I went to punch him in the shoulder. I was sitting next to him to punch him in the shoulder and I was like, well, there’s some Tarakata and I went and, and it was just hilarious that it was like okay, well, that’s terracotta you hit yourself. So, when I was looking for a film company name, when I was starting to do the lake and stuff I just I thought have that and that was like, that’s kind of a fun name. I don’t know. Let’s keep it. Yeah.
So that’s just how that came about. It’s kind of silly but then I did when I looked into like, Okay, what is the kata? That’s when I was like, “Oh, it actually does make sense. It’s practicing and it’s your practice” and I liked that feeling and that that you’ll see that reflected on the website as well right talk about the door I showed the definition of Kata. A lot of people think its terracotta, like the, the material, pots and stuff and clay, but it’s terra cotta.
So when I first started it, I wasn’t thinking as much about oh, I’m going to bring a female POV to horror that’s really come on more recently that I’ve realized, as I’ve particularly as I’ve started working with my friend Sara Crocoll Smith, the author, that I’ve realized that, you know, this really is like a place where I think we can do some work and bring some female perspective to the genre. And I think horror and sci fi are often ahead of the game anyways, I think for a lot of things for, for having more diversity in their films and things like that.
I think horror is a good place to start to get that more female perspective and because in overall 80% of films are directed by men. Okay. 87% of films are written by men. Like, it’s a lot. So, I think if we can start in our genre that we love, maybe this can help, like, move things forward a bit overall, even if a lot of us are doing it and really working towards that, that more inclusive storytelling.
You’re absolutely right. I definitely see you taking that lead and getting those first baby steps into that direction.
Thank you.
So, who are your influences since you’ve been over place? You’ve been at theater. You’ve been on camera behind the scenes.
A lot of my influences are male. I think that’s part of why I want more women around there, right. I love Cronenberg. Like I loooove Cronenberg. I love body horror, hoping to work on one on a body horror script. So, there’s that there’s the I won’t use too much. But there’s a body horror script that may be in the works soon.
And isn’t he a hoot on Star Trek: Discovery. Oh my gosh, I still cannot believe he’s in Star Trek Discovery. And every time he plays that role, he’s just killing it. And, I have more respect for Cronenberg than I have.
And his son is actually good filmmaker too. And I also like Robert Eggers. I really like The Witch. I feel like it’s so feminist. It’s talking about the things that women had to deal with in that time. The restrictions on them the way that anything you did that came a little out of the box. You were a witch, right. I love the ending of it. I won’t I won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but the ending I think is just breathtaking, because he doesn’t pull punches. I mean, even from the beginning. He doesn’t pull punches at all. So, I love Robert Eggers.
I love Ari Aster… Midsommar. I love that movie. Hereditary is great, too, nut both of those have strong, interesting women in them. They have they have very real women in them. I also like Mary Harron. American Psycho is fantastic as well and that was directed by a woman. So yeah, I need to I feel that I need to go and seek out more women, directors to watch. And women writers whose work to watch.
In fact, I just I was just watching Russian Doll. So, she created that with a couple other people. At least in the second season, I just watched the first two episodes, she wrote and directed. You know what, I’ll say she’s an inspiration to me too. She’s out there, doing her thing making it happen. It’s not harder but she’s making this happen. And I love sci fi, too.
And you know, I’m a huge science fiction fan. So, what’s your favorite sci fi?
Alien And both Blade Runners, Blade Runner and Blade Runner: 2049
Why those three films. I mean, they were very head of his time, especially in ‘79. And ‘82 to just three years apart with brilliant directors and brewing scores at the same time.
Alien, there’s so many reasons I love it. It’s just so good. It’s so well written. It’s so scary. Oh, that thing is great, too, in that way. I also love like the role wasn’t originally written for a woman that Ripley seems so much more fully fleshed out. And, not a woman then a lot of characters more from that time to. And she’s such a great hero. She really is. She’s such a fantastic hero. And it’s I liked that even before I liked horror films like back when I was afraid to watch horror, I still liked that movie. Somehow, even though it is kind of horror too. And then I and I love the tension and there’s something on every corner, the way they handle it, the way they deal with the dark and like, you never know where the monster is. It’s just it’s so wonderful.
And then I think Blade Runner just so imaginative it is and it really hits I think, some very real places in the human psyche, right? What makes us human? That’s such a big question. Right? Ex Machina tackles that too, which I love that film as well.
I love that film!
Ex Machina so good. It’s really tackling like what actually makes us human. And then in 2049, they, they took a little bit of a different spin on that what makes you human and what makes you what makes you special, right? Because in 2049, he thinks he’s the special one. Right? The whole time. He thinks he’s the half the human that the child of the human and the Android. Then when he finds out he’s not. What does that mean to him? Does that end him? Does that mean he’s nothing? I just love films that made me think like that. You know, that makes me think that “Okay, so what is? He lays down on the steps at the end. Is he giving up? What is this ending saying to me?” I love that it fascinates me. I love movies that make me think and make me wonder about what they meant and what the people in them are doing and where you can like, hash it out later.
You’re right. Going back to what you said about Ex Machina. I actually interviewed director for that years ago. And it was a worthwhile film, that at the end of the day, I couldn’t tell Okay, am I human or are they what is what is that question? It goes back to that question of right. “How do you determine humanity?”
Well, I mean like they have the they have the Voight Kamp test right in the beginning of Blade Runner where that’s where they’re dealing with that. t’s just so fascinating that question. I think it’s the same director did Debs right. Debs is great, too.
Praise Alex Garlin and Ridley Scott. I think he did both Alien and Blade Runner. If I remember correctly, I think he did. The last question I have is, you have done everything within the realm of directing film and theater. If anyone were to approach you wanting to do this, but need that advice, from someone who’s been there, What advice would you give them?
In this area, particularly?
Yeah, especially when it comes to filmmaking.
So, I have, I’ve actually done that, for people who are starting out in the DC area many times like giving them sort of some advice on like, where to go. And depending on whether you want to act or direct or what you want to do but I think if you want to actually be on the filmmaker side of it, I honestly, I think joining Television Internet Video Association (www.tivadc.org) and Women in Film and Video (www.wifv.org) is so good for you, because you meet so many people. And you can really get involved in helping out on other people’s sets and learning from them. People will help mentor you as you’re as you’re growing. I just think it’s so important to meet.
And we have a great supportive community here like we really do. I’m working with Justin Timpane of Enlight Entertainment on this. Now we’ve known each other since ninth grade. So, we did not meet through this but we came back together through this. And you know, my connections and his connections, and we’re able to sort of pull in some people. think also like if you’re going to school for this, look for places where you can intern and P.A., we’ve got three intern P.A.s on The Strangle of Ivy, all of whom were getting really involved in things, we’re helping them out like learning. We want to make sure that we give them a really good experience to get to see all these different sides of being on a film set.
I think if you can, if you can find someone and you can do that through TIVA, and WIF will help you do that? Oh, and don’t let me forget the 48-hour Film project is another fantastic way to start learning what it’s like to be on set and learning about the craft. They have at the beginning of each year, the DC and Baltimore ones, they have like a little filmmaker Happy Hour get together, where you can go meet people and find a team to be on. Even if you’re just like, “Hey, I’ll help out with anything” or while you’re writing it that first night, “Can I just sit in and watch so I see how this works?” I think there’s no harm in asking people to let you to let you watch to let you learn from them to sort of help you bring you along. And I think a lot of people in this area are willing to do that.
Where else can people find you if they want to follow you and get more information about The Strangle of Ivy and your future projects with Tarakata films and all about you?
Sure. So www.Ivyshort.com is where to get on the Kickstarter. And then for me, you can go to Tarakatafilms.com. And if you go to Tarakatafilms.com/newsletter, you can sign up for my newsletter and you’ll get information about the projects that we’re working on and sort of keep up to date with us. You can also find me at @TarakataFilms on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. And apparently now on tick tock
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