Shannon Washington greets everyone with a bright smile, generous hand wave, and a sincere “Hey!”. Her enthusiasm, sincerity, and intensity comes through in her writing and directorial debut on her short film Liberty’s Hollow—a unique perspective on politics and the digital age. She came up with the concept for her short film one week after taking a networking class on film. It was there where she met and assembled a team of actors, a cinematographer, and producer. We sat down over Sushi and discussed her background, interests, goals, and her new film.
Q: When did you begin writing scripts?
A: I started writing back in grammar school. Imagine a kid inspired by Punky Brewster’s style, with wire braces, mouth full of colorful rubberbands, eager to stay afterschool to do more “work”, as part of a creative writer’s club. I was all kinds of nerdful, but that’s where I learned the fundamentals of storytelling. I learned to write scripts in college, around 2002, when I joined University of New Hampshire’s (UNH) Wild Acts Social Change Theater Troupe. This is where I got to do scripts specifically for skits and plays we’d put on throughout the year.
Q: When did you begin writing scripts?
A:I started writing back in grammar school. Imagine a kid inspired by Punky Brewster’s style, with wire braces, mouth full of colorful rubberbands, eager to stay afterschool to do more “work”, as part of a creative writer’s club. I was all kinds of nerdful, but that’s where I learned the fundamentals of storytelling. I learned to write scripts in college, around 2002, when I joined University of New Hampshire’s (UNH) Wild Acts Social Change Theater Troupe. This is where I got to do scripts specifically for skits and plays we’d put on throughout the year.
Q: What drew you to it?
A: I was approached by the program organizer, I don’t know, probably in line getting some food at the Student Union building called the MUB. They asked, if I wanted to be a part of theater team on social change. I’m from the inner city of Boston, MA, so to me, it sounded like some hippy shit, but the draw was the stipend, free food, and on top of, it I got a chance to write stories—a win all the way around. To my surprise, it wasn’t that “hippish”. I would credit my time with the troupe as what really helped me dive into the different ways of how to tell a story, and grasp how to turn something serious into something more palatable. We had to come up with a bunch of different scenarios based on issues within society and conflicts within college experiences. A big part of it was the summer freshmen orientations. We’d put on a show for incoming students to address topics of college life. Basically, we had to inform and educate them, but write it in a way, to keep it from being boring, or coming off too corny. That was the challenge. So we used humor and our most eloquent form of “French” when writing; that helped keep it all realistic.
Q: Was there a certain aspect of that process you were drawn to?
A: I was drawn to the process in itself, so basically the brainstorming and then generating the story, coming up with the characters; that still really pumps me up. Just the ability to create a unique story, starting from a blank page, and turning it into a journey is really empowering.
Q: Would you say you’re a better writer or actor?
A: I’m mad awkward, so probably a writer.
Q: Do you think it’s important to have training or education in writing scripts?
A: I think people can have a natural ability, but some type of training or class can definitely help you to tell a story better and more concise. As with anything, educating yourself in some form is always going to help to sharpen your skillset, but I really feel you don’t have to go and get a full-fledged degree or major credential to become a great storyteller.
Q: Did you take any courses or workshops?
A: I find that throughout my life I’ve taken “classes” through my experiences. I’ve learned a lot outside the classroom. My first job ever, at 15, was at Boston University within the Geddess Language Center. They have a huge internal international film library, which help students learn a foreign language with use of subtitles. My job was to watch all the films, timestamp, and summarize the film at specific intervals so students could pick up where they left off if they didn’t finish a film in one sitting. I did this during high school and into my college summer and winter breaks. This taught me so much within film in general. When I had to summarize the film, I had to understand what was going on within the film, even if it was a foreign film. There were films from Japan, France, Italy, Nigeria-everywhere-and I had to literally sit there, in the days before Google and Wikipedia, and understand the context of the film. This also helped me to understand a story from the lens of another culture. I did take a course as well in my senior year in college—a film history class. The instructor was a huge movie buff; he challenged us to rewrite many cult classics in our own way, like the biopic, Raging Bull with Robert De Niro. I re-wrote it as being told from the perspectives of both his wives, from their point of view and how they experienced his [Jake LaMotta’s] downward spiral. After college, I took a workshop at Northeastern University with Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters); he really got me into just writing stories for exercise. He became my mentor for a little while. We would email back and forth, and he’d encourage me and give me pointers on what I wrote; he even tried to get me into acting. I was like “nah.”
Q: How do you balance demands of your full-time job, being a wife, etc. with your passion for writing and directing?
A: I’m still learning to balance all of that. It’s been a little tough. I’ve learned that there are a lot of moving parts to filmmaking. Pre through post ended many times so late at night (sometimes even early in the morning). But I feel like as time progresses, and I do it more, I’ll be able to find that balance.
Q: What are your favorite top 3 movies?
A: The Wizard of Oz, Eve’s Bayou, and Get Out. That’s my whole life—childhood was the Wizard
of Oz. My teenage years, it was Eve’s Bayou, and now as an adult, Get Out.
Q: If there’s something you could emulate from Get Out, what would it be?
A: The layers. That movie has so many layers to it that you have to watch it a number of times. You can watch it once and still be satisfied. But if you watch it a number of times, you will see different aspects of it. That’s what I really love about movies in general—when you have to really look into a story and see the fine details. My degree was in psychology, and I concentrated in communication. My senior thesis was on the media’s (film, TV, news cycle) influence on societal perspectives. Basically, the cycle of perception. What you learn within your own experience and what you see within media can shape society. That responsibility is so important. I’ve always tried to utilize my psychology degree in some way within my creative process. From a social psychological approach, if you understand things from the function of how humans think about each other and how they relate to each other, I find it can really help enhance the way you develop your characters and deliver the story. This is something I am still working on. But I think Peele really does that well. Which is really why I liked his film [Get Out]. He kept his characters realistic. And the way it turned out, where there are two distinct perspectives that can be taken away from the whole film; the audience can walk away understanding it totally different from each other. I think that’s so dope.
Q: When you’re writing a script, do you put more emphasis on audience reaction or the story you want to tell?
A: Both. I want a reaction; I want things to be a discussion. I want things to take place where people have to really think. I want some shock value to be incorporated.
Q: Let’s talk about Liberty’s Hollow. What do you want to share?
A: It’s a lite-thriller about a young married couple, who end up in a precarious situation based on a conversation between them in their living room.
Q: What message do you want people to take away from Liberty’s Hollow?
A: I want people to re-examine the Constitution and what “rights” mean, what “freedom” means.
Q: What did you learn from this experience of being writer and director?
A: I learned how to delegate and work as a leader of a team. I’m used to being part of a team from the role of a team player. As a graphic designer by day, I usually sit at my desk and do my part and send it off. I don’t have to interact with other people much. But within the role of film director, I got to work with a lot talented people and navigate their great skillsets to incorporate into the bigger idea. I enjoyed helping to pull out others’ strengths.
Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
A: I will be in a space where I will have my own strong brand—more film making, writing of course. I’d like to direct other films for other writers and vice versa, so, do some writing for some other directors to interpret. Just creating more content for people to analyze. I see myself with a good amount of IMDB credits down the line, but overall being a fulltime filmmaker.
Q: How do you want to be remembered as a filmmaker?
A: I want to be remembered as one who makes people stop and think; to have the ability to embody storytelling in a way where its meaningful and entertaining. To have an audience question: “What can I take away from what I just watched?”
Q: When you feel tapped out, and you just don’t want to keep creating, what inspires you to keep going?
A: I think back to my journey and my younger self, when I was trying to discover my purpose and what I wanted to accomplish in my life. I can’t let her down now that I have found it. Also, my faith in God. He’s the director of all things. He’s my director. I don’t want to let Him down either.
