Waco Independent Film Festival, or Waco Indie, is celebrating it’s tenth year with its biggest festival yet. Included in the annual festival is a screenplay competition. In it, filmmakers submit their unproduced screenplays and local theatre troupes present dramatic readings throughout the weekend.
The winners of the screenplay competition, awarded at the end of the festival, receive a production grant to return to Waco and produce that film. This allows them to film and produce their work right here in town. Last year, the grant went to Keaton Morris-Stan for the script, Gorgeous as You Are.
Keaton and her director, Nancy Nagrant, joined Friday Forum to talk about their film.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Molly-Jo Tilton: So first, Keaton, can you tell us a little bit about your screenplay, Gorgeous as You Are? What's it about and what inspired you to write it?
Keaton Morris-Stan: So it was originally inspired by the fairy tale of Snow White. I was working on a collection of modern twisted fairy tales, and I brought Nancy on very early into the process, and we sort of started working through the script.
Nancy Nagrant: So basically, the protagonist is a young woman. Like, it's you, it's your sister, your daughter, your granddaughter. And she goes to the local bar. She's looking for some attention. She just wants to be seen. You know, she wants to get a little validation, let's be honest. And she sees a really attractive guy. Things are looking up. And then her roommate shows up, her bestie. Oh, her bestie. And she's sort of endlessly beautiful and effortlessly charming. Social media influencer.
Morris-Stan: We all know that girl.
Nagrant: It's just the worst. And these two women end up competing against one another for this guy's attention. And while they're busy doing that with one another, sort of playing this game with one another, they fail to recognize that this guy is actually playing an entirely different game – a very dangerous game. And it leads to devastating consequences.
Wow. Well, I'm excited to eventually see this film. I know y' all won the production grant last year and you're in pre-production now for the film. When can folks expect to see film crews and actors in Waco for this? And are they going to recognize any locations?
Morris-Stan: Absolutely. So we're coming back in September, probably late September. We're still finalizing which dates, and we're location scouting actually right now while we're in Waco for the festival, looking for local bars to work with, to collaborate with. So we were also actually a recipient of Creative Waco's AMP Grant -
Nagrant: Artist matching program.
Morris-Stan: Yes. And so we're absolutely blown away by the support that we've been receiving from Waco Indie Film Festival, from Creative Waco,
Nagrant: from the Waco community in general.
Morris-Stan: Absolutely. And so we're looking to deepen our connections and find local business partners who want to be part of the storytelling, part of the film.
Nagrant: Local filmmakers as well.
What have those two grants – how has that changed this process for you? Has it made it easier? Has it made connections easier? Like, as someone who doesn't do films, explain to me how that helps.
Morris-Stan: Yeah. I mean, I think it makes all the difference. As a screenwriter, and also an actor and a producer, going to film festivals costs money. And showing up to a festival that supports you and not necessarily financially, but just supports the filmmakers. This “filmmaker forward,” we like to say, means everything.
But Waco Indie takes it a step further. And with this grant, this screenplay production grant, it launched us into the pre-production phase, which is something we were just waiting for, and we didn't even realize it.
Nagrant: Yeah. I mean, we had been talking about making the film for over a year, and we didn't have the money and we didn't know exactly how we were gonna fundraise. And so it was like seed, like an angel investor. And then, you know, we were raising on our own as well, individual donors. And then we got the Creative Waco grant, and it really. It solidified that we could shoot. Like, we could start to actually set dates and start hiring people.
I mean, it really does make all the difference, like Keaton said.
What does it mean to be able to return to Waco to produce this film?
Nagrant: I think I'm also blown away by the support that the community offers in the hospitality and the kindness, the generosity. So coming back to a film festival, being an alum of a film festival, is always wonderful because you get to see the folks again and deepen the connections that you already have. It's like you're building on relationships that you already have. So it's really great. And Louis in particular, one of the directors, he has been a great support to us, a real champion, and it's really, really meaningful.
Morris-Stan: I actually, I love the way he talks about this film too.
Nagrant: What does he say? He says it's a gut punch.
Morris-Stan: Yes, it packs a punch. It's a punch to the gut. And he talks about. He sees it so clearly, which is amazing to me, that he sees the call for empathy that the film asks of our audience.
Nagrant: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's a very dark film, but the hope and the light comes from the conversations afterwards and sort of us examining social media culture and really just like Lewis says, like, what do we actually owe one another as society, as humans?
