Revolutionizing the Conversation about Mental Health: Meet Filmmaker Ella Greenwood

[UNPUBLISHED:] I know you began as an actor, so what led you to want to become a filmmaker? How have movies played a role in your life? 

[ELLA:] I've had an agent and I've been auditioning from a quite young age. When I turned 18, I felt the need to have more control over my career. I wanted to be able to create work and choose projects that I loved and I was passionate about. I thought the best way to do that was to try to make my own films, and everything developed from there. Films have always played such an important part in my life, I don't know how to describe it, but watching films has always been my favorite thing to do. I love the atmosphere of going to the cinema and I love watching movies at home with friends and family too.

[UNPUBLISHED:] Your film company, Broken Flames Productions, is built on the premise of “telling important stories”. How does Faulty Roots (and how will Self Charm) represent who you are and what you’ve experienced?

[ELLA:] In particular, what I'm passionate about and what I want to focus on with my work is mental health. The short version of Faulty Roots focuses on a main character that has depression, and now we're in development to create a feature version that's going to focus on her even more, and then Self Charm is going to be about self-harm. I want to have characters that feel real and that are amazing characters who happen to have mental illnesses -- their mental illnesses don’t take away from who they are, it's just a part of their lives. I want to try and promote that idea as much as possible.

[UNPUBLISHED:] I loved learning about your work with stem4. What do you think is lacking in conversations about Mental Health? What do you think we can do to address it?

[ELLA:] I think there's a lot lacking from the conversation. One thing that I love about stem4 is that they focus on early intervention. When I was in primary school (about the age of eight) I had no clue what mental health was, because it wasn't something that we talked about. I think the fact that stem4 is beginning conversations about mental health at a young age allows children to know what mental health is, and I think that's incredible. I also think it’s important to tell people that there is always help available; your relationship with your mental health doesn't have to be isolated, because there is support and there are so many other people who’ve experienced similar things. 

[UNPUBLISHED:] You seem to have always been very open about your struggles with mental health. How has your mental health affected your artistic process? How do you work with it?

[ELLA:] I think it helps to be open about it. With Faulty Roots I had more confidence because it was about something that I've experienced. I’m simply sharing what I've experienced, and no one can tell me that I didn't talk about it in the right way.

[UNPUBLISHED:] What do you like to do in your free time when you’re not working on your films? 

[ELLA:] I've been working a lot recently, and I feel so lucky that I'm in love with what I do, but when people ask me about a hobby that I have, I always think "oh, that's such a good question." It's not a hobby, but I make sure I spend time with my friends and family. Also, I would say watching films and television shows is another hobby of mine, it's what I do for work, and what I do in my free time!

[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you have any favorite films or television shows right now?

[ELLA:] I have quite a few. One of my favorite shows is This is Us, because I think it's so beautifully written. One of my favorite films is Inside Out, and I think Sadness is the cutest character ever. We watched the Mandalorian recently, and anytime Baby Yoda came on the screen me and my mom would have physical reactions -- it's so hard to explain but Baby Yoda is just so cute.

[UNPUBLISHED:] Who are your biggest inspirations both in terms of your art and your activism? 

[ELLA:] With films, I don't have a favorite person, because I love so many different people from so many different genres. A filmmaker I love is Mike Flanagan: he does Horrors like the Haunting of Hill House on Netflix. I think he's got a way of creating a unique atmosphere with his work, and I always get hooked to whatever he makes -- I think that goes to show you can learn so much from each different genre. As for activism, I think there are a lot of influences I've seen recently who have been so open about mental health and body image as well. I think that's so important because you can have incredible people who talk about mental health on a TED talk, but there’s also importance in the little things you see posted on Instagram -- the things that are infused into daily life that you see when you're not looking for them. So, I would say I admire anyone who is open and honest and who tries to promote positive mental health.

[UNPUBLISHED:] What are some of the challenges you’ve faced as a young female filmmaker, especially one whose work touches on “difficult” topics? 

[ELLA:] In all honesty, I've only experienced an incredible network of females in film; any female I've met has been so incredibly supportive. However, it is weird when you go to film festivals and there is a special bracket for female shorts or female films: it can be seen as good that we have our own category, but it also reinforces the idea that a female film is special as in it couldn't be considered with "normal" films. Right now, I'm in the process of hiring a DOP for my short. I looked at films I loved, and all the DOPs were male, but I wanted to have a female DOP. Luckily, I'm in contact with a few, but it shows that there are things that you don't notice in the larger picture, but when you look at things in detail, you realize how much work there is still to do and how it's still rather unequal. But, again, I've experienced so much support from so many amazing people, so I think I'm really lucky for that. 

[UNPUBLISHED:] I read the Huffington Post article you’re featured in where you talked about your love of writing and producing. What does your filmmaking process typically look like? 

[ELLA:] I think producing is something that you don't realize you're doing until you're doing it, because it's responding to emails, it's being in contact with different people, and it's doing random tasks. I think producing is quite hard to define because it's my life. Whereas with writing, I would set a day aside to simply focus on it. You know when you're writing more than you do when you're producing. I think producing takes up most of my time and writing comes in-between. 

[UNPUBLISHED:] What was your favorite part about making Faulty Roots? What was the most challenging part about making Faulty roots?  

[ELLA:] My favorite part is now. I shot it last December, and I've been in development for the feature for the past few months. I've gotten to work with some incredible people. I think it has been so rewarding, because at first I was so overwhelmed and I didn't think I could do it, so being able to look back on that process now feels amazing. I would say the hardest part was going from directing to acting. I just wanted to stay behind the camera, and it was quite hard balancing the two.

[UNPUBLISHED:] How do you think films should be used to address issues in society? How have you used your films to advocate for the issues you’re passionate about?

[ELLA:] I think a way that works well is when you do it so the audience doesn't realize it. With Faulty Roots, we promoted that it's about mental health, but I'd like to think that any work that I do is just a representation of a character. It's not about explicitly saying how long she's been depressed or why she's depressed, it's about the fact that she simply has depression. It's about awareness, but it's also about representation. I'm showing characters that have mental illnesses, rather than trying to shove a lot of information down the audience's throat. So, overall I think it's about gradually incorporating awareness and representation.

[UNPUBLISHED:] What will you do after Self-Charm? What can we expect to see from you in the future? What do you hope for people to take away from your films?

[ELLA:] There's so much that needs to be talked about with mental health, because each person will probably experience their mental health differently, especially in different countries and at different ages. I would love to continue with shorts because with a film that's six to ten minutes, there's a lot you can do. There's quite a big difference that you can make with that small amount of time, and you can send it to someone and say "please, it's only five minutes, give it a watch." So, yes, I'd love to continue to do shorts, because I think they're so powerful. I’m also looking forward to shooting the feature version of Faulty Roots.

[UNPUBLISHED:] What advice would you give to anyone looking to pursue their filmmaking ambitions? 

[ELLA:] I would say to just do it. That's probably not very helpful, but if you've got a phone, you can shoot things. Even if it doesn't come out great the first time, you're going to eventually be inspired by something that you've done, and you're also building up your experience. Right now, it's kind of difficult, because I don't know what the COVID-19 situations are in different places, but, before I would have said to ask film companies if you can help, even just as a runner. I would also say to watch films and watch shorts -- not many people like to watch shorts, but if you want to be a filmmaker, you will learn so much from watching them.

You can learn more about Ella Greenwood via her Instagram and Twitter. You can learn more about her upcoming projects on the Broken Flames Productions website.