THE MAKING OF 'HOT OFF THE PRESS'

Each of these MeOhMy shorts are 1/6 of a set of experimental pieces testing a different component of film making.

This film is No. 3 of 6.

The goal of this piece was to experiment with location.


This was a brief, fun, whacky experimental piece we shot (somewhat unbelievably) in my living room.
I wanted to see if I could tell an entire story with only one location; how far could I push a complete narrative within one very tight frame?

I originally wanted to shoot this entire short on as small a set as possible (to really challenge myself as a storyteller) so the initial concept was to shoot it in an elevator. In the OG concept, an elevator was going to get stuck, and the characters in the space were going to harass the young lady with a barrage of painfully sexist questions.

I've always loved badass elevator moments in film. I think elevators give us a glimpse of someone hitting pause on who they are for 30 or so seconds while the lift carries them to their next moment. Lifts always feel like the perfect 'real-time' picture frame.

The problem with the lift concept was the visuals. A lift is dull. Even if the characters are interesting, the space itself is pretty bland. For a lift concept to slap, you need;

-a great set up (what are the characters waiting for/heading to? What's the emotion carrying them to their next moment? See Ocean's Eleven, North by North West, Baby Driver, etc)

as welll as

-a great look (iconic shit only- Rushmore, Grand Budapest Hotel, Pulp Fiction, etc)


My initial idea fell down because a two minute short that starts and ends in a lift doesn't have the set up it needs to carry the weight of waiting. 

After seeing a Gucci press conference campaign for eyewear, I decided it would be more visually interesting to make the 'maddening crowd' an actual bunch of press/journo's, and make the young girl a 'starlet' of some kind. I opted to make the space a dressing room rather than a conference space, so we could make it a bit more stylised. 

Years ago, I was on set assisting a Big Commercial Photographer™️, and feeling very excited / nervous about it. I spent most of the day struggling to carry gear and asking questions I got no answers to (at best, a disappointed eye roll). I remember I dropped a heavy piece of gear + it made loud, embarrassing ‘clunk’ on set in front of twenty or so people. After, I overheard one camera lad say to the other, ’that’s why women belong in wardrobe.’ And they laughed and I snuck off to the bathrooms to have a quiet cry. This happened a bunch of times on set. And each time, I did what most women get told to do- I shelved it. 

‘Don’t let anyone see you cry- they won’t take you seriously.’

A lot has changed in the ten years since I started running around sets and getting coffees for Big Commercial Photographers™️. I’ve survived job losses and discrimination (depressing), a boss who once looked up my skirt in front of a team of people (humiliating), shoots being torn up in front of my face (humbling), and many, many assholes telling me my work was simply ‘not good enough’ (necessary). So I made a silly short about how satisfying it might be to let loose on some of this stuff.

The tone of this piece came about after I had a social outing last year where I was reminded of what it was like to be popped in a very specific box (again) + Not Taken Seriously™️ because I was a girl. I’d also just seen Joker, and was kind of obsessed with the visuals from that. So I figured it’d be hilarious to do a bit of a female piss take of that film. After a few um’s and ah’s, I ultimately went with quotes that have actually been said to me over the years.


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