The most intriguing movies are often those that focus on material that many people avoid thinking about in their daily lives. Up-and-coming filmmaker, Zoey Sidwell, has made such a project in a compelling and engaging way in the new short, ‘Travel Plans.’

For her first experience in directing, the actress-turned-filmmaker chose a project that suited those sensibilities. Krista Amigone wrote the drama’s script, which Sidwell immediately connected with after she read it.

Besides helming the movie, Sidwell also served as a producer, along with Rachel Stander and Tracy Clifton. In addition to penning the screenplay, Amigone also starred in the short as the main character, Erin, alongside Jared Boghosian and Sean Michael Boozer.

‘Travel Plans’ follows Erin, a bride-to-be, on her wedding day. Before the ceremony can begin, she must extricate herself from an unfortunate entanglement in order to honor her vows.

‘Travel Plans’ screened on Friday, July 18 at the LA Shorts International Film Festival. In honor of the drama playing at the festival, Sidwell generously took the time before the screening to talk about directing and producing the drama during an exclusive interview over Zoom.

Film Factual (FF): You made your directorial debut on the new short film, ‘Travel Plans,’ which was written by written by Krista Amigone. What was it about the script that convinced you to helm the drama? How did you approach directing the movie?

Zoey Sidwell (ZS): Well, I come from an acting background. I wanted to try my hand at directing because I thought it might be fun. So this was a big experiment for me, because I wasn’t sure if I’d like it once I did it.

So I reached out to my network to see if anybody had an unproduced script that they wanted to produce and that they trusted me to direct. I saw several, and this particular script stood out to me because I like things with a twist. (Sidwell laughs.)

I knew that the limitations that I had. I needed to make something that’s affordable, since I was producing it myself. It wound up being a blessing. I knew that the writing, and the story itself, had to be the most interesting part. I wasn’t going to dazzle anyone with the location or special effects; I just didn’t have the budget for that.

Again, this project was just for me to get my feet wet as a director. This was perfect to do that because a lot happens emotionally in the script’s three and a half pages, and I liked that. That made the story king, which is what it should be on a project like this.

FF: Speaking of the producing aspect, you also served as a producer on the short. What was the experience like to work with your fellow producers on getting the film made?

ZS: I think that’s the nature of indie filmmaking, where you do everything. I’m sure that the people at Marvel have 70 million people to do things. (Sidwell laughs.)

But when you’re making things on a shoestring budget, you do a little bit of everything. That was a great experience for me. I had produced little scenes for my acting reel in the past, but I’ve never taken this on with a professional crew.

So this experience was great. I was able to do everything. I was able to be a location manager and location scout. (Sidwell laughs.) So I got to do everything.

We didn’t really have a full crew; there was just a small group of us, so everybody pitched in, and I was impressed by that.

Somebody gave me the advice early on that when you’re making such a small independent project, people are either all in or all out. I found out that the people who are all in just jump in and fill in, and I did the same.

I got to learn a lot about pre-production. The shoot day was also so informative, as weas post-production. I had was involved in every possible area on the production, and that was so eye-opening and great.

FF: Speaking about the location scouting, how did you determine where you would shoot the drama?

ZS: I wound up basically driving a lot to find the right location. (Sidwell laughs.) We wanted a driveway outside a nice home. So I wound up just going on Gigster and making appointments with a bunch of people. That way, I was able to see what could work and what wouldn’t work.

For example, sometimes a location was perfect overall, but it was right by a highway. The noise there would have been impossible to deal with.

In other instances, you couldn’t move the camera in different directions. The different angles had completely different views.

Then I wound up narrowing it down to my top three locations. My DP (Director of Photography), Marilyn Flores, who’s wonderful, came along with me to visit the locations. She did her thing to measure the light and angles.

Then we settled on the location that’s in the movie because we thought it would be quiet. It was in a cul-de-sac, so we also thought it had the right exterior. It was very close to what I had in my brain when I read the script.

FF: Speaking of working together on the cinematography, how did you collaborate with Marilyn to determine how you wanted to visually shoot ‘Travel Plans?’

ZS: The collaboration was great for me because at the time, I did not have fancy shop list software. I’m not sufficiently skilled as a drawer to do storyboards. (Sidwell laughs.)

So I wound up creating a Word document on Google Drive with images I found on ShotDeck with verbal descriptions. I basically said, “This is this, and that is that.”

I then literally drew with my little pencil a rectangle with wheels to represent cars. I put little arrows of where I wanted the camera and angles. (Sidwell laughs.)

I then took a picture of it and gave it to her. I thought I was doing her a disservice by giving her something that was so low grade.

But she’s fantastic. I was like, “Hey, let’s talk about this, if things are unclear.” She looked at the little drawings, ShotDeck pictures and written descriptions that I did. She looked at everything and was like, “I got it!” I was like “Great!” (Sidwell laughs.)

That’s the job of the DP – they can translate very well when they’re skilled, and she’s so talented. I was very lucky to have found her.

FM: Krista Amigone, Jared Boghosian and Sean Michael Boozer star in the movie. How did you decide which actors would be the best fit for the short?

KS: Well, before I met up with Krista, I looked at her materials online. She’s accomplished quite a bit. She’s a great actor, and is also a wonderful writer. She has also directed before.

So by looking at her work, I got a sense of her acting and work. So when we started working together on finalizing the draft on ‘Travel Plans,’ I said to her, “I don’t know if you’re interested in playing Erin?”

She was like, “Yes! I also happen to have my wedding dress, and it still fits me.” I was like, “Great!”

Without giving too much away, the person who plays Jack had to have certain physical attributes that would match Krista. So I asked her if she knew anyone who would match what we needed on a physical level. She had Jared, who plays Jack, in mind. They had worked together in the past, so I thought it would make for nice chemistry on set, and it was.

Then when I looked at her materials, I saw Sean Michael Boozer, who plays Ben in ‘Travel Plans.’ I didn’t know that she knew him. We had a mutual friend in common, and we didn’t even know about it. (Sidwell laughs.)

I’ve known Sean for years, and I’ve been a fan of his work. So it just felt natural to include him. He has a very limited role, but it was perfect! (Sidwell laughs.)

FF: Once the actors signed on star in the movie, how did you work together to create the characters and overall story together?

ZS: I had a rehearsal in my home. Since I come from an acting background, I wanted to see what the actors brought before I said anything. Sometimes actors’ instincts are just spot on in a way that, looking at it from a technical view, doesn’t work.

So they came over and rehearsed it a bunch of times. What they brought was great. Then I just wanted to see what it was like to give them adjustments based on what I wanted to tell. They were so open to feedback.

They were also so great working together because they’d known each other before the shoot. They were just ready to play, which is really what you want as a filmmaker.

I think my job as a director was to just to make sure they felt comfortable playing and experimenting on the day on the set. So for me to accomplish that, I wanted them to just bring what they bring naturally.

Then I would see if I even needed to be involved So I would give directions when needed, and they would just take it on.

I think I just got really lucky with the actors because they’re fantastic, and that was just good luck! I’m very pleased with their performances. (Sidwell laughs.) They gave me a lot to work with in the editing room.

FF: ‘Travel Plans’ screened on July 18 at the LA Shorts International Film Festival. What does it mean to you that the drama played at the festival?

ZS: Oh, it (was) great! Since this was this big experiment for me, my expectations were very low. (Sidwell laughs.) You don’t know when you make a film if anyone will accept it, let alone the programmers and audience at a prestigious festival like LA Shorts.

So I feel grateful and lucky that I had the right cast and crew, which make or break a film. My job is to be a project manager, but if you don’t have the right cast and crew, then my job doesn’t matter. I feel like they’re the real stars. I’m happy that we worked on this project together, and that we can now share it together at festivals.