Bricks by Brick – Interviews with the Storytellers Behind the Screen
From the art and craft of making TV and movies to navigating the business side of the industry, Bricks by Brick highlights the hard-working people who are the cornerstones for bringing these stories to life.
By: Kelly Jo Brick
Film Spotlight: Award-Winning Director Christine Swanson OnGetting Your Start As A Filmmaker
Life can take unexpected paths. For writer and director, Christine Swanson (Albany Road), that unexpected turn for her future happened in college. She was a finance major, a career path she thought could help her find a good job. Then during her freshman year at Notre Dame, Spike Lee came talk about one of his films. In listening to him speak, Swanson realized that making movies could be a career option, something she hadn’t even considered before.
Inspired by Spike Lee’s talk, Swanson promptly changed her major and began her pursuit to become a filmmaker. Graduate studies took her to film school at NYU where in her last year, Spike Lee was her directing teacher. She’s developed, written and/or directed projects for Universal Television, BET Films, Starz, HBO Films and many others, and has directed episodes of shows including Chicago P.D., Found, FBI and All American.
Swanson shared her advice and experiences on growing your career in entertainment and taking the jump to make your own films.
HOW DID YOU FIND YOUR VOICE AS A WRITER, DIRECTOR AND FILMMAKER?
Once I learned the production aspects of storytelling at NYU, we had to put those skills to work and make a lot of short films. So in making a lot of short films, I started to figure out my voice. The thing that really motivated me then, and still does now, was the ability to tell stories about Black people in a way that resonated with me on an emotional level.
I noticed that it wasn’t something that happened a lot and I thought if I can contribute to the space of this kind of storytelling that it was worth my efforts going forward. So that was always the motivation, and I’m still aiming for that every time at bat of whatever project I’m trying to do, is elevate the stories of the voices of the people that I grew up with, that raised me, that look like me growing up, also while elevating the texture of humanity. No matter who I worked with, no matter what ethnic background they came from, that color ceased to be the objective and aiming for humanity became the higher calling.
AS A STORYTELLER, HOW DO YOU CAPTURE RICH EMOTION THROUGH A CHARACTER IN A WAY THAT AUDIENCES CAN CONNECT QUICKLY?
That’s the alchemy that one tries to create as a filmmaker. I think that the goal of every storyteller or director or filmmaker is what do I need to do to elevate what’s on the page in a way that connects emotionally with audiences, because that’s what audience members are looking to experience. They’re looking to experience a journey they can go on that somehow opens up their eye gate, ear gate, heart gate in a way that they had not anticipated and that makes them somehow more informed or more lifted in a way that they weren’t before.
That’s my roundabout way of saying I don’t know what the answer to that is. I know that I’m constantly in pursuit of that answer. I’m often inspired to do things and I’m like what can I do with this inspiration? Then it’s about seeing different variables and adding that. Okay, if I added that, wow, it goes here. What if I take that out and added these? Okay, that’s different. So it’s the alchemy of finding the right pieces in a right project with the right people to create a story that kind of radiates with purpose.
WITH THE CURRENT STATE OF THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY, WE HEAR A LOT OF RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PEOPLE TO MAKE THEIR OWN PROJECTS. WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR FIRST-TIME FILMMAKERS?
Here’s the thing, you don’t have to be young to be starting out. There are a lot of mid-career level filmmakers. What I would say is this, if you’re inclined and inspired and moved to create in this space, 
then do it. Now you have to count the cost, because “do it” could be a $50,000 short film. If you can manage that, then do it. You’ll soon come to learn what comes with doing that is raising money, dealing with union organizations, post production. And now I finished this film, how do I get people to see it? Now you’re doing marketing.
So when I say count the cost, there’s so much involved, but usually that ends up being a great education. So it’s like do it, so that on the other side of it you’re going to have learned something. You might be in debt, but you’re going to learn something.
Absolutely you have to go for it and to see what you’re made of and then decide what the next step is. But here’s the thing, if you don’t know what you can do, then you don’t know what’s possible. If it’s within your means to make it work and do it, then I always say go see what you’re made of because you may discover, wow, I really suck as a filmmaker or I need to keep working on my craft or I’m not quite cut up to be a director. Maybe I’m an editor or I really love the DP part of this more.
So you don’t know what you don’t know until you go for it and try it.
YOU MENTION COUNTING THE COSTS WHEN CONSIDERING MAKING YOUR OWN SHORT FILM, CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THAT?
In terms of counting the costs, if you’re finding out like I can’t juggle this and take care of my kids and pay my bills and now my wife hates me. So count the cost and see what you’re made of and then decide what’s prudent.
If it’s just you, go for it. The world is your oyster. You can do whatever you want because nobody’s beholden to you for their welfare. But if you got people who are beholden to you for their welfare, you got to go about it differently and make sure that you prioritize what needs to be prioritized. And making a movie or a short film when you can’t pay the light bill, I would question your priorities and your wisdom.
WHAT THINGS SHOULD FILMMAKERS CONSIDER BEFORE THEY TAKE THAT LEAP INTO MAKING A PROJECT, ESPECIALLY WITH SHORT FILMS?
What’s your goal? What do you want to do? What do you want to prove? Is it that I can do this and I’m a good storyteller and I want to get a job in the industry? Then you do it and you’ve got to get eyeballs on it. Hey, maybe I can get an agent. If the goal is to go farther, then you got steps ahead that you can follow that’s going to make sense. If your intention is to do all of that and then you have a bad film, then doesn’t matter what your goals are. You’re not going to get the attention that you hope with the intention of doing this.
So going back to counting the cost, and the reason why I say that, again for people who have responsibilities, is it’s not sustainable if it’s not sustainable. You can either learn the hard way or you can listen to wisdom from people who’ve already done it. If you have no responsibilities and can manage to do it without starving other people and yourself, why not? That gets into the arena of going after your dreams and I’m a big believer in that. But once I decided to go to film school, I wasn’t going after my dreams. I was actually investing in an education to go after a job or a career.
I stopped calling it dreams the minute it cost me money to learn this. If I went to medical school to be a surgeon, is it a I dream of being a surgeon? Yes, but now I’m taking practical steps to do it, so it’s not a dream so much. Now it’s a vocation. It’s a job. Depends on how you look at it, depends on how you structure it, but it’s a long game sometimes. So it’s be in it for the long haul.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR WRITERS AND DIRECTORS WHEN IT COMES TO FILM FESTIVALS?
Network. These festivals have so many panels and industry people there. To me, it’s education in a cool venue. There’s a lot you can learn. If you know nothing, start going to festivals. Start meeting people. I’ve met people at festivals who, 10 years later, have hired me when they were executives at studios.
So it’s the networking part of it that’s key and the education part of how the business works and it’s the understanding of the artistry and the craft, because you get to meet writers, directors, actors and editors and DPs and crew people. So that’s what film festivals are for, is to elevate your knowledge base while you are making contacts.
HOW CAN A DIRECTOR GROW SKILLS IN WORKING WITH ACTORS AND FOSTERING THE GROWTH OF THOSE RELATIONSHIPS AND PERFORMANCES?
I always say if you’ve never taken a class as an actor or taken a directing actors class, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Part of it is understanding how to communicate with actors in the language that they speak. If you don’t know the language they speak, then you’re gonna get less nuanced performances, and/or the actors will have to direct themselves, which a lot of actors will do because they’re used to doing that. It’s really about raising your knowledge base so that you know how to communicate and articulate the directions and adjustments that actors need to do their jobs.
ANY LAST ADVICE FOR THOSE WHO ARE LOOKING TO BREAK IN AS A FILMMAKER, AS A DIRECTOR?
I always say make sure you have something to say if you want to be a storyteller. If you want to be a journeyman TV director, it doesn’t hurt to have something to say, but it helps to have tools so you can tell other people, and articulate to other people, what you need. So study the craft.
Kelly Jo Brick is a TV crime, mystery and procedural writer. A Sundance Fellow and alum of the Women In Film’s Writer/Showrunner Mentoring Circle, Kelly Jo is also the Vice Chair of the WGA Genre Committee. She wrote the Telly Award-winning film, PAUSE, and the Frank Lloyd Wright documentary, The Jewel in the Woods. Follow her on Bluesky @kellyjobrick.bsky.social
