Interview: "Good Kisser" Director Wendy Jo Carlton
In Good Kisser, an adventure seeking couple finds a third person to participate in their lives – and that is all we know. The mystery prevails for the viewers from that moment onwards. Screened at the Seattle Film Festival, director Wendy Jo Carlton spoke about her film, now available on Apple TV and Google Play.
Only five people appear on camera in this feature length film. It does make it easier with the work process but harder in keeping the story engaging. How does someone successfully write an interesting tale with few characters?
When revising the script, I made sure that each scene has some new emotional or factual information in it. The plot of Good Kisser is not just “will they or won’t they?”, but “how exactly will they and what happens next?”. And since this is about real-time chemistry and physical and mental attraction in a lesbian menage a trois, the premise already holds intrigue. So, the 80 minute movie takes place mostly in one house, but as long as there is a desire revealed, a fear revealed, or a character is vulnerable in a relatable way in every scene, the audience is pulled in and feels invested. And it is erotically engaging for sure.
You filmed Good Kisser in Seattle, and it was given a lovely screening slot at the Seattle Film Festival. How was your process of filming outside London / LA and getting funding? Asking because we are going to see many more films made outside of those markets after COVID-19.
Independent film is being made all over the place, and there is no set template for how to get my movies made. In fact, I’ve directed three features and two seasons of my lesbian web series Easy Abby, and those were all shot in Chicago or Seattle, with the exception of the second half of Easy Abby S2, which we shot in Los Angeles, but funding had nothing to do with that. Good Kisser early funding helped get the movie up and running, but the source was an individual investor who saw that I could produce high-quality content on a micro-budget, so the risk was much lower. Other projects most of my funding has come from Kickstarter and IndieGoGo campaigns, event fundraisers, and personal loans. So I’m comfortable moving ahead to future projects because I’m used to having to “make it work, by modifying my script or vision accordingly, and still getting new work made.
With films going right to iTunes for the time being and possibly forever, what is the value of film festivals as the world changes?
Film Festivals are vital to local/regional arts and culture and building community bridges, not to mention for filmmakers being able to soak up others work, get inspiration, validation, and just be able to feel less isolated and to network in actual movie theaters. There tends to be an informal and accessible, positive vibe at most film festivals, and I really love that. If anything, I think the value of film festivals, especially those that are NOT catering to mainstream and capitalistic sensibilities, will be even greater.
In deciding how to market your film at an indie level, how do you know your target audience? Knowing then, how do you sell the film to them without a studio’s backing?
Welp, this is always the hardest part! More and more, it’s all about Marketing budget$, so if you don’t have that, you need to have a decent social media following, but if you don’t have that, you have to go back to the money part and find funds to pay the relevant social media influencers to review and/or promote your movie. It does help that Good Kisser is on Amazon Prime and AppleTV, as well as Google Play and Vudu. AppleTV listed it as “new and noteworthy.” Sometimes all it takes is a bit of traction in a few key places to create buzz and more sales, which is the strategy with this movie.
Have you ever felt attracted to more than one person in any given moment? Is that what made its way into the script idea?
Of course! I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to enjoy lots of attractions, fleeting and otherwise. That’s what my web series Easy Abby is partially about. I love the experience of having strong chemistry with another woman, enjoying an organic pull, that intrigue and delight that awakens all the senses. I find it to be a wonderful thing. Good Kisser is an ode to that experience, but it’s also about learning to trust your instincts when something feels “a bit off” in a relationship.
Because your film’s story is set up to be really unknown to viewers other than how it is about two women wanting more, what can you say to encourage people to want to see the movie? The last time I remember this was a 90’s Jennifer Aniston comedy in the newspaper with ads refusing to tell us what the story was about. Mystery can work in your favor.
Well, if I could have Jennifer Aniston in my next movie, that’s what it would be “about” hahaha… I would actually love to work with her. But the synopsis for Good Kisser is pretty clear to me at least. It’s about Jenna, the protagonist, agreeing to try a threesome because she wants to please her girlfriend, Kate. Kate is like a kid in a candy store for about an hour though, as egos, insecurities, and secrets start messing with her fantasy. That’s why the tagline is “Careful what you wish for.”
People on the web really like that the love scenes you created are done respectfully. I asked someone else this same question recently and would like to know your view since everyone is different. How would you describe the right way to direct love scenes with making the audience comfortable? What precisely makes one feel a scene is “for the male gaze?”
It’s important to remember that the actors are a big part of the equation, when making romantic and erotic movies that have scenes of a sexual nature. We pretty much shot on location what I had described in the last version of the Good Kisser script. I wrote down a shot list for the first sex scene, knowing that I wanted to combine natural flow and “real time” sounds of them talking to each other and removing clothing, with what then becomes a montage of close and medium shots. So that’s part of the more “technical” answer to your question.
When directing a love scene, I do know that ideally, I want to be able to have as much time as possible with the actors, to rehearse and to choreograph the scene, without any cameras or crew around. And before that, if time is limited as it often is with micro-budget independent films, it’s important to talk privately with each actor and find out what they are/are not comfortable doing, and what they are comfortable with regarding levels of undressing. It’s important to be very explicit in describing to the actor what the audience will see, or not see, in terms of full or partial body images. For example, I might say, “Like the script outlines and if you’re still okay with it, the next shot will be the camera floating from the bed sheet, over your arm and left shoulder, and then down your back, and the camera will pan off before we see any butt cleavage or buttocks…” Then once we are lit and ready to shoot, I like to limit the number of takes we do for a love scene, both for the comfort of the cast, and the freshness of the performances.
With the too-common-in-mainsteam-cinema “male gaze,” a female character is often seen solely as a “sex/romance object” for the male protagonist. And she doesn’t have much of an interior life, or complex personality, while he male character enjoys more power, as the person who gets to choose and to act in the story. In Good Kisser, the story I wrote is about power imbalance, but the balance shifts several times from scene to scene and coupling to coupling. In addition, the goal of the protagonist, Jenna, is to please her lover and to explore something new, more than it is to “get the girl” as a conquest.
If people in a century view Good Kisser, what do you hope it tells them about our time period?
The thought that people will watch Good Kisser a hundred years from now makes me really happy! Hopefully, the characters will be examples of what free, powerful, and self-determined women can look like, who aren’t afraid to make mistakes, or to be a fool for love. Lord knows humans will still be doing both things forever.
