Erin: Was there anything that you felt like started you on the path to filmmaking that made you go, “Oh, this is what I want to do?”

Tiffany: There's a more definitive answer to that for when I decided that I wanted to be in film. When it came to being a screenwriter my path was a little more “loosey goosey”  because I was already a writer. It didn't occur to me for an embarrassingly long time that I could be a screenwriter, considering that I had been working in film for almost 10 years before I started screenwriting. However, I had been writing since I was about six years old.  

I decided that I wanted to be a filmmaker when I went to my first LGBT film festival. At that time, I had thought that I wanted to be a journalist. I thought that telling true stories about people was a really good way to affect change in the world. However, the stories that I wanted to write about weren’t the people that you read about in newspapers. You didn't hear about women who were rebellious and breaking societal norms and so that was really eye opening for me. Until that festival, I didn't know that you could tell stories about really cool queer activists. I was like “Oh, I could tell that kind of story right.” 

So I went to film school, but I was on a director and producer path. When I decided that I wanted to be a screenwriter, I just started writing stories that I wanted to make because I wasn't finding them otherwise. What was around me was just not interesting to me so I thought, “Okay, I have ideas. I can figure out how to make them into movies.” That has been the best thing ever; I can see myself doing this work until I die.

Tiffany: What excites you about being involved with this year's Visions Film Festival and Conference?

Erin: I love this question. For me, this is a homecoming as I was a student director of the first International Year of Visions. While I am not in the place or the role that I thought I would be- as it is my experience that things change a lot when you get into the real world and you're not a student anymore- my career path was profoundly shaped by Visions for the decade after I graduated. I did a lot of work in film festivals immediately after graduation because I had that experience. However, because Visions had prepared me in a way that nothing else in my undergraduate experience did, I believe I was a lot younger when I realized that I could do big projects. 

It is truly awe inspiring to come back and see how that program has grown. I am excited for the chance to share how I was able to apply those skills in the working world with the students both who are working on Visions and perhaps those who will do so in the future, as well as to talk to the general viewers for this festival. Visions is awesome, but even more so, it is a family that feels like it goes on forever.

Erin: What advice would you give to people who want to be directors, screenwriters, or producers?

Tiffany: Direct movies. Don't wait for somebody’s permission. Nobody really has to teach you how to direct, you can just pick up a camera and tell a story and you will be a director. This film might be terrible but that's okay, because there is nothing that says you make one bad film and you're out. Do it until you are as good as you want to be.

Similar to directing, writing is a practical skill, so you should write as often as you can. In order to get better, the first thing that I did is write as many scripts as I could. Then I decided that I wanted to get better at writing scripts, so I shifted from quantity to quality. However, in the beginning I would recommend that one just writes as much as possible. The second best advice I would give would be for someone wishing to be a screenwriter would be to read scripts.

If you want to be a producer, you need to be someone who likes people. A producer inherently fills the role of connector. I believe that the producer is the most collaborative member of any film team. You don't have to be an extrovert. I have been a producer, and I am not an extrovert. However, if you like working with teams, putting the best people together, figuring out how to get the best outcome for a creative project, then you're really well suited to becoming a producer. If you don't like doing that you should maybe think about a different role.

I have worked with really great producers and I hope that like them, when I serve as a producer, that I am really orchestrating greatness for the team. Regretfully, I have also worked with producers who were terrible and tyrannical and just created really toxic environments.  There is a lot of power in this role, therefore personally, I only want people who are good people to be producers.

Erin: Would you recommend that people read the scripts and watch the movie, or just focus on only reading the script?   Also, do you recommend that potential screenwriters focus on reading scripts of a specific genre that they want to write or read a wide variety of scripts? 

Tiffany: I think you get the most benefit just from reading screenplays whether or not you've seen the movie, but it is interesting to do both. However, there is an art that happens on a film set and nothing ever turns out the way that it did on a page and that can be interesting to understand and analyze. Asking was it a strong choice or would it have been better if they did it the way that it was originally written. This is clearly an analytical, intellectual exercise. While this can be beneficial if you want to know how to write better, just read scripts that have been bought. If it is good enough to get off the ground, then it is a good script to read.

As I write across genres, I read a lot of different genres of scripts. I would recommend that one should get a firm foundation, so reading generally is always beneficial- particularly as you never know when you might want to incorporate something from another genre.  However, if you want to work in a specific genre, I would focus on reading within that genre.

Erin: What do you think will help someone stand out in the crowd as a screenwriter?

Tiffany: If you want to stand out as a screenwriter, I first recommend understanding the mechanics of script writing. With the available software, anybody can master these mechanics.  However, strangely, there are a lot of people who don't do that basic step which will clearly make you stand out in the wrong way. To stand out in a good way in terms of your storytelling skills, you have to be able to make people care about your characters. To do this, there are a lot of different ways that screenwriters get into the minds of their characters. 

Two possible techniques would be to write long profiles on their character or write fake interviews with their characters. What you write on the page has to connect with others, but the first person that has to connect with is you. Therefore, tapping into that emotional authenticity is an imperative. If you can figure out a way to do that and to get it down on paper, then you're going to be head and shoulders above most people writing who are instead just sort of vomiting onto the page. 

Erin: So what would you consider to be the turning point in your career?

Tiffany: For me, this occurred when I got validation from the outside that at least confirmed to me that I should carry on. The first screenplay that I wrote, I made a short film. It was a very casual affair, we did it at my house with friends from town, and it was a great film. I couldn't get that story out of my head. The screenplay was only two pages, but there was something in the character that I just couldn't let go so. Almost a year later, I decided that I would try to write a feature based on that character. I spent six months writing a first draft of that feature, which wasn’t a thing that I thought I could do when I started. We did a table read and I got really great feedback. I did another draft of it, and then I thought, “Okay, so I'm going to call myself a screenwriter now.”  I am not delusional that my first script was the most brilliant thing that's ever been written, but it did place in the quarterfinals at the Austin film festival, which is one of a handful of really important competitions focusing on screenwriting. That, to me, was external validation, not from my friends or people I went to school with, but from an industry recognized event. This was a turning point.

Erin: What is the process to work as an indie screenwriter?

Tiffany: It can look at a lot of different ways. A lot of screenwriters write for-hire, which means a producer comes to you and says, “I have this idea. I’m going to pay you to write the script, and I'm going to own the script when you're done with it.” While this feels strange- as you will no longer own the rights to your writing- this is a big part of the way that the industry works right now. I am doing a couple of these projects. Both of those relationships with producers are really different. From my experience, I think that every one of these projects is probably a little bit different based on the needs and working styles of the company or the producer that you're working with.  

The other way that it can happen- that hasn't happened to me yet- is that somebody sees your script and says, “Oh, I want to make that, I'm going to buy that from you.”  The way that you can get your script in front of a lot of people is to enter them in competitions. Connections with producers and production companies are another way that that might happen, as well as having connections to talent who might be interested in your script. That's definitely something that I aspire to, but it hasn't happened yet.

The third option is that you just make the film, which is a road that I have been down. I just shot my first feature that I wrote and directed it over the summer. It is in post-production right now. It will be released on the festival circuit first and then a general distribution online which is one of the other ways to get your films seen. Above all, it is still an industry that is made up of who you know, or who wants to know you based on what you have created, so it is a pretty constant hustle.

Erin: Can you describe your typical day, particularly as it relates to screenwriting?

Tiffany: In addition to being a screenwriter and a parent, I have a day job in a totally unrelated field, so my writing day starts at five in the morning. I write for 2-3 hours before I start the rest of my day because if I don't do that, I will not be guaranteed any writing time. It is the best decision that I have ever made creatively, and in every other way, it is difficult. But it has allowed me to get a lot of writing done. After that, I have a normal workday, have family time, and then, often in the evenings, I will either have screenwriting groups or other creative meetings. The pandemic has been strangely beneficial because so much has moved online.  Due to this, I get to drop in on Women in Film meetings and attend virtual film festivals in a way that I haven't been able to in a while. In addition, I really try to keep up with movies and TV shows. All of that creates a full day after which  I fall into bed totally exhausted, setting the alarm to wake up again at 5 am.

To learn more about Tiffany, follow her on instagram: @tiffany.a.albright or check out her website, Tiffany-albright.com. To learn more about the film she’s currently working on, please check out ratthemovie.com