Sean Carter, writer and director of the short Culebra (Spanish for snake) made his short as a prologue to a feature length script. The story follows a pregnant immigrant crossing into the US by crawling throw a series tunnels. As the film progresses you find that there is a lot more about her than it seems on the surface. The budget was $15,000, which was a stretch due to the expenses associated with the film stock, transportation, and myriad other elements. I was unable to cover this inspirational film in the full Slamdance article I did this month, but I did have a chance to interview Sean before the new issue went out. As such, MFM Editor, Jeremy Hanke, decided to print this interview as a standalone piece.
1. This short is written as a prequel or preface to a larger script that you have written, correct? Which came first?
The short film of Culebra was first written to be the prologue to my feature length screenplay. After I finished writing that script, I thought, "okay, I'm excited about this - but its so dependent on the execution of its visuals - how do I get people to read it, and more importantly, how do I get them to see it." I've found that people, especially strangers, don't normally like to kill half their day reading your ninety page screenplay. Watching a movie is fun. But reading a script, even with the most punchy writing possible, feels a little bit like reading stereo instructions. It feels even worse when you're reading a lot of description...ironically, the most cinematic part.
So, when preparing to release this script, showing potential investors part of the movie seemed like a good way to whet their appetite and communicate the visual tone. And I've already had twenty times more interest in the screenplay now that I've completed the short.
2. The film was in Spanish, though you speak English primarily. What was it like to direct in actors in a language you are not fluent in?
Making a movie entirely in Spanish when I don't speak the language myself was a little challenging, but hardly insurmountable. (The feature length script follows an American woman whom we meet after the prologue, so there is a good deal of English spoken later on.) But the prologue I shot for the short is far more visual than dialogue oriented - and the little dialogue there is was originally written by me in English - so I always knew the essence of what the actors were saying. It wasn't hard to go from "help me, please" to "ayuda me, por favor." And the actors were always helpful in explaining any nuances they wanted to improvise.
3. Can you explain the tunnels that you built in your driveway?
The storm drain pipes the migrants crawl through were built out of air-conditioning vents which we put together in my driveway. My producer, Mike Fiore, built wood frames to support them, and we spent days painting them to look like rusted muddy storm drains.
I was pretty much the only crew member who fit into the pipes, they were as narrow as 18 inches in places, so there were times when I had to be the camera operator. With barely any room for the camera and myself, there were a few occassions where it was so tight I couldn't even see the performance as it was happening.
4. The movie has twists in it. As a viewer you find the sympathies changing as more information is revealed about the heroine. How far back did your write or conceive her backstory? (Illegal vampires transporting drugs across the border.) And will this storyline be played out further in your script?
The prologue has a lot of twists as it builds the mystery behind one particular character, La Culebra, the villain of the entire movie. The feature script picks up after the prologue on the introduction of the lead character, an American woman running from the law, sneaking her little boy into Mexico.
Having seen the short film, or read the prologue, the audience will know that the movie is going to be about the collision between this American woman, clearly out of her element, and this mysterious villain we met in the prologue/short film.
