An Interview With Slippery Slope Director Sarah Schenck

We were fortunate enough to catch up with Slippery Slope director Sarah Schenck last week to discuss the experience of producing this very funny and sexy film.

Indiefilmchat: Tell us a little about your background and how you came to make Slippery Slope.

Sarah Schenck: I’m interested in both feminist thought and in sexuality. I’m from rural Pennsylvania and I grew up wanting to travel the world, and then save the world. My parents are Presbyterian and conservative Republicans and I love them very much but found some of my views rather at odds with theirs from an early age. They taught me much about whimsy and play and art and music. My mom made snowballs in January and kept them in the freezer so that we could have a snowball fight in July. That is good parenting.

I traveled the world, at least a little bit, from Bhutan to Brazil and Marrakesh to Mumbai. When I was at college, I worked as a maid in Paris so that I could study at the Alliance Francaise.

I worked for my Senator Arlen Specter on African aid issues; then worked for the United Nations Mineral Resource and Development Commission. I also volunteered with the Special Olympics and taught skiing and ice skating, later on worked as a tutor with the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club, did lots of precinct-walking for Democratic candidates, lectured on 15th and 16th century Flemish painting at the Met. Then I got to New York City and my ambitions changed.

Indiefilmchat: Why did you choose to treat the subject matter of sexual attitudes comically?

Sarah Schenck: I often wish I could watch a silly movie that would make me laugh, and make me think, and maybe even turn me on. So I thought I’d try making one myself.

Indiefilmchat: Do you think American sexual attitudes are an especially easy target for satire and comedy?

Sarah Schenck: Sure – though it would be hard to do a better job at satirizing American sexual attitudes than "Being There" in the scene where Chauncey is all hot and bothered, but then doesn’t have any idea what to do after the lights dim and the clothes start coming off.– so brownies are a nice way to say thank you to all the people and companies who have supported this movie.– then we transferred to HD. It costs a LOT more money to shoot on film. I love it. I’m still dream of shooting a feature on 35 mm, soon I hope!

Indiefilmchat: How long did it take you to make Slippery Slope?

Sarah Schenck: 85 years.

Indiefilmchat: How did you finance the production?

Sarah Schenck: I baked a lot of brownies for people. My friend Nancy says, ‘Sarah you have got to stop bringing baked goods to people, it’s not professional.’ But the truth is, I have a sweet tooth and very little production financing

Of course, our fundraising producer John Finley found most of our investors and did a great job on this front.

Indiefilmchat: The casting of Slippery Slope is brilliant. Too many filmmakers take casting for granted. How did you go about landing names like Laila Robins and Jim True-Frost for this film?

Sarah Schenck: Our casting agents, John Mabry and Dani Super, brought in brilliant performers and the challenge was to select the right match. Our stars, Laila, Jim, and Kelly, taught me how to be a better director. Many of our supporting talent were also a total joy to work with, including Brian Letscher, Yolonda Ross, Jessica Leccia, Devin Ratray.

Indiefilmchat: How would you suggest other independent filmmakers approach talented name actors?

Sarah Schenck: I tried writing letters on my own to agents, and even to some well-known actors (for whom I’d somehow managed to get their home addresses) and all I got were lots of unopened, returned scripts and icy ‘thanks but no thanks’ letters.

Indiefilmchat: Please share one war story from the production that you and your team overcame.

Sarah Schenck: Our HMI light was too close to the pressed-tin ceiling in one of our sets and made the sprinkler system go off. The system proceeded to malfunction and even maintenance couldn’t turn it off. So, one week into shooting, our entire set was flooded with four inches of filthy water. Props, costumes, equipment destroyed. All of us dirty and demoralized. But thanks to our great crew and cast, we pulled it together, swapped out the set, and finished our shooting day, albeit with a three hour delay.

Indiefilmchat: Technically, the film looks great. What led you to use hi definition? Did you shoot on it or transfer? And was it that much more money?

Sarah Schenck: We shot on super 16 (vision stocks) film, courtesy of Kodak

Indiefilmchat: What was your favorite part of this process?

Sarah Schenck: Working with actors and the camera. I LOVE IT! Of course everyone wants to be a director. It is a protean endeavor, and calls forth talents you didn’t even know you had, reveals risks, poses intellectual, creative, and physical challenges, and makes you rise to the occasion.

Indiefilmchat: What was your least favorite part of this process?

Sarah Schenck: Raising money.

Indiefilmchat: What is your next project?

Sarah Schenck: I’m in the midst of shooting a feature titled Primitive Streak, about nature and nurture, and what we all share at the deepest level of our humanity. Hopefully, the film will be a funny and moving exploration of family/sex/love.

The film's title refers to the line of epithelial cells in a developing embryo that forms the beginning of the spine. (Courtesy of Jefferson University's Medical School, we are going to have live footage of this from a new experimental 3D ultrasound).

Because we are a very low budget enterprise at the moment (currently all cast and crew are volunteers), and because many of us have small children, we are shooting 1-3 days per month, over the next 8 months.

Indiefilmchat: Any general advice for aspiring filmmakers?

Sarah Schenck: Do not be afraid. Rather, feel the fear, befriend it, accept it, get to know its contours, then just keep going anyway. You must remind yourself that it is not easy (at least not most of the time), and it is okay that it is not easy. The struggles have value. Storytelling is as old as time and one of the chief delights in having higher order brain function.

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