We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Abby O’Sullivan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Abby, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Working in Film its not specifically one project or person but specific artists, genre’s, crew and locations that solidify these meaningful experiences.

The film industry has changed dramatically during my 17 years as a Designer. We have changed what we shoot in America by scale & material. The creative control of directors has moved from almost complete to a more of a juried position with executives as corporate America has bought into the industry. We have begun to see less and less auteurs and more of the calculation and promotion of money backed creatives who have served in the studios.

All this being said I find the most meaningful experiences are in genre and independent film. I moved from festival focused independents to more genre based work in the past 10 years and I have loved that.
My experience working on films like DARK HARVEST dir. David Slade, EXORCIST creator Jeremy Slater , Kristy dir. Olly Blackburn and Sinister dir. Scott Derrickson. All of these directors have long and accomplished careers with acclaimed and diverse catalogs with a passion for genre based work. These backgrounds have allowed me exposure to films, graphic novels and wildly creative and bold designs I would never have in contemporary film. Within all of this new material and creative freedom I am now working in collaboration with FX teams as we build the most exceptional ‘Nightmare Beasts’. This is an opportunity not available in most if not all contemporary and period film. These collaborations pull in my background in experimental performance arts and surrealist art builds. Prior to Costume Design I moonlighted in design for drag, fetish and underground performance art in NYC. My entry to film was FROZEN RIVER. My work included custom design for ROSEWOOD as a featured performer / MC at The BOX in NYC, and selects in her documentary MISS ROSEWOOD (2017)

DARK HARVEST was an exceptional script based on a the novel by Allen Partridge. David Slade the director I believe creates some of the most shocking and terrifying beautiful imagery we have seen in horror. This was a studio film backed by MGM ( approx 30 million budget) and like many struggled in the pandemic to shoot and later in the change over of studio heads. After a limited release the film began to take shape and find its following soon becoming the # 1 horror on Amazon.

The challenge of this film is it is both a period film and a horror with a graphic novel esthetic. The look is far more heightened stylistically and not trying to fit a fully ‘realism’ mode. We had to create entire greaser gangs with individually painted themes for each boys jacket in 10’s of multiples for stunt and blood . We shot in Winnipeg Canada and had limited access to all LA costume houses and resources. The film itself went from a small town look on any day to large scale ballroom scenes with hundred of period costumes shipped from 2 countries and 4 cities. Logistics alone were complex.

The cast was an fantastic one: Elisabeth Reaser, Luke Kirby, Casey Likes, Jeremy Davies

I was able to find a truly exceptional crew in Canada. Staffed with local costume teams and team of painters / costume ager dyers we creatived a rarified artistic vision for the project. The film and material was exceptional but without the confidence and creative freedom Slade gave me it could have been so much less.

Within this film I had the opportunity to work with Vincent Van Dyke whose original interpretation from of ‘ Sawtooth Jack’ is the ‘Creature’. Working with special effects teams is one if the best creative perks of genre film. The finished product acted by creature actor Dustin Ciethamer was grotesquely gorgeous.

The finished project gaining the accolades it has as of late with out a large PR campaign has been so satisfying. The film was intensely difficult to accomplish on paper for costume given the wide range of actors, periods and stunts paired with the location. This lighting and camera work of Larry Clark set a uniquely frightening tone and the result is moody otherworldly piece of cinema. Most importantly DARK HARVEST resonated with the fans of this novel and these fanbases are the lifeblood of genre film. They lift up and highlight the creative teams of these projects more than any film I have helmed as a Costume Designer.

Abby, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Directly after high school I moved to NYC to work in fashion and began my journey there. I worked at fashion week, started a clothing line, was a stylist and an assistant.I gained so much experience by doing the work in real time. I am huge fan of apprentice work as an artist. It is more stressful as your financial wellbeing is on the line with each job not just a grade. For me it kept me focused and allowed me to interact with artists, performers and technicians from start to finish in all elements of the project. You are the lowest paid and the hours are long but I have a rarified experience and knowledge of how the full sausage is made.This has benefited me in accomplishing my vision in the time and budgets I have been given in all fields.

This collaboration with other artists lead me to Costume Design . I found using my skillset to create full characters ; curating a look and garment history was incredibly attractive to me. I had the opportunity to meet on a tiny film called FROZEN RIVER. To prep I purchased a book on Costume Design and figured how my break down a script with continuity. I volunteered on a film in NYC as a pa and learned the crew breakdown and job / union classifications. I did end up designing FROZEN RIVER. The film was well received and won Sundance’s dramatic competition and went on to the independent spirit awards and garner Oscar nominations. This is insanely rare, I would never say this will be experience for all.

Attending Sundance and the film having this reception offered me an opportunity to meet my peers and potential new employers and agents. It is normally a few projects before I would approach an agent but my experience in fashion did teach me to seize that opportunity and I signed with my first agent.

This experience was pivotal to getting me into film full time from fashion but it also lead me down roads both good and bad.

The meteoric rise of an early project can give a false impression of what success is. I was able to do the work I did because of my background and honestly hustle of being a working artist so young in NYC but film is a different beast. It is a fickle industry really built on luck and connection less work and talent.
Many areas of the arts have elements of all of this but having experienced several fields film is the most blatant. Learning it is a journey and not all projects ideal or winners in all elements. Through many ups and downs I found my happiness in choosing the artists and locations I want to work. Ive also had to learn to advocate from myself in an industry that selectively supports that practice. There is a challenge to create and thrive in all material and experience.

I would encourage other artists starting out to try your hand is all elements of the medium you choose. Learn the craft not only the concept. A degree does not prepare you for any film more or less than most. It important to respect all the elements that help you to create a piece of work. I find it also makes the prices that can be exceedingly difficult more fulfilling.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Supporting The Arts.

I think the one way to support artists in film is learn the elements involved in the full making of a film. Learn about the collaborative effort it takes to accomplish these large scale projects. Very rarely is there just one wizard behind the curtain controlling it all. The more interest and thirst for knowledge of these thing will lead to the need for more content on them. In the world we are in that content need is huge for many overlooked fields. Costume Design alone is over 83% female lead ( CDG stat) and we are paid 30% less than our peers in Production Design. A combination of wildly changing and expanding jobs with more limited timelines and dose of misogyny really has felled many of us. Retirement in this union industry is no longer a financially viable for most. We will loose all but those capable of working low low wages. It will become an industry of wealth in all elements and that will loose so much of our diverse world.

I’ve spoken to publications that did not realise Costumes were not just images selected and curated by a a creative jury. The attention to the individual artists will lead to the survival of them. Genre film Ive found to be a rare exception.

The economics or art are the worst part. Supporting the arts comes in many ways but this is one I would highlight here.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

This is a complicated answer but one I have touched on above.

I think many times working as an individual visual artist I worked in a vacuum. If the end result was not how I had envisioned it or was not received as I had hoped I was more critical and down. Art is really only something I see in my head that I want to bring into the world in this space. Having it misjudged, unseen, or unpurchased is an issue for many working artists.

Film is a collaboration. It offers more obstacles in having to convince a group of your vision and be open to change if it does not line up. In the end when the film is realised I find much more pride and happiness in specific scenes or pieces and what it took to accomplish that. Having to pitch and produce simultaneous you have to be able to pivot and convince at a challenging but rewarding level.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.abbyosullivan.com
• Instagram: @clothesforheros
• Other: Our sites and connections really keep us employed so I am just instagram & site. My fiberarts – launched this week: WWW.pieces4foxes.com

Image Credits
Dark Harvest : Stills David Slade (Black & White) Kristy (Red Hoody) : Crille Forsburg My Bio : Omar Parker Dark Harvest : Dp: Larry Clark Sinister : DP Christopher Norr Exorcist: DP Alex Disenhof