Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Andrea Zile Bish. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Andrea Zile, thanks for joining us today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

One of the most unexpected problems I faced in my creative journey was….myself. When I was starting out, I fell into the same trap as many young directors – I believed I was god.

As a young aspiring director, I held that my creative vision was gospel and those ‘below’ me had no further purpose than to execute my vision. After all, I was following in the footsteps of the great auteurs – Kubrick, Scorsese, Bergman – true visionaries whose refusal to compromise led to their success. At least, so I thought.

In high school and (unfortunately) college, I pushed through creative projects with the mistaken belief that I knew it all. When directing actors, I would give line readings, dictate specific gestures, and even act out scenes for them to mimic (my god this is painful to remember.) In design meetings, I would eschew the designers’ ideas in favor of my own (surely brilliant!) creations. I would over stage, over direct, and override the creative inputs of my team. Basically, I was not a good director. I was also very, very unhappy.

Perfection is just about as big a myth as the auteur. No film, play, book, song, opera, or anything else in life is perfect. And that’s great! That means your job as a director is not to create perfection (an unobtainable quality) your job is to foster creativity. Doesn’t that sound nice? Way less stress than having to be the genius who makes all the decisions.

In the same way, it is my belief that there are no auteurs. With the exception of a few outliers (perhaps poets and flash animators), no one creates alone. Especially in film, it takes a small army of creators – each making decisions and imparting their creative interpretation – to craft the work we admire. Each ‘auteur’ is but a figurehead for creative teams that mold the movies we love so much. Kubrick had Leon Vitali, Scorsese had Thelma Schoonmaker, and Bergman had Liv Ullmann – in addition to many others. It is the directors job to not dictate but to direct. You must utilize the creativity and talents of your team in order to best serve the vision for your film. This collaboration fuels creativity.

I left college with the belief I was a terrible director. For years, I pursued work as a writer, stating directing was something I ‘could’ do but didn’t want to. I felt defeated and disappointed in myself. It was only when I went to film school that I fell in love with it again. This time I was older, (presumably) wiser, and ready to relax and open my creative process to others. I no longer felt the need to be right all the time, to have my creative ideas be the loudest, and to shut out the talents of others. In the intervening years, I had learned to let go of the insecurity and perfectionism of my younger self. And as such, I became better at my craft. And happier, so much happier.

Now, I welcome collaboration. The films I direct typically include some improv, which inevitably becomes my favorite part of the process. I have learned so much from my team, each member bringing skills and experience I lack. I want my films to foster a creative environment where the best ideas can come from anywhere. I believe that my previous projects have done so and I hope there are many more to come.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Andrea Zile Bish (I go by Bish), and I am a Chicago-based director/writer/producer of films. I’ve been fortunate enough to have had films screened from Texas to New York in over 20 film festivals, in addition to my commercial work garnering thousands of online views. Spanning both comedy and horror, my films include the award-winning anti-rom com ‘Last Date’ and the ultra-colorful manic short ‘It’s Your Night, Babe!’

As part of the Chicago Film Scene, I co-founded and moderate Script Night – a collaboration between the Independent Film Alliance and Chicago Film Club. I served as a juror on the CineYouth Film Festival (part of the Chicago International Film Festival) and the Chicago Film Scene screening series. I created the ‘Chicago Style Indie Filmmaking’ panel for Filmscape and am a frequent producer of surreal and strange projects for CAN TV.

I hold a BFA in Directing from the no-nonsense conservatory program at Carnegie Mellon University, and a certificate from the all-nonsense comedic powerhouse Second City Film School. I try to marry these disparate backgrounds, pairing a solid grasp of traditional theatrical technique with an out-of-the-box improv approach to storytelling. I am also a very silly goose.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

When I was growing up, my mother claimed she couldn’t watch anything too serious. As an elementary school social worker, she spent her days working with some of the county’s most troubled youth. When she got home, she watched comedies. As a budding horror enthusiast, I didn’t understand this. Why wouldn’t she want to watch Silence of the Lambs, A Clockwork Orange, or Videodrome? Being a suburban teenager with no real responsibilities, I didn’t get why my mom refused to watch anything heavier than Monk.

Then, years later, my husband got sick.

Burnt out and overworked, we had two options for entertainment – cooking shows and comedies. It was then that I realized why my mother needed comedies: when your days are spent caring for those in darkness you crave light. As my marriage imploded and eventually ended, I found myself bingeing comedies. I needed them. I needed something that was trying to make me laugh, make me happy, give me joy. I found during those dark days a new respect for comedy and the selflessness of trying to make someone laugh. In the wreckage that followed a marital separation, I went to study at Second City. It was an awakening.

Suddenly I was put into an environment of connection, collaboration, and joy. After so many years of struggle, I was laughing again. Corny, sure, but it felt like a rebirth. I also found connection. At the heart of all comedy is truth. The truths can be sad, they can be hard, but they are there. Slowly, I learned to weave my truth into the work. Looking at what happened, the smoldering ruins of a marriage, and being able to see the humor in it – saved me.

The experience culminated in my thesis film, Last Date, in which a husband and wife confront a divorce they had been procrastinating on filing (who wants to go downtown to the courthouse?!) While the film is not a true to life reflection of my marriage, I used it to explore the complicated feelings of loss, identity, and closure. And, hopefully, made a few people laugh.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Connection. Whether it is with my audience or with my team, the act of connecting with others keeps me going. At its essence, art is the sharing of ideas. It’s the telling of stories. It’s the bonding of artist and audience. It is a selfless act.

When I was going to school for theatre, the one question they drilled into us was: “why this play now?” When we approached a production we were supposed to identify why this story needed to be told now. I still use this guideline for my films. It is important to identify what you want to express with the work that you are creating, and thus how you want to connect. If you do not identify why this is important to you, your audience won’t either. To create, you must connect.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.zilebish.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zilebish/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-zile-bish-60052622b/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZileBish
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13738736/

Image Credits

ASSEMBLY 01 RN.00_00_12_14.Still001 – Sergei Krishkov

DSC00862 – Jon Kline

Last Date Still 1 – Kay Morales

YOUR NIGHT_ FINE 1.00_02_13_29.Still008 – Kay Morales

PXL_20240225_160539386 – Kay Morales

IMG_20240527_164421_792 – Yesenia Esteban

IMG_20250329_174723 – Madison King