Today we’d like to introduce you to Alycia Ripley

Hi Alycia, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

I was a child who loved and craved stories–films, books, or interviews of a creative person’s real-life narrative arc. This probably began with the film, ‘E.T,’ the perfect story for an only child who believed wholeheartedly that special friends could emerge from anywhere, even outer space. Specific characters from movies and books came into my life when I needed them most, whether that was Elliott and E.T, Dorothy and Ozma from the ‘Oz’ novels, Martin Brody in ‘Jaws,’ or Ellen Ripley in ‘Alien/Aliens.’ Each stage of my life was aided, comforted, and inspired by the narratives I encountered and inspired a need to tell the stories percolating within my head. I began as a writer when I was young, usually essays, stories, and film treatments. I was always writing something that resonated with me and I hoped also with others. I wanted to be an actor, performing my written ideas in front of the camera. I went to Syracuse University for English and Psychology, NYU for Creative Writing and Film Studies, and Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. I didn’t know as a young person that becoming a director was something I could do, but I was inclined to be on both sides of the camera, (the ‘box inside my head,’ I referred to it as).

I had a need to put my emotional states, perspectives, and observations into plots and themes. My hope was that in doing so, I’d create a strong connection with others in the same way I connected to films and characters. I never gave much thought to the practical aspects of this career or how long it may take to manifest. I was never a practical person. It’s not the way my instincts and personality ever worked. That’s probably not the best thing but it has always been how I’m wired!

The short version of my story is that I had several novels and a memoir published following college and graduate school. I was acting in various stage productions, working at a magazine, and after some time, performing in a few large-budgeted films. While asking advice from an actor at a film festival, he shared that I had the tools and talent to write short films, act within them, and direct. He said the industry had changed a bit in recent years and this was a solid way to have my work noticed by future collaborators. I took that advice and wrote/directed my three short films, ‘Watercolors,’ ‘Mary Lou Attends a Wedding,’ and ‘Midnight Postman,’ in hopes of achieving funding for a feature film. All three are now within the film festival circuit and have been nominated for some awards.

What came next was a surprise: as I was trying to establish a production company to help move a feature film forward, an idea emerged out of nowhere. I wanted to create a magazine, inspired by Andy Warhol’s ‘Interview,’ of interview profiles and contributing essays that would serve as connective tissue and a network between readers and interviewees. We highlight media handles or sites through which to contact, hire, or collaborate with anyone involved, saving everyone valuable time from needing to research the contact information of someone they were interested in networking with. Issue #1 will be released digitally and in print on 12/11/24. The magazine’s name, ‘Antihero,’ was inspired by an essay of mine that reached a large readership and felt like one of my most authentic offerings. I’m currently the only editorial staff member but am working with the designer, Lara Nedeltscheff, who has designed each of my book covers. My staff photographer, Katie Raimonde, is a joy to work with and we’re both learning so much as we go. I’m excited for it to become a reality and spotlight creative antiheroes within all industries. There’s currently an Instagram handle, @antiheroentertainmentmagazine and we’re working on a website that will house each digital issue as well as news, website-only interviews and essays, and subscription/order information.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

Obstacle should be my middle name. I’m laughing because so much of this career has been an uphill battle. I learned a valuable lesson: everything has its ‘right’ time, even though you ‘think’ you’re ready much earlier for its manifestation. Often, specific building blocks and small steps must occur before you can achieve the larger goal you’re working towards.

Growing up where I did was an obstacle within itself. Buffalo, NY was not NYC or Chicago or Los Angeles where you can more easily gain access to casting agents or films and TV opportunities. Those cities are based on the entertainment industry and have a long-term infrastructure already set into place. Buffalo did not. I remember hearing about actresses who would leave school, hit a quick nearby audition, and boom, gain their first union role. Of course, talent and being right for a part were still important, but the industry fit more easily into people’s lives, as much a part of the city’s landscape as grocery shopping. We were lucky in Buffalo to have a beautiful theatre you could access for childhood classes. There is more opportunity there now, especially for those wanting to work in camera or sound departments but in the 80s and 90s, there was nothing whatsoever. I always knew I needed to leave and go quite far, both for education and opportunities. I was looking to not only act but to write and spearhead the films, making creative decisions. It was a challenge just deciding what to study in college and grad school. deciding where to head first, and what my overall game plan should be. This career doesn’t have an A, B, C ‘do this, then that,’ trajectory, so that’s challenging as well.

With the magazine I’m creating (due out this Fall) I felt called to do it. I wanted to create a film production company to develop my written work to direct and collaborate with others. Because it takes time to amass the budget needed to shoot for thirty days, I wanted to expand the company towards other ventures that also tell stories. We could share narrative arcs of creative people and their journeys through any industry. I love to promote creative people and spread word of their projects for readers looking to learn more and collaborate. The experience has been wonderful but I am the only person currently on our editorial/interview staff. I’m lucky to know my designer, Lara Nedeltscheff, who has also designed my book covers. I’m thrilled that the magazine is becoming a reality but it was a challenge to seek out and organize the interviewees while also creating the Go Fund Me and fundraising to produce a beautiful 1st Issue and procure ad partners for future issues. It can feel like a lot on my plate, but I’m happy to learn and be involved with each step so that I know how to hire for those departments when able to do so.

An essay of mine, “Tornado Season,” is in our Issue 1 and centers on the travails and inner battles stemming from an event that happened to a close friend during freshman year of high school. This event not only served as a challenge within my personal evolution, but the inner motivation behind all of my projects. It may have been a sad circumstance but it’s ultimately what set me in motion. My obstacles and challenges have been plenty but that doesn’t mean all of them are negative. It made me incredibly sure of this being what I wanted to do for my life’s work and confident I could handle anything that came my way.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

As an actress and performer, I’m happy and excited to collaborate and connect with projects that stem from a strong vision and joy of storytelling.

Storytelling is my constant. I’m the author of several books, a memoir, many essays, and a few films. As a narrative writer and now director, my work is incredibly personal, even if a plot element seems wild, scary, or contains heightened elements. My work is based on my own POV, experiences, struggles, or recollections, sometimes placed within a fictional and heightened framework that hopefully illuminates the themes for the audience. If I’m known for something, it might very well be that. Unique plots that either haven’t been seen before or that contain a different spin putting them in motion, with strong characters, a very personal perspective and often, female agency.

One way in which I may differ from other writer/directors is that I write in what I call, ‘backward vision.’ What helps me achieve the effect I want within the story, dialogue, or theme, is to be so familiar with the vision and characters that my mind can ‘skip ahead’ to the film marketing poster or teasers and envision what would correctly and enigmatically bring the story alive. Once I have an idea of marketing and elements that would encourage audiences to want to decipher the mystery or spend time with the characters, I can bring the story alive with more fun, energy, and specificity. If I can envision the notes I’d give to the marketing team or as we create a teaser that may or may not show scenes from the film, then I know more closely what I need to do to get the story there. This works with books as well. If I can sit down and sketch out what the back cover of the book would entail, I know how to shape the story’s contents to achieve that effect.

Social media is a piece of my arsenal. I enjoy finding ways to share word of my work and projects and even my personal brand. If someone watches my films or reads my written work and is curious about the mind that is behind it, social media, Instagram especially, is a way to learn my brand of humor, favorite locales, travels, and even work Easter eggs. I never shy away from trying to find new and interesting ways to share word of my brand and projects. Working in an industry where you always need more money, more time, more people, and more resources, it’s refreshing to be able to create a reel, choose the music, and post it for people to check out for 23 seconds. Or a photo of yourself in a meaningful location with a caption you couldn’t wait to combine with its visual. I love the added fun and perspective social media can bring, as long as you’re using it creatively and not to compare yourself negatively with others, which is a fast track to nowhere productive.

Even now, with the magazine coming out, I’m able to tell stories within a different format. It takes quite a bit of time to amass the production team and budget to make a film, especially a feature. While I’m working towards making the feature in Montana, I’m able to share the narrative arcs of the interviewees and I’m having such a wonderful time promoting the work and experiences of those creative individuals within our pages. I can’t make a film every month but can certainly work to shape a magazine issue and conduct an interview so that readers can learn more about how a fascinating and quality creator reached a personal goal and how to connect/network with him/her/them. Sometimes we can’t work on the exact project we want to make at the exact time we want to do it. That’s what I learned during the pre-production process for this feature film. It’s my goal, but there are other storytelling avenues I can take on in the meantime and be of service to others.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?

It was the 80’s so…I loved riding bikes, rainbows, stickers, glitter, jelly shoes, and my Walkman. I was the only girl in my neighborhood and had a blast hanging around with wonderful young boys I’m still friends with as adults. We knew each other’s families and went on adventures on bikes or on walks or making forts and stealing our mom’s silverware to use in the forts! The boys had Nintendo and taught me how to excel at Super Mario Bros. I was a heavy reader and loved books. There was always a balance of one ‘fluff’ book alongside something difficult and of substance. I began reading at two years old and saw ‘E.T’ at the cinema when I was 4, so there was never really a time that I wasn’t reading or watching amazing stories.

I loved traveling to Florida every year with my mother and grandmother to see our close family friends. I loved getting away from Buffalo and also, Florida was magical back then. I loved the old, vintage Florida, the beauty and mystery of it. There weren’t as many condos and developments. The idea that our friends had a backyard with a pool and grass but yet behind it was the canal that went into the bay they could paddleboat to, was magical to me. I always loved hotels and traveling and seeing new things and having new experiences. I only wish Instagram had existed when I was a child!

I was obsessed with films, same as now. I couldn’t get enough movies…of all genres. I loved trying to keep up and understand the more adult themes and where the characters were coming from, even if I had zero experience with a given theme or situation. In my house, movies were treated like books. They were texts to analyze and learn from. We weren’t as much of a TV household. My mom never liked the idea of kids staying up to watch sitcoms or shows. If I liked something, she would tape it. Films had more intention and artistry behind them. It wasn’t the TV production of now. I knew very young that I wanted to be a filmmaker: there was no other path for me and I knew that for as long as I can remember.

I was very much the same person as now. I was friendly and outgoing but far shyer back then. I didn’t enjoy asking for help or needing anyone. I even was uncomfortable on the payphones talking to the operator! I’d love to talk to a phone operator now! Where did they go? I could read a room and pick up on the frequencies and beats of everyone involved, what they were saying versus reading between their lines. Maybe that’s an only-child attribute. We’re aware of our environment and the people within it. I knew how to fit in with adults and enjoyed listening to them, wondering what kind of adult I would become.
An outgoing but introspective child, is how I’d describe myself. I was at times lonely but I can be lonely even when surrounded by people. That kind of loneliness can serve as a motivating factor through which to extend yourself to others and engage with your interests. I enjoyed time with people of all ages, genders, and with myself. I was always creating, listening to movie soundtracks, and entertaining myself. My mother encouraged a lot of reading, writing, foreign language, outdoor activities, day camps, socializing and learning to engage any kind of person and gain a cultured worldview.

I wasn’t assertive as a young child. I wish I had been. I had it in me to be but the times were different. Even when a child had a point, we were not encouraged to state that point. Adults were considered infallible and wow….was this NOT true. There are so many things I wish I’d said back then and because I was sometimes in pain and wanted bad people to be punished, I learned how to fight physically. I was tall and strong and the boys I was friends with taught me how to move, protect myself, and use my strength when my voice felt muffled and censored. I wasn’t a tomboy but I was incredibly physically able. I still am. I’ve never loved competitive sports and preferred a ‘me against me’ activity, but I was always a force and that element helped me when I needed it most.

In ways, my childhood was very happy and really joyous and filled with wonderful people. Then were also years in which a black cloud made its way in and it became integral to learn how to deal with that. There were many times I thought, where are the adults, why aren’t they seeing and hearing what I’m picking up on? Why am I having to shield myself from this? What is going on here? I’ve now reached a point in my life where, although painful and angry memories will never go away, especially with my elephant’s memory, I’ve become the adult in the room that I needed. I can be that adult now for myself and anyone else, adult or child, who needs it. I can protect and support the interviewees in my magazine or on my sets. I care about people’s stories and experiences. I have difficulty watching people in pain or discomfort and want to fix it. I had years where that wasn’t being done for me, and then it also wasn’t done for a friend who died during high school in a terrible accident. She was treated horribly at school and I never could let it go. It’s the subject of my essay, “Tornado Season” that will be in Issue 1 of ‘Antihero’ magazine. I’ve begun thinking about that ‘adult in the room” concept and will be touching upon it when we have the magazine launch party and I discuss how important “Antihero” is to me. So I won’t say too much…I’ll leave ‘The Adult in the Room’ for my welcome speech. Or an essay. :)

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @talentedmsripley
• Youtube: @alyciaripley

Image Credits

For the photo of me in the pink shirt and in the white shirt- Lauren Kaufman/Lauren Ashley Photography