We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alexis Jacquelyn Smith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Alexis Jacquelyn, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I have worked on has to be the short film, EDGE OF 23, which I wrote, starred, and served as a co-producer and director. EDGE OF 23 focuses on the cycle of prostitution and sexual exploitation that too many women face behind closed doors. Most recently, it has won Best Actress and Best Short Film. As we continue our festival run, I hope many more.

Like most of us during the pandemic, I was watching a lot of YouTube. I stumbled upon these videos of interviews with prostitutes in LA and I was extremely moved by their stories. I would watch hours of these interviews, intrigued by their lifestyle. More importantly, I was shocked by how the women got into the world. Many started extremely young, running from an unfortunate background of abuse and neglect and finding some form of solace in their pimp and the lifestyle.

It inspired me to write the short, and now the feature film version of EDGE OF 23. It was important to me that people saw the reality of prostitution. In truth, these people were young girls and vulnerable women that have been neglected by a system and entered a profession they felt was their only option for survival or even worse, were forced into it.

My main goal was to showcase how the cycle starts and why it continues, while building a compelling narrative around that.

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.

I was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland and I have always been obsessed with making videos. I started with my little pink camcorder, then slowly upgraded overtime making silly YouTube videos. I entered a mass communications program at Parkville Middle School and later Interactive Media Production at Eastern Technical High School. These programs shaped my interest in film, allowing me to express my creative freedom with a variety of media projects.

Post school, I went to college for communications and I did a few acting jobs in Maryland. I still didn’t feel complete. I knew I wanted to be on the big screen and decided it was time to make the big jump to LA. In November 2019, I packed up my little Honda Civic and moved across the country. I studied at NYFA, IDSA, and later Playhouse West. I ended up getting a commercial and theatrical agent and manager throughout my stay here and have gotten a few more roles along the way.

The important thing is that I never stopped being a creative. When I’m between auditions, I am usually writing or thinking of something else to make, whether it’s a feature, a short, or just a short script for an Actors Access clip. I have also found a ton of friends through my acting schools that have brought me in on their film projects. I have also been fortunate enough to do a lot of plays at Playhouse West, my proudest being Cancel Queen, a One Act written by Amber Steigelfest, Leslie Ureña, and myself.

All of these experiences have improved by craft as an actress, writer, and director.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I knew I could write a good script, but I also knew at the time I wasn’t the most well versed in the specifics of screenwriting and narrative language. This was an important topic and I wanted it to be explored properly. I had previously partnered with Adrianna Taffel on a film and play production before and was sure she would be the best person to help.

Adrianna ended up coming on as a co-directer and co-producer of EDGE of 23 and I am so happy to have her. We reworked the script to make it the most powerful it could be. Adrianna helped me make the story more impactful through limiting dialogue and focusing more on film language.

A big pivot of ours was limiting and changing the locations so that we could convey all that we needed to say at her apartment, cutting the cost of finding multiple locations for the film. I consulted a set decorator, Leanda Harley, and she helped me transform Adrianna’s apartment from a cutesy home to a “trap house man cave”.

We encountered more obstacles and overcame them by further changing the script, but in the end the film came out even better for it.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect is that I get to tell stories that have an impact on the viewer. Honestly, if one person watches EDGE OF 23 and has their perspective change, that is a win for me.

Many people have come up to me after a screening of the film and explain how they were moved or cried, and that alone makes me feel successful. When we won best short at the Playhouse West film festival, I was so full of gratitude because I wanted the film to have an impact, and it did.

My goal is to make the feature version and bring it to the big screen, just how I pictured when I was a young girl living in Baltimore. Except this film really means something and hopefully will shift the perspective and result in positive action and change for women exploited in our country.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.instagram.com/edgeof23film/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexisjacquelynsmith/

Image Credits

Sean Kara Headshots for Headshot

Aquavis Warfield for Stills