We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gabriella Westwood. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gabriella below.
Alright, Gabriella thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
Inherently, to be an artist is to take a risk. It is always a risk taking what you feel inside and putting it on display for others to see, whether it is on a written page, a performance, or fine art. We are raised in a way that many of us learn to avoid sticking out, afraid of being noticed and singled out for either a good or bad reason. And yet the only way to really achieve anything exceptional means taking a big risk. And with that the chance that you might completely and horribly fail. For me, the reward of a success on a big risk is completely worth all the chance of failure and I certainly have failed many times.
My first big risk was the first short film I made back in 2017. Way back in college I had wanted to make a short film as my senior thesis, but my teachers rejected the project due to the fact that our program had mainly focused on theatrical works. This always annoyed me because of all things I had always wanted to do more film than theater. In fact, a regret I will always have is not taking the risk to transfer to a different school farther away from home that was focused on film. After a series of working on other student films where either the audio or video had not come out, I was sick of having no reel material or credits to speak of. So in 2017, after writing a short film on my many subway rights to and from my day job in New York City, I finally decided I was just going to do it.
I researched funding options and created a Seed and Spark from my film, raising $7,000 worth of both monetary support and donations of locations, housing for actors, and other equipment. Within just a couple months I went from first draft to first day of shooting on a SAG New Media Short film. Sure, I had never done union paperwork before, heck, I wasn’t even in the union yet. But an actress I wanted in the film was so alright, I was gonna get that paperwork done. Paperwork has to be one of my least favorite things in the universe. It’s basically the opposite of making art. But it has to be done sometimes.
The story was called Odette, a horror comedy spinoff of Swan Lake where two bounty hunters come to town to kill a regular hot chick by day, zombie by night influencer. We filmed it back in New Hampshire, bussing half the cast in from New York, and shot in a little over three days. It was a ton of work as I was in the film, and producing (including renting the port-a-potty), doing the costumes, and props as well. Filming was awesome, despite spending one of the shoot days submerged in a 60 degree lake, and getting rained on most of our second shoot date. It was a very ambitious 13 page script which ended up being a 20 minute film once edited. Unfortunately, due to our rainy day, an entire scene of the film had to have ADR done. Which was a first for me on that.
And speaking of big risks…halfway through the editing process I had to take over due to a scheduling conflict with the original editor and…I had never edited a film before. Sure I had done some self tapes and had very rudimentary skills but nothing in the realm of editing a real film. And not to mention, there was only about a month and a half until the film was supposed to come out on October 31st. But never fear, I mean why couldn’t I learn how to use Adobe Premiere Pro in a month and After Effects and finish editing the film, color grade it and add the few VFX I needed. For a solid month I learned how to use the program and finished editing the film, added the gunshots and other effects, and the color grading. Last steps, I made a logo and slapped on there, got some captions done and…..submitted it to Amazon. This was back when it was much easier to get your short film on Amazon before they became the mega content creator they are today.
And…it was accepted! That’s right, you can watch Odette on Amazon, a short film very spontaneously made by an ambitious 26 year old who had no money and maybe unwisely went into a bit of debt making this despite having raised quite a bit of the funds. If you really thought about it, no one in their right mind would do most of the biggest risks many people take. Because logically, you really shouldn’t do it at all if you wanted to be sensible. But who wants to be sensible?
The best part, other than having footage and having gotten to be in a film written by my own self, was how many other skills I learned while making the film. I am a person who once they embark on something they want to do, they have to see it through. So no matter how many obstacles occurred, I would not be dissuaded from finishing the film. And at the end I learned so much about filmmaking, fundraising, editing, being a producer, and how very difficult the marketing aspect is of a project. I was and still am so proud of that first film, which led the way to feeling confident enough to make many more short films since then (Most recent short films are The Spot and Imogen), and writing features and pilots. Which are available for option and purchase please reach out!
Gabriella, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I accidentally’ed my way into this career after a sports injury in high school led to my not being able to participate in the spring track season. Not wanting my extremely hyperactive self to come home my Mom said, “why don’t you audition for the school musical? You liked that musical we saw,.” Ok, I thought, how hard could that be? Sure I am kind of socially anxious but its pretending to be someone else! So I tried out and, turns out I was really good at singing. After that first play I was hooked. I left the sports and science behind and much to my family’s woe, I realized, I didn’t want to be a crime scene investigator (I was obsessed with CSI at the time) I only wanted to PRETEND to be a crime scene investigator. After that I was all in as an actress, writer, filmmaker, all around artist.
I love all aspects of filmmaking, the performance, writing and the art direction. I love creating costumes and painting sets, crafting various props. It is all part of the artistic storytelling of the project. I love historical projects and out there concepts. A lot of my work has a dark edge if its comedy or drama. I love exploring someone else’s experience and what that means for their behavior, words and environment.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding thing is when someone says that they connected to your work, or it made them think about something they hadn’t thought about before or the best is when someone says that your work has really represented an experience that they themselves have had and been therapeutic for them in some way. Recently I posted a not very serious video parody of the Wizard and I called the Lizard and I, and it has been very amusing receiving messages from people who themselves had randomly googled that particular idea because they were wondering if anyone else had thought of it.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My “why” is to help others feel that they are not alone. As an artist whether as a performer, writer, or filmmaker….or even the fine art work I do, I want to create things that people connect with and find meaning from, that makes them feel as if whatever they are experiencing in life, they are not alone. Often times, when people are isolated or experiencing something very difficult, it can be easier to connect to art than to openly discuss the thing that is happening, And through the art, get to the place where they can process those difficult feelings. In my tough times, the arts has gotten me through and I want to be able to do that for other people.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.grimabbeyproductions.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsgabriellawestwood/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTWBwvuHTGg8cEW98RdQ4IQ
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/Odette-Shannon-Cabbell/dp/B07739328G/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1ZDYWO7FH9GYJ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.8Q8TOxkVC9lXmUhLe3Y9v6x2t3YMDVHTnt0uOPW9U8Str6YxX_4axxlQg8whhPmMfKetgiKTAKdOaCPLCv00vAsqlVMjFnRxp2-eK2YR0vDp4WZrCRh6YuAk4f1gCp3bGmgcqOZtyy8X-sw6KJHVRiaWKUYItHFybFHD6qkXCTapua3VvVTGqdJ7gj_FlicDlaDoUKM29HvAMuvqLXX-FocOVMIPWNPpavfrRyUuaT7TBjh1LUsAiQsrUh473B25YoAzs5GNer_wX2GvsJNL2PkQIAA8Dy6PP-fqsqEodDMJgXmOT_BdKixNCf2Do-INJH_iQIjhBDFvWvy95yW-CT5VT2MlTbdEw820CgDkjUHAmFCECPYlgDxlKnpJ_1Qz.aFiW-DWMmzCRFoEhW3ZH6_rztBCw5LwT1ATK62ZO5yw&dib_tag=se&keywords=odette&qid=1740374681&s=movies-tv&sprefix=odette%2Cmovies-tv%2C601&sr=1-6
Image Credits
Molly Pan Photography, Robert Murphy, Evan Land, AJ Starzak