We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lauren Kleeman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lauren , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Making a movie is like driving down a dirt road at 100mph, blindfolded, being chased by rabid dogs while throwing money into the wind. It’s challenging, terrifying, tedious, unpredictable, expensive, and worth every single minute.

After ending a 7 year relationship, I poured my feelings into a feature length script called “Hillbilly Bath,” about a trailer trash sexagenarian whose boyfriend dumps her so she joins the county fair beauty pageant in an attempt to win him back, along the way inspiring other older women to compete, creating her own definition of beauty, and discovering self love. The story served as a catharsis to the break up and propelled me into the confident filmmaker I am today. The script became a calling card for my voice as a writer and after winning best feature comedy for Screencraft, I knew it was time to take my moment and shine. So, with hope in my heart and delusion in my brain, I took the script, re-wrote it as a proof of concept and shot my debut short film “Trailer Park Queen.”

From the moment I picked up a camera I knew that making film was my life calling, my ikigai. But it took me 7 years working as a crew member on other people’s films before I was brave enough to make my own. There are a lot of challenges that come with filmmaking, the biggest for me being imposter syndrome. I didn’t think I was experienced enough, talented enough, connected enough, the list goes on and on – but I was tired of letting myself get in the way of myself and I said f*ck it – let’s make a f*cking movie.

I grabbed my shoebox full of cash I had been saving since college, called all of my most talented film friends to collab, and reached out to my community to help bring this project to life.

Making a film is a huge risk and I’m so happy I finally made the leap.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Ever since I high-kicked my way out of the womb, I’ve had a passion for telling stories.

I want to heal the world through comedy, using tools like satire, allegory and parody to uplift marginalized communities and bring to life stories that I want to see on the silver screen. Whether I’m writing about healthy eating, classism, or naked Jesus, I like creating magical worlds full of puns and absurd jokes, aiming to teach life lessons wrapped in a hilarious package.

“Trailer Park Queen” is a lead cast of 4 women, ranging 30-70 years old, giving a voice to older women that are typically type-cast in roles like ‘sweet grandma’ or ‘medicare patient’, who are now getting to play wrestling rednecks in a trailer park. In addition to cast representation, my crew is primarily made up of women/LGBTQIA/BIPOC filmmakers because having a voice behind the camera is just as important as it is in front.

I have a deep appreciation and love for all film departments and their contributions to film. Through my years of working in production department and sound department on a wide variety of shoots, from features to shorts to commercials to documentaries, from the lowest budget indie films to celebrity filled productions, I extracted the dos and don’ts of filmmaking so that when it was my turn I knew how to run a set.

Film is a passion, but it’s also a job and all crew members should be treated with the utmost respect. As someone who has worked below the line in endless grueling jobs, I know what it takes to work in the film industry so creating a safe work environment, mentally and physically, is top priority for me.

Crew first, creative second.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Authentic representation of marginalized groups that resonates with it’s members and sparks insight and empathy with viewers outside the communities.

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

The world is a soupy mess of everything, everywhere, all at once. Creating narratives is our human way of navigating the universe and creating sense and purpose of our existence within that soupy mess. Knowing that deep down in the depths of my soul that storytelling is my purpose in life gives me so much to live for, so being able to live and breath film everyday is a dream.

There is nothing more rewarding than someone being moved by one of your stories, whether that be resonating with one of the characters or gaining a new perspective from an unfamiliar voice. During a rehearsal for “Trailer Park Queen” the main actress broke down in tears and said that this film was so cathartic in dealing with her own life and that it was one of the most challenging roles she has ever gotten to play. Being able to create a world that jumps off the page and becomes so real that it’s tangible is an ineffable feeling.

Art is our medicine.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://meltingunicorns.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explaurentheworld/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lyrasadventure593

Image Credits
Aaron Pyatt Andrey Vlasov