We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rose Trimboli a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Rose thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
I’ve always known that I’ve wanted to write and direct movies, ever since I was kid. The earliest film I remember making was after watching the 1997 movie of the year, Babe, for the first time. As soon as the credits rolled, I grabbed my dad’s VHS Camcorder and set out to make the sequel (not knowing there already was one).
I entertained myself growing up by learning how to channel surf, watching and making movies, and reading and writing. I gravitated towards this art medium because I was the most adept at it and it always brought me a lot of joy and purpose and it still does.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a writer and director based out of Los Angeles. I’ve been making films for the past five years and just recently finished my first feature film, You Know What You Are which we are planning to release later in 2025. I primarily work in the narrative space, focusing on short films and features. I don’t typically like to tie myself to one genre, but I excel in the horror genre because I like writing complex and very flawed characters that typically wouldn’t be seen in a mainstream movie. That genre allows me to explore a wide range of tropes that I can meld into my own design. I think it’s rife with possibilities and beautiful in its own way, and its also a very moldable genre where you can add really any elements from other types of writings and movies that really enhance a story.
My goal is to make beautiful movies that make the viewer think about topics that they would rather not. I do not like happy endings in my movies, and I never will. Not because I’m a cynic (although that may be the case), but because there is beauty in disappointment, in ugliness, and in the flawed individual. I want viewers to be able to connect to their darker side and realize that in order to accept yourself fully you need to be aware of who you are, the good and the bad.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson I had to unlearn pretty early on in my journey is that all of those self help books on screenwriting and directing never work, at least for me. I had to find my own path on what works for me when it comes to sitting down and building a story or a world for my characters to live in. I’ve read almost every single book there is on how to write properly, how to direct properly, what the best way to produce a film is, etc. What these books never tell you is that their ideas only work when you’re in the best situation possible, which isn’t a reality for most filmmakers just starting out. There are a lot of rules to filmmaking, and I do suggest learning them, only so you can break them. The best thing you can do to learn and hone these skills are by doing and finding what works for you and what rules you want to throw out the window.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
This may seem like a weird question for me to pick given the answer I’m about to give, but I actually deleted my social media pretty recently. I felt it was stifling my creativity because I was trying so hard to fit into the idealized internet version of a film director and it was taking away what made me, me. Now I do make instagrams for the films I work on, but I have my producer run those. My biggest suggestion for growing your following would honestly be to go out to film festivals and network. Once I started doing that and meeting like minded people, thats when people started reaching out to me about work, or wanting to represent me or my films. My network consists of friends, coworkers and colleagues that I’ve met throughout the years that really believe in what I’m trying to do so they want to help as much as they can. Now I’m not saying go and delete your social media because that will get you where you want to be, my advice is to step outside social media and start doing things in the physical world, like events or just getting out to meet like minded creatives because thats where the true work connections are.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youknowwhatyouarefilm/
- Other: Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/rosetrimboliIf you want to chat email me! [email protected]
Image Credits
Photos by Cameron Poletti, Amelia Wright, and Ryan Zimmerman