Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Savanah Joeckel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Savanah, thanks for joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
When you hear the word passion, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? It usually involves some kind of strong interest in a creative pursuit or a hobby. To put it simply, it means a powerful feeling. A strong feeling of desire, hatred, anger or bliss. An emotion in its purest form.
That’s what I’ve been chasing after as have many others in the pursuit of storytelling. We even leap into blind faith for it; We quit our day jobs, move somewhere else, leave behind relationships, friendships and even family. We reconstruct ourselves to pursue the very thing that we believe will change us.
I stepped into acting by accident. I had my mind set on journalism because I always enjoyed listening to others’ stories. In college I decided to take an improvisation class to sharpen my interview skills. The first day of class we did an acting exercise and took turns on an empty stage creating a world around us. This new world was pure bliss for me. I’d never felt such a thrill. After the class ended, the teacher caught up with me and asked me if I’d ever considered acting. “No, I’m pursuing journalism,” I said. There was a long pause before he shook his head and told me he was disappointed.
Fast forward to after I graduated. I packed up my clothes and moved to Los Angeles like all the millions of others. Since then, I’ve acted in five feature films, three of them as the lead. The first feature film I ever booked I was floating on clouds. I couldn’t believe it. I once again started packing my bag to go explore that world of bliss again.
Fast forward again to me stepping off the plane, back in Los Angeles. I had spent the last several weeks in Florida studying those lines until I knew them like the back of my hand, showing up and giving it my all in the best possible way I could. The strange thing was, I didn’t feel that bliss. I felt depleted. As I walked into my dim, empty bedroom, I collapsed on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. Why did I feel this way? Maybe on the next project I won’t feel this way.
Fast forward again to the second feature. After the last scene ended, which we had finished in the wee hours of the morning, I sat alone on a chair outside. As the sun arose, I once again felt drained and empty.
It wasn’t until after my last feature that I realized, maybe no matter how much I give I’ll always think I could do better. It’s a stubborn mentality but it seems a lot of people in this pursuit have that itch that they’ll never be able to scratch. It’s normal to sometimes wander into the “what if?” scenarios. What if I had continued to pursue journalism instead? There’s moments where I’ll catch glimpses of that blissful world though and that’s what keeps me on this path.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
They say that a magician’s secrets are the most powerful magic. That’s what makes them magicians. Once you learn the tricks up their sleeves, that magic bursts faster than an overinflated balloon. It’s no longer magic. I always felt that way about films. They change your perception much like a magician does. Only I wanted to dig into those secrets with a magnifying glass.
Being from a small town like Yakima, Washington, if you’ve ever heard of it, gives a lot of time to daydream. That’s what I loved to do. Movies like Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter made it much easier to daydream. I also enrichened my imagination with magic realism books. What fascinated me more than the epic quests though, was the emotional journeys of the characters. This was the secret ingredient to the cake batter. From early on I was in love with human emotion to where I decided I wanted to study it. I wanted to build a bigger magnifying glass.
I moved to Las Vegas when I was sixteen. The first year was hard. I left my small, sheltered town and all the friends I had for this much larger, unbearably hot environment. Throughout high school I had transferred to three different schools. There’s a certain word that I had learned during that time that had stuck with me: liminality. It’s the state of transition between one stage and the next. The gray area, nothing set in stone, just floating between the lines. I felt I lived in this stage permanently. It felt scary at first, but eventually I found no fear in it.
I decided to pursue journalism in college. Eventually, that pursuit swept under my feet and carried me to the film world. I always felt my interest lied not in telling my story, but the stories of those who have created these beautiful paradigm shifts. This is where I’d see magic form. The first year I attended Sundance Film Festival I walked into a dark theater and watched a documentary I had no prior knowledge of, nor did I even know what it entailed. It’s called “It’s Not Yet Dark”. It was about an Irish director, Simon Fitzmaurice, with Motor Neuron Disease who shared his passion of filmmaking. It was incredibly moving and beautiful. After the movie ended, I waited in a line of people to congratulate the director and producer. Standing before me was an older man. As the man was chatting with the producer, he was slurring his words, so I thought he maybe had chugged a drink or two. Then he broke down. He wept in a way I’d never seen before. He told her that he had just been diagnosed with the same disease and maybe had several years to live. He thanked her for sharing this story. As I walked through a windy snowstorm that evening to watch another screening, I couldn’t stop thinking about that moment. I even kept thinking about it during the next premiere I watched.
As I was approaching graduation I got cast in my first feature film, “Shellfish”. It was a great learning experience, and I felt I could remove the training wheels from there. After that, I found myself in the immense city of Los Angeles. I got cast in a feature film as the lead, called “The Ride” and flew to Florida for a few weeks. The following year I booked another role in a feature film and flew to Florida once again. From there I dabbed in the editing world and writing world. I wrote and edited a short film, “Deadpan”, which made its rounds at several film festivals.
My most recent project was one I co-wrote and acted in, “Lying in Wait”. We shot it in Argentina and are now going through the wizarding world of post-production. It was challenging, but ultimately incredibly rewarding. Here’s a secret I learned in film: The greatest challenges can often spring forward the greatest rewards. Struggle paves the road to personal fulfillment. I’ve felt it almost every step of the way, because let’s face it, the film industry can be pure, unpredictable chaos wrapped with a bow.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Being a daydreamer, I often fall under the mistake of seeing the world through rose-colored spectacles. I had certain expectations of a film project and oftentimes they would turn me upside down. Things don’t always go as planned. The film industry can often throw you into a rushing river where you have to keep your head afloat.
After acting in my third feature film, I began to feel something was wrong with me. I felt drained and wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself once the waters stilled again. I would envision walking off of a set feeling accomplished and fulfilled, but it never quite hit that way. I felt I needed to accomplish more until it turned into a loop of disappointment.
It wasn’t until a day where I was randomly scrolling through the internet and stumbled upon a close-up, personal documentary about Hayao Miyazaki and his creative process. It was filmed during the making of Ponyo. He would glue himself to a chair for six hours, storyboarding like an intense, relentless hermit. After those treacherous hours, he finally paused, looked at his work, and muttered “This is no good” from which he savagely scraped his work into the garbage can. I was slightly surprised to learn that the process for him seems quite frustrating and miserable at times much like any other. I like to think of it as attempting to catch an eel by the hands. The harder you try, the worse it gets. Sometimes, you have to just let go and take a break. Go outside and look at some roses. Actual roses. Experience life outside of the film industry because often times your work can cloud your own vision.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
There are certain moments on a set where lighting strikes the room and electrocutes a stream of synchronicity. There’s this creative flow that begins to speak on behalf of you and everyone else and you can all feel it. Somehow, we are miraculously all on the same page and it feels powerful. I’ve felt these moments working on certain scenes on different sets. I can recall a time where the director, the other actor and I were communicating in a way beyond words. I think those moments usually come when we feel we can play with the scene without limits or restraints. The director would say something trivial, like for me to scoot a little closer to the other actor but those little details would transform the scene.
I believe film is a breathing miracle. The fact that an idea can begin in the mind of one person, then trickles down into the minds of the producers in which it transfers to the minds of the director and the crew members with spices being thrown in by actors in which it then bakes in the editing room with a completely different mind is pure magic. You only hope that those minds were connected enough to create a strong, cohesive story. That process in itself is what’s worth it for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.savanahjoeckel.com
- Instagram: @savanahnojoeckel
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