We were lucky to catch up with Simone Haines recently and have shared our conversation below.
Simone, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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’ve worked on to date is TRUFFLE SAUCE, a coming-of-age drama short that examines how trauma presents itself when unhealed through the lens of a misguided 25-year-old college student trying to escape the grips of human trafficking by selling truffle sauce. I was honored to play Tweet, a tattoo artist, who keeps letting life get in the way. If she’s supposed to turn right, she turns left like a fiend with an addiction to making bad decisions. Her grandparents have struck a deal with her. Graduate from community college = Get a tattoo shop and start a new life. But, she needs to pay one more tuition bill in order to walk across the stage. So, she’s selling truffle sauce – of all things – as her first step in the right direction. That is until a customer arrives leaving her fighting for her independence from her traumatic past in order to choose her own future.
This project was meaningful to me for many reasons. First, it was my first time working with industry professionals, which gave me an opportunity to learn a lot about my craft. The set was professional and the above-the-line creatives (Shannan E. Johnson, writer/executive producer, and Issac Yowman, director and cinematographer) made me feel safe and collaborative. Second, this was a home-grown project. All of the cast, crew, and creatives are Texans, mostly from Houston. This is important because Houston is the #1 hub in the United States for human trafficking. And lastly, but most importantly, the subject matter and themes of PTSD, judgement, acceptance, and survival with the back drop of human trafficking made my work as an artist meet at an intersection of activism. Watch TRUFFLE SAUCE now at wwwwww.trufflesaucefilm.com.
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.
After putting myself out there more, I started to get more inquiries through Instagram. I say all of this for any new or young actor or actress who is reading this and looking for ways to build their resume. Yes, it is possible to find and book work from social media if you are presenting yourself as an actor or actress. For example, the writer and executive producer Shannan E. Johnson of my latest short film TRUFFLE SAUCE directed by Isaac Yowman found me through the #HoustonActor hashtag and DM’d me about auditioning for Tweet, the lead role. She didn’t know me. All she knew was what she could see from my Instagram, which included pictures and videos of me working as an actress.
What I’m most proud of in my career so far is not giving up on myself. I’m happy to say that I’m doing what I said I was going to do. Not everyone can say they became what they said they were going to become from career day in elementary school. The journey to get here – “here” being the beginning half of my career – was not easy. I had a lot of twists and turns along the way – things that should have deterred me from doing what I love. Having a resilient mindset and being patient and determined are some of the characteristics that are responsible for my current success in life along with listening more and talking less. I can come off shy or reserved when first getting to know me but that’s just because I’m listening to see if this is the place I need to be or should be in. The main values that I bring to set are patience, determination, and service. I believe that the directors and producers that I have worked with in my career so far, can say that they saw those values in me as well. My lasting impression that I always want to leave is that I’m easy to work with.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Being able to dive into a script and pull a new person out of me from within brings me much joy. It sounds kind of odd, but I’m an artist. I act to provoke a thought, feeling, and or emotion in my audience. Whether it’s for one person or 100,000. It’s rewarding to me to hear how someone connected to my character because of the same shared experience or characteristics. It’s especially rewarding when I’m able to shed light on a different part of life that someone is living for advocacy. That is why TRUFFLE SAUCE is my favorite project to date. Tweet was such a complex character and different from me on paper. That’s what drew me to her and that’s the beauty of working with the Shannan, the writer. She gives artists something to play with!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Resilience is a characteristic that I feel every actor has to develop. You’re going to hear no a lot. Some people aren’t going to like your acting or a character you played. People are going to hate on your success and try to shrink it to make themselves feel better. Especially when they can hide behind a screen or phone, unfortunately. My life is full of so many small, resilient stories. I would have never submitted for the role of Tweet if I would have listened to the people around me. I had to learn to filter what was being said to me. Before Shannan reached out to me, I went through a series of being told I wasn’t enough for a role. For whatever reason, my peers at the time were fixated on telling me what I wasn’t capable of doing as an actress because of my stature and look – which is not Tweet, an orange-haired woman with tattoos (a field day for hair, makeup, and wardrobe), who drops more than a couple of F bombs and who always has an attitude. I had to push out the noise and remind myself that I’m not in the business of being typecast. That would be very unfulfilling as a creative. If I believe I can pull a character out of me despite my natural demeanor, then I’m going for the role. Women come in all shapes and sizes. If the character description isn’t looking for a certain “look,” then it doesn’t matter what you look like if you’re believable.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.trufflesaucefilm.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simone_soso
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSimoneHaines
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truffle-sauce-llc
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10518368/