Indie Spotlight: Kasandra Price On How She Created Her Own Film From Scratch And Landed It On Tubi

Kasandra Price

Meet Kasandra Price. She is a rising screenwriter, filmmaker, producer, and editor. We first discovered her talents through connecting within a Facebook group where she was promoting her film, ‘Homeless or Right At Home,’ which she managed to land on the streaming platform Tubi and is co-produced by Homestead Entertainment and Dame Dash Studios. We sat down with her to find out the steps she took to create her film from beginning to end and get it on the streaming platform.

How did you know that you wanted to write your own scripts and make your own films?

I've been writing stories as screenplays before I even really knew what all entailed with the screenplay. I ended up writing my first screenplay around the age of 12 and then somewhere between the ages of 12 - 14, I turned that into a book. That was my first attempt of getting my stories out there and getting feedback from people which was amazing and went really well. From then on, I’ve just been writing. About six or seven years ago, I really started honing in on screenwriting, and producing my skits, short films, and so on. Now, I've gotten a chance to create my feature film, go to film festivals, work with other filmmakers, and work with all different types of cameras. So, it's been a really, really cool.

Which Film Festivals have you been to?

My latest feature film was in the Orlando Film Festival. My film won the Independent Spirit Award for “Best Poster.” Recently, I've been to the Seattle Black Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival, and I do plan on going to the American Black Film Festival, which is in Florida.

Who would you say, are your biggest influences in film?

I would say, when it comes to the aspect of writing, producing, and directing, Issa Rae is a big influence for me. Just seeing her work, how she carries herself. Seeing the effort that she puts into how she speaks with the actors she works with, and how she is in the writers rooms. I mean, it's very inspirational to me, and it gives me the blueprint for when I'm writing and I'm actually out there with the actors trying to bring the vision to life. It gives me the blueprint to follow in that essence.

Do you feel like there's more of an emergence of women of color coming into the industry?

I will say yes, I believe there is more now than what it used to be. Representation of women on screen is definitely also shifting. There are a lot of stories now where women are the superheroes, the people in charge. For example, ‘Woman King,’ having an army full of women, that’ showcasing and showing the strength and the power behind black women. There is something really powerful within that. So yes, it is definitely more than what it was before.

Transitioning into your film, “Homeless or Right At Home.” You wrote, directed, starred in, as well as edited your own film. Can you walk us through what that process was like?

I will say it was definitely a journey. However, it was a really good experience. I learned so much from it and it gave me what I needed to level up and continue to make films. My film “Homeless or Right At Home,” the inspiration for that had actually come from when I was doing literary writing. Initially, I began writing it as a chapter book. I decided that I wanted to start putting my work into film festivals after doing some research on that. So I decided to use that story and turn it into a screenplay, something that I already had the resources to create. As I was writing it, it became clear to me that this was way more than a short film. That was the goal, making a short film, and I was already 45 pages in so I decided this was not going to be a short film. So I ended up writing another short film in the process, but for this one, I just wrote it into a feature. I completed it in about a week and got the characters together. Then I was able to shoot it.

How did you do it?

I started from the ground up. I connected with some Facebook groups and with local actors here where I'm at. I started reaching out and asking for crew, asking people if they would be interested in roles, letting them know my budget, my intention, my mission, etc. Once I got all of that together, we went into production and shot it in five days. The editing process was very challenging, because it took a lot longer than I expected. I had done editing before so I was very comfortable with editing, but to edit a feature film that you aim to premiere in theaters was much different. The sound had to be different. The color grading had to be different, etc. so I had to learn a lot of that as I went, but I finally got it together and it came out pretty well.

What was your editing software of choice to edit your film?

I work in Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects. Those are the two main editing software applications that I use.

Did you use any screenwriting software or any any particular online service?

That's actually a funny thing, because I did not really know too much about screenwriting software until after I had shot the film, edited it, and sent it out to film festivals. I was like, oh, wow, I could have used this. I wrote my script using Word. That's just how I've always written scripts. I still wrote it in what I thought was the proper script format. But yeah, that's how I wrote it at the time. Now I'm more aware of programs like Writers Duet, that's very helpful. That's what I use to write my scripts now.

How did you come up with the concept of the story?

Since I initially wrote it to be a book, it was much different than what was for the film. There were many characters, and there was all these locations that I wanted to use. The idea for that pretty much kind of came to me really. I knew I wanted an adventure type of book with mystery and some action. I would have a scene in my mind and think I know somehow, somewhere we're gonna get here, but I don't know anything else that's around it. So I'll start off with that scene and then I'll just keep going. As I'm going, the ideas kind of flow and so when I turned it into a script, the main thing for me was more so like this has to reflect the resources that I have, right? So maybe instead of three main characters, we did one, you know. That's how the concept for the story came about.

So would you would you say that this is more of a proof of concept for you? Was this all in the plan to do all of this and then submit it to film festivals and get it onto platforms or did it kind of just happen little by little?

I knew that I wanted to go to a film festival and submit my film. That was my motivation. My main thing was doing short films and skits. I was working with the camera and honing my skills there. I was also thinking, what can I do next? What is the next level, right? I wanted to be able to get into film festivals but in my mind, I thought, “Oh no, you have to have millions and millions of dollars for your film budget to get into film festivals. You have to have production studios behind you like it is a major thing.” Then when I started researching film festivals, and understanding the filmmakers and their work, I was like, “I can do this,” you know, “I have the story and I can do this.” So, I went to figure out how am I going to get into the film festival. I started looking at what are the stories that I have that I've worked on and what can I do from there. That's when I ended up taking the ‘Homeless or Right At Home’ story and turned that into a short film, so that I could submit it to the film festival, but it just ended up becoming a feature film because it was long enough. It's hard for me to cut things out. From there, I knew. I have the script. Now how am I going to produce this? How am I going to get it on the screen from ground zero? At that time I did not know what I was doing and little by little I just started kind of researching and understanding how this is made. Another influence for me from that was, I believe his name is JR. Bland. He wrote a film called ‘Giants’ and he was showing the process on his Instagram. One of the things he said was when he first started out, the main things he had was a DP, Boom, and a person handling the lights. I just need those three people and we can make this happen. I ended up finding those people and learned a lot from them as I was going through the process and learned a lot from my actors as well. So, that's kind of how it just came to be. Then I got in touch with some distribution companies, because they were really impressed about the quality of the film with the budget that I had. That's how I started getting the film streamed on Tubi.

When it comes to writing, are you more of a strict stick to the outline style of writer or do you write as you go and let the ideas come to you?

I'm more of a write as I go and let the ideas come to me. I think what's so funny about that is that in real life, I'm more of a structured plan, organized type of person. But in writing, I am more free in in flowing.

Once you had all of your ideas formalized, how did you go about writing the script?

I had the beginning part of the book, and I knew what I wanted the plot to be like. I knew what the main character was going to do and where the story was going to end up. So I knew that part already. And when I went to write it, I just opened up a Word document to a blank page and I just start writing. I didn't use an outline, or anything at the time. Now I'll try to tap into some outlines, but for me, it just flows to me and it's easier for me to just write it.

The name of the film is ‘Homeless or Right At Home’ which I thought was a good title. The story begins very lighthearted, but then it takes several unexpected turns, which I thought was pretty dope. Was that your initial idea or did you let your intuition guide you as you were writing?

I would say it was more of my intuition. I knew certain things. I knew scenes. I knew I wanted the character to end up certain places. But, to get from point A to point B, I would definitely say it was more of my intuition. I think that it's so funny what you said about the title. Because sometimes, when you when you hear it, it's like, “Oh, okay, right.” Not knowing what to expect. I would say I just I let my intuition guide me and honestly, I didn't have a title for the film until I finished it. Then I was like, “What can I name It? What's a title that seems like it sums it all up?” I think I named it ‘Homeless’ at first. And then ‘Homeless or Right At Home’ just kind of came to me.

I feel like the title makes you want to know more. So, I went into the film not knowing what to expect or even what the story really was about. But as it progressed, I eventually understood.

Yeah, and I love that! I love that ambiguity that I tried to place within the film. So that the audience can go on that roller coaster ride and follow the character and be within that experience. You don't really know what to expect. So I love that part. I think it helps the audience become more invested.

How long did it take you to make this film from the time that you finished writing the script, then to scout for actors, a DP, and a grip, to the amount of time it took to actually film from start to finish?

For production, it took us five days, I had seven planned out, but it took us five, and we shot mostly on weekends. So we split those those days off. Pre-production went kind of quick actually because I was struggling to find a location so I wasn't sure I was going to be able to lock anything in. But once I finally did, it was like two months out for pre-production, about five days for production, and then post production. It took me about five to six months to finish up for post production.

For clarity it was just you editing. You're piecing everything together, you're the one finding the music, you're doing everything. The sequencing, the titling, the sound design. You're putting everything in order and of course, you also have to go through all of the scenes that you shot, and then decide which one's are the best takes.

Yeah, it was definitely a challenge. I learned a lot and had to do all of that while working full time also. I only had a little bit of time after work and on weekends to really dive into things. It definitely slowed down the process a little bit.

I noticed both online and also the beginning of the film. You have Homestead Entertainment and Dame Dash Studios credited as producers of the film. Can you tell us how you were able to get them on board for your project?

How Homestead Entertainment and Dame Dash Studios came about, I was in a Facebook group called “Black Screenwriters” I believe. There were a few other people who had had just finished their films and partnered with those distribution companies. There was another filmmaker in the group, she had just put her film out and I believe it was called, ‘Pseudo.’ She had partnered with those distribution companies. So I pinged her and asked what was her process. She sent me the link to their website and what they were looking for in film to distribute. So I applied, explained a lot about my film, and got a call back, I would say, within the next few days and they were interested in working with me. So I was incredibly excited. Then we moved forward from there.

Breakdown the process and requirements to get your film ready for the streaming platforms

Once they reached out to me, they laid everything out of what I needed to get on TV. They laid out the clips, the media packages, posters, and stills etc. all that stuff that is needed to push. From there they do all of the backend work, which was incredibly helpful, because there are some rules when you put your film on TV. There has to be subtitles, and it has to have a certain quality of sound. What I will say is that without distribution, a studio, or without a distribution company, I know filmmakers do have the ability to submit their films for certain platforms by themselves. One thing about getting your films on these streaming platforms is that earning royalties helps filmmakers get some of their money back, if not all of it, and then some or their film.

Are you on any other platforms besides Tubi?

Just Tubi right now.

Do you have anything that you are currently working on?

Yes, always!

You got excited when I asked that question.

It's so funny because now that I've done the screenwriting and put it into a film, It's feels like it's easier to write now. So yeah, I have written a couple more short films. I’m not doing anything at the moment because the writer strike is happening. I have other like stories that I'm going to turn into screenplays. I was actually trying to look for funding to help produce the the short film that I have. Just continuing to build my portfolio.

Do you have any words for other aspiring actors, writers and directors out there?

Yes, what, what I will say is creatives will want to do something, but they don't know where to start or they don't know what to do. It just seems like they're just starting from scratch, and they're just confused and may not be connected with a bunch of filmmakers already, right? So what I will say for that is, that is completely okay. If you don't know what to do, just start. It doesn't matter what if you just want to write a quick summary of a story, or you wanted to write a song you think would be put into a story, just do just do something. What happens is as you continue to exercise the creative mind of yours, ideas will start to flow and things will begin coming to you. The process becomes a lot smoother. When it comes to producing and directing, one of the things I do is try to utilize are resources that are around you. Use resources such as YouTube. Search independent filmmakers and directors of short films or feature films and get an understanding of what their process is so that you become familiar with it. Go to film festivals. Wherever you are, whatever you're trying to do, whether it's writing, film, directing, producing, place yourself in an area where you might find other people in the field or position you want to be in. Then you can piggyback off of their ideas and get a better understanding of what's going on. Whatever you do, do not give up. No matter how hard the process seems, because filmmaking can be a lot. Even if you're shooting something off your phone, just get something out there. Slowly and surely things will come. One of my biggest thing is, well, I actually got this from Denzel Washington which is, “Without commitment, you'll never start and without consistency, you'll never finish.”

I love that quote.

It's one of my favorite mottos. Continue to learn, grow, and never give up. Be consistent and you'll start to see results.

Read an excert from Kasandra Price’s ‘Homeless or Right At Home’ Here.