Divine Intervention

Divine Intervention is a silly and smart comedy, blending French farce and romantic comedy with the visual language of contemporary television. When storyboarding, I leaned heavily on the stylish visual world of Booksmart, alongside some of the energy and framing of PEN15. My theatre background also gave me tools to draw upon for blocking a larger ensemble.

As a microbudget production, I embraced constraint as a source of creativity. Motivated camera movement, inventive transitions, and extensive storyboarding allowed us to work efficiently without relying heavily on traditional coverage. Supernatural moments were created primarily through practical lighting and in-camera effects rather than costly visual effects. I also looked for savings wherever I could. After one budget meeting, I realized I could save another $1,000 by taking production food off the budget and preparing it myself. So, before our three-day shoot, I bought, chopped, and prepped an obscene amount of food, handing trays of it off to my amazing producer, Sarah, who baked and finished everything we needed. It worked remarkably well, and meant we could put that $1,000 toward an area of production that needed it more.

Ultimately, Divine Intervention is about reclaiming agency in a world determined to intervene on our behalf. What mattered most to me in directing Aphrodite's journey was that she doesn't simply become "good" by the end. Instead, she learns humility. The ability to humble herself before a mortal and ask for help. It's a small, quiet moment, but one that gives the pilot a sense of emotional resolution.

Beneath its romantic-comedy surface, I also wanted the film to celebrate friendships between femmes. While the story may be about finding romantic love, it is equally about recognizing the people who help us find our way there. That felt really important.