A big thank you to Steven Tandy director of The Story for taking the time to answer a few questions.

Congratulations on the premier of The Story on the opening night of the festival. Is it the first film that you have had at the St Kilda Film Festival?
Yes! It is my first year screening at the festival, so also getting the Opening Night slot was a dream come true. I submitted two previous shorts to the festival in 2013 and 2015, but unfortunately these were not selected. However, getting those rejection emails, inspired me rather than demoralised me, so I went back to the drawing board and thought harder about what I needed to change in order to have a better chance at selection. The key thing that I’ve learnt is that shorter is better! I applied this while writing The Story and here we are!

What was the Inspiration for The Story?
The inspiration was a hybrid of personal anxieties and reflections on my own life, combined with some personal tragedies that have touched people that I’m close to. Several years ago, I was diagnosed with Depression and Anxiety but in previous years have not written about it. I’ve now realised that this is something I will always carry so I might as well try and harness it and explore it through my work.

What other films have you directed?
I have written and directed two previous narrative short films, Yesterday’s News (2013) and Strays (2015). Both were shot in my hometown of Bacchus Marsh and were self-funded. I had been on a bit of a directing hiatus since 2015, after having a feature script optioned, so I went into furious writing mode working on that. I directed several music videos during this period, but nothing narrative. ‘The Story’ is my return to narrative short form directing.

Where can people see them?
I think there’s still a few up on my old website steventandyfilms.wordpress, but it is very outdated. I’m currently building my portfolio, so I can update it at the end of the year.

Was The Story written with Tim Rogers in mind for the leading role?
No, the earliest drafts were not written with any specific actor in mind. However, I knew Tim was a natural storyteller and I had read his autobiography, ‘Detours’ and recognized that he had a certain sensitivity and honesty that I knew was needed for this screenplay. I thought Tim would be a bit too famous to want to work with an emerging filmmaker, but I’ve always been of the belief that there’s nothing to lose by asking anyway. Obviously, there was something in the script that Tim responded to and I was lucky enough to lock him down!

I’m told that The Story was financed through Kickstarter. Have you found it easier to finance your films through crowdfunding?
The pre-production and production of the film was self-financed by myself through savings working crappy day jobs! Once I got the ‘yes, let’s do it’ from Tim, I wanted to go ahead straightaway before he could change his mind, so ripped open the wallet to get it done ASAP. Once we had shot and edited the film and I saw the great film we had on our hands, I ran a short, two-week Kickstarter campaign for a professional sound design and colour grade to really bump it up a notch. I don’t particularly like crowd-funding as all my friends are poor, starving artists as well, so I hate asking for money, but sometimes it’s necessary.

Apart from The Story what you looking forward to watch at the St Kilda Film Festival?
A few of my friends from Swinburne Days have shorts in, so I’ll be keen to check them out to see what they’ve been working on. And discovering new filmmakers in general!

Have you worked with anybody involved with the production of The Story before?
Yes, indeed. I went to Swinburne University with my fantastic producer, Anne-Maree Shelton. This was the first time working together in a producer/director role, but we have a great relationship, and everything ran smoothly and successfully. My Executive Producer, Daniel Scharf is also my creative agent who I signed with after winning Open Channel’s Short and Sharp Pitching competition a couple of years ago.

This is only the second project I have worked on with my cinematographer David Mckinnar. I’ve only known him for about 6 months, so it’s only the beginning of an exciting long-term partnership. Our first project was a music video for STONEFIELD, which will be coming out sometime this year.

Do you have any future projects we should know about?
Too many! Now I’m back to directing, I’m making up for lost time! I have 4 short films ready to go, another music video with Dave in two weeks time and a feature film script still in development. Busy, but happy days!

What is your favourite movie?
There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson.