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| Interview with Amy Lynn Best by Nancy Jackson |
| I was fortunate to be able to take out a few moments of Amy Lynn Best’s time. This is quite exciting for me; I’ve been able to get to know much more about her since joining www.pretty-scary.com.
Not only is she a strong and sexy actress, but she also produces and directs along with her team of Mike Watt and Bill Homan for Happy Cloud Pictures, their own company. Nancy: Thank you Amy for taking time out to do an interview with me. While I haven’t worked with you, I’ve spoken with several people who claim you are wonderful to work with, very focused and very dedicated. What was it that made you decide the movie business was where you wanted to go? Amy: -- I don’t know that I’ve even made that decision yet! I’ve always enjoyed performing, so when I started helping Mike out on his film school projects, I had a lot of fun. Mike was very into film and I really got to know a lot about it and enjoy it through working on those early projects. Now I feel like I am firmly entrenched in the film world. I enjoy just about every aspect that goes into making a film. I’m currently writing a script that I hope to take the entire way through. I don’t think I could not do film at this point in my life. Nancy: I knew as a writer, the next step I wanted to take was as editor and be in charge of projects from start to finish. There’s something very fulfilling to have your hand in all aspects of something. Why did you decide to tackle producing and directing as well? Amy: -- Producing was something I did out of necessity at first. Mike, Bill and I decided we wanted to make The Resurrection Game, so we did. We didn’t give much thought to our roles on the production at that time; the three of us did just about everything at one point or another. Since then I’ve realized that I enjoy having my hand in, and having control of, every part of the production. I’ve always been very take-charge and I like creating something and knowing how it’s going to turn out. Nancy: You’ve been an inspiration for many actresses by keeping to your own ideas and thoughts of acting/directing in B movies. I’m always impressed with people who aren’t afraid to voice their feelings. Has that hindered you or gained you more respect in the movie industry? Amy -- I really have no idea. I do know that there are a lot of men out there who have problems with strong women, and I really don’t feel the need to have the respect of these people so I don’t really care how it affects them. I also know that I get a lot of woman, and a few men, coming up to me at shows and thanking me for my outspokenness on the subject of women in b-movies. And that usually makes up for anything else. Nancy: Do you plan to stick with horror or will you branch out to try other genres? Amy: -- We will branch out into other things. Severe Injuries and WereGrrl are actually more comedy than horror, and I have a drama that I am in the process of writing. I want to try a bit of everything eventually. Including a musical! Nancy: I recently was treated to a great photo of the “Spicy Sisters”. Where did you come up with that name? Amy: -- I was trying to come up with a name for women in the independent and b-movie genre. I have always heard them being referred to as “Scream Queens”. A name that brings to mind accomplished talented actresses -- not every woman who takes her shirt off and has Kayo thrown on her. That term started actually offending me. It was a slap in the face to the women who earned the title. I wanted something sexy and something that reflected the camaraderie that I had been developing with some of the other woman in the industry. Some say it sounds like we’re a Mexican food dish, but I like it. Nancy: I’ve noticed you use the phrase “Outsider Cinema”. What is your definition of that term? Amy: --Well, I won’t do the whole manifesto here. “Outsider Cinema” was another term we coined to describe the movies that we wanted to do. These days there are many people that think of b-movies and low budget movies as simply bad porn. And sometimes for good reason, so we were trying to distance ourselves from that. We also didn’t want to be associated with independent filmmaking that has become too “Hollywood” over the past few years for my taste. “Outsider Cinema” movies are movies that are there for a reason. Not because we had a lot of money or our parents video camera. They have heart. I hope we’re accomplishing that. |