Run Out Groove is a spectacular film for many reasons. The HollyShorts Film Festival entry from Nicole Murray (producer, writer, and actor), Kelsey Fordham (producer and actor), and Paige Henderson (producer, writer, and director) tells the story of an uninspired painter named Ginny (played by Murray). Thanks to a record player that appears magically outside of her home, along with a vinyl that plays back key moments of her past relationship with Layla (Fordham), Ginny experiences a sort of self-rediscovery that ultimately ignites an idea for a painting.
What’s foremost significant about the film is how its creative team actually walks the walk when it comes to uplifting marginalized stories and voices. Indeed, the cast and crew of Run Out Groove are made up exclusively by women and non-binary people (most of whom identify as LGBTQIA+). More than that, it’s intentional. While many within the film industry might look at diversity as a quota that needs to be filled, Murray, Fordham, and Henderson see it as the backbone of authentic storytelling. In fact, in our email interview below, the team talks about “normalizing the queer experience” and how “it is just as vital to see queer characters in all aspects of life, as full complete people who are more than how society views them.”
Perhaps this is why Run Out Groove is a powerhouse short film: even though the film deals with the residuals of a break-up, what emanates from the screen above all is love and support. Just as Ginny and Layla loved and supported each other, Murray and Fordham lean on each other in throughout the film, pulling the best performances out of each other. Considering how collaborative the project was, it’s clear, too, that every member of the crew also came together full-bodied and whole-hearted.
For any Hollywood execs reading, Run Out Groove is a prime example of how you empower your team and authenticate your stories—and make kick-ass cinema, too!
Before we get into Run Out Groove, I wonder if you might tell us about your individual / collective filmmaking journeys? Where did it all start for you?
NM: I actually came from working in a dopamine and addiction lab in Seattle. I loved the work but felt a part of me was missing (cliche, I know). I began acting in the Seattle film scene and was hooked upon getting my first job there. I moved down to Los Angeles to pursue acting fully in 2018 and Paige and I started a production company together where we made our first project, Dead Friends. From there, the journey that began with me acting bloomed into a widened perspective on storytelling as an actor, writer, producer and director. My understanding of film has deepened with each new position I’ve tackled and I think developing myself in these different areas has made me love film even more. I recently produced and starred in a comedy-horror feature, Death Perception, and am continuing to work on multiple projects, collaborating in the multi-hyphenate ways that I can.
PH: I grew up doing community theatre and always absolutely adored movies. I think IMDb has been my favorite website since the days of my childhood computer room. I always knew I wanted to be involved in movies, but growing up in small town Washington it didn’t quite feel possible. In college I studied Comparative Literature with a focus in Cinema Studies, and after graduating I traveled the world hoping I could figure out what I wanted to do with my life…but I realized I always knew. After moving to LA and working solely as an actor for a few months Nicole and I started our production company, writing, directing and producing. I think my experience as a Production Designer and an actor has helped me develop my unique perspective as a director, mixing playful visuals with raw vulnerability.
KF: If you would have told me 7 years ago that one day I’d be living in LA as an actor and filmmaker I would have thought you were crazy. Growing up my dream was always to work in the humanitarian sector, and for several years following college I worked for an NGO that partnered with local communities in some of the most volatile regions of east and central Africa to provide protection and educational resources. My move into filmmaking wasn’t an obvious career transition for most, but it makes a lot of sense to me. The NGO I worked for used documentary storytelling to educate and drive advocacy, ultimately passing life-saving legislation and funding sustainable development programs in the region. I had a front row seat to storytelling at its best and after my time with the NGO I was eager to take my lessons into the narrative space. I am floored by film’s ability to act as a catalyst for empathy, understanding and connection, and dream of creating projects that carve out a small sliver of space for others to feel seen, understood and connected.
And how we all came together? Nicole and Paige actually went to the same University, but never met until working on a short film set just a month before moving to LA. “I’m moving to LA in a month”, “I’m moving to LA in a month!” …”let’s be roommates?” So, for the past four years Paige and Nicole have lived in LA, they have done so as roommates. Kelsey came along in Kimberly Jentzen’s acting class. We thought she was super cool and wanted to be her friend, but it was so funny how long it took Kelsey to realize we were friends. For the first few months, she’d be like “we are… friends, right?” She didn’t want to scare us off or something. It’s something we all laugh about now.
Run Out Groove‘s title refers to those final moments when a record keeps spinning but the music is done. You’ve translated that idea into a story about the residual emotions people feel after a break-up. What was the inspiration for the story? For Paige and Nicole, what was the collaborative writing process like?
The inspiration for this story definitely came from past relationships we’ve both had, both romantic and platonic, and relationships we’ve seen our friends in. One of the hardest things is realizing that being with a person you love isn’t working anymore, that not only is the relationship over but it’s taking your spark of life. Like you said, the record is spinning, it was beautiful before, but now there is only silence and someone needs to take the record off.
I think when we were writing it we didn’t even realize how much we were both putting into it and how important and cathartic the writing process was for us. We wanted to write a story about queer love, not queer trauma, and ended up processing so much we needed to.
We were also very inspired by the writings of Milan Kundera, particularly The Unbearable Lightness of Being, in both the way he tells a story, playing with narrative and the movement of time, as well as that idea that love can still be pure and true but not conquer all, and that’s okay.
We have written together before this project so already had a great collaborative dynamic. Also, weirdly being roommates has helped us be better writing partners. You have to be able to be honest with your roommate and say “clean up your dishes you gross human”, and they have to not take it personally for the cleanliness of the house. It’s kind of the same writing together, being honest about our thoughts and opinions all in service of the story. We normally don’t call each other gross humans when we’re writing though.
I loved that you’ve centered queerness in your story (both in front and behind the camera). A lot of the time, when you see a film about a struggling / tortured artist, it’s almost always from a straight man’s perspective and there’s almost always a doting wife / girlfriend who unfairly puts up with his moods. What’s remarkable, to me, about Run Out Groove is how it fundamentally subverts that trope while also exploring a unique and complex relationship between two women. How important was it for you to tell your story with a queer lens? And how important was it for you to further authenticate that lens through the employment and involvement of queer cast and crew?
We got super lucky with having the involvement of an all non-binary and women, majority queer, cast and crew. The “vibes,” if you will, were so amazing on this set. It felt like we had built a small family over a weekend in the desert together. There was this very beautiful supportive energy ruminating and it felt like there was space to just be free.
Something we talk about a lot is normalizing the queer experience. While coming out stories are so important and influential, for us it is just as vital to see queer characters in all aspects of life, as full complete people who are more than how society views them. Layla and Ginny are just like any other couple who don’t listen to each other. We wanted the audience to see their own past relationships in Ginny and Layla’s.
For Nicole and Kelsey: you both turn in such captivating performances, which are both dynamic in completely different ways. Where Nicole’s character is more outwardly emotive, Kelsey’s character is more grounded and desperate for some rationality–which results in a very devastating romance! In such a short amount of time, you take us through your characters’ entire romantic journey. What was it like to work opposite each other, and how did you go about finding your characters’ relationship dynamic?
It was so amazing getting to work all together in this capacity. We knew that in order to bring to life the painful and frayed relationship of Layla and Ginny we needed to first build a relationship full of love and incredible little moments. It was really important to us that our relationship felt tangible, seeped in layers of nuance and history. For that reason we started from the bottom up. We created an entire backstory of first glances, kisses, and dates. We talked through our childhoods and families, and what this relationship meant to each of our characters. Though we realized no one will ever know the details of the lives we created, we hoped they might feel it.
Music is a huge part of Kelsey’s process as an actor and, for her character Layla, was a way to communicate her often suppressed emotions. Kelsey created two playlists: one of songs she imagined Layla would have sent to Ginny at the height of their relationship and romance, and another of music Layla likely consumed herself with as her relationship with Ginny began to fray.
Nicole has expressed how much she’s grown from her prep with Ginny. A beautiful thing about the character is her unhindered outward expression which required Nicole to tap into a more impulsive and audacious side of herself. Nicole even painted a picture of Layla as a part of her process with Ginny, listening to the playlist Layla made for her.
During the rehearsal process Paige introduced us to a section in The Unbearable Lightness of Being that talks about the definition of misunderstood words. Milan Kundera does an incredible job of expressing how a single word can mean completely different things to different people and from that seemingly tiny disconnect of language distance can grow.
This largely impacted our preparation. Together, we went line by line in the script defining what shared understanding we had for each and every word, and where we missed one another time and time again. We were interested in understanding where our miscommunications originated and how they were given oxygen to grow over time.
Paige also worked with us a lot on intimacy and she did such a great job allowing us to explore while providing us a safe space to do so.
HollyShorts is an incredible platform for indie filmmakers, particularly with its blocks of LGBTQ+ and women-focused films. What does it mean for you to have Run Out Groove play here? How will you be celebrating?
HollyShorts was such a wonderful experience. The filmmakers are so talented and you can tell everyone is excited to be there. We already made friends, too! Being part of the LGBTQIA+ block felt like a wonderful culmination of our work as queer creators and it was truly inspiring to see how these other amazing creators told their stories. We saw so many wonderful films throughout the festival as a whole and feel challenged to continue expanding our capabilities as filmmakers.
KF: HollyShorts feels like home to me. As a producer I screened here in 2019 with a queer Indian-American film, Halwa. As a team we also screened the world premiere of my directorial debut Entitled in 2020 (Nicole produced and Paige did Production Design). HollyShorts is such an incredible festival that fosters a creative family of filmmakers and pushes boundaries with the films they gave an elevated platform to. It’s a dream to have had Run Out Groove screen here.
What’s next for you? And where can viewers follow you and your work?
KF: My directorial debut, Entitled is playing virtually at San Diego International Film Festival October 14th – 24th and will screen live at Newport Beach Film Festival on October 24th at 2:45pm. The film highlights the absurdity and dangerous ripple effects of the 24 hr news cycle mixed with cancel culture fuelled by when a woman is thrust into the spotlight as the details of her sexual assault go viral. As her story spreads, lines blur between physical reality and the social media world when a swarm of strangers force their way into her home and frantically rifle through her belongings.
IG: @kelseyfordham
PH: Nicole and I are in post-production on the second season of our web series, Dead Friends. You can watch the first season on YouTube! You can follow along at @sveltedogprod on IG. For my next directorial project I will also be acting, which is a bit scary but very exciting. Definitely looking to Kelsey for advice on that. I’m so grateful to have found such wonderful collaborators in these two as well as so many others in the LA film community and I am excited to continue to develop as an artist with their help and inspiration.
IG: @paigellah
NM: I just finished production on a comedy-horror feature, Death Perception, along with a dramatic short, Them, and Paige and I just finished Season 2 of our web series Dead Friends… so what’s next is a lot of post-production! I also have a horror feature script in the works. I am so ecstatic to be surrounded by the amazing collaborators who are in my life and cannot wait for the next production. We’ve all talked about making a yearly film summer camp, so I am looking forward to creating again with Kelsey and Paige.
IG: @lil_ginga
