On Working with DPs and the "Difficult Second Album"

There’s no handbook for how to proceed when you lose your cinematographer. Here’s how DP Johanna Coelho stepped in to save my second feature (and my sanity).

This article was originally written for Moviemaker Magazine.

I keep jokingly referring to my second feature film, SÉANCE, as my "difficult second album" because there were so many obstacles to getting it shot, completed, and now finally onto the festival circuit. I can make light of it now, but for me this film was a lesson in resilience, and the most challenging project I’ve ever done.

Two weeks out from principal photography, my original DP left to take a higher-paid sketch comedy series. I’d considered him a trusted friend and colleague, but when he quit, he never even picked up the phone. It was brutal, and I was devastated.

Vivian Kerr and 2nd AC Danyell Ellis on the set of Séance.

But almost immediately something inside of me snapped into place and I was determined not to let the project sink. I knew it was entirely up to me what happened next, and if I fell apart, the entire film would fall apart. Within 24 hours, I had thrown out the shot-list, pushed the shoot dates, and decided to start completely from scratch with a new DP. Even though it meant potentially losing locations and additional crew, hitting hard reset was the only way I could envision moving forward.

Part of it was that for a long time I had been wanting to find a DP with whom I could build a long-term working relationship. I knew SÉANCE was potentially the perfect opportunity to develop that. Loosely inspired by the Strindberg one-act CREDITORS, the film is really a love letter to my 19-year-old Theatre-major self.

I’d also been working on the script since 2020, so I felt a duty to make sure I wasn't shooting it in a rushed, haphazard manner just to stick to an arbitrary schedule. I was willing to wait as long as I needed to, another six months if need be, in order to shoot it right, and I very much wanted it to be an authentic, ground-up collaboration. Plugging a DP in last minute to try to hybridize the shoot would have felt cheap, as well as disrespectful both to the film and to the incoming cinematographer.

So, I essentially prepped the same feature from scratch twice, which was a massive undertaking. Despite the stress and the intense workload during the fall of 2022, I’m incredibly grateful for what I learned and how much I grew as a director. It ended up being a 9-week push, but ultimately the film was much stronger for it. I knew Johanna Coelho because I'd met and interviewed her in 2021 for a different feature. I had been so impressed with her intelligence and talent, but she had gotten hired as DP on ABC’s THE ROOKIE during the interview process.

Scouting during pre-production on Séance in Fall 2022.

From the moment we re-connected about SÉANCE, she completely understood the situation, loved the script, and was able to jump right in. JoJo brought so much passion and sensitivity to SÉANCE. She truly reinvigorated the film and was unbelievably flexible. She knew I had already decided I wanted certain things, such as the 1.85 framing and specific compositions based on the locations, but she was not shy about expressing her own opinions, either. It was a great balance, and unfolded into the kind of truly equal collaboration I had always dreamed of. Additionally, her tremendous kindness to me on a personal level helped renew my faith in my vision and rebuild my confidence.

Despite the fact that the budget was beyond stretched and her prep stipend was tiny, JoJo was committed to coming back with me to every single location and to every single room before we began shooting, as well as to our new locations. Those weeks we spent storyboarding together were so fun and re-inspiring. JoJo has this lovely quality of not being so much concerned with getting things “right” as with exploring possibilities. We came up with a ton of ideas, and then I was able to thoughtfully review our reference photos at home and create the shotlist using the images I liked the most. I loved having that freedom and control.

Super Baltars and split diopters!

After discussing the vintage feel we wanted, JoJo suggested shooting on Super Baltar lenses and set up a camera test at Keslow so I could make sure the look was right given our extensive practical lighting. I fell in love with their soft edges, purple flares, and dreamy quality. The film is a throwback to the 1960s and we were referencing THE HAUNTING and THE INNOCENTS, so shooting on lenses from that era was perfect. I love achieving as much as possible in-camera and JoJo was game for anything — split diopters, Vaseline on the lens, strong filters, etc.

Johanna Coelho and Vivian Kerr on the set of Séance.

Once we got on set, her experience shooting action on THE ROOKIE was invaluable. Each day was different —one day a jib, dolly tracks the next, Steadi, underwater work, stunts. The film progresses from static to dolly to going almost entirely handheld in the third act, so there was a lot for JoJo to take on and she fully delivered on all of it in just 19 shoot days.

For me, I got to step up and get a real education on how to make all those bells-and-whistles work, and became much more specific with my prep. And watching JoJo operate the Sony Venice on her shoulder for so many long, back-to-back days was truly incredible. She physically pushed herself to the limit to get the shots we wanted and I couldn't be more grateful. JoJo also brought on so many talented crew, one of whom, 1st AC Kirsten Celo, I have to especially highlight as being a huge contributor.

Vivian Kerr, Johanna Coelho, and Gaffer Kate Ketcham on the set of Séance.

Kirsten has incredible precision and grace under pressure. We had focus pulls that were dependent on sensing subtle shifts in the actors' performances during long takes and we had very little time to get them right and Kirsten absolutely nailed it. She also brought such a calm, steady presence on set. I loved working with her, and I loved the shorthand between her and JoJo. It was such a reassuring feeling on set for me as a director to know that all three of us were on the same page.

This film taught me so much about the importance of accountability and trust in a professional collaboration, how to adjust my prep to best fit the needs of each project, and how I want to approach the Director-DP relationship on every film I make after this.

SÉANCE was a big step up for me in terms of budget, crew size, and overall scale of production. It truly felt like I went to Director grad school.

I'm so grateful as well to my editor Toby Yates, with whom I also worked on my first feature SCRAP. He unfortunately passed away shortly after we completed this film together, but his work on it is very special. After the chaos of the shoot, post-production had a number of unexpected delays and he spent five months patiently working on-and-off with me. Without his consistent belief in the project, elevated taste, and brilliant problem-solving, I could never have gotten to picture-lock. The film is dedicated to him.

As a Director you can't make it without collaborators you can truly rely on, at least two or three people who have your back, stick it out with you, and who are committed to kind, respectful, transparent communication. I'm so grateful to have had Johanna and Toby as my closest collaborators on SÉANCE. And I also have to extend a huge thank you to Savannah Lindblad and Makenna Tuttle, two of my producers who really hustled hard during the post-production process. I owe them so much, and without them the film would not have been completed.

As an 1890s period piece, SÉANCE was a very ambitious project to do on an indie budget, and I am also very proud of each department. Our Production Designer Bri Jones, Costume Designer Nina Fuller, HMU team lead by Lauren Litwin, Lighting, Sound, etc. gave their absolute all to make it work. I’m lucky I had their talents on this film, and there are so many artists I hope to work with again. And while SÉANCE certainly was the classic "difficult second album," hopefully the end product is one that is worth playing on repeat.

Vivian Kerr and Johanna Coelho on the set of Séance.

You can follow along on SÉANCE’s festival journey on Instagram.