Stephonika's Universe
The exclusive site for everything Stephonika.
1. UTS project. Interview conducted by R. Stark. 08.07.08
Kaye talks about UTS's progress and how she came up with the idea.
Please note that this interview occurred before the decision to lengthen it, and also before (obviously) Kaye's decision to abandon the project. The interview has been edited only slightly from its original version.
We're on the set of UTS with director Stephonika W. Kaye. She's dressed casually, hair pulled back, and ready for a long day of shooting. We sit down on furniture that's been moved aside from the shooting area and talk with her about her first film project as she waits for actors to return to set. Crew person Emily Stark sits to the side, waiting, too.
Stark: What inspired you to write this film, or to do this film?
Kaye: Um... I was up late one night, and uh, it kinda just popped in my head.
Stark: Just popped in your head?
Kaye: Just popped in, you know. I had to-- You know, you get the intial idea, you know, when you're writing something, and then you sit and stare at something for a long, long time, trying to figure it all out; for all the pieces to fit in one place...
Stark: What does this film mean to you?
Kaye: (Long pause.) I don't know.
Stark: Don't know.
Kaye: Nothing too...
Stark: Was it just, you know, something to do for your first film?
Kaye: It was just kinda there.
Stark: Just kinda there.
Kaye: It just popped in and I had to do it. So...
Stark: Can you give us a little bit of a brief overview without spoiling [anything] for our viewers?
Kaye: Well, we've only got four characters. We've got a woman, her cousin, her sweetheart, and his best friend. So basically, this woman, Brangae, she lived in a far away country and her parents dies when she was a child, and so she was whisked away to live with her aunt and her cousin ... in a country I do not have a name for. Where she's going has a name: Hemmish, but where she lives does not currently have a name. But anyway, she's basically--in the beginning she says that she's done something horrible and she's become something terrible, and she has to basically leave.
Stark: Where does her sweetheart and his friend come into the [story]?
Kaye: Well, as I said she's writing her letter in the beginning, and so that's kind of like her goodbye letter because she figures she has committed murder--without the intent of committing murder, she kinda lost control of herself, she's become a "monster." So, she delivers this letter to Lorenco--or, has a messenger deliver it to our Lorenco, Aaron Pauley. So, he's kinda down at the fact that apparently something's happening. He doesn't know what it is, so he goes to her cousin and asks what's going on, but before that he actually gets orders from his best friend--his best friend's carrying orders that they are taken off leave and they have to go hunt her down and kill her; although, his best friend was never told who his sweetheart was 'cause he kept it a secret for some unknown reason. He's just a private, private guy.
Stark: So, the film entails just showing her leaving and him trying to ...
Kaye: All this short film is--it's onyl 15 pages--all it really shows is the beginning where she's writing her letter and them preparing to leave and them finally in the forests travelling and them hunting her... We don't actually get to see Hemmish, which is actually where she's going. We're far from Hemmish at this point, at the point where it ends, so I dunno, maybe we'll do another one.
Stark: Are you excited about your first short film and is it everything that you wanted it to be?
Kaye: Yeah, yeah it is. I mean, I wish I had more people that could help out. So far I've only really had three actual [regular] people on the crew. I've had a makeup person. Brutal, brutal makeup person, [she laughs].
Stark: [laughing too,] But a fun one!
Kaye: Ah, Amanda, Amanda. Good times. And then Emily Stark and Rachel Stark. Yes.
Stark: Oh, well, wonder who that could be...
Kaye: It's been interesting.
Stark: Is there any plans for a sequel?
Kaye: Uh, well, like I said... We might do another one. When we did the table reading for it, all of my actors said, "Where's the rest of it?"
Stark: Mm, that's a good sign.
Kaye: So... I don't know. When I'm back from college in the winter for one and a half months, I don't know. Maybe I'll do another one. If I can get everyone back together.
Stark: Satisfied with the cast that you have?
Kaye: Well, yeah. I just finished recasting one person. Yes, I had one person who had to drop out. He didn't have enough time to do it. So, we have had a last minute recast.
Stark: Which we are--
Kaye: I'm very, very excited about! He didn't get to do the play [Shadow in the Fire] that I'm doing, so it'll be great fun to have him on board.
Stark: So, tell us about this location you're shooting on.
Kaye: We are sitting in one of the upstairs classrooms of the Presbyterian Church--[E. Stark's phone rings loudly]--and that, ladies and gentlemen, is a phone ring, which happened quite coincidentally on set as well.
Stark: Yes, you'll have to check out our blooper reel to see that.
Kaye: Yes, check out our blooper reel because it's hiliarious. It actually gets its only little cameo as well in bloopers.
Stark: With Ms. Stark [herself] directing.
Kaye: Yeaah... [mimicking Stark] Mm! Cut! That was a great moment!
Stark: Yes, I would never be good at that.
Kaye: I tried not to laugh, but it just kinda came out because it we were doing it without sound, too--I was going to mute the track--so we could have gone on with it ringing, but it was just too funny!
Stark: Tell us about setting up and just the work that you have to put in to doing a short film.
Kaye: Since I have not so high-tech equipment here. My dolly here is made out of cardboard and I don't know what the heck that is--a wheel cart--but it's this thing that the church had and it's on wheels, so I taped a big piece of cardboard to it nice and thick so that it could hold the camera, and that's my dolly. And shoestrings. Shoestrings to pull it along! Shoestrings!
E. Stark: My shoestrings!!
Stark: Yeah, donated by my sister.
Kaye: Donated by Emily Stark.
Stark: [after mentioning their Arby's drinks] It gets pretty toasty in here.
Kaye: Yeah, I gets pretty toasty in here. I don't think they have air conditioning or they do and they don't turn it on until [Sundays, as E. Stark clarifies]. Yeah, our actors get pretty hot. I was hot just in night clothes. And it was off the shoulder, so...
Stark: And it's white, so it should have--
Kaye: Yeah.
Stark: Tell us some benefits about shooting in this church.
Kaye: It's got everything! I love it!
Stark: Anybody you'd like to acknowledge or thank for helping you with this film?
Kaye: [jokingly] They know who they are.
Stark: Besides your crew.
Kaye: Oh, well, besides them? Definitely the church. I definitely have the thank them. They've been very, very good to us; they've be very willing to help out. They let us stay here almost all day. We've been here since probably 1:30-2:00 today, and we've fnished setting up and I've planned out where every shot's going to take place, so now I'm waiting for actors to get back on set and get them back into costume and ... then we'll be rolling!
Stark: Can you tell us what you hope this film will be able to do when you get it finished and edited, what you're planning on doing with it?
Kaye: What I plan on doing with it is, one, post it on my youtube account. Get it out there, let people see it. Maybe create some interest, and maybe some interest in possibly a sequel or something like that. Continuation, I guess I should say.
Stark: I'm going to revert back to the film a little bit. Can you tell us about if you had people in mind when you wrote the script. Did you write the characters for certain people?
Kaye: I did for two of them. I figured that Rachel Stark would probably say yes to taking the part [of the cousin], who was originally Brangae.
Stark: That's an interesting name, by the way. How did you come up with that?
Kaye: I wanted sort of a different kind of name, and one of my favorite movies [is] Tristan+Isolde. Isolde's ... maid, I guess who she is.... Her name was Brangae, so that's where the name came from.
Stark: It's Irish isn't it? Or Gaelic?
Kaye: Yeah, it's Irish or Gaelic or Celtic or somewhere around there. But, yeah, I eventually switched around Kaleena [the cousin] and Brangae's names to make Brangae the main character, and Brangae is my character. I changed the names around because I wanted to do a ... kind of an Irish accent. It might not be perfectly an Irish accent, but it'll be close to.
Stark: When you wrote this, what kind of monster did you--without revealing too much for the sequel--[intend her to] become?
Kaye: Without revealing too much? Yeah, it's not actually said what she is. Um... Bloodsucking. That kind of thing.
Stark: Pretty vicious?
Kaye: Very vicious. Very vicious type of thing.
Stark: Will we learn how she gets that way?
Kaye: If there's a continuation then I'll probably work it in there somehow. There is one line that Vorrent [the best friend] has. He says, "So what are you anyway? Are you a werewolf, a vampire, or some other demon?" So, we don't really know what she is yet.... Maybe she's a gargoyle! Hiding her wings. I don't know. Or do I?
Stark: Before we close, do you have any final things you want to say about being able to work here and devote all your time to doing this?
Kaye: [another ring from E. Stark's phone] It's quiet. [laughs] I get awesome crew people like this.
Stark: So, we've been having some pretty good times here on the set. Do you have any memories, some good memories from working on the set?
Kaye: [innocently and shyly] I spilled paint.
Stark: Yes, you did! You didn't just spill paint, you spilt it!!
Kaye: I spilled it! All over the floor, on my foot, and on the table.
Stark: And poor little Emily, she had to clean it up.
Kaye: She volunteered. And it's very nice, spick and span. And--
Stark: --you can't even tell there was a stain--
Kaye: --the carpet's still great!
Stark: It's probably the cleanest spot on that carpet.
Kaye: It is, it is. It's extremely clean. They should hire someone to clean the whole carpet.
Stark: Just to match that spot!
Kaye: Just to match our splotches! ... But we did not spill anything. We cleaned up our mess! We did.
Stark: Any final words before we close?
Kaye: Um... I want my actors!
Stark: Well, it was going talking to you, Stephonika, and we can't wait to see the film when it's done.
Kaye: Me neither.
2. TKT Project. Interview conducted by site staff. 06.30.09
Kaye discusses why she's returned to the project after 3 years--and spills news on other projects like the V/N Story.
We sit with Stephonika with Star Wars playing on a TV in the background. She sits in casual clothes with her hair pulled into a clip. A huge stack of paper rests on the table in front of her, along with a bunch of old notebooks. She has a lot on her schedule for today, but she's allowed us a moment to ask her about recent events.
Stephonika's Universe: You haven't worked on the TKT project for three years. Why is it you decided to return to the project? Why now?
Kaye: I had been working on so many writing projects over the last year of college, about three scripts actually. The V/N script, For the Sunset--
SU: For the Sunset?
Kaye: It's the father/daughter script I've been working on here and there. And then there was a new one I started taking notes down about. An American/Japanese romance story much like the movies based on Nicholas Sparks books.
SU: Sounds like a lot of work.
Kaye: Yeah, well I write like I read. I have various things going on at once. And along with all those script ideas I've been tinkering on here and there I've still been working on a few novel projects. The wizard one the most, and this past year at college I got brought on to work on a video game that students were developing. Eric was the one that informed me of that opportunity.
SU: Sounds like he's always looking out for you.
Kaye: Heh, well, I certainly respect him. He's helped me out with a lot since the end of my first year [in college].
SU: So, if you have all this work, why go back and add something else to your list?
Kaye: Well, I had decided that when I got on break for the summer this year [2009], I was going to take a break on the V/N Story, since I had just finished a 2nd draft of it for a class with Eric, so that I could work more with and, uh, finish Book One of the wizard quadrilogy.
SU: So, what happened with that?
Kaye: I spent about a week, week and a half, working on it--working on the outline more and going back and revising the 15 some chapters I had already written a while ago. But I just couldn't get back into it at all. And then, since I had just come back home from college, I had all my stuff to unpack still, so I took the opportunity to start rearranging my room. I found my old copy of TKT, the thousand-paged one, and I got all nostalgic about it. Then when I went back to the wizard book, I had an even harder time of getting into it. So, I knew it was time for TKT to come back off the shelf after three years.
SU: And this book has taken up a lot of time for you hasn't it?
Kaye: It certainly has. It took nearly four years to write it the first time.
SU: So... it's been a total of seven years really.
Kaye: Yeah.... It's strange to think that it's been so long. Seven years. That's a long time. But I have no doubt that finding it again was Fate, and I feel that it's finally time for it to come out. That was half the reason I put it up to begin with. It wasn't ready at all, but now I think I'll be able to finish it with no problems.
SU: Will your next draft of it be very different?
Kaye: Considerably. I've been rereading over the past few days--of course, I'm still not done though you know, it's over 1000 pages!--and I can see a lot that needs to change and be taken out. The second half isn't as bad. All the problems are mostly in the first half. I've written out a new rough outline for the book, and it looks promising.
SU: Any prospective deadline?
Kaye: Not really. I wanted to finish the rough draft of the wizard book by the end of the year, so maybe since I've changed track, this one will have that same deadline on its new draft.
SU: Well, we're certainly excited to see you get one of your books in print, whichever it may be.
Kaye: Thank you. I still have to work on V/N though, so we'll see.
SU: Really? I thought you were taking a break on that.
Kaye: Well, I set it down for a few weeks to rethink some things that were discussed [in class].
SU: What sort of things?
Kaye: Problems with character motivations and plot line. Just simple things that really make all the difference. A few things weren't working no matter how much I [rewrote] them.
SU: So, you plan to think through those and do more rewriting? For what? What's the rush?
Kaye: Eric gave us the opportunity to turn in our scripts under a faux title and [author] name. It's for a script analysis of his he's having in the fall where the students take a script and write up a big, think production packet. So, it'll be good to see the script scrictly from a producer's standpoint.
SU: Sounds like a good idea to me.
Kaye: Yeah.
SU: But why aren't you going to be in the class?
Kaye: I took the same class with him this past fall. We didn't do the production packet though. We did coverage instead.
SU: Coverage?
Kaye: It's what producers see. Like--they have production assistants read scripts and write coverage on them, what it's about, their thoughts, if it's written well. Coverage exists because producers would never have the time to sit down and actually read all the scripts they get. Coverage helps them choose what projects to consider.
SU: So this production packet would be like that?
Kaye: Sort of. It's much more in depth. But [the students in the class] will have several to choose from, so we'll see if mine gets picked.
SU: Good luck with that then.
Kaye: Thanks. My partner and I worked out the kinks a few nights ago, so I have some things to work with on how to fix the problems. But I'm still juggling this with the TKT book. It's been a trying time to refresh my memory on everything that I've put into it. It's as expansive as Star Wars, so when you start to forget the small details it's very hard to wrap your head back around it, especially since there were a lot of strings still hanging loose. I'm excited to be working on it again!
SU: Well, we all certainly hope that you can get it right this time around.
Kaye: Yeah. [She laughs] That might take a while in looking at the track record. But I've always had nothing but high hopes for it.
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