Shelly Skandrani is the writer/director of "Greed," and an actress in "Fraud."
Living through a pandemic has been challenging, but I must say, there have also been some silver linings! The biggest one? 9 Ways to Hell!
I was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and grew up in London, England, so I’m a fantastic mixture of pretty opposite cultures. Now I live in Los Angeles, so, as you can see, I’m a city gal, though nature inspires and calms me; in fact, I’m an avid traveler, and have spent nine months backpacking through South America, and six months through India, and I have been through most of Europe and the U.S.A., including Alaska about twenty times!
I’ve been acting since I was nine years old; I started in theater, on the London stages, and moved onto film and T.V. when I was sixteen. My first film role was a co-star role, opposite Kirsten Dunst, in the holocaust film The Devil’s Arithmetic - talk about starting with a bang!
I came to Los Angeles to pursue my acting, but found myself drawn toward writing and directing. So I went to U.C.L.A. [University of California, Los Angeles] Extension to study screenplay writing, and, in time, found that directing was a huge passion of mine, as well. It allowed me to utilize all my skills of storytelling, planning, and list-making.
Los Angeles has had to deal with a lot of intense moments during the CoViD-19 [Corona Virus Disease of 2019] pandemic, and, unfortunately, a lot of politics have been involved in something that should purely be a health crisis.
I’ve had friends call me up crying in fear! A lot of folks in the entertainment industry lost their jobs, had to switch careers, or had to leave Los Angeles due to the CoViD crisis.
I lost my income, working in both films and public events, right at the beginning of lock down, but then was fortunate to find a great job I can do from home, and I have learned a whole new skill set! I’ve also been writing a book about my bonding trip to Africa with my mom, called It All Began in Africa. I’m at three hundred pages, and almost done with my first draft.
I’ve been writing a ton of poetry, grounding myself in nature by walking barefoot in parks and on beaches, and I’m even filming a feature film about life in quarantine!
"When does she sleep?" do I hear you asking?
I’m not sleeping much; everything feels uncertain, but at least I’m utilizing that extra time for progress!
There have been some amazing miracles, however, for many people! One of the loveliest silver linings, for me, is how well our film 9 Ways to Hell is doing in the festival circuit! It’s a horror anthology with comedic flair, with nine writers/directors who each create one level of Hell from Dante’s Inferno, hence, the name 9 Ways to Hell. It’s a small film, full of heart, that we shot a couple of years ago, and is now getting its day in the sun - its months in the sun, really! It’s amazing the amount of love we are feeling from film festivals, with many official selections and nominations at festivals like the LA Live Film Festival, Monsterflix, Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival (what an awesome name!) Haus Awards, and more! We even won “Best Gore” at the Independent Horror Movie Awards and “Best Feature” at the Hollywood Blood Horror Festival!
And to think I almost turned down the opportunity! I knew nothing about horror films - making them, writing them... I can’t even watch them, because they give me nightmares, so my initial reaction when Nick Dragon asked me to join the team was, “Are you crazy?” I did, however, know the people involved, and I knew it was going to be an amazing experience, so Nick convinced me that I would get the hang of it and quickly love it.
He was right! I am very grateful for the opportunity. Ultimately, Nick Dragon and Lacey Rae (the other Executive Producer), have been such great sources of inspiration and support along the journey. They have very different strengths, and these differences really complement each other. I never felt alone; there was always someone to turn to, and they were there to help “save the day” when things got stressful!
Our team of filmmakers are a group of talented and inspiring creators, all with very unique visions and outlooks, probably because we are so incredibly diverse. They all created deep stories that really push the envelope and spark conversations about life and ethics. All while scaring, entertaining, and even grossing out the viewers!
I directed the segment "Greed," which is about this stunning woman, Melissa, played by the truly gorgeous and incredibly talented Ashiko Westguard (A Dark Matter), who is basically a trophy wife. What she has been conditioned to value, and therefore values the most, is her own beauty, as this is all society sees in her. It’s her obsession, so much so that it creates a distance between herself and her tomboyish daughter Olivia, played by the powerful Mia Komsky ("Cold Case Files"). Mia wants to feel close to her mother, who constantly pushes her away, to tend to her grooming for a gala that evening.
What ensues from Olivia’s need for affection, is that she covets her mother’s beauty, this “greed” explodes in a horrifyingly violent way.
I worked with incredible special effects make-up artist Joe Castro and his assistant, Steven J. Escobar. Joe scared the heck out of me with his artistic ability; let’s just say there was a lot of blood! Even a dead dog in the corner! With almost forty years of experience, no challenge was too great for Joe, so it’s no wonder 9 Ways to Hell won “Best Gore” at the Independent Horror Movie Awards!
I must say, my costume designer really came through, he’s a talented Israeli stylist with amazing flair, who’s worked with many singers and artists in Israel. There were certain items he really had to insist on, which I thought weren’t suitable, but he was pushy, and, ultimately, he was so right! That’s why, as a Director, you need to work with talented people, thank you Guy Fikler!
Working on 9 Ways to Hell was an incredible experience - not just because we all got to tell stories we are passionate about, but because we worked as a team and community. There’s strength in numbers, and we were all able to help each other on the shoots, sharing equipment, resources, cast, crew, and time. Everyone brought something to the group, to make a greater whole.That’s a great sentiment to hold onto, especially during this pandemic. At the end of the day, we have hope. We must! We don’t know when this lock down is going to end, and resisting it won’t make it go any faster. We need to find new ways of being creative, and to adapt to the restrictions of CoVid.. We have been really lucky that, throughout all this, our film has still pushed through, and we hope to see it screened at a cool drive-in theater soon! Thank you for the interest in our passion project! Let’s all stay safe and find happiness.
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By Shelly Skandrani
Edited by William Mortensen Vaughan
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