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Making her own rules

Award-winning UCI Film & Media Studies alumna Jess dela Merced '09 takes risks, directs her first feature-length film

Jess dela Merced graduated from the UCI Department of Film & Media Studies in 2009. Since then, she’s received an MFA from the NYU Grad Film Program and written and directed shorts, including her award-winning thesis film “HYPEBEASTS,” which was written under the mentorship of Spike Lee. Her latest short film, "Wait 'til the Wolves Make Nice," premiered at SXSW and won the Grand Jury Prize in Detroit's Cinetopia International Film Festival. She is currently working on her first feature-length film, “Chickenshit,” a youth adventure film about a young black girl who bands together with a group of boys to stop arsonists from burning down their city of Detroit. Below, we ask Merced about her filmmaking and breaking the rules. 

You'll be working on your first feature next year, "Chickenshit," in Detroit. Where are you currently in the process?

We're currently in very early pre-production on the film. We're aiming to shoot summer 2017 so right now we're focusing on getting the script as tight as possible, searching for the right casting director to find the actors, and establishing relationships with VFX (visual effects) collaborators. Those three steps are integral to the success of the film so we're really taking the time to get it right.

We've read that you've been bucking the advice given to emerging filmmakers to avoid fire and kids. "Chickenshit" will include both. What would you say your motto or anthem is as a filmmaker?

I've never really been good at taking precautionary advice when it comes to the stories I want to tell. My first film at NYU featured a kid and a dog--two things we were explicitly warned to stay away from as first-timers. But I did it anyway because that was the story I wanted to tell. The same goes for "Chickenshit." The story is important to me and I need to tell it now. So the only thing I can do is make sure I've prepared as much as possible to handle these elements, which, I'll admit, could be daunting to any filmmaker. I believe you can tell any story you're passionate about, so as long as you put the work in and find the right collaborators to execute it well.

A lot of your short films deal with complex issues including race and consumerism. What issue(s) would you say Chickenshit addresses and how did your experience in Detroit shape this?

There's a lot to unpack with this film. Detroit's conditions--the poverty, blight, unemployment, segregation (just to name a few)--are a clear by-product of racism and ignorance. Economic factors quickly hastened the process, but above all, apathy and discrimination nailed the coffin shut. Detroit is a cautionary tale and, given the racial climate of today, it is important that people understand this can happen anywhere. My time in Detroit has been working with a handful of kids that I got to be very close with and it was through these interactions that I knew I had to make a film for them--a film about kids who live in difficult circumstances beyond their control, that showed them persevering and prevailing.

What films or filmmakers have inspired you and how might we see homages to them in your films?

The films from my childhood are the most important to me. Films like "Stand By Me", "The Goonies," "The Sandlot"--all of those timeless films got me through my own growing pains and are a huge inspiration for "Chickenshit." They were entertaining and fun but had important messages. They taught the importance of empathy, self-worth, friendship, and having a moral compass. Elia Kazan's "East of Eden" was the first film that got me interested in telling my own stories and Ang Lee continues to inspire me as a director.