An accomplished writer and screenwriter among numerous other professions in the industry, Sara McDermott Jain is working hard to move her career along with her work carrying her along with both her film-work and writing. Now, in honor of Women in Horror Month, I talk with her about her early interest in writing, the process for creating some of her work and some of her film projects.
Me: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this. First off, when did you get into horror in general?
Sara McDermott Jain: I’ve always loved horror. My father is a big horror fan and definitely showed me movies that I probably shouldn’t have seen way before I was old enough to watch them! I always found them to be so much more intense and involving than other types of stories. Horror can be so multi-layered, with so many possible interpretations - it’s really fascinating.
Me: Were you into genre films growing up? What films specifically got you into watching horror movies?
SMJ: Some of the earliest films I remember watching are Jaws, Psycho, Alien, and Carrie. Each one definitely had a huge effect on me! And again…I was probably way too young when I saw them. I think I was 8 or younger for every one of them.
Me: What was the starting point to become a writer? Were you always into writing growing up?
SMJ: Very much so. We used to spend summers renting a beach house with a number of our relatives. It was 12 people in a 3-bedroom house with only 1 television. To get us out of their hair, the adults would put us kids out on the porch with notebooks and pens every afternoon. We wrote tons of stories and skits. I just never grew out of it. As I got older, I wrote more and more and knew by high school that I definitely wanted to be a writer.
Me: Who were some of your favorite writers growing up? Do you try to take influences from their style with your own voice in your work?
SMJ: I loved (and still love) Stephen King. When I first attempted to write a novel, at the age of 14, I was also reading IT, and I’d go back and forth between reading that book and then writing a few pages, just alternating between his work and mine. I was really inspired by his writing style. I think I still have a copy of the (terrible) book I wrote somewhere, but I’ll never forget how completely motivated I was reading his work.
Me: What is your writing process? How do you stay focused on writing?
SMJ: Ideally, I like to block off a full hour at a time and be totally alone, with everything quiet. Most of the time, though, that’s almost impossible! I have a 6-year-old and a pretty packed schedule. When I can’t manage an hour, I’ll try to give at least 20 minutes. It’s actually amazing what you can get done with just 20-minute chunks of time, consistently…I’m a thorough outliner, which is also helpful when your time is limited, because instead of having to figure out what to write and wasting time with that, I just see where I am at in the outline, and can plow ahead right into whatever the next scene is that needs to be written.
Me: You’ve announced a new novel, Wolves at Night, coming out later this year. What can you tell us about the book?
SMJ: I’m in love with this book! It’s a thriller set in the Alaskan Wilderness. I’m pasting in the description from the back cover below, but here are my favorite things about it: the unique setting of being stranded in a remote, off-the-grid cabin in Alaska; the fact the main character doesn’t just contend with bad guys but also wolves; how dark the story gets at times; and the fact that, on one level, it’s about abusive relationships.
BACK COVER COPY: Hundreds of miles of Alaskan wilderness…Hungry timberwolves…An outlaw ex-lover…Deadly con-men…And one young mother with a sick toddler.
Eleni, with her sickly two-year-old in tow, ventures to a remote cabin in the Alaskan wilderness to reunite with the child's outlaw father and her former lover, Ben. What she doesn't know is that the area will be swarmed by deadly timberwolves, that the terrible criminals Ben has wronged will be there looking for him, and that the "love of her life” might just turn out to be the greatest predator of all.
Me: Where did the inspiration for the novel come from? Were there any unique stories about its conception?
SMJ: There were two main sources of inspiration. The first one is that I once spent a summer working in Alaska. I’d been hired to write the scripts for a tour guide company that did 5 and 8-hour tours (that’s a lot of writing!). I really fell in love with everything about Alaska and have always wanted to get back there. In addition to that, I also have experience with emotionally abusive relationships. In the novel, things progress to a very extreme physical violence, but I’m very fascinated with how emotionally abusive relationships stem from the same thought patterns as physically abusive ones. They’re very insidious; people in these kinds of relationships have a really hard time recognizing the abuse because it isn’t physical. It’s covert. I really wanted to show a character making this progression from where they’re brainwashed into thinking they’re experiencing real love, to waking up to the reality that they’re in a nightmare situation.
Me: In addition, you’re also part of the upcoming anthology 'Bad Dreams in Quarantine.' How did you come to be involved in the film?
SMJ: This anthology is a solo project I began once the pandemic began. It’s a series of short films shot entirely in quarantine! The ideas all revolve around the concept of being quarantined in the current pandemic. It was a great creative exercise to come up with ideas that were each unique, but that all revolved around being trapped in my house. Three of the shorts I shot entirely solo, and on one of them, I had a filmmaker friend help out. (We wore our masks and stayed socially distanced!) I still may add a fifth short before it releases…
Me: Having worked on plenty of short films early in your career, how did moving to full-length feature challenge your skills to this point?
SMJ: The anthology is still piecing together shorts, so hasn’t been too different. But I was actually, originally supposed to shoot my first feature film in the summer of 2020. The pandemic shut that down! Now, I’m hoping to accomplish it late in 2021. The amount of planning will definitely be a challenge, just to orchestrate a shoot that will take about a month, versus 2-3 days.
Me: Given the state of the world at the time of production, did that provide any hindrance or obstacles in getting it filmed?
SMJ: Haha, yes! The whole thing got tabled. That’s why I pivoted just to working on the anthology in the meantime. It was actually very fun to brainstorm stories that could work within the context of the pandemic, and with the restriction of having to film alone. It was also a cool process just to film totally alone, and get to experiment without anyone else there. One short I shot documentary/interview style, one was just shot solo, with different shots around the house, one was done in a single continuous shot that my filmmaker friend got, and the fourth was shot over FaceTime, with an actor friend playing the person on the other end. I think these were actually all great filmmaking exercises to undergo before shooting the feature, so in a weird way, it worked out well!
Me: Are there any updates about its release that you can provide for us?
SMJ: Hoping to complete the anthology in spring 2021 - I’ll keep you posted!
Me: What else are you working on that you'd like to share with our readers?
SMJ: In addition to planning to shoot a horror feature later this year, I’ve recently begun a new horror screenplay that I’m pretty excited about. It’s still in the early stages, but it’s a unique idea with a super creepy ending. I’ll be excited to see how it continues to develop!
Me: Lastly, being that this is Women in Horror Month, what special message do you have for any women out there looking to join in the industry in any capacity as you are one yourself? Thank you again for your time!
SMJ: As a woman in horror, you might get a lot of surprised looks, and comments to the effect of “but you’re so nice!” People may have a stereotype that it’s not a ‘feminine’ genre, but women are creating amazing horror. If this interests you, remember you have a unique point of view that’s important to share in what I think is possibly the most powerful and symbolic genre. Embrace your inner badass and just go for it!
This interview ran as part of our Women in Horror Month celebrations. Click the banner below to check out all of our reviews and interviews about the occasion:
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