An emerging actress, director, and producer in the scene, Emily Schooley has created a strong following with plenty of awards and acclaim for her work in a variety of roles. Now, in honor of Women in Horror Month, I talk with her about her early interest in the genre, working as an actress in her past films, and her company Laughing Cat Productions.
Me: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this. First off, when did you get into horror in general?
Emily Schooley: Hi, and thanks for having me as part of this interview series!
I got into horror at a fairly young age, but most of my early, beloved horror and genre influences were across novels and television rather than feature films.
Reading horror stories came first because I could most easily get away with sneakily consuming them. Aside from the usual childhood staples like the Goosebumps series and VC Andrews, I started reading Stephen King and Anne Rice novels around the age of ten or so (Pet Sematary and Interview With the Vampire were my respective firsts). At one point, my grandmother also bought me an anthology of supernatural stories written by Lucy Maud Montgomery, and I remember devouring it from cover to cover in one sitting.
Media-wise, I grew up watching shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark, The X-Files, and Buffy during their original runs, plus whatever random movies played on the Space channel around midnight on Friday nights. I also used to watch a lot of then-obscure anime that veered into the uncanny valley if not true horror – the kind you usually had to find on bootlegged VHS or DVD back in the day. (Serial Experiments Lain comes to mind here, as does Vampire Princess Miyu.)
In my life now as a full-time actor and filmmaker, The X-Files in particular has become part of my core DNA as a creative, and I still have a deep love for elevated and/or eldritch horror. (The Yellow Wallpaper, anyone? Or Lovecraft, minus the problematic bits. Or Victorian & gothic horror in general, preferably read by candlelight…)
Even from a young age, I was a spooky, witchy kid and very much in touch with other realms, so in hindsight, it makes sense how I have always felt most at home when working in horror and genre.
Me: Were you into genre films growing up? What films specifically got you into watching horror movies?
ES: One of the reasons I love horror as a genre is that it gives us such a rich and diverse realm to explore broad themes like personal agency, power imbalances, and the unknown. Horror lets us face who and what we consider evil or monstrous, and it teaches us how to own our fears and stand against the various forces that try to consume us. Ironically, I was a bit of a sheltered kid in that I wasn’t “allowed” to watch horror films – or even anything remotely controversial, like The Simpsons – so obviously I rebelled against this unfair censorship by consuming as much 14+ and R-rated content as I could get my hands on.
My first-ever horror movie was probably Batman Returns, which I absolutely watched alone at a young age without adequate adult supervision. Michelle Pfieffer’s performance and transformation from meek yes-woman to certified feral ass-kicking bad girl was my Roman Empire, and I dressed as Catwoman for Halloween the year after seeing it.
The first horror film I remember seeing in theatres was The Blair Witch Project, which I saw on a date with my first “boyfriend” (Fun side story: he turned out to be very gay, but young barely-teenage me couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t comfortable with me holding his hand or hiding my face in his shoulder during the scarier parts!) At the time, I had zero knowledge of mockumentaries, found footage filmmaking, how in-camera special effects worked, or guerilla marketing tactics… so, the film felt and seemed real enough that it haunted me for at least a week or two after seeing it.
Thirteen Ghosts was another early standout in terms of films that I remember terrifying me when I first saw it in theatres, and the 2002 Carrie also really resonated with me for a variety of reasons. The OG Texas Chainsaw Massacre is another early standout. While not horror per se, Angelina Jolie in The Bone Collector was another early favorite, as was Pitch Black. I also got into J-horror and Asian cinema in my teens; some early standouts there include Perfect Blue, Battle Royale, Ringu, and the original Grudge (Ju-On).
And of course, I have to mention Mary Harron’s American Psycho, Patty Jenkins’ Monster, Ginger Snaps written by the brilliant Karen Walton, my love for everything Karyn Kusama does, and my first del Toro film: Pan’s Labyrinth, which I saw at my local arthouse venue – Princess Cinemas in Waterloo, Ontario – back when I was in university, working on my Honors BA in theatre and performance.
Me: When did you first discover your passion for acting? Were you always into creative outlets growing up?
ES: Overall, I was always a very artsy and imaginative kid, and my love for performing and creativity started at quite an early age.
My aunt used to make up songs and stories to entertain me whenever she would babysit, and her constant stream of creativity clearly stuck with me at some core level. I was that semi-feral child who was always running around barefoot, climbing trees, building forts in the woods, and making “potions” from plants. Some of my other early childhood memories are of putting on plays in the backyard using My Little Pony toys with me performing different character voices for all the various ponies. As you can probably imagine, I made my family sit through MANY dramatic Pony epics.
My first taste of real acting training came around the age of six or seven when I did a summer drama camp at the regional theatre in my hometown. My first-ever role was the Country Mouse in Aesop’s Fables. Alongside rehearsing and performing, we also got to design and build our own set pieces using cardboard and paint. I was totally hooked on everything theatre! Another formative experience was seeing a performance of Phantom of the Opera while in elementary school – I knew then that I wanted to be a professional actor and get to be creative for a living.
I also wrote pretty much non-stop – stories, poems, random ideas – including my first “script” around that same time: it was a whole three pages long and it was about my cat becoming a superhero who saved other neighborhood cats from trouble. (However, getting my cat to act it out went about as well as you’d expect!) I also remember writing in my elementary school journals that I was going to be a filmmaker… but of course, back then I had no idea of the scope of work and craft that actually goes into making films; I thought they just magically came to life when you pressed play on the remote.
In hindsight, I was wildly multi-disciplinary even in my early years: aside from acting and writing, I went through a music phase that included songwriting and composition, a fashion design phase where I successfully sewed my own prom dress and made a lot of costumes, a woodworking phase, and several visual art phases including a lasting love for still photography. I also spent a lot of time urbexing abandoned buildings in my 20s, and photography was a big part of that as I loved capturing the liminality of abandoned places.
Me: Is there any specific type of character you prefer playing? What do you look for in a character to be excited and interested in playing it?
ES: For me, any time I get to be “just” an actor these days honestly feels like a vacation, and every new
script and role that I get to dive into is such a gift!
Overall, I like characters that are complex and surprising in some way. The warm ray of sunshine who secretly turns out to be the sadistic killer. The tough and violent antihero with a quiet soft side that only her girlfriend sees. I especially love bringing to life messy, hedonistic, dark feminine women who somehow play against the expected type, and who get to experience some kind of profound transformation that takes them through a personal underworld and back out the other side. And obviously, it’s always a huge bonus if the character is somehow queer because we always need more sapphic representation onscreen.
Above all else, I love working with directors who are dedicated to excellence, and who intentionally hold space for that on set. I love being stretched and challenged as an actor, and I am definitely a bit of an adrenaline junkie so I love playing intense scenes and working with gory and dramatic special effects. But intense doesn’t always have to be loud and in your face – it can be completely silent. Picture a feline-esque predator quietly stalking her prey, for example.
My two non-negotiables are that characters must be intelligent in some meaningful way (even if they’re generally a bimbo!) and they must have some degree of agency and can stand on their own – even if their entire world is crumbling around them. One of my personal pet peeves is women who are poorly written and seem to be only there to serve a male lead. That’s always a hard pass for me. Same with if the character is supposed to be sexy or shows some skin… If she’s self-empowered and is the one who demands that others look at her, I love playing with that kind of seductive divine feminine vibe, but if she’s objectified through a more traditional male gaze and is just there to be t+a that’s also a personal hard pass.
Mostly, I am inherently drawn to what is new and exciting; what hasn’t been done to death or what is some new way to subvert and play with a common trope. I also love films that are liminal and that feel haunted somehow; something that has the essence of mono no aware. Or projects that tap into the transformative nature of death, or the deeply feral and powerful elements of womanhood. I’ve been acting professionally since the 2010s and we’re just really starting to get that kind of representation now.
Me: Having worked on plenty of short films early in your career, what tools and skills do you acquire working on those that transferred to future film projects?
ES: While my own films have all been shorts so far, as an actor I made the leap to performing in features and television/digital series pretty quickly in the early 2010s, after working on a handful of indie shorts across different genres. Looking back, I’m pretty sure that all the early feature films where I’ve had principal or lead acting roles have all been horror, which seems very apropos for this interview!
From an acting framework, every project I work on regardless of format or length is a chance to deepen my skills when it comes to listening, connecting, and relating to my co-actors. Part of on-camera craft as an actor also involves getting better at working with different camera focal lengths and refining one’s performance to suit specific lenses, etc. (For example, on a wide shot you can generally be more animated than when you’re in a tight closeup). I also love finding new ways to use my physical and energetic bodies to create distinctive characters.
From a directing and filmmaker perspective: I’ve now made nine of my own projects so far, and each has come with its own lessons. The current total is five narrative short films (three of which I also acted in), two experimental films, and two proof of concept trailers. Because I originally trained as a theatre actor and I have been learning filmmaking primarily through hands-on experience, the first few shorts that I made were like my own version of doing “film school”. In these earlier shorts, I was admittedly still finding my voice and personal style and I didn’t have access to many professional tools; thankfully, I can see noticeable improvements from one project to the next. As a filmmaker, you always want to level up in terms of your skills and how you execute your creative vision. This encompasses factors like how you use camera movement to tell the story, how polished the final audio is, how tightly the overall narrative flows, using professional vs ambient lighting, improving your color grading, and things like that.
Even now, I still learn something new on every project: from continuing to add key team members I can’t live without as my crews consistently grow, to working with larger budgets, to writing tighter and more cohesive scripts, to continuing to improve my storytelling, technical, and artistic skills: upping the overall quality of production design, cinematography, sound, lighting, pacing, performances, etc, with each new project I take on.
Me: What do you do to stay in character while on set? When you're not filming, how do you pass the time between takes?
ES: Most of the film sets I’ve worked on have been warm and collaborative environments, where you end up making at least a few new friends if you’re not already connected with the other cast and crew members.
As an actor, when you’re not filming there is usually some amount of bantering between camera setups, and/or you and your scene partner will begin rehearsing and prepping for the next scene. Or, if you’re not needed for a long time… mastering the ability to nap anywhere is always a great way to pass time and save energy if needed.
In terms of staying in character, it really depends on the project because when it is time to drop into character and “be in the moment” I can usually get there fairly quickly, even if I’ve been chatting away as myself mere moments before. The real secret is that when you are fully immersed in your character’s world, everything you need can be found on your co-actor's faces and in how you connect to them. Or, it will come from you psychologically immersing yourself in the environment, if you are alone onscreen.
I don’t necessarily believe in method acting as the only or best way to stay in character – and certainly not when it comes to justifying shitty behavior that certain actors perpetuate, that creates unsafe working conditions for others! – but if I’m doing a scene that requires a lot of emotional intensity and certain heightened physiological states, sometimes I will purposely zone out by myself, maybe listening to certain music. If I need to feel particularly isolated or despondent, I will avoid interacting with fellow cast and crew the way I normally would. It’s about authentically staying more in a specific, heavy feeling state if that makes sense?
Also… Everyone loves a good snack stop at the craft table. That’s always a good way to get out of the crew’s way and get a little energetic pick me up when you’re not immediately needed back on set.
Me: Having worked on various aspects of film production, do you have any particular preference for working on any?
ES: My two favorite jobs are – and always have been! – acting and directing, in that order. I’d add writing if I get to pick a third favorite skill and role, and I admittedly also enjoy the aesthetics and creativity of production design, but these days I strongly prefer to work as a specialist in a select few positions where I am focused on achieving mastery, versus wearing too many hats at once.
Most of the additional skillsets I’ve learned over the years have been acquired out of necessity at one point or another. This includes: producing, editing, color grading, cinematography, lighting, production and set design, data management, casting, post-production supervision, distribution, fundraising, special effects makeup, and more. I’m good at most of these jobs because I’ve had to learn how to do them, but I am also the first person who will tell you that I am by no means an expert at most of these skills, nor would I submit myself for paid production roles in these specific positions. However, as a director, I like being able to talk to all other departments in ways that they best understand, and that is where I find it useful to have at least a basic working knowledge of all departments and skillsets. I believe that knowing the basic duties and needs of each crew member makes me a better leader overall, and it helps with ongoing communication and collaboration during production.
However, the diverse toolbox of skills I have developed to date also means that I can put together a polished, finished film with a very small core team if I decide I want to work that way. It’s not a bad advantage to have, compared to someone who only has knowledge and skills in one area of filmmaking… but at this stage in my career, I would much rather have adequate financial resources and be working with larger and more specialized teams, rather than trying to carry too many jobs at once.
Me: As the founder of the production company Laughing Cat Productions, what was the desire to create the company? What do you hope to accomplish with this for others going forward?
ES: I originally founded Laughing Cat Productions to create more bold, original, creative films and series that are fiercely women-led, because adequate and accurate industry representation for certain core demographics of women are STILL sorely lacking. As we see happening repeatedly in real life, when people with certain equity-owed identities are represented poorly in mainstream media (or are entirely excluded from being seen as main characters), this intentional exclusion directly correlates with how poorly the public at large treats people with those same identities. Enough is enough. I firmly believe that ALL women’s voices and stories are deeply sacred; and that they are equally worthy of elevation and celebration. This is why I do the work that I do.
Ultimately, we make films “by, about, and for” all the unapologetically rebellious and forward-thinking trailblazers out there; those who share our belief that a better media landscape and a better world are not just possible but incredibly necessary. Most of our projects live at the intersection of a social impact ethos meets strong narrative storytelling, though the balance of which social issues are highlighted and in what ways certainly varies from project to project; as does the genres and formats of each individual project. Our main focus right now is to create safe, well-paying jobs for others in the film industry while telling compelling stories and producing the slate of work we have currently in development. Down the road, when we get to a place where our current slate is adequately supported and we have enough additional funding coming in, we will likely produce others’ work more regularly and substantially alongside our original IP – which then opens doors for new talent to grow.
Our biggest goal for the immediate future is to find and onboard more funding partners and aligned, dedicated producer(s) who want to nurture women-led stories and who share our expansive vision for the future. I’m hoping to find that specialized, highly capable unicorn who lives for and loves supporting business affairs as much as I live for all facets of creative work so that we can grow our existing core team and our films can continue to scale upward exponentially; achieving even more significant global reach and impact on every new future project.
Me: You won a lot of attention and acclaim for the short film “Psyche.” How did the concept of this come about?
ES: For me, Psyche felt like my first “real” film in a lot of ways, despite the handful of earlier projects that I had written, directed, and produced. More than once I’ve been told it is a very intense short and some people have said they were too squeamish to watch it, because of the intense emotionality and visceral violence contained in such a short runtime. (Their loss. Haha.)
Psyche was ultimately written as a clapback against toxic positivity and the people who perpetuate those kinds of attitudes – you know, that certain type of fake and shallow person who always expects others to smile and say you’re fine, instead of being authentic and talk about what’s really going on. It is also a mental health film, in that it externalizes and visually represents how we never really know what anguish another person may be in, even if they’re calmly smiling and seem perfectly normal on the outside.
Aesthetically, it’s intentionally very stylized, right down to the prison-like bars that appear in the mirror in shots where the character is seemingly calm and going about her daily routine. That was a look that I built with our cinematographer, Jeff, and it really adds to the subtle nuance of the warm, bright, morning look where the character is getting ready for her day. I wanted to contrast that seeming normalcy with the intensity of the mirror world – or what the character is experiencing internally – which is why the segments where we see her lashing out have a more extreme color grade.
This was my first project that I submitted to any film festivals beyond a couple of local screening opportunities, and I was thrilled with the acceptances and screenings we were invited to be part of. I am also very grateful for – and was incredibly surprised by – our Best Indie Horror Audience Choice award! It was incredibly validating to know that the film resonates with international audiences far beyond my immediate circle.
Me: Being the writer, director, and star of the short, did it challenge you to be involved in various capacities at once on a project like this? How do you balance those priorities during a shoot?
ES: I’m someone who always loves a good challenge, and I have stretched myself to new levels on every project thus far. To give you an idea of how much of an overachiever I tend to be, recently it took me working as both key creative and lead producer on multiple original IPs that all required six, seven, or larger-figure budgets and medium to large crews before I finally hit a finite ceiling on what I could successfully carry simultaneously.
When I am both performing as an actor and carrying other key production roles on the same project, my key to success is in doing thorough planning and prep long before we step on set. With the way my brain works (thank you ADHD!) I’ve discovered that combining creative producing tasks with my comprehensive approach to director prep somehow covers most of the creative and logistical bases necessary (casting, envisioning production design, storyboarding, and shot listing, etc). Working this way makes the process incredibly efficient overall in prep meetings with my creative team. Then, having laid this groundwork in active collaboration with my crew, I am freed up to be (mostly) an actor while on set. I‘m also careful to build up a strong, smart, and more experienced team around me whose expertise and opinions I can trust – across both fellow cast and crew members. This includes having a cinematographer and/or co-director who can also help fine-tune my performance when I am in front of the camera. Because I had been directed by Jeff, my cinematographer, on a handful of his past projects where he was a writer/director and I was “just” an actor, I knew that our aesthetic sensibilities matched well and that he was capable of supporting and adding to my existing vision for the film.
Essentially – I like to surround myself with other multi-specialists who can add onto my original vision and help support it in becoming fully collaborative and excellent. It’s sort of like I’m the one who builds the original sandbox, but then everyone else brings their favorite toys and we end up with a mountain of shared creative goodness.
Me: Do you recall having any odd or funny on-set stories about yourself or any of the other cast/crew members?
ES: What comes to mind immediately for Psyche in terms of odd stories is that we had an intense near-miss – that could have otherwise been a fatal accident! – while on the way to set.
We were traveling on the 401 highway, probably going about 120 km or so, and all of a sudden a pair of deer jumped out in front of us coming from the other side of the highway. We watched them cross four lanes of traffic before jumping over the cement barrier in the middle of the road; heading directly into our oncoming path!! I was driving the car with Stephanie (my makeup artist) in the passenger seat, and somehow I managed to react instinctually when I first saw the deer. We moved quickly enough to switch lanes safely without hitting either of the deer or any of the cars around us – but it was a pretty close call.
Unfortunately, some of the other vehicles weren’t so lucky, nor was one of the deer. Sadly, we saw it get hit in the leftmost lane traveling our direction and flying through the air, hitting a second car in the righthand lane directly beside us on the other side of our vehicle. We watched that car pretty much lose its front half when the deer landed on top of it, and it screeched to a stop at the road shoulder, quickly disappearing behind us in the rearview mirror as we drove away. We pulled off at the next exit to report the accident, just in case nobody else had called 911.
This all happened in a matter of seconds, and it was pretty surreal.
Me: How do you do to keep your creative energy flowing?
ES: For me, working in natural cycles with a planned ebb and flow – rather than a steady 9-5, January to December constant hustle – is an absolute must for staying consistently creative. Time in nature is also incredibly restorative for me, and in general, I find that my creativity is fueled by inspiration taken from a wide variety of other existing media and art: music, books, visual art, poetry, video games, other films and series, and much more.
In terms of general scheduling and project management (aka the less glamorous side of a full-time creative life) I tend to develop and produce my films in harmony with the pagan wheel of the year. I plan my monthly, weekly, and daily schedule using planetary days and moon phases whenever I can, with a quick and easy method I call The System. If possible, I avoid working on Mondays and I try to take a few weeks (if not a full month) off between December and January, to give myself some time to hibernate and let my brain switch off fully for a bit. I also regularly take non-negotiable time for rest and play throughout the rest of the year; I like taking a week or so off in August, for example, and I try not to work on weekends unless I am scheduled to be on set or there is a task that is really important AND urgent that needs doing.
That said, I think it’s important to recognize that there will be times when your creativity doesn’t flow consistently like you expect it to, and you need to give yourself some grace when those moments happen. Creativity can’t be forced, and some projects will take longer to formulate and carry out regardless of your best-laid plans and overall intentions. The trick is to be able to surf those highs and lows without fully succumbing to despair.
Knowing whose advice and opinions to take and whose unhelpful garbage to discard completely also goes a long way in protecting your creative process and driving through said ebbs and flows. Avoiding people who always have reasons why they can’t support your work – and those who perpetually try to sabotage your work and undermine your self-confidence – is crucial to protecting your creative energy and your life force itself.
Me: What else are you working on that you’d like to share with our readers?
ES: I’ve got so much in the works right now!!
A few of the current projects that I can talk about:
1) I recently completed two short films as an actor as part of a comedy film challenge.
2) I’m still waiting for the release date to be announced, but I have my first paid literary publication on the horizon. It’s a queer short story (horror, of course!) coming out as part of an anthology later this year.
3) I am also currently developing my first feature film (also genre of course!)
4) I’m also developing a couple of scripted series – one is a shortform digital series, and one is an hour-length series that is our flagship IP, and it includes multiple franchise components.
5) I am also quietly prepping to shoot a new short later this year, which will potentially be filmed internationally.
6) Over the last few months, I have also been leaning into and owning my oracular skills more fully… to the point where I recently started doing paid oracle and tarot readings for others. I am always amazed at what comes through for the people I read for!!
All that said, if you’re someone who likes exclusive behind-the-scenes access and supporting indie work you absolutely should come join me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EmilySchooley
Me: Lastly, being that this is our Women in Horror Movement, 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!
ES: Aww, I love that we’re ending off with this! What I want other women to know is that it is never impossible or too late to start a creative career or to keep going and find success, regardless of your age, what you look like, where you come from, or how much money you currently have.
I also want to remind other women to claim and recognize your immense worth and to regularly celebrate everything that you bring to the table… because not everyone is going to believe in you or support the work you make, regardless of how damn talented and brilliant you are. If people in your circle are not actively cheering for you – fuck them; they are not your people and it is 100% their loss. Don’t sweat it; devote your energy to your craft instead of trying to convince others to like you. So many women fall into this trap at some point or another.
The more you can rely on your own inner compass and make the projects that you want to see – rather than seeking external validation – the happier you’ll be in your own journey.
Know that you WILL find your people and your audience in time, even if you haven’t yet. Tell the stories you’re drawn to tell, treat others well and with integrity regardless of any existing power imbalances, and give yourself grace because mastery of your craft will take a lifetime.
Our current industry can be ruthless at times, so find your own joy in becoming the kind of feral monster or relentless final girl YOU want to see in the world.
This interview ran as part of our 2025 Women in Horror Movement series. Click the banner below to check out all the featured interviews in this series:
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