While waiting for Christopher Nolan to appear on the red carpet at SBIFF 2011, I stood with my buddy Ted Mills, fellow filmmaker/journalist, and we interviewed newcomer filmmakers as they made their way down the red carpet. Director Alyssa Price speaks to us about her short film, The Monstrosity (2011). It's a story about the young Milly who must attend school with a huge pimple.

ALYSSA: I'm the writer/director of ‘The Monstrosity'.

TED: And what is The Monstrosity?

ALYSSA: It's a short film. And it's about Milly. She's in her first week of middle school. She wants nothing more than to fit in and she gets her first huge zit.

ME: (laughing hysterically)

TED: Ah, this is the zit film! I read about this one. LOL!

ALYSSA: That's me. I've got zits.

TED: Does this have gratuitous zit violence in it?

ALYSSA: I hate to disappoint all the action freaks out here tonight but, no it doesn't.

TED: And where is it shot?

ALYSSA: We shot in Buellton, Los Olivos.

TED: Oh, really.

ALYSSA: Yeah, and we cast over 25 local kids too.

TED: Okay, now are you from the area?

ALYSSA: I am. I went to Los Olivos Elementary and I graduated from Santa Ynez Valley High.

TED: Oh really. Ok. So, I mean, did you get to use locations that mean a lot to you?

ALYSSA: Yeah. There's this one scene where she's on one of those motorized scooters. But the location that I picked out just didn't seem to work as it was on a busy road and we didn't feel safe about putting her on that road. And it was right around the street from where I grew up. And I was like, ‘you know what, why don't we go over there?!' and so I took everyone over to my little street and in the background of the shot you can see the trees my parents planted from when I was a child. And to me, I was like, ‘Ooh, this is so great!'

TED and ME: (we laugh) That's so sweet.

Look out for Alyssa Price's short film, ‘The Monstrosity' (2011)

Interview written/transcribed by Vanessa McMahon, Feb 06, 2011.

me and fellow journalist Ted Mills, two unorthodox journalists. lol!

Alyssa Price: The Monstrosity