Nicole Lipp’s short film ‘Mistakes You Make Before You Die’ to premiere at Out on Film

“Mistakes You Make Before You Die,” a short film from L.A.-based director Nicole Lipp, is premiering at Out on Film in Atlanta on Oct. 5. Lipp directed and co-wrote the film, but once upon a time, she was more interested in being in front of the camera rather than behind.

“I’m a girl from L.A.,” Lipp said. “So therefore I was a child actor. But like, I peaked at age 9 in a McDonalds commercial.”

That dream of being in front of the camera didn’t die easily. Lipp went to college for acting, then moved back in with her parents and went on audition after audition. It was a miserable experience, filled with a pressure that didn’t set her mental health in any sort of positive light. She quit and moved to the marketing world, eventually starting her own company with her professional and personal partner, Michael Lipp.

And yet, she still wasn’t happy in her professional life. That continued until 2019, when she directed a music video for her friend, the artist Disco Shrine. While she had taken some directing classes in college while getting her BFA in acting, she never really considered it a viable option. But while directing the video, everything changed.

“I remember standing on set and looking at the monitor – which is little, you know – and just seeing for the first time in my life something that was in my head, seeing it on a screen,” she said. “And it just blew my mind.”

Eventually, the marketing agency turned into a production company called AYF Media . Lipp also co-founded Not Your Daddy’s Film s, a social impact organization dedicated to elevating and empowering women and non-binary filmmakers, with four other people –  Carlye Tamaren, Vika Stubblebine, Kourtney Bell and Katherine Hughes. And, of course, she continued to write and direct her own projects, including the short films “Sam,” “Messy.,” and now “Mistakes You Make Before You Die.”

Lipp described “Mistakes You Make Before You Die” as a sort of mix between “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Bottoms.” The short film follows Lennon (Terry Hu) and their girlfriend, Dora (Jetta Juriansz). After the duo finds out Lennon has terminal cancer, Dora convinces Lennon to make a bucket list of things they want to do before they die. First thing on the list? Participate in an orgy.

The short film takes place just outside the orgy door, but is also a proof of concept film for a feature film that Lipp hopes to make in the future. She said the idea for “Mistakes You Make Before You Die” came to her in a dream. After the dream, she approached Juriansz about the movie, who ended up co-writing the script with Lipp. Lipp said she knows what will happen in the full film, but she and Juriansz have not yet written the full script.

“I watched the whole movie in my sleep. And this happens to me all the time,” Lipp said. “It didn’t happen to me in the dream. I wasn’t one of the characters. It was like watching a movie in my sleep.”

Lipp has thought long and hard about why directing is a better fit for her than acting seemed to be. When she was younger, she was obsessed with TV and movies, and in particular, the leading ladies of her youth – women like Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow. But, as much as she loved those actresses, she never quite felt as though she fit into the archetype they presented.

“As little girls, when we’re watching this stuff, what do we learn when that’s all we see on TV and in the movies? That’s the only version of beautiful and worthy of love, and worthy of the spotlight,” Lipp said.

Lipp said she thinks her desire to act at such a young age stemmed from a desire to want to see herself in her idols, not from a love of acting. Directing is a different story. Behind the camera, Lipp can make active decisions about the types of stories she wants to tell.

“I realized I get that satisfaction as a director a million times more, because it’s my choice to hire and cast people who maybe have historically not fit that archetype,” Lipp said. “That is so exciting and powerful to me.”

Representation on screen has come a long way from the leading ladies of the 1990s, but while representation is an important step, it’s not the only one. Lipp cited shows like “Sex Education” and “Heartstopper” as doing important work, but expressed a desire to go further.

“So many of my queer friends who are really doing well in their acting careers have not yet been number one on the call sheet,” Lipp said. “They’re consistently being the representation in really amazing TV shows and movies, because they’re there as the queer love interest, or whatever it is. But I’m ready to see them being the lead.”

Out on Film is running from Sept. 26 – Oct. 6. You can grab tickets for “Mistakes You Make Before You Die” and other films here.

The post Nicole Lipp’s short film ‘Mistakes You Make Before You Die’ to premiere at Out on Film appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta .