Life & Work with Nell Teare

 

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nell Teare.

Nell, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
It began performing in Texas with my mother when I was about four years old. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas, but spent about five years in a town called Huntsville, when we moved to our farm. My mother went back to school at Sam Houston State University after having been a professional actress for twenty years. The theatre department at SHSU was my first theatrical home and it was magical. I spent most of my days there. Doing homework in the green room, playing dress up in the costume shop. My mother loved to perform and she loved the kids in the program. During this time, she would dream about us writing screenplays and being in movies together. The whole family. When we moved back to Houston, I went to a Magnet Middle school for Theatre and then onto The High School for Performing and Visual Arts. I graduated in 2000 and went to Tisch at New York University to study Musical Theatre.

In my junior year, I was cast in the original production of Memphis at North Shore Music Theatre. I got my Equity card on that one. I was 22 and VERY proud. By 2010, I had moved to LA and in February of 2011, my mother was diagnosed with throat cancer and passed away on August 1st, just six months later. I had never wanted to direct before that and then suddenly it was all I wanted to do. I directed a one woman show in 2012 and then enrolled in a course called The Art of Visual Story Telling taught by Miles Watkins in 2013. I made three short films and those I used as a reel to get hired by Adam Cushman at Film 14 directing cinematic book trailers. I still work with Adam and have now directed something like 80 book trailers. Around the same time, I started directing scenes for actor friends of mine to put on their reels. One of those had a nice little festival run.

After that, I fell into directing other people’s short films. I would get calls from writers, actors, producers asking me to direct their projects. In the last eight years, I have directed over 100 projects (short films, Pilot presentations, music videos, web series, book trailers and live theatre).

When Covid hit I was writing my debut feature and my partner, Jerry Cope, and I miraculously got it made this year. The brilliant Julia Swain shot it on 35mm and 16mm. I star in it, direct it and produce it. Robert Pine stars along with me and James Walsh, Tracie Thoms, Alex Deśert, Chris Petrovski, Christine Kellogg-Darin and Allegra Levy fill out the cast. And all these years later, I got to cast my brother, Sean, my sister, Hannah, my niece, Mary Marsland and nephew, Wyatt, as the flashback family. My mom’s dream fulfilled posthumously!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road, but it has been an exciting one. I think my biggest struggles were and are internal. In the past, I have let myself down. My childhood was very dramatic. I had a lot of responsibility placed on me as young girl and I developed ways of surviving and patterns of behavior that would get in the way of just accomplishing things. In middle school and high school, I had a very interesting blend of people-pleasing and rebellion. I was a great student and most of the time knew what was expected of me and could produce precisely what teachers/adults wanted. It took me a long time to create true boundaries instead of just telling people what they wanted to hear. And that came from me learning that I had to honor how I was feeling and what I needed to do before I worried about everyone else. It is still a struggle.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We joke on my sets that I have adopted my crew. And I have! I am most proud of my relationships with my team. I love to know people. And I find so much joy in watching or helping them succeed. My father and my mother were both that way. My dad and I call him the executive producer of my life. I love being a mentee and I love to mentor. I’m the middle child, so maybe that makes sense. It is important to me that everyone knows how important they are to the show. If you are apathetic, I probably won’t ask you back. If you are a bully or cruel, you absolutely won’t be asked back and will probably be asked to leave immediately. That is kind of it. We are tiny conscious beings spinning on a rock in the middle of infinity next to a ball of fire. I think that existential understanding sort of sums me up. What else can we do but love each other and make stuff.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I think filmmakers have a huge job ahead of us. The world is sick right now with hate and greed. We are now a global society. The pendulum is swinging much faster and we need lessons in empathy. I think the pandemic has slowed us down and shed enormous light on where we are weak and failing as humans. It is our job as artists to tell stories that will heal. Stories that scare. Stories that hold a mirror up to us and make us see things as they are. I think Ava DuVernay laid out the groundwork for understanding systemic racism in this country with 13th. And when the Black Lives Matter movement exploded that information was there for people to find and it has changed hearts and minds. Filmmakers are going to have to get very personal and more specific and even more collaborative. I think we will see a shift to more intimate stories from filmmakers like Luca Guadagnino. I think our industry will continue to push for more diversity and new perspectives.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nellteare.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nellteare/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nell.teare/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/teare_nell
• Other: https://film-14.com