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Today we are speaking with Katherine Waddell. She is a multi-talented actor, producer and a collaborator with Em Johnson on their recently announced film production company, First Bloom Films. First Bloom Films is an independent production company with a goal to hire women in front and behind the camera to tell stories from women to appeal to women. Read on to learn more about her female-focused production company, her work on Balloon Animal, her past work, and the opportunities that she is looking forward to.
Hi Katherine! How have you been?
I have been pretty great considering the crazy year and a half we have all been through! I have a lot of exciting things going on in my life, so I feel like I have many things that I am grateful for in this moment and even more to look forward to!
What is it like working with Em Johnson as a collaborator? Tell us more about your working relationship and shorthand with them that allowed your Female-Driven production company to, well, bloom.
Working with Em has been the highlight of my career, and probably the best choice I ever made. Besides owning a company together, we are best friends, so we get asked a lot how we plan on making things work long-term as co-owners when we already have a personal relationship (which naturally, people assume can make things tricky), but for us it has always been easy to work together. The foundation of our friendship and work relationship has always been mutual respect. We love each other’s work, and we feel passionately about what we create together. Even if we are creative collaborators, we always respect each other’s boundaries when it comes to responsibilities or decision making. We also share the same philosophies on how we feel film sets should run, or how people should hold themselves when it comes to the industry. It was a no-brainer that we would eventually start First Bloom Films together.
What was it like to be at Sundance and how would you recommend others maximize festival experiences like that?
My first Sundance experience 5 years ago was overwhelming (in a positive way)! I could not believe I was at the biggest film festival in the USA and that I was getting to meet everyone I had grown up seeing in films and tv. It was extremely inspiring and made me more excited than ever to be a part of this industry and to be a filmmaker. I knew I wanted to come back every year and hopefully one day have my own films there. That first year, I was an assistant at a production company helping my boss do interviews and manning the door at a party, and then in my fourth year there, I was a co-executive producer and had a small acting role in “Dinner in America,” which was in the main competition. My journey at Sundance has definitely been dream! My advice is to prepare ahead as much as you can, since everything moves incredibly quickly at Sundance, including booking hotels and flights. There is so much to do, so your days will be jam-packed. Go to everything you can. Watch the movies. Take every opportunity to be a part of something so incredible! Oh, and definitely bring the right shoes since the ice and sludge that everyone walks through can be unforgiving on your feet!
Let’s talk about your upcoming debut feature for your new production company First Bloom Films (congrats!) – how did it feel to finally see your vision come together in Balloon Animal?
Honestly, it was amazing and incredibly emotional. We had to postpone filming Balloon Animal twice because of the pandemic, so to finally walk onto set on day 1 was surreal. We were all overjoyed to finally be there, and everyone’s hard work really came together in a beautiful way to make a fantastic story. Em and I had been dreaming about Balloon Animal for about two years by the time we finally got to make it, and we could not be prouder of the work everyone did. But of course, we are more excited to share it with the world when it’s finally done!
Did you approach playing Poppy in Balloon Animal in a specific way at all?
By the time we got to filming, I had already been living with Poppy for two years. Em and I developed the script together, so I already had a deep understanding of who she was since I helped create her. If anything, I was nervous that I had spent so much time with her that I would overthink my decisions regarding that performance. However, when it came time to film, I just tried to let all of that go and focus on the scene. I will say one of the fun things Em and I did in developing Poppy’s character was sitting down with a notebook and thinking about every aspect of her life to help flush out her personality, ranging from her favorite song, her favorite food, or even when she had her first kiss.
What were some of the other challenges you encountered when working on Blush? How did you overcome them?
I think anyone’s first feature film can be challenging, especially as a leader on set. You haven’t encountered your first obstacles on another film to get to walk away with your lessons learned for the next movie if that makes sense. But I am someone who over prepares for everything, so we had very few hiccups when actually filming Blush, which I’m thankful for. It really turned out to be a beautiful movie, and the learning process of it better prepared me for the creation of Balloon Animal.
What are some of your other favorite past projects?
One of the first feature films I ever got a “real” credit for was “6 LA Love Stories.” I was credited as an associate producer through the work I did on the film with my internship at Gasoline Films. Gasoline Films is what originally brought me to Sundance that first year and what I credit with really kick-starting my career in the film world, or at least starting to pave the way for me. It is sentimental to me, in addition to just being a film that I enjoy watching!
What else is happening next in your world?
Honestly, Em and I are just excited to keep making movies together. We are currently working on writing and developing our own scripts in addition to a lot of amazing collaborations we have coming up, such as “Frei” with Shpiel, another production company. We are super excited about that project because we are working with the same producers that we worked with on Balloon Animal; Monica O’Hara, Ruvi Leider, and Ben Plotkin. We are also looking forward to the latest film on our roster, “Meninos,” which is being created in conjunction with Andre Pilli and is about a young boy who explores his identity only to be shamed by his conservative, Brazilian household. I am especially excited about that one since it will be written in both English and Portuguese and will draw on elements of my own upbringing of growing up in Brazil, as well as Andre’s. More information can be found out about our upcoming projects on our website, www.firstbloomfilms.com.
