Danielle LeBlanc will be screening her short film BUSH at the Difficult to Name Reading Series on Friday, March 6 at 8pm at York Manor in Highland Park
Your short film BUSH recently premiered at Femme Filth Fest and had an amazing reception. To take it back to the start (s/o Chris Martin), what was the process like writing BUSH?
I wrote it when I first moved to LA in 2019, and I planned to shoot it in Oregon in May of 2020. When we couldn't shoot for obvious reasons, I sort of sat on the script waiting, not knowing how long I would be waiting, and what I should do with myself. When some circumstances changed (I decided to film in LA, and the vaccine was available), I reread the script (hated it) and started to figure out where to make cuts and changes for budget and story sake. I changed the setting and the number of characters and locations. I got notes from friends on where I could make it funnier or more concise. The conflict is internal, so I was trying to pinpoint where in the script it would be externalized. Eventually, it became a more focused story, I think.
You're one of the more experienced Magic the Gathering players that I know. Do you have any strategic advice on how to play a great game?
I like to weaponize my femininity by forming an all-girls alliance and not allowing my boyfriend to attack me in a group game.
The weather is usually really nice around here, but with spring coming in April, do you have any favorite spring activities in the L.A. area?
I am a spring baby, so my main activity is aging, existential crisis, and eating birthday cake. Once it's nice out, I have a hammock in my front yard for reading and listening to birds. I also love to hang out at Barnsdall Art Park to read or at Red Lion Tavern to play magic. I am trying to hike more too.