“I think that writing shorts is a great way to strengthen fundamental writing skills — focusing on structure, cutting any fluff, establishing theme quickly, and creating effective stories.”
Maria Wilson
Killer Shorts is excited to bring you this interview with writer and director Maria Wilson. Maria is a great friend of Killer Shorts, having returned to the contest every season as a Season 1 finalist, a Season 2 semifinalist, and a Season 3 finalist in the 1-page category. As Maria puts it, she returns to Killer Shorts because of our mission to constantly support and boost emerging talent, and emerging talent she is. We are always happy to see Maria succeed, particularly, to see the second run of her debut horror short VENEFICA, a film she wrote, directed, and starred in, now on Shudder.
With her film reemerging on Shudder, Maria is no stranger to having her work highly regarded. She has found her work featured on Amazon, The New York Times, and highly ranked on Coverfly’s The Red List. Maria’s TV script MONNJI was the Screencraft Horror Competition 2022 Grand Prize WInner. MONNJI started as a micro-short until Maria realized the story she envisioned wasn’t living in those confines so the script kept expanding, placing as a Killer Shorts semifinalist, until ultimately it grew into the full-fledged TV script that got her a manager. This is a great example of what path can come from a horror short script. With several scripts in the works, we can’t wait to see what Maria does next. Check out our interview with Maria Wilson below.
Conversations With Maria
Where are you from and where do you currently reside? Do your surroundings have an impact on your writing?
I’m originally from Northern Virginia and currently reside in Brooklyn. The surroundings I grew up in had a huge impact on my writing. Childhood can leave such strong impressions, and growing up in the suburbs really gets you flexing the storytelling muscle early on. Mainly because you had to make your own adventures in order to have any fun. Lots of exploring, getting creative, weaving weird little narratives for you and your friends to riff off of. So much of my imaginative power was forged in the suburbs, and in the way I was raised. It’s interesting, because I love living in New York City now, but it’s so stimulating that there’s just not as much room for my imagination here. It’s a glorious place for boosting work ethic, though. There’s so much exposure to other artists and concepts and forward-thinking minds here, you’re just endlessly flooded with inspiration and motivation. It’s definitely a positive influence in how I approach contemporary social issues in my work.
While writing, my surroundings need to be very de-stimulated so that my brain feels comfortable leaving my immediate space. I generally write in silence and privacy, unless that’s not an option. Which, again, living in the city you do what you can to make it work. I just have to feel undistracted enough to un-tether from my literal location. With horror and genre work, the story’s surroundings can be strikingly different from the one I’m sitting in while writing, so I can’t have too much tying me to my present space otherwise my translating skills get muddled. I admire writers who can crack on in a bustling café and walk out with ten pages of gold.
You are a 3 time Killer Shorts alum with your scripts INTRUDER a S1 Finalist, MONNJI S2 Semifinalist, and HAUNTED a S3 1-Page Finalist. What stands out to you about the Killer Shorts Contest that makes you want to come back?
I keep returning to Killer Shorts because Alison and the team behind the competition just seem to be incredibly supportive of boosting emerging talent. It’s clear that they put a ton of work into trying to curate an exciting competition that actually launches writers forward in their careers. Alison even put me in touch with Tom Dever from Coverfly, which led to an extremely helpful series of career consultations with him and Coverfly’s development team. There’s just an immense amount of support radiating from Killer Shorts and the people behind it. They’ve helped foster a whole brilliant network, and it’s this sense of community that attracts me to repeatedly submit year after year.
How did you come to submit to the Killer Shorts Contest the first time? Were your scripts ready to go, or did the contest prompt you to write them?
I was originally attracted to Killer Shorts because it was strictly a horror competition. I’d done a short film and gotten feedback that it was more “horror light.” Dipping a toe into horror. If horror was an ocean it was still treading water somewhere near the coast. That sort of thing. Sure, it was a very subjective opinion, but it really got me curious about how else I might explore the genre. I heard about Killer Shorts through the Coverfly platform and it gave me the nudge I needed to write INTRUDER. Something that I felt was undeniably horror. Something that would actually scare me as an audience member. A middle of the horror ocean with no land in sight sort of thing. My version of that, anyway.
I’m a director as well, so I wanted to write something tight and visceral that I could actually get a chance at shooting without breaking the bank. It’s hard to hone your craft as a filmmaker without having tons of money to spend on it, but short screenplays can provide some opportunities there. If I create a short that does well in competition, at least I know there’s a greater chance that it could make an exciting film. INTRUDER is something I’ve always intended to film as well.
You had a career consultation meeting with Tom Dever, Coverfly’s Head of Development. Was this helpful in taking your next steps as a writer? Do you feel more prepared moving forward?
I was very sure that I wanted to have an absolutely perfect portfolio of screenplays before even trying to get representation. This was most likely a very sneaky, albeit productive, form of procrastination on my part. My call with Tom was the nudge I needed to stop waiting for this special, perfect moment and just start going for it. In order to get to the next step, you actually have to take the next step. The team at Coverfly actually helped me develop a cold query letter so I could move forward and start reaching out to potential reps. Just talking to them about the industry helped me shed a lot of my worries about networking. I can’t thank them enough for helping me feel prepared enough to push forward into new territory.
Check out Maria’s Coverfly profile here.
You developed your Killer Shorts Season 2 semifinalist script MONNJI into a tv pilot. What made you want to expand this horror project?
I was so stubborn with MONNJI because it was so very big and tangible and clear in my head from the beginning. It started off as a micro-short but didn’t hit all the marks. I expanded it into a short screenplay and it still just wasn’t quite right. The story was thicker than a short film would allow for and it needed room to breathe. When I expanded MONNJI even further, into a pilot screenplay, it finally started to feel like what I was envisioning in my head. It’s wild because I could have easily stopped at any point when it wasn’t working. I even wrote a few other projects during this time, too. I mean, I don’t mind leaving a story if it’s not effective. But I can’t leave a story behind just because my ability to accurately translate it out of my head isn’t strong enough yet. I took the screenplay to a small workshop program on the Script Hive Discord and got some awesome feedback from the other writers there. The wildest part is that MONNJI became the script that not only got me signed with a manager but made it to Coverfly’s Red List and was also named the Grand Prize Winner of the 2022 ScreenCraft Horror Screenplay Competition. This entire process has taught me a lot and is something I’ll definitely keep in mind the next time I’m faced with a sticky script.
How did it feel to have the MONNJI pilot win ScreenCraft’s horror competition?
I’m still so stoked about it! I got the email while working at my unrelated 9-5 job and I was so stunned that I just… kept on working. Sort of on autopilot. After a few minutes, it finally hit me and I had to take a break and make some happy phone calls. Networking and sharing my work has always been an extremely intimidating part of this industry for me, and suddenly having this rush of positive attention was so surreal. I’ve been submitting to ScreenCraft for several years now and I have so much respect for their readers and their juries and their team. ScreenCraft works so hard for its writers — Donnita Shaw and Cameron Pinches were brilliantly supportive and helped me gain representation with a wonderful manager. It’s an absolute honor, really. Whenever I think about it I’m just hit with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. I think the biggest shift is just staying on top of the momentum and figuring out how I can now get closer to making some awesome art with awesome people.
Were you always interested in the horror genre? Do you plan on continuing in this genre as your career progresses?
I’ve always loved genre work, and I’ll continue in it forever and ever. Fusions of supernatural dramas, fantastical thrillers, all that fun. But I sort of fell sideways into horror. It came as a bit of a surprise. For way too long, I thought it was purely all about shock and gore — which turned me off to it. But that was obviously a naive impression. Horror is a wide, wide world with tons of different avenues. Now that I look back at my childhood, it’s quite easy to see how I came to this point. Watching lots of X-Files, scary story contests, creating little frightening “what-if” scenarios for my friends and I to think-tank on. Zombie escape routes, and so on. As a kid, bedtime was this horrific nightly event where I would keep editing a scary intrusive thought until I made it the most terrifying thought imaginable. Ghosts and witches and mudmen and monsters and aliens —the whole creepy nighttime crew. To me, it makes sense that I would turn to writing as a creative outlet. Horror is a very bulbous, billowy sort of genre with lots of opportunities to find a space that fits your vibe. It’s also a brilliant genre for discussing and unpacking social issues without beating the audience over the head with commentary. I’ve really felt at home as a horror writer, but I’m always excited to see what story appears over the horizon next.
Your debut short film VENEFICA premiered on Shudder a few years ago and is doing a second run. How does it feel to have a horror short on Shudder let alone a second run?
The fact that Shudder seems to consistently provide opportunities for emerging creators is such a game-changer and honestly helps me feel optimistic about the film and streaming industry in general. I’ve watched some of the trippiest, coolest, innovative genre work on there. You can really see how there are artists out there trying to push horror into new and exciting spaces, it’s inspiring. I feel very lucky and very grateful and very proud that VENEFICA is in such badass company.
Can you give a brief description of the film and what inspired you to make it?
VENEFICA is a 7.5-minute glimpse into the harrowing day when a young witch must perform the mystical rite of passage that decides whether her magic will be used for good or for evil.
It was part of an indie filmmaking adventure I embarked on with two of my best friends, Hannah Whitney and Tess Harrison. After graduating from drama school and spending a couple of years doing the acting grind, we thought it would be fun if we each wrote, directed, and starred in a short film playing roles we’d be excited by. I knew that I wanted to branch into writing and directing films but just wasn’t sure when or how to take the leap. This was the chance to do it. The films were all shot in one week with one small crew, in one location. Each film had a shooting budget of $1000, and each film was an entirely different story.
At the time, I was going through a lot of changes in my life that I felt no control over. It was like a second coming-of-age, and I think the film speaks to that frustration. To be honest, writing, directing, AND starring in VENEFICA was a wildly strenuous decision, but the whole experience was still so exhilarating. 100% worth it. Though I’ve come quite far as an artist since making that film, VENEFICA set me on the path I’m currently on, so it will always have a very special place in my heart.
Check out the trailer below.
Did your experience directing help you learn more and give you an opportunity to look at your script in a new light?
Writing screenplays is so much about the action lines and dialogue and structure. But when you direct it, and you see the performer’s faces in the moments between lines, between action, you start to see this whole other powerful dimension in the story. Sometimes you have to follow that, and get a bit organic with it. The more I direct, the better I am at incorporating those moments into the screenplay and remembering that living, breathing humans will bring the characters to life in their own, unique way. I’ve learned more about characters and motivations and relationships through directing performers and listening to their feedback and instincts. It’s a whole education, really. I think it’s one of the most exciting and unpredictable parts of filmmaking.
What do you think is most beneficial, to a writer’s career, about also producing a short horror script?
I think that writing shorts is a great way to strengthen fundamental writing skills — focusing on structure, cutting any fluff, establishing theme quickly, and creating effective stories. I also use them as a way to re-energize and avoid burnout, which I find very beneficial. Sometimes I get neck-deep in a longer project, and letting myself briefly deviate from it to write up a totally different short is refreshing. Every time the new batch of Killer Shorts deadlines roll around, it’s a chance for me to shake things up and follow a new idea for a bit.
What would be your dream writing job?
I’d love to write and direct a big tentpole feature that introduces a new horror character icon for us to get excited (and scared!) about. I love pushing diverse narratives that feature underrepresented voices. I love inventing supernatural lore that’s strongly grounded in the reality we know. And I love the feeling when you leave the theater in that fun, altered state where you think that maybe there’s more to the world around us than we know…and maybe you’ll see a glimpse of it around the next corner. Getting to work on a big project that incorporates all of these elements would be a dream.
Do you have any upcoming projects you’re excited about?
Yes! Working on several new screenplays that I’m super excited about. A horror feature that updates our concept of witchcraft for the modern world. A supernatural crime drama that is probably my love letter to the X-Files. And a set of horror micro-shorts that I want to film into a little anthology. Got a lot of different burners cooking right now. If only there was more time in a day.
Final Thoughts
We hope Maria’s journey inspires you to take your shorts from script to screen. Maria has found directing her shorts is helpful in incorporating more subtle moments that happen on the screen into her scripts, proving how helpful producing your horror short can be to the screenwriting process. Using this contest as a writing exercise for herself, Killer Shorts has loved having Maria return every season, especially seeing how her work grows. Maria’s script MONNJI is a great example of what horror shorts can do for an emerging writer. MONNJI’s journey, eventually becoming the Screencraft Grand Prize winner, and the script that got her a manager will hopefully inspire all you writers to take the plunge and submit that horror short script. Maria is a triple threat on Venefica, so make sure to check out the film on Shudder.
Maria Wilson on Instagram.
Maria Wilson on Twitter.
Maria Wilson on Coverfly.
Maria Wilson‘s Website.
Featured Image by Ieva Berzina.
Entries for Season 4 of the Killer Shorts Contest open on June 1st.
