Writer-director Millicent Hailes takes ‘Perfect,' her feature directorial debut, to SXSW. Millicent opens up about whether feeling ready to take the leap of making your first feature is essential to actually doing so, sharing her own experience of moving forward despite uncertainty and what that taught her about the creative process.
Our conversation goes into Millicent's transition from music videos to feature length filmmaking, examining how she navigated the shift from short to long form storytelling. She unpacks figuring out the pacing and other aspects unique to the medium, from sustaining narrative momentum over 90 minutes to developing visual language that serves an extended story rather than a three-minute track.
Millicent shares her approach to assembling her cast while maintaining the chemistry and relationships established earlier in the process, ensuring those connections translated authentically on screen. We also delve into the title itself and the concept of someone or something being "perfect," exploring how that theme permeates the film. We close our conversation with what this project means for Millicent's plans going forward as she charts her path as a feature filmmaker.
