A Far Off Land: Rachel Morgan on “Middle Americans”
by Gotham on March 9, 2015 in Interviews
Middle Americans, a 2014 Independent Film Week alum (Emerging Storytellers – Web Series), celebrates the launch of its first season this week at a special premiere event in our Screen Forward series at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP. To celebrate the occasion, we spoke with series creator and co-star Rachel Morgan (who previously blogged for us) about how she developed the series, why it’s a perfect fit for the web, and navigating the world of digital distribution. To RSVP to Wednesday’s premiere event, click here.
IFP: What came first: Aslaug Slaug or Middle Americans? How did it come about?
Morgan: [The concept] came first. I had a bunch of ideas floating around my head, of projects I wanted to make, when I met my co-star Sarah Tyler. She was working on my parents’ biodynamic farm in Northern Minnesota at the time. One late summer day, we were driving past a strip club that looked like a pole barn and thought it would be funny to attend Amateur Night, performing a robotic, super-unsexual dance. We wouldn’t take off our clothes.
Right then, I realized that Sarah and I had the same comedic sensibilities, but I didn’t think we would ever really do it. I then read an article in the New York Times about the oil boom in Williston, North Dakota. Women from all over the world were relocating to the fast growing boomtown, working as exotic dancers at sleepy strip clubs and making huge sums of money. The idea of a modern day boomtown in the middle of nowhere fascinated me.
I went through a life-changing experience a year later, using a homeopathic remedy to extract a tumor out of my breast. I knew it would be excruciatingly painful, and I wasn’t sure it would work. I left everything in New York, uncertain if I’d ever come back, and flew back to Minnesota, bunking up in my childhood bedroom. Throughout this time, I adopted a black cat named Lucifer (who wore handkerchiefs around his neck), I ate primarily cottage cheese and wild rice, and I watched A LOT of episodic comedies. Oh bless Netflix and Hulu! I vowed that when I got well, I would switch my career focus to comedy, and that incubated the concept for Middle Americans.
The following spring, healed and well, I told Sarah that she was going to play a role in a series I wanted to make. I didn’t give her much of a choice, and she soon became my partner in crime. I made a Kickstarter campaign for Middle Americans without a script, but rather only the idea of two foreign women searching for an “opposite dream” in America. We didn’t really know what were going to do. The only thing we had were the names of two foreign characters that could be brutally mauled if said incorrectly: Guter and Aslaug (Gutter and Asslog). I looked for actors to play the Aslaug role during our Kickstarter campaign so that I could focus on the writing and directing. As it turns out, no one from NYC was able to fly to Minnesota that summer so, out of necessity and curiosity, I decided to take on the role.
IFP: What led you to think this story would be best served on the web?
Morgan: Until Middle Americans, my professional background in film was primarily production-based. Being a first time director, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get a legitimate budget to do a well-produced feature film without experience or work samples. What I did know was that I had a bunch of experience as a producer. I was interested in episodic storytelling and knew I had to try it. The web seemed like the best place for me to get started without having a great deal of financial risk.
IFP: In what ways do you think the format of short form content allows you to best tell your story? Do you think there were any hindrances in the structure of web storytelling?
Morgan: This was my first project as a director, so I needed to have creative freedom in order to try different things. I wanted to have scenes that were already written, but I also wanted to improv with my actors. I think the web is a great place for directors and writers to find their creative voice. When it comes to the web, you have to keep the audience engaged. The pacing is different in episodic web series compared to sitcoms or feature films. You have to leave the viewer feeling satisfied, but with a hook, making them want to watch more. If you don’t, their attention will dwindle and they’ll likely click away to some video of a cute kitten sneezing while lying next to a sleeping potbelly pig.
IFP: These kinds of adventure/search stories are usually played out on big scales in movies. Were there any direct influences you had to that end?
Morgan: I like the idea of taking a grand concept, like searching for a long-lost father, but confining it to one weird location. This served a practical purpose, too. Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers is a story involving a search of some kind that sticks out to me. I always liked the bizarre characters of Napoleon Dynamite and Wayne’s World too. I watched The Kids In The Hall while also being influenced by some webisode pioneers. The web series Downtown Delusional Divas and the YouTube videos from internet sketch group Derrick Comedy provided me with inspiration. All you need are interesting characters, a scenario, and someone to shoot it.
IFP: One can call you a modern-day web auteur. You’re the director, co-star, co-writer, and editor of the series—being so close to the material from beginning to end, did you ever feel too precious about certain moments?
Morgan: I am my own worst critic. In the beginning, I really wanted someone else to edit the footage, but I couldn’t afford an editor for the whole series. I didn’t know where to start, so I asked Sarah to come into the city and edit with me in my Brooklyn studio. It was great having another set of eyes that wasn’t as deep in the edits as I was. We had marathon editing sessions that would ten to fourteen hours. I would note how I started to feel like Gollum from Lord of the Rings, spending hours without direct sunlight, looking at footage that was ‘precious’. Whenever we were feeling indecisive (usually in the wee hours of the night), we would joke impersonate our frustrations in a Gollum voice. Looking back, I think whenever anyone has feelings of doubt, they just need to say it out loud in a Gollum voice. It really helps you not take yourself so seriously. Believe me, those negative feelings will most definitely dissipate.
IFP: Are you quick to throw something out if it doesn’t work?
Morgan: I’m never too quick to throw things out, but I will rework an edit over and over until the scene is stripped from its original intention. Then I have to ‘Gollum Voice’ myself and put the essentials back in. I joke around saying that if I had it my way, I probably would have ended up editing myself (the character of Aslaug) out of the whole series.
IFP: I wanted to ask about the editing: with any web series, you’re already dealing with a certain time constraint. On top of that, your show has to get across a certain amount of information and hit the notes it wants to hit within that time-frame. What was most difficult about editing the show for the web?
Morgan: The most difficult thing about editing Middle Americans was cutting down the story. I only had two weeks to write the script and never had the time to do table reads or rewrites to see how long each episode would run. During production, we didn’t always have the luxury of doing multiple takes or shooting different angles. This becomes very difficult in the editing room when you have nothing to cut away to.
On a positive note, one of the best things that came my way was connecting with a production company called Cap Gun Collective, out of Chicago. They partnered with me, had their editors at Whitehouse Post take a fresh look at the episodes, and really helped tighten everything up.
IFP: The world of digital distribution seems to be changing with more and more frequency. How did you find navigating the world of digital distribution? Were your goals towards the end of the show different from those that you had at the outset of the project?
Morgan: Where do I start? I’m learning so much about digital distribution. It took me two years to finish this series and the digital market is not the same as it was when I started. It’s harder to stand out on the internet. Right now the market is saturated with content, and there aren’t many mainstream outlets for independent web series outside of YouTube and Vimeo. Television and film companies are still in limbo trying to figure out what their role in digital distribution is. I’m still trying to navigate through it with Middle Americans. It’s very easy to sink to the bottom and get lost in the digital landscape! I I never let my expectations get too far ahead of me. From the very beginning, I never knew exactly where this project was going to live, and while I’m still trying to figure that out, it’s an exciting process. All I can hope for now is that people will take the time away from looking at the day’s trending memes and sharing their Top 20 lists to watch some episodes of Middle Americans.