Bert & Bertie are a female writing-directing duo from London. Their combined backgrounds in photography and performance led them to filmmaking. Their credits include “Worm,” “Phobias,” and “Dance Camp.”
“Troop Zero” will premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on February 1.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
B&B: Wiggly, Georgia 1977. Christmas Flint (McKenna Grace) is nine years old and obsessed with space. She dreams of making contact with the aliens. When she finds out that the prize at the local Birdie Jamboree is to get your voice on the Golden Record that NASA is about to launch into space, she is determined to get her voice on that record. She forms a Birdie Troop of misfits from her small town and they set off to Jamboree, led by their reluctant troop mama, Miss Rayleen (Viola Davis), and Christmas’ larger-than-life father, Ramsey Flint (Jim Gaffigan).
W&H: What drew you to this story?
B&B: Bertie and I grew up in very different places: Bertie in Leicester, England and Bert in Johannesburg, South Africa. We were both outsiders in our small towns and to this day we are drawn to outsider stories. We’re both still trying to find our place in the universe.
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
B&B: That however different you feel, there is a place — and people — for you in this universe. We want people, young and old, to know that it’s okay to let your freak flag fly and to celebrate your weird-ass self.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
B&B: Fortunately, our challenges were all logistical. When working with an ensemble cast of kids from four different states, daily shooting hours are always going to be a challenge with such a short shooting schedule.
Our other major challenge was shooting in summer in Louisiana, so heat and rain were daily unpredictable factors.
We were incredibly lucky in that we could not have asked for a better team, from Ted Hope at Amazon to Todd Black, to our amazing adult cast to every single crew member, creatively it was a dream!
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
B&B: We started with an incredible script written by screenwriter Lucy Alibar, and if you have a good script, you’re halfway there. Once we convinced producer Todd Black at Escape Artists that no one else could make this film, we were off to the races. Fortunately for us, producer Ted Hope and his team at Amazon Originals had been tracking us and our films as well as the script, so as soon as Escape Artists attached us, Ted called us in.
We pitched our hearts out: we handmade Birdie Scout Manuals that were full of our ideas for how we’d make the movie, we edited a rip-o-matic of reference movies to give Amazon a sense of the comic yet emotional tone of the movie, and we chose 20 images that defined the movie we wanted to make. Thankfully, they loved it.
W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
B&B: We didn’t see stories about us; we didn’t identify with the majority of the stories being told. Growing up we had the boys adventure films like “Stand by Me” and “The Goonies,” but we didn’t have girls’ adventure films.
While pitching “Troop Zero,” we discovered that there had never been a film about a group of young girls that go on an adventure to achieve something by working together and succeeding! How had a film like this never been made? When we started thinking about the social and cultural impact this film could have on young girls, we knew we had to tell this story.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
B&B: The best advice is that, as a filmmaker, you need to make sure that everyone on your team is making the same film. It sounds simple, but if you have that, your team will follow you to the end of the galaxy.
Worst advice: “It doesn’t matter what you make, just keep making stuff.'” Don’t. Make the right stuff for you. Ensure it’s important to you.
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
B&B: Keep making stories that mean something to you.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
B&B: “Big” by Penny Marshall. It taps into our love for magical realism and comedy as a story device to discuss bigger –’scuze the pun– issues.
W&H: It’s been a little over a year since the reckoning in Hollywood and the global film industry began. What differences have you noticed since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements launched?
B&B: Female storytellers and filmmakers are finally getting the support they deserve to tell their stories. Unfortunately, there is still a long way to go.
