My newest chat is with Lorraine Portman, who grew up in New York State and lives in rural Florida. She’s an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and filmmaker.
She shares with me the fun of directing a one act play. We also talk about her documentary film and the success of it worldwide. She’s inspiring and you’ve got to read all of this to learn more about Lorraine.
Introducing Lorraine…
What do you love about your life right now?
I love that I have friendships, new ones and ones that are decades long, with creative collaborators. I’m directing plays and making movies with treasured and talented friends. It is such a joy to have creative collaborators to work with who I love and to meet new creative people to form friendships with.
You’ve quite the career as a playwright, screenwriter, director, and filmmaker. Do you have a favorite?
That’s like asking someone to pick their favorite pet or niece! Each creative endeavor has things I love and challenges. I do love being able to pursue all the creative things I do engage in.
Was there a film or a writer who inspired you to become involved in the entertainment industry as a screenwriter and playwright?
As a filmmaker, Kevin Smith is the filmmaker that inspired me first. Many filmmakers my age will say Star Wars inspired them and, for sure, I saw Star Wars in the theater and I love the movie. But those movies are so magical and huge, as much as I love watching and rewatching movies like that, making a movie like that seemed out of reach. Kevin Smith made Clerks, which is one location, a character driven comedy with authentic emotion underneath. I saw that and knew I could make movies like that. Clerks allowed me to imagine that I could pick up a camera and tell stories. Kevin Smith allowed me to imagine that I could bring my characters and stories to life in films.
As a playwright, I was doing theater in middle school and high school. I saw plays in NYC with my Mom. I saw Marsha Norman’s Night Mother with Kathy Bates and it never occurred to me that women couldn’t be playwrights. Because I was a young person seeing plays written by women on Broadway. I was writing plays in high school and then continued writing plays in college. I had a fabulous teacher at Smith, Len Berkman, who encouraged me to think of myself as a playwright.
I’ve seen your one-act play Emma & Holly Audition For Sharkpocalypse at Dalton Little Theatre in 2024 for their Night of One Acts, and I loved it. You not only wrote it, but you were also the director. I thought it was hilarious. I had fun auditioning for it too. What was your inspiration for writing it?
I love shark movies. I love bad disaster movies. I love bad sci-fi movies. I love all kinds of genre movies. Good and great movies are also among my favorites, I should probably mention. I loved all the Sharknado movies. And I thought, what would it be like if an American Method actor shark was waiting to audition for a shark disaster movie and met an English actor shark?
Many stories start with a what if. What if…? What if Sharks had to audition for the shark movies? What would that look like? What is one was American and a method actor and one was an English actor?
How much fun was it directing it? Also, was it hard to pick your cast for Emma and Holly?
It was hard to pick our cast for Emma and Holly! We had so many great choices. Casting is always hard. And a huge part of what shapes any play or film. I love so many actors. So many talented actors come to any audition and most often there are not enough roles for all the talented people that come to audition.
I co-directed with Jan Bramlett, which was wonderful. Jan has great insight into the human heart and is a lovely collaborator. I had never co-directed before and it was a treat to work with someone as talented and kind as Jan.
Your documentary film, Unlikely Mermaid, is touring the film festival circuit and has received award nominations. It screened in Paris and in Berlin. Your success is international, congratulations! It also screened in Atlanta. How does that make you feel as the writer, director, as well as one of the stars?
Thank You! As a filmmaker, I’m thrilled and ever grateful. It is huge to have a film programmed at any festival. It is huge for a film to be selected and played for an audience. I am always deeply grateful. It’s been wild–to have a funny documentary about this wacky adventure, auditioning to be Weeki Wachee mermaids, a thing we were very unlikely to be successful in doing. To play alongside documentaries about very important and serious topics and to be recognized as a well constructed, emotionally interesting doc that resonates with audiences, it has been incredible and deeply wonderful.
It is WEIRD to be a subject in the documentary. I’m not acting, I’m myself. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with it, me being in the film. It’s hard to watch myself and my four chins. But, I have to tell myself people relate to me in the film just as they do to me in life–and I am thrilled to be making so many new friends. I would not say I’m a “star”.
What was the best part of making this documentary?
The audience response–so many people say they are now inspired to do more things. I was in my 50s and Peggy was 79 when we made the documentary and when we auditioned to be Weeki Wachee mermaids. Audiences realize if we can do that, they can do anything they’ve longed to do.
You know a lot about film festivals and you have a wealth of information and experience. What do you think filmmakers should think about if they want to get into film festivals?
Being a pleasant guest. It is your job as a filmmaker to help build the audience for the screening and the festival. It is easier than ever with social media to help build awareness of the festival and your screening. If at all possible, go to the festival. Go to many films, support other screenings. Don’t just go to your screening. Go to the panels and parties. Be grateful and gracious. Don’t expect awards. Get to know the other filmmakers and actors and people who are the audience. Be kind to the people running the festival–they are supporting your work. Consider how you can support the festival in return and support other filmmakers.
When submitting, look for festivals that are a good fit. Very often, a festival has many wonderful films and even great films they may not program because the film is not a good fit for their audience. If you have contact with a festival programmer or runner, always be polite and gracious. You never want to burn a bridge. I have wonderful friends who are programmers and who run festivals. I never want to lose a friend over one film. I’ll make more films. Any friend is more important than a film playing a festival. I hope my friend’s trust they can program a film or not program a film and I will still love them and cheer on the festival, because it is true. Not every film I make is a good fit for all the festivals run by my friends. That friend is still my friend.
If you can share, what are you currently working on?
A new short film: My Best Friend Bonnethead. Michelle Ford is an actor I’ve wanted to work with and she has a beautiful short film, Close the Door, that she directed and wrote that is playing festivals. So I wrote a script that we could shoot while traveling to a film festival together and in Chattanooga, using lessons from Unlikely Mermaid.
We all have experienced failure, which is part of our journey and success. Without it, I believe we don’t learn and grow in our life. Do you have a favorite failure?
I can’t think of a favorite failure. I remember my first rejection letter. I sent a poem to Sixteen magazine and got a letter back, rejecting the poem. My Mom was a visual artist, and she talked with me a lot as soon as she saw I was writing. She said art is subjective. Not everyone will like what I write. Some teachers will be more helpful than others. She prepared me for rejection. And encouraged me to keep trying. Find teachers that speak to you.
Keep submitting, to find places that do like your work. When my Mom passed away, a painter who was a friend of hers told me a story. This painter had had a painting rejected from a juried art show. She said she would have put that painting in a closet and never sent it out again, but my Mom encouraged her to send it out to another show, with a different juror. That show accepted the painting, and it won Best in Show. As many festivals as any film gets in, it gets rejected from more. Unlikely Mermaid has a 35% acceptance rate. I have learned to let the rejection slide on by and to celebrate the acceptances. Celebrate all the good news, let the bad news go, put the rejections in the rearview. It isn’t always easy–some rejections sting. There are festivals I’d love to be accepted into or festivals that I think the audience would love this film, but I know I’ll make more films. And there will be more acceptances and more rejections.
Is there any advice you would give to someone who wants to pursue a career as a playwright and screenwriter?
Write. Rewrite. Find a group of friends who give you honest feedback. Find people to do table readings with, to get honest feedback. When people give you feedback, be quiet, listen.
Take notes. Don’t defend or clarify anything, just take notes. Let everyone keep talking–you get to the gems and good notes when you do not in any way shut down the conversation.
Defending things shuts down the conversation, and you’ll never get the feedback you need.
We need to be critical of our work to grow and get better. But we can’t be so critical we never put our work out into the world. Self-doubt and refusal to grow will leave us paralyzed. We should be critical with an eye to being better. We should be open to notes and to learning.
If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what message would you want to convey to millions? What would it say and why?
Treat others the way you want to be treated. My father lived by this and I believe it and try to live that way as well.
Are you currently binge watching any shows?
The Bondsman. Super fun, and I love Beth Grant.
The Decameron, which is brilliant and fabulous.
Describe yourself in one word.
Confident.
Alright Lorraine, this is one of my favorite parts of the chat. Tell me three fun facts about yourself. If you dare, you can share a secret or whatever your heart fancies.
I was a latchkey kid. Both of my parents worked and when we were deemed old enough, we came home and were unsupervised until Mom got home. I wouldn’t change it for anything.
We had a pet raccoon when I was a kid. His name was Ralph. Five stars. Best pet ever.
When I write pieces that are very personal, I feel like there is blood on the counter by the time I’m done. It’s a frightening feeling and a good feeling. (I frequently write while perched on a stool at a kitchen counter.)
If you could change one thing in the world, what would that be?
I wish people would listen, would lead with love and respect, and assume that others are coming from a place of love and respect because most people offer respect, love, and kindness.
I love ending the chat with a quote. Do you have a favorite quote or saying that has inspired and motivated you in your life that you can share with my readers?
“It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.” Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Thank you for reading my interview with Lorraine. Follow her on Instagram and IMDb.