Q+A: Rookie director reflects on her rare made-in-London movie

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Local actors. Local shooting locations. And a local artist trying her hand at filmmaking for the first time. Jen Romnes traded in her paint brush for a movie camera and her debut film, Alternations, which was shot in London over 16 days in 2023, is premiering at the Hyland Cinema this Saturday. Funded with $160,000 of her own money, her production team is working on distribution with a possible limited theatre run and appearance on a streaming service. She spoke with LFP’s Jennifer Bieman.

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Q: How did you get into screenwriting and filmmaking? 

A: “I really started enjoying script writing after COVID hit. I was running a mural business for over two decades in London. Most of my clients were hospitals and care homes, so although I had contracts for 2020 and 2021, I couldn’t access those locations until about 2022 or 2023. I had creative time on my hands, so I really did a deep dive into writing and I really loved doing the script writing part of it. . . . I was able to place and even win some screenwriting competitions. So with that under my belt, I thought the next step is obviously getting the movie made.” 

Q: Making a movie is a lot of work. How did you go about it? 

A: “It’s very, very difficult. It’s almost a miracle to get a movie made, especially trying to sell a script. There’s like a million reasons to say ‘no.’ That’s why you’ll find a lot of people will write and direct their own movies, just to overcome that hurdle. So I decided this is my opportunity to do that, to get a better toe-hold into the business. Because I had been doing murals for two decades, I had quite a few contacts and had really great relationships with many people in London. That’s why I shot it here, hired local talent and used people that I know and have working relationships with for locations. It just turned out really well. . . .  My favorite part was after the first week of filming, realizing this is actually going to happen. Because again, it’s just so rare to get a movie made.” 

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Q: What drove you to spend $160,000 of your own money to fund the project?  

A: “The story is really important to me. It’s not a biography by any stretch, but it has a basis in things that have happened to me through the years. The story is about a single mom who doesn’t get the help she needs finding her missing daughter. The seed of that is based on my own experience searching for my mom when she went missing. . . . I grew up in a family with a lot of domestic violence, so I wanted to create a film that really showed that, because it’s not what people think. There are a lot of movies that are meant to be titillating or about stranger danger, when statistically that’s not the case. Women are at most risk from the people that they know. My film is really tailored to show some of those warning signs, as well as being entertaining. Some of my favourite films are ones where they take this like dark piece of social commentary and add humor to it to make entertaining, but still a mind-blowing film.” 

Q: The film was shot in London with local actors. What are some sights viewers might recognize? 

A: “Because I’m a local writer, the story is based upon my life, so it’s like a local story too. The main commercial corridor that we filmed in was along Hamilton Road. Years ago I had done a mural for the Neighborhood Laundromat Cafe and so I already had a working relationship with owner the and then he actually owns the two buildings next to it, as well. So we basically took over that whole zone for our filming. A lot of the principal photography is there, and there’s First-St. Andrew’s and Pinheiro Realty, and a bunch of other places that people would recognize as well.” 

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Q: What next for you?  

A: “I’ve closed down the mural business because I really do love the collaborative nature of working on a film. Even for my film, there’s like 100 people in the credits. Each one brings a different level of creativity to the table. . . . I think my next move is just the struggle to get the funding for the next film. The project I want to film next is called Legs and it was the winner of the 2023 Forest City Film Festival best screenplay. Ideally I’d love to film it here in London, but if I can’t find the funding to film it here, then I’ll have to start searching elsewhere to see if I can pull something together somewhere else.”  

Q: What would you say to people that are curious about screenwriting or filmmaking?  

A: “I would say go for it. Writing is amazing because it doesn’t cost a lot to write. You need a computer and you need good screenwriting software. The threshold to get into writing is very, very low and it’s very rewarding. . . . If you want to take it to that next step to get something made, that’s significantly more challenging. Just go into it with open eyes and an open heart and then team up with the right people to make your dreams come true.”  

jbieman@postmedia.com

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