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Look Out for Quadruple Threat, Ella Greenwood

At only 18 years old, English filmmaker and actress Ella Greenwood wrote, directed, produced and starred in her first short film, “Faulty Roots.” Now 19 years old, Ella was awarded Positive Female Role Model of the Year by Darkus Magazine in 2020 and was given the opportunity to adapt “Faulty Roots” into a feature film. She is deeply passionate about incorporating positive representations of mental illness into her art and continues this work as an ambassador for stem4, a London-based charity that supports teenagers’ mental health and focuses on early intervention. Throughout my entire conversation with Ella, she radiated both refreshing humility and an undeniably ambitious nature.

Despite breaking into the industry at such a young age, Ella has a very humble background. She begged her parents to let her be an actress at 13 years old. With a headshot that her mother took of her in the garden, she wrote letters to various agents in London, begging them to give her a chance. Ella even showed up to her first agent meeting alone, asking her mom to wait in the car! “It was always me not really knowing how to get into the industry, being a young person with no connections.” Fumbling (quite successfully) into the industry continued when she decided to pursue filmmaking. She had always loved learning about all aspects of the filmmaking process, so she decided to just make her own short film without any prior training or experience. “I’m kind of an impatient person … Film schools are so competitive; they’re so hard to get into and you have to spend a lot of money. I just thought, ‘Why not try and do it myself?’ I wanted to give it a go, so I just went for it!” 

It is hard enough to break into the film industry no matter who you are, but being a young woman with no connections makes it that much harder. Ella’s advice to young women trying to break into the industry is that “if you find a few short films that you love, reach out to that director or producer.” She continued, “Being a young female, I think other females are so willing to give that advice because every female filmmaker I’ve met wants to promote other female filmmaking and would be happy to give you advice. It’s just about reaching out and making those connections.” Ella’s “impatience” and ambition clearly worked well for her, as her very first short film was an immediate success. 

“Faulty Roots” premiered at the Busan International Kids & Youth Film Festival and was later selected for various other festivals, including BAFTA Qualifying Bolton International Film Festival and Tallgrass Film Festival in the U.S. “‘Faulty Roots’ is about a teenage girl, Lola, who has depression. She’s forced to reconnect with a childhood friend, Zack, who is overly positive and happy despite having a genetic illness. I wanted to show the contrast between (them). Lola is physically healthy and she has a good family, but she’s sad because she has depression; you don’t get to choose. It’s about their friendship and both of their journeys.” Ella submitted the short film to all of the festivals that she respects and loves, and was pleasantly surprised to receive an overwhelmingly positive response. “It’s often reviewed by 30 to 50 year-old men as the average, so it was nice that reviewers like that could still relate to it. Even if one of those people I could help or change their minds in the slightest bit (about mental illness), I thought I’d love to dive even deeper into that.” And dive deeper she did. Ella quickly jumped into producing a feature-length adaptation of “Faulty Roots,” which is now in the development stages. 

Ella wrote the character of Lola in “Faulty Roots” to be struggling with depression, but not being defined by it. She wanted to convey that having a mental illness is never your fault and it definitely does not define who you are. Ella’s personal struggles with mental health are what inspired her to improve the representation of mental illness in film. “I wanted to write about mental health because that’s something I’ve experienced. For me, the media’s portrayal of mental health and what wasn’t said (about mental illness), and the way awareness hasn’t been raised, it just made it so much worse. I wanted to make a difference because I know (those negative portrayals) had such a negative impact on me when I was struggling with my mental health.” 

Moving forward, “Faulty Roots” will continue to take up a lot of her time, but Ella will not settle there. “I think it’s so good to work on other projects at the same time, because if you just focus so strongly on one thing it can get rather intense. I shot the film ‘Self Charm,’ which I wrote, directed and produced in December.” While still in post-production, “Self Charm” has already received considerable buzz due to its leading actress, Bukky Bakray from Netflix’s “Rocks.” You’d think a feature film in development and a short film in post-production would be enough to keep her busy, but Ella’s ambitious nature proves otherwise: “I’m also shooting a short film in February and I made an animation last year which is screening at a festival soon.” When I asked Ella who animated her animated short, she shocked me yet again when she said, “I thought, ‘Why not give it a go myself and do the animation?’ I planned to do it before lockdown, and then lockdown happened and it was kind of perfect; it kept me so busy all day, doing the animation.” I think we can all learn from Ella’s capability to overcome any internal barriers and just create what we want to create. 

While “Faulty Roots” and “Self Charm” are yet to be released to the public, keep your eyes peeled for their release dates on Ella’s social media (linked below). Though the other release dates are still undetermined, following Ella’s journey and rise to stardom is an absolute must. Speaking with a young woman so eloquent, well-intentioned and driven was nothing short of inspiring and encouraging. Leaving my conversation with Ella, I am determined to fight off my uncertainties and hesitations, and just create the projects I have been dreaming of making. Putting role models like Ella Greenwood in the spotlight will not only change the direction of the film industry for the better, but it will also transform the way young women feel capable of tackling their wildest ambitions.

Find Ella and her work on Instagram, Twitter and Vimeo!