‘My Year of Dicks’ filmmaker on the rise of the ‘overwhelming, all-encompassing’ feeling of falling in love

When Pamela Ribon wanted to turn her memoir into an animated short film, producer Jeanette Jeanenne suggested that director Sara Gunnarsdóttir direct it. This collaboration resulted in a short comedy animated film that won awards at various festivals before finally receiving an Oscar nomination. My year of roostersbased on a chapter from Ribon’s memoirs Notes for guys: And other things I’m not allowed to share publiclyfollows 15-year-old Pam on a comedic journey to find the right boy to lose her virginity to. The animated short is divided into five chapters, each following the story of a different loved one with a different animation style.

DEADLINE: How did this short circuit come about? When did you decide to make an animated short film based on your memories?

PAMELA LINT: The idea for the short film came from FX Networks when we were talking about what I could try in the animation pipeline. They looked at some of my stuff and Megan Reid really responded to mine Notes for boys book and talked about how animation can really enrich a young protagonist’s fantasy life, which is what the book is about – I’m just out of my league. I grew up with romance novels and movies in the 80s, so I was ready to get it done because I thought that’s what you had to do – you didn’t become a woman until you lost your virginity. And we felt like you could really play with all these different animated genres. And then Jeanette had the vague idea since she was producing other stuff for FX networks and Sara was at the top of her list. I saw her stuff and thought she was great. your work on A teenager’s diaryI already knew it, but I didn’t see it The case against Adnan Syed where she wrote the journals of Hae Min Lee. And it felt like the animation I watched late that night on MTV.

DEADLINE: Jeanette, how did you feel as the story unfolded after you got the vague pitch?

JEANNE: It was interesting because, as Pam said, before I got involved, it was the vaguest pitch in the world. It was literally, ‘Hey, there’s someone who’s a writer and has scripts that revolve around a young girl. Do you know a director who would be good for that?” And immediately I thought: “Sara is perfect for that.” And when Sara brought me in and I finally got a chance to read the scripts, I thought Sara was the only person who could do it justice. I was just so excited to be on board and really see what’s possible with it because it could very easily be associated with the wrong director. It could have been a little less sensitive without the cinematic point of view, which is very characteristic of Sara.

DEADLINE: Sara, what did you think of the storyline when you first got involved?

SARA GUNNARSDOTTIR: FX contacted me and sent me three of the five scripts. I thought it had a lot of heart and it was funny, and I was just very flattered that someone would trust me to direct the whole thing. I’ve done so much live action work, where I’m just making this animated world into a bigger picture, so that was exciting. I did some drawings and had a guide of some images that I thought had the right tone and vibe on a budget and brought them to FX. And then they said, “Oh, you have to budget for sound. It’s all visual.” So I realized I had no idea what I was doing, and I called Jeannette and said, ‘Do you want to do this to me? Please help me.” I knew she recommended me for this, so I gladly asked her to come and help me.

DEADLINE: Where did the idea to use different animation styles come from?

RIBBON: Well, when I got the idea of ​​not having the present anymore, looking back at how the book works, I just wanted to stay in the past. I thought about how, no matter what stage I was going through at the time, I really absorbed the crush I had and always presented it in a completely different light than everyone else. To know that you can fall in love and it becomes that defining moment in your life. I think the animation style has this overwhelming, all-encompassing feeling of being completely inside that person, and you can play around with what’s fun about those genres and what’s fun about that animation style.

DEADLINE: What was it like directing five different animation genres?

GUNNARSDOTTIR: It was so much fun because I read the scripts and I’ve worked with artists who are my friends and whom I really like. But I’ve never done anything this big. I usually work with one or two people at a time. So I had a small group of artists that I really loved. When I read the script, I immediately connected the artists I knew to the genres and asked them if they wanted to do it with me. It was so much fun asking them because they all contributed their own artistic styles and everyone said yes. So I had my dream team make every genre and just gave it to them as if it were their own. And what you see, what came out of it, is just their art.