For many creatives, whether that be playwrights, screenwriters, directors’ – stories for the stage and screen can come from real life experiences.
It can be a way to express individual experiences and process trauma.
I sat down with two ex AFTRS students Jackson Phillips and Alyssa Dimarucut who are working on a short film called Homecoming.
The film has been a way for Jackson as the writer and director to assist him in processing his own trauma and bigger life issues.
“I really wanted to explore a story about someone using the medium of screenwriting to process trauma because I had done that whether knowingly or not, like a lot throughout my life. There’s a lot of scripts that I’ve written that I hope to make one day which are about different forms of trauma that I’ve been through,” said Jackson.
Alyssa is the producer of Homecoming but is also a writer and director herself. She approaches her work in a similar way.
“For me, when writing about trauma or like what I’m going through, it’s like it helps me figure it out. Like it’s almost like journaling and it’s oh, okay, so this is how I realize I see myself like through these characters. I’m like, oh, that character is doing that because that’s how I think that this character, like how I guess my trauma response, but it’s also a really nice way to like generally reflecting on,” said Alyssa.
Alyssa compares writing for the screen, similar to journaling for others, as a way to reflect on life. Creating a film can be a therapeutic and a cathartic way to release emotions.
“I think when you go through a lot of trauma, you feel as if you lose a lot of control. And you don’t have a lot of control on the situation you’re going through. But when you’re able to sit down and write a script, you have control over the narrative that’s being told. Even if it’s just to yourself, you can use that control that you get from writing to process,” said Jackson.
Using creative arts to process trauma can be a healthy approach but trauma processing can look different to everyone.
“I think when you go through a lot of trauma, you feel as if you lose a lot of control. You don’t have a lot of control on the situation you’re going through. But when you’re able to sit down and write a script, you have control over the narrative that’s being told. Even if it’s just to yourself, you can use that control that you get from writing to process,” he said.
To keep up to date with the film follow @Homecomingmovie on instagram.
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