'Perfection Intersection': An Interview with Jo Steinhart

Winner of the 2024 Film Pipeline Short Film season, Jo Steinhart's "Daddy" wowed Pipeline execs on "every level" of filmmaking, labeling it "an astonishingly professional and mature film, despite what some might think of the subject matter ..." The film is available on the Film Storage YouTube channel.

I’ve said, at length and ad nauseum, how much we loved Daddy. It’s just so difficult to make us care about a character in a feature, let alone a short. But this leaves you feeling hollow, in a way. Kind of yearning to see the next chapter in her story.

How did the concept take root?

I love that you’re yearning for Heather’s next chapter, and honestly, your guess is as good as mine.

I’m currently writing the feature version of Daddy, but the story always ends before Heather reaches her destination. Realistically, we know that it’s not going to be a smooth ride to stardom in the San Fernando Valley. Heather is naive, and her knack for romanticizing things is part of what makes her so endearing. I do think it’s evident that Heather is resilient, independent, and determined, so she’s not necessarily doomed. But my intention was to end her story on a bittersweet note. I want the viewer to have to come to their own conclusions, to sit with the film and reflect on their own thoughts and feelings. People ask me what happens next, and I love hearing their theories, but it’s a mystery to me, too. I like it that way.

For a fairly simple film to produce (no film is “simple,” but … relatively speaking), it still requires the delicate arrangement of multiple moving parts, multiple pieces working well in tandem. It’s such a beautifully shot short, with a strangely uncomforting backdrop. I’m always curious how everything sort of takes shape so other filmmakers can perhaps apply tips and strategies to their own projects.

Explain the casting process. How you assembled your crew. Even finding this location.

Daddy is my AFI Conservatory thesis film, so I wrote and directed it while the other main team members (producer, cinematographer, editor) were fellow AFI students. They loved the story, trusted my vision, and we became true collaborators.

It seems obvious, but that would be my main piece of advice: find people who listen to you and are genuinely invested in your story and characters. AFI prides itself on functioning like a professional studio for the student productions. So there’s no way you could just head out to the desert for a casual little shoot on the side of the road. Everything’s done by the book. Our motel location was a movie set on the outskirts of Lancaster. It’s literally just a set, so there’s no running water or electricity. I’m grateful my producer Claire—and everyone else who had to deal with that—understood the necessity of trekking out to the high desert, where we were surrounded by Joshua trees.

We filmed all of the exterior scenes and landscape shots there over two days, and all of the interiors over three days at the Harvard House Motel on Hollywood Blvd. I cast the film myself using Actors Access for everyone aside from my lead, Emily Robinson. I’d recently met her at a party, so when I was trying to cast Heather, I figured I’d shoot my shot, and she loved the script! It was an incredible experience watching her bring Heather to life and I couldn’t have asked for a more thoughtful, honest, heartbreaking performance.

That would be another word of advice from me: shoot your shot.

What’s the one thing you hope the audience takes away from Daddy? Did you get pushback from anyone on its themes? On its kind of bleak take on exploitation?

I really only got pushback on its themes while writing the script, and I tried my best to listen to peoples’ notes without letting their anxieties get to me.

I think that’s always going to be the case with challenging subject matter. Everyone’s worried it might come off as insensitive or offensive. It’s much easier to have one very clear statement like “porn=good” or “porn=bad,” but usually those films suck, because that’s not how life works. I put it pretty bluntly when I had Heather say, “I just like sex. I don’t get why it’s so hard for anyone to believe me.” It’s ingrained in us that sex is inherently degrading to women—especially something like ejaculating on a woman’s face (the opening shot of the film). Many people view that as degrading and dehumanizing, and there’s this sense that there must be something wrong with you if you enjoy that. But it’s really just not that big of a deal if you don’t think it is. Heather’s smiling, she wipes the semen off, she moves on. I guess it’s making a statement, but it’s also not.

So I don’t have one specific thing in mind that I hope the audience takes away from Daddy. I mostly hope people feel inspired to reflect on their own relationships with sex.

We’ve compared your short with a number of other directors and films of recent years, which can be—I dunno, to me—kind of annoying. Because I’m a believer in pivoting away from what others have done and charting fresh territory. But there are echoes here.

Curious what filmmakers resonate the most with you, both historically and those who are your contemporaries.

Well, I really don’t mind your comparisons since you said it reminded you of Boogie Nights, which is unsurprisingly one of my favorite movies. I saw Red Rocket by Sean Baker while writing this film, and I loved the backdrop of the porn industry in that story. I definitely align with the tone of Baker’s films, and I admire his ability to broach challenging subjects in a realistic manner while maintaining a genuinely funny sense of humor.

A few other films that influenced Daddy: Fish Tank by Andrea Arnold, Fat Girl by Catherine Breillat, Slapper (short) by Luci Schroder, Paris Texas by Wim Wenders, and somehow Gummo by Harmony Korine.

What was your path to the industry? Like what was that moment where you said, “oh, I might want to make movies …”?

I actually didn’t fully realize I wanted to make movies until my senior year at Sarah Lawrence, when I took my first directing and screenwriting classes. That’s when it clicked: filmmaking is the perfect intersection of all of my interests.

In the years leading up to that revelation, I was obsessed with experimental video and performance art. I’m really grateful I got into filmmaking that way because I was able to make stuff without worrying about narrative structure and all that jazz. I’ll probably always be influenced by the likes of Maya Deren, Kenneth Anger, Carolee Schneemann, Stan Brackhage, and Jack Smith. I thought I wanted to be some sort of academic for a while there, considering getting my master’s in women’s history. No shade, but moviemaking is much more exciting. But I guess that explains why my approach to filmmaking tends to be kind of annoyingly academic. I’m deeply obsessed with Michael Haneke.

As always, I am legally required by myself to end with a random question: without thinking, instant reaction required …

What’s one classic novel you’d love to adapt, or one classic film you’d want to remake through a modern lens?

Macbeth!

Some of my favorite movies are based on Shakespeare plays, like My Own Private Idaho, Clueless, Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. I love that this body of work exists in the public domain that’s overflowing with timelessly poignant tales and characters.

Lady Macbeth’s story and the play’s underlying commentary on the inescapable trap of womanhood is something that’s always stuck with me. "Out damned spot!"

*Feature Image: writer/director Jo Steinhart