Interview: Writer/Director Stacie Passon on Her Sundance 2013 Film 'Concussion'

"NoFilmSchool: From the synopsis of Concussion, it sounds like something is literally knocked loose in your protagonist Abby after the eponymous event of your film’s story, and she certainly takes some unexpected turns. What was the inspiration for you to write this screenplay?

Stacie Passon: She does get a Concussion. I don’t know if you know this but a Concussion is really this all-purpose term for a jarring to the head. It’s sort of a diagnosis for an absence of diagnosis. She is suffering from the head injury but also this emotional mid-life jarring as well and suddenly the rules she follows and the roles she plays don’t make much sense anymore.

How did your background producing and directing commercials influence how you wrote this particular story?

Well, that’s an interesting question. I used to have a lot of health and beauty clients. I guess I have a certain aesthetic some others might not have working in that world. And I know how to shoot a woman in the right ways. :)

But I guess I wanted to make something compelling, and my training in the commercial world helped that because we were always thinking about trends and the “general conversation” and what was new and interesting.

Tell us about your screenwriting process. Once you started working on Concussion, what steps did you take to get to a draft of a screenplay? Did you know from the outset that you wanted to direct this film, and if so, how did it influence your writing?

I wrote this piece in six weeks. In late March of last year, I sat down and out it came. I’d written scripts before, and I’m a writer by trade so I guess you could say I’m fast at it. Then Rose Troche [Go Fish, The Safety of Objects] read it in June and gave me notes and we were shooting in October. I wouldn’t have written it any differently if I were to have handed it off, but yes, I saw myself directing. I’m just from that world. You make a film, you should make it. And certainly on this scale and in this medium. If you have the chance, do it."

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