With everything I learned from my first two shorts, and with Roger (DP) back on board, I decided to write a suspense thriller. This time, I wanted to return to a single location and squeeze as much production value from it as possible. My cousin’s place—where I had filmed part of What Do You Want?!—ended up being perfect. I’d actually started thinking about using their home while shooting WDYW, but I didn’t want to ask until I had a script ready.

My family has been an enormous part of this journey. Their willingness to let me use their homes and even jump in as extras has been monumental. VIRAL was another step in figuring out how all of this works. This time we had an ensemble cast of four, and keeping track of who needed coverage and when made my head spin. But it taught me a lot about managing time and planning for the shots I’d need in post.

I’m an editor first and foremost, and my editing background really shapes how I approach filmmaking. I have a pretty good memory, so I’m able to mentally catalog scenes and shots without losing track. I’m constantly editing in my head while shooting, coming up with new shots because the previous scene or moment calls for it.

I’ve never been a big fan of storyboarding—I prefer simple shot lists—but since we never had time to rehearse in the locations, I often had to find the shots on the spot, the day of. Even so, I’m extremely proud of what we pulled off in just two days. This short took me places and introduced me to people I never would have met otherwise.

What I ultimately learned from this film was how to pace a story, and that came down to the writing. I was still loose in structure and didn’t fully grasp that until I filmed it and saw what I had—or hadn’t—done. Nonetheless, this project gave me the confidence I needed to push myself even further.