SI City Lifestyle: Tell us a little bit about yourselves. How did you get started in the industry of production?
Renee Wood: Basically I started right here in Staten Island, I was an actress and I started in theatre when I was 10 years old. As I grew up I started doing more theatre and film. When we were all quarantined during the pandemic, I started formulating a whole idea about COVID. I have a degree in social work so I wanted to infuse my social work skillset with my dramatic arts skillset and create a film to help the world. Michele and I already had an industry relationship and a personal friendship. I called her to see if she would be interested in collaborating with me to direct, write, produce and star in it together.
Michele Frantzeskos: I have been in the industry like Renee for a long time since I was a child. As years went on I started to want to make a difference in the world. I wrote a film called The Right to Live about domestic violence, sexual violence and any kind of abuse; verbal, mental, drug, alcohol, bullying etc. I wanted to get out there and spread awareness and help save lives. I wrote, directed, starred, produced, and executive produced the film. It won a lot of awards and that’s actually where Renee and I started collaborating on an anti-bully campaign that she was a part of. I went on to produce several other films, right now I am producing Graves End Season 2. I am proud to say that Renee is an actress on that set. When we came together she wanted to get out there and make a difference when it came to mental health. She wanted to show people that it’s OK to be vulnerable and get naked mentally.
Renee Wood: I always say it’s OK to get naked mentally! So many people feel like there is a stigma with mental health. So many individuals have anxiety and panic attacks and everyone is embarrassed to say hey I want to get some psychotherapy. They’re not embarrassed to go to the gym and work out if they want their muscles tight but how about working out your mind and getting your mind tight? That’s what this film encompasses. You’ll see individuals going through psychotherapy and some of them are embarrassed to get naked mentally and others aren’t. You will see as the characters develop through the psychotherapy they all get better in the end. It’s OK to just be yourself and be proud of who you are.
Staten Island City Lifestyle: What sparked your interest in this topic? Why was this a topic that you felt was so important?
Renee Wood: I was quarantined living in a very secluded beach house, and I would just watch the news and every day there was startling news. Suicide rates were up, people who were married for a long time and had great relationships started to separate. I would talk to friends on the phone and it was always who was fighting with their husband, who was getting divorced, people losing their jobs, so I wanted to help the world. I wanted it to reach a broad audience and I wanted everyone to be able to relate to it. I wanted the characters to be like an onion where you would peel all the layers. When filming we purposely chose to not look glamorous, we wanted it to be raw and very relatable.
Michele Frantzeskos: We wanted to make sure that we were authentic and true to ourselves. It is something that everyone is going through. It’s relatable, it’s recognizable, you can relate to each character in the film. There is nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about when you need help. You grow as an individual when you get out there and really recognize and take accountability for what you feel that you are vulnerable about and what your weaknesses are. If you can talk with somebody and really get through the process, you are just bettering yourself as an individual. As a whole in society, we could all build each other up and empower one another. It’s super important. So many people are tearing each other down. It’s about getting through each moment and knowing that there is sunshine out there. There’s a silver lining. COVID hit everybody in such different ways; emotionally, financially and so many people experienced loss.
Staten Island City Lifestyle: You are both wearing so many hats in terms of producing, writing, acting… how do you go about balancing all of these different roles that you have?
Renee Wood: I was living on the ocean and I was formulating everything in my brain. I had the story and I called Michele, she is a creative genius so we started zooming to collaborate. When my character had COVID I actually had COVID in real life. When I was sniffling in the film it was completely authentic.
Michele Frantzeskos: A lot of research went into it. As far as all of the moving parts, I am familiar with the process since I have done several films. We just got out there and said hey we’re not stopping until this message gets out there because it is so important. We had a great team behind us.
Staten Island City Lifestyle: How can people get help?
Michele Frantzeskos: We implemented the help hotline at the end of the film. There are so many places where you can get help. If anybody needs anything we are more than happy to have them contact us. We are all about getting out there and making somebody whole again.
Staten Island City Lifestyle: When will the film become available and where can viewers watch it?
Michele Frantzeskos: Beginning of May, Just Be Yourself will be on Amazon Prime and it will be on Vimeo as well as other platforms.
They’re not embarrassed to go to the gym and work out if they want their muscles tight but how about working out your mind and getting your mind tight?
