Reel Opinions – Tia salisbury

Tia Salisbury on why middle-aged mums are the future of film 

Tia Salisbury is a multi-award winning filmmaker based in the UK. She’s a returning member of BAFTA Crew and has received BFI and Exeter Phoenix  funding as a writer/director.

FF’s Jess Sweetman caught up with Tia to discover what makes her tick, what she’s learned from her career so far, and why she’s going to keep going. 

Hi Tia! How are you feeling right now? 

Life is good. I’m in the final post-production stages on a new comedy short so I’ve got that giddy, wild-eyed look that comes with finishing a film. 

How would you describe yourself to a stranger who you met on a park bench? 

I’m a dog owner, half my life is spent chatting to strangers in the park. Imagine I tell pretty much anyone who’ll listen that I’m a working mum with a thing for filmmaking and yeah, that extraordinarily beautiful dog terrorising the squirrels is ours.

Talk us through your films to date in brief - what was it like to work on them and how do you feel about them now?  

My back catalogue is my film school. I’m self-taught after switching from a career in broadcast animation to working as a live-action director so I’ve made a whole range of work in tone and budget. It’s a smorgasbord of guerrilla experiments, a cinematic veggie box of dodgy shaped produce! I’ve got a ton of love for all the films, especially the wonkier ones that struggled to find a festival home, they were the steepest learning curves. 

What do you think makes your work unique to you? 

I’m happiest making comedy, so that’s probably visible across everything I’ve done. There’s lots of advice to find your own voice as a creator but you don’t have much option with comedy. Any script, character or idea needs to amuse me first and foremost or I’m stuffed. I don’t know what makes anyone else laugh, I’ve got to rely on my own twisted psyche!

What does your filmmaking process look like? 

I’m dead lucky to have a team of collaborators I’ve made my more recent films with. I like to have a few different scripts on the go with varying budgets and when something feels solid, I’ll start sharing it and getting feedback from cast and crew. Then once we’re all excited, it's working out how to fund the film…or not! 

Tell us about your favourite film festival experience ever. 

I screened in Annecy when I was animator and it’s hard to beat. Annecy is this stupidly beautiful town on the shores of a huge alpine lake and the French do not hold back in a cinema. Each screening was a riot of audience interaction encompassing more emotional rollercoasters than your average Brit has in a lifetime. C’est magnifique!

What would you consider to have been the biggest challenge of your career and/or your life so far?

I’m a working Mum so film school wasn’t an option for me, and I’ve only just gone back to full-time work. It’s taken years to build my process as a director and find my regular collaborators. I’ve been very fortunate to get funding and support from organisations like the BFI and Exeter Phoenix, but it’s a rarity, not a business plan. Most of the films I’ve written will only ever exist in final draft unless my Dickensian benefactor gets their shit together and rocks up with an antique trunk of bottomless funding.

Have you learned to overcome the challenge? 

I’ve learnt to juggle projects and have a slate of ideas. I’ll overlap a big budget film with a more modest idea I can self-generate. I’ve taught myself to film, edit and produce to a standard which means I can be self-reliant to a degree. During lockdown, I encouraged (emotionally blackmailed) my family into entering a 24-hour film challenge. The resulting black comedy won a couple of big industry awards, led to a film commission and was a brilliant distraction from doom-scrolling and failed baking attempts.

What did you learn from the experience? 

You don’t need a big crew or massive budgets to make successful shorts. Also, people will do almost anything to alleviate their boredom during a global pandemic.

What is your personal philosophy? 

Don’t sweat the small stuff.

How is this reflected in your films and the filmmaking process? 

I try not to overthink why I’m making a short and steer away from tailoring to an imagined audience. Some people won’t get your work, some festivals will pass on it and some folk (your mum) think that the big button on the computer made the film for you. I just try to focus on the practicalities, making an original short with the means to hand, the best talent I can chuck in the mix and when it’s all done and dusted, move on with the next one. 

What are the most important things you learned through your career? 

In terms of my short films, I’ve grown more comfortable trusting my own voice and what makes me tick. And if you want to keep making work, you need to express undying gratitude to anyone who you drag along for the ride. The level of collaboration and goodwill to write, shoot and finish a short film is mind-blowing. 

Who or what is your inspiration? 

I’ve got a twin sister who’s my polar opposite; a world ranked surfer to my couch potato, an internationally acclaimed scientist to my dreamy creative and so determined it’s frightening! She doesn’t take no for an answer and works like a beast to achieve her goals. I try to slipstream some of that good stuff. That said, it’s not a total one-way street, her taste in shoes makes me hold my head in despair.

And finally…:What piece of advice would you give your younger self? 

Try and overlap creative projects, it’s everything as you roll with the punches. Also, you were right, you don’t need maths for anything.

How do you see your legacy?

Now that I’ve recovered from the existential crisis that question threw me into, I’m a proudly middle-aged female filmmaker. We’re so far off achieving diversity in film and TV and that makes me very focused on building my craft and staying visible and productive. Emerging talent isn’t always a twentysomething straight out of film school, it’s a parent with older kids, or a lifelong actor turned director, or the last throw of the dice for someone who’s confidence has held them back and I’m here for it all!