Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Allisyn Snyder

Allisyn Snyder is a prolific storyteller who is equally talented in front of—and behind—the camera.

As an actress, she’s captivated audiences in projects including Sonny with a Chance, Astrid Clover, and A.P. Bio.

As a director, writer, and producer, her shorts have gone on to receive accolades at over thirty festivals around the world.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to chat with Allisyn about her multifaceted career, her latest short Room 566, and more!

PC: How did you discover your passion for the arts and storytelling?
Allisyn: My dad is one of my best friends in the entire world. He’s always been an amazing storyteller. I’ve spent so much time with him over the years. He was the person with me on set ever since I started acting when I was four years old. We would have these long drives to and from auditions. We’d be stuck in rush hour. He would tell me all these elaborate stories. As I started getting older, I started writing stories with him. We would spend a lot of our downtime on sets together crafting these scripts, and they just got more and more elaborate until we started actually filming together.

PC: That actually might be the answer to this next question. Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Allisyn: I definitely have to say my dad has probably had the biggest influence because he’s been there with me since day one. I’d also say working with my husband Dylan Snyder. I met him when I was fourteen years old working on the Disney Channel.

Once we started working together, he influenced me in terms of the gear upgrade. Dylan has always been a gearhead. He’s always been very fascinated with cameras and technology. All of a sudden our projects got a big upgrade.

Then I also met a family named the Morrisons. They became close family friends of ours. Their son, Brian Morrison, is one of my closest friends. He’s our editor.

Once we started expanding our team through family and friends, we were able to slowly upgrade our projects. I’m the type of person who if nobody is willing to help me with a short film will wear all the hats and do all the jobs. But it’s definitely been nice to find people who are passionate about filmmaking to take some of that weight off my shoulders.

Brian’s father, Bob Morrison, helped immensely with helping us manifest our projects. He also helps produce them. As our team grows, our pictures get better and better.

PC: You’ve had a lot of success throughout your career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out to you?
Allisyn: It’s been difficult pursuing a career both in front of and behind the camera. There have been pivotal moments for each that have been completely different. Ultimately, working on Disney Channel on Sonny with a Chance and So Random! was huge for my career. It snapped me out of that childhood mentality. While my friends went to soccer, I went to auditions. It was my after-school activity.

Then all of a sudden, I did Sonny with a Chance. There were millions and millions of eyes on me from all over the world. That was the moment when I realized, “This is actually a career and a job. People are watching.” It inspired me as well. I was like, “Well, if this many people are watching, they can watch my projects too.”

Once Sonny with a Chance took off, it started to drive traffic to my childhood YouTube channel. That set a little fire under me. I was like, “I have an audience now. Let’s keep creating.”

PC: Like you were saying, in addition to being an actress, you’re also a writer, producer, and director. Has your work behind the scenes made you a stronger actor and vice versa?
Allisyn: The two go hand in hand. Honestly, any position that you can take on a set is going to teach you about filmmaking. I’ve been hired on as a production assistant for projects. I’ve worked in props and costumes. I’ve worked every position and each of them teaches you something so valuable. Ultimately, the biggest thing that it teaches you is how important every single person on a set is. You can’t remove anyone without somebody having to pick up that slack. There are a lot of moving parts. Every creator is really important. That’s the biggest thing that it’s taught me.

PC: You have a new project out now. Can you tell us about Room 566 and the inspiration behind the story?
Allisyn: Room 566 is a project that I wrote. It’s based on the fear that I have of hospitals. I’ve heard it’s called white coat syndrome. Not understanding anything about the medical industry, I’ve always been skittish around doctors. Fear is something that comes out of misunderstanding. I wanted to create a piece that was about the fear of the unknown and particularly in a hospital setting, which is a personal thing for me.

PC: The film has made its way around the festival circuit. It’s been incredibly well received. What has that response meant to you? What do you think is resonating most with audiences?
Allisyn: I’ve met a couple of other people during that festival run who are also terrified of hospitals who cursed my name. [laughs] The fun thing about taking it around to all these different festivals is watching how the different audiences receive it. With my projects, I love to laugh and my dad is such a funny person. We’ve always had that banter. When I try to write a serious project, those bits of humor still come through. There’s this underlying tone of comedy throughout Room 566, and it’s really interesting to see when an audience thinks it’s okay to laugh. It’s like if there’s a slightly more energetic audience and somebody laughs early on then the rest of the audience will start feeling comfortable. It’s cool to watch different audiences start to realize that it’s okay to laugh during my project.

PC: What do you hope audiences take away after they see it?
Allisyn: I hope they have as much fun watching it as we did making it. I’ve been making little home movies ever since my family got a tiny camcorder when I was itty-bitty and I really love sharing my stories and ideas with people. I think that movies are an incredible escape from this terrifying reality. If I can provide somebody with ten minutes of fun on an afternoon, that’s amazing.

PC: What’s next for you?
Allisyn: I have a music video/fashion video that I directed titled “Gold.” I worked on it with Dylan and Joey, who was another camera operator on our team. The three of us worked with Serena Laurel who is a singer-songwriter in Nashville. She actually starred in a previous short film of mine titled Nasty Habits.

Serena created this song called “Gold.” She wanted this ethereal, dreamy video for it. It was more fashion-centered rather than just her lip-syncing. Knowing that our world is film and we can do that cinematic look, she brought us on board to help collaborate and create this project. It turned out really, really great. I’m super happy with it.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Allisyn: Adventure Time.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Allisyn: National Treasure is an all-time favorite film for both my husband and me. We’ve got our cinematic favorites. If we’re talking to somebody who’s in the industry, we’re not going to tell them our favorite movie is National Treasure, but secretly both of our favorite movies is National Treasure, enough to where we both had the DVD as a kid. We both found the secret hidden menu on the DVD. You move the remote over and there’s a little hidden eye and it opens all the bonus features.

PC: Favorite book?
Allisyn: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I read that last year and was absolutely blown away. I also love the film, but the book adds so much depth to it.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Allisyn: The Lion King and Hamilton were unbelievable.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Allisyn: I have to plug my dad’s band. I actually do listen to them very frequently and any musician or band that I end up digging is because they remind me of my dad’s band. But it’s Pistol for Ringo. I’ve also done a bunch of their music videos.

To keep up with Allisyn, follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Photo Credit: Ben Cope