Tribeca Film Festival 2019: An Interview with Westfalia’s Haley Finnegan

This year, Haley Finnegan made her Tribeca Film Festival debut with Westfalia. The short is a hilarious take on today’s society in which a young couple embarks on an epic road trip in an attempt to gain more Instagram followers. Haley wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the project, and gave us a behind-the-scenes look on bringing this short to life.

PC: Tell us about Westfalia, your character, and what inspired the short?
Haley: I was inspired to create the short because I was having trouble in my own career. I felt like I wasn’t where I wanted to be, and I was upset with Instagram. Today in the industry, you have to have a following in order to make it, and I didn’t. Then, there was a night when I thought about quitting. I started busting on Instagram, and I stayed up all night and wrote Westfalia.

I wrote these two characters, Emelia and Brody, who were unable to see the beauty in the world because they weren’t able to be themselves, as they were trying to be influencers on Instagram. They were just always buried in their phones.

PC: You wrote, directed, and starred in the short. What was the biggest lesson you learned from this project?
Haley: The biggest lesson that I learned is don’t wait. I don’t know why it took me so long to make this film. It’s the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done.

PC: How early on in the process did you realize that this would be a short? Were there ever any thoughts about making it a full-length feature or turning it into a television series?
Haley: I always wanted to make it a feature, but I knew if I wanted to make it on my own, it would have to be a short. I was going to fund it with my savings. The short is a proof of concept for a feature, and I do have a feature written, which is more of an expanded story with more characters and commentary on today’s culture.

PC: How nerve-wracking was it to fund yourself?
Haley: I was so nervous, but I knew I wanted to do it. Last year, I made the decision to say no to projects that I wasn’t interested in; I wanted to be true to myself. This was so scary because I was taking a huge risk, but it was so worth it. I enjoyed the process of making it, being on set, being in the editing room, working on the sound, and trying to figure out how to do these exports. I learned so much. I honestly feel like I got a college education out of it.

PC: We read a lot of the script was improv. What benefits and challenges does that bring?
Haley: The benefits are a very natural style of acting and a very grounded comedic feel. I didn’t want to make fun of these characters, I wanted to be true to them. Improv led to more truth than we could have planned for.

The challenge is that we have to have Brody and Emelia in the same shot in all of the dialogue scenes, because editing improvised dialogue is difficult, and we only had one camera, when usually you’d have two cameras for an improvisation. We had to be creative about how we framed it. We had scenes where we’d pull focus from Emelia to Brody. I told my DP, who was incredible, especially being that this was his first time working on a narrative, “You’re just going to have to trust yourself. You’re improv-ing with us. When you feel that it’s time to focus on Emelia, do it. When it’s time to focus on Brody, do it.”

PC: The short premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. What do you hope audiences walk away with?
Haley: I’m hoping someone wants to take a chance on it. This is my first time doing anything like this. I hope there’s a next step. That’s what I wanted coming into this festival.

While I’m here, I’ve been meeting with all these directors, producers, and writers who poured their hearts into their work. It’s been inspiring to hear their stories and how they did it.

PC: This is your Tribeca debut. Has anything surprised you about the experience?
Haley: I’ve been surprised by how intimate this big festival feels. The programmers really take time to sit down and have a one on one orientation with you. There are a lot of opportunities here for us. All the directors in the shorts program have gotten really close, and it’s a special experience to go and watch our films play again after the premiere. We’ve heard each other’s stories, we’ve laughed, and there have been a couple of tears. We’ve all gotten close.

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