Gigi Saul Guerrero [Episode 27]

Gigi Guerrero is a Mexican-Canadian Filmmaker, Writer and Actress. She started her career making shorts including the Mexican wrestler gorefest, Luchagore which is now on Shudder. Gigi made her feature debut with the scathingly confrontational social commentary feature Culture Shock for Blumhouse as a part of their Into the Dark series, now streaming on Hulu. Today, Gigi is directing episodes of The Purge TV series, also for Blumhouse, and is attached to a new feature project about the Mexican religious icon, Santa Muerte. She is one of the most exciting emerging new voices in horror and I enjoyed talking to her about how she got started, her favorite Mexican horror movies, and as always, her recommended strategies for aspiring directors. 

Here without further are Gigi Saul Guerrero’s tips for aspiring horror filmmakers:.  

• "Shorts are the shit.” A lot of filmmakers praise the value of shorts for their priceless educational value. Gigi, who’s done 18 shorts, claims that they are best way to learn the craft of filmmaking fast. As simple as it may seem, each short incrementally gets you more familiar with the craft of filmmaking and it does this on a condensed timeline. Furthermore, shorts are also a way for first-time directors to purge their mistakes and amateur habits in a low risk environment which is important too. Doing shorts also offers you the opportunity to build relationships with a crew that you can move onto bigger projects with.

• Finish what you start. Gigi mentions that the caveat to the importance of shorts, is the importance having enough discipline to finish them. Frequently filmmakers have ‘multiple projects in varying stages of production’ but nothing to their name that is done. This is not great for your career, because people need to see evidence that you can finish something. Through finishing her 18 shorts Gigi learned invaluable lessons about filmmaking while demonstrating her style, voice, vision, and ability to finish what she started. Now she’s working with Blumhouse.

• Go with your gut. TV sets are notoriously grueling production experiences because of their breakneck pace and relentless shooting schedules. But a lot of producers and directors who have worked on TV sets, credit the experience with giving them a fast-acting production rhythm which required them to have more trust in their own intuition since there is next to no room for second guessing anything on such a timeline. Gigi’s work on The Purge taught her just this and she credits is as a very valuable experience for her as a director.  

SHOW NOTES

Gigi’s Recommended Mexican Horror Movies 

• Atros

• Alu carna

• We are the Flesh

Books

• Save the Cat, by Blake Snyder

Rebel without a Crew, by Robert Rodriguez