Vivian Kerr’s new movie Séance is going to startle audiences in a few very good ways. In the most basic sense, it’s a horror film with several effective jump scares. But it’s also a period drama of broken marriages and loss that is miles away from her first movie SCRAP. And purely from a technical standpoint, viewers will be surprised when they learn just how much went into this production.

Writer, director and star Vivian and Scottie Thompson—who stars in Séance as Emma and is also now adding writer and director to her resume—joined TVBrittanyF.com to talk about the ins and outs of indie filmmaking. They also reflected on how they were inspired by one another during the process. Plus, discover their favorite moments from Séance before seeing it yourself.

Brittany Frederick: Vivian, anyone who saw SCRAP will not expect that you would go from a modern slice of life drama to a period horror film. What made this the right next project for you?

Vivian Kerr: I had written this script in 2020, during lockdown, so this script was written a year before we even shot SCRAP. That’s just how long these films take. Now we’re rolling into year five of me working on Séance, but when I talk to other indie filmmakers at festivals, they’re like oh, that’s so fast. And the sad thing is, that is fast from conception of the idea to writing the script, developing it, raising the money, shooting it.

I got lucky that some of the SCRAP investors were very pleased with how that film turned out and how successful it had been on the circuit. They were like, what are you doing next? This was the only script I had that was ready to go. I didn’t want to lose the momentum. I had learned so much on SCRAP. I’d really fallen in love with feature film directing, and I knew the day we wrapped SCRAP that I wanted to shoot another feature as soon as possible.

And I think I also wanted to push myself; I wanted to do something super-different. I wanted it to be different in every way… That’s the artist in all of us, right? The last thing you did, you don’t want to do anything like that again. So it was so great for me to be able to do something that was way more visually driven and just, in every single way, everything is different.

Scottie, how did you become involved with the project? What about Vivian’s ideas for Séance interested you as an actor?

Scottie Thompson: It first went to a friend of mine, who thought of me for the role because she was booked on another job, and it was really nice of her to think of me. She recommended me to Vivian… and then we sat down and met, and I was like, this woman knows what she’s doing. I’d read the script and already loved it, and I really admired what Vivian had created. It’s really a character-driven piece. It’s rare that as actors, we have such dynamic roles land on our laps—just four characters on a screen for an entire film.

And also, I’m obsessed with period pieces, and thought this is going to be so fun. I’ve been wanting to do something in this era, in this style. It came to me through a friend, and then I just was amazed by Vivian, and the rest is history.

Kerr: I should say Scottie was in the mix for casting. But what happens is, especially when you’re casting an indie, we’re working with casting directors—and the lists have lists. I think I had some Google spreadsheet with hundreds and hundreds of actresses, and my job was to go through and watch all of their reels… She had definitely been put in the good actress pile, but I was so overwhelmed at that point.

And then the other actress—Bridget Regan—I met her, loved her, had dinner with her, cast her, and then she got a really big TV gig, and so had to leave the project. I was at that point like, I cannot watch any more reels. And then when she mentioned Scottie, I was like oh, that rings a bell. And I went and looked back at [her] materials that I had gotten sent from [her] reps.

When I went back and watched it, I was like, I can see why Bridget thought [she] would be sort of similar to her, in terms of how [she] would go about it. But then watching all [her] stuff, I was so relieved. Because the thing that I found the hardest about casting Emma—never mind the fact that you’re on screen for like 95 percent of the movie. I was like, this has to be sort of like this proto-Edith Wharton type. We need to have Emma convey an intelligence that is literary and very ahead of her time. She’s a woman who really is a few decades ahead of her time in terms of her career ambition, her achievement. So she does have to have a little bit of modernity, but you also have to totally buy her in the period, and a lot of intelligence too.

One of the unique production elements of Séance is that Vivian, you are once again not only the writer, not just the director, but also an actor. Scottie, what does it do for you when the person who’s directing you is also someone who’s in a scene with you?

Thompson: I loved it. She inspired me. I just wrote and directed my first short film [Siena and the Sit] that’s doing the festival circuit, and we’re going to be at the festival together in Chelsea for both of our films. And I just was watching Vivian hold down the fort in all these roles, and was so inspired by her ability to juggle it all. And she’s obviously really, really smart.

When I had questions, it was great, because my writer’s right there. The director’s right there. Especially now that I’ve done it, I know how hard it is to be an actor in a scene and also be directing your co-actors. And Vivian was really great, especially when we were able to turn it around on my coverage. She could be present as the actor, but also keep an eye on things as a director. I think that’s a really hard job to do.

Vivian, what inspires you to take on the multiple responsibilities of acting, directing and writing the same project? What makes you comfortable with that versatility?

Kerr: I think it’s just a slow progression. I started as an actor, and I was just an actor for a long time. And then you start writing things for your friends to make little short films in your apartment, and then you learn how to produce to get those things made. And then I think if you start writing seriously, sometimes you’ll hand your writing over to directors, and you’re maybe not super-pleased with the results. Then you sort of decide, I have a viable point of view.

Being an actor has served me really well as a director, because the one thing I’m most proud of from SCRAP and also for Séance is, I’m very proud of the performances that my cast are able to give… I always appreciated directors who made it very clear that the acting was the priority. And obviously we have to make our days, but I think creating that environment… I remember joking with my [director of photography], JoJo [Johanna Coelho], we’re creating a nest. You create the nest in which things are going to happen, and there’s many different ways to do that. I’m trying to create an environment where I feel like I can do my best work as an actor, and trying to give that to other actors. That’s very exciting to me.

What would either of you consider your highlights from Séance? Do you have favorite scenes or just favorite aspects of the production?

Thompson: I’m just so impressed with you, Vivian. I’m just so impressed with this film as a whole—what you’ve done, how it came together, how it looks. I just admire your abilities. I think that you really go on the journey really effectively. You bring people in with the way you design these characters in the world, and you drop us in, and you’re in for the ride. And I think it’s so great how you have these scare moments and then underneath of it, which is what I always liked about the script, is it’s really about humans navigating experiences. I think you did a really interesting job of capturing what’s required of the genre, and also going beyond it with the depth of the world you’ve built.

Kerr: I really love that scene with you and Connor [Paolo, who plays Albert] where the two of you are in the parlor, and you’re like, what is wrong with me? He’s so funny in it, but also he does such a good job of, you can’t really figure out what is actually going on with him… You buy that you’ve been in this marriage for six months, and you’re so fed up, and obviously there’s so much pain underneath that. But that is a scene that I’m very proud of, because I feel like the scene is really happening between you. It’s not like two actors who showed up and pre-planned their performances. It’s happening between you, and I always look forward to watching that scene.

You can screen both Séance and Siena and the Sit at Chelsea Film Festival on Oct. 19, 2025; tickets are available here and here. For more information on Séance, visit the film’s official website and follow on Instagram.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.