Laurels For Britain’s Youngest Filmmaker Jessica Fay As She Wins Festival Awards For THE MAKING OF ALEX

The Fan Carpet are delighted to present the Poster for THE MAKING OF ALEX, this delightful, uplifting short film was written by Burnley-born Jessica Fay when she was aged just 11, and directed it a year later. She has just celebrated her 13th birthday.

Possibly Britain’s youngest filmmaker Jessica Fay (13) has just received two awards at the IndieX Film Festival in Los Angeles for her debut film THE MAKING OF ALEX. This delightful, uplifting short film was written by bubbly Burnley-born Jessica Fay when she was aged just 11, and she directed it a year later, she also stars in the film. She has just celebrated her 13th birthday.

Best Student LGBTQ Short: The Making Of Alex by Jessica Fay and Velton Lishke

Outstanding Achievement Award (Young Filmmaker): Jessica Fay and Velton Lishke for The Making Of Alex (UK)

Outstanding Achievement Award (Child/Young Actress): Jessica Fay for The Making Of Alex (UK)

Speaking of her award, Jessica says “I can’t believe my film got into a festival, never mind becoming a winner! I’m so happy and proud of myself and my team and Velton (her co-director) and Mum. I couldn’t have done it without them and I’m so excited to see what comes next and to celebrate with all the cast and crew.”

“I just want to say a huge Thank You to all the industry professionals, filmmakers, parents, actors who believed in an 11 year-old’s dream and helped bring it to life in such an incredible way! The prospect of Jessica’s film screening in Hollywood just blows my mind; I am so proud”, says Laura, Jessica’s Mum. 

Synopsis:
Feisty young Roxy (Jessica Fay) is celebrating her 10th birthday with her family, and when she discovers she shares her big brother’s secret love of drag queens, she hatches a plan…As Alex (Evan Clarke) struggles with his feelings, Roxy is determined the world will accept her brother; so armed with a make-up brush and with furry friend Steve by her side, the special bond between brother and sister is forged when Ms Alexa is born.

About Jessica Jay
As a baby Jessica suffered life-threatening meningitis and septicaemia, and was in a coma on life support. She was left with autism and a hearing impairment which greatly affected her communication skills when she was tiny. The only time she interacted purposefully and responsively was when a camera appeared!

After careful thought and advice, her parents signed her up to a model agency and she landed her first ‘job’, aged two. She was pretty, outgoing and an all together engaging little girl and her hearing difficulties meant she wasn’t distracted by ambient noise, or things going on around her – she was the perfect model and had over 100 jobs in the following years, including an acting role aged 6.

Her Mum Laura Bell says “It helped her social skills immensely and although still behind her peers she learned a lot from meeting new people and mirroring them. After securing roles in indie shorts and features and working closely with the directors she decided she wanted to be a director one day.”

While she was filming the lead in a short film in August 2018 (Just Say) Jessica met a boy named Evan Clarke. He was 3 years older than her and it was his first time on set, in a background role. They hit it off straight away as they both loved drag queens and thus began the inspiration for TMOA. After a week on set with Evan, she came home and started to write, or type in Jessica’s case, as she struggles with her writing.

Laura continues “After four months and many changes she had a great outline and after some encouragement from a few professionals she asked me if I would help her make the film. My reply was that if she could raise a budget to do it properly, to pay and feed the cast and crew, then I would help in any way I could.”

Soon plans were set in motion. The script was professionally re-drafted; locations found, budget raised and crew on board - all favours called in. Crucially for Jessica, young Evan agreed to play the lead in her film. It was going to be a test for him as Evan is transgender and bravely chose to wear his natural body shape when he is transformed into Ms.Alexa, his on-screen drag alter ego.

“The relationship between Jessica and Evan is so natural it’s crazy, they are like a real brother and sister,” explains Laura. “As Jessica is socially younger due to her brain injury and Evan having to grow up really fast due to him transitioning, they just jelled from the get-go. Evan is really patient with her and would take time to explain things to her; we were so lucky to find him.”

Evan Clarke, 16, lives at home in Northampton with his Mum, Dad and his rescue dog Willow. He talks about what attracted him to the role “Alex is like many teenage boys, he has pent up frustrations, but I liked his boyishness and the contrast of his masculinity around his family and the feminine side he gets to show when he becomes Ms Alexa was really appealing. During my secondary school years, things like Drama Studies and stage makeup pushed me through to a world I never expected to see. I'm incredibly honoured to be in the situation I am today, experiencing things and meeting people who have shaped my life in the most positive of ways.”

Evan clearly loved working with Jessica, and says “Jessica was wonderfully bossy,” he laughs. “She knew what she wanted and was so professional. I was on set every day and whilst it was really hard work, it was an amazing experience working with her and the whole cast and crew.”

Filming took place in two blocks, and Jessica was given incredible guidance from highly experienced indie director and performer, Velton Lishke (Hush, Clouds, and many more). He helped her with almost all the scenes and made sure he added a few extra scenes just for Jessica to take over and handle alone. “He was absolutely wonderful,” remembers Laura’s Mum. Velton also plays Roxy and Alex’s Dad in the film. During the filming period the family learned that Jessica’s grandmother had terminal cancer so Jessica re-drafted mid-filming and added a scene especially for her beloved Nana.

“When Jessica’s mum approached me looking for help with finding crew members, I asked her to send the script”, begins Velton. “When I saw just how incredible this was, coming from an 11 year-old girl, I was determined to help in any way I could.

As it turned out we made a really great team. I couldn't be more proud of Jessica; she is creative, focused and a delight to be around. She has a great future ahead of her. I hope this is just the beginning and I will be working with Jessica and her mum again in the future - I very much look forward to it.”

Television producer Jules Hussey (Silent Witness, Call the Midwife, Catherine the Great) who also provides professional advice to Danc Manc* said “What an amazing job she has done; the story has great character detail, it is engaging and warm. I would love to keep an eye on her future projects and maybe even give her work tips for developing her skills from this excellent achievement.”

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT (in her own words… unedited)

“When I was filming ‘Book Of Monsters’ I thought it was such a cool set and the director Stewart Sparke was amazing; I really wanted to do his job but I thought I couldn't because I was only 10. When I met Evan on the set of Just Say (Joe Vuckovic 2019) we got talking during a break and I found out Evan loved drag queens just as much as I did. I instantly had an idea to write a story all about becoming a drag queen. Evan was the first transgender person I had met, he was 14 at the time and I thought he was so cool and brave to be himself. He told me I could be a drag queen if I wanted and that is wasn't just for boys, which I loved.

When I went to my next *Danc Manc meeting (Disabled Artist Creative Network) some of my friends and industry professionals there read my script and said I should turn it into a film.

My mum said she would help me as long as I could raise enough money to pay everyone and do it properly. I have been raising money for lots of different charities since I was little so this was a challenge I was ready to take on.
It was the most fun and I made a rule that the kids get Nutella on set and I think every director should have that rule.

I just want to say that I am so proud of everyone especially Evan because he was only 15 when we did the drag scenes - he was so brave and actually took off his chest binder to become Ms. Alexa. I know doing that was a hard choice to make and I hope when other kids see Evan they will say ‘WOW he is just amazing’. I also hope if anyone watching has their own struggles they are inspired by Evan and just go out there and live their best lives. I want to thank everyone who helped me and I want to tell everyone to just follow your dreams and do anything you want - especially having a dog on set - Steve is the best dog in the world.

I need to say the biggest thank you to Velton because without his help we couldn’t have made the film: I love how he trusted me to do some things alone. He really is the best and I learned so much from him.” said Jessica Fay

About IndieX Film Festival
IMDb qualifier IndieX Film Festival is an LA-based international film festival with bimonthly live screenings and Q&A with filmmakers at the Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, California. IndieX is looking for independent projects, especially low or no-budget ones plus student films.