American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has big dreams as a filmmaker. The 32-year-old singer recently spoke about overcoming self-doubts as a music video director and revealed she would like to write and direct a full-length feature film in the future. The Blank Space singer asserted the same during a screening of All Too Well: The Short Film held at the Beacon Theater in New York City as part of the 2022 Tribeca Festival.
As reported by People Magazine, Swift spoke to filmmaker Mike Mills as she opened up about her experience venturing into directing with music videos like ‘The Man,’ ‘Cardigan,’ and ‘Willow,’ and how it led to the creation of All Too Well: The Short Film, which she wrote and directed.
She said, “I was always very curious. I was always looking, learning, and trying to absorb as much as I possibly could. For a few music videos [in my career], I just started going into the edit and making changes.
During her interaction, Taylor Swift also asserted that she would often conceptualise her own music videos before she handled the work off to a seasoned director- until her 2019 song ‘The Man’. She dished on the story of how it all started and said, “It started with meddling, and it went from meddling with the edit to then writing the treatments for the music videos… That was almost ten years ago,” per People Magazine.
After writing its video treatment, Swift attempted to hire a female director, but none that she knew were available: “All my favorite female directors were booked and busy, which is great. We love that.”
At the time, Swift was filming 2020’s Miss Americana documentary, received advice from its director, Lana Wilson, and ended up directing ‘The Man’ herself, which sparked a new creative desire for the singer-songwriter. “Once I started directing music videos, I didn’t not want to do it.”
Nevertheless, the All Too Well songstress had to overcome self-doubt before officially considering herself a director. “I think I had this imposter syndrome in my head saying, ‘No, you don’t do that. Other people do that who went to school to [direct],’” explained Swift.
At the time, Mills admitted he didn’t go to school for directing either, which relieved Swift. “Oh! It’s fantastic to know that. That makes me feel better,” she said.
She continues to add, “Don’t you feel like it’s an amazing exercise in trusting gut instinct? There are so many decisions you have to make. Saying ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I’m not sure’ really isn’t an option most of the time.”
“It can be, if said the right way,” he replied.
“Maybe that’s just being a female director,” Swift joked.
After writing and directing All Too Well: The Short Film, which stars Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien, Swift has developed bigger dreams for herself as a filmmaker.
The idea of directing a short film has paved the way for the actress to approach a full-length project. She said, “It would be so fantastic to write and direct a feature. I don’t see it being bigger in terms of scale. I loved making a film that was so intimate with a crew that was relatively small, just a really solid group of people that I trusted.”
In November 2021, Swift released the 13-minute short film, which serves as a music video to ‘All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version),’ an extended take on the fan-favourite song from 2012’s Red featured on last year’s Red (Taylor’s Version) which is the latest album in her ongoing series of re-recordings.
