Alyssa Rallo Bennett directed and co-wrote the award-winning feature film The Pack. It is now streaming on Amazon Prime, Tubi, AppleTV as is ReRUN. Alyssa was nominated for Maverick Award as director at Woodstock Film Festival. At the Big Apple Film Festival, it won Best Narrative Feature, Best Ensemble, Best Original Story, and more. Alyssa talks today about her new project titled The Arrival.
indieactivity: How did you get into directing? How would you describe your style?
Alyssa Rallo Bennett (ARB): I did a long time ago in my 20s when I started writing. Because I wanted to work on more layered, insightful and enlightening material. More than I saw around me for my age and for women in general. So, I was working on a feature script and decided to make my first short. And learn everything I could from doing.
Do you hire a casting director, or do you like to choose the cast yourself? If so, what criteria go into your casting?
Alyssa Rallo Bennett (ARB): Yes to both, depending on the project and what the project requires. Either way, casting is so important. Casting Directors always open you up to people you don’t know and hadn’t thought of. Angela Mickey at Liz Lewis, Liz Ortiz and Rebecca Yarsin are people I am close to. I have worked with them for a long time!
What went into the casting process for The Arrival?
Alyssa Rallo Bennett (ARB): We wanted to create material for some fantastic young actors. Actors that we knew from the Stonestreet Studios Residency Program. Namely Nik Elrifi, Viv Heljavian, Nick Hamparyan, Daniela Urdaneta and Ines Ladha. I wanted to do something that was inspired by stories and events that come close to me and people I know about boundaries broken.
Watch The Official Trailer for The Arrival Directed by Alyssa Rallo Bennett
I wanted to develop something that dealt with what happens when you don’t know who a perpetrator is, how does one deal with it? That question was the beginning of The Arrival. My partner Gary O. Bennett watched some of the auditions and started writing for them and the ideas we were talking about, and developed it further around a location we knew we could shoot at over a few months.
There were two older characters that became important to the story, so once the characters and script evolved, Angela Mickey at Liz Lewis & Rebecca LaGore, who cast our last feature ReRUN and thought of Christopher Lloyd, who signed on for that, were amazing with casting ideas and instrumental in introducing Peter Bradbury and Pooya Mohseni for their roles in The Arrival!
Without giving anything away, tell us a little bit about the script, how did you come up with the idea?
Alyssa Rallo Bennett (ARB): Picking up from the above, I wanted to work on something that addressed how people deal with trauma, boundaries broken and navigate, heal and move on if possible. So the film is a mystery as they and we as an audience unravel who did it – and what can possibly be done about it. It is a positive film, sheds some light, asks more questions, and even has a shift for some characters toward new romance with new awarenesses.
Who is The Arrival for? Who do you think would enjoy it the most?
Alyssa Rallo Bennett (ARB): It’s for anyone who enjoys mystery, romance, and yet a film with some reflection, one that asks questions and leaves openings for potential new insight.
How long did it take to shoot the entire film?
Alyssa Rallo Bennett (ARB): We shot it in about 21 days.
How long was the post-production process?
Alyssa Rallo Bennett (ARB): From start to fine edit, sound, color, and score – at least a few months!
The film had a lot of talent working behind the scenes as DPs, sound designers, composers, etc. Why is diversity important both in front of and behind the camera?
Alyssa Rallo Bennett (ARB): I believe deeply that films and theater need stories that reflect the real world, as does our working environment. It’s weird to have a diverse cast and then look at the crew and see all of any one gender or culture.
What are your goals with The Arrival?
Alyssa Rallo Bennett (ARB): We’d love to have a small theatrical release after festival before streaming. We were offered distribution and are working out the deal as we speak… but we’re still open for offers until it’s signed!
What’s next for you? What are you working on right now?
Alyssa Rallo Bennett (ARB): We just got of a festival whirlwind for two shorts, once called “Compulsion” and the other called “Crowbar” from Soho International FF to Newport Beach, then to Martha’s Vineyard Women’s film Festival closing night for a world premiere for The Arrival to the NYC premiere for Big Apple Film Festival, so I’m hoping to catch my breath and work on a new pilot project called “Dishwasher” that I’m writing about immigrants who work in the kitchen of a restaurant as a dishwasher and a cook, it touch’s on a lot of things, but ageism is certainly one, but mostly through the poetic wisdom that the dishwasher who’s an older man and often overlooked who the mentor and sage that he is.
On another note there’s pilot series called RESPEKT we have two EPs just starting to shop around, that has been near and dear and very ready to go, as it had all the extra time of during Covid and now during the strike to evolve.
What would you recommend to a new director at the beginning of his/her journey? Any special courses, workshops, helpful books they can read?
Alyssa Rallo Bennett (ARB): visit Stonestreet’s website and look into the residency program. It’s a beautiful collaborative place that nurtures actors from theater to screen, hyphenates, directors, writers, editors, producers and cinematographers. It’s the place I wish I had starting out, to work and grow, and to learn by doing in a real residency, the way doctors do when they start out in a hospital with more experienced doctors mentoring them and keeping an eye on them as they practice. Actors and hyphenates, like Rachel Sennott, Nik Walker, Ximena LaMadris, Miles Teller, Rachel Brosnahan, Danny Ramierez, et al starte there.
Who is your favorite director? Why?
Alyssa Rallo Bennett (ARB): I don’t have a favorite, but a few who really admire and love to follow: Ang Lee, Jane Campion, Martin Scorsese, Lina Wertmueller, Ingmar Bergman (Persona forward)…
What advice would you give directors around the world?
Alyssa Rallo Bennett (ARB): Keep working, keep stretching, enjoy every step of this collaborative process, and embrace your own rich stories and material or do it with another writer and develop together. Don’t get caught up in the finances when you make a film, you don’t need a studio or ‘outside’ approval… make your film/s – we all have the wherewithal, friends with resources, talents, and positive energy. Find a place like Stonestreet Studios that can support your growth and actually facilitate making your films in a practical and mentorship way. Collaborate with people who share your vision and the money, elements and services will come together with focus, passion and hard work.
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