Transforming Dreams into Reality: Directing with Soma Helmi

This week, we sit down with the incredibly talented Soma Helmi, who shares her inspiring journey from advertising in Jakarta to landing a major directing fellowship. Tune in to learn about the unique challenges she faced in Bali, her experience navigating the industry in LA, and the critical importance of building a network in a new city.

Our discussion covers everything from the significance of both commercial and narrative work in breaking into TV, to the exhaustion of self-promotion in general meetings. Don't miss Soma's personal anecdotes and valuable insights, making this episode a goldmine for emerging filmmakers and seasoned pros alike.

____

A Podcast for Indie Filmmakers

More on:
IG: @indiewoodpod
YT: Cinematography for Actors

In the world of social media, and fast-paced journalism, knowledge is abound. But with all the noise, finding the right information is near impossible. Especially if you’re a creative working in independent film.

Produced by Cinematography For Actors, the Indiewood podcast aims to fix that. This is a podcast about indie filmmakers and the many hats we wear in order to solve problems before, during, and after production.

Every month, award-winning Writer/Director Yaroslav Altunin is joined by a different guest co-host to swap hats, learn about the different aspects of the film industry, and how to implement all you learn into your work.

"We learn from indie filmmakers so we can become better filmmakers. Because we all want to be Hollywood, but first we have to be Indiewood."

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:30

Welcome back to the IndieWood podcast, where we talk about indie film, how to make indie movies and the many hats we have to wear to make those indie movies. This is season three, episode one, and with me for this season, for the next four episodes, I have a very special guest. Her name is Soma Helmi. She's a director and writer who's been doing a lot of really awesome, cool things. She started as a photographer and a filmmaker, she shot a bunch of commercials, she had a TV show in Jakarta which isn't out yet, but so we can't really tell you what it's about and she's now going to helm her first feature, which we also can't talk about.

Speaker 2: 1:08

So I'm welcome. It's real I promise.

Speaker 1: 1:11

Is it in Canada?

Speaker 2: 1:13

No, it's in Minnesota, though. Okay, let's close it up, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:16

Welcome to the IndieWood podcast. Tell me a little bit about your career.

Speaker 2: 1:22

Thank you for having me. I got my start actually in indonesia.

Speaker 1: 1:25

I worked in an advertising firm and you're from jakarta originally in jakarta. I'm from bali originally.

Speaker 2: 1:30

Okay, but I worked in jakarta um in an advertising firm for j walter thompson, as an art director in advertising and um, I had always wanted to make film but I, you know, got sidetracked into graphic design and all the usual stories. But when I got into the agency we were shooting so many commercials you know, two, three commercials a month and every time I was on set I remembered I wanted to be on the other side. I wanted to be the director or, you know, filmmaker, the other side, I wanted to be the director, or, you know, filmmaker. And so I actually just I started doing that and directing commercials because it was an easy jump and then just making my own um shorts in Bali, where back then there were like three actors and a lot of rice fields, so I had to.

Speaker 2: 2:19

I'm sure the scenery was beautiful it was beautiful, but a lot of the stories had to be very kind of localized or I had to cheat a lot. I remember back then because I started writing my own shorts just out of necessity, because there weren't a lot of filmmakers in Bali back then, because the main industry was Jakarta and Java, and I would write like open on front door, doorbell rings, and I was like don't have front doors here.

Speaker 2: 2:43

Like open on front door, doorbell rings, and I was like don't have front doors here, okay, don't have doorbells all right, can't open like that, so just like really basic things like that I couldn't just write interesting okay um, but so yeah, I started commercials then into narrative and then I moved to here the states about seven years ago to pursue kind of long form and episodic features and seven years later a feature

Speaker 1: 3:10

my gosh yes okay, well, I mean, I wanted to talk to you about this journey because I feel like everybody's always interested in finding out how do I make a feature or how do I have a career in the feature space or in TV, and and my, my thought process or my kind of an analogy for for film is, uh, like the corporate world. You know, um, I'm sorry, no, not like the corporate world, but like, let's say, for example, the corporate world is a tree right and in order to get like a really good career, you've got to get to the treehouse. And how do you climb, uh, your career in the corporate ladder? Use a ladder right. So this treehouse has a ladder, but with film, there's no ladder you just got to get to the treehouse.

Speaker 1: 3:53

However you want, sometimes the treehouse is just floating in the sky or it's underwater, and so there's always going to be a different path for everybody, and so that's why I was excited to talk to you, because you have such a unique kind of journey coming into film through advertising and commercials and also you know this work you've put in doing all these shorts and doing a TV show, now a feature. So can you tell me a bit more about kind of the biggest challenges you've had to overcome while in LA, specifically?

Speaker 2: 4:23

I think when I first moved here, I got a lot of traction and it was really great because it was, I think, end of 2016. And I got a few commercials and I started doing work and in 2019, I did this Snapchat show episodic, kind of short form, and it was all really happening.

Speaker 1: 4:44

and then pandemic hit, yeah, that moment in history.

Speaker 3: 4:47

I feel like that's like a really, you know, common story.

Speaker 2: 4:49

But I thought I had come here and I was really on a good path, you know, because I was doing all the things I wanted to do. And then this is a bit of a sub story but in February of 2020, I got an episode of gray's anatomy offered to me by the production producing director and then in we all know what happened in march oh 2020. So I kind of my career, hit this like wall basically and it's taken me a few more years to like build back up.

Speaker 2: 5:21

Yeah build it back up, you know, because it was all completely closed off episodic world for a few years, except for a few people. So I think for me it was like the pandemic, obviously. But create like making that network, coming in as a stranger was a lot of work, like coming in because as you know it's it's who you know a lot of it, right true and so coming in cold was really interesting coming in and really, and I'm not, I'm not an extrovert, so I don't really like going to networking events so that's been a real interesting challenge.

Speaker 2: 5:58

You know like forcing myself out there yeah um, so that was one thing, and then you know just some of the the interesting stuff, like the first time I heard the term female filmmaker was here interesting I had never heard it in indonesia and I worked there for you know however many years I was working there as a filmmaker but the first commercial I did here was the first time I heard it and the first time I was treated differently, and that was an interesting challenge to kind of suddenly be aware of or be faced with.

Speaker 1: 6:38

Why do you think that's different here?

Speaker 2: 6:40

I don't know. I don't kind of want to say that I do know, but I feel like in indonesia it wasn't something that was really discussed. I'm sure there's a lot of discrepancy and you know, as is in the whole world, but for me it wasn't as unusual to see women coming up, especially as directors maybe not as dps, because there is definitely that like yeah, the same thing there, you know, with women dps trying to come up, but it wasn't such a big conversation.

Speaker 2: 7:11

Oh, you're a female filmmaker, you know. So I don't know if it was more open. I don't know what it was, but I do know that the first time I heard that term was working here.

Speaker 1: 7:21

That's fascinating, do you think it's because hollywood? It's because Hollywood has had this storied career and it's been men for as long as we can remember and now it's shifting a little bit where maybe in Jakarta and Bali it didn't have this long career of just men and when it did start it was kind of more not unique. What's the word I'm looking for? Equal ish?

Speaker 2: 7:46

to be realistic. There's still quite a lot of men in power in indonesian filmmaking. So I'm not gonna like have a blanket statement, but I do remember coming up and there were a lot of female ads, there were a lot of female producers, so it wasn't such a conversation thing and I think that was really interesting. And going back to work in Jakarta, I definitely felt the difference, like yeah there, I was just the director and here you're a female director.

Speaker 2: 8:15

You know, going back last year to do this series, I was just the director and it was it felt really great that is so fascinating.

Speaker 1: 8:23

I never would have thought that that would be kind of, you know, so different around the world yeah, well, I think we're special in.

Speaker 3: 8:31

America.

Speaker 2: 8:31

There's something really special about that I don't know if we should have it, but yeah uh.

Speaker 1: 8:37

So I had a similar experience, kind of coming out of the pandemic. I too had some success right, you know, february of 2022 and kind of like October of, you know, 20, 2019, things were really happening. And then the pandemic happened, and then for me a lot of that momentum disappeared, a lot of those kind of conversations disappeared. Some people moved on, changed industries and I'm speaking as a writer, you know, trying to kind of pursue a career as a screenwriter in the feature space After 2020, you know, after kind of losing that opportunity for Grey's Anatomy, how difficult was it to rebuild that momentum and that network, because you couldn't just go back and be like I'm ready for that show you know, because things are different, and so I guess for those listening at home or watching.

Speaker 1: 9:24

Why do you think you couldn't just call that person again and be like I'm ready for you know?

Speaker 2: 9:30

well, I did in 20 at the end of 2020 because, you know, just to check in and, um, it was still very much closed off. They were kind of offering to, either, you know, returning directors or the crew. To be honest, I think a lot of studios were doing that. They were just going within and hiring people who were already hired. So I did and it was very much positive. We were like, okay, let's just see how it turns out at the end of the year or the beginning of the year. And I kind of kept in touch a couple of times but it just kind of fizzled out and I don't know the particulars of why, but I do know that industry wide, all the networks and studios were definitely closing off, even from shadowing, even from set visits and all of that. So it became very difficult for people to break in during the pandemic.

Speaker 1: 10:20

Do you think now, in 2024, that those programs are coming back up? Because I remember, I I feel like I remember I read something where those programs were cut initially for pandemic reasons and they're on pause because they couldn't bring people on set but then they were like oh, we can save money by not having these programs. I don't know about that.

Speaker 2: 10:40

A couple things. I do know the I think with the new dga deal um a lot of the, if not all the studio programs are now required to offer episodes, not just shadowing so that's made a really big difference and time will tell whether that's actually going to come into play, because they're all now there's a new round of you know um interviews and submissions for this round of new programs and those questions are being asked like is this a shadowing?

Speaker 3: 11:08

or is this going to be an?

Speaker 2: 11:10

episode offer. So that's going to be, you know. Time will tell whether they will honor that. Um, and the other thing is some of the programs were still going. They were just trying to do it kind of this hybrid zoom, you know zoom thing I was in the um paramount viewfinders. Actually, I'm trying to remember the 2021 to 2023, so for it was a two-year program, but most of it was on zoom and we got to go to the lot once, I think that's such a bummer.

Speaker 1: 11:40

I feel like you can't learn that much from you. Know a zoom class about how to direct a TV show?

Speaker 2: 11:46

Well, I did get to shadow in person, I went to Canada. That's good. So at the beginning of 2023, I got to go to Canada and shadow the show there.

Speaker 1: 11:54

Okay.

Speaker 2: 11:55

So that was really lucky and they did an amazing job. But then again, it's still the shadowing, just the shadowing.

Speaker 1: 12:01

Yeah, they don't let you touch anything. Yeah, so I think the programs you, know some of them were still going.

Speaker 2: 12:07

I really want to know whether they're going to honor the offering the episode thing and also I think a lot of them had a shakeup, especially during all the stuff going in the pandemic and the strikes. Just how they're structuring.

Speaker 1: 12:21

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 12:21

Probably have to have a look at it, and there's been a lot of controversy about the studio programs, how helpful they are and how you know was it helpful for you with the limited kind of access that you had? I think so it was. It was kind of a bizarre time to be in it because we were in pandemic, so it I think it would have been a lot better to do it not during the pandemic yeah, just put it on pause.

Speaker 2: 12:47

But, I met a lot of amazing people and I got to shadow this incredible director in Canada, so I learned a lot of him. So I think, yeah, I learned a lot from it, but it would have been better if it wasn't during a lockdown, covid lockdown what was the coolest?

Speaker 1: 13:07

and then what was the?

Speaker 2: 13:07

most significant thing you've learned from that director. To me and this sounds a little bit like I'm sucking up, but it's not because he's a wonderful human being, but he's the kind of director I want to be. Okay, he's really giving, he's really supportive and he's really creative and he, you know, loves prep as much as I do. So I'm like I I want to be him when I grow up, because he's just. He's so wonderful. He makes everybody feel safe, but also safe to be creative and safe to play and and he's just so prepped. It's wonderful. So I was really lucky when I was, I shouted him for two months, I was there for a really long time yeah because he did a block of two and so I got.

Speaker 2: 13:50

He was really wonderful with me because I ended up prepping the show with him. I became basically his prepping partner that's so cool.

Speaker 1: 13:57

That's a good skill set to kind of pick up at that stage yeah, it was really wonderful and we just became he.

Speaker 2: 14:05

He and I discussed things like colleagues and it wasn't like this is my shadow and he wouldn't even he wouldn't introduce me that way. He's just like. This is a director who's yeah, you know following me for these two episodes.

Speaker 1: 14:18

So it wasn't you know that's a good approach, because you then you know you don't treat someone as your underling or someone beneath you. I think the one of the biggest things I've had trouble with in my career early on when I was younger, much, much, much younger is treating people in the business as equals. Yeah, you get to a certain point. Like you're, I'm also in the business right, but then you still kind of look up to them and you think like, oh, no, they're somehow. You put them on a pedestal.

Speaker 1: 14:44

Yeah, and sometimes people force you to put them on a pedestal. Yeah, and sometimes people force you to put them on a pedestal yes, and then you know, you then are always kind of lower on this, whatever totem pole, whatever you want to call it, and it feels like you have to overcome that eventually.

Speaker 2: 15:00

And it's another obstacle well, especially when you're shadowing because it's shadowing. Is this kind of like very interesting in-between world?

Speaker 2: 15:08

because, for people like me, I've been directing at that point for 12 years, you know, and so I wasn't coming out of high school or something like that you know whereas, but you still get to set and sometimes if you're not set up properly and the director doesn't introduce you properly and all you know the, the producers, whatnot. You know I've I've shadowed four big shows. I went, you know, homeland and grey's anatomy and in some of them people literally are like when did you graduate film school? This is is this your first time?

Speaker 1: 15:40

on set. You know questions like that, where I'm like no, I've worked for a decade.

Speaker 2: 15:43

No, so you have to really balance your ego but also stand up for yourself. So it's a really interesting kind of razor edge that you have to play because you're there as a guest yeah you're there to observe. You're not there to direct. You're not there to like, push your ideas on anybody or anything like that. But you also need to make it clear that no, I'm not like a film school student you know I, I'm a working director yeah so that becomes a really interesting balancing act and that requires, I feel, like everyone to be in on it.

Speaker 2: 16:16

all the producers, all the above the line, have to agree that that is how they're introducing you and how they're treating you. You know so and you, as the shadow, have to be respectful as well, because I think I've heard better terminology, like Brian used to call me a guest director on set. I like that Because shadowing has an interesting connotation to it, because I think that film school student Like an apprentice training kind of thing.

Speaker 3: 16:44

Yeah, an apprenticeship kind of thing comes into it.

Speaker 2: 16:45

So yeah, it is, and if you speak to a lot of women directors in particular, it's something that we will all talk about like for days on end. Just some of the experiences we've had shadowing shows with different personalities and how you know, how you approach it and how we were treated and all that kind of thing yeah, I wanted to ask you about that program, the paramount program.

Speaker 1: 17:12

You said the the viewfinder program uh, when you applied for that, that really kind of helped this, opening this door into the tv world for you as a, as a director, as a worker, I guess, um, getting into that program, what was the the process? Because I know you had this, this career, where you directed a lot of commercials, but for that did that commercial work really kind of support your entry into that program or did you make a bunch of short films between the commercial work in that program in order to get in?

Speaker 2: 17:44

I think it was a combination, but mostly the narrative shorts that I had done, because I think at to that point, I had already done about 20 shorts. Wow, um, yeah, we're at 24 now, I think, um, so I mean that's a feature right there? Yeah, just combine them all together and the snapchat show was 20 episodes, so so yeah, not a baby director.

Speaker 1: 18:08

Yeah, not at all.

Speaker 2: 18:09

But I think doing the narrative work because the application required you to submit narrative work you definitely had to have that the commercial work I always say has benefited me immensely throughout my career because that's where I learned how to prep, that's where I learned it was kind of like my film school was every day directing literally on set and yeah, all these commercials you know.

Speaker 2: 18:33

So that's where a lot of my methodology comes from, and I think explaining that and talking about that during the interview process really helped, because I understood the process and I knew yeah, exactly so. And then I think, on top of, that, like I had already shadowed two shows like mainstream network and studio shows and was that for a different program or because you had just the network? Just myself, just finding connections and generals and you know, networking.

Speaker 1: 19:08

Yeah, I think networking is such a ethereal, nebulous process in Los Angeles because, everyone's like, oh, we're networking, like, yeah, we want to get something from each other. But also there's a reflection of it, or like a mirror version of it, where, like, we're just making friends.

Speaker 2: 19:24

Right.

Speaker 1: 19:25

And so how do you make friends and also try to get something from that person, but make them feel like you're not trying to get something from that person? And that's been my challenge. But I feel like over the last decade, because I've moved here more than a decade I moved here in 2011 and I went through multiple groups of people to kind of find my, my core team or maybe not my team, the people that I work with, but the people that I can call sure and and over time, that's evolved and changed.

Speaker 1: 19:51

And only now, 12 years later, having gone through grad school a lot of projects, a lot of production, a lot of writing, a lot of meetings only now am I seeing the fruits of that labor which is and I feel like for you it's seven years, you know uh in los angeles, at least, because I know I'm sure, three years of yeah, we won't say what that was, I feel like the three

Speaker 1: 20:13

years of just like nothingness it's weird that it's a nebulous like blob of time that nothing really happened for me anyway um see, for me it was a lot more chaotic.

Speaker 1: 20:23

I I had, I was supporting my family's company and they have a ballet company and a ballet school, and so when the pandemic hit, they had to go all online, we had to cancel all the shows, and so for us it was so frantic and I know some people were like, oh, I guess I'll just sit at home, and I'm like, no, no, we were working. Oh, I mean, I did not sit at home, I did make three shorts and do a director's program or three.

Speaker 2: 20:48

So no, I mean in terms of like pushing my career forward. It was very like pushing a rock uphill during those three years.

Speaker 3: 20:56

Oh yeah, it was very like.

Speaker 2: 20:59

But so this is something really interesting. I've been, I spoke to a good friend of mine who's also a director a wonderful director about the networking side of things in LA and just really reframing that for ourselves because we both felt like kind of icky about the whole thing and we wanted to come at it just more with being more genuine. And just the first I guess the first Indonesian words are flying around my brain.

Speaker 2: 21:29

I'm like they're not going to understand that word, but like the first objective being to get to know people and just keep it at that, Like you know, because I've done so many generals where you're trying to sell yourself and all this thing and you get really exhausted but also just feels doesn't feel genuine.

Speaker 1: 21:46

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 21:47

And how do you reframe that so that you're actually just like wanting to meet another human being and have a good conversation and have a connection first, and because most of anyway, the work that you're going to get is going to come out of those connections anyway, they can look at my resume, yeah, if they need to know. And even in generals it kind of winds back down to that somewhere at the end of the conversation anyway. But how do you make it so that you're not like how am I going to get something out of this person?

Speaker 3: 22:19

and at networking because that changes the dynamic, it does and it just kind of like does something to your soul.

Speaker 2: 22:24

I feel like living here doing that I feel a lot of people get very jaded in la yeah, oh yeah and I think going to the things and having that objective and being like in a conversation because I've seen it done to me.

Speaker 2: 22:37

So many times where you're having a conversation and you're having a cocktail and you see their eyes wander over to see who's walking through the door and you know like that feels icky, it does so I don't want to do that to someone else and I feel like you know, just going through the pandemic and all the things that have happened in the last few years with the world, he and I were just. We had a long conversation about it over lunch and we're like, yeah, how do you just make it? Actually, you just want to be good people and you just want to make good connections.

Speaker 1: 23:05

Yeah, you just befriend people and then from there, you know, I think it's a lack of expectation. You don't expect a career or work or connections, you just want to be friends with somebody because they're cool.

Speaker 2: 23:16

Exactly yeah.

Speaker 1: 23:19

And then from there who knows what happens. And that's real networking, I think Could be. That's like long longevity and I'm sure they have people just like grubbing at them yeah.

Speaker 3: 23:27

At these things especially, you know, execs and whatever.

Speaker 2: 23:29

I can't imagine that would feel good.

Speaker 3: 23:36

You know everyone's just staring at you like just calculating, can I?

Speaker 2: 23:38

get an episode or a movie or whatever out of you, because, like it's really hard, I feel like because we're set up to think that way here, especially in la with all the networking stuff, to break your brain sort of a little bit and just stop thinking like that, just talk to this person as a human being yeah and if you connect fantastic and if you don't, it's fine.

Speaker 1: 23:55

There's 17 million people in la metro, you're fine. You find someone else because it's really drilled into you, right?

Speaker 2: 24:01

as a new filmmaker you gotta. Network, you gotta find out go to the meeting and you gotta go to a networking party and meet at least two people and you know all the things.

Speaker 1: 24:09

And there's also this panic of like having to do it when you're young. So you're right at a undergrad and you're 21, you're like I need to have a career. And you're like, no, you'll be fine, just continue. And as an artist, you know you, you can do things on your own timetable. And granted, I me saying this is a uh, you know, a man, uh, a white man in the industry. It's different, because I know it's different for women. My wife's had kind of thoughts about, like what does it mean to be an actress? Later on in in my career and I'm like yeah, I have no idea, but I'm going to support you anyway.

Speaker 2: 24:43

I can. So, yeah, there's. There's that whole new ball game, because I'm, you know, in my 40s now and that's a whole interesting new conversation I have, because I think a lot of my peers are in the same age group and we're all talking about it too, because there's something that happens where also I feel like in hiring we're not as desirable.

Speaker 1: 25:05

Yeah yeah, I'm hoping that would change. I feel like, going into post 2020, there is change happening in whatever way, in whatever capacity. I'm seeing it and I'm seeing people get more opportunities that, you know, 10 years ago maybe didn't have opportunities one would hope.

Speaker 2: 25:23

I feel like it kind of did a bit of a backslide yeah, I think in 2020, 21, everyone was very hopeful and excited about all the numbers and you know, like all the inclusion and dei programs and all that, and then, if I'm not wrong, last year, 2023, it really took a tumble it fluctuates. We were very drastically I was quite shocked by the numbers.

Speaker 2: 25:53

I think I can't directed one percent of the studio, everything like across the board I'm not sure if I've got that exact number or you know whether it's ridiculously small, but it was literally like one percent of all the shows and I was like, wow, that's amazing that is not enough yes, yes, yes, diversity fantastic, but you only give us one percent fantastic, so don't quote me on that number but it was a small number, not one percent, but it's a small number, yeah, uh.

Speaker 1: 26:24

Well, so I thank you for for joining us for episode one of season three. Uh, thank you for telling us about your journey. Hopefully someone out there will uh learn from that experience and kind of take solace in the fact that they don't have to be a successful filmmaker at 25 or 27, you know, or even 60. Like you can take the time to make your art, I think.

Speaker 2: 26:46

Yeah, and I think, like maybe leaving it on a positive note that if you kind of are really you love it and you're dedicated to it there, does it, can't there comes a point where it comes, yeah, to you, like I've done, you know now a episodic show, eight episode show in jakarta, and I'm about to do a feature. So somewhere along the line it's going to eventually happen, it'll come around, just don't, don't lose hope.

Speaker 1: 27:14

I suppose that's a good note to end on don't lose hope. Well, we'll see you, uh, in episode two. Uh, thanks for listening everyone. Uh, we'll see you soon, thank you. Thank you for listening to the anywood podcast. You can find us on anywhere you find your podcasts and on instagram at anywood pod. See you next time from the cfa network.

Speaker 3: 27:32

Cinematography for actors is bridging the gap through education and community building. Find out about us and listen to our other podcast at cinematographyforactorscom. Cinematography for Actors Institute is a 501c3 nonprofit. For more information on fiscal sponsorship donations because we're tax exempt now, so it's a tax write-off and upcoming education, you can email us at contact at cinematography for actorscom. Thanks.