Lindsey Anderson Beer talks Women in Horror, Stephen King and PET SEMATARY: BLOODLINES – Nadine Whitney interviews

Although she’s making her directorial debut with Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, Lindsey Anderson Beer has worked in the screen industry for years. She was the writer and producer for Sierra Burgess is a Loser, the show runner for The Magic Order, a script consultant on Chaos Walking. Nadine Whitney had the opportunity to speak with Beer during the premiere of her Paramount+ film at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.

Nadine Whitney: You have had a long career as a writer and producer in the film and television industry. How did you transition from those roles into directing?

Lindsey Anderson Beer: I always wanted to be a director and I think I had to pay my dues and earn the trust of people so they would allow me to direct the things I write. Really for me writing was a steppingstone for what I really wanted to do which was write and direct films.

NW: Did you find because you were on set so much as a writer and producer you picked up parts of the craft of directing in that environment?

LAB: Absolutely. I had made short films from the time I was a kid. I was always that person who wanted to turn in a movie instead of an essay, much to the displeasure of teachers. I’ve learned from so many amazing directors who I’ve worked with and I’ve picked up lots on set. When I made the transition as a showrunner on television I also learned about running teams and budgets, and that was a kind of half step towards directing. The skillsets for show running and directing are similar.

NW: You are only the fourth woman to direct a Stephen King feature adaptations. When we consider the extensive and a little overwhelming canon of King and works that have been done for film and television, only you, Mary Lambert (who directed the original Pet Sematary adaptation co-scripted by King, and its sequel), Katt Shea who directed a sequel to Carrie, and Kimberly Pierce who did a modern adaptation of Carrie have been given a film platform. How does that make you feel considering how prolific the adaptations are?

LAB: Of course I’m honoured and proud to be among those women who are directing genre films and King films specifically. But I think it’s also incredibly sad and a reflection of how few women genre directors there really are out there given the opportunity to direct films of this kind. I hope this is the beginning of a change in the trend where we see more people putting their energies towards trusting female voices.

NW: Have you found as a women creative it has been slightly more difficult in the industry getting across what you need to get across?

LAB: I think it’s always more difficult as a woman in the industry. I’ve been on the other side of it where I have been a producer trying to hire a female director on a project. It’s an uphill battle. People trust a man who has directed one short film over a woman who has directed multiple episodes of television and then they claim the woman isn’t experienced enough.

It’s a subconscious bias that gets perpetuated over and over and it isn’t just men. I have witnessed woman executives do the same thing. I don’t think anyone is trying to be overtly sexist, it’s a subconscious bias in our idea of what a director is. For many decades it has been primarily men directing, and we need to break that preconception and that mould. We need to think about who our storytellers are, and it takes time and education, and a concerted willingness to take a risk on new and diverse voices.

Film and television are very risk averse industries. There is money on the line, I understand that, but the people who are trusted to make films are the ones that have delivered before and people follow that archetype. But in order to have fresh voices, in order to have breakout and really original films, we have to trust diverse filmmakers to tell new kinds of stories.

NW: Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is actually an original film. You’re taking a small part of King’s novel and expanding on it to create an extended mythology for the town of Ludlow and the character of Jud Crandall. What was that like? Were you nervous thinking “I’m rewriting Stephen King?”

LAB: I wasn’t nervous, I was honoured and excited. I was so energised to work every day. Pet Sematary is one of my favourite books and I love Stephen King so much. There is so much in the novel that’s hinted at but isn’t fully explained. I had so many questions I wanted answered as a fan. I thought “Oh, here’s my chance to do that,” and to give Pet Sematary: Bloodlines a real reason to exist to give fans like myself answered that they’ve always wanted.

There are things in the novel that are really important that none of the previous films have explored. The book says that Jud Crandall is the guardian of the woods which is not something the movies explicitly say. The novel also says that Jud’s role in killing Timmy Baterman is what makes the evil target him as an older man that we meet in the versions of Pet Sematary we’ve seen before. That’s a piece of connective tissue that hasn’t been explored on screen.

NW: You had the opportunity to work with genre legends such as David Duchovny, Henry Thomas, and Pam Grier. How was that?

LAB: It was amazing, they were amazing. They brought so much to the characters and every scene. They really thought about the details. I hope people will be delighted by the fact that they inhabit real roles, they aren’t just cameos.

NW: What would you like audiences to get out of the experience of watching Pet Sematary: Bloodlines?

LAB: I hope that they’re just really surprised in all ways. My goal with anything is always delightful surprise and I hope the film feels like something they haven’t seen before. I hope it offers them the heart and the moral questions of Pet Sematary and I want it to scare the shit out of people. I also want it to make them feel something.

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is streaming on Paramount+ from October 6.