Anna Shields

Anna Shields, who earned a B.A. in Theatre at Russell Sage College, has written and starred in several independent films, including The North Witch, which was just listed among Five Horror Movies to Stream Now in The New York Times.

In the following Q&A, she describes the “strange comfort” she finds in the horror genre, the performance opportunities she found at Russell Sage, and her career stops in New York City and L.A. before finding a vibrant filmmaking community in Louisville, Kentucky. Along the way, she talks about favorite projects and shares concrete advice for early-career actors.

What is it about the horror genre that appeals to you as a writer and actor?

I’ve always been a huge horror fan. Even as a kid, I was sneaking away with my brothers to watch the most gruesome ones we could find. Obviously, film is subjective, but personally, there’s something about horror that hits a nerve with me in a good way. It’s visceral. It’s high stakes. When done right, it can be so immersive that people find themselves physically reacting with sweaty palms and a racing heart. Even later, as you lay in bed, it can stick with you and have you second-guessing those shadows in the corner of the room.

I believe art is about connecting with people and really tapping into your empathy. I find horror is the easiest genre to do that, because if you can’t feel bad for someone getting stabbed to death, I don’t know what to tell you.

As someone with high anxiety, horror has always been strangely comforting to me. Going on some terrifying journey where you’ll make it out no matter what — even if no one in the movie does — makes me feel empowered. It also puts things in perspective. A masked guy chasing you with a chainsaw? Danger! A phone call to schedule a dentist appointment? Suddenly manageable.

Were writing and acting always parallel goals for you, or did your path in one influence your interest in the other?

I’ve always wanted to act. That goes all the way back to a kindergarten production of The Three Little Pigs (Not to brag, but I starred as Pig No. 3).

I also wrote short stories as a kid, but they were never for anyone to read besides my mom. I loved the act of writing and using it as escapism, but I never thought I was good enough to actually do anything with it.

As an actor, you often have so little control over anything. I still love it, but in a lot of aspects, you’re constantly being told what to do. Putting yourself out there in auditions over and over again for people to judge everything about you, from your talent to your looks, gets old fast.

I started writing during college to feel some small sense of control. I quickly realized there was a local film community in upstate New York, and I was so thrilled to collaborate with people and start making films of my own. It was then that I realized that I got just as much enjoyment out of writing as I did from acting.

What led you to Russell Sage for your theatre degree?

First of all, a scholarship! That aside, I honestly fell in love with Sage the first time I visited. I was pretty socially awkward in high school and struggled to make friends, not to mention I had a pretty intense codependency with my mom. I was honestly terrified of going to college and questioned whether I’d even be able to get through it.

When I went to check out Sage, I was shocked. Students were friendly. Professors were welcoming. The classes were interesting. The cafeteria had an ice cream bar!

Although I was looking for a film degree, I had done theatre all my life, and I was impressed right off the bat by the program at Sage. I also loved that professors acted outside of the college. That showed me that these were people that truly cared about acting, and I could tell they would be valuable to learn from.

I was pumped about the intimate class sizes, because it meant you could be more involved, rather than coasting by in a huge lecture hall. The small campus made me feel super safe and cozy. As a person with an absolutely abysmal sense of direction, that was a major plus.

What experiences at Sage stand out as especially memorable, and how did they prepare you for your career?

I had such a blast performing in the plays and musicals. Hands down, my favorite was The Heiress, where I got to act alongside the talented Professor David Baecker, who played my forever-disappointed father. That show felt especially collaborative, with our director performing alongside us, and it still sticks in my head to this day.

Peter Pan was another fun one, directed by Professor Michael Musial. I played Wendy, so I got strapped in a harness and flung around the stage in a nightgown. We actually ended up doing that one twice, and let me tell you, I could not have been more excited to zoom around again.

I think people learn best from experience, so I definitely benefited from being a part of so many shows. I really appreciated getting to perform while at the same time having the quasi-safety net of my teachers helping me along and providing gentle feedback.

I started shooting films during college and was worried about falling behind in classes and getting in over my head. David Baecker was there for me and helped to figure it all out in a way where I could finish my degree while also getting started on my real-world career. He and then-Artist in Residence at The Theatre Institute at Russell Sage, the gifted Leigh Strimbeck, even humored me and acted in the first feature I ever wrote. They were amazing, but that goes without saying. That’s exactly the sort of thing I was looking for in college. A place where the professors truly cared about your journey and were there for you when you needed them.

Since graduating from Sage, where have you been based?

I went to New York City right after college. I eased into it by starting to audition and shoot things there while still attending Sage. I’d take the train to audition when I had the time and even booked a few funny, small things like some Investigation Discovery shows. Back in my prime, yours truly also played Coco Austin — Ice-T’s wife — in a reenactment on A&E’s Celebrity Ghost Stories.

When I moved to New York, I made my rent walking dogs for a small company that would let me take time off for projects. I loved living there, but my interest fully switched from theater to film. My agents didn’t love that, so I decided to move to the land where film and TV seemingly rules, L.A.!

I was in L.A. for the last six years, and loved it even more than New York. The painfully ironic thing is, I actually had better film and TV opportunities in New York! I did a couple of projects in L.A., but the majority of my work was movies that I’d fly back to the East Coast for.

After COVID, I noticed more and more projects weren’t filming in L.A. Actor friends started moving away, especially since most of the auditions were self tapes, anyway.

I moved to Louisville, Kentucky, a year ago, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been with a location. There’s a film community here that reminds me of the filmmakers in upstate New York. I’m having fun continuing to write and make art in a new place, while not paying an insane amount in rent. I think this is my permanent landing place.

Please say more about what it was like starting out after graduation. How did you build your career and what advice would you give current theatre students?

First, I highly suggest an Actors Access subscription. That’s where tons of casting directors post auditions, and I’ve had the most luck using that. I’d also say to get professional headshots as soon as you can. Try to build a reel. Even if you haven’t worked on an actual set yet, have someone film you performing a monologue or a scene. You just want something to send when applying for auditions.

After graduating, I had some pretty strong opinions on acting classes because I had literally just gotten out of college. Why did I need to immediately jump back into more school? Then I realized how hard it is to get an agent. I even had a small resume and reel at that point, but cold-emailing was getting me nowhere. So, I turned to a class at a place called The Growing Studio … which I just Googled and saw is now permanently closed. Sorry about that! Anyway, the point is that it was one of those showcase-focused acting schools, where agents come watch you perform at the end of the program, and sometimes they’ll get in contact with you. A word of warning: Reputable showcase classes exist, but so do scams, where they pay the agents to show up, pretend to look interested, and then leave to never be heard from again. Do your research before you sign up!

I’m sad that The Growing Studio closed, because that’s how I got my agents.

I found my sales agent — someone who helps films find distributors and secure financing —  when a friend invited me to the Sundance Film Festival. I went and mingled and clicked with someone who ended up being in production. We stayed in contact, and he’s actually helped get financing for almost all the films I’ve written.

The best piece of advice that I could give is to keep up with the contacts you make, always be a delight to work with, and keep trying even when things seem hopeless. After living in L.A. for a while, I shudder now when I hear the word “network,” but there is a way to do it that’s natural and not slimy. It’s how I’ve gotten a lot of jobs. If you’re starting from scratch, I would suggest going to any sort of meetup for film or theater people and seeing if there’s anyone you vibe with. You have people out there, you just have to find them!

Tell me about some of your favorite projects so far.

I think my favorite film I’ve done is Monstrous. I made that with my longtime friend, Bruce Wemple. We had already done a few projects together at that point, and I was really interested in writing something for us to make. I wrote a thriller, but when we pitched it to my sales agent friend, he couldn’t get financial interest because it didn’t fit in a marketable box — it floated in a limbo between not thriller enough and not horror enough.

My sales friend urged us to make it a full-on horror movie with a monster. I was hesitant, especially when Bruce suggested throwing Bigfoot into the mix. I thought of the script as this serious thing and Bigfoot did not fit into the equation. After I cooled off, I asked myself why Bigfoot seemed so absurd. Because of a vague connotation of B-movie silliness? What if this could actually be an opportunity to subvert people’s expectations? When you actually dig into the lore, Bigfoot is awesome.

I changed my tune, and Bruce and I reworked the concept into something that we felt honored Bigfoot’s loyal fanbase, while also making a unique film that had a deeper meaning. When we felt it was ready, instead of waiting on financing, we just went ahead and spent pennies to shoot it ourselves so we could have the freedom to make it as weird as we wanted without any creative limitations from producers. We rented a cheap Airbnb and shot long days with exceedingly patient actors and crew friends for a week and a half. By the end, we had a movie, and my sales friend was able to easily sell it as a finished product. I’m still so proud of that movie and forever indebted to everyone who helped make it happen.

Are there other projects you would like to promote?

The North Witch is the newest movie to come out. I wrote and acted in it, and my same director friend, Bruce Wemple, directed it. I’m really proud of that one, too. One of the things that can be hard to avoid with low-budget horror is slipping into campy territory. While I loved embracing that with some movies, like Dawn of the Beast — Bigfoot literally punches a Wendigo in that one — it was great to challenge myself, working towards a clear goal of keeping things as scary and grounded as I could in the midst of horror chaos. Not saying I necessarily achieved that, but I think it was maybe the closest I’ve come so far.

I try my best to avoid online comments — surprise, the internet is mean — but I did happen to see a fair amount of nice feedback on that movie, the best of which was getting featured in The New York Times, which meant the world to me. I hope people have the chance to check it out! It’s on Amazon, Tubi, Apple TV, YouTube, and Google Play.

Is there anything I didn’t ask that you would like to add?

I hope everyone gets to have as great an experience at Sage as I did. My last bit of advice is to take advantage of the time you have there and realize that this is a rare moment to try new things and go out of your comfort zone. I realize that’s pretty vague, but trust me when I say at some point, you’ll be wishing you could go back and do it all again. Best of luck to everyone!