“I always had a camera growing up. I know that’s cheesy, but I didn’t know it could be a job,” says writer/ director Anna Zlokovic. “I didn’t know what to do with that interest. No one in my family did film. No one I knew did film, so I ended up going to music school to study music business.”

While at the University Of Southern California (USC), Zlokovic realized music business wasn’t a good fit. Across the street from the music school, she found the film school. She took a few classes and made a movie, but thought she might get into sound. Eventually, feeling out multiple jobs led her to writing and directing. “I got some feedback from my first project, but at the time, I was cripplingly shy. Directing and writing gave me permission to have a voice and share my perspective. I’m still trying to do it now,” she jokes.

The goal wasn’t always horror, as she didn’t grow up watching horror films. But she did have an interest in monster films. “My parents had a box of movies. I watched E.T. and Jurassic Park over and over and over again. I knew that’s what I wanted to do. Then I watched Eraserhead in college and thought, cinema can do this?”

Zlokovic said she saw some crossover with E.T. in Appendage. “Horror came about as an accident. The first movie I made came from a very dark place, where I was trying to have a cathartic experience through my art. It was sad and dark, but people liked it, so that naturally led into horror.”

Anna Zlokovic. Photo by Robby Klein/ Contour by Getty Images

When you lean into genre this way, you can really write and talk about anything. The audience expects certain tropes to happen, but the theme or real message should relate back to the artist. “That is what’s most interesting about the genre to me. That and how malleable it is.” She continues, “With horror, you can put your own spin on it, through mythology or a unique visual. That is really exciting to me.”

Writer AND Director

Like many writer/ directors, Zlokovic believes “it’s impossible not to get the directing brain into the script.” She continues, “I tend to separate the two things. Let me write the script as a screenwriter first, then do a pass as the director.” Moving forward, she wants to blend the two hats a bit more, always making sure the script still stands on its own as a screenplay. “But, it’s a writer/ director type of movie. It’s strange. It’s bizarre. And it’s trying to do something different.”

In addition to Steven Spielberg and David Lynch, David Cronenberg was another major influence on her work. “The Fly was huge. But then there’s modern directors I love like Julia Ducournau. Raw was a major influence on this and Karyn Kusama’s film, Jennifer’s Body.”

Zlokovic attempts to see as many new horror films as possible and also recently saw Jurassic Park again on the big screen. “I saw it in the theater for the first time and it totally holds up. It’s so well done to do practical effects where CGI reminds you that you are in a movie.”

“It’s important to me to not feel that way. Practical effects draw attention to themselves, but it’s in a visceral way. It’s a real, tactile thing in the frame with the actor. Maybe we use VFX to clean things up, but it’s invisible. You don’t want people to know it’s happening.” In this film in particular, the movie is about a mental disorder, so it needs to feel and look real just in order to work on the screen.

Creating Appendage

For Appendage, Anna started with the theme. “I was feeling anxious with life. Who am I? What’s going on? I was also feeling career anxiety. This industry is up and down all the time. I finished the script last year, maybe January 2022, and I was going through a difficult time in my life.”

With a sick mother and unclear career path, the writer/ director was offered the opportunity to make Appendage, but she had to write it in a very short period of time. “Everything that was going on in my life just came out, both in the short and the feature.” In the trailer for the film, a mentor-type tells the protagonist, “Believe in your own vision. Push through self doubt.” We see the stress of perfectionism, overwhelm, and all of these things lead to the metaphor of an abnormal growth – the appendage.

“It’s always scary to make something personal. It makes me cry now. I don’t have an appendage,” she jokes. “But after it’s done, it’s not really yours anymore. The umbilical cord gets cut and you can start to sedate yourself. It’s the good kind of scary.” She advises other writers to share their personal stories rather than avoiding or being precious with those ideas. “Being precious with creative ideas is totally natural, but I found that it really held me back for a long time. My number one rule is not be precious and trust that you’re going to have more ideas.”

Hannah (Hadley Robinson). Photo courtesy of Hulu

“It’s a low budget movie and it’s low risk, but I was able to combine E.T., The Fly and Raw and Black Swan into something. I’m other projects where I’m fighting more for things, but it always goes back to what’s best for the story. I act as the filter for that, as the director.”

Understanding Film Budget

Making several shorts helped teach Anna Zlokovic some of the parameters of film budget, particularly in small, indie-style filmmaking. “To keep budget in mind, was keep it character focused. The foundation for me was that Appendage was a psychological drama. People talking in different places and how to accent that with budget pieces, practical effects, and horror.”

The other aspect to consider with a weird film like this is explaining the tone. “I had a unique experience. I made friends with the music kids, so a lot of my first projects were music videos. I grew up in a house where I would have to write essays if I wanted something. I couldn’t just have a Nintendo. I grew up explaining myself, in a good way.”

If Zlokovic didn’t have the exact language, she would make pitch decks and use other visuals. “Here’s five pages of references or we can watch a Japanese horror film.” Then, the hard part is to try to translate the vision to the screen. “You have to be a little bit delusional to think, ‘I got this,’” she jokes.

Kaelin (Brandon Mychal Smith) Photo courtesy of Hulu

“But, it’s really about preparation. Pre-production is the most important part for me. Before anyone else really digs in, I show the shot list, or the storyboard, or interviews of how certain directors pulled off other things. I also ask a lot of questions. Questions make it seem like you don’t know what you’re doing, but questions help you plan on set how it’s going to be.”

In one example, she learned there would be a six-person team leading the puppet. “Then, on set, a lightning bolt is going to hit anyway, but you have to scholastically figure it out beforehand.” In this example, she shot the puppet before, handled issues, then continued to problem solve before filming the rest of the movie.

Making Appendage

“You have to trust your tastes, but you have a team around you. You’re supported, ideally, by a group of people you trust and who trust you. Then it’s just taking it step by step. So much of it is instinct, but you have to see how they’re reacting. Sometimes they don’t get it and you have to trust it’s going to work. It’s in your gut and your heart and not in your head.”

On set, in the situation of a writer/ director in particular, there are certain moments when the internal director is unclear what the internal writer was trying to say. “For me, on set, when I would lose the thread, I just had to trust the script. This is what Anna wrote three months ago. We have to trust her.”

“I think that using the script as a map was super helpful. This is useful on set and also in the editing. You have to reference the material as often as possible.” In addition to all of the normal complications, there are added struggles in the situation of being a female writer/ director.

“I think people question you more. I think you have to really come in over prepared and able to answer any and all questions. I certainly feel that pressure. You can’t come in and say, ‘I don’t know, I’m going to feel it out,’” she jokes. “You really have to know the answer to each and every question. There is a pressure there, but you hope the trust grows over time, but it also feels like there’s no room for me to make an error.”

For those starting out, Zlokovic actually recommends being optimistic enough that it may even appear to be delusional. “There’s so much rejection. You’re being prodded and poked at. You have to know somebody will get this, somebody will understand it. I’m not going to get logical about this now. It’s an unstable career choice, but you have to know you’ve got this. Be your biggest champion. The calvary is not coming. You are the calvary, so you have to keep it alive. Be the best creative, the best storyteller you can be.”

This interview has been condensed. Listen to the full audio version here.