The entertainment industry can be an enigma even to those within it. Luckily, creative duo Reagan Yorke and Jillian Smith are here to end the gatekeeping. Both women are energized by the prospect of building something intriguing. “Content creation has always been such a creative outlet for myself,” reveals Jillian. “With my transitions and makeup, for example, I can always push the boundaries more and more. My favorite thing, for example, is seeing how clean I can get a transition to be—to the point where people start thinking it’s fake. Reagan can definitely vouch for this. She’s seen me lock in and go wild over one frame for 30 minutes haha. This introduced me to the world of editing, and now I use Premiere, After Effects, and even softwares like Blender.”
Reagan adds, “Being a film creator while entering this space has genuinely been the biggest blessing for me! The amount of connections and support I have received while navigating this industry has been the core of our filmmaking path. I’ve also found a lot of growth and inspiration as a director through observing professionals on studio film sets which I feel so lucky to call a part of my job. I think the best thing about being a creator is connecting with people across the world over our love for film and realizing this ‘niche’ really isn’t that niche at all.”
Filmmaking has a special gravitational pull for each of them. “We’re so inspired by watching other films, which I think is what initially drew us into filmmaking,” the pair say. “But then after directing our first film together, we fell in love with the actual process. It’s the most surreal thing seeing everything that goes into it, like all the little details and how important every job is. We also love seeing how weird we can get with our film style and how far we can push the “rules”, there’s something really freeing as creatives with having only ourselves there to tell us what to do.”
he two chose to expand their coalition with their production company, S&Q Films. “S&Q Films is all about creating community and transparency within the film space. Since we started in 2023, we’ve been posting every step of our directing journey, and ended up starting this new wave of online filmmaking, mixing all the behind the scenes content with the traditional side of film. Within our community, we also have a Patreon film group with over 10K S&Q members where we offer opportunities and castings, essentially changing the way indie films fund and operate.”
Each project intends to democratize what can feel like an increasingly elitist independent film landscape. “Before our films are released, every S&Q project already has millions of impressions. On our recent production, we had BTS creators and videographers on set with us and made sure to prioritize them at the top of the call sheet! At S&Q Films, we also prioritize first-time actors with no experience, and are really trying to break down these barriers through our online open calls. Nowadays it feels like actors with no experience are overlooked and we love discovering new talent. This also includes our crew and inviting newer members onto set to gain experience too!”
Their ambition is only skyrocketing. “In the next five years, we’ll be releasing feature films and filming in locations across the world. Exploring the short film space has really been a journey of us experimenting with our style and really growing into our directing techniques, but our goals have always been in the feature film space while building this community.”
With Reagan and Jillian at the helm, you’ll be given a perspective from all sides of the camera. “When we started S&Q Films, the path of traditional filmmaking initially felt so out of reach with no guidelines or steps of reference. We also noticed this gap in the online content we were seeing from big studios that tended to only showcase the actors in promotional clips, but with no core of the crew and team behind the project.”
There’s no reason for imperfections to hit the cutting room floor. “We immediately knew we wanted to focus on the raw and authentic moments we were experiencing as indie artists behind the scenes and knew we had to bridge this gap and open up our film space to match this. With this, we post everything on our pages —the raw, the mistakes, the funny moments between takes, and of course the many celebrations too! If this content inspires even one aspiring actor or director into believing their goals are reachable and don’t have to be this ‘shiny’ perfect thing, then our job is done!”
If you want to break into filmmaking, go for it with your own inner circle. “We push all young women in film to ‘full send’ absolutely everything. For us, entering the film space felt overwhelming at first, but having each other through the process made us quickly realize how capable we were of learning through our mistakes. We always tell our community to start at the base level of their craft, whether that be trying out a 48 hour film festival (this was our first step) or making a short film with some friends. After that initial jump, we just knew we wanted to pursue this fully and haven’t looked back since.”
Most importantly, have fun! “We’re huge on building community at S&Q Films and the core of it all is the support this talented group of people brings. We want the indie space to be full of this magic that is filmmaking. Whether that’s sharing work of other indie artists, or taking the chance on a first time actor or crew member, the film space we hope for is one that feels safe and supportive all around.”
Their next jewel was crafted exclusively by S&Q! “We actually wrapped our third short film a few months ago and are currently in post production! This recent project was the biggest and most ambitious film we’ve made together with the two of us directing, writing, producing, and editing every part of it. We actually held an open casting call for the film and received over 10,000 auditions from actors and built out our whole crew from S&Q, so basically everyone on set was from the S&Q community! We are nearing the end of post-production with only a few weeks of editing left, and CANNOT WAIT to release it.” Reagan and Jillian know that bringing your filmmaking dreams to reality starts with a little help from your friends.
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Reagan Yorke and Jillian Smith Liberate Filmmaking with S&Q Films. Photo Credit: Courtesy of S&Q Films.
