Filmmaker Jack Johnston writes about the making of his indie road-trip drama Everything Grows in Eden

Everything Grows in Eden writer and director Jack Johnston.

Written and directed by Jack Johnston, and starring Sophie Reynolds, Sandy Keayes, Cameron Mighell, Nicholas Vincent and Kira Nelson, Everything Grows in Eden follows a young woman who promises to take her suicidal best friend to an alternative retreat but when their volatile mutual friend joins the trip, an unexpected detour to a local commune forces all three to confront some painful truths.

Produced on a $9,000 micro-budget, 139-minute road-trip drama is about forgiveness, mental health and finding your community.

Here’ Johnston writes exclusively for Cinema Australia about the highs and lows on independent filmmaking in Australia, particularly in regional areas.

You can also watch the full film below.

Everything Grows in Eden.

“The journey of this film won’t map onto most projects; it likely won’t even map onto whatever my next project is. However, I do hope that it shows that indie filmmaking has no rules, only barriers to overcome.”

by Jack Johnston (Instagram)

There are so many layers to the process of making Everything Grows in Eden, the indie road-trip drama film that we shot last year.

Film, as an art form in and of itself, is such a unique beast. It requires a level of collaboration, communication and physical labor that is unmatched in the artistic space. Other creative expressions come with their own unique challenges and frustrations, and this isn’t to say that one is harder than another, but filmmaking, by necessity, involves so many different perspectives and talents and, for the most part, works in tandem with the real world. Weather, daylight, gravity, transportation, energy. All these elements, and more, have a direct impact on your ability to express your art.

With enough money and resources, you can overcome these challenges. Independent filmmaking, the umbrella that Eden falls under, however, forces you to deal with these challenges head-on. You must constantly fight against them, find creative ways around them and, ultimately, come to terms with them.

Independent filmmaking isn’t new, nor is it under-reported. The indie film struggle is a familiar one and has been side-by-side with the mainstream film industry since the very first camera. A story that, I believe, is a little less common is the story behind Everything Grows in Eden. We made an independent film that was created, almost entirely, outside the filmmaking networks of Melbourne (or any capital city) and, rather, made in regional Northeast Victoria.

Behind the scenes: Sandy Keayes as Astrid.

Part I: The Challenge

“What, are you stupid?”

That’s what I often said to myself when I ultimately committed to making this film in my local area, around the small towns of Benalla and Wangaratta. The pool of potential acting talent was small, and the broader filmmaking fraternity even smaller, so I knew it was going to be a challenge to put together the team required to make this project. However, I also knew that it was possible.

It helped that we were making a dialogue-driven character drama rather than a sci-fi epic or a blood-soaked horror film. This was one of the main tenets that drove the project: work within your means.

I also knew that even if the number of people to pick from would be lower than if you were working in a major film hub, I’d be picking people that I would trust and people that wouldn’t be precious about their status or their career. If they wanted to be involved, it was because they were up for the challenge and wanted to have a unique experience.

Sophie Reynolds as Lily in Everything Grows in Eden.

However, there did come a point where we hit a wall. Due to the number of roles that were aged under-30, and that most young talent eventually leave regional Australia, the auditions and interest I had coming in for the remaining roles were not quite cutting it. I could have compromised but I knew that with material like this, performance was key. We could compromise in a ton of other areas, and we did, but the script required those characters to be cast perfectly.

So, I bit the bullet and reached into that Melbourne pool. I put a couple casting calls up on Star Now with a clear and honest description of what this project would be: a no-budget, unpaid indie film that will be filmed mostly in Northeast Victoria. If anyone read that and still wanted to audition, I knew that they’d be up for the challenge. I also thought it would severely reduce the amount of interest I would get but, surprisingly, I must have watched over 200 auditions by the end of the process. The level of interest shown in a project like ours, even though it would involve three hour drives up the highway every weekend, made clear to me that people want to be involved in interesting projects. That’s ultimately what matters.

So, by the time we started shooting, we had struck quite a unique balance of cast and crew. We had super promising young talent from Melbourne who would travel up on the weekends as well as our core crew from the local area (just an Assistant Director, Script Supervisor, Makeup & Hair Artist, Production Assistant and Sound Recordist). Rather than completely giving up on the local film ethos or being stubborn and not reaching outside the area at all, we were able to find compromise in the right way without sacrificing what really mattered for this project.

Owen MacLaughlin as Own in Eveything Grows in Eden.

Part II: The Release

Not even three months later, the film was in the can. We had pushed through all those elements of indie filmmaking and produced a 2-hour feature film against all odds.

The question then became… what do we do with it?

Doing a full film festival run, submitting to hundreds of international and local festivals, didn’t seem like the right fit for this project. For one, I didn’t have the money. Submission fees are expensive. But most importantly, I thought that there was a ripe opportunity to take advantage of the connection we made with the communities in the area and show this film in local cinemas on the big screen as the priority.

Sandy Keayes as Astrid in Everything Grows in Eden.

So, I reached out to all the cinemas in the area, with one of them even reaching out to me, and I struck up a simple 60/40 split ticket deal to have a special Q&A screening of the film at their respective cinemas. We ended up screening at Benalla, Wangaratta and Albury, with the first two selling out and even ending up with another three encore (non-Q&A) screenings at Benalla the following week. This approach would surely become more difficult as you scale up (either in number of screenings or in status of cinema) but because I was happy to focus in on the area where the movie was made, it meant that I could put all my eggs in these three baskets and have an incredibly successful per-screening average. Small town cinemas, especially if they are independent, are looking for ways to bring audiences in. If you come in with a strong pitch, an existing audience base and a willingness to be co-operative, they will want to help you out.

Kira Nelson as Patience in Everything Grows in Eden.

Part III: The Resolution

After our successful regional cinema tour and a packed-out screening at the Brunswick Underground Film Festival a few weeks later, the project suddenly had nothing on the horizon. So much time went into the tour and film festivals that when it was all over, it was just open field ahead. This is a good place to be in, but it does force you to make a choice. Do I keep trying to manufacture ways to get this movie in front of industry eyeballs and make more money or do I take stock of the massive achievements we’ve already made and just release the film online for free?

I chose the latter.

I could have gone through a film aggregator to try and get the film on a streaming service like Prime, but I had heard enough horror stories from that process to make me wary. I also could have kept submitting to more and more festivals, but that process hadn’t been worth the investment, and I already had such a peak experience getting into BUFF.

Nick Vincent as Rory and Sophie Reynolds as Lily in Everything Grows in Eden.

So, after those considerations, the choice became obvious. The momentum post-BUFF was as high as it had ever been and so I capitalised on that by releasing the film on YouTube for free less than a week after its premiere at Brunswick. This came as a shock to some people, but the decision was ultimately met with a ton of positivity and resulted in more views than I could have expected. As of writing, nearly three weeks after release, we are at over 12,000 views with approximately (based on viewer retention data) between 250 and 400 people watching the film from beginning to end. Could I have gotten those numbers or even improved on those numbers by going down a different path? I’m sure that’s true. However, there is a satisfaction in knowing that someone might come across this movie on YouTube and, hopefully, have a powerful experience without ever having to pay a dime. And, in all honesty, after nearly a year of making this film and then all the work that goes into promoting and releasing it, sometimes you have to follow your gut instinct when it’s time to let it go. It felt like the journey was over and rather than scramble desperately to keep it on life support, I decided to send the film off on a high note.

The journey of this film won’t map onto most projects; it likely won’t even map onto whatever my next project is. However, I do hope that it shows that indie filmmaking has no rules, only barriers to overcome.