Cameron Kelly’s digital series, What the Elf?, brought the magic of Christmas to the 2023 Austin Film Festival. Kelly, who wrote and starred in the series, plays a down on her luck actress who takes a job as a mall elf to help pay the bills.
AFF Film Administrator, Tatum McDonald, sat down with Kelly to talk all things Christmas, life as a actress-slash-writer, and seeking out joy in every aspect of your life.
Keep reading for Cameron’s full interview.
Tatum: Why don’t you start and just kind of tell us your name, give us a credit line, and tell us a bit about the film that connected you with AFF.
Cameron Kelly: My name is Cameron Kelly. I’m the creator and writer of What The Elf?, which ended up at Austin Film Festival last year. I’m an actor by trade, but I also do write. Acting is what actually pays the bills, thankfully, but writing has become just as much a great love of mine and so was born What The Elf?, which is a workplace comedy set at a Santa house at the mall based on my time working as a Christmas elf at the mall.
Tatum: Can you tell us a bit about your favorite Christmas movies?
Cameron Kelly: I’d have to say it’s a tie. I feel like my favorite is Elf, and then I also have a special place in my heart for the movie Jingle All the Way, it’s one of those Christmas movies that were just the ones you grew up watching, the ones that your family owned on DVD. And so, I feel like Jingle All the Way is my nostalgia pick and Elf is my overall pick.
Tatum: What the Elf? is a digital series. Why did you choose that format to tell this story?
Cameron Kelly: Yeah, it’s a great question. Well, I wrote this in 2019 and I was just observing that people’s attention spans were shorter. I had so many friends who had written features and then couldn’t really get anyone to watch. And so, I just thought the thing that would most appeal to my friends, or that my friends would have time to watch, would just be a five minute something. The reason I didn’t do a short and decided on a series was actually sort of a selfish move. My dream as an actress has always been to be in a series, to be a series regular on a workplace comedy show. And so, I figured if I could show that I could do that, if I could show myself as one of the members of an ensemble comedy, then maybe it would make it easier to cast me in one. And so, I thought I’ll just make little quick sort of digestible episodes and use it as sort of a proof of concept for me as an actor. And then it obviously has evolved into so much more than that and is so meaningful to me in so many ways. But that was sort of the genesis for it.
Tatum: The workplace comedy vibes come out a lot. I just remember I was watching it, and I was like, it feels like it’s a Christmas movie, but it also feels like The Office.
Cameron Kelly: That’s exactly what I was going for was like an office comedy, like the Office, like you said, and just have it set in a bizarre place so that the characters are even more bizarre and it’s all so much more inappropriate because supposed to be a magical thing for kids, and then these guys are so dysfunctional. So that’s exactly what I was hoping.
Tatum: Is writing something you see yourself doing more in the future, or do you hope to kind of stick with acting?
Cameron Kelly: Yeah, it’s the weirdest thing. I fully wrote this series for myself as an actor. And then much to my surprise, it’s turned into kind of its own pursuit on its own. And I’m so grateful for that. I really don’t think I would’ve known how enjoyable writing is and how much I would love it until I kind of gave it a go. So, it was totally self-serving. It was just meant to sort of support my acting and now it’s taken on a life of its own. And I’m in a weekly lab and I have been for years, and I’m writing other things. I’m writing a feature, and it feels just as important to me as the acting. It feels completely compatible. So, I’m so grateful to have found it. It was kind of a mystery to even me.
Tatum: Do you see yourself doing something else like this in the future? A digital series or short form, or do you want something different as your next project?
Cameron Kelly: I think it’ll be a minute before I produce my own content again, to this degree, certainly on a smaller scale, but I think because I crowdfunded for this years ago, it’s just been such a long just laborious process. I certainly do think that I’ll do it again though. Yeah, I do. I’d be crazy not to because it was such a rewarding experience and it’s led to so many wonderful friendships. And yeah, I think I would, maybe I would try a different, maybe I would do a feature or a short or something and just to kind of vary it up. But I do think I would do it again.
Tatum: Typically, our screenings at the Festival of the Digital Series blocks are very lively and fun environments. What was it like to watch it in and with an audience?
Cameron Kelly: It was so great, honestly. I mean, the Austin Film Festival was such a wonderful experience start to finish, but getting to watch it with other filmmakers, in particular filmmakers who had made series, it was great. Everyone was so supportive of each other. And it was also kind of nice you got to meet the other filmmakers who made series and chat about what your next plans were and where everyone was going to try to get this distributed or what their plans for the series were. So it was kind of perfect. It puts you in the right place to be discussing this with peers, and it was just so fun. It was fun to meet everybody. Everyone else was so talented and lovely, and everybody’s series were so fun to watch. So it was a joy.
Tatum: What’s next for What The Elf?, can we expect to see it somewhere soon. Is it still on the festival circuit?
Cameron Kelly: So it is still on the festival circuit. Last year was our main year, and it’s just a few more trickling in. It was just at Cinequest a couple weeks ago and just waiting on a couple others. This last Christmas we landed at Zone TV, which was super cool just to get it out there for the holidays and have people watch. It was so great. But always looking for more distribution avenues or wherever else it can end up just to get more eyes on it. It’s such a funny thing because there’s really only one chance per year to get this thing out in a real way. It’s like it comes and it goes. It’s just December is really it; it doesn’t make a lot of sense to send it into the world in June. I guess I could do some kind of half Christmas promotional or something. So yeah, I don’t know. Always kind of keeping my eyes peeled for some place for this to land more permanently, just so that everyone can see it. But we’ll see.
Tatum: Is there anything else you want out there? Any elevator pitch you want to give to the world?
Cameron Kelly: This was full of surprises, and I mean, even I initially took the job as an elf at the mall on purpose. I sought that out. I auditioned for that because I’m just so obsessed with Christmas. So, what started as just me pursuing my joy turned into this great thing that has now become a major component of my career. So, I guess some advice would just be to pursue your joy. And that’s probably where your stories are and where your people are. And I found the same about Austin when I went to Austin Film Festival. I feel like it was so far beyond what I could have ever imagined. It was like a Disneyland or something for writers and for filmmakers. I had such a great time and I found my people there, and I found such joy there. So yeah, I guess just follow your joy. For me, that’s Christmas and being an elf. In fact, the feature that I’m currently writing is also Christmas related, so I’m just destined to be in the Christmas space. But for someone else, it’s something different. And I’m just really grateful to Austin for the opportunity to showcase our work there and to participate and get to know all the other extremely talented filmmakers. So, I can certainly say I’ll be back.
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