SPLIT! the new, innovative miniseries brought to Amazon Prime from the creative minds of Creator/Lead Actress Yael Shavitt and Director Molly McGaughey chronicles the parallel lives of Sammy/Samantha from the point where she makes a pivotal life choice. How changed would your life be if you’d made one different decision? SPLIT! streaming NOW on Amazon Prime.
FWM: I’m so honored to have you both here to talk about your new miniseries SPLIT! On Amazon Prime. Please introduce yourselves to our readers.
YS: I’m an actress and filmmaker living in New York, originally from Israel. I’m very interested in stories by and about women, as well as other historically underrepresented communities. I love creating collaboratively, both in film and theater, and enjoy developing projects from the idea stage, watching them change and grow until they’re ready to be shared with an audience.
MM: I’m a filmmaker, performer and writer. Storytelling has always been a big part of my life whether I’m telling stories on screen, on stage or on the page. I love connecting with an audience through offering up relatable characters and an escape into imagination. It’s important to me to offer people a feel-good escape, as well as telling stories that have an honest and vulnerable element, that allow people to find connection in the characters they see on screen.
FWM: I loved Sammy’s opening monologue where she said, “If I don’t pick which side to land on quick, the universe around me will divide and I will end up split.” This is a choice that we all make in life. Was that the idea behind this monologue? Why did you decide the choice would be made at age 13?
YS: A few things went into these choices. First of all, the event that starts off the series – auditioning for high school to study theater – is inspired by my own experience. I went to an arts high school that I adored, and those were very formative years for me. If I hadn’t gone to that school, my life during that time and probably in subsequent years would have been incredibly different.
In the show, the monologue that Sammy auditions with was an opportunity for me to introduce the concept of the series in a bit of a stylized way. Right at the beginning of the series, that monologue highlights the significance of the choices we make, and the possible consequences of those choices. Sammy isn’t aware that the monologue parallels what she’s going through in real life, but perhaps it serves as a clue for the viewer: this is what the story you’re about to experience is all about.
FWM: The series episodes are in a short format of ten minutes or less. Whose idea was that and why?
YS: When I started writing the episodes, I was watching a lot of independent online series, and I fell in love with the short form format. It’s fun. It’s light. You only need to commit to a few minutes of your time to start watching. And if you’re into it, you only need a few minutes more to keep watching. I felt like this format fit and served the story that I wanted to tell.
FWM: The idea of switching back and forth between lives in each episode is brilliant. What did you want the viewer to gain from this element?
MM: I think that cross-cutting back and forth between the separate timelines brings an extra energy and rhythm to the show pacing wise. This element helps give the viewer a sense that the timelines are truly parallel and happening simultaneously.
We also felt it would highlight both the contrasts and the similarities in the worlds. Having one person ask a question in one timeline and cutting to a character responding to that question, but in a different context and timeline, shows how closely linked the events of the parallel worlds can be. We felt that this would help show how, in even the smallest ways, the characters’ reactions and choices are swiftly propelling their lives to very different places even surrounded by similar dilemmas and people.
FWM: What drew you to the film industry?
MM: I have always loved the arts, and the film industry combines so many things I find fascinating: visual art, storytelling, business, collaboration. I love it all. Growing up, I would tape my own pretend radio shows and direct and write plays for my siblings and I to perform, then “charge” my parents and their unsuspecting dinner guests for tickets to our living room shows. In college, I started out in the art department but the second I started taking film classes I realized I’d found what I loved. I’ve been directing and making things ever since. So, even before I considered it as a career, the various elements of the industry have been a part of my life.
YS: I’ve wanted to be an actress since I was a kid. So that’s been clear to me for many years. When I was a teenager my training was mostly theater focused. Then in my early 20s, I made a documentary film about my grandfather, and that’s when I first learned filmmaking skills – so that I could tell that specific story. Making SPLIT reminded me that I enjoy filmmaking roles other than acting – most of all editing, which is just another way of telling story. Now I identify as both an actress and a filmmaker.
FWM: In Samantha’s parallel lives, Matthew Emma and Tamz are primary characters with Tamz being in the same position in both. What do you feel Emma and Matthew represent?
MM: Emma represents a chance to make things right. Her link to the bookstore also acts as a subtle nod to representing the pursuit of knowledge and the value of remaining open and curious. Emma in many ways represents redemption because she gives Sam opportunities to redeem herself in their relationship and serves as an analogy for Samantha as well, to have the chance for redemption in the sense of a new start.
Matthew represents the blurry line between settling and stability. It isn’t that he is a bad guy, that would make things too clear-cut and the right choice would be easy, and life’s choices are often far more complicated than that. Matthew himself is not intentionally holding Samantha back, but one of the questions explored is whether her choice of him is affecting her life negatively.
YS: The fact that the two characters exist in both timelines toys with the question ‘are there people in the course of our life that we are meant to meet?’ So even though Sam and Samantha have made different choices that landed them in different places personally and professionally, they somehow manage to meet the people they’re supposed to anyway.
FWM: In the Season finale, we see Samantha becoming the “Truest version” of whom she already is. Do you feel that this is going to create some conflict with other characters?
MM: It’s interesting to consider, since how our choices affect others is an essential question that basically lingers in the background of the entire series. I wouldn’t say it creates conflict per se, but her metamorphosis (so to speak) certainly affects and changes the other characters directly, so I do think their paths are changing along with hers and they will have to learn to look at their own choices in the same way Sammy/Sam/Samantha is learning to do.
FWM: Can we expect a Season 2? If so, when?
YS: We see SPLIT as a miniseries, meaning it’s complete as it is. We’re happy with the arc it has and don’t envision a future for it beyond these 6 episodes.
MM: However, we do plan to keep collaborating and bring new content to the same audience that enjoyed Split!
FWM: How can our readers connect with you outside of this interview?
YS: Follow SPLIT @splitminiseries on facebook and instagram! Watch the series on splitminiseries.com and leave us a review. We love to read viewers’ response to the series.
MM: You can also follow me personally on insta: @mollyvivianmcg or check out mollyvivian.com for updates on my work.
Yael Shavitt is the creator, lead actress and editor of SPLIT. As an actress, she’s performed at venues such as the Public Theater, New Ohio Theatre and Dixon Place, and played a lead role in the dark comedy feature “Delenda” (Sarasota Film Festival). Yael co-created the documentary feature film “If You Pull North” (Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival) and is a founding member of the theater collective Asylos.
Molly McGaughey is the director of SPLIT. She directs, produces, writes and performs for screen and stage. Her films and series have screened at festivals around the world from NYC to London, Toronto and New Zealand. As a performer, Molly’s one-woman shows and comedic series have been recommended by the New York Times and Time Out New York.
Photos courtesy of Doug Stefken, Natalie Carstens and SPLIT the Series.
