Yana Gorskaya is an Emmy®-nominated Director, Editor and Executive Producer. She has helmed 22 episodes of What We Do in the Shadows and received three Emmy nominations for her work on the show. As an editor, she has collaborated with Taika Waititi on nearly all of his films, including Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit and the feature version of What We Do in the Shadows (with co-director Jemaine Clement). She won the ACE Eddie Award for her first feature, the Oscar®-nominated documentary Spellbound. Her series directing work has made multiple appearances on best of the year lists for the NY Times, Rolling Stone, A.V. Club, TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, Vulture and Hollywood Reporter, among others. Other directing credits include the NBC series Trial & Error and the upcoming reboot of Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits.

 

When did you first become interested in being a filmmaker? 

I first became interested in film as an undergraduate at Columbia University -- I had always been interested in theater but also more technical arts -- it was amazing to me that I could major in something that combined two things I love. Also, my grandfather in Russia was a comedy theater and film director -- my mother had wanted to follow in his footsteps but he held her back because he felt her gender would be too high a barrier to success. So all in all, becoming a filmmaker felt like it melded and completed some integral parts of myself.

What led you to pursue an MFA in production at SCA? 

The undergraduate program I studied in NY was very theoretical, I didn't actually feel like I had a handle on making anything in practical terms. I was working as an executive assistant for a boutique production house when my mother suffered a fatal accident -- and I had this moment of "I don't want to waste a second of my life doing something I don't want to do". I filled out my USC application from her emergency room.

What are some of the most memorable experiences from your time at USC? Did you receive any advice from professors or classmates that stuck with you?

I met my mentor, Kate Ahmed, at USC in the documentary editing program. Kate introduced me to one of my all time favorite humans and collaborators, Jeff Blitz. We cut his documentary feature Spellbound very part-time in his living room while I was TA'ing for Kate and finishing my degree. Spellbound was nominated for an Academy Award and launched both of our careers.

You’ve worked with Taika Waititi on numerous projects. How did this partnership come to be and what have you learned from these collaborations?

I had the absolute gift of working with Taika on his first feature, as the fiction feature I'd just done with Jeff Blitz was very much tonally in the same zone. I adore him, and we have worked together in some way on nearly all of his films. Just one of those very strange life curve-balls. Both Taika and Jeff were extremely supportive when I wanted to transition to directing and very much opened doors and supported me.

Have you always had an interest in fantasy stories, especially vampire stories? What drew you to working on the What We Do in the Shadows film and television series? 

The main appeal of What We Do in the Shadows was working with Taika and Jemaine and in a mock doc comedy format. I had done a lot of documentary work but was mostly focused on fiction at the time, so it was a marvelous marriage of things I love. That, and the action elements all hit a very sweet spot for me. 

Prior to Shadows, you’ve edited documentaries and mockumentaries. How has editing from the perspective of a documentarian informed your editing and directing for Shadows? 

I approach Shadows very much in the way I approach documentary editing -- especially the feature, where they had hundreds of hours of improvised material and a script they didn't show anybody. So it was about helping to find and shape the thread of the story. The TV show is more tightly scripted, Paul Simms and the writers do a phenomenal job -- they're ridiculously funny people -- and they allow us to keep things loose and treat the material in an open, anything is possible way when we bring it back to editorial. Scenes become montage. Talking heads pop in and out of otherwise scripted material in unexpected ways. It's meticulously crafted. I find my editor brain super useful on such an ambitious show -- I know when we have it and can move on. I also know when we have it and can afford some more time getting different colors or otherwise pushing and playing. It's tremendously satisfying.

When directing episodes of Shadows, what is the day-to-day like? What is your favorite part of being on set? 

Our days are intense -- and for what looks like loose and spontaneous action, it is very tightly planned. We have a TV comedy schedule but we're attempting big stunts and gags and supernatural creatures, so preparation and planning are really key. We are shooting our final season now and it's so sweet and a bit melancholy -- I love this cast and crew. It will be so hard to say goodbye. 

Tell us about your process of directing action sequences for the show. What inspires you in directing these scenes? 

We have a phenomenal stunt team in Tig Fong and JF Lachapelle and they've always been so collaborative and welcoming to me -- they really held my hand as I was learning their process and now, I have to say, our stunt sequences are some of my favorite things to help plan and shoot. It just taps into my editor brain -- and that team is so inventive and game, it's just a joy to kick around ideas and plan how we can take the biggest possible swings on our budget and schedule. What can we do that we haven't done before?  How can we make the action both big and funny? Our show is also special as many of our most elaborate stunts play background or incidental to a scene, which is just a fun documentary puzzle to crack and really helps with our deadpan tone.

What’s next for you? 

I'm not sure! Fielding offers and talking to a lot of people, but I really want to pick something with care. I've been so fortunate in my career to work almost exclusively with people I genuinely like on things I really care about. That was a vow I made to myself in my mother's hospital room as I was filling out my USC application. I'd hate to abandon that ethos now!

What advice can you offer to aspiring filmmakers? 

You may just be starting out but your time has value. Be careful who you work with and on what because like leads to like. The relationships you're building now may well be the people you're still working with in 20 years -- just on a larger scale. Be as picky as you can afford to be and seek out collaborations with people who both get and inspire you. 

Photo by Russ Martin, FX Network

Story by Olivia Kuhn