Little Mother Lies: An Interview with Amanda Deering Jones

Please tell us about the projects you worked on before making ‘Little Mother Lies’. How did you start, and how did you learn to make films?

My training was in Theatre but I’ve worked in animation for over 20 years at Dreamworks, Blue Sky and currently Pixar.  I produced the Oscar-nominated (2017) animated short film Borrowed Time.  Some of the projects I’ve worked on are Over the Hedge, Ice Age 3, Monsters University, Coco and recently Pixar’s first animated tv series, Win or Lose.  I learned in school and on the job how to tell stories.  With Little Mother Lies, I was excited to dive into the director seat and explore live-action.

Tell us about ‘Little Mother Lies’. How do you describe it?

Little Mother Lies is a proof-of-concept short film for a feature film, Mother Lies.  After a 30 year absence, Dorie returns to her childhood home with her son, Owen, where her sister Marinka still lives.  It’s a story about a mother ferociously protecting her son in the aftermath of treatments that failed him, and a sister who embodies the intergenerational chaos of family substance abuse.  Can a mother save her son’s future by facing her own past?

Please tell us about your favorite filmmakers.

Growing up, it was Penny Marshall, Steven Spielberg and Jodie Foster, watching their films over and over and studying every detail.  Currently, I’m a massive fan of Barry Jenkins, Celine Song and Sally Wainwright.  I love the stories they are telling and how they are telling them.  I always walk away with a new perspective.

If you were given a good budget, what would be your ideal project?

I have two projects that I have dreamt of making for many years, both true stories of women lost to history.  One is a TV series and one is a feature film.  If I was given the right budget, it would be a dream come true to tell these stories.

Describe how you would ensure that production is on schedule. What steps would you take?

Most of my training is on the Producing side so I have a lot of experience working with budgets and schedules.  I’m a fan of constraints, I’ve seen great creativity come from limitations so I get excited by these challenges.  A key part of staying on time and on budget for me is in the preparation.  I prefer to walk into a shoot having done all of my homework but I do leave room for the magic that can occur in the moment.  The preparation gives me the foundation to handle the unexpected and to ensure we stay on schedule.

What was the hardest part of making ‘Little Mother Lies’.

Fundraising is high up on that list.  We approached investors and utilized crowd-funding.  The great news is we got there but it was a lot of work and a rollercoaster.  Looking back so much felt deeply hard while we were in it but I am also blown away at the number of things that fell into place to support this project, particularly the incredibly talented people we pulled together.

If possible, tell us about your next work. What plans do you have for your future work?

I plan to dive deeper into directing and I am interested in all kinds of mediums – Film, TV, Music Videos, Short Films, both in live-action and animation.  I want the story to dictate the medium and I’m excited to see where this path leads.