Newport Beach teen makes directorial debut with ‘You Should Be Dead’

When Orange County School of the Arts freshman Lucy Hunter first posted on her Instagram about a short film she needed to produce for a class assignment last December, she had no idea just how far her project was going to go.

Hunter, 15, said she was tasked with writing, directing and editing a complete dream sequence for a final. The Newport Beach native said she’d long worked on a project for three years and opted to take a short selection from those scripts for the project. After gathering a handful of actors and crew, they produced what would later spin off into the first two episodes of “You Should Be Dead,” a Youtube-hosted show written and directed by Hunter.

The first episode premiered online in June and was screened at Newport Theater.

“You Should Be Dead” is a series that takes place in 1990 and focuses on Brianna Miller, a teenager who is learning to cope with the recent death of her best friend, Shelby Monroe. Shelby is said to have died by suicide, but after a fateful turn of events, Brianna comes to realize that might not be the case after all when she steps into an alternate universe. The show focuses on teens coping with their own losses and grief, with “You Should Be Dead” inspired by the loss of Hunter’s own father. She said she started writing when she was 12.

Jacob Avila, cinematographer, and Lucy Hunter, director and writer, from left, from her show “You Should Be Dead” stand at Serrano Creek Park in Lake Forest, where they film.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

That script has now been completed and amounts to a whopping 44 episodes across four seasons. The second episode has been filmed, and will premier online on Sept. 22, though any further production will be stayed for the time being until the conclusion of the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes.

“After I did the initial premiere in June, I never had the intention to produce it professionally because that’s a very rare occurrence for anyone in the film industry. I’m 15. I turn 16 next week. After the premiere, I actually ended up having a couple of indie film companies that reach out that are not [being struck] saying, ‘We’re really interested in this,’ and the general was consensus was that, ‘We see you can make the first episode. We want to see if you can do it again,’” Hunter said.

Her production crew and cast are mostly other students from OCSA. The team films typically in and around Santa Ana, though they take to filming at Serrano Creek Park in Lake Forest for sections of the show that take place in the woods.

Freshman Sophia Zavala, who plays Brianna’s other best friend, Paige Walker, describes “You Should Be Dead” as a “conundrum of esoterica.”

One of the actors for “You Should Be Dead” is covered in fake blood for a shoot in Serrano Creek Park. Filming for the second episode took place over the summer, according to Hunter.

(Courtesy of Lucy Hunter)

“It’s this incredibly crazy artistic idea of this otherworldly dimension that, as well as it is fantasy, describes what it is like to be a teenager and everyone deals with all of these problems. They’re amplified because of the circumstances of the story, but they’re incredibly fascinating. It’s incredibly artistic, stylized and [Hunter] has such a vision that she’s collaborated with our cinematographer, [Jacob Avila]. That this was done by 14- to 15-year-old kids is amazing,” said Zavala, 14.

Zavala is an originating cast member for her role and said she wants to stick with the show for as long as she can. Working on it, she said, has only stressed the importance of having a supportive cast and crew, especially in emotional scenes.

Kate McCollum-Vanhoosear, a sophomore who plays the lead, Brianna, said she had no way of knowing how intensive the project was going to get when she signed on in December but that she was fully on board when Hunter decided to expand it.

Cast member Kate McCollum-Vanhoosear from the show “You Should Be Dead” stands at Serrano Creek Park in Lake Forest, where a number of the scenes are filmed.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“It’s really about [Hunter],” McCollum-Vanhoosear said. “It’s been her dream since she was 12. The whole cast is interested in making [the show] a reality. We all, obviously, want her to get what she wants, and we all have our own intentions with ‘You Should Be Dead.’ We just hope it goes somewhere. I think the message is that, this hasn’t really been in any of the episodes yet, but one of my favorite things that the show talks about is … [to] love those who think they’re unlovable.”

The first episode is largely introductory, but both Zavala and McCollum-Vanhoosear agreed that the second episode builds on it by really starting to explore more of their personalities and the ideas of other dimensions that it touches on. Zavala added that the show also focuses on ensuring that grief does not overtake people’s lives.

Cast member Duilio Ramos from the show “You Should Be Dead” stands at Serrano Creek Park in Lake Forest, where much of the show is filmed.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Hunter said her priority with “You Should Be Dead” was creating a show around teenagers that places a heavy emphasis on emotion, even as it dabbled in science fiction and horror as genres. She said she felt some horror films and shows focus too heavily on the gore and guts, which takes away from “these characters that are dealing with things and looking for answers and it makes it really human.”

The hope, Hunter said, is that they will be able to continue pitching it and to get represented so that the show can be produced professionally.