Arts & Culture

Triple Threat: The Office’s Ursula Burton on Acting, Directing and Writing

Cash for your car

Ursula BurtonMade famous by her hysterical role as breast feeding mom, Hannah, on hit television series "The Office," Ursula Burton isn’t content with just getting laughs on-camera, she’s also an up and coming writer/director to look out for.  Her recent short film, "The Happiest Day of His Life" has won seven awards and been a smash hit in film festivals for its unique gender reversal on the traditional roles in a marriage ceremony.

Starring in her own film, as well as producing it along with her sisters in their production company aptly named, Five Sisters Productions, Ursula credits her tight knit and creative family for all her success.  In this exclusive, in-depth interview, Ursula Burton explores her journey as an actress, writer and director and the making of "The Happiest Day of His Life." She also offers advice for would be thespians and filmmakers trying to survive in the business that is not all about show, but a lot of perseverance.

MR Hunter for LATP: Your background is primarily in acting, what led you into directing?

Ursula Burton: Though I have focused on acting, I have directed theater off and on since college; so directing a film was a natural progression.  When you are a creative person, it is exciting to work different "muscles."  As an actor, you do your best to realize someone else’s vision.  Of course, you are creating a character and bringing a fiction to life, but you are relying on others to guide the performance.  As a writer/director, you are trying to realize your own vision.  Film is such a collaborative medium that there are always compromises and adjustments — some are disappointments and some are unexpected pleasures — but over-all, as the actor, you are a piece of the puzzle, as the director, you are the final word.  Both jobs present exciting challenges.

Ursula Burton with Steve Carell

LATP: How much of your experience as an actress has helped you as a director and writer?

UB: My mother, Gabrielle Burton, is a writer, so I grew up watching what goes into that craft, and my father, Roger Burton, is a musician.  I think being raised by two artists influenced my choice of career — the arts seemed an entirely natural path to choose.  I suppose I think of acting, directing and writing all as part of being an artist — they fulfill different parts of me creatively.  Certainly, my being an actor informs how I direct.  I’ve been directed by so many directors with different styles and I know how to talk with actors.

LATP: Which directors influence you the most?

UB: I have eclectic tastes and there are many directors who have influenced me.  At the moment, I’m inspired by Julie Taymor, who is so innovative, and my sisters, Maria and Gabrielle, whom I love being directed by!

LATP: Your family is very creative, your sisters are also in the performing arts and your Dad used to be a jazz musician and retired professor, recently turned professional actor.  How supportive were your parents when they realized you wanted to pursue acting?

UB: My parents have always been wonderfully supportive.  It wouldn’t have mattered what any of the five of us chose to do, but certainly the arts were respected and encouraged in our household.  In fact, it was my parents who first suggested Maria and I produce a stage show ourselves — which was the beginning of our production company, FIVE SISTERS PRODUCTIONS.

LATP: What inspired you to write "The Happiest Day of His Life?"

UB: When two friends of mine married each other, they had a wonderful wedding.  I was in it and had a ball.  No expense was spared — everything was glamorous and lovely.  And it was very traditional.  I started to think about how many of these traditions are engrained in us from an early age and about how these ideas of romance and fairy tale events are reinforced in our romantic comedies.  I wanted to look at these traditions innocently and thought the gender reversal might work as a mirror.

LATP: How challenging was it to write, direct and perform in your own film.

UB: The real challenge was having a quick shooting schedule and no playback on the set.  However, I work very collaboratively with my sisters.  Whenever my character, the bride, was in a scene, I would watch the monitor during rehearsals with another actor standing in for me.  Then, when we shot the actual scene with me playing my part in front of the camera, my sisters would watch the takes to make sure we got what I wanted.

LATP: What attracted you to this sort of material (the gender switching at a wedding)?

UB: I am very interested in gender roles and how films reinforce our expectations, particularly in traditional social ceremonies like weddings.  I wanted to create a world where an audience could look at what they’ve seen a million times with new eyes.  I really like ceremony and I think when two people decide to spend the rest of their lives together, it’s a wonderful thing, so I didn’t want to mock any of that — I just wanted to present it to the audience.

Ursula BurtonLATP: How did you handle the gender switch with the cast?

UB: This was probably the trickiest part of directing the cast.  As actors, we study behavior.  It was very easy for the men to say the women’s lines and vice versa, but for the cast to say the lines traditionally said by the other person in the scene was difficult.  There was a tendency to fall into a campy or flamboyant style.  Often, actors would say something like, "Oh, but I’m really a woman!" when the actor was a man, or vice-versa, and I’d need to remind them, "No, you are still a man, you are just doing the things that we’d expect a woman in a romantic comedy to do."  All the actors were terrific and they embraced the challenge — we all had a lot of fun with it.

LATP: Is this your first film?

UB: This is the first film I’ve directed, but my four sisters and I, through our production company, FIVE SISTERS PRODUCTIONS, have also made 4 feature films: JUST FRIENDS, a romantic comedy about what happens when a man meets the woman of his dreams, but she wants to be just friends; TEMPS, a slice of life comedy about balancing personal and work life — Work, love, friendship: Help Wanted; MANNA FROM HEAVEN, a comedy about what happens when you get a "gift from God" (a windfall of money) but it turns out to be a loan; and LETTING GO OF GOD, a film of Julia Sweeney’s one-woman show which tackles the controversial subject of religion.

To read more about Five Sisters Productions and our projects, go to www.fivesisters.com.
LATP: What did you learn being on the other side of the camera? 

UB: When one works as an actor, one has very little control over the final product.  What is so wonderful about sometimes being in front and sometimes being behind is that it fulfills two different sides of one’s personality and you can let go of the control when you don’t have it, and you can enjoy being able to make decisions when you are in that position.

LATP: Did you allow much improvisation, or did you stay close to the script?

UB: There was almost no improvisation during shooting.  I had wanted to make this film for years and because it was a short, I needed to pack the lines with subtleties and details.  Also, the shooting schedule was tight, so it was important to get on film what was written. 

LATP: In what ways did the screenplay change when you were shooting it?

UB: It changed very little.  I divvied up one speech among a couple actors in one scene to make it run more smoothly and to give each of the actors equal weight, and added something an actor suggested in a speech.  In editing, I reversed the order of two scenes because once I saw the rough assembly, it was clear that it would flow better in the reverse order.

LATP: How much did your original idea of the characters dictate casting, and did it change?

UB: The original idea of the characters did dictate casting.  Casting is always crucial in filmmaking.  This film was a labor of love and I wanted to work with excellent actors who I really liked personally and enjoyed working with — many of my actors were in our previous films.  I had ideas in my head that I was thrilled were able to work in actuality — for instance, I wanted the women to be taller than their husbands.  This happens to be the real life situation for Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker (the parents of the groom), and I created it for the groom’s aunt and husband and, of course when casting the groom.  Continuing with the groom, I wanted him to be younger and more innocent than the bride. Proving that timing is also key in casting, Jared Hillman came in to read for one of the groomsbachelors and it was clear he was able to project the qualities I was looking for in the groom.

The Cast of The Office

LATP: When you wrote the screenplay, did you consider marketability or commercial appeal?

UB: When I wrote this, it was a subject I was interested in.  It was important for me to make it.  I always hope that what I work on finds an audience, but that isn’t something that I can control.  What’s most important is working on something that I’m passionate about, because the fact is, I’ll be working on it for years, regardless of how it does in the marketplace.

Of course, I have thought about ways to get the film out in the marketplace — it can be shown in traditional ways (film festivals), as well as in educational realms (for university classes on gender, social studies, women’s studies, etc.), and for wedding shower gifts…

I am thrilled that after winning many festival awards, and qualifying for the Academy Awards, the film will be premiering on MTV’s Logo Network on November 28th.

LATP: Do you plan to write/direct and act in any future project?

UB: Yes!  While I continue to act, I am writing something (stay tuned), and with Five Sisters Productions, we are in development on a feature about 13 women tested to be astronaut trainees in 1961.

Ursula BurtonLATP: How has directing changed if at all, your acting?

UB: It hasn’t changed my acting per se, but producing and directing my own projects makes me enjoy acting work all the more; I don’t have to worry about all the behind the scenes crises that are a part of production (like losing the light or feeding the crew).  I can just relax and soak up how much I enjoy my job.

LATP: Unlike many production companies, yours is a family collaboration (Five Sisters Productions).  How has that made it easier or more difficult to agree and produce projects?

UB: I can’t imagine working with more talented, passionate, hard working people.  My sisters are excellent business partners.  Each of us contributes specific skills, while we share the ultimate goal of creating something we are proud of.  The tricky part is that, as creative people, it is hard to find ways that each of us gets some creative job, and some projects have more creative roles than others.

We generally agree on things, and when there is disagreement, we tend to talk it out until there is either consensus, or it becomes clear that somebody is most passionate about her stance.  Then we defer.  The bottom line is that we are all on the same team and all share a vision.

LATP: Do you plan to write anything other than screenplays?

UB: Certainly, I have a couple ideas rolling around in my head, and the story will dictate in what form they come out.

LATP: Are you still involved in LA/NY theatre?

UB: I love doing stage work.  I have just signed with an agency in London and look forward to being on the boards here.

LATP: Have you or will you in the future direct or write any plays?

UB: I’m not writing anything that would be a play right now, but in the future, time will tell.  Will I direct theater again?  I look forward to it.

LATP: What was the most unexpected result after editing your film?

UB: I had planned to reverse the film on a meta level — though a wedding movie would clearly fall in the romantic comedy genre, I planned action sequences.  When we mocked up these scenes during editing, I realized the special effects took away the emotional connection with the characters.  Though I was looking forward to a "matrix" shot when the bouquet was tossed, the real point of the film comes across by presenting it in a straightforward fashion.  Sometimes ideas are great intellectually, but in practice, you decide to throw them out for a greater effect.

LATP: Do you plan on directing a full-length in the future?

UB: Most definitely.

LATP: What advice would you have for aspiring actors and directors?

UB: Keep at it.  This is such a difficult and up and down business.  Do your best to enjoy the process of doing it — something much easier said than done, as so much of it is out of one’s control and is terribly frustrating and unfair.  Nevertheless, there is no point in spending one’s life miserable and bitter, so try to live a well-rounded, full life, try to create opportunities for yourself, and enjoy the work when you get it.

LATP: And finally…what was the worst meal catering made for you and your crew?

UB: Actually, our food was great and it was sponsored!  Impeccable Taste Catering provided all of our meals and they were terrific!
 

About the author

MR Hunter