What happens when two strangers in different career fields interview each other about the work they do? Let’s find out.

Christine is a therapist and pre-doctoral intern in Mississippi. Heather is a filmmaker in NYC.

Christine Interviews Heather

Christine James: How did you decide you wanted to make films?

Heather Quinlan: Well, I started in theatre, then went into book publishing, then kinda just drifted into filmmaking. The common thread being that I’m all about telling a good story.

CJ: Who is your role model within the industry?

HQ: Good question. My focus is on documentaries, so filmmakers I admire in that genre are Michael Moore, Errol Morris, and Werner Herzog (though I can’t stand his voice). I would like to say Barbara Kopple because she’s the most famous (I think) female documentarian, but I do not like her films. Two documentaries directed by women that I do love are “American Hollow” by Rory Kennedy (Bobby Kennedy’s daughter) and “Her Master’s Voice” by Nina Conti (Tom Conti’s daughter). It’s great that these women can break through and make films in a male-dominated industry, though the commonality between the two is they both come from money. It’s tough to be a documentarian when you don’t come from money. I hate to say it, but much of filmmaking is about fundraising. When someone says to me, “I have a great idea for a documentary,” the first thing I ask them is, “How are you going to fund it?” I’ve never come across someone who had an answer.

CJ: Do you think it is more difficult for you to get funding/be taken seriously in your profession because you are a woman?

HQ: I actually think it’s more difficult to get funding when you’re not doing a documentary on “the issues.” Especially by women-driven film organizations. My first doc was on the New York accent – a topic very near and dear to my heart. But places like Chicken and Egg Pictures, and also potential investors, want to put their money into something they think will affect some kind of change. So in the case of women-driven film orgs, a lot of their films deal with things like sexuality, war and what it does to women, eating disorders… I feel they look down their noses on the films that are deemed “lighthearted.”

CJ: Why New York and not LA?

HQ: I hate LA. I hate New York too, but I’m from here, so I can handle it. It inspires me in a way that nowhere else does. At least, nowhere I’ve come across yet.

CJ: What would you consider to be the biggest accomplishment you can achieve with your work?

HQ: Making films where the audience goes in thinking one thing and leaves thinking another. That’s the sign of a successful documentary. Also, I’d like to be able to make a living off of filmmaking. Right now, I have to support myself with a day job and work on my projects on weekends or days off. I’m going to Ireland next month to visit distant cousins, I want to see if I can turn that into some kind of film, which also means I can write the trip off on my taxes. ☺

Heather Interviews Christine

Heather Quinlan: Are there different psychological issues that affect Northerners vs Southerners? (Don’t know if you’ve been down South long enough to answer this, but thought I’d ask just in case.)

Christine James: No, the issues are the same, the way people react to and deal with them is different. There is definitely more stigma related to things like anxiety and depression, but much less related to alcohol abuse than in the Northeast.

HQ: What branch of psychology are you studying?

CJ: Abnormal Psychology

HQ: Do you believe a large part of our personalities, barring a traumatic event or abusive upbringing, is set when we’re born?

CJ: There are definitely parts of personality that are genetically based and the environment in which you live fills in the rest and/or triggers certain parts of a person’s genetics.

HQ: What do part of psychology do you get the most satisfaction from studying?

CJ:  Anything about my specialty.

HQ: Do you think outside events affect current psychological studies? For instance, my friend, whose mother has had Alzheimer’s since she was in her 50s, was telling me today she thinks there are more Alzheimer’s studies now since it’s not just seen as a natural part of getting old – that Baby Boomers are looking around and thinking, “Oh God, I don’t want to get this!” And so that leads to more research.

CJ: Definitely! Much like the rest of the world, there are trends in psychology. Trends are most easily seen in the research that is currently being conducted.

HQ: Did you have a professor or someone who inspired you to go all the way to getting a PhD?

CJ: No, my decision was made based on the type of work I was interested in doing and the ability to do that requires a doctorate.

HQ: What’s the difference between a Freudian and a Jungian? (This might be a question that requires a long answer, but you can be as brief or as long as you’d like to be!) Which one are you, if either?

CJ: Yeah, this would be really long!!!

Christine James, NCC, LPC is currently a pre-doctoral intern at Pine Grove Behavioral Health in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Originally from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area she has previously worked as an EAP therapist and in adult Intensive Out-Patient settings. Prior to moving to complete her doctoral internship she was working in a group practice setting, treating adults dealing with trauma backgrounds and PTSD.

Heather Quinlan is a filmmaker currently based in Queens who has lived in all five boroughs. Her first documentary, “If These Knishes Could Talk: The Story of the New York Accent” was featured in the New Yorker, the New York Times, WSJ, NPR, and the BBC, and is now available on Amazon Prime. She is currently working on a documentary about the hidden cemeteries of New York City, called “Look Who’s Dead.”