LOVE/HATE | What My Vertical Series Taught Me About Storytelling

In this episode of No Map Included, I look back on one of the biggest creative experiments I've ever taken on: making a zero-budget vertical series for social media.

Before moving on to the next chapter, I wanted to unpack what this project taught me.

I talk about what surprised me, what didn't work the way I expected, what I loved about producing for social media, and what ultimately made me realize that the kinds of stories I want to tell belong somewhere else.

Every project teaches you something.

Sometimes it confirms the direction you're already heading.

Sometimes it changes the next decision you make.

For me, LOVE/HATE became both.

I tried something I'd never done before. Here's what worked. Here's what didn't. And here's how it's shaping the way I approach storytelling going forward.

Watch LOVE/HATE

https://instagram.com/thisislovehate

https://tiktok.com/@thisislovehate 

About the Podcast

No Map Included documents the process of building stories in real time: from proof of concept to premiere.
Hosted by filmmaker and producer Yessi Sanchez, the podcast explores the work behind the work and the paths that don’t show up on IMDb.

Transcript

Part two of my vertical show is coming out, so I wanted to talk about what I love about it and what I hate about it. And I believe that you can love/hate almost everything. No matter how much you love something, there is always something that you don't like.

There is always a thorn.

 This is No Map Included, where I document the journey from proof of concept to premiere, building a feature film, a vertical series, and everything in between

When I first started this project, it was more about love/hate than what it is now.

It was supposed to be about three girls living in LA, dealing with career, dating, friendship, money, and all of that. But then I realized quickly this doesn't work for social media.

What works for social media are skits. A lot of comedy drama, not so much. Maybe if you post your auditions. Or soap operas. That really works well. 

But I wanted LOVE/HATE to be more grounded than that. That's why I was like, "Okay, maybe what could work, maybe, is like a hunt for something." Like, Hey Dude, Where's My Car? or The Hangover. You're looking for something. and so every episode can live on its own.

I feel like I've gotten close to that, but Still, you cannot really tell a lot in one minute. And so one thing that I really hated about this process is that you really just have to get to the point quickly, and you don't have the time to build the universe. So it was like, "Okay, season one is gonna be me building the universe."

And ideally, someone discovers a show when everything is already out, and they can just scroll up and consume the whole show in one sitting. That would be like 20 minutes. I was like, "Okay, this could be like a doom scrolling show." It was a lot of exploration and seeing what works and what doesn't. I definitely had a lot of fun with season one, and I had more of a vision where it would go. For part two of this, I tried to adjust a little bit more and make it less complicated. In the first part, we were looking for Judy, and that's why it took the friend group to so many different locations.

Logistically, that was very, very difficult. I had so many actors. I had so many schedules, And it was all people on their own time. so I wanted to be very efficient.

So for part two, I kinda feel like I lost that magic of LOVE/HATE part one when I decided to make it in two locations only. I mean, we did have some outside locations, but really not a lot. And I decided to make a big part of it just the camera and one person, which I also feel like doesn't really work. It really works when there are multiple people. The camera goes from like one person to another. And for anyone who hasn't seen the show, the whole show is basically the POV of someone. So whenever there are two people in the scene you only see one person because it's from one person's point of view, which brings me to the part I loved. I do love the idea that you can create something from the POV of someone.

I don't think that would work for film as much. I have seen attempts of it, and it just looks very disorienting. But for social media, that's how social media already works, so that's why I feel like it is a really cool opportunity for storytelling.

Another thing that I really loved was the community. The fact that I was able to create something with friends, peers I met along the way, and it was all on our own terms and we didn't need to wait for permission, that gave me so much power and empowerment.

I really felt like, yes, we can do anything, you know?

Now going back to something that I hated, just how much work it takes. Of course you could do it differently. But what I did was I was a social media manager for this, I was the producer for this, I acted in it, I directed it, I wrote it.

It was just too much It is fine if you have nothing else that you're doing, but I am just doing a lot of projects and I started to become really obsessed with this project, and I was working on it so much, and thankfully I was able to do that at the time.

But now that part two is coming out, I don't have time for all the extra, and the extra is, like, all the little reels that are, like, promotional reels and, recaps and stuff like that. I just can't do it. I can't do it, unfortunately. I have too much going on, and it is a lot of work, especially to the extent that I wanna do it.

I want it to look great, and I want everything to look uniform and well. For part one, what I did was I created a cover for every reel. I added a caption, a comment, maybe a poll and I just tried to, like, be engaging and so on, and then have on-screen texts and hooks and so on, and come up with marketing materials, and it was just getting too much.

What I love about this is I was able to experiment and just learn so much and it was, like, magical how I was able to just explore and just play around with it, you know? It was a completely new territory for me.

I kind of mentioned the scheduling before, this was really hard and it just became harder for part two because I had more actors and I had more actors who had completely opposite schedules. There was literally one Sunday where everyone was available

And the other thing I really didn't like was navigating everything on my own, being the only crew person basically. I asked, my co-producer Flo to help me one time, which she, it was such a blessing. But yeah, like everyone having different call times and me directing, but then I also had to be the producer at the same time and greet people who came, and then I also did crafty.

And like, I still wanted it to be a good environment for anyone who volunteered their time and gave me their time. Navigating that was just a lot, and it was very loud on set. We didn't have a green room or anything, and so everything was getting too much. But overall I think the biggest lesson that I've learned is 

that I simply wanna stick to film. I think film allows you to really build a story... you have so much time to build the universe and to fall in love with the characters, and I feel like you can't really get into the weeds with these characters.

I really try to focus more on the characters in part two. But yeah, I don't know. I feel like I kinda failed in that. another thing that is really hard is that you constantly have to be on. There is, like, no end because it's social media, and that pressure is really hard for me. I don't do well with that. I love that you can produce a film and it has its phases.

It has a beginning and an end. And I feel like with social media, it never really has an end.

LOVE/HATE is a lot to handle. Every production part was kind of seeping into each other. And I love when there is the writing part, and then you're getting into the development part. Every phase of a film is so significant. and I feel like when it comes to social media, it doesn't feel significant anymore.

It feels like you are just treading water. That is another aspect that I didn't love. But overall, what this has given me is a playground to write, to explore with social media, to grow and face challenges, and deal with a lot of different people. And it was a great experience for me as a producer to work really quickly, and it was great for me to explore as a writer as well what people like and what people don't like.

But I think after this part, that's where I'll end LOVE/HATE. My plan was to meet with my actors and do improv but I really feel like this experience has to come to an end. It doesn't feel right anymore. I feel like what I want to make out of this, if I get to it eventually, is a feature film script. Because I still love the idea and I still love where it ends up. I had that end in sight from the beginning, and so I feel like I still wanna write and adjust it a little bit more to what I would write when...

Like, I had to adjust a lot to the environment and the budget and the fact that it is social media, but I feel like I can really flesh it out and get into it and then make it a feature film that is fun, and I would love to collaborate with other people on it. And I think it has a lot of potential as a feature film, but not so much as a vertical series, and I think that's where I want it to end.

But yeah, it has been an incredible journey, and I've learned so much, and I feel very good about it. I feel very good about letting that curiosity go.

I, like, scratched that itch, and I'm good.

You just listened to No Map Included. If you're building something, a film, a series, a career, and you don't have the full map yet, that's okay. Neither do I. I'll see you in the next chapter