‘Oh, Hi!’ Filmmaker Sophie Brooks on Her Journey to Sundance

I made my first feature over nine years ago, when I was in my mid 20s. We premiered “The Boy Downstairs” at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2017, and it was all gloriously magical. “This is how movies happen,” I thought. You write a script (it was my first feature screenplay), your first choice actress says yes (that was Zosia Mamet), and you make the movie in the same year. It’s pretty straightforward! I thought.

How sweet was she? My younger self. I sort of envy the hopeful naiveté I had at that time, with so little experience in the industry and relatively fresh out of film school, I was bushy-tailed and starry-eyed; sure I’d make my second feature the following year. Well, nine years later, I’m finally premiering my second feature at Sundance. To be honest, it feels a bit surreal.

I wrote the screenplay for “Oh, Hi!” over four and half years ago, in the thick of Covid. I was in the midst of decidedly unoriginal existential dread, about to turn 31, single, unemployed (the movie I had been working on for the last two years was falling apart) and living in my childhood bedroom after I had gotten stuck in L.A. when Covid began. I was lost.

So naturally, I called my agent. To quote “Mean Girls,” “she’s not a regular agent, she’s a cool agent.” Amanda Hymson and I have worked together since I was 26, so she’s seen me in various degrees of having my life together. I feel lucky to have her support and guidance when I’m staring in the void.

She challenged me to come up with an idea that could shoot during that time – something with limited locations and limited actors. About 5 minutes after that call, I came up with the premise for “Oh, Hi!” — a new couple take their first trip away together, but by the end of the first night, it’s clear they are not on the same page, so Iris desperately tries to convince Isaac to commit to her.