26 Nov 2020
“I always just kept pushing and believing I would get there.”
Hawker College and Campbell High School graduate Monica Zanetti has made her directorial debut with
Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt). (image: supplied).
From a young age, Monica Zanetti knew she wanted to work in the arts. Monica has always genuinely believed - if she worked hard enough and she persevered - that she’d get there.
And now, in 2020, Monica Zanetti has made her directorial debut with Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt) .
The first steps on that long journey began in ACT public schools.
The Hawker College and Campbell High School graduate focused her education around the arts and her passions. Dance and drama featured strongly.
“I was really into dance… anything on a stage, I was into it,” she said.
“I had a drama teacher at Campbell who was very good at backing my ideas… he would help, direct, supervise. If you showed an interest in something, he would back you.”
Monica’s creative writing skills also began developing during her time at school, with English a favourite class.
“I wrote a lot of short stories… I knew it was something that I really loved,” she said.
“I was also always a big reader. The reading aspect of English is what has helped me in my writing. Understanding stories, story arcs and character development… that’s all helped me in my career.”
After graduating at Hawker, Monica did three years of dance training and education, including going to Los Angeles for her dancing.
But it wasn’t until she returned from the USA and organised a workshop bringing her dance teachers to Australia did she realise she also had the skills to be a producer.
“I realised I had a brain to organise these kinds of big events,” Monica said.
“It was the first time I guess that I realised I could do this. I always used to see other people do these things and think ‘I wish I could do that’ – but it was something I could do.
“I just had to have the willingness to do it.”
In the years that followed Monica has worked hard to establish herself as a writer and producer, with a number of credits for both in Australian television, most notably for Tonightly with Tom Ballard.
In 2017, Monica wrote Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt) as a stage play. The inspiration for the story was a simple one.
“I really wanted to write a queer romcom that was family friendly.”
“I wanted to make something I could watch with my Mum, that was an accurate representation of queer romance.”
After putting a stage production on and having it go really well, she found people kept telling her that it felt like a film. By 2019, shooting had started in and around Sydney.
The film was Monica’s passion project, so she took on the role of Director as well – her first major directing work.
“I could see it so clearly in my head. I wanted to direct this. This particular project was one I had to do.”
Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt) had its world premiere at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in February, and the moment was not lost on Monica.
“It was really special. A full circle moment. The cinema sat 800 people and it sold out. And there I was, watching it with my Mum. It was exactly what I wanted.”
When asked what her message would be to her younger self (and current students interested in the arts), Monica offered encouragement.
“If you’re not doing something that you are invested in and really want to do, it makes it harder to see through,” she said.
“It’s OK to really pursue something that you are interested in and not know where it will take you. It will change, you will change.
“Can’t even tell you how lucky I feel now. It was incredibly hard, and heartbreaking at times, but I never once thought about stopping.
“I always just kept pushing and believing I would get there.”
Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt) opened in select Canberra cinemas last week.
Monica Zanetti and the cast of Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt) attending the film’s world premiere
at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in February.