INTERVIEW:		Emma Jones - "Kendra"   DESCRIBE KENDRA, WHO IS SHE? Kendra is the person I think that everyone wants to be, she is very hip and she knows everybody. She's led a very interesting life and has traveled all over the place and has lots of crazy stories to tell. She has lots of friends, but she's a fiercely good friend.   She's best friends with Abbey and Neil, I thought she became friends with Neil first and was friends for a while and through Neil met Abbey. And it just so happened she really liked Abbey as well and that's how they became friends. I think that's pretty rare because I think most times you don't really get along with your friends boyfriends or girlfriends in the same way. People have issues with male and female friends in that respect, it would be hard to come into that friendship as a girlfriend, but it seemed like they all got along really well. I crafted it that way for myself because I wanted it to be very much about Abbey and Neil and their friendship and not clutter up with a bunch of crazy background. The simplest way is the strongest choice for me.   WHAT'S KENDRA'S ROLE IN THE FILM? She defiantly is the word of warning in the film. She is the word of wisdom. I think Kendra has a good gut intuition about things that a lot of people don't have. So to her it's not a big deal so she'll flippantly come out with it and I think that shocks Abbey a lot into having realizations.   WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO PLAY KENDRA? I had met Kris (Kristensen; director) on another film and I really liked him and talked about his projects and what he was doing. It's very rare in Seattle to find somebody that doesn't just talk about something but actually does it. I always wanted to do independent films and that's the reason why I came to America. But I'd met a lot of talkers here but hadn't met many people that were actually doing it. So it was very exciting for me to meet someone who was passionate and actually doing it. So when he asked me to audition I was excited just for that. When I read the sides he had given me I thought it was very well written and a very strong piece. I liked Kendra immediately, I like how blunt she was, how passionate she was about her friendship with Abbey.   TALK ABOUT KENDRA BECOMING A BRIT, SHE WAS NOT WRITTEN AS A BRIT IN THE SCRIPT. It just seemed like a very strong role. I didn't know if they (Kris and Brian McDonald; co-authors) minded if I had a British accent and whether that would affect the role. Later it was easily converted to a Brit. I went through the script when I was cast and made a few changes here and there. There were certain words, American slang that just wouldn't sound right coming out of my mouth. So I just made a few changes and threw in a few British slang words that I knew Americans would understand and it worked out perfectly.   IS THERE ONE SCENE YOU ENJOYED THE MOST? I think the great things about Kendra's scenes was that each one was so strong yet so different. It was a lot of fun, she had the fun scenes, the serious scenes and the light scenes, everything was very different. The scene I did with Neil where I confront him and try and persuade him to go back to Abbey and talk. I think that was a great scene to do, it was short but very intense and yet there was so much packed into it. And it was great working with Carter (Roy; in the role of Neil) as well. But which was my favorite?, that's really hard because I loved everything about it. Every scene was fun and a challenge in a different way.   IS THERE A SCENE THAT WAS THE MOST CHALLENGING? There were a couple of scenes I found very challenging, one scene where Abbey comes into the coffee shop where I'm working and is pretty much a mess and tells me she slept with Dr. Canfield. I'm surprised and immediately think she's been raped. It's very hard to say to somebody "Oh my God you've been raped" and then let them leave and know you can't really stop them and feel that there is nothing you can do to help this person, that's is very challenging. It's very very strong and packed into a short scene.   IS THERE A SCENE THAT YOU WERE MOST SATISFIED WITH? That's a tough one too, I think as an actor you're always hard on yourself in every performance. You're always picking it to pieces and as soon as you stop picking something to pieces, or say you've got it, you've failed as an artist and as an actor. I could still keep shooting that film until I'm 80 and not feel satisfied.   HOW WAS IT WORKING WITH KRIS AND THE CREW? Great, it was worrying at first, because he didn't give me very many notes. I thought am I doing this right? But that's what's great about Kris, he really let me take that role and run with it and he trusted that I would make good judgments. There were a few times where we talked about it and got on the same page. It was a very freeing experience so I hope I get to work with him again. It was great fun working with Kris and everybody. I don't think I ever worked on a play or a film with a nicer bunch of people, all the crew, all the cast. That's the wonderful thing about Independent film, everyone's really mucking in together, which is why I like it so much.   DESCRIBE THE FILM. It's kind of film you could go back to again and again and see it from different perspectives and get a whole new look at it.   TALK ABOUT INDEPENDENT FILM? I like the energy of independent film and I like that you can experiment and everyone is learning together. There is a unique and wonder feeling about getting together and not having a whole lot of money and everyone mucking in. There is a freedom in it that there isn't in with bigger films. Working with directors who are just starting out is a great thing too. I thinks it's every actors dream to meet a director that has the same vision you have and to be able to work with them again and again. Which is why I love Brian and Kris so much, because they have such a great relationship creatively and I see them making films for a great many years. And hopefully I get to be in them!   LAST THOUGHTS OR WORRIES? Hopefully everyone will know that I'm really British and I'm not faking it. My accent faded according to everyone back home. That I hope everyone isn't watching it and going "what is she trying to pull off; Is that really British? or is she American, what is she Australian?" So just for the record it's real.   This interview was conducted by Marcus Donner.   Help Inheritance get distribution.