Student filmmaker screens new film at Slavic Film Festival in LA

Christopher Yates (left), Sam Jacobson (middle) and Ella Stichler (right) star in “Better Not Write.” Photo Courtesy of Tatayana Batalova

Once a journalist in Moscow, Tatayana Batalova now prefers fiction and her new short film “Better Not Write” screened at the Slavic Film Festival on Oct. 4.

It portrays crime novelist Christine Hartley while she writes about a murderer who enjoys killing other writers with a phone cord. When she returns home from a radio interview, she’s confronted by someone who claims to be the actual real-life version of the murderer she potrays. 

He interrogates her for misunderstanding his motives. And she begins to ponder about her own motives. One theme of the film asks, “Who is the real creator?”

“My writer, she thinks she’s a real creator,” Batalova says. “My killer, he thinks he’s a real creator.” 

Batalova, a Saddleback film major from Russia started off as a journalist and later transitioned to film. She attended the Moscow Film School which began her journey as a filmmaker. She later moved to California for film opportunities. 

She would then attend Saddleback to continue her filmmaking career by taking classes to hone her skills. Batalova had one goal, to direct her first short film. 

Batalova did so in releasing “a Christmas Melody” in 2023 which was done in Saddleback film production and won many awards in festivals. For her next film, she had her draft planned.

She wrote a first draft for “Better Not Write” as a film student in Moscow. She was inspired by crime stories from Agatha Christie and TV shows like “Murder, She Wrote.”

Like her central character, Batalova also owned a 1960s typewriter, and then thought of an image of a writer sitting behind it and typing her stories and wondered what her story could be? 

“What if the killer she writes about actually becomes real and comes to her home?” she says. “It’s like the writer being chased by her own creation. It sounded a bit crazy, but also really exciting, and that’s how ‘Better Not Write’ was born.”

As Batalova began storyboarding, she based the characters on the actors she cast. 

For the killer, she already had an actor in mind which was Christopher Yates. They met at the Newport Beach Film Festival in 2023 and Batalova  invited him to work on her first short film. Batalova says that working with him was a “great experience” and when developing “Better Not Write,” she thought of Yates as the killer.

In a supporting role, Saddleback student Conrad Satermo plays a radio host. He’s a “rock style guy,” Batalova says, a “perfect” choice. Theater major Sam Jacobson is Micheal, Hartley’s agent.

To cast Hartley, Batalova looked for actresses across Saddleback, but after failing to find someone, she posted an audition online. Ella Stichler, a professional actress from Los Angeles was chosen for the role.

Working with the cast Batalova favorite part about production, connecting with student actors and professionals during each take.

“For students, of course, it was a good experience,” Batalova says. “It was their first time in film, actually, but for other actors who are professional, they already had experience. They were so good to work with.”

Filming wasn’t easy, Batalova says.

“The film set is always a disaster,” she says. “It goes wrong all the time.” 

Throughout production, Batalova dealt with small acting spaces due to filming in a suburban home in Orange County and time limitations

“It wasn’t easy for me for three days of production,” Batalova says. “It was really intense, very, very intense.” 

The film has screened in 11 festivals, winning the Silver Award from the Germany Film Festival and Best Honorable Mention for Female Filmmaker from the Chile Film Festival. The film screened this time at the Slavic Film Festival in Los Angeles on Oct. 4 which featured films based on Slavic culture or created by Slavic filmmakers.

“I’m so excited to see our community and it will be not only Russian people, of course, but also people from different countries,” Batalova says. “I hope it will be a very good event.” 

Future plans for the film include a release on YouTube around Halloween, and continuing submissions to film festivals. She also hopes to turn “Better Not Write” into a feature film.

Batalova says that her films hopefully “all find their audience,” she says

“Better Not Write” will be released in fall 2026 on YouTube.

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