S&Q Films Is Un-Gatekeeping Independent Filmmaking, Starting With Me & My Big Mug

On a Sunday afternoon, film directors Reagan Yorke and Jillian Smith sit in what appears to be their natural habitat: their workplace, with iced coffees in hand. For the co-founders of S&Q Films, the routine is a creative ritual. The duo is navigating the final stretch of preparation for the upcoming premiere of their newest experimental short, Me & My Big Mug, at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills.

Operating on an intense schedule that demands complete focus, they are using their platform to pull back the red velvet curtain on independent cinema.

“I think our vibe is maybe a little caffeinated work sesh,” Smith says. “We’re very much leading up to the premiere event, so we’ve been very locked in on the prep. It has been like pre-production in itself.”

“Basically working 16-hour days in the best way,” Yorke adds. “We love it.”

Their current drinks mirror their working styles. Yorke relies on a classic shaken espresso. “It keeps you going and doesn’t make me tired,” she says. “Sometimes I crash after coffee.” Smith is testing a protein iced coffee, seeking a healthier alternative. “I like it so far. It works.”

Through Me & My Big Mug, Yorke and Smith are shifting the mechanics of independent filmmaking. By turning social media audiences into active collaborators, they are opening doors for emerging talent and proving that community-driven storytelling can thrive outside traditional industry gatekeepers.

Before establishing S&Q Films, both Yorke and Smith maintained individual profiles online as digital content creators, generating a combined audience of millions. Yorke built a following of over 4 million by translating major studio productions for social media through behind-the-scenes footage and personal interviews with directors like Quentin Tarantino. Smith, an Emmy-nominated actress recognised for her role on Nick News, accumulated over 5 million followers through highly technical makeup and transition videos.

Their worlds collided in 2023 when they entered a 48-hour film competition, a collaborative experience that resulted in their first joint short film, Weight. The project won numerous festival accolades, including Best Annual Female Film, and marked a shift in how they viewed both their online presence and their creative output.

“It was a gradual process,” Yorke says. “We were both doing our own things, and then once we met, we started talking about films and started posting TikToks related to films. Then we finally took the leap to make a short film for the first time, and it snowballed from there.”

Transitioning their existing audiences into a film-focused community presented initial challenges. Their personal accounts carried established audience expectations that clashed with their cinematic ambitions.

“When we tried posting it on our personal pages, it felt too different from our content previously,” Yorke says. “So that’s when we decided to make a joint account. That was the moment where we let go of overthinking posts and just let it live on its own. It was a freeing moment.”

By keeping their personal and creative identities separate, S&Q Films became a distinct creative sandbox, generating over 300 million impressions in its first year. “Every time we’re posting about our more personal lives on our other channels, it’s different,” Smith says. “But when it’s S&Q, it’s ‘full send, post that story.’ It doesn’t matter what we’re doing. We just want to be open to the audience.”

The professional divide between internet content creation and traditional cinema remains a barrier in Hollywood, though Yorke and Smith observe that the boundary is softening. The emergence of self-taught digital creators moving into major theatrical distribution serves as a clear case study.

“I think it is still a little bit of a divide, but it’s slowly changing,” Smith notes. “Especially with what’s happening in the indie film space right now, there’s a merge, and trust is being given to creators in a way that it wasn’t before. When we were creating, we never really stopped to think about that because it was all out of passion. We were just going for it and not feeling like we were stuck in a certain category.”

“The whole label of being a filmmaker, at first, we didn’t know if we could call ourselves directors or filmmakers,” Yorke says. “I think after making our first film and realizing, ‘We did that. We are directors. We are filmmakers.’ Owning that title has been an empowering thing, and it’s fun to step into that space with confidence. Separate from all the social media, we did the thing.”

The path from short-form videos to structured narrative filmmaking is becoming more common, exemplified by creators like Kane Parsons, who leveraged his viral YouTube series The Backrooms into a feature film deal with A24.

“It’s cool to see that and honestly very inspiring for the whole film space,” Yorke says of the trend. “Definitely motivating,” Smith adds.

The founding ethos of S&Q Films rests on dismantling the traditional system that governs access to film production. Smith and Yorke frame their production model around transparency and community accessibility.

“One of our biggest things is, in a sense, ‘un-gatekeeping’ the film industry,” Smith explains. “It’s very community-led and community-based. Even for our most recent project, we did a huge open casting call on our socials. Everyone that we cast came from our S&Q pages. Same with the crew. Same with all of our extras. Literally, this film was built from the community.”

“That’s definitely one of our biggest things, giving that opportunity to everyone,” Smith says. “It goes back to showing our journey and being super honest about it. It’s cool to see other filmmakers or girls look up to that journey and know that it’s possible to do it without connections or knowing someone in the film industry and just going for it.”

Yorke points out that their documentation fills an educational void they experienced firsthand. “Showing the real BTS, the real behind-the-scenes, we never really saw that, so we didn’t know what to do going into it,” she says. “So we were like, ‘We’re just going to record everything and post it and show it.’ Just being honest.”

The company’s third short film, Me & My Big Mug, represents a deliberate evolution in their narrative style, moving into surrealism to depict the specific anxieties of early adulthood. The film follows Sammy, a corporate door-to-door sales employee, navigating the monotony of an ordinary workday before unexpectedly becoming lost inside her childhood rug.

“We’re into psychological, visually abstract, very out-there imagery,” Yorke says regarding their thematic preferences. “And we like to tell stories that we can relate to. I think that’s been a big thing in our last film, really getting into the head of Gen Z and this age group and understanding what stories they want. Coming from us being in that space, it’s really helpful for us to connect to our characters and what they’re going through.”

Smith describes their directorial identity as a balance between grounding relatable emotions and executing unconventional world-building. “It’s a combination of the weird visuals, but also a grounding element of what we can relate to,” she says. “I think that’s where we’re best as directors, when we can really relate to and understand the story in some way. But also world-building, too. We’re very into creating these different worlds and scenes that feel like something that’s only existed in our minds.”

The script for Me & My Big Mug addresses the ubiquitous pressure of modern career comparison.

“She’s in her twenties. We’re in the midst of our twenties,” Yorke says. “It’s a chaotic time of figuring out what path you take, and everyone is doing so many different things.”

“It’s about comparison during that time, thinking you’re never doing enough, comparing yourself to other life paths, questioning that,” Smith says. “So it does go hand in hand with our journey and what we’re trying to do. That was a fun thing, but it was mainly about experimenting visually with this one. I think we really liked the idea of that childhood rug and getting lost in that world.”

The title of the film itself emerged organically during production, developing from an on-set joke into a central metaphor.

“We actually never know the title of the film going into it,” Smith says. “When we have the little clapper on set, it’s always just a different word.”

“It goes back to the whole metaphor of coffee in the film,” Yorke explains. “And coffee being almost that grounding factor, almost like their prize in life. I think us drinking coffee every day is also very telling of how we feel about it. I felt like it was really fun to have something more playful and quirky that related back to how we’re feeling in life.”

The childhood rug serves as a specific nostalgic touchstone for the production team and the audience.

“It’s this weird nostalgic but connected universal experience that a lot of people have,” Yorke notes. “Everyone on our post-production team who’s seen snippets of the film always has something to say about that part. They’re like, ‘Wait, I had that rug.’ And we’re like, ‘Perfect. You get it.’”

To staff the film, S&Q Films bypassed traditional casting agencies, issuing an open call directly through their social channels. The response was massive, yielding over 20,000 digital submissions for the project’s three lead roles.

“We very much woke up the next day to all of those submissions and were like, ‘We need to watch every single one,’” Smith recalls. “That was a big thing for us. If these people are putting in the energy to send us tapes, then we have to sit and watch them. So we did. We sat down for about two weeks straight and watched every single video.”

The massive influx of audition tapes provided the directors with unexpected insight into the characters they were actively refining.

“It helped us build the characters we wanted in the film,” Yorke says. “Even when we got to the next round and had actors do read-throughs and actual dialogue tapes, it was crazy. We’d watch an actor perform a scene and think, ‘Oh, that’s how it’s supposed to be done.’ It really opened our eyes.”

The process resulted in hiring emerging talent, including lead actress Lucy Page, who had no prior experience on a formal film set. By sharing the production in real time, millions of viewers tracked Page’s evolution into her first major screen role.

“All these people had been supporting our previous films and waiting for releases,” Yorke says. “Opening up auditions and seeing all those submissions made us realize how much talent is out there and undiscovered. Maybe traditional actors have certain methods or processes around characters, but these new actors felt so fresh in what we were asking of them.”

“There was a grounding element because Lucy Page, our lead actress, had never been on a film set before,” Smith says. “I think seeing her reaction to being on set was really special. You could see how much she wanted to be there.”

By bringing their audience into the production pipeline, S&Q Films operates within a highly collaborative environment. On set, Yorke and Smith reject rigid directorial hierarchies in favour of open dialogue with their cast and crew.

“We’re very collaborative,” Yorke states. “Even on set, we’d ask the actors, ‘How are you feeling in this scene?’ or ‘Where do you think this character should be?’ I think that shows through in the film too. It feels very authentic in that sense.”

This ethos extended to the physical environment of the set. Page routinely spent her days off sitting behind the scenes just to observe the technical mechanics of the crew.

“We were like, ‘You need to sleep at some point,’” Yorke laughs. “I think the whole cast and crew brought such great energy. Whenever we can foster an environment like that, the film comes out that much better. And again, it’s about giving opportunities and continuing that whole idea of un-gatekeeping. Giving people more chances.”

“When we posted less behind-the-scenes content and more of just the visual elements, there was almost a disconnect between who we are as directors and what people understood from our stories,” Smith says. “So I think adding the behind-the-scenes created a whole new layer that a lot of people don’t have in their directing. Our audience gets to follow along with the film while it’s being made, from day one. Starting with casting and then moving into production, we’re showing everything as it’s actively happening. So when the final result comes out, it’s like everyone has been a part of the film in some way.”

“A lot of the responses to recent films are proving that people will go out to theatres and support new directors,” Yorke says. “I think that’s been really cool to see in Hollywood, fresh takes, new faces, new talent. Having an audience that’s built into the process and has been there since the beginning is really helpful. It’s kind of been a new wave of connecting with people who actually want to purchase tickets and support the work.”

The response to their premiere shows that S&Q’s approach is resonating with audiences.

“Even with the premiere, we sold out last night,” Yorke says. “I don’t think we expected that reaction. It’s really cool to know that people will come in person to watch things that directors made.”

For Smith, the dynamic nature of the current digital landscape offers continuous opportunities for independent distribution.

“I feel like we talk about this all the time because it’s changing every day,” she says. “And it’s so fun to stay up to date with it. We’re just excited.”

With Me & My Big Mug completed, Yorke and Smith are shifting their operational focus toward long-form theatrical features. They view their collective short films, including 2024’s Cheers, as standalone works capable of building an artistic identity.

“Like Reagan said before, the next thing we’re doing is a feature film,” Smith says. “With this past film, we’ve really been able to find our style, and we’re fully ready to take on that next step. I think this premiere is also a celebration in a sense because so many people worked on this film. So much of our community was involved. We have this big office scene with a bunch of extras, and a lot of them are coming to the premiere. Being able to see all of them again and celebrate what we all made together is going to be really cool. It’s going to feel very full circle.”

The premiere event at the Fine Arts Theatre reflects this community approach. Complete with a red carpet, the evening features a 15-minute behind-the-scenes documentary and a live conversation regarding filmmaking and social media workflows.

“We were really talking about how important it is to get people out to theatres and watching films in person,” Yorke notes. “If we can do that in the indie space, get people to meet each other, build community, and create a fan base of people who want to come see S&Q Films, I feel like that’s just the start. It’s the beginning of us making longer films and having people come out to watch features, sit through an entire movie, and then discuss it afterward. That’s really our biggest goal.”

When asked to provide a cinematic reference point for emerging filmmakers looking to make a similar leap, Yorke points immediately to Damien Chazelle’s 2014 psychological drama Whiplash. The film’s production history offers a concrete template for scaling up an independent project.

“Going from the short film to feature space, I think watching that process has been really inspiring,” Yorke explains. “We’re big fans of everyone involved in that film. It’s something we always go back to. We have it playing in the background all the time. For aspiring filmmakers, it’s cool to watch the short film version of Whiplash and then watch the feature. Just see the difference. And also know the budget and how quickly it was made. Knowing how much can be done with that budget is really inspiring.”

Smith looks to Sean Baker’s 2017 hyper-realistic indie drama The Florida Project as an example of fluid, intuitive filmmaking that embraces environmental spontaneity.

“It’s very indie,” Smith says. “We watched interviews afterward where he talked about not even knowing if parts of it were going to make sense. They were just building the film as they went. There’s a scene where a plane flies overhead, and they didn’t even plan it. They were just like, ‘Get a shot of that.’ There are so many moments where you kind of just go for it. You can make an amazing, incredible film without a massive budget. You just need passion. That’s it.”

By blending the precise technical pacing of Chazelle with the gritty, community-centred realism of Baker, Yorke and Smith are charting an independent path forward.

“He’s someone we really look up to in the indie space,” Yorke says of Baker. “And also Damien Chazelle. Visually, he’s been a huge inspiration for us. We’ve taken inspiration from everyone we watch. It’s cool to mix those influences together, start from that indie space, and just go for it.”

The transition from digital creators to feature directors is being mapped out through the exact system that brought them here: a direct, transparent line to their audience. By converting digital followers into cast members, crew partners, and ticket buyers, S&Q Films has built an ecosystem that functions independently of traditional studio infrastructure. With Me & My Big Mug serving as their stylistic proof of concept, the duo is demonstrating that independent cinema no longer requires permission from traditional industry gatekeepers to find its crowd. It simply requires the community to show up.