Beni: You have been making this series for nine years. Are you ready to let these characters go? Or can we expect any spin-offs in the future?

🎀 Star: Well, I’m not really saying goodbye to them, haha. Yes, once all 3 parts come out I will be saying goodbye to the machinima community, so there will be no new projects. I’ve actually started writing Fly Away into a real-life TV show script, as that is something I’ve always dreamed of. Fly Away is also being written into a book with 7/30 chapters written so far! So no, I’m not saying goodbye to them, I’m just moving in a different direction.

Beni: Is the story/characters different compared to what they were initially going to be? How?

🎀 Star: When I first created Fly Away in 2013, it was originally a college series and I made new friends along the way. Dustin, Mattison, Sunshine, and Sydney weren’t even characters at first; in fact, they were extras, but they were my best friends. Lmao I know that’s like the whole cast except four people 😂. The nine main characters are all based off someone real in my life, and the only one who actually had a big change was Zach. The guy he was based off of was a HUUUGE jerk, but he was incorporated because the guy I had a crush on at the time was in another show I was writing. Over the years, Zach slowly transformed, and his personality became that of his voice actors. Slowly, that just became who he was.

Beni: Every writer has a favorite character to write for. Who is yours and why?

🎀 Star: Star. I used to hate her so much because she was based off myself. I really hated myself and I took all my aggression and depression out on her; but over the years as I improved and my mental health started to become a bit more stable, I noticed that she was growing along with me. She went from being this really annoying character who cried all the time, to someone who had genuine emotions and cared so much about people. I was really happy to see her development. Plus, this was my way to share MY experiences.

Beni: Which episode was your favorite to write, your favorite to film, and your favorite episode overall?

🎀 Star: That’s a really hard one - I really love season two overall. But I guess I’ll go with episode five of season three, only because it’s my newest and I got to try a whole bunch of new techniques I had learned. This episode was dear to my heart too because I got to show what it looks like when you try to bottle up your feelings. In episode five, Star is really trying to take care of herself because she’s tired of always making a mess, and then her friends having to clean it up. She tries to stand up for herself to the school’s bully and it ends up backfiring - Dustin ends up cleaning up her mess anyways, and that results in him getting suspended from school. She later breaks down about how hard it is pretending to be happy all the time. I think that specific episode teaches a valuable lesson that it’s okay to be honest, and you don’t have to be happy all the time.

Beni: Fly Away is based on your real-life high school years. Do you find it hard to portray your own experiences with tough topics such as bullying?

🎀 Star: Absolutely not! Writing Fly Away is therapeutic for me and it’s kind of like journaling my trauma. I understand that the series may be traumatic for others, but it really helps me relieve my frustration and it’s nice knowing that people will get to see how things are for me. Generally, a lot of people shut me out or don’t give me the time of day, and it’s really hard going through all of this alone. So I write about it.

Beni: I think someone who is willing to put themselves out there for the public to see their real-life experiences must be very brave. Do you ever regret making your most vulnerable side public?

🎀 Star: Not at all – like I stated above, it really helps me get through my everyday life. Plus, I’m not perfect, but it does hurt not having people I can talk to without them telling me why I have no right to be sad (yes, I get told this A LOT). I enjoy stories where the main character is going through the things I’ve gone through, and I’ve been through a lot of graphic and depressing situations that I purposely haven’t shared until the finale. A lot of people don’t like to talk about this stuff, but I’ve learned that I actually feel better after speaking about it. What happens in my life is not a secret and I shouldn’t feel silly for feeling sad or depressed. Emotions should never be an embarrassment, and I like to view Fly Away as my way of being human and showing that I’m real.

Beni: When you feel unmotivated, uninspired, what helps you get over that feeling?

🎀 Star: Haha, this one is funny. I have a cycle. Here’s how it goes - I film if I have anything to film. If I get burned out, I draw or paint. Next if I get burned out doing that, I play Animal Crossing, which really makes me want to film Fly Away. Then I get highly motivated to write, so I write the book or scripts for the real show. Also, when I see sims directors hype up other directors, it makes me want to work harder so that my hard work pays off and people appreciate me too!

Beni: What is the one thing that you hope Fly Away taught people? What do you hope the viewers will take away from the show/story?

🎀 Star: That it’s Okai to be sad and there’s other people who understand how you feel.

Beni: Is there anything you did during the time of making the show that you regret, or you wish you had done differently?

🎀 Star: Not really. I think we all start somewhere, and I’ve improved so much over my almost 10 years I’ve been here.

Beni: How did you get familiar with machinima? What was the first machinima you've ever seen?

🎀 Star: The first machinima I saw was True things by d3ya95 on YouTube. I didn’t start getting into machinima until I watched PixelCrack’s (formerly known as thehontry1) series Saturday Nights and Nataliefirexx’s My Life, which inspired me to start sims Machinima. The first series I ever planned was called Keepin My Secret which was about a bunch of teens with secrets - unfortunately only 3 eps came out 😂

Beni: Do you have any real-life aspirations to produce/write/direct films or series?

🎀 Star: Yes! I’m about to graduate college, where I studied film. I will be turning Fly Away into a real TV show, and I’ll be working on other movies too.

Beni: What introduced you to the Sims? Do you also play in your free time?

🎀 Star: I was really young, like five, when I started playing the sims 1. I don’t play in my free time anymore, as now I just wanna share my stories every time I make a family, haha.

Beni: Do you think the Plumbbob Awards is a good experience for a machinima director?

🎀 Star: I think the feedback is great for improvement. I think the rubrics are my favorite part of the ceremony, as I will admit as a smaller creator it’s heart wrenching to compete with amazing directors and watch them win every award haha. But I love seeing everyone’s feedback and seeing what people enjoyed. I also like getting my story out there, because then it gives people a reason to watch a show they normally don’t watch, haha.

Beni: What is the most important lesson that you learned since becoming a machinima director?

🎀 Star: The only person’s opinion who matters when it comes to your work is yourself. Not everyone is going to love it, and not everyone is going to watch it; but if you love doing it and you have people that enjoy it, then do it because you love it and because you have people that love it too, even if it’s not a lot.

Beni: Thank you so much Star for joining the Plumbbob Awards this season, and for this interview. I am really excited to see how Fly Away concludes.