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By Kayla DeKraker
Seth Worley, the writer and director behind SKETCH, shared his heart behind the new movie and explained why parents need to watch it.
He describes the movie as “big, funny [and] emotional,” revealing how his sister inspired the story.
“When I was a kid, my younger sister got in trouble for drawing a picture of her teacher getting pelted with arrows,” he told Movieguide® while at SKETCH’s red carpet premiere. “And in hindsight, it was comically violent, but at the time, it was concerning enough for all parties involved that she had to go see a counselor.”
When his sister saw the counselor, she received a surprising yet graceful response.
Worley recalled, “The counselor said, ‘Did you really want to see this happen to your teacher?’ And she said, ‘I did when I drew it. I don’t now.’ And the counselor said, ‘Well, I think you did the right thing. I think drawing this was a much healthier choice than doing it.’”
This gave Worley a new perspective on how people deal with emotions.
“I just remember, even as a kid, thinking this thing that made all the adults in your life sweaty and nervous was actually evidence that you’re a good person making smart, healthy, emotionally healthy choices,” he said, adding, “And I was like, that’s the adult I want to be in some kid’s life when I grow up.”
Worley shared that when he had a daughter of his own in kindergarten, he experienced something similar with her.
The director hopes that this film will teach parents a valuable lesson.
“Specifically for parents, we wanted to make a movie that, one, parents would enjoy and not just tolerate if their kids were to drag them to it, but…even more importantly almost, we want parents to leave feeling empowered to provide a safe space for their kids to creatively process the harder emotions and the harder issues that they’re going to feel in life, that we all feel in life, and not be scared of those and run away from those and not try and shield their kids from that,” he said.
SKETCH tackles tricky topics like grief and a father trying to hold his family together.
SKETCH releases in theaters today, Aug. 6, and Movieguide® praised its “funny and creative exploration of the way grief affects people differently.”
The review continues, “The father is devoted to his children and tries to help them deal with their mother’s death. Also, his children and their friend bond together and stick by each other.”
Movieguide® advises caution for older children, though, because SKETCH “has some magical thinking, foul language and violence. Also, SKETCH has many scary scenes that might frighten children.”
The movie’s Instagram page explained it got a PG rating for “some scary (but insanely cool!) chalk monster battles” and “also some mild swearing”
While SKETCH might not be the best choice for little kids, it has deep and meaningful lessons that older children and parents could learn a lot from.
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