Elijah Barry – 2023 Short Film Script Finalist

It Won't Always Be Like This

On the long way back to her parents’ house a mother attempts to start over with her son.

“At its core, the script is about wanting more out of life and the torture of a guilty conscious—every step asking yourself, “am I doing the right thing?”. It’s a love letter to all the hours spent in the car with my own mom (our secret reprieve). Every sun-soaked jam session on the interstate, every sightseeing trip through nicer neighborhoods, every complicated grocery store run.

Emergency room visits were often; money was always tight; strange characters constantly walked in and out of our lives as we moved from home to home. This large-family, transient upbringing left me desperate for connection. Jennifer, our protagonist, comes from a similar place. Eager to be loved, but terrified to be known. Persistent that a change of scenery is all she needs. And so it was especially interesting to write about her struggling, even still, on the road—the landscape ever-changing, her son an anchor to the past and a promise of the future.”

Elijah Barry is an independent filmmaker and MFA graduate of the FSU College of Motion Picture Arts. One of six children, raised by a single mother, he’s compelled to tell stories for and about working-class families—swelling walls, complex emotions, home appliances in poor repair. He currently resides in 400 square feet developing his short, IT WON’T ALWAYS BE LIKE THIS, and writing a seminal feature. He is currently a finalist for the 2023 Adobe Sundance Ignite Fellowship.

His short BRIEFLY GORGEOUS (2022) recently screened Closing Night of the Nitehawk Film Festival. The film won Best Student Short at the Chain NYC Film Festival, as well as the Gondry Award at the Arthouse Film Festival.

His latest short script, IT WON’T ALWAYS BE LIKE THIS, is a subtle and searing portrait of a young mother. Familiar existential questions are posed behind a deceptively simple life-on-the-run plot. With Jen, we experience the highs and lows of life as she makes the best out of a bad situation, succumbs to her worst instincts, and swallows her pride when she’s messed up.