SXSW 2025 Reel Interview: Out for Delivery Is An Inspiring and Simultaneously Comical Narrative Short About the Death and Dignity Act
The most compelling and beautiful art is often the result of a filmmaker embracing creative constraint – and that’s exactly what Out for Delivery director and writer Chelsea Christer did. Reel Talk & Review’s Danielle Forte sat down with Christer alongside her stellar cast, Deanna Rooney and Martin Starr, at this year’s SXSW Film Festival.
Out for Delivery is a ten-minute narrative short that follows Joanna (Rooney), a woman facing a terminal illness, on her last day as she opts for assisted death under the Death with Dignity Act. However, her pursuit of a peaceful end-of-life experience comes with unexpected complications and challenges — and a new friend. “Let’s make something for nothing and have fun over a weekend,” Christer smiles at me, explaining how Out for Delivery came to life, and how she got her producer on board. She tells me that when she sent the script to him he quickly got back to her, saying “finally read your script, you sick fuck.” She laughs. “Once Martin came on board we spun production up, from nothing to 9 days. Shooting took 2 days. So, now we’re here.” She gestures to the room we sat in at the Roaring Fork in downtown Austin at the SXSW Film Festival. Her film was selectively picked to play in part of the narrative short competition at SXSW as well as Sundance, earlier this year. Two feats not many filmmakers can say they have accomplished.
Deanna Rooney, the film’s lead, shared she hadn’t known much about Death with Dignity laws until after agreeing to the part. Once she agreed, she was ecstatic — though she wants me to know that isn’t the right word for this particular topic — to learn more to get into the head of someone who is going through this. Rooney’s research paid off, because she was the perfect fit to portray a seemingly unperfect situation. So much so that Christer wrote the part just for her. The two had gotten close during the pandemic as they went through “many self tapes” for auditions together, and from my short time with his small, but mighty cast, it seemed as though Rooney was the magnetic force that brought everyone together for this film. Martin Starr, who plays Rooney’s unexpectant friend in the film, shared that once he saw Rooney was involved, he was in. “Once I read it, I really loved it. It’s a fun story of a bruting friendship with an expiration date. It adds an extra level of intensity and anxiety, which I think in this case fuels the comedy.”
“Unfortunately this story is inspired by true events.” Christer shared that she had learned about a woman seeking end of life care, and the shipping company the hospital uses had lost her package completely. Simply put, she was not provided her dignity. Christer said her initial reaction to hearing about the story was laughter, “I was trying to understand what it was that made me laugh about something so terrible.” Though, Christer isn’t alone in this – later that day, I went to a screening of Out for Delivery, and the audience reactions consisted of belly laughs throughout the humorous and simultaneously deeply moving short. “There are so many opportunities for this [story] to go completely dramatic. I wanted to honor the grounding nature of this film, being Death with Dignity, but I always knew this had to be a dark comedy because I knew I wanted to bring people in.” Christer did just that. Dark comedy is a gravely underestimated genre, especially when it comes to producing something that really strikes a balance with audiences. In not giving away too much of Christer’s secret to perfecting this, she divulged her approach to the genre; “when you make the comedy situational and not at the expense of something, it’s how people relate and connect to something and find deeper understanding in it.” Above all else, the time constraint aided to this story more than anything. “In making the world bigger, it made it smaller, which I think has been resonating so well with people. It’s this insular story, it’s two lonely people connecting through this lonely experience.” After all, laughter is the most unifying experience.
It will continue its festival run after premiering at Sundance and SXSW. In the meantime, you can follow the film on Instagram @outfordeliveryfilm.
