By Tracy Dietlin
Crystal Harrell has made quite a name for herself here in the desert. Whether it is as a head feature writer at CV Weekly for over 10 years, or Senior Promotions Producer at KESQ News Channel 3, or reporter for the Hi-Desert Star and contributor to numerous other publications, she always gives 100 percent. Harrell is also a board member of PSWFT as well as active in several valley charities. And now, she has turned one of her poems into a short film as an official selection in this year’s American Documentary and Animation Film Festival. We caught up with Crystal, along with her award-winning director Kent Kay and her husband, Kurt Schawacker, who served as the Best Boy on the project.
CRYSTAL HARRELL- Writer/Producer
CVW: Name Tag began as a poem you wrote nearly two years ago. Can you tell us about the moment or experience that inspired that poem?
Crystal Harrell: “I wrote “Name Tag” during a period of transition in my life. I had just started a new job and was trying to navigate a lot of uncertainty, both professionally and personally. Around that time I was also dealing with symptoms of an autoimmune disorder that I didn’t fully understand yet, so there was this constant feeling of trying to keep up with the world while also trying to listen to what my body and mind were telling me. The poem came out of that space of vulnerability—wanting to show up every day and be the best version of myself, even when I didn’t have all the answers. It was about learning to move forward despite self-doubt, despite the way other people might perceive you, and despite being your own harshest critic. Writing it was almost like a quiet moment of honesty with myself.”
CVW: The opening line, “I faced the world today and nobody knew my name,” sets the emotional tone of the piece. What does that line represent to you personally?
Harrell: “To me, that line speaks to the invisible struggles we all carry. On the surface, people might see someone going about their day normally, but internally there can be so many questions, fears, or uncertainties happening at once. When I wrote that line, it was really about that feeling of stepping into the world while still figuring out who you are and where you fit. It’s not about anonymity in the literal sense. It’s more about the idea that the deeper parts of our lives, the things that shape us, often go unseen. The line acknowledges that quiet resilience people carry with them every day.”
CVW: This marks your first professional film writing credit. What was it like seeing your words evolve from a poem into a visual story on screen?
Harrell: “It was surreal in the best way. When you write a poem, it’s usually something very personal and internal. It lives quietly on the page and in your own thoughts. Seeing those words translated into a visual story was incredibly moving. What made it even more unique for me was that this was also my first time being in front of the camera instead of working behind it. As a writer, you’re used to expressing emotion through words, so stepping into the role of visually performing the feeling behind each stanza was a completely different experience. It challenged me to translate that internal dialogue into something physical and present in the moment.”
A huge part of that process was trusting the vision of our talented director, Kent Kay. Kent approached me initially with the idea to adapt “Name Tag” into a short film, and he led the production of the project with a real sensitivity to the tone of the poem and found a way to capture that vulnerability through the visuals. Even while filming in difficult desert conditions, he remained focused on preserving the emotional heart of the piece, of which I am so appreciative of as he remains a lifelong mentor.
I was also incredibly grateful to have my husband, Kurt Schawacker, there as our Best Boy. With such a small crew, everyone was stepping in wherever they were needed, and Kurt was always ready to help with equipment, stand-ins, or simply offering encouragement in my performance in front of the camera. He’s been with me through all the ups and downs of my creative journey and professional milestones, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Having a supportive crew made up of people who mean a lot to me personally made the experience even more meaningful. What started as a very private moment on the page ultimately became something collaborative and shared because of the people who lent their talents to bring it to life.”
CVW: Poetry and film are two very different storytelling mediums. What was the biggest challenge in adapting the poem into a screenplay?
Harrell: “The biggest challenge was translating something that is very internal into something visual. Poetry often lives in emotion, metaphor, and quiet reflection, while film relies on images and movement to communicate those same ideas. What made that process easier was working with Kent as a director. He really understood that the piece needed to remain contemplative and somewhat open-ended, and he found ways to express that through the visuals in such a beautifully artful way, despite time constraints or the limitations of a small crew. His approach helped maintain the emotional core of the poem while allowing the film to breathe as its own medium. And again, having a small but deeply supportive crew made a huge difference. Kurt’s presence on set, along with the trust and encouragement from the people involved, helped create an environment where we
could experiment and stay true to the spirit of the piece. That sense of support felt like we were organically evolving the poem into a new form of storytelling.”
CVW: Name Tag deals with identity and the labels people carry. What conversations do you hope the film sparks with audiences?
Harrell: “I hope it encourages people to reflect on the names and identities they’ve taken on in their own lives—both the ones they’ve chosen for themselves and the ones that have been placed on them by others. At its heart, the film is about learning to embrace the full spectrum of who you are: your flaws, your insecurities, your triumphs, and your growth. When we’re in the middle of a difficult chapter, it can feel like we’re completely lost. But sometimes when you look back, you realize that those moments were actually guiding you toward becoming a stronger and more authentic version of yourself.”
CVW: As someone who writes across journalism and creative storytelling, how did your background influence the way you approached this project?
Harrell: “Journalism has taught me to observe people and moments closely and to pay attention to the small details that reveal something deeper about the human experience. That perspective definitely shaped how I approached “Name Tag”. At the same time, creative writing is my first love and allows you to explore emotions in a more abstract and expressive way. This project felt like a marriage between those two worlds. It grounded the story in something real and personal while still allowing space for interpretation and reflection.”
CVW: How did being part of PSWIFT help you take this step into filmmaking?
Harrell: “Being part of Palm Springs Women in Film & Television (PSWIFT) really helped me see filmmaking as something tangible and accessible rather than something that felt distant or intimidating. Through PSWIFT, I’ve been surrounded by a community of incredibly talented women and filmmakers who are passionate about storytelling and supportive of one another’s creative journeys. That environment creates a sense of encouragement to step outside of your comfort zone and actually pursue the ideas you’ve been carrying with you.”
KENT KAY- Director:
CVW: What first drew you to Crystal’s poem and made you want to adapt it into a short film?
Kent Kay: “What first drew me to Crystal’s poem was that I recognized the life inside it. For several years, Crystal wanted to work in my creative department at KESQ. She was unwavering in that desire. She believed in that path with a kind of persistence that was impossible to ignore. I already knew she was a gifted writer, but the position she wanted demanded technical skills she was still in the process of developing, so bringing her in meant taking a chance, not only on her talent, but on her resilience.
Once she joined the department, I watched her step into an environment that could be relentless. Television promotion moves fast, the deadlines are constant, and the pressure can grind people down. But Crystal met that pressure with remarkable courage. No matter how difficult the day had been, she came back the next day ready to learn, ready to work, and ready to keep going. There was something striking about that. I had rarely seen someone carry both that much determination and that much grace at the same time.
So when I heard her read Name Tag for the first time, it landed in me very deeply. I was not just hearing a poem. I was hearing an artist give language to experiences I had, in some way, witnessed alongside her. As she read, images began forming in my mind almost immediately. Moments, emotions, fragments of memory, they all started surfacing at once. I remember thinking very clearly: this is not meant to live only on the page. This wants to become a film.
Like many meaningful ideas, it had to wait for its moment. Then, months later, when I began my MFA in Film and Television Production, I was given an assignment to direct a short film in my first semester. I knew almost instantly that I wanted to return to Crystal’s poem. It felt like the right time, and the right form, to honor not only the beauty of her words, but the truth of the experience behind them. Name Tag began there, from the desire to create imagery worthy of what Crystal had lived and what she had so bravely written.
CVW: Name Tag has a very atmospheric visual style, especially with the desert sandstorm setting. How did you approach translating the emotional tone of the poem into imagery?
Kay: “Because the poem is emotionally rich and layered, I knew I could not approach the imagery too literally. I was less interested in illustrating each line than in translating the feeling beneath it. That meant thinking in visual tensions: a woman against the environment, a woman against the world around her, a woman against her own thoughts, and even a woman in silent confrontation with something larger than herself. Once I began to see the poem through those different lenses, the visual language of the film started to reveal itself.
From there, the locations became clear to me almost instinctively. The landscapes in and around Palm Springs offered exactly the kind of emotional vocabulary I was looking for. The desert can feel beautiful, but it can also feel exposed, punishing, isolating, and strangely spiritual all at once. That complexity made it the perfect setting for a poem that is wrestling with identity, vulnerability, and perception.
The sandstorm imagery, in particular, felt like an external expression of an internal state. It gave form to emotional turbulence, confusion, and pressure, while still allowing the film to remain poetic rather than overly explanatory. My goal was always to let the imagery carry the emotional weight of the poem in a way that felt cinematic, atmospheric, and open enough for the audience to bring their own meaning to it.”
CVW: The film was shot in challenging natural conditions. What were some of the biggest obstacles you faced while directing in the desert environment?
Kay: “The desert gave us beauty, but it also gave us a very real trial. The wind near the train station off Indian Canyon in Palm Springs was relentless and punishing. On the day we were shooting, the sand was drifting so aggressively that it seemed it would overtake the structure itself. So in the most literal sense, our greatest obstacle was the sand. It was everywhere, in the air, in our ears, in our mouths, against the gear, in all of the places sand should not be, and constantly threatening the practical realities of the shoot.
CVW: With such a small crew, collaboration becomes even more important. How did that dynamic shape the filmmaking process?
Kay: “Going into the shoot, I had prepared myself for the possibility that much of it would rest on my shoulders alone. I was ready to direct while also operating multiple cameras, setting and measuring lights, building our small environments, and moving equipment from one location to the next. That was simply the reality I expected. So when Crystal arrived with her husband, Kurt Schawacker, I felt an immediate sense of gratitude.
Kurt understood the technical demands of production almost instinctively, and he was able to step in right away in a way that was both practical and invaluable. With a film like this, especially one shot under pressure and across multiple locations, that kind of support can make the difference between merely surviving the day and actually creating something cinematic. Kurt became an essential part of helping me realize the visual language I had in mind.
We captured the film over the course of essentially one very long day, moving through more than four locations from early morning until dark. It was an ambitious undertaking for such a small team, and there is no question that I could not have achieved the scope of what we captured, especially working with multiple cameras, without Kurt’s help. In a production that intimate, collaboration was not just important, it was the reason the film became what it is.”
CVW: What do you hope audiences feel or reflect on after watching Name Tag?
Kay: “What I hope audiences feel after watching Name Tag is a renewed belief in endurance, in the idea that failure does not get the final word unless we surrender to it. Dreams are rarely realized in a straight line. They ask something of us. They ask us to endure disappointment, uncertainty, hardship, and self-doubt, and still find the will to rise again. I hope the film reminds people that what makes a dream attainable is not the absence of struggle, but the refusal to stop reaching.
Crystal embodies that truth in a profound way. And I do not mean that only in the context of her professional journey or the path that eventually brought her into my creative department at KESQ. I mean it in the larger sense of who she is. She has faced serious challenges in her life with a kind of strength and ferocity that cannot be ignored. There is something deeply moving about watching a person continue to move forward, not because the path is easy, but because something in them refuses to be defeated.
If audiences take anything away from Name Tag, I hope it is that same sense of possibility. I hope they see in Crystal’s story a reflection of their own unrealized hopes and remember that the distance between where we are and where we want to be is often crossed by persistence. Sometimes the most powerful thing a person can do is simply stand back up one more time.”
CVW: The film explores identity and perception. From a director’s perspective, how did you visually communicate those themes?
Kay: “From a director’s perspective, I knew very early that I did not want to approach the title in a literal or overly obvious way. The easy choice would have been to lean on actual name tags as a repeated visual device, but that felt too simplistic for what Crystal’s poem was really expressing. She was not writing about name tags in the ordinary sense. She was writing about identity, about recognition, and about the longing to be seen for who you truly are and for what you carry within you.
Because of that, I wanted the film’s visual language to operate metaphorically rather than literally. My goal was to create imagery that suggested the emotional and symbolic weight behind the poem, not just its surface reference. So instead of illustrating the words in a direct way, I tried to build a world of visual tensions: the individual against the landscape, vulnerability against harshness, presence against invisibility, and inner truth against the labels the world tries to impose. Those contrasts became a way of expressing what Crystal was really writing about beneath the poem’s title.
Just as importantly, I wanted audiences to be able to see themselves inside the piece. By leaning into symbolism and metaphor, the film becomes less tied to one literal interpretation and more open to personal connection. That openness allows the story to resonate beyond Crystal alone. Viewers can begin to locate their own struggles, hopes, and questions about identity within the imagery, and that is where empathy begins. For me, that was one of the most important goals, to create something specific enough to be truthful, but universal enough that almost anyone could find themselves reflected in it.”
KURT SCHAWACKER- Best Boy:
CVW: Working on a small production often means wearing multiple hats. What were some of the roles you found yourself stepping into during the shoot?
Schawacker: “Mostly grip work and best boy tasks to support our director Kent, and our leading lady Crystal.”
CVW: What was the most memorable or unexpected moment while filming Name Tag?
Schawacker: “The most memorable moment of the filming process for me was definitely the outdoor shoot we did under VERY windy conditions in north Palm Springs.”
CVW: The desert environment added a lot of texture to the film but also created challenges. What was it like working behind the scenes in those conditions?
Schawacker: “You learn to operate differently in a windy/sandy environment compared to somewhere with less extreme conditions, like how you stand facing away from the wind to protect your eyes and knowing when to deploy your equipment to mitigate the risk of damaging lenses, lights, and so on. The extreme environment is itself a method actor so you need to work within its constraints and respect it since it will not do the same for you, the cast, and the crew.”
CVW: Best Boys often help keep everything running smoothly on set. What does that role mean to you in the filmmaking process?
Schawacker: “I feel that if I’m doing my job right on set, it’s making other people’s jobs easier. The more constraints to creativity I can remove for others, the better the final result will be and the more fun the experience becomes for everyone overall.”
Name Tag will be screened at the American Documentary and Animation Film Festival on March 29 at 5 p.m. at the Palm Springs Cultural Center. For more information and tickets, visit www.amdocfilmfest.com.
