Nora Kirkpatrick is a triple threat when it comes to filmmaking. She acts, she writes and she directs.

But she wasn't always involved solely with the silver screen. After college, she took a detour and joined Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros as an accordion player. The band won a Grammy, toured the world and played at festivals like Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo and Coachella.

For Kirkpatrick, being a musician was "not her ultimate goal," according to her website. Before leaving the band, she began to write scripts, building on what she learned during her studies in the School of Theatre, Film and Television at UCLA.

Fast forward a few years. Kirkpatrick is now an accomplished director. Her most recent short film, "Long Time Listener, First Time Caller," will screen at the 25th annual Palm Springs International ShortFest, happening June 18-24.

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The film is about a small town, sexually repressed woman, Nan (Breeda Wool), who accidentally tunes into a late-night radio show and calls in to desperately ask questions about her existence, marriage and purpose.

"We made the film in three days in Joshua Tree and had an incredible experience doing it," said Kirkpatrick, an Iowa native who moved to California duringher sophomore year and attended La Quinta High School. "The reason I wanted to make a short is, it can be a very pure expression of theme or idea as you don't have to take a lot of notes along the way. Short films can be a potent way to get an idea across, and due to their short length, easier to hang on to the reigns of the theme."

Now based in Los Angeles, Kirkpatrick started out as an actress, playing roles on TV shows such as "The Office," "Greek" and "Jennifer Falls." In 2015, she starred in the film "Pink Grapefruit," which won the Grand Jury Award at SXSW Film Festival, and appeared in Paul Lieberstein’s "Song of Back and Neck" last year.

Being on set made her hungry for more.

"I wanted to be more involved, and I had ideas and didn't know the best way to do that," she said.

So, she started working on selling her first show, "Best Seller," co-written with Saturday Night Live writer Dennis McNicholas. It sold to Comedy Central.*

"When that happened and I started to do that, then I was like, ‘This a real thing, I can do this,’" Kirkpatrick recalled. "Then that led to the directing, wanting to be able to carry my ideas all the way to the finish line."

In 2016, Kirkpatrick served as a collaborating director for the 10-episode comedy series, "Disengaged," about a lesbian couple living in Los Angeles who get hitched after the legalization of gay marriage.

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Two years later, she wrote and directed a choose-your-own-adventure, live action comedy series on Hulu, "Door No.1," starring Snoop Dogg and Ravi Patel. She used virtual reality technology to make the viewer the protagonist, a student attending a 10-year high school reunion, who can take multiple paths through the story.

Kirkpatrick said her passion for filmmaking came after watching movies like the 1986 film "Three Amigos" and Michael Hoffman's "Soap Dish."

When asked about her creative process, Kirkpatrick said that when an idea sparks in her mind, she puts in the time to create a TV series bible, a technique used by screenwriters to document information such as characters, settings and other elements.

"It's been the last couple of years that I feel like I'm in a good spot," Kirkpatrick said. "When I have an idea, usually I can just make some kind of way to make it happen.”

Recently, she sold an eight-episode interactive murder mystery series, "The Coop,” to Funny or Die and Eko. Additionally, her script, "Best Seller," co-written with Saturday Night Live writer Dennis McNicholas, won the $10,000 Shore Scripts competition. Both are in post-production.

*Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified Nora Kirkpatrick's first show sold, "Best Seller," which won best screenplay awards from HollyShorts Film Festival and Shore Scripts, and was sold to Comedy Central. It was also updated with a quote from Kirkpatrick's website.

If you go

What: "Long Time Listener, First Time Caller" by Nora Kirkpatrick at Palm Springs International ShortFest

When: Wednesday, June 19 at 4:45 p.m., festival runs June 18-24

Where: Palm Springs Cultural Center, 2300 E. Baristo Rd, Palm Springs

ShortFest tickets and six-pack vouchers are available for online purchase at psfilmfest.org/2019-shortfest/attend-shortfest/tickets or by calling the box office at (760) 778-8979, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.