What pulled you into film and TV in the first place?
The power of stories and storytelling through a magic visual medium. Like many others, The Wizard of Oz was my earliest influence. It scared me, enchanted me and gave me hope. As I grew up, I understood the purpose of metaphors all the more, and how beautifully they could be brought to life in films. I started telling people when I was 5 years old, I was going to direct movies. My parents encouraged it and I’ve never looked back. To this day, you can still see the influence of Oz in my work through color palettes, subtext through windows and in backgrounds, magic realism and a character’s singular journey toward truth.
What do you think the industry gets most wrong about women like you?
That we’re a novelty. Women filmmakers are still caught in the gerbil wheel of “proving ourselves”. I get questions like, did you do that yourself? YOU edited the film? Why are you doing it like this? As if it’s a surprise that I’m capable of wearing many hats on a film. Or I have to explain myself over and over before being trusted, regardless of my previous successful works. I’m grateful for women pushing through and making films like they want to, redefining the landscape and producing remarkable stories that make a lasting impression.
What does success mean to you?
Knowing that the audience carries my film out of the theater or off the screen with them. If one audience member sees themselves in one of my characters and finds themselves thinking about it later on, in relation to their own life, then I feel no greater success than being able to connect with them.
What are you most proud of that most people don’t know about?
The amount of time and the late nights that I put into each project. That I don’t consider it done until I think I’ve made my cast and crew proud too. That maybe if that 5-year-old girl could look forward and see my films she would say, “That’s exactly what I wanted to do.”
What keeps you going when the industry makes it hard?
Keep telling stories, keep making films. Start a script, buy a prop, anything to just keep taking steps forward and doing what I love.
