by Mandy Ward
I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs. Looking for fresh content after producing in NYC for nearly 10 years and working for a production company in Tribeca was not as easy as it seemed. There was a gaping hole that I discovered in my search: a reluctance to finance, produce, and distribute anything by first time directors. I would read dozens of scripts a week and see nothing but old stories reworked and retold (or genre-based just for genre’s sake). But occasionally, I would stumble onto an amazing, ORIGINAL, imaginative and well written story by a first time writer or director and pitch it around. And this would be the response: “This is amazing. Great writing, seems like a big talent… BUT NO THANKS.” This would happen not once – but literally hundreds of times! It was not only frustrating, but it left me thinking: “What is to become of the film industry if we do not support new thinkers and artists?” And the answer: We are left with the same people, the same styles and the same stories. And they will attract ever-diminishing audiences.
