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We asked Jennifer ...
REGENERATIVE CREATION COHORT ALUMNI
Where are your beginnings as a storyteller , creator , and filmmaker begin ?
My storytelling career began by ending an audition ! After my third audition on a hot July day in the mid 1990s , I noticed , once again , that I was reading an underdeveloped , vacuous part for a female . The only description of the part was that she was “ ruggedly beautiful .” As I read over dismal dialogue and briefly rehearsed with my scene partner , I exasperatedly said . “ I could write a better script than this .” He looked at me and said . “ Why don ’ t you ?”
I threw the bad script in the trash , left the audition and picked up my pen . That one choice on that one day would allow me to write myself into a better life . Creating parts , plays and films for strong women characters who want to control their own destiny – like me .
How has your participation in the Regenerative Creation Cohort impacted your work as an artist ?
ReGenerative Cohort has been vital for my growth as a filmmaker in the last year . Firstly , it is a safe place to try on your largest thinking among women who are going for their creative lives . We live in a society that makes life very challenging for artists . There isn ’ t enough financial support for the creative process in its beginnings . Capitalism rewards some artists inside an old model . What reGEN is doing is giving space and place for a new kind of storytelling . Storytelling from voices that have been silenced or sanctioned . The cohort is a process , a marker , a kinship , a gathering of intelligence that allows risk taking . Which is the basis for sustainable filmmaking . Probably the most important aspect of it is : community . Too many artist try to go it alone and end up quitting . Every month gathering with these women , reminds me to keep going , keep dreaming , and keep doing !
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