If We All Stay Silent: a short film

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If We All Stay Silent: a short film

This is a film I created as part of my MFA in Creative Nonfiction at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. During the Fall semester in 2022 I took a film concentration and worked under the brilliant filmmaker Nina Davenport. As part of that concentration, I made the film you’re about to see.

My original plan was to hire a cinematographer, since as Story Producer for 15+ films for the I Am A Creator docuseries, I've always worked with the brilliant and skilled cinematographer Henry Thong. Typically my role in the filmmaking process is to find the subject, research and craft interview questions, ask interview questions behind the camera, build the foundational pre-production b-roll plan, and then do the first skeleton edit of the raw interview footage.

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When to Hold Tight and When to Let Go

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When to Hold Tight and When to Let Go

Professional stunt performer and driver Richard Marrero has been in Marvel films and award-winning TV shows, but sometimes a creative life also means life of uncertainty.

This is a story about how he (and his wife Carly) deal with the ups and downs of a life in the entertainment industry, and what kept Richard going towards his dream even when it felt like it was going nowhere. 

It starts with a breakfast burrito.

Years ago, my longtime writer-friend Carly Miller-Marrero mentioned a film project her husband, Richard Marrero, was hoping to be working on soon. She didn’t use any proper nouns, but shared that Richard might be stunt doubling an actor that he would be excited to work with. But of course, she said, you never know with these things. 

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Telling Stories with Hair

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Telling Stories with Hair


Why head of the hair department for Stranger Things Sarah Hindsgaul moved to another country to tell stories with hair, the rejection that changed her life, and why she followed her gut and risked everything to create the buzz-cut wig for Eleven.

The day Season Four of Stranger Things comes out on Netflix (May 27, 2022) I’m unable to watch (aka binge) right away because of plans I’d made long before I knew the release date. The next day, on my way to plans I slightly regret because I wish I was spending all day watching Stranger Things, I reply to an Instagram Story of the only other person I follow who is as obsessed with Stranger Things as I am (her mom is currently watching the series for the first time and provides the best quotes) about her post-binge, spoiler-free thoughts, which I devour. Then I reply, with urgency that surprises even me:

“But I just need to know…how is the hair this season??”

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Quitting Art

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Quitting Art


Boardwalk Pictures founder Andrew Fried on leaving what you love and finding your way back again.

I walk up to an unassuming brick building on a crisp, sunny, Santa Monica day; I pause in front of the glass double doors before opening them. I see myself reflected: high-waisted jeans, a striped shirt, platform Teva’s, and a large black backpack holding my laptop and clipboard, both carrying notes for the b-roll we need to shoot later today; after this, I’ll be walking a few blocks to a nearby painter’s studio where I’m producing an episode of a docuseries.

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Finding Focus

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Finding Focus


What happened when Chef’s Table cinematographer Chloe Weaver finally started saying her career ambitions out loud.

Everyone thinks I’m an extra.

I’m sitting on a circle couch in a fancy hotel lobby in LA, and most everyone else milling about is dressed for a fictional brunch, extras in a TV show filming in the open dining room just across the lobby.

The screen of one camera is just eight feet away from me and I watch the scene through it, zooming in and out on an actor in a colorful 90’s-style jacket. He looks familiar, but I can’t quite place him.

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Stories that Last

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Stories that Last


Disney writer and director John Musker on writing with a collaborator, which feedback to take and which to ignore, and how to keep going when you’re stuck.

I almost expect the bunny to start talking to me.

I stare as it hops silently into the greenery outside the home of John Musker, the man who brought to life a mouse detective, a blue genie, a frog prince, an ocean voyager, and a little mermaid. I’ve been listening to John’s words since I was three-years old. I walk past the hiding bunny to John’s door, remembering the first time his art affected my life.

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Childhood is Better than Awards

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Childhood is Better than Awards


Oscar-winning songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez on finding their dreams and what’s even better than winning an Oscar.

Today I saw the movie CoCo for the first time (spoiler alert: I cried 17 times).

Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez wrote the Golden-Globe and Oscar-nominated title song, “Remember Me,” for the Disney Pixar film, and I couldn’t help but smile as I watched the Golden Globes recently and caught a glimpse of them sitting in their finest at a round table with other artists I love (like the director and writer of Frozen, Jennifer Lee). A few months ago I sat at a square table on my porch in San Diego, California, phone in hand, about to call Kristen and Bobby.

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When it's Time to Walk Away

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When it's Time to Walk Away


Broadway performer Morgan Marcell (Matayoshi) on walking away from something good to pursue what lights you up.

Morgan Marcell is a force.

You might know that from hearing her on the Hamilton cast album, seeing her on Broadway, or maybe you saw her on TV that time she performed at The Grammys.

(If you’re a super Hamilton fan you definitely saw her perform “My Shot” as Alexander Hamilton for a few minutes outside The Richard Rogers theater, or caught a glimpse of her at The White House performance.)

I know it because I met her backstage at Hamilton once where her smile literally changed the electricity in a room already lit up with stars (and cake).

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When No One Will Hire You

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When No One Will Hire You


Oscar-winning makeup artist Dave Elsey on what to do when no one will hire you for your dream job.

I wish you could hear Dave Elsey’s voice. It’s all kindness and wonder, wrapped up in an accent that makes me long for the two weeks I spent across England in my third year of college, climbing up moors with sheep everywhere, eating jacket potatoes in places called the “Red Lion,” and trying chana masala for the first time in London.

Also there was the Monet room, which I stumbled upon while lost, roaming the giant halls of the National Gallery in London, the art museum guarded by giant bronze Lions in Trafalgar Square. I stood in the exact center of the Monet room, equidistant from each painting, and slowly walked closer until my breath touched the paint.

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