2020 has been quite some year. Everyone reading this already knows about the havoc COVID-19 has had on everyone’s lives, so I won’t bother going into detail. While this blog is written within the backdrop of the dreaded Coronavirus, it will not be the focus. Instead, I want to look…
We all know that 2020 has not been the best year. We have gone through very complex and challenging times and with the pandemic and the uncertainty of the future, it’s easy to lose hope when everything seems so bleak. But the world is full of possibilities and even in…
Award season is complete, but what has it taught us? The lack of diversity and lack of female representation was highlighted again and again and it’s getting harder and harder to be wilfully blind to it. Women were still overlooked in so many categories and it feels like the industry is…
2019 has been quite some year. There have been many great achievements and accomplishments. But, accompanying the proverbial rough of the smooth, there have been disappointments and challenges too. Let’s start with the smooth. This was the year that we officially launched MsMono and I have been wonderfully surprised by…
During my daily procrastination scroll of Facebook, I came across a meme that left me feeling more self aware than I have in years. Grand-millennial A mid-twenty something who prefers being at home with a blanket and Netflix than out partying. At the time, I chuckled and sent it on…
I’ve learnt that the perspective in which you view your life is changeable. Sometimes this shifts due to a huge life event, sometimes through smaller life lessons. Perspective according to the Cambridge English Dictionary is “a particular way of considering something”. I’ve always considered Life to be too short to…
When the idea of this essay first came to me it was born of rage. A rage born of confusion. How can you treat a person with respect and kindness, with humanity, and they respond with, this? As a woman- a woman of colour- it is exhausting, and disheartening, and…
People often ask me what I mean when I say my biggest passion when it comes to storytelling is “redefining the narrative for women through Film and TV”. Picture this. A young couple walk hand-in-hand along the beach. They’ve both managed to sneak a beer from their older siblings and…
I’m a big believer is working on as many projects as you can when you are starting out. The more sets you are on, the more you will learn! I have worked on some very disorganized sets and learned how to run mine better. I’ve worked for no pay outside…
I cared for my father for the last 3 years of his life. After which, I decided that by the time I was 50 I should be an established filmmaker or, at the very least, see the light at the end of the tunnel. That gave me 4 years. 4…
It’s 4am and I’m wide awake in a hospital bed. With one hand I am replying to emails on my phone about the tech time for my play which is due to open in five days’ time. With my other hand I am attempting to hold my baby steady as…
This has been a year of progression in both the micro and macro. In the micro: I began making movies for the first time (after a decade directing only theatre). In the macro – from the kick-ass Killing Eve to Debra Granik’s beautifully subtle Leave No Trace; from an entirely…
After a twelve-year hiatus working as a counsellor, I finally made my way back to acting last September. I can’t lie; I fully expected to return to a more ‘grown-up’ industry – one where difference and diversity were celebrated and certainly one where women were making great strides. I mean…come on,…
Nobody has ever assumed the role of set assistant was a glamorous one. I knew that even before I found myself hiding beneath a tree on a rain-drenched afternoon while a drone hovered overhead. Naturally, my assigned position beneath this tree was not out of consideration for wellbeing. It was…
If you ‘re not familiar with Suits, congratulations! The first 8 seasons, and the currently airing 9th season, are on Netflix. What are you waiting for? Suits doesn’t struggle for strong characters, but Jessica Pearson- head of Pearson Hardman (and all its other names) is the character that all women…
I know it sounds a little cheesy right; maybe even clichéd; but the truth is, that when you own your sparkle, you navigate life more confidently. I’m a singer-songwriter and at this point in my life I feel so blessed. I get to travel the world and sing to thousands…
Boundaries, like self care, has become a bit of a buzzword. A lot of us talk the talk, but struggle to actually walk the walk. And in film, it’s not surprising. Filmmakers constantly get asked too much of. Whether it’s working <12 hour days or trying to juggle a stressful…
Picture this – I’m in a club (underage) with Malibu & Coke in one hand and the other I wave about as though I’m conducting an orchestra. I’m singing along to Missy Elliot’s catchy song She’s A Bitch. That beat, the music video – you must have seen it. Everyone…
There has been, by happy coincidence, a lapse of some four months since the time I submitted my suggested subject matter for this article, Staying Positive, and my writing it. Looking back, I can’t say I was feeling particularly positive at the time. The very fact that I had even suggested…
Last year, I broke off an engagement because I would never have been able to pursue my dreams if I married my ex. I work in three very challenging industries (film, theatre and photography) all of which require a lot of strength, determination and support. My partner needs to be…
In 2014, ISIS invaded the Sinjar Mountains, home to the Yazidi community in Kurdish Iraq. They bombed and burned the houses, killed most of the men, and captured the women and girls to be traded as sex slaves in Raqqa. In 2017, artist Hannah Rose Thomas went to Northern Iraq…
Seinfeld is lauded to be the show about nothing, but it is everything to me. A rainy day classic, able to be repeated again and again; a perfect, genre defining sitcom with the mileage to match. It first debuted in 1989, and has been gracing our screens ever since, despite…
I just love the old Hollywood movies! The Wizard of Oz, Easter Parade, Singing in the Rain, Gone with the Wind. Stars such as Judy Garland, Ava Gardner, Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth and Joan Crawford exuded a sophistication that was breathtaking and memorable. Hollywood movies made a huge…
I had been working in the UK factual industry for 15 years and was a producer of a broadcast travel programme. It had always been my dream to direct documentaries. So when I asked my then boss why he didn’t hire females as directors, his answer was, ‘Women make better…
There is a scene in La La Land that sums up my career as a woman in film and TV right now. Mia has gone back home to Boulder City after one too many rejections and Sebastian has followed her because a real opportunity has come knocking. One of the…
