Lexy: You were once involved in Visions, correct? Would you like to tell me about that experience?

Anna: I was a big fan of Shannon Silva, and I really wanted to take any class or opportunity to learn from her. When I was in school, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I just knew I wanted to be a part of something. By being a part of Visions- from learning the festival-side of things from the student’s side to interacting with the community- things like that were very fascinating to me. I wanted to learn as much as I could, and it was a fantastic opportunity. I got to see some really cool short films, which is rad. 

Lexy: What are some of the responsibilities and duties within your job?

Anna: I wear a few hats (both metaphorically and literally) within my position. I do acquisitions in terms of trying to find films, stand-up specials, TV shows, basically that kind of work for the company. The company I work for started as a stand-up production company. They went on to making specials for platforms like Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Showtime, and everything. It was mainly just getting the comedians out there, but the rights reverted back. So the company added distribution in addition to production. It was alright, we were at a place where we can put it in the world for people to watch and enjoy and listen to it.  

I try to bring in material from “out of house.” That could be either a standup special someone did on their own, a comedy film, or something like the documentary film on the art of Dungeons and Dragons from the artists behind it. That was rad. We’re actually working on another project with those filmmakers. It was so much fun. 

It’s a lot of communication with places like Netflix, Hulu, Starz, Showtime, Hbo, Apple, Amazon, etc. If there’s a place where movies or TV shows are being shown, I’m going to find it. There’s also other places like cruise ships, universities, Kanopy, airlines, and even prisons. We find ways to entertain people. All of those places are revenue that ends up in the pockets of the filmmakers and distributors. Now we make revenue off of TikTok! Every single person at the company made fun of me because I said, “We need to get on Tiktok”. And now we’re at 750,000 followers and we get checks from them every month. It’s a unique format that any person can contribute to and any person can watch and just like it and keep going on with their life. It’s so non-committal. That makes it the perfect platform. I thought I wanted to do production or development and I realized that I hated both. The whole life of something after it has been made is endlessly fascinating and it changes every single day.  

Lexy: So, you found what you wanted to do by learning what you didn’t want to do? 

I got an internship through UNCW out in California with a diversity scholarship just for being a woman. The job was to literally just read screenplays every day. That was cool, but I hated it. 

Anna: What led you to your current role? 

I started applying to everything in distribution because there are so many different positions. I applied to all of the major studios because they have major processing. One major studio in California had a position open. I moved from North Carolina to Californifia. I knew at that point that’s when I wanted to do distribution and that was my foot in the door. From there, I ended up working with some folks at Gravitas Ventures, which is an independent distributor. I worked there for a few years as well as with Caleb Ward. He was wonderful. 

Lexy: What challenges have you faced, either during your educational career or your professional career? 

Anna: School was a lot about media criticism and looking at shots and how they’re composed. I always thought, “But how did they get the money for that? Or who funded this, or how did they decide they had enough time, how was the planning done, and who organized the schedule?” I think it’s important to think about the business and the artistic side. I find that challenge present to this day. Working within certain confines and the connection between those two sides is challenging, as well as learning to make compromise. 

Lexy: Is there something from your educational career that helped you get to where you are today?

Anna: From a Bollywood course, I got the assignment to compare and contrast the Bollywood box office with the Fast and Furious franchise and seeing how things are being funded, how films are continuing because who knew a movie about street racing would become one of the largest film franchises of all time. Being able to have the freedom to take media criticism classes but also to pursue my passion gave me a sense of not ownership, but freedom. I got this great sense of empowerment from Dr. Bose and Dr. Palmer. 

Lexy: How could someone entering your field stand out? 

Anna: If someone asked me to do a task that I knew nothing about, I would say “absolutely.” I’d write down the terms that were unknown to me that they’d mention, then Googled them afterwards. I did my research, and I figured it out. You do a task and then move on with it, then become a reliable resource. Everyone is going to want you everywhere. Becoming a reliable resource is huge. Never underestimate the power of Google. Figure it out and make mistakes, but learn from those mistakes. 

Lexy: Are you still working from home?

Anna: That’s the benefit of working from the side of distribution. When production has slowed down, I’m working more than ever. I’m bringing in all of these projects that people have done beforehand, then getting them out into the world. We even created our own channel that’s live on every Samsung TV and other places. We’ve really benefited from everyone being at home and being bored and finding new ways to watch content for free since we get paid on an advertising basis. So now we’re establishing ourselves as a brand. 

Lexy: What does your typical workday look like? 

Anna: A typical day includes a lot of emails. I work things out with talent and make sure all the things we’re releasing are smooth. We’ll have calls within the team to make sure the items we’ve signed are delivering and everything’’s on time. I also stay up to date with a distribution calendar to make sure when media is ready to be exploited on other platforms. 

Lexy: What are you looking forward to most for this year’s Visions? 

Anna: I always love seeing the other panelists because I love seeing the alumni and what they've gotten into and how they’re passionate about it. Meeting new people and learning. There are so many different passions and that’s super cool to me. 

Lexy: Is there anything else you’d like to add? 

Anna: My one piece of advice is two pieces: One, wear sunscreen every day. Two, always negotiate. Even if you fail, you’ll have that practice for your next job because this industry is moving quickly. Negotiate everything because you never know what you can get out of something, whether a higher wage or a limited number of hours or a higher position. All of those things are really important. 

Work-life balance is really important. When you give that up for your career, you have to fight for yourself. You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate. Constantly advocating for yourself is really important. If you do it well, you’ll end up a lot better in the long run.