Page 48 – NYFA

NYFA CELEBRATES ALUMNI MESHAL ALJASER, TUSHAR TYAGI, AND DR. ARIEL ORAMA LÓPEZ QUALIFYING FOR 93RD ACADEMY AWARDS

New York Film Academy (NYFA) is excited to announce the eligibility of three alumni projects that are officially qualified to be nominated in the upcoming 93rd Academy Awards for the Live Action Short Film category. With the Oscars ceremony pushed to April 25, 2021, the Academy will announce the shortlist of potential nominees on February 9, 2021, with the second round of voting narrowed to five official Oscar nominees on March 15, 2021.

The following short films from NYFA alumni have qualified to be nominated for the 2021 Oscars in the Live Action Short Film Category:

Screenwriting BFA alum Meshal Aljaser with Arabian Alien
Acting for Film Workshop alum Dr. Ariel Orama López with 2ḦOOM [Zoom]
1-Year Filmmaking alum Tushar Tyagi with Saving Chintu

Short films can qualify for nomination one of three ways: a seven-day theatrical run in one of six major US cities, winning a qualifying award at a competitive film festival or winning a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Medal in the Student Academy Awards.

Arabian Alien, written and directed by Saudi filmmaker Meshal Aljaser and produced by NYFA Producing alum Almotaz Aljefri, tells of a married Muslim man, who gets over his depression after a space alien is introduced into his life. The film had its world premiere at the prestigious Sundance 2020, where it won the Vimeo Jury Award and later went on to be the winner of the Atlanta Film Festival (AFF) Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short Film where it was hailed “a layered, suspenseful and powerfully strange tale of societal taboos and marital tension, told with emotional precision, silent-film-evoking visuals, cultural authenticity, and startling humor.”

The AFF win for Arabian Alien, which cemented the film for Oscar consideration, catapulted the film to further critical acclaim including a feature in GQ Middle East, among others, applauding the work of Aljaser and Saudi influencer and actor Mohammed Alhamdan (Warchief), who starred in the film.

“I enjoyed going to Sundance. It was a great experience,” shared Aljaser. “I met so many inspiring people. However, after that COVID hit, everything was virtual. It was still a high privilege to be part of Palm Springs Shortfest and the Atlanta Film Festival.”

2ḦOOM [Zoom] from Dr. Orama López is an experimental live-action and animation hybrid short film about two brothers from the Caribbean who discover what unifies them. Using the backdrop of the current pandemic and the all-too-familiar COVID communication platform of choice, Zoom, the film includes voices and talents from the Caribbean, Latin America, Spain, and Italy.

This is Dr. Orama López’s second consecutive nod for Academy Award consideration with his previous short film, One, qualifying for an Oscar nomination in 2020. “I feel blessed by the opportunity to qualify for the Oscars two years in a row,” Dr. Orama López shared. “I believe that films, more than entertain, can heal us, and represent who we are, as humans.”

Saving Chintu from Tyagi tells of an American-Indian gay couple who travel to India to adopt a child living with HIV in an orphanage and encounter cultural challenges along the way. Starring Adil Hussain (Life of Pi, Star Trek: Discovery), the film appeared as an official selection at numerous film festivals and received notable critical acclaim, most recently being hailed by both Variety and Rolling Stone India.

The NYFA alum shared that being part of the 2021 Oscars race is “almost unbelievable” and having Saving Chintu “being watched and celebrated at the top film festivals and praised by so many is a very blissful feeling.”

“I’m incredibly proud of Tushar, Meshal, and Ariel. These major talents have created short films that are so thought-provoking, powerful, infused with humanity that they stay with you long after the credits stop rolling,” says Crickett Rumley, Director of NYFA’s Film Festival Department. “It’s no surprise that they have been rewarded with strong festival runs. And qualifying for an Oscar nomination? It’s tremendously exciting and so well-deserved!”

NYFA congratulates the alumni who have qualified for Academy Award consideration and wishes them the best of luck when the shortlist is announced on February 9, 2021.

Please note: NYFA does not represent that these are typical or guaranteed career outcomes. The success of our graduates in any chosen professional pathway depends on multiple factors, and the achievements of NYFA alumni are the result of their hard work, perseverance, talent and circumstances.

NYFA Alumni Meshal Al Jaser, Tushar Tyagi, and Dr. Ariel Orama López Qualify for 93rd Academy Awards

The following short films from NYFA alumni have qualified to be nominated for the 2021 Oscars in the Live Action Short Film Category:

Screenwriting BFA alum Meshal Aljaser with Arabian Alien
Acting for Film Workshop alum Dr. Ariel Orama López with 2ḦOOM [Zoom]
1-Year Filmmaking alum Tushar Tyagi with Saving Chintu

Short films can qualify for nomination in one of three ways: a seven-day theatrical run in one of six major US cities, winning a qualifying award at a competitive film festival or winning a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Medal in the Student Academy Awards.

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Arabian Alien, written and directed by Saudi filmmaker Meshal Aljaser and produced by NYFA Producing alum Almotaz Aljefri, tells of a married Muslim man, who gets over his depression after a space alien is introduced into his life. The film had its world premiere at the prestigious Sundance 2020, where it won the Vimeo Jury Award and later went on to be the winner of the Atlanta Film Festival (AFF) Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short Film where it was hailed “a layered, suspenseful and powerfully strange tale of societal taboos and marital tension, told with emotional precision, silent-film-evoking visuals, cultural authenticity, and startling humor.”

[su_image_carousel source=”media: 35843,35844″ limit=”2″ crop=”4:5″]

2ḦOOM [Zoom] from Dr. Orama López is an experimental live-action and animation hybrid short film about two brothers from the Caribbean who discover what unifies them. Using the backdrop of the current pandemic and the all-too-familiar COVID communication platform of choice, Zoom, the film includes voices and talents from the Caribbean, Latin America, Spain, and Italy.

This is Dr. Orama López’s second consecutive nod for Academy Award consideration with his previous short film, One, qualifying for an Oscar nomination in 2020. “I feel blessed by the opportunity to qualify for the Oscars two years in a row,” Dr. Orama López shared. “I believe that films, more than entertain, can heal us, and represent who we are, as humans.”

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NYFA congratulates the alumni who have qualified for Academy Award consideration and wishes them the best of luck when the shortlist is announced on February 9, 2021.

NEW YORK FILM ACADEMY (NYFA) WELCOMES FILMMAKER EILEEN CABILING TO THE 20/20 SERIES’

On Wednesday, January 13, 2021, New York Film Academy (NYFA) was excited to welcome filmmaker EILEEN CABILING as part of The 20/20 Series, created by NYFA’s Creative Director of Filmmaking and Cinematography, Liz Hinlein. The conversation was moderated by Hinlein and was held virtually, allowing individuals to join NYFA and the special guests from all over the world.

The 20/20 Series, created by Hinlein, is a virtual pop-up event that takes us into the homes, hubs, and workspaces of an array of dynamic creative visionaries to allow for relaxed, engaging conversations on craft, creation, and artistic vision.

Liz Hinlein (Left) and Eileen Cabiling (Right) for The 20/20 Series

Eileen Cabiling is a Filipino-American filmmaker with a vision to tell stories about the Global Filipino Diaspora. She looks to explore the history and many layers of the Filipino experience along with the deeply complex nuances of colonial psychology and its impact on the Filipino identity.

Cabiling is a recipient of the Women in Film Scholarship Award, the AFI William J. Fadiman Award for Best Screenplay at AFI, and the ABC/Walt DisneyTalent Development Grant. She has worked as a producer, writer, and story producer in international film and TV productions for fifteen years. Her projects have been finalists at Sundance Screenwriting and Producing Lab, Film Independent (LA), Independent Feature Project (NY), Nashville’s Screenwriters’ Competition, and the Bahamas International Writing Residency.

Film poster for Cabiling’s film “Basurero”

Hinlein began the conversation by showing the trailer for Cabiling’s film indie film Basurero, which tells the story of a desperate Filipino fisherman living on the outskirts of Manila, who dumps bodies of the drug war’s faceless vigilantes. His hand in the disposal of bodies hits too close to home after discovering his neighbor has been murdered, causing him to wrestle with unforeseen guilt.

When asked about her film Cabiling shared that the story was inspired by an Al Jazeera report about a fisherman who dumped bodies in the port, who eventually had to dump the body of someone he knew. “It was an opportunity to make a short film, work with the actors, and explore the themes I want to step into as an auteur filmmaker.”

An activist filmmaker, Cabiling’s subject matter for her films tends to gravitate towards social issues that are particularly experienced by minority groups. “It helps express my own experiences,” shared Cabiling. ‘I grew up as a minority in the U.S and I didn’t really see myself represented in stories, so I have always been attracted to people whose stories aren’t being heard or represented.”

Hinlein commented that Cabiling’s work elevates a sense of truth though it would not be considered a documentary. Cabiling agreed and added, “you [as a director] definitely want to write from a personal place.”

Going in shooting Basurero, Cabiling remarked that she aimed to raise questions about systemic issues in place. “I went in knowing what I wanted to accomplish. How can a fisherman dumping bodies find self-value in the world that isn’t valuing certain people? It’s a question that I ask constantly; how can we have a system that doesn’t support our voice?”

When asked about the future of the film industry, Cabiling expressed her hope that this new era of access and streaming brings new voices to the forefront of storytelling in a way that the film industry hasn’t before. “I think now because now we have such a nonlinear way to watch films, we can be watching films from all over. There’s a lot of disruption happening and it may be scary for people, but we live in a smaller world with many different kinds of people, which is exciting but it means growing pains for many.”

New York Film Academy would like to thank filmmaker Eileen Cabiling for joining the NYFA global community to discuss her latest film Basurero and what it means to be an activist filmmaker for The 20/20 Series, created by and moderated by Liz Hinlein.

To watch the full conversation, view the video below or click here.

These guests are not faculty and do not teach at NYFA, but they have appeared to share their stories and experience with our students. As guest speakers are scheduled based on their availability, NYFA cannot guarantee whether a guest speaker will visit during a student’s attendance or who that guest speaker may be. This guest speaker forum is not part of any NYFA curriculum and attendance at guest speaker events is purely voluntary. Students should be aware that guest speaker events do not represent a job opportunity nor are they intended to provide industry connections.

NEW YORK FILM ACADEMY (NYFA) WELCOMES BAFTA-WINNER AND CINEMATOGRAPHER ANTHONY B. RICHMOND TO THE 20/20 SERIES

On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, New York Film Academy (NYFA) had the pleasure of welcoming Cinematography titan, BAFTA-Winner, and NYFA Los Angeles’ Cinematography Chair ANTHONY B RICHMOND as part of The 20/20 Series, created by NYFA’s Creative Director of Filmmaking and Cinematography, Liz Hinlein. The conversation was moderated by Hinlein and was held virtually, allowing individuals to join NYFA and the special guests from all over the world.

Liz Hinlein (Left) and Anthony B. Richmond (Right) for The 20/20 Series

Anthony B. Richmond (A.S.C. and B.S.C) is an accomplished Cinematographer, whose career spans well over six decades. Some of his work includes Good Luck Chuck, The Comebacks; Shade, Legally Blonde, Men Of Honor; Someone Like You, John Tucker Must Die, and more. Born and raised in London, Richmond worked his way up to become a Director of Photography.

He has worked as an Assistant Cameraman on projects such as Call Me Bwana, From Russia with Love, Truffaut’s Fahrenheit 451, and David Leans’s Dr. Zhivago. Richmond served as focus-puller on Casino Royale and on Far From the Madding Crowd for Director John Schlesinger. An award-winning Cinematographer, Richmond won a BAFTA Award for his work on Don’t Look Now and serves as the Chair of the Cinematography Department at New York Film Academy’s Los Angeles campus. Richmond is a member of the Academy Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (A.M.P.A.S), British Academy of Film & Television Arts (B.A.F.T.A), American Society of Cinematographers (A.S.C), and British Society of Cinematographers (B.S.C).

Anthony Richmond – Chair of Cinematography, Los Angeles

Hinlein began the discussion by asking Richmond the million-dollar question; what makes a great cinematographer? “It’s a really wonderful job. It’s to put the director’s vision on the screen. To make a great DP (director of photography) is to make a great movie,” explained Richmond.

The NYFA instructor provided multiple instances of working behind the camera throughout his career and told those on the webinar that being a cinematographer also means working closely with the director and, at times, putting the director’s vision above your own. “A director is going to choose someone who will have their back and who they can collaborate with. You have to be understanding, there can only be one captain of the ship (the director), so you need to be okay with that.”

Audience members were quick to ask Richmond how to rise through the ranks and “make it” in the industry, to which the BAFTA-winning cinematographer reminded them that “people have got to see your work,” noting that these days it can be harder to move up the ladder because of the different responsibilities that come with each job. He also remarked that NYFA has an incredible cinematography program for anyone looking to learn the ropes on becoming a DP.

New York Film Academy would like to thank Anthony Richmond for sharing his wealth of knowledge on the world of cinematography The 20/20 Series, created by and moderated by Liz Hinlein.

To watch the full conversation, view the video below or watch here.

It’s Been a Journey for Acting for Film Alum Elsabet Ademe, But She is Just Getting Started

Elsabet Ademe was born in Ethiopia, and as a teenager, she embarked on the most dangerous journey of her life – traveling the treacherous smugglers’ route toward the West, living in several countries, and working in each one to save money. Her goal was to make it to the United States to pursue a career in film. Years later, Ademe is a U.S. citizen and BFA graduate from New York Film Academy with an active career in Los Angeles.

“I had a dream of becoming an actress since I was six years old, so when I got a chance to follow my dream, I decided to go to school first,” said Ademe. “I did my research about a film school, then I came across the New York Film Academy in 2014. I took the Acting for Film 1-Year Conservatory program in New York, then I did few theaters in NYC. In 2016, I moved to LA and started the NYFA’s Acting for Film BFA program.”

After Ademe graduated in 2018, she picked up acting, casting directing, producing, and writing projects. Her first web series pilot, The Bartender, got picked up by PAN Africa Film Festival.

Ademe recently wrote a book called Behind Sunrise, based on true events, which is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and more. The book’s synopsis reads:

The story of the bright and positive, yet ferociously determined, Sarah Belay.

Sarah is a sixteen-year-old Ethiopian girl with big dreams. She wants to travel to Europe to pursue the arts. However, she has a huge problem – her family is dead set against it.

When she hears the man who drives her to school talk about human smuggling, her ears perk up. She knows what she’s going to do. Weeks later, in the dead of night, she leaves her home to embark on a journey that dramatically changes her life.

With little information from her transporters, Sarah travels the perilous off-road paths toward Sudan in the care of suspicious and increasingly cruel men. The battle for survival brings out the worst in some, and the incredibly good in others as a bond forms between some of the travelers.

Arriving in Sudan, Sarah finds work and saves money for what she believes is the most dangerous leg of the journey – the long trek through the Sahara Desert and into Libya. The passage, however, is a nightmare far worse than anything she could have imagined. Abandoned by the smugglers in the vast barrenness of Al Kufrah, the friends escape and hire a local Libyan smuggler to get them to Tripoli.

Instead, he takes them to the middle of the desert and into even more life-changing dangers. Will Sarah survive the journey to reach her dreams? Or will the circumstances beyond her control destroy her?

Ademe will appear in the short film Raine on the Run, which is slated to be released later this year and will continue to expand on her acting and writing skills for the future. “I’m Ethiopian so English is my second language and I have learned a lot to develop my writing skills, while also building a network through NYFA,” shared Ademe. “I discovered myself at NYFA and through me, I can do anything.”

Hannah Gilliland, NYFA Study Abroad Admissions Associate, Accepted into NAFSA Future Leaders Academy

NYFA is thrilled to announce that our colleague, Hannah Gilliland, was recently accepted into the NAFSA Academy, and was awarded a NAFSA scholarship to attend the 2021 cohort of young international education leaders of the future.

The NAFSA Academy is a highly cherished program of NAFSA: Association of International Educators. NAFSA “…is the world’s largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education and exchange”. Its mission is to provide a path for every student, scholar, and specialist who is seeking the benefits of international education and to have every “…higher education integrates international perspectives into its teaching, research, and service missions”.

The NAFSA Academy, which informs and educates people to uphold the organization’s mission, is a competitive, yearlong, intensive training and networking course on international education. Trainees are chosen from all over the US and are from many different international education backgrounds.

“The curriculum is rigorous and will provide Hannah with a wide-ranging array of tools for her to manage the NYFA Study Abroad Department efficiently”, stated Jim Miller, NYFA Vice President. Mr. Miller went on further to say, “we are very, very proud of Hannah — all of us at NYFA who interact and work alongside her regard her as a true gem of a colleague and we know that she has an incredible future in the field!”

The NAFSA Academy curriculum includes networking opportunities, an individual learning plan in which trainees arrange goals in terms of personal and institutional goals, blog assignments, attending the regional and annual NAFSA conference, and more. “What is unique is that I get to meet people all over the country and learn about all aspects of international education and while this course will benefit me, it will also benefit NYFA as a whole”, Hannah indicated upon learning of the award.

Hannah Gilliland at NYFA’s table at NAFSA’s 2019 annual conference

“The NAFSA Academy will not only help with important connections but also will assist me in making the NYFA Study Abroad Department stronger and give me insight into how other Study Abroad Departments are run. I believe NYFA’s emphasis on international and globally-minded students is one of our greatest and unique strengths that sets us apart from other schools and I think that this is a great opportunity for myself and for NYFA to grow and to become more known and knowledgeable in the field of international education.”

New York Film Academy congratulates Hannah Gilliland on her recent achievement and looks forward to what’s next from our esteemed colleague.

New York Film Academy Looks Back at the 2020 Highlights

As we look back through a challenging year that was 2020, we wanted to take the opportunity to highlight the accomplishments the New York Film Academy (NYFA) community was able to achieve. In the below infographic, we have selected a handful of the many successes our alumni, students, faculty and staff were a part of.

For more NYFA community stories, you can read more on our blog and headline articles.

NYFA Alum Aditya J. Patwardhan’s “Transference” Now Available on Amazon Prime Video

New York Film Academy alum Aditya J. Patwardhan’s most recent directorial feat, Transference is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The psychological thriller tells the story of a trauma therapist who begins experiencing terrifying phenomena following the death of her estranged father.

Aditya, who hails from Jaipur, India has directed an array of different works from feature films to documentaries to short films and TV series. He has directed and produced films in multiple foreign languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, and Lithuanian. His passion for film developed in his childhood through his love of music and instruments. “My filmmaking journey really began at the age of seven when I was introduced to music. After learning to play tabla, drums, and the piano during my early school years, one of the first things I was enticed with was observing how background score shapes a film. It became one of my primary obsessions to notice background scores and try to duplicate them at home on the keyboards and drums. Films like The Lion King, Titanic, and The Matrix played a key role in influencing me in terms of music and its association with video. Naturally, I assumed that I would want to grow up to be a music director.”

His path to film was not direct but one that passed through a variety of different jobs and industries. After obtaining his degree in computer sciences and playing drums for a rock-metal Megadeth and Metallica cover band called Jettatura in his free time, Aditya worked as a social media manager, a media and advertisement head, a music composer, and a music video director. All of these experiences ignited his passion for storytelling, eventually leading him to NYFA’s MA in Film and Media Production program . “What attracted me most towards NYFA was the hands-on nature of its 1-Year (Filmmaking) program. I saw that it gave me a thorough filmmaking education at an accelerated pace and prepared me for a real-world experience sooner than any other school or program that I looked into. The second thing that appealed to me was the filming ‘sand-box’ that NYFA offered. What I mean by that is NYFA has almost all the major filmmaking departments and so within the school, I was able to learn the skills of collaboration with all film vertices.”

Transference is not his only work available on a major streaming platform. A Touch of Aurora (also known as When Red is White) is also available on Amazon Prime Video. The film, which has amassed over 20 nominations and 12 awards in over four countries on the festival circuit, is a Portuguese-language Brazilian drama that tells the story of a couple both of whom are visually impaired. Sara, played by Brazilian film star Thaila Ayala, was born blind while Luis, a former successful soccer player with a glamorous past, lost his sight following a car accident.

A Touch of Aurora | Aditya J. Patwardhan | NYFA Alum — Aditya J. Patwardhan behind the scenes on the set of “A Touch of Aurora.”

Another recent production, And the Dream that Mattered features a number of NYFA alumni including acting for film alumni Themo Melikidze and Jongman Kim. The film is in Korean and tells the story of an actor in his 40’s who goes through a midlife crisis when he visits his family and realizes that he has not achieved what he set out to do.

His latest project, Rivers: The Upstream Story, is a docu-fiction feature that Aditya both produced and directed. The film follows four characters: Adriana, a refugee from crisis-hit Venezuela, Kankana, an Indian actress working in Hollywood, Suraj, a street cleaner from a slum in Rajasthan, and Ravi who is a television news reporter from Jaipur.

“We journey with them as they travel across India, an ancient civilization struggling with climate change, water crisis, poverty, and hygiene issues,” explained Aditya. “One of the storylines in the film portrays Isha Foundation’s Rally for Rivers, a pan India water-conservation drive supported by the Government of India and endorsed by celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Shahrukh Khan.”

Aditya had this to say to incoming NYFA students, “the best thing about NYFA’s programs is the fast pace and hands-on style. But that is also something every incoming student should look out for. They have to be prepared to work hard and tirelessly for the length of the program they’re doing.”

“One of the most important things that stand out to me about my initial days in NYFA is the opportunity I got to experiment with my films,” he continued. “I always made sure that any story I told was out of my comfort zone. The protective umbrella of a film school is where you can do just that: try out as many genres and ideas as possible because failure will have fewer consequences here than in a real-world scenario.”

And The Dream that Mattered | Aditya J. Patwardhan | NYFA Alum — Aditya J. Patwardhan with the cast of “And The Dream that Mattered,” including NYFA alumni Themo Melikidze (second left) and Jongman Kim (third left).

It was with the help of NYFA’s Industry Lab that Aditya was able to produce his first multi-language film, Red Souls. “The film,” explained Aditya, “deals with with the subject of human trafficking between Brazil and the US, and won the Best Film award at the Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival, making me one of the first Indian directors to win an award at a Brazilian festival for directing a Portuguese film.”

“Almost all the projects I have done have had important team members who were from NYFA and I had collaborated with them first when I was doing school projects. That just stresses how important good collaborations are and the crucial role NYFA plays.”

New York Film Academy wishes Aditya J. Patwardhan success for his upcoming projects. We urge everyone to check out A Touch of Aurora and Transference on Amazon Prime Video.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

NEW YORK FILM ACADEMY (NYFA) WELCOMES EXECUTIVE PRODUCER NATALIA GARCIA TO THE 20/20 SERIES

On Wednesday, December 16, New York Film Academy (NYFA) welcomed Executive Producer NATALIA GARCIA as part of The 20/20 Series, created by NYFA’s Creative Director of Filmmaking and Cinematography, Liz Hinlein. The conversation was moderated by Hinlein and was held virtually, allowing individuals to join NYFA and the special guests from all over the world.

Liz Hinlein (Left) and Natalia Garcia (Right) for The 20/20 Series

Natalia Garcia is a content creator, executive producer, showrunner, and director. Garcia has produced both scripted and unscripted series for cable and network outlets such as A&E, Viceland, Showtime, ABC, Comedy Central, Lifetime, MTV, NBC, TLC, and Sundance, amongst others. She created, showran, and directed the multi-season Showtime series, Polyamory: Married & Dating, and recently produced and launched MTV’s Ghosted: Love Gone Missing.

Garcia has produced an array of various programs from Follow Docs, Format, Branded, and Digital to Scripted. She is a member of the Director’s Guild of America (DGA), the Producers Guild of America (PGA), and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS).

Hosts Rachel Lindsay and Travis Mills on MTV’s “Ghosted: Love Gone Missing” (Credit: MTV)

Hinlein began the conversation by asking about Garcia’s background with unscripted television and working closely with MTV, specifically on Garcia’s latest hit Ghosted: Love Gone Missing. Garcia, who has spent most of her career working with MTV joked that when she first started there it was like “paid grad school” because they let her try everything.

Garcia, a fan of doing pilots and other shows for unscripted series alike noted that pilots are especially exciting because it’s putting “words on paper into a vision,” something she did effectively for Ghosted: Love Gone Missing.

Garcia, a fan of docu-style shooting and capturing realistic and emotional moments, notes that while the projects she works on aren’t necessarily a documentary, she aims to make them as real as possible. “Shooting reality television can be challenging, but it’s handheld and about not having too much set up, using natural lighting, and owning the elements around you; in terms of the look, the cameras are really important in reality TV.”

Garcia on set of shooting “Duck Dynasty” with star Willie Robertson

For Ghosted: Love Gone Missing, Garcia points out that it’s about being able to work as a team with a reliable group of people. “I was very fortunate to work with a team and I was working with and we are producing real people’s stories and essentially only giving feedback to how the casted talent (non-professional actors) explain that story.” The production feedback to the actors is what Garcia explained, differentiates reality tv from a true documentary.

Like many productions this year, Garcia and her team had to pivot quickly to make shows like Ghosted continue production safely, which meant new challenges for the already unpredictable world of unscripted projects. “MTV was trying to figure out how to keep the show going and they asked me how to make the show better,” she explained. The solution? Sending the hosts and actors their own equipment to shoot. “it made me realize how hard it is to produce and direct when you are not in control,” revealed Garcia.

“It was challenging and it took a lot of patience from the cast and the hosts, who had to handle their own wardrobe, makeup, and shooting, and not everyone is tech-savvy. The show is only going to look as good as you shoot it and it took a lot of communication with everyone to make it work.”

Natalia Garcia behind the scenes during filming

Hinlein remarked how incredible it was that Garcia and her team were still able to make the show look and feel coherent given the challenges for production and commented that directing unscripted is already harder than directing narrative. Garcia agreed and relayed that many in the entertainment business constantly look down on unscripted series, but it’s actually so much harder to direct and it deserves more credit.

“With scripted content, you have your marks, your script, your professional actors, your lighting, and constant takes on hand. In unscripted content, you use unprofessional actors with real emotions, and you can give them direction, but you can’t really interrupt them. The direction is mostly for the cameras because you have one chance to reveal a moment, so it’s about preparing the crew around the cast to pivot with what the cast is doing. It’s about owning the mistakes and unpredictability, whereas in scripted you can do multiple takes to cover those up.”

Hinlein closed the conversation by asking Garcia if she had any advice for aspiring creatives getting into the business. Garcia shared some advice she was given by David Lynch, who advised her that as long as she was having fun and knew what she was doing, the rest is all noise. She also urged everyone to not undermine the various positions you can do in the industry as she got her start as a PA and worked her way up.

New York Film Academy would like to thank Natalia Garcia for joining the NYFA global community to discuss shooting unscripted series for The 20/20 Series, created by and moderated by Liz Hinlein.