Web series and feature films are all about collaboration, and Florencia, who’s been at the helm of both as a writer/ director, goes into the good, the bad, the ugly . . . and the pleasures of that process, from generating ideas and developing characters to co-writing to getting strong readers to working closely with a trusted editor. She gives us some great tips and tools from marinating to using index cards and notebooks to building community, finding a support network and writing your own mission statement. We discussed writing intuitively and taking risks, breaking rules and going against mainstream expectations. Getting honest about struggling with a lack of confidence, this award-winning filmmaker tells us her secret to getting past that, and what she most needs now as an artist of color. Part of her mission is about expanding the conversation around what a woman can be. If you want the nitty gritty about creating the stories you want to see, Florencia shares it here.

Links

 Rialto Cinema

Guinevere Turner

Dyke Central 

Mynah Films

Dyke Central on Facebook

Mira Nair on Yoga 

Florencia Manovil

Florencia Manovil

Florencia Manovil is a feminist filmmaker passionate about independent film, social justice, environmentalism, and queer identities. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Florencia moved to the U.S. at the age of 18 to pursue film studies, eventually settling in the San Francisco Bay Area after living in Boston and New York for several years. A translator and subtitler, writer, filmmaker and mother, Florencia is committed to bringing underrepresented communities to the screen, as well as showcasing Oakland and the Bay Area at large.

Fiona’s Script (2008), a film about a young bisexual woman finding her footing in life, was Florencia’s feature directorial debut. The film played at several national and international festivals. Development of her next feature was put on hold so that she could focus on Dyke Central, a “queer dramedy” episodic Florencia co-created. In 2011, she directed and produced the pilot episode, which went on to screen at several film festivals. In 2013 she resumed the production of Dyke Central, shooting 4 more episodes, all of which were selected for film festival screenings in 2014. That year she went to on complete production of 5 more episodes of the popular series.

Under Mynah Films, she also produced the pilot episode of Throw Like a Girl, a queer web comedy, and co-produced the pilot of Fairytale Fail, a comedy about the cutthroat behind-the-scenes world of theme park actors.

Florencia just completed the full first season of Dyke Central, and has two shorts (“Encuentro” and a children’s film) and two features (Leche and Star-Crossed) in development.

Story Makers is a podcast that features in-depth conversations with accomplished writers, filmmakers and industry experts about story craft, technique, habit and survival–everything you need to know to stay inspired, connect to your creativity, find others’ wonderful stories and your own success.

The hosts:

Elizabeth Stark is a published, agented novelist and distributed filmmaker who teaches and mentors writers at BookWritingWorld.com.

Angie Powers is a distributed filmmaker and published short story writer with an MFA in creative writing and a certificate in screenwriting from UCLA who teaches story structure at BookWritingWorld.com.