What is your name, age, and location?
Erica Ginsberg, 40, Washington DC Metropolitan Area.
What is your profession?
Executive Director, Docs In Progress, a nonprofit arts organization which helps emerging (and aspiring) documentary filmmakers find their voice and community.
What did you study in school and what degrees do you have?
I have a B.A. in International Affairs from the George Washington University and an M.A. in Film & Video from American University.
What was your first job?
My first job of any kind was shelving books in my local public library when I was still in high school (in the days when Sidney Sheldon and Danielle Steele were the top fiction picks for library checkouts). I also did some temp work but that didn’t last long because one boss told me to look for the credenza file and I didn’t have any clue what a credenza was and kept looking fruitlessly for a file for Mr. Credenza.
What I consider my first adult job was working as an Administrative Assistant in the Department of State office which provides foreign language interpreters to the President and other top U.S. officials. I started there as a summer intern after my freshman year of college and ended up staying more than 10 years.
Who or what inspired you to break into your current line of work?
I was always interested in art, even in high school, but I was also interested in international issues. After I had worked for a few years at the Department of State, I decided to revisit my interest in the arts by getting a master’s in film and finding a way to combine my two passions. I ended up producing a documentary about post-war life in former Yugoslavia. The process of making that documentary made me realize how lonely a field it could be without the support of friends, colleagues, and institutions. And that’s really where the idea for Docs In Progress originated.
Name/describe what has been your most rewarding project so far?
Docs In Progress itself is my most rewarding project. I quit a comfortable government job to run an arts nonprofit in one of the worst economies in recent history. But I have never regretted it. Just knowing that the work I do can help other people realize their dream of making a documentary, help a filmmaker get through a creative block, or introduce new audiences to documentary as both a form of expression and as a change-agent inspires me every day.
Name/describe one incident when being a woman has helped your career?
I joined an organization while I was in graduate school in Washington DC called Women in Film and Video. Although the organization welcomes men as active members, I don’t know if I would have felt as comfortable getting deeply involved in the organization had I been a man. It was (and is!) an amazing organization for networking and professional development. Many of the people I have worked with and the inspirations I have gotten to do what I do today have come through connections made through that organization.
Name/describe one incident when being a woman has hindered your career?
I can’t say it has ever hindered my career, but I remember one government internship experience in my 20s where I was asked to do all these ridiculous things for a bigwig including writing his son’s resume and manage forwarding his magazine subscriptions which had come to the office (including a certain men’s magazine). I know I never would have been asked to do that if I was a male intern.
Do you want to have children? Why or why not?
No. I love children but prefer other people’s children since there is a definite time limit. I don’t think I could balance motherhood with work. I do have a dog though and he’s enough to handle.
Who is your role model or mentor (alive or dead)?
One of my first bosses at the Department of State. She taught me a lot about how to find that delicate balance between being a strong person while retaining warmth and good interpersonal skills as key attributes of being an effective leader.
If you could give one piece of advice to a woman starting out in your field, what would it be?
You may mature but you’ll never stop growing up as long as you are alive. There’s nothing wrong with thinking about what you want to be when you grow up several times over the course of your life as long as you also think about how you will get there.
Links:
Docs In Progress on Facebook
– Interview by Elena Rossini
What is your name, age, and location?
Joanne Feinberg, 50, Ashland, Oregon.
What is your profession?
Director of Programming at the Ashland Independent Film Festival.
What did you study in school and what degrees do you have?
I have a B.F.A. in Cinema Studies and Film Production, from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
What was your first job?
I was a waitress during college at a jazz club in NYC. It was an incredible education in music, and helped put me through school. I can’t say enough about the life skills that being a waitress teaches you! At the same time I had an internship as the Assistant to the Programmer at the Bleecker Street Cinema, an “art house” theater in NYC, back when you could see classic, foreign and indie films on the big screen every night of the week. Breathless followed by Casablanca followed by Cassavetes. It was an amazing education in film history.
Who or what inspired you to break into your current line of work?
I had great professors at NYU and they really opened my eyes to seeing film in a whole new way. George Stoney taught us to view documentary filmmaking as an agent of social change, in a very human way that was unforgettable. My teachers’ excitement about their own work confirmed how much I wanted to make film and filmmaking my career, and they continue to inspire me to this day. When I was a filmmaker/editor in the Bay Area, I was a juror for local film festivals with a group of other filmmakers. We would spend long weekends watching films together. The discussions were exciting, challenging, and some times infuriating, but I loved the process. This experience greatly influenced my interest in becoming involved with the Ashland Independent Film Festival.
Name/describe what has been your most rewarding project so far?
Absolutely my current work at the Ashland Independent Film Festival for the past 7 years… I feel proud to be part of the team that has brought the Festival to the very vital and exciting place where it is now.
Name/describe one incident when being a woman has helped your career?
When I was first starting out, I worked for a number of women who were strongly influenced by the women’s movement in a very positive way when their own careers were taking off. They wanted to hire women and become mentors, and this was very fortunate for me.
Name/describe one incident when being a woman has hindered your career?
As women, I think that part of our cultural training is to put others before us – co-workers, family, children. So I have always had to be aware of setting strong boundaries, and not saying “yes” especially when a very appropriate response would be “no!”
Please say a few words on your experience with the work-motherhood balance.
I have three children, a 13 year-old, and 10 year-old twins. I was working as a freelance film editor when I was pregnant with my first child, and decided then to take a break in my career to raise my kids. I was incredibly lucky to be able to do that, and very glad to have that time with them. Now that I am back to “work,” it can be challenging to find the balance to be able to do both “jobs” as well as possible, and my kids complain occasionally! But as cliché as it may sound, I think it is so important for them to see me as someone with an identity other than “Mom,” and to know that it is possible to have a career that you love and are excited about.
Who is your role model or mentor (alive or dead)?
From the time I was nine years old and first started taking photos with a 35mm still camera, I knew that my life work would be connected to film. I wanted to be just like Dorothea Lange and travel the world as a documentary photographer. She was strong, independent, groundbreaking, creative, and so empathetic to her subjects.
If you could give one piece of advice to a woman starting out in your field, what would it be?
Programming involves countless hours in front of a computer or in a movie theater seat. Recently, I have found a physical outlet to balance these long hours. I started trail running to have time for myself in nature – to think, breathe deeply, and stay healthy. Running makes me strong, and has helped me develop an inner confidence that I can meet new challenges. I think it is essential! I know you asked for one, but as important is making time for your friends. They give me advice, keep me grounded and make me laugh!
Links:
Ashland Independent Film Festival
– Interview by Elena Rossini
What is your name, age, and location?
Wendy Greene, 40, New York City.
What is your profession?
I’m a documentary television producer and independent filmmaker.
What did you study in school and what degrees do you have?
I got a BA in English at Columbia University in New York. I then got an MFA in film at Columbia College Chicago in Chicago, IL. The schools are both named Columbia, but aren’t related.
What was your first job?
My first real job in the business was as an associate producer at Towers Productions in Chicago. It was, and probably still is, a great place to cut your teeth, since they are happy to hire young people and mentor them.
Who or what inspired you to break into your current line of work?
I was at film school hoping to learn how to be a fiction director, but I was coming to the realization that I didn’t like directing actors, and I hated being on those slow, boring sets.
Then Ronit Bezalel, a great Chicago documentary filmmaker, asked me to help her follow this punk band for a week for a short film. She put a video camera in my hands and I was hooked.
Name/describe what has been your most rewarding project so far?
I don’t want to sound corny, but the fact that people open up their lives to me is always rewarding. But I’d say the first documentary I made, on African-American cowboys in the Midwest, was probably the most rewarding. The people I met were so excited to be telling their stories, because I think they felt like no one outside their world had ever asked them to before. And it was the hardest, because I had no idea what I was doing.
The work I did with an autistic girl and her family in a pilot for Discovery Health also affected me pretty profoundly—we still stay in touch and I think a lot about autism and how it will shape the world in the future. And just to be welcomed into a family’s life so completely like that was amazing.
And all the work I did in hospitals, in a few different series for TLC, was also really rewarding. I got to film everything from women giving birth to heart transplants, and saw people at the most incredible points in their lives. It also gave me the utmost respect for doctors and what they do.
So You Want To Be A Cowboy? from Wendy Greene on Vimeo.
Name/describe one incident when being a woman has helped your career?
Sometimes I think that my being a woman makes people more comfortable in opening up. But it might just be that I have one of those faces, because people tend to talk to me all the time—on planes, on the street, on the subway. Maybe it is the fact that I kind of want to listen to people that brought me to documentary.
Name/describe one incident when being a woman has hindered your career?
I hate to say it, but I think sexism is alive and kicking. It may be more subtle these days than, say, in the “Mad Men” era, but it’s there.
I feel like I’ve been able to achieve a lot in my career, but when I run into sexism, I admit, it can be disheartening.
It’s also been the thing that has pushed me forward. For instance, when I first started out, so many cameramen gave me so much attitude that I finally realized I needed to learn how to shoot for myself. Now if a camera guy tells me “no”, I have the confidence and the know-how to either do it myself or push them to do what I need.
Do you want to have children? Why or why not?
I think I do want to have children. I’ve always been pretty clear that I wanted to be an older mom. I wanted to spend a lot of time living out of a suitcase making work, and sowing some wild oats, first.
Who is your role model or mentor (alive or dead)?
Rachel Hanfling, the first TV producer I worked for, taught me everything about how to produce television documentary. I fought her every step of the way, but in the end, she mentored me and taught me the skills I use on a daily basis. My friend Sue Huck has been a true role model: she has had a long, successful career in a creative business, and is the toughest person I know.
My friend Jess Dobkin is this amazing, fearless performance artist, and I think we sort of co-mentor each other creatively and professionally. My friend Wendy Lehmann constantly reminds me to stand up for myself and to be confident in my abilities.
If you could give one piece of advice to a woman starting out in your field, what would it be?
When I started out at my first TV job, I worked six and seven day weeks, and I constantly worried I’d never get anywhere. But in the end, that was when I learned the most about the craft of making documentary. Eventually, I made a lot of work I was proud of and got to the place where I was producing shows.
So I’d say just work your ass off, and don’t worry—it will pay off, even if the boys get promoted just a little bit faster. Just acknowledge that with a nod, put your head down, and keep on going. And if you need some encouragement, call me.
Links:
Wendy’s videos on Vimeo
– Interview by Elena Rossini
