Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Belcher.
Lisa, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve had the film bug since I was a teenager, but following my parent’s advice, I went to business school and majored in marketing. Several years later, when I was staying at home with our first child, I started a videography business and did wedding and corporate videos. Very soon, I realized that I wanted to control what happened in front of my lens. I began studying screenwriting and filmmaking and from that, I found my love of acting too. Then years later, after my youngest child of three was five years old our family moved to Hong Kong. The film industry in Hong Kong was very welcoming and became my film and acting school. I wrote and directed my first film, “The Gift” while there. Returning to Austin, I continued to part-time homeschool my children while I followed my passion to direct and worked on several more short film projects that went on to play film festivals, receive awards, and get distribution. The Texas film community is a great place to be! I am currently working on several projects, including TV series and feature films.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The challenge of balancing between being a good mother and following my dream to be a director has been a big one. Other than the days I’m on set, most of my work is from home, which has been helpful. Now that my children are getting older, they have shared their excitement for me and my work. Not only does this feel wonderful, but I believe my journey has been good for them to watch and be a part of. Now they are following dreams and passions of their own.
Being a female director in this industry isn’t easy. But I have hope when I see that more women directors are being hired and noticed for their work.
Being an independent filmmaker makes raising money a challenge. But lately, I have had investors appreciate my work and want to be a part of my future projects.
Jump Rock Pictures – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Jump Rock Pictures is my production company. The logo pictures a woman jumping. She is taking a leap of faith, a risk, taking a chance. This is the way I believe our dreams can be realized only when we take that chance. We produce narrative fiction films and TV. There are two things that I am most proud of and I believe sets us apart from the others:
1. The production value of our projects. We may be indie but our productions have top-notch cinematography, performances, writing, music, production design, and sound.
2. Most of our talent and crews are freelance but they are still part of the Jump Rock family. The teamwork, effort, and talent that comes together on our sets is very professional, plus we all have a lot of fun too!
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I would define success as the ability to continue on your journey and never give up all while continuing to grow and get better. I absolutely love what I do and I have loads of passion for it. But no doubt there are the tough days. I think working hard to be better than our last film is a big goal of mine. I like to take the time to analyze everything when we are finished and ask the question – what could we have done differently. At the same time, I believe it’s very important to celebrate your achievements. Positive reinforcement is a big thing for me, so when looking back on the big takeaways, I try to focus on what we did right.
And I can’t lie, winning an Oscar would be pretty freaking amazing!! But my biggest goal is to keep making movies forever and ever.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jumprockpictures.com
www.thegiftthemovie.com
www.guestofhonormovie.com
www.javelinarunmovie.com - Email: lisabelcher@jumprockpictures.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/belcherlisa/
https://www.facebook.com/javelinarunmovie
https://www.facebook.com/guestofhonormovie/
- Instagram: @jumprockpictures, @javalinarunmovie
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/c/LisaBelcher
Image Credit:
Inspiran Studios
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