Dear Future Female Surf Filmmaker,
They are going to say, “we’re not interested in women.”
They are not your audience.
They are not who your film is for, or what your film is about.
They are not the ones who need this story.
Paige was an unsponsored female/big wave surfer. I was a no name female/ocean lifeguard by day/director.
And the odds were truly stacked against us.
I found zero support from an industry that raised me on its films. My dreams were born out of Saturday mornings in bed. Laptop clung to chest. Cinematic visions had me running out the door, biking down Goldenwest St. in Huntington Beach to find my own wave. It was Greg Noll at Makaha, Mavericks in Riding Giants, Taylor Steele and Sipping Jetstreams, The Malloy Brothers and bodysurfing. I can’t name one female I watched on screen, though there were hundreds to document.
This fact didn’t bother me until I was here, in the director’s seat, trying to make a film. I was quickly finding out what barrier stood between women and the industry.
But where we can’t go in way of industry, we must go in the way of story. Whoever tells the story defines the culture.
Do not be held back by them. There is no excuse. You are the storyteller.
Let their static waves be the call to yours.
The same way you’ll be infuriated by the lack of support, you’ll be ignited to tell the authentic story.
The paradise beach walks and sexual back bends that flood female surf characters will not be present.
Alive, in your film will be the struggle she faces, the one you face, that your audience will connect to and be inspired by. You will have created something with a pureness that’s undeniable.
You will build a team of support with those who know you’re going into this unprotected. Protection is not a gift granted to those kicking walls down. You will be raw, you will be vulnerable, you will be open to disaster. Storytelling shapes the world. You’ll feel like the world is on your shoulders. Whether it’s directly on your creative team, or dear friends, you’ll let them know what you’re up against, so that they can hold some of the weight when it gets unbearable.
You will pay attention. Your stumbles in the beginning will teach you how to finish the project. Your creative mess has much to offer in terms of knowledge. Write down the things you learn each week. This is something you’ve never done before. You’ll be your own guide. What is learned today will help you three months from now. You’ll need to remember all of this as you constantly draw your own lines from student to teacher.
You will trust your own process. As you get deeper in the journey, you will become more and more the only person qualified to tell this story. You will be the only one with the insight of every corner: character, context, industry, audience, author. Never doubt that voice of yours. As team members come and go, as you gain success and people want to change what you’ve made, as you hit hurdles and people want to lend a hand, keep a best friend to the girl who started it all.
All of this – this authentic and responsible storytelling – is worth no sticker price. It’s not something a brand budget could buy. It’s a truth audiences barely see.
At the end of the day though, my dear future filmmaker, the payoff might not be clear. The climb. Worth what? The fight. Is it any easier for those who follow you? Possibly not. You may find yourself there again. The low depths of no solutions, no money, no easy routes.
But with a continued dedication to the process…
You will write your story.
You will be exercising the most powerful tool in this world: Your voice.
You will ride your wave.
One story at a time.
Passion + Grace,
Devyn
