Meet Natalie Pickens | Aspiring Horror director and writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Natalie Pickens and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Natalie, career-wise, where do you want to be in the end?
I don’t have just one end goal, I have a few goals after my end goal. (If that makes sense)

My main goal is to be the first woman who’s created a successful slasher movie franchise. And continue creating movies, TV, even shorts. I love the Horror genre and I want to be apart of changing and being apart of it.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve started to write horror shorts during the writers strike. Just recently I was able to shoot one of those shorts. Currently my writing pattern and I are working on our horror feature script. I’m hoping to have the first draft by this year.

Being able to jump from show to show or even movie to movie, you meet a lot of creative people in the industry. It’s all one big collaboration. I feel very lucky to be able to be apart of it, even if that means I’m currently an on set production assistant. I grow and learn from the people that I admire not only on set but from different TV shows and movies.

I want to make a change in the horror genre. I feel like it’s very male heavy, and I feel like it needs more female representation. I want to be apart of that change.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m a Valley Girl, you can almost catch me around the Valley all the time. But at the same time I’m also a homebody I don’t really go out much. I find that my friends that are not from here show me all the places to be.

But if I had to put itinerary together it would be:

Places to eat:
– Aroma Coffee & Tea in studio city.
– The hungry Fox (the place looks run down, but they literally have the BEST waffles)
– Kuru Kuru (one of my favorite Sushi places ever, it’s right next to what used to be Warner Ranch in Burbank. Always my go to place. When people bring up whats the best sushi spot, it’s definitely Kuru Kuru)
– Rococo Ramen (this place is owned by the same people of Kuru Kuru. During the pandemic, the owner, John, mastered the Japanese art of making Ramen. This place does NOT disappoint.)
– Rustic Spoon in Valley Village

Places to drink: (I love nice low key bars, a place where I’m able to have conversations with people instead of yelling, over music)
– Catcher In the Rye
– Mirabelles Wine Bar

Experiences:
– High Tea at the Huntington Garden
– Wine Tasting
– Trip to Disneyland
– going to Olympic Spa (K spa)
– day trip in Malibu
– picnic at Bransdoll Park

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The biggest shoutout is for my dad (Mark Pickens). He helped me get my foot in the door to be apart of the Film and TV industry.

The love and support from my best friend Ali, my mom (Linda), my boyfriend (Tyler), a few actors that I’ve worked with, some of my closest friends and family.

Instagram: Account: natalie_pickens1

Image Credits
Photography taken by Tyler Ernst