Meet Caitlin Bury and Molly Robbins | Actor & Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Caitlin Bury and Molly Robbins and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Molly and Caitlin, how do you think about risk?

Molly: Caitlin and I approach risk taking with open arms. By choosing to independently produce a feature film together, we are hurdling ourselves off of a cliff into the unknown. We both graduated from film programs and have seen how cutthroat the industry can be. We decided we would much rather take the risk of investing in ourselves and our original work at this point in our careers than waiting for someone else to give us the go ahead. We took a risk when we sat down to write the script, when we asked our friends to help bring the story to life, when we reached out to family members and mentors for financial support. I think that risk-taking becomes a snowball effect: once you take the first step, everything else just falls into place accordingly.

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.
Caitlin: Molly and I met in acting class back in 2020, via Zoom! Who would have thought an Internet friendship would make it to the real world in such a meaningful way. I started taking acting class with Deborah Dion in 2017, and Molly in 2019, but it took years for those coaching sessions to finally overlap. We bonded over our similar tastes in movies, music, and books, as well as our experiences in film school. As women in two very male dominated programs, it was amazing to have someone to connect with over filmmaking. While we are still very young and therefore at the genesis of our careers, we both believe that there is no better time than now to take a leap of faith. It’s definitely been a challenge learning how to pool our resources and finances together in order to bring our debut feature to life, but those challenges are not ones we would trade for the world. We know that it is near impossible to be taken seriously in the film industry as young women with less experience, no matter how talented. Instead of waiting and hoping for someone to stumble across us and discover our abilities, our goal with the film is to make our voices known. No matter what happens, we will have made a feature film, and not many people can say that!

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.
Caitlin: As I (Caitlin) was born and raised in Pasadena and our film is set in Pasadena, I do have to shout out a few of my favorite local spots! My favorite neighborhood coffee shop is Lavender & Honey. Their drinks are amazing and they make amazing breakfast toasts. I highly recommend the L&H one! I also always hit up Vroman’s Bookstore and spend way too much money on books. I’d round out my Pasadena favorites with the Norton Simon Museum or Huntington Library, which is technically in San Marino but has surely been adopted as a Pasadena landmark. Now that Molly and I both live in L.A. proper, we hit up a variety of places! When we first started writing together back in August, we would go to Mohawk Bend on Sunset to grab a drink and use the photo booth. It’s unfortunately out of business now. For a morning matcha or coffee, we’ll stop by Obet & Del’s in Thai Town. Our acting studio is down the street, so it’s super convenient for a quick pick me up before class. Our favorite nighttime activity is catching a screening at the American Cinematheque in Los Feliz!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Caitlin and Molly: We could not make the film without the help and support of our friends, families, and mentors. We want to shoutout our incredible 1st Assistant Director, Madalyn Higdon, who hopped on the project last minute and has come through for us in the biggest way. Gillian Kwok has also been an amazing support to us, both as our Production Designer and for creating all of the promotional materials for the film. We also want to shoutout Blake Robbins for all his inspiring pep talks, the Bury family for lending us their house to film in and for their continuous support on the project, and of course, our wonderful cast and crew, without who, the project would not be possible.

Website: https://www.ifundwomen.com/projects/teenage-women

Instagram: @teenagewomenfilm (Film’s account), @mollytaterobbins (Molly Robbins’ account), @caitlinannbury (Caitlin Bury’s account)

Other: Our website is our film’s crowdfunding page though iFundWomen, a platform that has been beyond supportive of us and our journey! We are so grateful we were able to host the project on their website!

Image Credits
Rhyan Maldonado – Black and White Image Gillian Kwok – Character Announcement Design Cleopatra Papadopoulos – Photo of Caitlin with Camera Around Neck