Meet Emilie Newell | Independent Filmmaker

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

Hi Emilie, what’s the most difficult decision you’ve ever had to make?
Moving to LA from Kansas City was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make. I had stepped away from filmmaking after becoming disenchanted with the local film scene in Kansas City. However, 2023 was a year of intense personal change and I decided that life was too short to keep putting my dreams on hold. Although my father was sick at the time and I had to quit my stable teaching job, I still made to choice to move to Los Angeles and truly pursue my career as a filmmaker.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As an only child, I was constantly looking for ways to entertain myself and one of my favorite thing to do was to stick my head between the couch cushions and watch “my own movies in my mind”. This quickly escalated to writing my ideas down and convincing friends to perform my stories. I even studied film in college and started working on independent films. After years of working as a crew member in the art department of other people’s films, I realized that what originally sparked my passion for film was telling my own stories. Now I’m focusing on writing and directing my own films. I just wrapped production on my short film FAWN. It tells the story of a friendly hangout gone wrong and explores the fawn trauma response and how it can illicit vastly different reactions in audience members. FAWN is a stand alone excerpt from the feature that I’m currently writing which is titled You Used It Against Me. You Used It Against Me is a dark comedy road trip set in the ruins of American late stage capitalism from the earnest midwest to the brutal snobbery of the coasts. I want the comedy in this movie to make women laugh and make men uncomfortable. All of my films focus on the often untold stories of women and centering the female experience. My ultimate goal is to start my own film production company which would not only produce my films but also help other filmmakers express their unique points of view that audiences may not be used to seeing represented on the big screen.

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.
Museums are my happy place so we would have to go to the Getty and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. As for food, my favorite taco place in LA is definitely Guisados- the mole poblano taco and melon agua frescas drink are my top recommendations. For dessert, you’ve got to try SomiSomi in Sawtelle for their unique soft serve ice cream in a fish shaped cone. Then to hangout, drink and dance it has to be Good Times at Davey Wayne’s. You enter through a refrigerator and step back in time into a groovy 70’s living room where they exclusively play music from 1969-1980. Last but not least, a midnight stroll on the beach with the moon setting into the ocean is the perfect way to end the night. The beach by Ballona Lagoon is scenic, clean and uncrowded.

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?
Dupree Jones helped make my short film FAWN possible. He not only helped me produce and shoot the film, he encouraged me throughout the process and kept me sane during production.

Website: https://www.emilienewell.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilie_michele_/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilie-newell/

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@anewapothecary

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@emilie.film