Meet Sahvannah Rae | Writer / Director

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

Hi Sahvannah, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor behind success in a creative career is vulnerability in your art. Storytelling is one of those rare things in life that has always allowed me to feel bigger than myself when I’m honest with the words that I write because I inherently know the human experience is universal. The stories of mine that I find most immersive are the ones that are mirrors of my own struggles, questions, fears, and experiences. They become memorializations of who I am in that moment of my life. And to share those with the world is terrifyingly incredible. Chancing that type of vulnerability is the greatest risk, but also offers the greatest reward.

I can’t pinpoint exactly when, but I know there was a certain point in my life when I realized writing was the only way I could really be honest with myself, and soon after stories became so deeply rooted in my life that one day I found myself having made a career out of them. I find that my most successful projects have always had a foundation of truth to them. Writing has helped me process childhood trauma, accept modern love, survive painful losses, come to terms with failed adult relationships, and from this, beautifully complex stories have emerged.

Today I take comfort in the fact that if I’m honest in my writing, long after I’m gone my stories will still be alive; and someone years from now will watch one of my films or read one of my scripts and resonate with the same emotional journey. I used to think a lot about my purpose in life and often feared unfulfilled potential. Storytelling has a way of erasing those fears because I have come to believe when a person is vulnerable with their art, they become infinite.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Though I always knew I wanted to spend my life telling stories, my journey into the industry was not as simple. The film industry is made to break a person down and it’s easy to loose your way in the politics of it all. When I initially entered the industry I began with a very logical approach. I was told to start at the bottom and work my way up. So I went to college and studied film, and after graduation got a job as a development assistant at a production company. I was promised that if I worked hard and paid my dues, in 4-5 years I would be an executive. After 2 years my writing had stalled and my creative spark was slowly depleting. That’s when I realized there is nothing logical about art. I fell in love with storytelling because of the emotion behind it. Art was always an expression of the human experience, and that experience is anything but logical. So against all advice, I did the most illogical thing and quit my job, leaving my reliable paycheck and steady benefits. It was then that my creative spark was reignited and I began writing like I never had before.

Since quitting, I have faced the most unpredictable, yet exciting year of my life. I have endured more self doubt and faced deep criticism, but have also never felt more free. I took the biggest risk I could and I bet on myself and the belief that my words could become bigger than myself. My latest project, “Albatross” is a film that encompasses my greatest fears as woman and I wrote it during one of the most chaotic years of my life. Because of this, it has slowly become my most treasured piece.

As children we see the value of stories, most children can’t go to sleep without a hearing a bedtime story. But as adults we begin to loose our inquisitive nature. When I left my 9-5 job and began writing again, I found a sense of liberation because a life of mediocracy, a life without risk, a life without stories isn’t a life worth living at all. Since then, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that the safest investment you can make is the one in yourself, because only you know how much you want it and how hard you’re willing to work to achieve it.

Today I love the idea that I’m slowly discovering my own creative voice. I truly believe the repetitive nature of an office environment slowly begins to deteriorate ones creative voice. I’ve learned that to be creative you have to live creatively. My advice to others would be to go on adventures, try things that scare you, and never settle for mediocracy. Through this journey I have realized that I have a passion for using my films to transport audiences into unfamiliar worlds that create new perspectives on life, perspectives that I have only come to witness through traveling and experiencing all the world has to offer. And on those days where the self doubt creeps in and you feel like the dumbest person in the world for becoming a creative, remember that life wouldn’t be much of anything without the art we create to make it feel full. With each project I aim to start a conversation and use my work to enact thoughtfulness. I strive to create art that connects a vast variety of audiences in a raw and honest way. To experiment in the grey area of life and hone in on the vast complexity of perception encompasses the reason for why I do what I do. For anyone struggling in the industry I would say to first find your own creative “why” and base everything else you do off of that.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would start by taking them to Openaire for brunch. The rooftop restaurant has an incredible view and delicious food. I’d then have us journey to the movies, preferably a showing at The Chinese Man theater because no weekend is complete without the newest film release. Next I’d have us stop at Alfred Coffee for a mid-day pick me up, then a short visit to the Huntington Museum and Botanical Gardens for a fun stroll, followed by dinner at Toca Madera, and close the night with drinks and dancing at Boardner’s By La Belle.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Gosh, there are so many people who have helped shape me into the person I am, but my father really comes to mind first. He made sure I grew up in a household that valued creativity above anything else and he often held storytelling with the same importance as eating or sleeping. He bought me my first journal, filled our home with novels, and introduced me to the world of make believe; a world with infinite what if’s and the promise of endless possibility.

I remember when I was young he would pull me out of school early on the days a big film was released because he would argue “A film education is just as important as a math or science one,” and he was right. To this day I have never encountered anything in the world that makes me feel the way storytelling does, and I am eternally grateful that he enabled that introduction.

I also have to shoutout my sister, Skye Bleu, who produces all of my projects. She is my right hand women in every aspect of my life. I often joke about how lucky I am to have someone on set that can read my mind, but I honestly don’t think I could get through a production without her.

Lastly, I want to shoutout everyone in my life who doesn’t quite understand the world of filmmaking, but supports me nonetheless. On the outside the film industry is a beast in itself and you have to be a little crazy to dedicate your life to it, so to have the support of my brother who’s an engineer or my mother who is a business owner or my best friend who is a therapist, means the world to me. They may not understand why I do what I do, but to them it doesn’t matter if I the path I chose was less than conventional, it’s my path nevertheless and they are happy to see me walk it.

Website: Sahvannahrae.com

Instagram: sahvannah_rae

Image Credits
Skye Bleu