We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Emma Evans a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Emma, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

As a producer, my background in other aspects of film was very important for me to build realistic productions with enjoyable environments. Just my baseline understanding of what technical set-ups involve allows me to – for example – pick locations not only based on the artistic choices the director envisions but also the accessibility for loading set pieces or equipment in with ease. When I first started to produce things I didn’t realize the power that really gave me. I had a lot of experience under my belt when I moved to LA, and absolutely nobody out there that knew it. But having dealt with so many changes in my life – moving to LA, alone, as an 18 year old girl, during a global pandemic, starting classes at the #1 public university while fresh off a chronic autoimmune disease diagnosis and dealing with continually worsening symptoms, all while trying to continue working and earning as a filmmaker – all I cared about was stabilizing my life. I wanted to fill it with people and activities that inspired me to be my best self, and as that self began to emerge, my career started taking off. I tried to analyze what had most significantly changed about the way I was doing things, and although I always knew it to an extent, it was the way I managed to connect with people, genuinely, fast. I don’t often work on sets with people who aren’t genuinely friends of mine and I almost never leave a project without having added the entire crew to my roster of friends. It means a lot to me to have real relationships with the people I work with and that has opened up a whole new world of creation for me, wherein I have people who are excited and energized to work with me. The more I began to realize this, the more it crept into my subconscious that being with people is the core of my job. And if that was what would fill my life from now on, I wanted to make the absolute most of it. So I started to literally analyze nights out with friends that were super fun. What made them that way? Why was this night better than the others? What things did I say to new faces that gave us an instant connection? Improving my personability, to me, has literally become the most important part of my job. Being able to talk deeply with people who I barely know is very important to me now, not only to see what benefits we could really have to each other but to feel that amazing closeness that comes from genuine human connection. To me, film and media should represent the best about us as beings, and I see that as humans constantly improving. I want my content over the years to remind people of the hope we still have when we really have a desire to understand why things happen the way they do. My curiosity for the world was recently reignited in the UCLA business school and has given me a drive that I hadn’t seen in myself before, but it’s because I know what I’m capable of doing now. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone and learning from it is an everyday activity now, and it only continues to introduce me to people more intriguing than anyone I ever imagined I’d spend time with. These skills I’ve mentioned would help anyone excel in really any line of work, but what I love so much about my path is that I now see my job as a method of sharing these amazing people’s stories with a larger audience and greatly magnifying their eventual impact. Obviously the world needs a lot of work. But for the first time in my life I’m seeing directly how I can start making change in front of me and I have never realized how important it is to always maintain optimism.

Emma, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have been a producer for about 6 years now, and I started my company Neon Shark Media in 2020. My past work has consisted mostly of short narrative films, and although my heart will always be with narrative work, I have been expanding my media operations lately to round out my company’s work. I have never seen the company as being just one thing, and ultimately want Neon Shark Media to be seen as a community of creative people who you know are top-tier and fighting to see actual change as a result of what they are doing. I am now focused on meaningful media campaigns, a lot driven by social media content & reality-style shows with an eye to leading into feature film production around similar topics. My new show, CAPITALIZE, focuses on successful women in early stages of new career ventures to showcase the mindsets that bring about their achievements, focusing of course on their hard work but also the aspects of them that make them real, relatable people. This campaign is part of the runway leading into a feature film in develpment that will be an important story that redefines how we should view women sex workers. With my background I have ready access to a great network of creatives specializing in all sorts of media: short-form content, documentary content, feature films, photography, music and lyric videos, podcasts, music production, graphic design – pretty much anything a brand might possibly need. I am seeking new brands to work with on defining their name publicly in a meaningful, memorable way to help them realize their ultimate missions. Myself and those I work with have a particular leg up as part of Gen Z, and the fact that we are so in touch particularly with social media is what allows us to draw large amounts of eyes to our work.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

It is very hard to explain what working in the world of entertainment is like to those who haven’t directly experienced it. One of the most interesting things about it is definitely how your work life and social life blend together. Sometimes it’s a good thing, sometimes it’s the worst thing. Everyone knows that the entertainment industry is cutthroat, but most don’t realize how much. The lengths some people will go to to get where they want to be can be extortionate. In order to really succeed, you have to learn what works specifically for you to reach your end goal, and that often involves a lot of trial and error. It’s fun and also stressful to constantly be pursuing things in every corner of entertainment, and often people misunderstand your goals or purpose if they don’t keep up with the throughline in everything you’re doing. The biggest conflict I always face is just that of a work-life balance, because keeping on top of the entertainment industry requires a ton of work. I’ve been saying lately that working in entertainment requires a bit of embracing insanity. It also definitely requires sacrifices, and it can be very hard to weigh the pros and cons in making those tough decisions, but staying in touch with reality and knowing that at the end of the day you’re prioritizing what really matters is key.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

Recently learning a bit more about NFTs, I believe they are going to be really important for entertainment in the future. It could give power and profits back to the creators making it a great way to avoid any corporate domination from those who don’t stand for good values while still giving content wide visibility. If Web 3.0 truly is the next phase of our technology, quickly adapting media to reach people within that world will be crucial. Visuals/graphics dominate all the content we consume these days, and it is also at the core of all NFT projects. While many NFTs now are still images, more pop up daily that feature video content, and it creates an innovative profit and ownership contract situation that could be desirable to many. I will say, though, that if I am to get into any NFT-related ventures, I want to learn about and see changes in the systems that run blockchain transactions to be more green and produce zero net emissions.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.neonsharkmedia.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neonsharkmedia/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/neonsharkmedia
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/76230736/admin/
• Other: My personal links: https://www.theemmaevans.com/ https://www.instagram.com/theemmaevans/

Image Credits
Carlos Vincent Imagery Brandon Dorsey