We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nathalie Zagar. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nathalie below.

Alright, Nathalie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I would definitely have started earlier, if I could have known that the pandemic and the strike were going to happen, I would have planned ahead. I did not start pursuing my career until 2021 even though I already knew what I wanted to be since I was very young. The reason of this is because when I graduated from High school I did not feel ready to go to another country and start again alone, I instead chose to study in a university in my home town. That school did not have the option of studying film but the closest option was Communications and performing arts. My parents were also thrilled to see me get a “more serious” degree that could possibly help me build up an interesting resume. But, after four years of studying, I still wanted to pursue my career in film and even in 2021 when I finally decided to go for it, I was still scared to do it. So if I had only taken that leap of faith when I had recently graduated high school I could have had a head start of about 5 years. Of course I think that everything happens for a reason and even though I would have wanted to start earlier, it happened when it was supposed to.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

A bit about myself, I am French Mexican, French parents, born and raised in Mexico so I speak fluently three languages (French, Spanish and English). I always knew that I wanted to be in the film industry but as a kid I wanted to be an actor. I was always in the drama club in high school and college and enjoyed very much all the plays that I participated in. I tried acting for film afterwards, but there was just something that did not completely connect with me, so I started looking for a different approach in film. I found Script Supervising in a very spontaneous way, a friend of mine was filming a school project and he asked me to help him doing the job, I had no idea what it was about or what I had to do. He helped me with the basics that he needed for his project, and when I understood what the job was about, I felt like this was the place for me. I love script supervising because it is a job that keeps track of every single department and only interferes when necessary. I think of it as being the eyes and ears of everyone on set. Since that first time doing the job, I got so invested in being the best at it that I read many books and learned from others and I keep perfecting my craft by taking courses with the best in the industry. I also think that my formation in acting is a nice bonus to the script supervising job because you memorize every movement and queue that is done and can be helpful when it comes to doing many takes and lots of different coverages of the same scene. It basically helps to be on top of everything. I consider myself a perfectionist, so every time I turn in a report or finish a project, I make sure that it looks as perfect as it can. When I get good comments on my turned in reports, I feel proud of my work and motivated to keep working and getting even better than I am.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I always try to keep short, medium and long term goals because sometimes things get a bit too overwhelming and you might feel like your long term goal is too far away from being accomplished, so you need smaller goals that are easier to take on and not be discouraged. At the moment, a short term goal that I have is to work in as many films possible this year and network a lot. A medium term goal would be to work as a script supervisor for a TV series (or miniseries); and a long term goal would be to direct my own feature film and even better if it is selected in a big festival (ex. Cannes). In order to accomplish my bigger goals, I need to start small and work my way up, as it is everywhere in life. You can’t expect to be number one in anything without working hard for. it, and it takes many small goals to reach there. The important thing to remember is that anything is possible if you set your mind to it.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I think that the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the fact that our work makes people happy and distracts them from the struggles of everyday life. Most people have normal jobs that have around 8 hour shifts and sometimes have the weekends off to rest, but, being a creative, you have to get used to the idea of working while everyone else is having fun or relaxing, because you are the one who is making all the entertainment for them. People who have different types of jobs like to come home after a long day of work and turn on the TV and watch an episode of their favorite series, or maybe someone had a really terrible day and they go to the movies to relax and take their minds off of things. We have the craziest jobs, in the craziest environments for 12 or more hours a day, and still, I feel like it is the best job ever to be on set. This also happens with athletes, they work very hard to be the best at their sport and people get together and enjoy watching them play and compete. I think that giving people different ways of entertainment is the most rewarding thing, because it is very tough to be an artist, but everyone is excited to see what the artists make.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12754333/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_2_tt_0_nm_8_in_0_q_nathalie%2520z
• Instagram: @dailyscriptie
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathalie-zagar-abitbol/

Image Credits

Kushagra Jain, Claudia Chavez, Val Jones Valverde, Rita Tsao