Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Laura Bermejo Abellan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Laura, thanks for joining us today. Have you ever had an amazing boss, mentor or leader leading you? Can you us a story or anecdote that helps illustrate why this person was such a great leader and the impact they had on you or their team?
I am truly grateful for each and every boss I ever had. They were all remarkable, each of them in their own way, and all have helped me thrive and be where I am now. I would like, however, to make a special mention to two incredible female bosses who helped me grow and believe in myself all along the way, and from who I keep learning.
A boss I truly admire is Anna Cassina, a powerful, strong producer who I met in Spain back in November of 2019, while she was the Unit Production Manager for a new show at the production company Bambú called ‘En el Corredor de la Muerte’ (On Death Row). She entered my life in a moment where I wasn’t sure which path within the industry resonated best with myself, but I got this amazing opportunity to interview for a role as her PA, got the job, and everything changed for me: all the doubts and insecurities went away when I began assisting Anna and her team. My role started just a couple of months prior the first day of shooting, so the urgency and constant need for prep were my arena to learn the basis of what producing meant in a real set. She taught me so many things and showed me the importance of patience, which was so crucial to understand my journey and bloom as a professional. Her strength and savviness inspired me every day. We are close friends now and I try to see her every time I go back to Spain, where she now produces at Amazon Studios. Ever since, she has become my go-to person every time I need advice, she is not only my mentor but a close connection, and I aspire to be like her.
Also, the other boss who left an indelible mark on me is Morgan Printy. She is also a producer, and a remarkable feature of her work is how encouraging and supportive she is of her team members: in a moment where I was trying to get into the American entertainment business absolutely clueless of how the industry works here, she welcomed me and gave me my first opportunity by welcoming me to her team on the seventh season of the franchise Fear the Walking Dead. It is thanks to that chance, to her trust on me, that I began my journey understanding and committing to an industry that, at its core, was a whole new world for me. With Morgan, I learned the importance of harmony within a team and how impactful it is to make everyone feel onboard of a project. She tended me a helping hand, answering all my questions, helping me navigate a set that looked too big for me at first, and acting since as my mentor with whom I keep a very strong connection. She taught me that, in this industry, knowledge can be taught, but what you bring to the table as a wholesome person, willing to learn, and able of showing empathy, respect and bringing good energy day after day is what truly stands out. This profession demands us to work for more than 12 hours a day, and sometimes those soft skills can make up the whole difference.
Thanks to both of them, Anna and Morgan, I realized I had a safety net of strong, wise women to get inspired by as I find my way producing cross-cultural projects.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I started binge-watching movies as a teenager and quickly realized that they made me feel seen, challenged, vulnerable, and represented, all at once. At first, I thought I wanted to be a doctor inspired by Grey’s Anatomy, or a lawyer inspired by Legally Blonde, but soon I understood that what drew me in wasn’t the professions on screen, but the emotional stories behind. I didn’t want to be the characters, I wanted to help bring their stories to life, for everyone else to dive into their worlds and, maybe even just for an hour, give the spectators the power to dream to be whoever they chose to be.
So I pivoted into Film and Media Studies, where I met Carmen Ciller, a wonderful professor who introduced me to production. From day one, I became passionate with the collaborative chaos of it all (the problem-solving, the planning, the creativity), and especially with being the person who supports a director’s vision and takes care of the team. That’s when I knew I wanted to produce.
I’ve worked on both Spanish and American sets, and I’m currently pursuing my MFA in Film and TV producing at UCLA thanks to the prestigious Postgraduate Fellowship by the Spanish institution La Caixa, which allowed me to blend and consolidate all my academic background and professional experience, while granting me the space to express myself in ways I have never dared before. In just the last few months, I’ve produced three short films: Godhead (selected for the Arkansas Film Festival), The Electric Oracle, and Professional Son. I’m now prepping three more and developing a feature film titled The Wayward, which just received a development grant in Pennsylvania, as well as a thesis TV pilot called Dreamer, about a young woman aging out of her protected immigration status. These are stories I care deeply about, centered on identity, resilience, and the challenging paths people take to survive and grow.
As a producer, I enjoy coming up with creative and logistical solutions for directors, writers, and production teams. But beyond the “what,” I’m invested in the “how.” I am a big enthusiastic person, and can’t help but show my heart open when working. Good, optimistic energy is contagious, and I honestly believe that creating a smooth environment when working with other people is key for the process to be worthy. I am confident that this is achievable by bringing patience, empathy, and an awareness that filmmaking is as much about people as it is about the result.
Looking forward, my aspiration is to continue working globally. I believe deeply in the power of cross-cultural storytelling. Growing up, I learned that the most meaningful films often come from faraway places and voices, yet somehow speak directly to your heart. That’s the kind of work I want to pursue intimate, human stories that bridge division and help us better understand each other.
I feel lucky for everything I have achieved and encountered since I took the leap to America. Life has proven to me that if you can dream it, you can do it. And, at the end, it is all about learning and thriving and being challenged constantly, while never losing the focus on enjoying every second of the ride. Experience have taught me that the key to success lays on the eagerness and excitement we put in. So I embodied those qualities and made them my motto. It’s true that the entertainment industry is now more challenging than ever, but I can’t help it, I am a truly optimistic and I believe that this is the time to build community, strengthen personal bonds and emphasize the synergy of partnerships. Now is about supporting each other and learn from our circles, that is the way, that is the key of producing and I find it so inspiring.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Absolutely! As a producer, my mission is clear: to tell stories that capture, in its core, the strange, beautiful, and messy experience of being alive in this world.
Ever since I was a kid, films have felt like secret maps to understand life, tools that helped me make sense of the world and the role we play in it. My passion for storytelling developed early in my youth: it turned out to be an incredibly powerful skill to help me navigate the changes in my life, and soon I realized it was not just something I loved to do, but something I wanted to be involved at professionally.
Growing up in La Coruña, a cozy town nestled in the Atlantic rhythms of Northwest Spain, I felt films and storytelling as both escape and compass. When I decided to move to Los Angeles, it was those stories -both real and imagined- that helped me focus my purpose along the journey. I became fascinated by how movies can transmit in a visual, striking way, someone’s inner world through a shared, international language of understanding. And that’s when it truly clicked: a story well told can shape hearts, spark change, and shrink the distance between individuals.
Since moving to the United States, I’ve been partnering with directors and writers from cultures and backgrounds different to mine, and what I came to realize is that, at the end of the day, the more personal an artist’s voice is, the more universal it becomes. It is our shared, unfiltered humanity which unites us. And I see the art of storytelling as the catalyst that blends ideas and emotions together.
I feel a special spark about fostering projects where the rawness of reality meets the magic of everyday life, where monotony becomes wild, unexpected, bubbly. If you think about it, magical realism is such a powerful tool because it enhances the understanding of what surrounds us, as individuals and as a society. It creates a space for emotional realities that are otherwise overlooked. I honestly think that if more stories were told from the heart, more empathy would surface. My goal, in these complex times, is to create subtle fantasies that can become a tool to sweeten the weight of reality. But just a bit!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
My biggest take and excitement when producing projects is knowing that the story will reach into someone’s life, and change things for good. Think about the last time you saw something that made you feel like they knew you, or when a movie or a character inspired you to do something, mundane or adventurous, travel somewhere, try something new, get out of your comfort zone, or simply, look at things from a new perspective.
I remember watching one of my favorite movies, ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’, a story about an unconventional family trying to get through, despite life getting constantly in the middle. Or watching ‘Inside Out 2’ last year, and feeling completely speechless to observe those emotions taking shape outside my body, in such a powerful way that the movie felt like a mirror held up to my inner world.
I believe there is an almost eerie quality to the moving image that makes you forget about the artifice of what you’re seeing, blurring that thin line between fiction and truth, that suspension of disbelief… But at the same time, the capacity to relate to what happens inside the screen makes you bolder, more aware of what is going on outside yourself (and even inside!), and reaching that collective consciousness is what I always look forward when watching and producing films.
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Leire Baztarrica