We recently connected with Whitney Skauge and have shared our conversation below.

Whitney, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I don’t think there was a moment in time when I didn’t want to be a filmmaker. It’s one of the most inherent parts of who I am.

As a kid, I always had a camera in my hand. I basically ran our family’s VHS-C camera into the ground, making “music videos” with my siblings (these were more just us lip-syncing to 90’s pop music and trying to use my dresser as a tripod without cutting our heads out of the frame). I continued to make home movies of our daily life, and my love for capturing moments in real-time naturally transferred into wanting to pursue documentary filmmaking( once I knew the term).

In high school, I did three semesters of our school’s TV station and learned more about working with others creatively. That gave me a lot of confidence as a very shy student. It was a very pure time of creating, making mistakes, and putting things out there for others to see.

As I got to college and knew I wanted to pursue this professionally, I dove head first into a media arts program which showed me more of the business side of making films. That was really instrumental in terms of my being able to talk about my work with clarity and passion. I also made lifelong connections with different mentors and organizations that were very important in terms of making the decision to move to Los Angeles to start my career.

All in all, it was never if I was going to be a professional filmmaker, just when.

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.

I’m a Director/Editor working in documentary film. My work acts as an extension of social and political activism, where I mainly focus on celebrating stories of people who have been historically excluded and pushed aside in our society. There are so many incredible people who have a deep well of stories to share, but because of systematic barriers, many of these people are overlooked. My mentality is to give people from all backgrounds a platform to shine and receive their flowers. For me, filmmaking and specifically documentary, is a way to break down any barriers that get in the way of showcasing the vast beauty of our world and the people creating it.

My debut short film is called The Beauty President, and it is a film that honors AIDS activist and drag artist, Terence Alan Smith. The film focuses on Smith’s historic bid for United States President running as his drag queen persona Joan Jett Blakk to bring visibility to the crises facing LGBTQ+ people and others a the height of the AIDS pandemic. The film premiered at SXSW in March 2021 and was produced by Academy Award®-winning company Breakwater Studios and Executive Produced by Lena Waithe and Rishi Rajani of Hillman Grad Productions. Through this experience I was honored to become a recipient of the Emerging Black LGBTQ+ Filmmaker Award from Newfest: The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival and a member of the inaugural GLAAD “Equity in Media and Entertainment Initiative” for Black LGBTQ+ filmmakers.

Outside of my own filmmaking, I’ve spent the last decade being committed to supporting other filmmakers through my experiences working with The Sundance Insitute, Interloper Films, Women In Film, and Breakwater Studios.

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

My main goal with my creative journey is to be as open, honest, and vulnerable as possible to inspire and encourage audiences who view my work to do the same in their own lives. I really just want to help people understand they have unlimited value and they truly matter regardless of what they look like, who they love, where they’re from, or any other unique and beautiful trait that society has historically made into a negative.

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

There’s something really joyous about creating and bringing something into the world that did not exist before. It’s like this really crazy, magical, frustrating, and fulfilling feeling to be in flow with your art and to not hold yourself back with your creativity. I don’t always experience that, and I have to stay very grounded to achieve this, however, when you’re in it, there’s really nothing else like it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.whitneyskauge.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whitneyskauge/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitney-skauge/

Image Credits
First image I uploaded should credit Haley Watson