We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Makayla McIntosh a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Makayla, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
About a year and a half ago, my acting teacher inspired me to write my own spin-off. After writing it, he thought it was so good that I should actually fund it, produce it, and create it. That project gave me the push I needed to create my own production company – and co-write my first film, Shredded.
Flashback to five years ago, my professional dance career ended overnight with a near-fatal accident. What felt like the absolute worst moment of my life, and the deep depression and years of recovery after that, actually paved the way for me to pivot and pursue film. Up until that point, I had a very successful stage career, touring with the top Broadway companies and amazing regional theaters. The accident flipped my world upside down over night.
Shredded was born out of realizing that I wanted to create a film that I needed in that time in my life, when it felt like all hope was lost, my identity was gone, and I didn’t know how to heal and live life. My production partner, Adam, left his corporate job after he was diagnosed with breast cancer and finally pursued his true passion: film. We wove together our traumatic experiences to make this film: Shredded. We poured our hearts, souls, and everything into taking the risk to raise money to make it happen.
Makayla, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m Makayla, and I fell in love with the performing arts and creating when my family took me to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway when I was just 5 years old. I was completely mesmerized, and I knew I wanted to make that same impact on others. While I spend a lot of my time pursuing film in NYC and Vancouver, BC, I was born in the small town of Newton Falls, Ohio where the only thing we are known for is a zip code of 44444. I spend a lot of time in Ohio, because I believe this area needs the arts more than ever.
At 16 years old, I accidentally founded my children’s entertainment company, Castle On A Cloud Entertainment, and we specialize in providing magical children’s entertainment at birthday parties, events, concerts, and more. We also spend a lot of our time making magic at children’s hospitals, charity events, and giving back to the community.
My deep love of Anastasia and musicals blossomed into a passion for film, acting, and dance. I received a BFA in Mucal Theater from Belmont University and moved to NYC post-graduation to pursue a professional career in film and dance.
I enjoyed performing in the premiere Grand Ole Opry cast of How the Grinch Stole Christmas the Musical as Punky/Reno, regional equity houses around the country, and performing on Disney Cruise lines as the female swing! Highlight of my musical theater career was touring with the National Tour of A Chorus Line, working with Baayork Lee, performing the roles of Vicki, Cassie, and Val.
From the creative side, I choreographed Chicago for the Millennial Theater Company, winning a Broadway World Award for best choreography in 2019. I received my equity card as a performer, associate choreographer, and dance captain for Shrek the Musical at the Beck Center for the Arts.
After a near-fatal accident changed the course of my dance career, I shifted my focus into pursuing film. I love telling stories and inspiring others through stories. I’ve had the privilege of working on multiple award-winning indie feature and short films, and founded my production company, Siren of the Pacific Productions, to create more female-forward stories that are though-provoking and moving.
I frequently come back to Ohio to teach, create, and perform, because I want to prove to my community that anything is possible if you just believe. I want to create more opportunities for the arts in Ohio.
Have you ever had to pivot?
My dream was to dance on Broadway.
In 2017, I had a tragic accident that changed the course of my career. After an initial burst of “you won’t tell me what to do/I will make a comeback”, I spiraled into a depression and an eating disorder, realizing that my body was never going to be the same. After a few years of surgeries, physical therapy, and every recovery method out there, I was finally ready to pursue my dream of being on Broadway.
I moved back to NYC in February of 2020 – and I think we all know what happened soon-after. Before I knew it, I was on a plane to Vancouver, BC to spend time with my partner with the threats of the border closure. After 2 weeks of “we will flatten the curve”, we realized the curve was not going to flatten, and Broadway wasn’t coming back anytime soon.
Instead of being completely devastated, I knew it was time to pivot. After a few months, film production came back in full swing in Vancouver. I realized that I could dance on film and television, or I could even focus more on acting, since dance has a timeline in many cases.
I went all in on film acting classes, started writing, invested in a course on producing, and used all my knowledge of business, choreographing and creating, to pivot into this new facet of entertainment. I fell in love with it.
What started as the most devastating moment in my life, has become the most beautiful new chapter that has blossomed as a result.
From the darkest moment of my life, became the catalyst and the inspiration for my first feature film, Shredded. We just wrapped filming, and looking back, I cannot have even imagined that the most devastating moment of my life could turn into what I have created now.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
There are many steps we can take to help best support artists and creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem. Here’s a few initial thoughts:
If we spend all of our time just trying to afford our basic needs of housing, food, and health care, how do we have the money or time to create?
1) Creative co-op housing. Vancouver, and other cities, have a beautiful co-op housing system, where you apply as an artist, show your work as an artist, and if you are under a certain income threshold, qualify. The average rent in Vancouver for a 1 BR is now $2500+/month which is nearly impossible with most salaries of creatives. Many co-op creating housing spaces are anywhere from $500-$1300 which is much more possible to balance.
2) Universal health care. Socialized health care does have its downfalls in terms of access, wait times, and electives, but if artists at least had basic health care that didn’t cost a fortune/didn’t have to worry about going thousands of dollars into debt if an accident occurred, we would have more money and time to create. In NYC alone, market place health care starts at $500-1000 a month for an individual/couple which means $4000+ deductibles and $15000+ out of pocket. That’s nearly $14-28k alone a year on health care, and we aren’t even factoring in taxes or children.
3) Improving transit means more access to city centers which typically have the most opportunities to see and experience art in all of its forms. Many people wait to go see films, shows, exhibits, etc after work, and parking is expensive, or transit is not always safe to take that late. By having safe and reliable transit, more people could safely access artistic opportunities. 
Contact Info:
- Website: www.makaylamcintosh.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/IamMakaylaMcIntosh
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/makayla-mcintosh-480530218/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgqYkVxVmf-W1H_a_KUi8iQ
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13062515/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_0_nm_2_q_makayla%2520mcintosh
Image Credits
Adam Michael John Cox Ruth Solorzano Cat Yudain Susanne McDonald Maddie Coronato Brooklyn Film Festival