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

Aimee, appreciate you joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My mother is a very creative and inspiring individual. Everything she does becomes an artistic endeavor… whether it was cooking, packing lunches, designing Halloween costumes, painting, taking photographs or writing poetry and children’s books… everything— is done thoughtfully and with a creative flair. She inspired with her creativity and perseverance. She also encouraged creativity in both her daughters. We were put into plays and eventually when a colleague began to work at an agency we were motivated to meet the agent there.

My hard working, intelligent father taught about discipline, integrity and hard work. Nothing was handed to us. If I wanted to take horseback riding classes… I needed to earn the money to do so. I appreciate this now- more than ever, because it instilled a strong work ethic. He also taught about integrity, character, the importance of family, giving back to the community and always having a sense of humor.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I always loved books and reading… escaping into other worlds and letting my imagination fly. But being able to inhabit those worlds and act out characters was nothing short of magic. It also was a healthy and productive way to express feelings of teenage struggle and angst.

While some of the difficulties I had at school postponed the pursuit of my profession for a couple years, once I got a handle on it- and landed my first paying job— I was hooked. The passion and love I had for acting goes beyond words and I gave it my ALL for over twenty years. At some point, I became a little less enthusiastic about the roles that were being thrown my way (this is pre-MeToo) the stripper, prostitute, rape victim, abused wife, etc. and I was interested in sharing a female perspective… so I set out to learn how to create and write my own stories. This led me back to school… (the school I almost failed out of decades ago)… I now excelled at with honors. After returning to Santa Monica City College I transferred and ended up completing a degree in Film Production at USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Shortly after graduation I embarked on and finished my first feature, The Allnighter which toured the festival circuit and won several awards: including Best Educational Drama Feature at Manhattan Film Festival and Best Emerging Filmmaker Feature Film at Seattle Film Festival. If you’d like to check it out… The Allnighter is now streaming on YouTube, Tubi, Amazon and GooglePlay.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Making my first feature was not an easy task… in particular, raising funds. We ran two crowdfunds… had to shoot… take a break… then raise more funds. Throw a pandemic in there… and it took several years to complete the film. This made navigating continuity issues difficult… For example: the car we were filming in… the owner no longer felt comfortable letting us use- (because of Covid)… therefore, I had to find the same make, model and color on Turo (which isn’t as easy as you’d think). A flood damaged an actors clothing, so I had to buy fabric and sew new costumes to attempt to match the wardrobe. A song we filmed with was too expensive to use, so we had to completely rewrite and re-record a new song, matching the actors mouth from the previous song. These are a few examples… but there are many more- where that came from- to test your resilience and commitment to the project. In the end I knew there was no way I was not going to finish the film… so each obstacle… you just- suck it up, and try and have a sense of humor about it.

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

What I most enjoy about storytelling is the work: examining the human condition, exploring the ingredients that make up a person, dissecting relationship dynamics, navigating transformation and change- all of these elements are very interesting to me.
I also love the collaboration involved. Having the opportunity to work with actors is exhilarating, along with collaborating with the DP and all of the other departments.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tubitv.com/movies/100004967/the-allnighter
• Instagram: @theallnighterfilmofficial @aimeegraham_ag
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theallnighter/
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HaPylPPlzWM
• Other: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0B668VLDL/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r
  Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/movies/details?id=X4kpQpj_n9Y.P