We recently connected with Angel E. Dickholtz and have shared our conversation below.

Angel E., thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry? Any stories or anecdotes that illustrate why this matters?

It is hard to not point a finger at corporate media, unions, and streaming services nowadays with the amount of proof that they strong-arm any variation in thinking and discourage many creatives. I consider myself a multi-disciplinary artist and corporate paid unions job do not often provide as many opportunities for this trait as indie film work does. You have to be a Martin Scorsese or Timothee Chalamet in order to get creative freedom. Which can be to a fault. I don’t appreciate the limits and boxes this puts staffed artists into. Being a producer, creative director, and hair/makeup designer makes my presence on a project well-rounded and I highly build up and provide support for the art and HMUW departments to take on the responsibilities that large scale productions can require.

There’s no “right” budget in filmmaking, but there is a “right” budget per project in the genre or realm it belongs in. It should include a respectably paid team to make those goals happen cohesively and efficiently. It should center around promoting the local businesses and providing an environment for your cast in crew in a way that supports the moral and economic value on set and in the local communities that you bring productions into.

People can be proud that every one of their projects is from narrative work, and that’s not a bad goal to have and achieve. But most mainstream narrative work coming out is hard to watch and has been for a little while now. The strikes only sped up the process of people realizing it. Corporate media is writing in a way to tell the audience the “message” and to check the boxes in their agendas. It’s being made to fill air time. Meanwhile, the indie economy is now the wild west again where anything can happen. I don’t have an answer to solve it all, but the fact that the industry slogan right now is “stay alive till ’25” sums it up well.

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 am the Co-Founder and Creative Director of A&A Cinema, a husband and wife production team. I contract out for independent producing work through our production company alongside my work as a hair and makeup designer. Austin Dickholtz, my husband, is a 1st Assistant Director and Producer. We often work together and/or within our independent skill sets. We tackle pre-production, principle photography and post-production in narrative, commercial, and live media both on-location and remotely across the U.S. We are based in Dallas, TX.

We are members of the Dallas Producers Association and we are liaisons for the Texas Film Commission rebates. Our genres of focus center around dramas, comedies, westerns, and live media within long form and short-form narratives.

Currently in production, I am producing two features, one titled “Stairway” that centers around a Jewish coming-of-age boy fleeing Vienna for Texas during the Holocaust. There is a talk show Pilot titled “The Latest” that I produced with DENY Media Group, it is currently in post-production. Coming out next is a feature that both Austin and I worked on last Spring with 12 Westerns, it is titled “Killin’ Jim Kelly”, a western set in the 1860s that filmed around the DFW area.
There is a “time-travel” feature Austin and I are working on that is filming later this year, mostly set in 30AD. While filming a teaser for the project a couple of months ago, I had the opportunity of being able to create and film a “Jesus” character, definitely a bucket-list item. (see photo) Anything else at the moment is under NDA.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I was thankful for the opportunity in 2022 to pivot to producing full-time and now I maintain a healthier balance of the two aspects of my work as a filmmaker. I love producing just as much, if not more than being a hair and makeup department head. I haven’t done producing as long as I have done hair and makeup nor have I been able to get my foot in the door as easily. I have gotten to a stage in my career where I have the freedom to be pickier about what projects I take on and what I am willing to commit time and creative energy to. That success has been a result of years of hustling myself and my gear around NYC, LA, and set-to-set everywhere in-between. I still love those chapters in life where the hustle comes into play and I am thankful to tackle it now with the company of my husband and the wisdom and experiences from everyone I’ve had the pleasure to have worked with.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I have taken reputation building serious since the beginning of my career, starting with social media and utilizing it to showcase my skillsets to get booked as an apprentice and assistant to some of the best of the best in the industry. I try to carefully select projects for my portfolio to be mindful of my goals as a filmmaker and creative. A project that encapsulated the type of work I was doing early in my career was when I booked my job on The Letter Room in 2019, which went on to get nominated for an Oscar in 2021. Another “big break” was my work on New York Fashion Week as well as New York Bridal Fashion Week, I knew the type of work I wanted to create and I always strive to be bold in my steps of manifesting those things. There was a photoshoot I did while filming Model House with the main cast in Oklahoma during 2020. That photoshoot helped set a new layer of my brand tone as I shifted more to the western genre after my time in NYC. The Model House movie just released on April 5th in select theaters and On-Demand. (link below) I have a cameo the first few minutes of the film. Last year I worked on a shoot for A21, one of their #CANYOUSEEME campaigns. I have been familiar with the organization for years but getting to be on set, helping creating a project with them, was blessing to support an organization I respect. (see photo) I had the pleasure of being on set with Sofia Milos recently, she was such sweetheart and I am a fan of her work. (see photo) I can never predict what day on-set can have in store, I believe it is best to operate in this industry with the mindset of always being prepared for anything, be kind to everyone, and follow your intuition.

Contact Info:

• Website: aandacinema.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theangelelizabeth/
• Other: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/model-house/umc.cmc.6ljty5xdwk5smgyf5vyukjojc