We were lucky to catch up with Beth Lane recently and have shared our conversation below.
Beth, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
I’ve taken a lot of risks in my life, but one of the bigger ones was when I decided to go back to graduate school mid-career. My cohort consisted of 8 students, including myself – I could have given birth to all seven of them! So it took a lot of courage to allow myself to be a student again not only in the eyes of my relationship with myself and my professors, but also with my cohort. I was enrolled at UCLA in the School of Theatre Film and Television. I was on track to earn my MFA in theatre – I thought I wanted to teach at the university level, and I also felt that, as an actor, my work was no longer relevant. Social media was going bananas – competition to get likes and views and all of that was the focus of everything and that didn’t sit well with me. I was never an actor who engaged in competitions – to me that isn’t a good breeding ground for art and creativity. So I was trying to find my place in this newer world of Twitter and Tik Tok. I needed to learn how to create my own content and not wait around for my agent to call and all of that.
The summer before my final year of grad school, I had an experience overseas that forced me to come running back to campus and start pounding on all of the documentary film professors doors. I begged them, and my advisor, to let me enroll in their classes. They did!!! This October, UnBroken, my feature documentary debut as a director/producer/writer will screen at three incredible festivals. I can’t release the names until they release their press announcements, so please check our website for updates! It’s been six years since I was pounding on those professor’s doors and we are finally going to be out there.
I’ve risked six years of my life, a ton of my own money, my marriage, my family, my friendships, but I’m a very lucky artist – everyone has supported the journey, my husband especially. But you never know what the fall out can potentially be when you go all in. Friends ask me to go out to lunch and I just laugh! Lunch???!!!! Lunch is not in the cards for my foreseeable future! I can chat before 8am or after 7pm and on the weekends. I’ve exhausted myself and risked a lot of friendships with my mono-focus. I’ve lost some friendships. But at the end of the day I know my husband and family and true friends are very proud of what we, together, have accomplished. Because you can’t do something like this alone. Every donation, every text of encouragement, even every piece of unsolicited advice… it all comes together in a meaningful way.
And even the folks that you were fairly confident would show up for you, and then they don’t – it’s a shocker – but it steels you. It’s all part of why I needed to tell this particular story. So the risk? I couldn’t have chosen a more meaningful project to work on mid-career. UnBroken is a testament to commitment and knowing deep inside, that what I had to say was and is relevant. Because it’s not about me and it never was. I think when we make art, it’s about the process and if you are open, the process will guide you and tell you what it is you need to learn and ultimately share with those who need to hear it most, whether they realize it or not.
Beth, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
This is my directorial debut. I’ve been an actor my entire life and for the last 30 years, a wife and mother, interior designer, jazz singer, philanthropist… I keep busy! Directing has come naturally to me and I’m excited to do more in the future.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
For sure, the thing that keeps me going on this creative journey, which has been a roller coaster – nothing has come easily – is that I have had to pivot over and over again. I have found my resilience to be my super power – UnBroken is a much bigger story than I could ever imagine. It is not about me. Sure, it’s my journey, but it really has nothing to do with me. I have established a 501(c)3 in the state of California named The Weber Family Arts Foundation which has the express mission to combat antisemitism, bigotry and hate through the arts. We tell stories of hope by shining a light on courage, bravery and resilience. Although UnBroken is a story about seven Jewish siblings who survived the Holocaust, the film is timeless and unique because it inspires people to dig down deep into the belly of their souls to truly understand that even one decision can have a ripple effect that reverberates generations to come in a positive way. We all seem to feel these days that our individual actions don’t matter and that’s just not true. Every action matters.
That’s why I am so passionate about arts education. Our society needs to have the experience of not just viewing art, or cinema or theatre, but making it as well. Why do you think Tik Tok has been such a giant success? People like making stuff. People want to be heard. When we make art, we are tapping into the timelessness of our own soul footprint. It’s easy for non-artists to forget the value in what artists bring to a society. But we create the opportunity to examine a moral and ethical landscape within our own souls. That’s something that can’t be underestimated. Especially today with sports being the number one financially lucrative form of entertainment. Don’t get me wrong – there is a place for sports and some of the most inspirational stories ever have come from the athletic playing field. But athletes and artists are different in a few ways and we both hold the keys to the heart. So the resources and the time spent, especially in elementary and even middle school, must be in balance in order for all of the muscles of empathy and compassion to grow in equal measure.
Two books I listen to over and over again when I am feeling stuck or just need some inspiration are Steven Pressfield’s, “The War of Art” and Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big Magic.” The former is about how to be a business person in an artistic field such that you are giving yourself permission to make art and the latter is a reminder that it’s ok to be spiritual, whatever that means to you – to make time and space for the words, the colors, the images, the human behaviors, the movements to materialize in ways that create books, photos, acting, dances… I could go on. But as artists we need to be able to straddle both parts of our brain and create the space in our timelines to fulfill our destiny. That might sound awfully esoteric or pompous and it isn’t meant to be. It’s meant to simply acknowledge that storytelling is a holy and sacred act in any and all mediums. Stories go back to the beginning of our understanding of homo sapiens and their cave art. If it isn’t sacred, then why do we do it? I choose sacred – with office hours!
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Life is hard. It’s fun, it’s crazy but it’s awfully, awfully hard. Adulting is painful and time consuming and the piles and lists never seem to go away. But being an artist reminds me each and every day that laughter is the very best food. The medicine of being an artist is worth every mountain we’ve had to climb, every closed door, every rejection, every failure. Being an artist for me reminds me to not take everything so seriously – I take my subjects very seriously. UnBroken is a deathly serious subject matter. But I practice each and every day to try and not take myself seriously. Because otherwise, where’s the fun? And if it isn’t fun, then it’s work and if it’s work then the closed doors are too painful to bear and the mountains are insurmountable. But if it’s fun, then it’s just the natural progression of a high tide wave swallowing up a gorgeous newly built sandcastle – created for fun and swept out to the ocean. Isn’t that the natural order of things? If high tide is going to sweep me out, then I’m going out knowing I made a contribution, but I’m going out laughing!
UnBroken will have its world premiere at the Heartland International Film Festival, October 8th at 2:30 PM, followed by additional screenings October 14th at 12:00 PM and October 15th at 12:15 PM- tickets can be purchased here. UnBroken’s west coast premiere will take place at the Newport Beach Film Festival on October 13th at 7:45 PM, followed by an additional screening on October 17th at 5:15 PM- tickets can be purchased here. Stay tuned for more screenings and festival news.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bethlane.com/new-would-you-hide-me
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethlanefilm/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebethlane/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethlane1/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/bethlanefilm
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-mSujkwcnqOdUzpGNq8KbQ
- Others: Festival Bookings: nancy@cinemacollet.
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