Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Bridgette Yaxley. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Bridgette, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?

I’ve been a creative person my entire life, whether I’m writing, filming, acting, modeling, singing, or collaborating with other creative people in any of those ways, and my creative energy was so apparent at a young age that a teacher of mine in my formative years truly inspired me very much. When I was in fourth grade, I found myself speeding through assignments and activities, often sitting there bored and looking for something else to preoccupy my time with until a teacher encouraged me to write unique and creative alternate endings to any stories or books we had just finished reading in her English class. I loved to read and write, and immediately dove into this opportunity with great passion. I can remember twisting and turning my #8 pencil in the sharpener affixed to the wall repeatedly before running back to my desk so I could just keep writing. I wrote until the little fingers on my right hand became sore from the raw creative energy that raced through me like lightening, “scribbling” (as Hawthorne would call it) from one lined piece of paper to another. I envisioned every character as if I knew them personally, laughing like they were standing right there in the classroom acting out some ferocious and overly dramatic alternate, and even chaotic, ending that even the original author couldn’t have possibly dreamt of. Then, when I was finished with my first little “masterpiece,” my English teacher invited me to entertain my classmates by reading it to the masses! At first, I was apprehensive and even shy to stand up there and read to everyone. I thought that kind of attention was only given to the school athletes, but then I took the class by storm as I began to spin a spine tingling tale a mile long. My classmates sat on the edge of their seats, ready to burst, giggling and exploding with raw emotion like I had never experienced as I read every imaginative detail! Having this wonderful opportunity ignited a passion in me to be the author and creator that I am today. That was my very first experience in entertaining an audience with something unique that I had created and I loved every minute of it! I spent the rest of the school year encouraged to continue writing alternate endings to everything we consumed and I really looked forward to entertaining my classmates with my creative work.
I’m grateful to this teacher for awaking my creative energy in the most amazing way with a fabulous opportunity that continues to inspire me to this day! I wound up becoming a published creative writer and multi-award-winning screenwriter. I’ve even taught the creative writing process at a university. Now I love producing/filming the work that I write, as the owner of my own production company.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a multimedia content producer and owner of Trailblazing Female Productions LLC where I direct and produce unique projects that include everything from music videos, to documentaries, films of varying length, promos, commercials, and more.

I’ve worked on several productions in New York and California, and have earned multiple nominations for my screenwriting in the last few years, winning awards everywhere from Burbank, to NYC, and Los Angeles film festivals.

I’m most proud of my production company, my clients, and work that I’m accumulating as a brand for underrepresented voices, genres, and narratives. My focus is on the view that is often taken for granted and overlooked, which has gained clientele and interest. I’m not chasing awards, but enjoying the creative process tremendously. I prefer to direct/produce unique stories while collaborating with creative-minded people who love the art of storytelling.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

One particular goal or mission driving my creative journey is to produce content from perspectives that are not usually considered. The voice in the room that is usually the quietest and taken for granted. Every character in a story has a different point-of-view, which is why “All Quiet on the Western Front” has been told repeatedly and from varying points-of-view and languages quite successfully. However, this is the male perspective. We can also consider a story like Seinfeld, but retell it largely from Elaine’s perspective of these male friends she has and call it “Elaine” and try to dive deeper into her character. Or we could take a story like Goodfellas, and examine why that kid, Spider, was actually there serving drinks to the guys while they were playing poker? What was a kid his age even doing there in the first place and how did he arrive at that point? What is Spider’s backstory and point-of-view before meeting his demise? When I was an English Professor, I used to ask my students to read the creative works of Edgar Allen Poe frequently, such as “The Cask of Amontillado” but to then reconsider and write an assignment from the perspective of the character this story is NOT told from, such as the very unlucky individual ironically named “Fortunato.” It’s interesting then to think about his metacognitive inner monologue, what his thoughts are from start to end, given all the events that unfold in that classic tale. This is a practice that can also be considered when filming and producing other works because it adds an element of surprise, irony, sarcasm, mystery, revelation, intrigue, inclusivity, equality, and humor.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist, or creative, is being able to collaborate with other creative-minded people while being able to visualize an idea that’s been swimming around in my mind for a while, and then watching it come to life in some way. That’s quite an exciting process. I love writing, storyboarding, collaborating with other creatives to produce and then direct. It’s a very exciting process to edit my work and then showing it to everyone. The feedback is always appreciated too. The exciting journey of production that I experience now all stems back to when I was that little girl entertaining my classmates with creative alternate endings to the books and stories we had just finished reading. I loved writing those and I have the same enthusiasm today when working on a production! I loved the raw energy from that first captive audience who kept asking for more of my work and feel truly fortunate that I’m still experiencing those requests today. I love collaborating, prioritizing my clients goals, and producing high quality projects! It’s a dream come true.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://trailblazingfemaleproductions.com/
• Instagram: BridgetteYaxley/Instagram.com
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@trailblazingfemaleproductions