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

Catherine, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I have been blessed to have quite a few meaningful projects behind me. Of course, even the worst productions have meaningful lessons attached to them if you dare to learn from the experience – which I always strive to do. However, the most meaningful project I’ve ever worked on was my first film as a director-writer-actor; De Puta Madre a Love Story, which went into production 12 years ago. I made De Puta Madre a Love Story at a time when I couldn’t get any auditions or even an agent. I had moved to Los Angeles from Toronto, where I had already had an acting career. I booked a lead in a movie opposite a celebrity and I thought this film was going to open doors for me but the movie was shelved and fell into legal battles. I later learned this happens all the time in Hollywood! I experienced a lot of unfortunate events in my first years in LA and found myself unrepresented in 2012. I heard that a project based off of the Neil Gaiman character, ‘Death’ from The Sandman’s series was in production. I have every Sandman comic and was obsessed as a gothy teenager.  I’m sure the script skipped many hands before it became the Netflix series ten years later. Anyways, I knew someone who knew Neil Gaiman and I wanted to pitch myself for the role of Death by creating a teaser to present to him. I began writing and I wrote so much I forgot about the teaser pitch idea and even about Neil Gaiman, and I just wanted to make a movie. I’m an artist first and foremost, so when I gave myself something to create, the artist took over. The story is not based on anything or anyone in my life. Of course I can relate to the female character because she is an archetype and archetypes live in the collective unconscious – she lived in me. I took an idea of that archetype and then I placed her in imaginary circumstances. I’m a visual artist and this film is very much like a painting. After completing it, I realized that I was always trying to make a movie with my paintings. I used to dream about my paintings coming to life, and that is very much what De Puta Madre a Love Story is. The whole process of the film coming to be was so meaningful to me. We filmed on sacred land at a Universal Spiritual centre in Ojai called Meher Mount. I found this location because my physiotherapist in Toronto told me to go there because I needed someone like her for my injuries and she recommended someone who worked out of that location. By the time I made it to Meher Mount that person no longer worked there, but the experience of standing on that mountain unlocked something in me. I needed to get out of LA and look out over that land. When we were searching for locations for De Puta Madre a Love Story, no location was right. “Location location location” they say. I actually cancelled filming a week before production because I just couldn’t sign off on the locations we had. With the encouragement of my incredible cinematographer Brad Stonesifer, I called Meher Mount and offered a donation. The keepers of the land at the time, Sam and Leslie, were overjoyed to have a small film crew make a movie up there. Even though I’ve learned so much more as a director since then, the whole process made me the director I am today. It almost felt destined, like there was no way I couldn’t have directed that movie. I think this is what they call “Beginners Luck” – because the Universe wants you to do this thing, so it makes it easy. Then after you decide to actually pursue that thing in a real way, it slams you with lessons. De Puta Madre a Love Story was my beginners luck. I only chose to direct it because I had a strong vision of how I wanted it to go and every director I spoke to didn’t hold that same vision. I basically had to direct it. I deeply love this movie, not only because it made me a director, but because I’m proud I was able to communicate my vision to my creative team and get exactly what I wanted – the sensory image in my head. I think it’s absolutely perfect and I can’t say that about much else in my life. It’s a much simpler story than my next films, but the whole experience will always be so meaningful to me and I hope that everyone can watch it.

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

Most people call me Cat Black, my professional name is Catherine Black and I prefer being called both!

I’m an American-Canadian director, actor, artist, Intimacy Coordinator and educator. I’m a proud member of SAG-AFTRA, ACTRA, AEA, CAEA and Alliance of Woman Directors and a certified acting instructor at Stuart Rogers Studios, where I also studied for over a decade.

At Stuart Rogers Studios we teach Immersive Acting, which is an intuitive and comprehensive acting process that takes actors from an objective point of view about a character to a first person experience of a life. I love teaching Immersive Acting because it teaches actors how to be artists and nurture their artistic process. Acting is also an art form and not just a craft. Of course I’m biased, but the students at Stuart Rogers Studios are some of the best actors out there, they are also the most dedicated artists and the studio is a very rewarding artistic community in Los Angeles. I also coach privately and I’m excited to bring Immersive Acting to Canada for the first time by teaching workshops in Toronto and Vancouver. I aim to teach from heart and always make sure everyone feels that they belong.

What lights me up the most in life is directing and acting at the same time. I mean, I love acting and I love directing, but it’s really the greatest when I do both at the same time – that’s when I feel most in my power. I’m a teacher by nature and so I created a live 8 week class for actors who want to direct called Actors Direct. It was a success and all the actors who took the course have since gone on to direct and act in their own films! The live class was super informative for me, mostly because of the discussions we had which inspired me to create an 8 week self paced interactive digital e-learning course that takes students from writing a script all the way to post production. I cover it all so you don’t need to learn from your mistakes and it can all be found on my website. I also offer stand alone filmmaking courses. Although the classes are for anyone who wants to think like a film auteur and create their own films, it was made with actors in mind. I believe that acting and directing at the same time informs both positions. In fact, I dare say, I’m better at both when I do both!

I’ve been a professional actor since 1994. Best known for AMERICAN PSYCHO, THE DONNER PARTY and season 2 of STRANGE NEW WORLDS, in what fans hail as “the best Trek episode of the century.” I believe that acting is the creation of empathy. By seeing the life of a character and telling their stories from a first person experience, I hope to help the audience accept humanity a little bit more through my work. Acting will always be my first love. It’s a place where I get to process the humanity in the darkest corners of myself and others, where I’m safe to take risks and explore the messy chaos and complexities of being human. I love acting as an art form because it is the most ephemeral of art forms. It is constantly moving forward and I’m constantly forced to let it go. It’s miserable if you try to hold on.

My practice as an actor and visual artist has rooted my vision in filmmaking. I first realized I wanted to direct while being directed by Mary Harron in American Psycho and then was lucky to go one and shadow a few talented directors over the years. I went on to produced commercials and music videos before directing-writing-starring-producing the award winning films DE PUTA MADRE A LOVE STORY (Youtube, Vimeo) and GIRL TRIP (SHUDDER, Prime, TUBI, etc.). I was also hired to direct the award winning short film LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED (Reel Women’s Network) and THE TEST. Most recently I wrote to direct THE IRON CROSS, a bilingual film based on a true story and I’m currently writing a feature film to direct and star in. I have great insight directing actors, but my real gift is the ability to capture and convey the subtlest nuances of human emotion on screen.

With an array of experiences including performing in many scenes of nudity, intimacy and hyper-exposed content, 30 years in film/TV and various certifications, I am knowledgeable to work as an Intimacy Professional. I have been training as an IC/IP for years and I just completed phase 1 of certification with Principal Intimacy Professionals in their SAG-AFTRA accredited program. I have first person knowledge of how to talk to and protect performers. I know my way around a film set, how to work with each department and talk from their paradigm. I have a deep and intuitive understanding of invisible disabilities, a passion for cultural sensitivity, working with youth, mental health first aid, disability justice, physical storytelling and consensual artistic freedom.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Society can best support artists by doing just that – supporting artists. Recognize that you love watching movies, listening to music and binging a great TV show and that that doesn’t just happen for your enjoyment and at your demand. It takes a lot of money, dedication, years of paying dues, often struggling and being rejected before you get to watch that movie. After the Hollywood strikes people wonder when they will get their new content. We’re told that A.I. is going to replace us and no one seems overly concerned. I wrote a whole article on my Substack about A.I. and the Artistic Process. I personally don’t believe that A.I. will replace creatives because it will be pretty boring if it does. However, even though I’m cautiously indifferent to A.I., I know that A.I. will assist the indie filmmaker in being able to create high concept film and TV without studio money. As Hollywood is restructuring, I believe that independent movies and TV will be the wave of the future. If you see that your friend or family is making a film, donate and/or share the campaign. If you have people in your life who are artists, ask them open ended questions, take interest and recognize all their hard work. It’s often a long and lonely journey and just letting them know you believe in them goes a long way. Back in the day artists had benefactors because people valued art and so they valued the artist. When Winston Churchill was asked to cut arts funding in favor of the war, he simply replied, ‘then what are we fighting for?’ Art and storytelling is how we learn and how we evolve. It’s critical to our evolution and I feel that people no longer value the artist. Read about the artistic process, listen to artists talk about their journey and their process. Let’s get back to valuing art and artists before we have nothing innovative or mind-blowingly awesome to watch, read or listen to anymore.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Empowerment and the liberation from suffering. I strive to tell stories that liberate audiences and myself. That’s what empowers me. I created Actors Direct because I want to empower actors to create their own films and cast themselves in characters that they want to play, instead of waiting for someone else to maybe give them that opportunity. That’s what I did and it was the best thing I ever acheived for myself. Actors are always at the mercy of someone submitting, selecting and hiring them and it’s extremely disempowering. It will happen, but it will happen a lot quicker if you’re empowered and if you create that path for yourself. It’s also a lot more fun.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://catherineblack.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dubhcat/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catherineblackofficial
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCablRyZ-Z-JRZ3GEVTpxfxA
• Other: Film Education For Actors: https://catherineblack.thinkific.com/
  Directing Website: https://www.directedbycatherineblack.com/
  Cat Black Films: https://www.youtube.com/user/Blackerine

Image Credits

Headshot by The Headshot Truck
BTS photography: Girl Trip, Like Nothing Happened, De Puta Madre a Love Story directed by Catherine Black
BTS photography: September directed by Patrick Hagarty
Performance footage from MainStreet Theatre production of And Then They Came For Me directed by Abigail Deser
Screengrab of Catherine Black: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 ep. 2 ‘Ad Astra Per Aspera’ directed by Valerie Weiss
Screenbrab of Catherine Black: De Puta Madre a Love Story directed by Catherine Black