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

Hi Deborah, thanks for joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

First define what success means for you. For me, success is not just career success but personal success. I wanted to have a family and do work I love. Based on my experience and what has worked for me personally, I think a lot of success is based on persistence, hard work, timing and personal relationships. The hard work can be further qualified by choosing work and projects intentionally. For me, that means projects that I’m passionate about and light me up. The fuel I get from my projects keeps me going as does the love I give and get from my family.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m from Woodland, California. We moved around a lot when I was growing up and spent a few years in Medellín, Colombia, during the height of the narco wars. That time in my life shaped much of who I am today. (I gained a unique perspective on life.) I actually remember the day Escobar was killed. Our entire neighborhood came out on the streets to celebrate. At the time, it felt like an end to the extreme violence that had plagued the country, specifically Medellín. Car bombs, motorcycle drive-by’s, kidnapping, and gunfire were part of daily life. Normalizing that environment as a child forever changed me. I will never forget those years. Years later, I ended up shooting a documentary for my thesis project about the return of a village/community that had been displaced by the drug wars. I was returning too. A part of me is still there in the Colombian jungles.

It was during this time in my life that I knew I wanted to pursue film directing. My choices for school and college were always geared towards finding opportunities and access to start learning the craft. Directing a feature has been my dream for so long I don’t remember what life was like without it. After graduating Emerson College, I worked in documentary in Boston. Though interesting, I wanted to work in narrative film and moved to Los Angeles where I found a development job at a digital startup at Disney. Very soon after, I was accepted to the AFI Directing Workshop for Women and thought I had finally made it…or was going to, soon after. Though my short film found distribution at Hulu, I found it very hard to get a job or do further directing. It’s been such a long hard road, I’ve had to learn to enjoy the journey, look up, and live my life. After a while, I ended up finding some ground in freelance producing for docs and tv. While working in docs I met Ron Yungul and he brought me on board to direct his wonderful script. “The War Between” is my first feature film. We’re premiering at the Phoenix Film Festival April 7th.

The most impactful docuseries I’ve worked on so far was the History Channel series, “The Warfighters”, which features first-person accounts from U.S. Special Operations Forces and their missions in the global war on terror. More than 90 veterans are featured in front of and behind the camera. I had the privilege of working with them on both seasons of the show. The cinematic recreations were a great opportunity for me to see how they put the action scenes together. It helped when I was shooting the Picacho Peak Civil War battle scenes for “The War Between”. I learned a lot on that show and I’m really proud of being a part of that series.

It’s also led to further work with Veterans, and I’m producing a story that’s currently in development about a 21-year-old Army Ranger who was killed in battle on his third tour in Afghanistan. He was an organ donor, and not only did he save his sniper team, he saved four more lives with his kidneys, liver, and heart. His heart is still beating to this day. I’m working with Ben’s mother Jill Stephenson and Ranger veteran and screenwriter Scott Gilbertson, on adapting the true story of Corporal Ben Kopp, into a film.

I just directed my first feature film! Dream. Come. True. We shot “The War Between” on location in Arizona in April. We were the first feature film to qualify for the new Arizona state tax incentive. It was a truly independent film in every sense of the word.

To be honest, I feel like my story is just starting. Getting to finally direct my first feature film has been such a high, I’m already planning my next one. I’m still pinching myself.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me the most rewarding aspect is telling stories; whether it be documentary or narrative film.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I don’t believe in the term “non-creatives”, I think everyone has creativity inside of them and it can be expressed in the most linear or structured jobs. On top of that, we are all telling ourselves stories, even if it’s just the story of our life. It’s the stories we choose and the ones we replay over and over, and then, the ones we create for our future that matter the most.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thewarbetweenfilm.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deb_directs/

Image Credits
Evan Jake Cohen for The War Between LLC Chris Scott for Film Tucson