We were lucky to catch up with Hyten Davidson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hyten, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

My most recent project, a psychological thriller feature I co-wrote, co-produced, and star in titled “Something of a Monster” has been without a doubt the most meaningful project I’ve ever been a part of. In gearing up for production, our team set a February 2024 shooting schedule, which would put me three months postpartum with a newborn son. Leading up to the shoot and still recovering from surgery, I was incredibly concerned that I wouldn’t be able to deliver at a professional level and feared that I would only drag the production down.

Once on set though, I found the most generous and supportive crew who all offered to share the load and enable me to complete my job and care for a baby at the same time. And with shooting days, nights, day-for-night, and night-for-day, all with a non-sleep-trained baby, I dearly needed the help. The PAs offered free babysitting services. Our sound guy was patient when we needed to ‘hold for baby.’ My husband, who also acts in the film, would feed our son while simultaneously running lines and getting into costume. The process gave me very forceful proof that new mothers can and do belong on film sets, and our new role as a mom does not automatically preclude us from working at the top of our game in our creative roles. It was a deeply meaningful experience to discover this revelation, all while having the most fun I’d ever had on set. My baby even made his film debut in a little cameo and didn’t do a half-bad job, so maybe we’ll invite him back for our next project.

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

My background is in acting, and I started off as a classically trained actor working in NYC and Chicago after graduating with my BFA from an acting conservatory program. The training was wonderful, but they don’t teach you how to treat your career like an actual self-run business. It took years of ‘failing forward’ to learn the right discipline and budgeting skills required to succeed professionally in the arts, but it was exactly these principles that led me to finding a kinship in my equally minded creative partners, Brandon Duncan and Ashley Bacon. Together we formed Maternity Leave Films, a NYC-based production company with a commitment to innovative storytelling. Today we produce economically minded indie genre films and pride ourselves in creating uncompromised, story-focused work in a sustainable, resourceful manner that best utilizes our inventors’ contributions.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

It’s pretty standard among creatives, but even for those in non-creative fields I highly recommend Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way.” It’s a practice that I revisit every few years when I feel stuck, as the work helps you sync up the brain-hand connection through freewriting, gently forces you out of your comfort zone and into other creative fields you may never have considered for yourself, and reprioritizes a sense of accountability to your goals. It’s like taking a snort of pure mountain air oxygen every morning—great for a quick jolt of clarity.

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

This makes me think fondly of the six community members each night that bought tickets to the weird, low-budget Chekhov play I produced years ago on the seventh floor of an industrial building in Hartford, Connecticut, or the retired couples in South Carolina that attended their local film festival and stayed for my film’s post-screening talkback to ask questions. Curiosity for new voices and support at a grassroots level is the most monumental way to impact the future and longevity of the arts. Attend that poetry open mic in a church basement. Get a drink and check out the staged reading going on in the back room of your local bar. It’s not Madison Square Garden, but come join us!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hytendavidson.com
• Instagram: @hytendavidson
• Other: To follow our production company and next project, check out www.maternityleavefilms.com and @soam_film on Instagram.