Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kat Donachie. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kat, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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.
When I left my hometown to come to New York City, I was a young dancer with aspirations of dancing in some of the best concert companies in the country. And I did that to some degree. I never made it to the Metropolitan Opera house, but I did end up landing a traineeship in New York, followed shortly by an apprenticeship and then ended up freelancing for several years with choreographers I only ever dreamed of sharing a studio with. It was really the dream I came to New York to live, and I was so grateful. However over the course of my time in New York I was continually exposed to so many different avenues and mediums for my creative life. Honestly, the abundance of possibilities here was both overwhelming and exciting. I found myself in a very strange place. In 2015 I was dancing for my dream choreographer, doing exactly the jobs I always wanted but was feeling very unsettled. I was feeling deeply called to pursue a new artistic path and afraid of leaving behind something that I had worked so hard for that most certainly had an expiration date. In a strange turn of events I managed to incur an injury in my foot that would plague me for the following year and eventually force me to stop dancing for a few months and face some harsh realities about my physical and emotional health. During this extended period of quiet, as with most periods of quiet, I was forced to just be. Dancers I find are always great at being a person doing but not a person being. And in this state of being I found myself turning to a medium I had always loved, movies. I was watching my old collection of DVDs and then watching the extra features after. The interviews with directors and stars. Listening to them talk about technical elements and how they found themselves in these places. One day while sitting and recovering from a laser surgery on my foot that was finally offering me some real healing. I saw that an acting studio on facebook was hosting auditions/interviews for new students. I had always told myself I would find my way back to acting, something I loved and did as a child…but it was always someday later. Well, for some reason I took that momentary impulse, before my brain could talk me out of it, and scheduled an interview. From there so much of my life unfolded slowly. I was forced to work on myself, be vulnerable, face daemons, say what I wanted and find my path in something that I now truly feel I was meant for. I am now seven years later being cast in original works, producing films, represented in multiple markets, and everyday growing this new creative life that is more than I could have dreamed up when that girl got on a plane to NYC so long ago. I am so grateful I took that risk. And while it is always easier to see things romantically when we are not in the thick of them, all in all, I do think that discipline and passion can get you slowly to the places that you want to go. That showing up is a third of the battle. That sometimes you just have to have some blind faith in yourself and that the puzzle pieces will slowly find their way together.
Kat, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am originally from Texas but have officially crossed the New Yorker markers I think. Outside of my mildly consuming career choice I love traveling, backpacking, and being an aunt. Career wise….I know we all cringe at the term Multi-Hyphenate. It sounds rather vague and honestly a bit pretentious, but for so many artists it really is the correct term. We often have to hold down multiple income streams, specialize in multiple mediums, and be solid entrepreneurs to get our creative lives and works off the ground. It is not uncommon in a single week I will be dance captaining a gig, producing on an upcoming film project, auditioning for a television show or in a reading of a new work, and choreographing a high school musical as well as maintaining my side business Hungry Creatives. For the majority of creatives and performers life is a bit of a juggling act.
That is actually where my business partner Janelle Jonna and I came up with Hungry Creatives. Born from an actor/dancer and a circus artist/entertainment company owner, the company provides educational and tangible resources to help early and mid career creatives and performers manage their professional and financial lives. We offer easily accessible ways to break down and understand the nuances of freelance budgeting, taxes, pitching, pricing, invoicing, and auditioning. The content at this moment is all digital with the exception of a few live stream classes we offer a few times a year. We aim to keep everything very affordable and reusable over time. For example, our Price Yourself Like a Pro mini course offers clients a reusable calculator that tells you what your freelance gig will give you hourly/post taxes/post expenses, invoicing help, training on how each step works, as well as templates for invoicing and pitching prices. Many of our clients have come back to say how they feel they can finally trust their pricing will meet the needs of their work when they use it. And that kind of feedback has always been our goal. Additionally we offer artists income trackers to help them save for freelance taxes, expense trackers, audition trackers, quick start guides for getting your performing career off the ground and more. It is a small passion project that we founded to help give back to young artists.
As a producer my goal is to tell unique stories that feature complex women. I think at this time it is crucial that we see female presenting characters in all facets. My two most current works on the festival circuit are FUNKY, a film by writer/director Shoval Tshuva and The Bargain by writer/director Alec Patchin. FUNKY showcases the complexities of navigating dating after sexual assault. It is a story that is so rarely told and one that I have sat and talked with many women about. That was the first thing that drew me to the project when it was sent my way, was that so many young women need to see someone else going through what they went through. FUNKY has recently been selected for and screened internationally including Valley Film Festival, Miami Film Festival, Soho Film Festival, Toronto Women’s Film Festival, and others. The Bargain showcases a woman making a pact with the devil to get revenge on her childhood abuser. We meet a young woman putting aside her own grief to save other young women. While I do not think there are women in warehouses summoning the devil for therapy, I think it still helps us see that women can save themselves in a lot of ways. That all the strength we need to do scary things is inside of us already. I am currently developing some additional projects. I just wrapped principle on Alec Patchin’s second project Wendy and The Lost Boy which should be on the festival circuit next season and one Ophiology with writer/director Isaac Byrne about three bank robbers making an escape through a snake infested desert. This project will be launching a fundraising campaign (my first) soon on Seed and Spark should anyone be interested in donating and you can follow along @ophiology.film on instagram.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
As women in the industry, particularly in the dance industry, you are constantly compared to both the other women in the room as well as “the 1000 other women” just waiting for the opportunity you have. And while that is often true…I mean wait in line at Pearl studios to sign up for a Non-Equity open call and you see it in action, that kind of thinking was the worst thing for me. It led me down a road of overthinking, paralyzing self doubt, disordered eating, and a complete lack of risk taking. When we teach young girls that the unique aspects to them are getting in the way of their dreams or that their entire identity and success should be shaped around if they are thin enough or beautiful enough or “whatever” enough, it takes away from identifying the things that make the individual a powerful story teller and creative. It is so hard to be in an audition room focusing on the choreography or the text when you are thinking in your head, “am I as good as her,” “do I look like what Helena is supposed to look like,” “what if she can kick higher than I can?” This line of thinking is a huge waste of time, our only non-renewable resource.
It was not until I started working with coaches who were focused on helping me find my process as a storyteller, my process as a creative, and teaching me to trust my instrument and my voice that my career really began to grow. It is so challenging as a young person in the business to not think you have to be like someone who already made it to make it, but truthfully those people already exist and each of us is filled with our own unique life experiences, joys, traumas, and perspectives. All of those things mean you arrive at the material in a way no one else will. And that story is always interesting. I have truly never met someone who was being truthful who was not interesting. For me, learning to trust myself and my work has been the greatest tool in my toolbox.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
In my conversations with non-creatives, I am frequently met with, “you could just get a regular job if such and such is so hard.” This advise I know frequently comes from a couple of earnest places. But I am going to say what it actually feels like on the other side. One, that this person does not value the work that I do or sees it as frivolous work. Second, that I somehow will not be met with struggles in other more traditional career paths, or that I do not deserve empathy because I have taken the great risk of following “my dreams.”
To be honest, the first one is hard, and probably requires some unpacking of how we feel about and honor the arts in this country. I am going to take a page out of something I wrote during the pandemic, but for a second to everyone who feels that the first statement I made is accurate…I ask you “What was the first thing you turned to when the world fell apart? What got you through sitting alone in your home in the height of global uncertainty?” – I am going to guess it was film, television, music, crafts, painting, reading, or puzzles. And that is not me being snide, it is me offering to remind everyone even the “non creatives” that art is essential to how we exist. It is how we all first learn to communicate and how we highlight feelings and experiences. Imagine a night at a restaurant without music or even your wedding without music? A day at the beach without a book? That first date night at home without your favorite movie? Art is essential to life but it is not treated that way. It is treated as silly and superfluous so often. But I encourage any non-creative to think about their relationship to the consumption of art every time they encourage a creative to stop seeking their career. And I am not saying that we do not need bankers, lawyers, custodians, plumbers, teachers, or doctors. We absolutely do. But what do those doctors use to focus in the OR, or what is getting the custodian through his long day? What do teachers use to teach basics like the Alphabet to their students? If you answered music to each of these, you would be correct. The arts are an essential part of our lives and deserve to be treated and funded as such.
In regards to my second point, everyone struggles no matter what career they have and everyone deserves space for those struggles to be heard. So instead of offering this blanket “solution,” perhaps just offer your ear and understand that some days are highs and some days are lows in every path we take.
Contact Info:
- Website: katdonachie.com hungrycreativesnyc.com
- Instagram: @katdonachie @the.hungrycreatives
- Facebook: Kathleen Donachie
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kat-donachie-8b5ba971/
- Other: @the.hungrycreatives is my business instagram
Image Credits
Annie Saeugling, Lea Pfandler, J. Demetrie Photography, Champion Hamilton