We recently connected with Katie Oliver and have shared our conversation below.

Katie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

Something that I am very passionate about is health, and understanding how your body works. I believe the education system needs to include classes focused on the body, how it works, what should be done to maintain its balanced PH and healthy functioning.
I grew up in Public Schools, in a working class neighborhood just outside of Detroit. There are many things we didn’t have access to due to budgeting restraints/cuts. However, I believe knowing how to take care of this body is something that is of utmost importance to all walks of life in every socioeconomic demographic. We have epidemics that relate to physical and mental health. Diabetes, obesity in children, rising allergies to gluten just to name a few.
I started studying Ayervedic medicine many years ago, because I wanted to better understand how the body works. I love being able to share this with friends and family, but for some of those I love, their bodies are so out of whack its hard to know where to start in fixing their ailments.
But I try! I have convinced a friend how important an alkaline PH is and she started including more vegetables and water into her daily diet, and she has noticed a decrease in weight and happier mood as a result of it. Small success!

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

I started acting in Detroit around 2011. Unfortunately the film incentive was taken away and all of the studios left. So I had to decide where I would go in 2012; NY, ATL, or LA. I chose LA. I came to LA just like everyone else, wide eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to take on the world. But I soon realized I should start making my own films, instead of waiting and hoping for something to happen. Thats how my production company was started, Pink Clubhouse Productions.
I also felt a strong need to represent female actors in the industry. So I decided to only work and create female created films. I was always focused on diversity in casting and hiring as well. I am proud to say I was able to cast people of color an LGBTQ+ both on and off screen on every project. Ive Produced and Directed several projects with all-female Production teams, Directors, DofP’s, Sound and Gaffer! One was a series called ‘Keeping It 100’, and we had an incredible experience. I actually have had both males and females ask me, ‘was it hard to work with so many women? Like was there cat fights and stuff?’ No! We worked like a village, like a community of respect and appreciation for each persons input throughout the whole filming process (which was over the course of 2 years).
As of today, PinkClubhouse Productions has worked on 8 Female-created films/series. One of which, ‘Good Day’, is in the festival circuit now! Im also so proud to have won a Best Comedy Actor RU for this role.
Another thing I started with my friend Johnny Otto was a yearly film showcase, HOLLYWOOD FILM CLUB. I had made my first short film for this film contest, and didn’t make it in. I was so bummed! All that work and no one could see it on a big screen? I thought, you know, there’s more people that didn’t get in, lets just do our own showcase! And that’s how it began. We now include other films from filmmakers all around LA as a way for them to showcase their films before they hit the festival circuit. We are now in our 6th year!

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

The rewarding aspect of being a creative is how I am able to evoke or provoke a feeling in the audience. As an Actor/Director/Writer, I get to share my observation of life and people. When someone sees my work, and they can say they related to her, hero or villain or supporting sidekick, I feel like Ive triumphed.

I have a strong desire to share the world I grew up in. Very working class, an area called ‘Downriver’. My grandmother, who also grew up there, told me once that our schools were set up to make sure we graduated and went into the workplace. And a lot of people did just that. That was my nightmare.
But what I grew up around was the most talented people the world would never get to know. The best storytellers, with the wildest stories. Incredible singing and music talent, and absolutely hilarious! Everyone used humor as the coping mechanism for life, and it was how we related to each other.
Thats something Ive always appreciated that I can bring to my work. And I hope to speak for those people, especially women, who are just so tough, and strong, yet so fragile as well. We don’t all cry when we get mad…sometimes we just fight right on back.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Its also A LOT of work. As an Actor, there is so much time and energy and emotions we put into creating a character. I think a lot of people think we just memorize lines and that’s it. But we have to KNOW the character, more than the Writer and Director do. When we are on set or on stage, it is our job to know how the character maneuvers the space, no matter what changes are brought our way. So not everything is on the page, (although my acting reacher Benjamin Byron Davis would say otherwise…yes Ben, you are right! Everything we need IS on the paper!) But how the actor fills in the motivations for those choices and words., how they come to understand why the character reacts one way and not another, that is the work.
Oh and memorizing the script, yea, that takes a while also. I will spend about an hour per page. At least!
So with the strike still underway as of Thursday September 28, we hope the new contracts will be more respectful of the process we go through to materialize a character, and pay us fairly. Because without Actors, theres nothing to watch but Documentaries and Reality TV.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katieoliveroriginal/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-oliver-pcp/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtm1k15_zx7ZIhzlZFgBAlPnBj64hbcHc&si=zLwehqpesubAaur6