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

Hi Laura, thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t pursuing a creative career, so I can’t wish that I’d started any sooner! However, I do wish that I had learned to listen to my own voice as a creator earlier on. I started out as an actress and while I love performing, over time I found myself a little unfulfilled in terms of taking charge of my own career. With acting, you’re often focused on giving the director or producer what they want for the project, and you’re almost always saying someone else’s words… that’s the job! What I found was that I was much more fulfilled being the writer and producer (and maybe one day a director, too) who gets to shape a project from the ground up. If I could go back, I would definitely start down that path earlier because it has brought a renewed sense of direction and joy to my career.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a Los Angeles based independent film producer and screenwriter who creates female-focused content in various forms, with the larger intention of creating jobs for young women in entertainment early in their careers.

I produced an award-winning feature film called To the New Girl (which is available on Tubi, Apple TV, and Amazon among other platforms) with an all-woman cast and crew. That is the project I am most proud of to date, because of the beautiful community of women we were able to provide a platform for along the way. Getting to watch many of them go on to use that initial job as a jumping off point to get hired for future work has been one of the great joys of my life, and I want to recreate new versions of that experience with each project I produce from now on.

Outside of that feature film, I have several feature-length screenplays in development and have spent the past handful of years honing my craft as a writer. I also produce, edit and voice a character in the spooky audio drama podcast St. Mary’s School (for Children with the Stigmata).

This fall, I have a new audio drama podcast project releasing that I wrote in addition to producing and editing. It’s called The Crime at Camp Ashwood and it’s a mystery set at a summer camp. Make sure to keep your ears peeled for that one, coming very soon!

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

The main resource I wish I’d tapped into earlier in my career is my own network… and I don’t mean “networking” like you hear about at parties in Los Angeles where you don’t really know anyone. I mean my network of true friends, many of whom are incredibly talented creatives in their own right who have become a constant source of both inspiration and assistance to my own creative pursuits the older I have gotten.

This is always one of my big pieces of advice for people who are new to the entertainment industry. Don’t look for some “big name” person to reach down and pull you up in the industry, look at the people around you who are passionate and talented and find ways for that inner circle to rise up together within the industry. You’ll have a lot more fun along the way than if you were going it alone, and more support too. It’s a win-win for everyone!

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

As I write this, both SAG-AFTRA (of which I am a member) and the WGA unions are still on strike trying to get a fair deal for artists. This strike has huge financial implications that impact creative people both in and outside of those unions — paying artists IS supporting artists. Pursuing a creative career takes an incredible amount of dedication, often many years of financial struggle, and involves putting your whole self into your work. Anyone who takes the leap of faith required to get into an artistic career deserves both respect and support.

Outside of finances, this strike is also about Artificial Intelligence. This is an existential threat to a wide array of career paths, not just creative ones and there are a great number of things about the potential of this technology that I find quite frightening. Though, I think I can only speak directly to the impact it is already having and could have on artists. Art, to me, is intrinsically tied to the person who creates the artwork. I don’t believe AI can make art, it can only copy art that has already been made. For society to truly be supportive of creative people, we cannot let computers become our creators. Full stop.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.laurahunterdrago.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/laurahunterdrago
• Twitter: twitter.com/laurahdrago

Image Credits
Photos by Jessica Robles