We recently connected with Lisa France and have shared our conversation below.
Lisa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?
There is not only one kind thing that anyone has ever done for me, but I would say a series of things that lead to where I am in my life and career. I will start by saying I was literally quitting the entertainment business when Lee Friedlander, also a filmmaker and now my wife said to me, “You cannot quit. You are too talented. I will help you.” She proceeded to help me by allowing me to direct second unit on her Lifetime and Hallmark movies. That lead to Stan Spry and Eric Woods at Cartel giving me a shot at doing a few of their thrillers. And that lead to me working again as a director after having been sitting out of the narrative directing game for nearly 15 years after having made three back to back award winning movies.
After I finished my documentary, ROLL WITH ME, my friend and producer Sharon Swart was able to get the movie to Tilane Jones at ARRAY, Ava DuVernay’s distribution and production company. Ava and Tilane loved the movie and picked it up for distribution. It landed on Netflix and that made a huge difference and kept me afloat emotionally, but the low budget thrillers and rom-coms were gig work jobs and I was really ready to do television. That brings me to the cosmic shift: QUEEN SUGAR.
Yes, Array had distributed my movie. Yes I met Ava a couple of times. However, she didn’t really know me or my narrative work. That said, I had heard she only allowed women who had never done episodic television to direct Queen Sugar. I thought that was incredible, powerful and courageous. I was a fan of the show already and I fit the description of never having directed an episode of TV so I asked her point blank if I could shadow to then direct. Sadly, season 4 directors had all been booked, but she said she started hiring in the early part of the year. Me being me, a follow-up monster, I made the request again. This time I also had a wonderful manager, Jaime Rucker King, and she too made the request to her friend and colleague Paul Garnes, Ava’s producer.
Not long after, Ava changed my life by booking me for two episodes of season 5 and making me her Producing Director for Season 6. Demane Davis, Lauren Wolkstein and Kat Candler all supported and trained me for that job. Ava built a group of 42 women directors who now all support and help each other. It is a privilege to be part of such an incredible sisterhood.
Lisa, 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?
The interesting thing about the entertainment business is that there is no one way through the door. I didn’t know I wanted to be in the entertainment until much later in my life. At the time I realized I wanted to be a director I didn’t realize how difficult it was for women to land the job of director. But I did realize it was hard for anyone to get a movie made.
I, like most people, started as a production assistant. However, my next move was a bit unusual: I became a stunt woman. Acting is where I thought I would go since I had done a bit of training, but when I saw a stunt sequence being filmed in MEET JOE BLACK, I fell in love. I literally fell in love with moviemaking just like people fall in love with people. To this day, I still get happy, warm butterflies in my stomach when I go to set in the morning. I only love my wife more than I love making film and TV.
After I did a few stunts, I quickly discovered that this was equally difficult to find work as a woman. There just weren’t many gigs. The first gig I landed was with Spike Lee on HE GOT GAME and not long after THE SUMMER OF SAM. Jeff Ward was the stunt coordinator and he said, “I’m going to give you one shot. When I call, you need to drop whatever you are doing…” So I did just that. There after I did gigs here and there. I did a few very cool gigs on THE SOPRANOS and a movie called THE SIEGE and STUART LITTLE 2. Ultimately the job wasn’t sustainable as a woman. So, I had to figure out how to stay alive in the game while pursuing directing. That’s when I became a stand-in.
Most people don’t know what a stand-in does, but trust me when I say they are invaluable to the process of lighting. The DP and production find a person who matches the size, coloring, and height of the leading actors and they literally ‘stand in’ to be lit while the actors are in hair, make-up and wardrobe. It was the perfect place to learn how to be a director. I learned about blocking, lighting, acting, production, background performers, set design, and just filmmaking at large. And to sweeten the deal, it was a union job in SAG. So, I worked enough that I vested early in my career. Not vesting like Julia Roberts, but a little something to start my career in a better direction. Those stand-in gigs, with here and there stunt jobs and the occasional acting gig kept the lights on while I was writing my first short film LOVE IN TOW.
I saved enough money, borrow a bit and got some help from my mother and Aunt Jan to make my first short film. LOVE IN TOW was a crazy screwball comedy that I starred in with Zach Braff, Karen Bergreen and the late Quentin Crisp. It won a few festivals and then with the help of my producing partner Luis Moro, we raised money for my first feature film ANNE B. REAL (ABR).
ANNE B. REAL changed my life again. Luis and I traveled around the world with ABR. We won dozens of film festivals and awards and we were nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards. We thought, “Wow, this is it, we’re going to be big time now!” Ha! Nope. Not even close. The hype train didn’t include women directors.
I remember my friend, and long time supporter of my career, Jonathan Dana, saying, “Lisa, you’re going to get a deal. You’re a super talented filmmaker!” That was in 2002 or 2003. I didn’t get a job directing again until 2018. For 15 years I did a million weird little jobs to keep the rent paid. My close friends and family were so incredibly supportive, but I was running out of steam emotionally. I learned to be an assistant director, a producer, writer and continued to do background acting and stand-in work thanks for my AD friends.
My friends and colleagues Samantha Lavin, Lisa Rowe and Daniella Eisman all hired me regularly as a stand-in or regular background worker just so I could make my car payments. They are all incredibly successful women in the DGA who supported me. I’m very, very grateful to them. One of the craziest things that happened with one of those jobs was on THE MINDY PROJECT.
Daniella had hired me to be a background nurse on the show and I went into the restroom dressed as a nurse and I ran into Lesli Linka Glatter (Current Director’s Guild of America President). Lesli had allowed me to shadow her on an episode of WEST WING and afterwards I said, “That was amazing, now what?” She said, “Well, you need to go find some low budget TV movies or something. You need more directing hours under your belt.” CUT TO: Three or four years later, me, in a nurses uniform running into her. She was so lovely and amazing. I said, “Hey, Lesli, do you think Lee, my girlfriend, could shadow you on HOMELAND?” She said, “Let’s see! We always have people shadow. Email me and send me her information etc.”
Lee ended up shadowing HOMELAND and ended up landing the NBC Female Forward program that Lesli began. It was truly game changing for women. But before Lesli and Female Forward, there was Ava, Oprah, OWN and QUEEN SUGAR. Which leads me back to where we started, Ava’s kindness. Lee’s kindness. Lesli’s kindness. Chances given.
At the end of the day, I’m still a gig worker. COVID and the strike have really taken a toll on me and many of us in the entertainment business, but I’m grateful that I do have collaborators, colleagues and representatives who keep advocating for me to work and stay creative. It’s hard as a director because you really cannot do too much alone (I’m laughing imagining the silly version of me playing every single role to make a show). Truly, we need a team to direct. And it’s a muscle, thus I always encourage directors to find ways to be on set and have the “director brain” turned on. Thinking of how one might do this or that part of the job.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding part of my work is when people are moved or inspired by my work. They have a life altering, or life changing experience because of what I’ve created. The other key thing that keeps me motivated and is a gift that keeps on giving is when I receive DMs or emails from crew or actors I’ve worked with over the years who tell me stories of how I helped them or gave them advice or supported them and that I took time for them. And that that time and energy helped them have a breakthrough in their life. I hope when I’ve transitioned that I am remembered as someone who helped other people when she had the time.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
There are a few goals that drive my journey. First, I simply love to tell stories about things I know nothing about. Exploring unknown worlds through my craft is incredibly inspiring. Most of my work has been exploring communities who are either underrepresented or marginalized. Secondly, I love to employ people. Giving people work is a huge motivator.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.LisaFrance.com
- Instagram: @lisafrance2067
Image Credits
Miranda Kwok – 1st photo on set of The Cleaning Lady – FOX
Kyle Moe – 2nd photo on set of Merry Kiss Cam – Hulu