We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marjorie Lewit a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Marjorie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I don’t think there was necessarily one single moment I knew precisely what I wanted to do, but I believe there was a feeling I was pursuing. I’ve been chasing that emotional rapture since childhood.

At home, I found myself watching classic films alongside my Dad who would be heartily laughing, delighting, in the talents of Danny Kaye, the wonder of Rod Sterling and The Time Machine, the horrific excitement of a Twilight Zone episode or the sweet joy of It’s a Wonderful Life.

“Marjorie watch this!”

I would look over to measure my Dad’s reaction and wonder how I could create such exquisite awe in him, or anyone, myself.

Dad also read to me. He had a steady and calming narrative voice. He created the picture and I was immediately transported.

I was always telling stories and writing, filling marble notebooks. I put on small plays with my sister in the living room, entrances and exits and sound effects included. My Dad encouraged me. He thought that writing was an admirable profession.

Looking back, it’s obvious that making my Dad happy was a primary motivation. I think looking for approval from him really guided me. But that was only the spark; I wanted everything I did to be centered around attaining and maintaining that laughter, that warmth, that cinematic joy. And today, still, I am consistently looking to reproduce that transcendence so that I may share it with as many people as possible.

Marjorie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I attended Pace University in NYC, graduating with a BFA in Acting. This did nothing directly for my career but the relationships I made set me on a path toward some kind of steady success. I don’t mean financial success, God no. I was surely a hostess, a server, a babysitter, a nanny, a house cleaner, a barista and a receptionist. Anything temporary enough to satisfy the possibility of an impossible career. Eventually I found a career that paid the bills while staying creative and connected to the “business,” and gave me some flexibility to create outside of the work place. Today, I manage a gear shop at a TV studio and direct theatre and film in my personal time. Personal time…there isn’t a whole lot of that. I’m very tired, but endlessly eager to keep making.

In my last year of college, my classmate and best friend introduced me to the Artistic Director of a small theatre company and I participated in all sorts of projects and shows where I wrote, acted and directed. Soon after, I was asked to assist this Artistic Director on his feature film. A paid film job! This was my first introduction to the world behind the scenes on a real film set and to the world of editing. I watched a theatre director try his hand at filmmaking for the first time, discovering as he went along, guided by a supportive experienced team. I was impressed by his unapologetic nature and brave admission that he had no idea what he was doing “technically” but he knew damn well what he was doing creatively. I watched the film editor carefully as she presented not only a patient and skillful role model, but a great prelude to women in film.

I continued making NY theatre, taught myself to edit in Final Cut Pro, played 18 different characters in a web series (while simultaneously editing all 20 episodes) and really tapped into this one woman show mentality: I learned videography, bought some lights, taught myself some bare bones sound, and then took these skills west to Los Angeles for 5 years.

In Los Angeles, I continued my acting (and restaurant) career and eventually joined a Theatre Company where I soon became the Associate Artistic Director and then the Creative Director. I directed Group: PTSD Stories, A Completely Unauthorized David Lynch Christmas Carol, F*ck Fiction, several one-acts and Talking Trees at The Secret Rose Theatre.

I eventually decided to apply for a barista position at a production studio. I served coffee to the stars, was able to shoot my own projects on the stages and was taken care of in a way that I hadn’t been in a while. I moved my way up to working on a major Television show, helping coordinate facilities and stage needs, still running over coffee, but learning how to do it all at the highest level. I just wanted to be near greatness.

I directed the Proof of Concept Stronger Than Pretty which screened in a small theater at Sundance, a spectacular experience. Following that, I directed the short documentary Inner Warrior which meets several diverse and inspiring humans and their stories of survival. This was one of the most rewarding experiences in my filmmaking career. I got to meet extraordinary people who have endured lifetimes of pain, beauty, suffering and joy and they shared these intimate moments with me. What a privilege. I was reminded of the connection, the human aspect, the living room dream with Dad, a sofa…and wonder. I had to get back to that. To the wonder.

I continued to film music videos and shorts, got promoted at the production studio to Billing Manager and then Bookings Manager, sending me back home to NYC. I started to get into animation, claymation, stop motion. On my journey forward, I longed to go backward…find that child again. In a world where anyone can film on their iPhone, I became hungry for telling stories in a way that was challenging, dirty, imperfect, punk rock, hand made. Individual. Unique. I grew tired of DSLR perfection, perfect lighting and sound…I grew tired of standard techniques and wanted to forge my own path.

The artist approaches a canvas with her tools and gets to work. She has knowledge of her parameters, but perhaps she can paint with something you can’t buy in a store, go off the canvas onto the wall, cut it apart and reassemble it. I’m looking to view filmmaking as if I invented it. Marcel Duchamp, Germaine Dulac, Luis Buñuel, Jean Cocteau…they didn’t attend Pace University’s Filmmaking 101 and read Sydney Lumet’s Filmmakers on Filmmaking. We forget that the techniques are there as a guide, but it’s not a rule book. I spent years learning how to do something right and now I want to do it my way.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I’m heavily inspired by directors that do highly personal work, incorporating their own story into the film: François Truffaut, Steven Spielberg, Mike Mills.

A film like Beginners perfectly aligns with my approach to filmmaking.

You’ve got memory play: photos and music from a nostalgic time period to encapsulate a feeling, photo representation to explain a moment or emotion, photos and footage changing and morphing to represent an unreliable memory and what we may get wrong about our past.

You’ve got a talking dog.

You’ve got a true story, something very personal and intimate, re-told for cinematic purpose.

Mike Mills writes and directs, is an artist and graphic designer, a musician and documentary filmmaker. He does it all and incorporates each part of his creative soul in his work.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Show up, show up, show up! If you see a local theater premiering a play, a gallery showcasing a new artist, a small theater risking their time slot for an indie film, book that ticket! Share it on social media, tell friends. Keep coming out for the small things, not just the blockbusters and broadway plays. It’s so important to be in the seat. If you’re in the Hudson Valley area, look up Nerd Nite Hudson Valley, Story Screen Cinema, Hit House Creative or Beacon LitFest to see what I’m up to with my friends.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: MarjorieDirects
• Facebook: Marjorie Lewit
• Linkedin: Marjorie Lewit
• Other: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/showcase/6935071I’ve started a Nerd Nite Hudson Valley!
  https://hudsonvalley.nerdnite.com/

  Instagram.com/nerdnitehudsonvalley