We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful women of Purple Cactus Productions. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Maria Prieto, Sara EKlund, and Lily Darragh Harty below.

Alright, Maria thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

In 2021, Sara Eklund and I partnered together to produce ¿Qué Somos?, a short film about a young girl’s eye-opening playdate. The entire experience, from pre-production all the way through its festival run, was an incredible one. We found that we worked together with immense synchronicity and we decided to co-found Purple Cactus Productions. Since then, we’ve brought on a third partner in Lily Darragh Harty and together have produced three other short films: Recognition, Never Getting Rid of Me, Bitch, Mia Indeterminate, and have a number of exciting projects in development, including a feature film. Our mission from the start has been to shine a light on unique perspectives, with character focused narratives. We are committed to challenging stereotypes and worn out tropes with the work we produce and projects we develop.

Maria, 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’ve always had a passion for storytelling and knew from an early age that I wanted to immerse myself into the world of film. After attending film school in Southern California, I worked on several TV shows as a director’s assistant. There’s nothing that I love more than being on a set, and I knew that the next step would be to get my own projects off the ground. When Sara and I met, it was evident that we both had a desire to develop and produce honest films. We have very similar sensibilities when it comes to the type of projects we’re attracted to, and we founded Purple Cactus with the intention of bringing those projects to life. We’re a women-led production company, and we are very focused on creating a supportive environment on all of the productions we sign on. We’ve developed our own projects from the page to the screen, and have been hired to produce projects alongside our Head of Production, Lily Daragh Harty. We are immensely proud of the work we’ve created, and have had positive reactions at each of the festivals we’ve screened at. As creative producers, we work alongside filmmakers throughout the entire prep / shoot / post process to ensure that their vision culminates to its full potential. We have developed great relationships with cinematographers, production designers, and actors and are excited to continue bringing projects to the screen.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I met Sara Eklund shortly after she had starred in the Showtime horror film Last of the Grads. Mutual friends had invited me to a dinner party at her apartment and when I arrived she mentioned she needed to record an interview about her role. I volunteered to read the questions with her and we both immediately felt comfortable around one another. Throughout the rest of the evening, we realized that we were both hungry to get projects we were excited about off the ground. Less than a year later, we were producing our first short film together. Once we founded Purple Cactus, and had a successful festival run with ¿Que Somos?, we started pre-production on Recognition. We were referred to Lily Darragh Harty as a potential producer for the project. After our first call with Lily, it was evident that she would fit in perfectly with our team. Lily is an incredibly professional producer, and working alongside her was a gratifying experience. We brought Lily on as Head of Production and she has since been instrumental in getting our projects off the ground.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

We have been fortunate enough to work with very talented individuals, whose work shines on the screen. We pride ourselves in running very harmonious sets and consider ourselves to be creative problem solvers. We believe that making great films hinges on creating an inclusive, supportive, and loving environment throughout the creative and production process. We take on projects that excite us and that we believe in and our passion for these stories has led to very fruitful results.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.purplecactusproductions.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/purplecactusproductions/