We were lucky to catch up with Sarah Carter recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

That would have to be Queendom Come, my new fantasy web series out on YouTube with new episodes every Thursday! It’s by far the largest project I’ve done and to do it independently was a huge feat! People of color have been largely left out of fantasy and as a lover of all things fantasy, to write, direct and create characters of color in a series like this was deeply impactful to my 12 year-old self and for myself now. As a young black girl growing up in the 90’s, there weren’t many black women in fantasy. Even in games like Zelda or TV like Xena, I believe there was just one woman of color. Then to read and watch Tolkien come to life on the big screen with this explosion of massive fantasy even now, we as women of color are regulated to the side character. Queendom Come centers us in a multifaceted world of epic-fantasy with characters from various racial backgrounds and levels of badassery. Showing black women as soft and watching their growth in a meaningful way was really important to me. I love the powerful, strong, black woman but I wanted us to also be seen as humans, and not just trauma survivors. This project helped me find my voice as an artist and to highlight beautiful women of color in the fantasy genre that I always wanted to see as a kid.

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

I came to film late and the long way. For so many in this business, this dreams starts early. But for a girl who’d never seen others like her in many roles, let alone behind the camera, being a filmmaker was miles away from where I thought I’d find myself. My foundation is a vocalist. I went to college for music and I had a lot of friends who were actively going to school for filmmaking,(all of them white). Soon I began to realize, through my extensive CD collection, that I had a profound love for film scores and began thinking that maybe film scoring was my path. I was interning at film and music studios and I began to learn more about the industry as a whole. Once I graduated, I found myself working a low-level job on the Fox lot in post production/sound. For years I tried to work my way up the ladder to no avail. When I became pregnant with my twin boys, my doctor strongly advised that remove myself from that stressful environment. And since my husband was making more than I was and my check would not event cover childcare, it made sense for me to stay home. I had to completely reinvent my life. After I had my boys, I began to wonder about other aspects of film outside of music. Having seen some of the top directors work at Fox, I was interested in directing but I didn’t know anything about it. I turned to UCLA extension to study screenwriting which revealed itself as my gateway drug into directing. For ten years, I honed my skills as a writer all while reading and learning about directing. Seven years in, I directed my first short film and absolutely fell in love. I love to tell stories in fantasy and realism with a hyper, non-realistic twist. My focus is primarily toward underserved communities of black women and to center black women in all my films, to create film and television that showcase the vastness of blackness.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

We are calling for people to invest their time and their money, where they can, into independent art. The big studios put out some great films but many great artists will never be seen or heard unless people let the investors know that independent art is worth investing in and worth the risk.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Seeing the enjoyment of those who engage with what I’ve put out and seeing how impactful my stories can be in the lives of others, even if that impact is just transporting them to another world for a moment.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sarahjeffersoncarter.com/queendom-come
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/queendomcome_official/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/QueendomComeSeries
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@RhythmAndNoise
• Other: http://patreon.com/user?u=25885631

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