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

Sarah, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I chose this question because I basically dedicated the last year-ish of my life to exactly this…risk. Risk and fear? A determined mission to run face first at the hornets nest that inside holds every aspiration and point of envy I’ve collected over many years of stagnation.

I think, when discussing my life and the many forks and lightly beaten paths I’ve taken, some may argue against this claim of stagnation. But I can argue, at the very least, that I have indeed remained stagnant and even debilitated in the areas that I now know matter most for my world. The areas that leave me lightheaded, palpitating, nauseous and so often in the past, fleeing towards the shimmery, less risky even if lightly beaten, path.

I can’t say exactly where the shift began, except maybe to credit it to Austin. To the people here, the artists and creatives that have inspired me so. To the women, THE WOMEN! I owe so much to the women of Austin. I won’t dive too deeply into that because it’s a topic in itself, but to the women, thank you.

It wasn’t immediate. I moved here in 2017 and for the first few years I’d say I was more on a solid toe dip mission. I was building a resistance to my own resistance. But somewhere in there, it did happen. In the last year-ish I joined an acting class (performing in a classroom setting, terrifying), began contemporary dance classes (major dream in which I’d built the ultimate resistance based on limited beliefs around my body’s abilities post-spinal fusion) and wrote and directed my first short film, The Devil Inside Me.

Let’s put a lasso on this monologue and focus on that, my first film. The biggest leap and most rewarding thus far. A few years back I read/did The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. When the workbook asked, “What would you do in this life if you knew you would not fail?”, my response was filmmaking. During early Covid, I decided to take an online class for screenwriting.

Not long after I found myself helping a group of actors shoot scenes for their reels and discovered how much I annoyingly wanted to take over every set and position myself as the director. I shared my inner agony and urges with a friend while insisting I didn’t have boss energy, and she in turn bluntly informed me of my inability to not take lead in most given situations and that I did indeed, have hardcore “director vibes”.

A few weeks later on my 34th birthday, another friend from the set decided to introduce me to multiple strangers as her friend Sarah, the director. This sent immediate terror through every inch of my being but somehow I knew in that moment the decision had been made. I was going to indeed be Sarah, the director. I swore to myself that day that I would make my first short film before my 35th birthday.

Well, I just turned 35 and I did just that. I spent a lot of money, lost a good amount of sleep and had more fun than I’ve ever had doing…anything.

A little over a week ago I found out that The Devil Inside Me has been selected to have it’s world premiere at the Austin Film Festival. This happens to be the first festival I ever attended and was another one of the very large nails that sealed in my new life’s mission.

There’s so much to say and I don’t want to take up your day because I know you have your own creations to get out into the world (please do it), but what I can say is while I feel like I’ve been injecting anxiety into my veins pretty consistently for the past couple of years, I’ve also never felt so alive and aligned and proud of myself. And the reality is the anxiety always existed, it just existed without the reward.

Go, face the hornets nest. Get stung a few times. Embarrass yourself. Have a blast doing it. The end.

Sarah, 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?

Absolutely. I’m currently a full-time photographer specializing in real estate, portrait and headshot (mostly actor but it varies) and brand/lifestyle. Uhhh, so basically photography! I’ve been a contractor for real estate photography through Shutterbug Studios based here in Austin since 2017 but also run my own photography business under the name Sarah Uftring Inc. for everything else listed.

As we already discussed, I’m sprinting towards directing and screenwriting as well. I’d love to direct a music video next and am currently writing a very personal ,teetering-on-the-edge of a memoir, coming-of-age feature script. I know that what will set me apart in the world of filmmaking is my life experience. Growing up in middle-America, adopted with foster children in and out of the home and going on to try on so many lives and identities after leaving…I’ve lived so many stories. I have a unique perspective and am determined to make use of it.

I really think what sets me apart the most with my photography is my ability to keep it light, make it fun and relieve the anxiety that most of us carry onto. a set. I know I talked a lot about my anxiety in the last two years, but when it comes to being on set, it falls behind. I show up as my authentic, goofy self and it tends to invite my clients to do the same. We laugh a ton, often end up dancing and I’m able to capture their authenticity in turn which is exactly what you want in any shoot.

I think I’m really the most proud of my range. I really have lived so many lives and tried so many creative endeavours, even if they were just toe dips. I’m now seeing how they will all. be of use in my work.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

Cult. Total cult vibes. Do you, but yah know. You can still do you and buy some NFTs ok?

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

Community. I left home at a young age and have cared for myself financially since I was 17. I have a complicated relationship with family and have kept a death grip on my claim to independence most of my life. Half of my stagnation in the creative field was due to a fear of being a beginner or being seen as stupid, which came from intense bullying in my grade school years.

All of this really just led to me trying to do life on my own, for so long. To do anything new completely on my own. It did not work well for me. I need community, I believe with everything I have that we all need community and collaboration to truly excel and reach our potential. Take classes, join groups, find study buddies. Find your people, and create with them every chance you get.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sarahuftring.com, www.devilinsidefilm.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah_uftring/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDevilInsideFilm
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DevilInside2022

Image Credits
Adam Moroz Zach Morrison