We were lucky to catch up with Stefanie Philpott recently and have shared our conversation below.

Stefanie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

About ten years ago, I was on the bus headed to meet my group for one of my Grad school classes. I was in school for Marketing and had long given up on becoming a screenwriter and filmmaker, or so I thought. A woman next to started talking to me and in the conversation, she asked where I was off to next. I thought she meant where I was getting off of the bus, but she was referring to my next city I would live in. I told her “New York”, even though I had no idea how I was going to get there because I had tried a couple of years prior. She said, “What season?” I told her I wasn’t sure and she said “Try Spring”. I finally made my vision board a couple of months later, something that I had started a year before and never finished. Two years after making my vision board, I was planning my move to New York and 6 months after that, I became a resident – Spring 2016. I still wasn’t thinking that this would be my chance to get into the industry so I used “vision board living” as a social media username. Years later, I decided I was going to put my all into what it took to become a writer and when I decided to create a production company, the only name that felt right was “Vision Board Living”.

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

I am a Cleveland, OH born screenwriter, based in Chicago, IL. I started writing Late 2018 and have been ever since. Since then, I have self funded both of my projects – a short film, Sweet Nothings, that was released in 2020 and a web series, Shoutout 2 My Therapist, that was released in 2022. Shoutout 2 My Therapist is about a woman who finds herself at a crossroads after quitting her job. She goes to therapy to try to get her life on track, but realizes that she has more issues to face than what led her there. I have also assisted other filmmakers with their projects from being a Production Manager to a Producer. I’ve had an amazing opportunity to write for television twice for two shows that were on Cleo TV – Tough Love, Los Angeles and Tough Love, Atlanta.

During my journey as a filmmaker, I have met amazing people who have supported me and who I’ve been able to support. This is huge in the indie community as we go through so many challenges to make sure that our voices are heard through our work. Having a good support system is #1 for me. My friends, family, people that I meet and work with in this industry and especially my Black Film Space family.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a screenwriter/filmmaker is seeing how people connect to the stories I’m telling. The projects that I create and produce are because I have some kind of connection to them, but it’s always nice to know that someone else sees the story you’re telling and that they “get it”. With my work, I want people who connect to it to know they’re not alone and that I see them even if it feels like no one does.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

When I am connected to something so much that I want to write it (specifically projects that I create), it’s usually because I want to tell my side of a story. Most of the time it’s because I want to help someone or give them information or tools that I wish I had when I was going through whatever situation it is that I’m writing about. With my web series, Shoutout 2 My Therapist, I want people who watch it to know the benefits of therapy and to see how it helped me. Someone may be on the fence about it because they don’t know what to expect. Everyone’s journey is different, but I think that if more people had a peek inside, they may be more open to trying it. I started my therapy journey in 2016, before I started writing and the main reason that I was so reluctant and scared is because I didn’t know anyone who was going to therapy (that I knew of). No one that I knew was talking about it so it was the fear of the unknown. Even though I did it anyway, if I would’ve seen a show like Shoutout 2 My Therapist, I probably would’ve gone sooner. I want to continue to write stories that show someone that even though a situation may be slightly different, we all go through very similar situations.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @visionboardliving
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXZdnWMinw&list=PLFS3tvsjohcMedYLI1Vty5R4C1_Uhyb7D

Image Credits
Stefanie with actors – Olaide Ojekunle @olaidetv and Stefanie with full crew – Olaide Ojekunle @olaidetv