We were lucky to catch up with Susan Dynner recently and have shared our conversation below.

Susan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Every project I work on is meaningful in one way or another. You end up spending years on each project, so you need to be passionate about them all. “Brick” was meaningful as it was the first film I produced, and it won the Originality of Vision Award at the Sundance Film Festival. “Punk’s Not Dead” was extremely meaningful not just because it was the first documentary that I directed, but also because I’m firmly entrenched in the punk rock community, so I was basically making a film with all my friends. It was also amazing to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, and we had a big party and flew the UK Subs in to play – it was surreal to see everyone the next day walking along the Croisette wearing Punk’s Not Dead t-shirts backpacks and buttons. I’m currently directing a documentary about women in magic, and again, since I’m a magician member of the Magic Castle, I’m making a film with friends. It’s extremely fulfilling.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I began my career at the age of fifteen as a band photographer when I started photographing punk bands such as The UK Subs, Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag as well as UB40, Psychedelic Furs, Squeeze, The English Beat, and many more. My photos have been published on album covers, in books, on t-shirts, and in magazines.

After earning my degree at University of Wisconsin-Madison, I moved to Los Angeles, where I held various positions, including jobs at Touchstone, Richard Donner Productions, Di Novi Pictures and Wolfgang Petersen’s Radiant Productions. Later, I joined Charlie Sheen and Nick Cassavetes’ Ventura Films as VP of Creative Affairs, before leaving to join Prairiefire Films as a Producer and VP of Development/Production.

After that, I teamed up with producer Mark Mathis, and together we formed Still Water Films. There, we produced the feature film “Brick”, written and directed by Rian Johnson, and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lucas Haas. It won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the Sundance Film Festival and was released by Focus Features.

Then I formed Aberration Films, and under that banner, released “Punk’s Not Dead”, a documentary feature that I directed, produced and shot. The film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and in the US at the AFI SilverDocs Film Festival, has received much acclaim. Celebrated by critics from Variety to The Hollywood Reporter to the LA Times, it went on to screen at many more prestigious festivals, including Melbourne, Copenhagen, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, and AFI Dallas, before its theatrical run (32 US cities and worldwide distribution). I also produced the feature documentary, “After Porn Ends”, which was ranked as the #1 documentary upon release on Netflix, iTunes and Amazon.

Most recently, I directed and produced “The Soul Trader”, starring Shane West, Donna Mills and Shauna Grace. It’s a short proof of concept for a feature film and will start the festival circuit in 2024. Prior to that, I directed and produced “Code Blue: A Love Story”, starring Andy Dick. Based on that film, I was selected as a Sony Pictures Television Diverse Directing Fellow. I also produced the feature film, “Free Ride: (for which I was a Film Independent Producers Lab Fellow), starring Anna Paquin and Drea DeMateo, which had a limited theatrical release and then debuted on HBO. I was recently awarded the prestigious Sundance Stories of Change Directing Fellowship and I’m currently a Blackmagic Collective Next Level Studio Directing Fellow. I am also a mentor for the Producers Guild Power of Diversity program. I’m currently shooting my documentary about women in magic as I’m a Magician Member of the world-famous Magic Castle. I’m proud to say that I’m a founding member of GenXX, a new initiative with the mission to expand opportunities for the generation of women who got lost between sexism and ageism.

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

There are so many rewarding aspects of being an artist/creative – mainly, you get to pursue your passion. It allows for self-expression and personal growth. I learn something with every new project I take on. Your work is able to touch others and have an impact on them, and possibly even on the world. I hope my work is inspirational, joyful, or at the very least, an escape from the ordinary and mundane. I hope to somehow make a difference with my films, no matter how small. Finally, one of the most rewarding aspects of being a part of the film world is the sense of community. Film is a collaborative medium and I love bringing together the most talented people I know to create something unique and wonderful.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

This isn’t exactly a story of a time when I had to pivot in my career, but it is a story 0f how something great came out of something bad – so I did pivot in that way. I was hired to direct a film, and after going through 6 months of countless rewrites, creating my look book, talking with DPs and Editors, and starting to cast, I was told that the financing fell through. This is nothing new for indie film, but this particular time, it felt different. The entire time, I had a nagging feeling about the producer, who was very green, and sadly, my apprehensions proved true. Following that experience, I decided I needed to become a better judge of character, so remembering the TV series, “The Mentalist”, I set out to possess those skills. I looked online and discovered a class at the Magic Castle on how to become a mentalist. It wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be, but despite that, I fell madly in love with magic and mentalism. I worked and studied hard, and within a short time, passed my audition to become a Magician Member of the Castle (a highly competitive and difficult accomplishment). So, although I fell in love with magic by accident, it’s now become such a vital part of my life. I barely remember the film I was supposed to make, but I can’t imagine my life now without magic and the amazing and supportive community of magicians who I have come to know and love.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.aberrationfilms.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susandynner/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sdynner
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-dynner-0837398/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SusanDynner
• Other: www.genxx.info