We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tracey Hague a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Tracey, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
I left a twenty year career as an English teacher in Rhode Island to pursue a film-making career in Nashville. I directed the theatre company for my high school for years and taught film studies, so everything in my life was pointing me in this direction before I even realized it. I had also been writing for a long time and knew I didn’t want to wait til I was retirement aged to begin!
I started over completely and attended a nine month film program to get my feet wet. I finished film school right as Covid hit, so it was really a struggle to believe that I hadn’t made the biggest mistake in. my life!
My first short film The Man Who Loved Flowers has just been accepted into its tenth film festival – it was an opportunity through Stephen King called the Dollar Baby Program. It enables film students to adapt one of his short stories in order to learn the craft. I am so proud of it and grateful that I was able to work with so many talented people here in Nashville to complete it. I learned so much from my team and through the process itself.
Nashville is truly a melting pot of talent and creatives all eager to work and share their love of the creative process. They continually remind me that everyday is a chance to take another step.
With their continued support and encouragement, I have just completed my first screenplay and am eager to get it off the ground.
Tracey, 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 am driven by my experience in Rhode Island and New England where I fell in love with legends and folklore. My dream is to create and direct my own fairy tales both light and dark, for children of every age. Up to this point my writing has been about dealing with an unexpected reality- with a pinch of magic and the supernatural.
Being a female already sets me apart in this industry, but I am also starting out on what many consider the back half of my life. I think it makes me more determined and maybe even in more of a hurry to prove myself.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I want to create characters that will live on long after me. If I can create people that show we are not alone and that will live on in other’s hearts and minds as so many have done for me, I will consider myself successful.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
My mind shift has been the most rewarding aspect of being creative. I was in a twenty year career and my goals and values were resulting in someone who was physically and spiritually unwell. I knew something had to give and that created a desperation in me to find what fed me and focus on that. I realized that money problems woudl always be there no matter which life I lived and that realization simplified so much for me.
In many ways, writing is so much harder than anything I’ve ever done, but it’s also easier at the same time.
Fear and self-judgement make it hard – just as it does in a career driven mindset – but giving myself permission to do what I want and how I want is so fulfilling I don’t know how I lived any other way.
I remind myself that no one knows what I’m up to until I tell them – that gives me the confidence to just keep a child mind and have fun.
It’s easy to worry about failure, but it’s also easy worry about success. I’m focusing on the latter, and life is better!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.candlewickproductions.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hague_t/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tracey.hague.104/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/traceyahague/
- Other: https://filmfreeway.com/TraceyHague