Author: Alexandra Boylan

Just relax and enjoy the process.  That is the motto I have been saying over and over in my mind these past few months.  As we embark on our 7th feature film, I have learned that things don’t get easier. The process is always challenging as you begin to cast and crew up for a film.  In the past, I would stress out about everything, and lose my cool when things were not going our way.  Now, many years later and many movies released into the world, I have finally begun to realize that all I can do is relax…

My film partner John KD Graham and I embarked on our first feature film “Home Sweet Home” in 2010.  Rounding up a hand full of friends’ after my brother Andrew Boylan wrote a script around John’s parent’s house location in the middle of nowhere New Mexico, we began production on a super low budget film.  I can honestly say we had no expectations for that film; We just wanted to learn, have fun and hopefully complete the project for our parents to see.  Reflecting back, it’s amazing to me how much this film exceeded our expectations and therefore set the…

I don’t know if it’s my recent birthday (I just turned 40), but I have been feeling feisty these days. I am stoked to enter this decade of my life by the way. I feel a new found confidence and security as I grow older and wiser and more comfortable in my own skin. I have become super hyper aware of when someone is trying to take advantage of me. Recently, if someone is pushing my “boundaries button”, I have had no problem putting my boundaries boot down on the situation. I have been told in the past that because…

It started off slowly, just a couple of requests a month, and in the beginning of my career I would always say “yes.”  I went to coffee with strangers and answered questions.  I took hours out of my day, because I truly wanted to help people.  But as the requests started pilling up and my time became more unavailable, I simply could not continue to run around town meeting up with people. I also found myself wasting a lot of my time meeting up with someone who didn’t really know what they wanted to ask me.  Now that I am…

I tend to put all my self-worth into what I do.   So, if I’m in between projects and not doing anything, I feel worthless.  This is a horrible feeling and one I have tried to untangle myself from for years.  Unfortunately, I think I learned this behavior in my early twenties when I moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting.  And I have yet to truly unlearn it.  The question is, was it learned? Or is it just the make up of my matter? I used to sit and wait for auditions, thinking if I book something then I will…

As your career grows and blossoms and doors begin to open in BIG ways, it’s important to get your pitches down for those BIG meetings. Recently I have been getting into some very impressive rooms, it is so exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. Before I enter those doors I practice my pitches over and over to make sure I don’t falter in the meeting.  I am so passionate about the projects that I create and I want to make sure I convey the importance of what I am doing to the one who is listening.  I must…

When I ask someone: “Who is your movie for?” and they respond, “Everyone!”   Houston, we have a problem.  I have been teaching a class on independent filmmaking and distribution for over a year now. In that time, I have observed that filmmakers don’t know their audience. Unless you are Paramount, Universal or Marvel films it is nearly impossible to make a movie for “Everyone.”  If you want to be able to sell your movie, trust me when I tell you to make your movie for a specific audience.  Understanding your audience’s demographic is vitally important. That’s why drop down categories…

Happy New Year! We are now into February and I’m not sure about you, but personally I have never been a fan of setting New Year’s resolutions because I try to live every day with purpose and focus on the goals I want to accomplish.  I feel like setting a New Year’s resolution is just setting myself up for failure.  If you promise to run every day of the year and then miss a day, you may just throw your hands in the air and say, “well I blew it, never mind.” I make a conscious decision everyday to wake…

I started producing my own films so that I could give myself a role in the movie and create my own opportunities as an actress. As I learned from my last five feature films, it is not as easy as you may think to produce and act in the same project. Here are some things to look out for and to be prepared for if you choose to produce a project you also act in. As an actor you are usually shielded from drama on set, from constant complaining and problems that arise.  But as a producer you have to…

As an indie filmmaker it is so important to be able to make a project and then let it go. I am part of a team that creates our own projects from conception to completion, so the temptation to want everyone to “love” my film is paramount.  I create these baby projects, they are my babies, I breathe life into them from the writing stage, and equip them in pre-production, nurture them through production and watch them graduate into a full blown film in post production.  And then I set them free.  Once the film is released it becomes the…

You know the saying: “Write what you know?”  Well, it takes living a bit of life to know stuff to write. I just wrapped a feature film that I co-penned. There is no greater feeling than watching my words come to life through a visual medium.  Very few people actually get the opportunity to create their own films, and I recognize the magnitude of this accomplishment with gratitude. I moved to Los Angeles at nineteen years old and I remember sitting down and trying to write.  Every time I put pen to paper it pretty much just came out like…

I am currently knee deep in pre-production on my new Ultra Low Budget Indie film, so I thought it was only appropriate to give some tips and tricks to how to make a film look like a million bucks on a shoe string budget.  Here are some of the things I am currently in the process of doing as I line up my film to be shot next month. Locations –  Locations can be the most expensive part of your production budget.  So here are some tricks to secure locations for free.  Find out what that location needs and see…

“Unconscious biases are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. Everyone holds unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups, and these biases stem from one’s tendency to organize social worlds by categorizing.” – University of California, San Francisco: Office of Diversity and Outreach There are many different types of unconscious bias, but I want to talk specifically about a bias that I personally encounter every day as a woman in the entertainment industry.   If you look at the history of the way women have been perceived, you will see how easy…

In a time where “#MeToo” and “#TimesUp” are revolutionizing an industry known to exclude women, harass them, degrade them, portray them as objects for sexual exploitation, we cheer as the whistle blows and standards are changed.  The norm is becoming unacceptable.  And trust you me, I am cheering loudly, as a woman who has experienced all of the above! Prior to the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements exposing this ugly side of our industry, I witnessed a girl be harassed on a major movie set.  The boys’ club supported and protected one another while the women in power positions (with the…