Her Story
About Sabrina
I am the owner of Black Castle Productions in Los Angeles, California, which I started in 2009. Before I worked in film, I actually owned two dance studios in Virginia and Celebration, Florida, which I started when I was young. After going through a divorce in Florida, I made the difficult decision to close my studios rather than give up half of what I had built. I put myself through school after that to get my bachelor's degree in film production, which is what I wanted to do in high school but couldn't afford. I then got my master's at AFI, the American Film Institute, and started my own company. My dad has always owned his own company, which is how I started my first company - he guided me through it. Film and dance are very similar; they're both entertainment. We produce feature film, television, and short forms like commercials and short films. Right now, we have a film called The Worst Thing You've Ever Done that's in the festival circuits and we've won many audience awards for it. We have about four different projects on the board, including two television shows and two more short films, along with features. My favorite project is one we're developing called Phantasmagoria, based on the 1995 video game. We have the rights to it and have been developing it into a new video game and a feature film. Connecting with fans of the old game and talking to the old actors has been the perk so far. We have three people in our company, and as we get closer to production, we can hire up to 30 people, and then post-production is a whole other group of people.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Sabrina
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say my mom and dad. Both of them never told me I couldn't do something. The world around us constantly told my parents, oh, she's gonna have a hard time in life, she's not going to be able to do anything. Whereas my parents, they put me out there, they're like, if you want to do it, do it. Don't let someone else tell you you can't. My parents were always like, if you want to do it, do it. Figure it out and do it. I have constantly had that mindset. If someone tells me I can't do something, I will prove you wrong. Yes, I can. My dad has always owned his own company, which is how I started my first company - he kind of guided me through it.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I'm one of the few girls in film production, especially at a producer spot, but I'm also a Native American, and I'm handicapped. I only have one hand, so I'm like a unicorn in the filming industry. When I first started in the industry, people would assume I can't do things because I only have a right hand, and I would have to constantly prove them wrong. My advice to other women who want to go in this industry is if you love it, and you're focused and determined, do it. We need more female voices in this industry. I want to show other kids that are coming up that it doesn't matter what you look like, how you were born, if you have the passion and drive, you can definitely succeed in whatever you want to do.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The challenges right now is that the entertainment industry as a whole is changing very fast with technology and mergers of larger companies. It's really the Wild West right now, so if you are creative and have great stories, you're definitely gonna succeed. It's hard, to be quite honest. Every day you learn something new. In the entertainment world, it's like keeping up with what is not only popular, but what people are interested in, and what they're constantly changing interests in. Algorithms are based on what you're looking at, and they're gonna change and modify as you change and modify as a human.
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