Sarah Waller

I think I'm starting to find success now because people are viewing me as somebody who has integrity, and I've been through some very difficult things but powered through it. I know who I am, and it's my strength of character and not giving up. I'm a very tenacious person, and I think I'm probably known for that. There's a degree of respect building around my ability to reinvent myself and start something from nothing and figure it out. I came from the New York City independent film community, which is very DIY and scrappy. My Bennington College education and Tisch education taught me how to create out of nothing. I'm really good at resourcing, networking, and putting the right people together. I know how to build teams, and that will ultimately contribute to my success.

One of the most important pieces of advice I received is that age doesn't matter. I'm fortunate to look probably 10 years younger than I am, and age shouldn't matter, but it is a factor in Hollywood and music. After I heard from an artist who also got a late start and is very well established, and then worked on her music video, I decided to go for it anyways and fell in love with it. I gravitate towards and want to work with people who have this ability to recreate their life paths at various stages, people who don't just accept limitations. I'm inspired by people who take their life experience and really difficult things and turn it around into something amazing and give back to the world. The key is to keep going despite what you've been through, to not let your personal circumstances be the limitation that blocks you from really going for it. I've been through some very difficult things in Hollywood and took a break, questioning if I wanted to be in this industry anymore because of the abuse culture. But I really like seeing and hearing from women who use difficult experiences to empower themselves to start something new, take their power back, and create something new. It's about not waiting for people to hand you opportunities, but creating opportunities for yourself through your creativity.

For producing and directing, it's good to have experience all across the entertainment industry, and I think it's okay if you don't know what you want to do ultimately. I'm coming back to my first loves, which are music and film now, and I went on a kind of crazy journey to come back here, but it's all okay. Some people are very focused and know what they want since they're young and go on a very straight path to their goals, but I think as an artist and creative, it's not a linear path. Experimentation, trial and error, and making mistakes is very important. If you're a multi-hyphenate like I am, if you're somebody who loves working across creative mediums, don't just limit yourself to one thing. Keep trying things until you find where you're really in alignment with your passion. Ask for help and look for mentors. Go to people whose careers you really admire. Keep opening doors for yourself, try to get on set, get in the studio, and ask musicians you really admire for help or referrals when you're at that level. You just have to constantly be building your community and try to learn from the best.

Because I'm taking on new things, I'm at this point right now where people know who I am and I have visibility, but the next step for me is monetizing music. That means working with a really good music producer, getting my music recorded and out there, and then trying to align with music supervisors to get my work into film, TV, and commercials. In my industry, it's like getting co-signed by a bigger artist, so I'm getting those referrals to good music producers. The next step is to actually start working with them, get my work out there, and have the first person offer to put my music in their project. Fortunately, I have people already offering that, but my next step is getting my music recorded because I've been building this body of work. I took my time because I wanted to find the right producer who could give me the right sound and help develop me, and I'm having a lot of luck with that right now, meeting the right people. With directing, my challenge is to keep directing more music videos and keep building my visual identity and build my reel. Then you break through and you're able to get work at a higher level for record labels or you can bid on those jobs once you have a bigger body of work. Right now I'm trying to build my body of work.

Integrity is most important to me, along with honesty and just trying to support people that are coming up, like the younger generation. I want to share what I've learned and help inspire people to keep going despite difficult circumstances and the harder things we face in music and the film industry. Commitment to your craft is essential, as well as care for other people in your community. That's very big for me. I don't want to just take, I constantly want to be giving back. It's just sort of my nature and who I am. I've had a lot of people help me, and I love helping other people.