Searching the internet, the most popular film directors all have something in common, they are all males.
“In this day and age, most directors that you see are white men that are in their ‘60s,” senior Natalee Rojas said. “And if you see a female director, it’s usually because she was an actress and she’d been acting for years and that was her chance to do directing.”
This led to then sophomores Rojas and Jenna Dunnam wanting to try something new, which was making a TV show. They did not yet know that the references, scripts and character design would become a lasting project.
Eventually, they realized that directing and writing were things they both wanted to pursue, regardless of the gender stereotype.
“We decided from that point on to collectively work together on that, and that was probably a turning point where I was like ‘I would love to direct shows for real, and I would like to do it with other people,’” Rojas said.
Now, in her senior year, Rojas writes her own plays in addition to working on the TV show from her sophomore year. This is an ongoing project that is being developed by Rojas, Dunnam and sophomore Milo Tran, who is the artist for the show.
They each take inspiration from one another and hope that the show will one day be performed for an audience.
“I think she’s definitely inspired me to keep going with this project,” Dunnam said. “I really enjoy bouncing ideas off her and vice versa.”
While Rojas has had a lot of support and assistance, she says she sometimes finds it difficult to organize her ideas during the writing process.
“I’ve always had some creative ideas here and there, but I didn’t know how to put them out,” Rojas said. “I think learning how to act, learning character work and even how a script looks helped me.”
In addition to this work, Rojas has written a theatrical play called “June and the Dragon,” which may be performed by next year’s group that makes it to the Indiana Thespians Regional Conference.
Having gone to the conference numerous times, this has inspired her writing and strengthened her interest in theater.
As she advances in her theatrical knowledge, Rojas has considered taking it to the next level. Although her dream is to become a director, she has faced mental challenges trying to follow through with her dream.
To make such a passion into a career, Rojas believes that, realistically, gaining recognition and respect is improbable.
Rojas believes that because of the gender stereotype, she doesn’t believe she’ll be successful.
“A lot of the time people don’t expect the director to be successful because they’re a woman, so they don’t get a lot of attention on their movies or shows,” Rojas said.
The thought of having the ability and passion but failing to reach it disappoints her. Rojas believes that she’ll definitely miss out on opportunities to have a good team in that career.
As a result of this, she is thinking about trying double majoring with her ‘more realistic’ career being environmental science, in hopes that if she doesn’t feel successful in one, she can turn to the other.
Despite the challenges with her career path, she’s motivated to continue pursuing her passion.
“The further I get into these projects, the more determined I get to try and make them come true,” Rojas said.
Knowing that she faced problems herself, she believes that others shouldn’t be afraid to carry out their own passion.
“Don’t be afraid to get committed to your hobbies. It doesn’t have to be much, even if you just spend 15 minutes a day doing what you like, it adds up,” Rojas said. “Worst case scenario, you have fun spending time doing something you like.”
