KAT JACKSON

For as long as I can remember my passion for film has been the focus of every decision I have made. My fascination with the art of it is something I want to take into my future career as a director. Since a young age, I have only known a life that involves acting and writing and I have always known what I want for myself. It really started for me when I played Ariel from The Tempest. After that, I wanted a life that involved cameras and acting. I knew exactly what I wanted. 

 

I  have always known I wanted to a be in a creative career. I love to imagine new ideas and possibilities and play about with the idea of reality. For me, I want to see my ideas come to life on screen. I don’t want to be in a job where I don’t get to show my creativity and my personality through my work. As a woman, I can acknowledge that the film industry is hard to get into, especially if you aren’t a man as Hollywood is very male-orientated, but I know that if I keep trying and producing my own content, I will make it. For me, directing is about storytelling. Hollywood are so used to the same male directors and as a result of this, we are getting a limited about of representation and stories. Understandably, male directors will primarily use males as heroes and main characters in films. However, I feel like this has to change. I want to tell visual stories that have an impact on people, and I want to be able to use my freedom and individuality to create something that I can be proud of. I also want to use my own experience to be able to tell stories. Too often enough, women are shown to be love interests or weaker than the male actors. Women can be independent from men. Being a strong, independent woman doesn’t mean you can’t love and rely on men. it means a woman, in real life or in a film, is deeply flawed but acknowledges these flaws and doesn’t try and perfect that. In film, we see the same plots where women are used as romantic subplots and this needs to change. I want to make stories where a woman is at forefront of the film and uses her talents and her skills to come over her obstacles to do what she wants to do. A woman doesn’t have to be physically strong. The strongest of women have problems internalized and dealing with those problems makes a character stronger. I want more female-driven stories and they only way I can see this happen is if I do it myself.

 

​