How She Got There: Marlee Roberts, Film Director & Writer

Name: Marlee Roberts
Job Title and Description: Writer/Director
College Name/Major: New York University, Tisch School of the Arts - Film & Television Major, Producing Minor
Website: www.marleeroberts.com
Twitter Handle: @MarleeRoberts
Instagram Handle: @MarleeRoberts

What does your current job entail? Is there such a thing as a typical day?

Running a production company grants you a lot of freedom but also requires a ton of dedicated responsibility. While I have a team to guide me, at the end of the day I am single-handedly responsible for the financial, legal, and day to day decisions that keep the company running. That’s a lot of pressure. I set my own hours so the hardest part has been regulating a work/ personal life schedule, reminding myself to take lunch breaks and forcing myself to stop working at some point in the evening. While I don’t have a typical day, I try to abide by a few rules that my workaholic self had to put in place:

YOU MUST...
1. Take at least one day off a week to recoup and regather.

2. Do no more than eight hours a day of stationary work behind the laptop. Gotta work overtime? Pen and paper baby.

3. Get up and run around the block at least twice if you are spending the whole day behind that desk.

4. Let the cursor blink in that half-written email or screenplay until after lunch. No skipping meals. Not allowed. Period.

5. Get at least 4-6 hours sleep during production, 6-8 hours if working in office.

6. Prioritize and put a reasonable number of tasks on your to-do list. You’ll feel so much better having accomplished them.

What is the best part of your job?

The best part of my job is telling stories that have the ability to change people. It’s most rewarding to watch audiences go on an emotional journey that provokes empathy, compassion, and education.

What was your first entry-level job in your field and how did you get it?

My entry into the entertainment field was a little unconventional as I was a child actor and so I had the rare opportunity to experience what the world of entertainment was like as I was growing up. My family was not in the industry so there was never any pressure but little by little, the passion I had for the arts festered into my livelihood. Technically, my first job was smiling into a camera with pretend grandparents in an Orajel toothpaste commercial when I was four but when I switched to behind the camera, I started where every filmmaker must - a production assistant on projects, learning by watching and asking a ton of questions. I tried to assist people I really admired and whose careers I wanted to emulate. I was also very fortunate I assisted people who treated me kindly and with respect.

What words of wisdom (well-known quotes, an anecdote from your boss) do you find most valuable?

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

What is one mistake you made along the way and what did you learn from it?

Time and time again, the entertainment industry asks of you many things - your talents, your time, your hard-work, your experience, your money, your energy, your knowledge, your dignity, your self- respect, your soul... and it will keep asking and asking and if you let it, it will keep taking and taking from you until you have nothing left. After exhausting myself on several occasions, only to feel under appreciated and devalued, I’ve learned that “giving your all” is not the same as “giving all of yourself”.

What has been the most surreal moment of your career thus far?

We had a Little Miss Perfect booth at the NYC NEDA (National Eating Disorder Awareness) walk and some cast and crew were there to meet the attendees and talk to people about the film. What I hadn’t realized was that most people had already heard about it! There was one girl in particular whose eyes lit up when she saw us. She squealed in excitement and cried tears of joy. The movie gave her hope
in her eating disorder recovery. She looked at me and believed that she would get better. To play a part in that, is everything. I’ll never forget that girl.

What do you look for when considering hiring someone?

Enthusiasm. If it came down to working with someone enthusiastic/excited but inexperienced or a negative energy-sucking expert, I’d choose the former.

What advice would you give to a 20-something with similar aspirations?

In an industry where the highs are HIGH and lows are rock bottom, if you don’t have a really good sense of who you are and what you are worth (and I’m not talking about your social media #s or what’s in your bank acct), you can easily lose your sense of self and what’s the point of art if it isn’t filled with your unique wonderful self? Know your worth, and I mean your self-worth. Have respect for yourself and say no if something crosses your personal boundaries. Recognize that the glory is fleeting. At the end of the day, what people remember is what you’ve left behind, who YOU are, your legacy. Enjoy the limelight but never let it get to your head. I mean, even the red carpet just gets rolled up and put into a box at the end of the night.