Meet Catie Loth

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Catie Loth. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Catie, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
Resilience, I had to learn, is something you build up over time throughout periods of hardship. For me, the past two years have tested my patience, strength, and optimism in various ways, which allowed me to become more and more resilient over time. Two years ago, I moved from Germany to LA to work in the film industry as a producer, and with me, I brought a lot of optimism and ambition to fulfill my dreams. But I underestimated or didn’t understand the scope of the challenges I was going to face.
Living in the US on a visa is difficult because of the limitations regarding the kind and amount of work you are allowed to do, employees not wanting to hire you, and the constant worries about the future and maintaining legal status in the country after your visa expires.
Additionally, I want to work in the film industry – which is hard enough even as an American citizen. Most of the time, you have to create your own projects to find work because the industry has more eager applicants than available jobs. Without connections and a healthy network, you won’t even get an internship. If you’re lucky, someone might bring you on as an unpaid volunteer. So to find a paid job you have to live in the city for a while and make these connections over time.
The living expenses in LA add to the pressure of trying to find a paid job within the legal limitations of your visa (making money on the side in a different field of work is hence not an option).

But it’s not like I didn’t know about these challenges. Everyone in the film industry had told me from the beginning that the one thing you need to make it is perseverance. Resilience. I thought I had that, but only when I actually had to deal with these challenges day by day and live through the difficult days without finding a solution in a timely manner – that’s when I realized what resilience meant. We’ve all encountered hardship at some point in our lives, but when the challenges keep piling up instead of getting resolved, and hardship lasts for many months at a time, that’s when I learned how to become resilient. With each hard day, I become more resilient as long as I keep the ambition to try and find new solutions and opportunities to live and work in LA as a film producer – no matter how long the detours may be. So I learn and I grow with each obstacle along the way and actually living through these times has helped me to build my resilience.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am an independent producer of narrative films. Even before moving to America, I worked on film sets for features, shorts, and TV movies in multiple departments. When I moved to LA and worked for a couple production companies in the development department, I found my passion for finding and developing projects, so I focused on becoming a creative producer. I write screenplays and I work closely with writers together to shape meaningful stories that celebrate diversity and inclusion, about people who often seem misrepresented or misunderstood in our society. As a producer, I carry these projects from the script through distribution to work with like-minded and passionate filmmakers and bring these stories to audiences for social impact.
Previously, I was able to work on films about same-sex love between two elderly, a Jewish woman in a dystopian world, female representation in the music industry, and multiple music videos with artists in the LGBTQ+ community. The most recent project I am working on is a thriller that seeks to authentically portray and spark a conversation about mental health.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Throughout my personal and professional journey, I found the following three qualities especially helpful: Resilience, the ability to grow and learn, and the knowledge about your strengths and weaknesses.

Based on my introductory statement, resilience is an obvious necessity. Perseverance and resilience helped me overcome challenges and keep pushing through lasting times of hardship. It will take time, many Nos, and some tears to achieve your goal, whatever it may be, but if you don’t lose your passion and ambition to keep trying, you will build resilience over time.

Secondly, in accordance with my first point, I realized that you can survive hardship and inch closer to your goals if you are always willing to constantly improve yourself. Acknowledging that I can always learn something new and wanting to grow as a human being for the rest of my life helped me face challenges. Each failure will teach me something new about myself and give me a new skill. Acknowledging my shortcomings and wanting to become better taught me to keep going even when life becomes too hard or challenges feel impossible. I had to learn (and am still learning) not to be afraid of failure so I can grow and learn from those experiences.

This leads to my final advice: Knowing your strengths and weaknesses. Being humble enough to admit what I lack or can’t do well is necessary, so I can work on that and become better. This helped me not only in my professional journey but also in my personal relationships with friends and partners. Equally important is to know what you’re good at to appear confident and capable. I realized the importance of a healthy balance between presenting yourself with confidence and believing in your abilities when justified so people will recognize your value, and knowing when to listen and eagerness to learn from others.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
Recently, I have been facing a lot of challenges: I graduated from school and tried to find employment in the film industry during the midst of the WGA and SAG strikes while having to maintain my visa status. I wasn’t allowed to just work in a different industry and make money as a waitress, for example, but I had to have a job to keep my visa. So I focused on my own film projects, which can be slow and discouraging at times, too, because development can take many months, you can’t get funding or the projects make progress only slowly. That’s why I had to find strategies to stay optimistic and motivated even when everything felt hopeless. It may be a cliche, but I find that journaling really helps me to find courage and focus. I try to write down my weekly achievements, things I can be proud of (even if those things are small), my goals, and the necessary steps to focus on to reach these goals. Based on this, I come up with manageable to-do lists with tasks I can actually accomplish that day.
Additionally, going on walks helps me clear my head and gives me structure. Working out helps me even more, but when I can’t find the motivation for that, going on a walk around the neighborhood gets me out of the house and out of my head to refocus and collect myself.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Andrew Burns

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