We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elizabeta Vidovic, Kathryn Michelle, and Izabela Vidovic a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Elizabeta Vidovic, Kathryn Michelle, and Izabela Vidovic, thank you for being such positive, uplifting people. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
As independent filmmakers, our optimism comes from our creativity. Even when we aren’t feeling 100%, the art itself has the ability to lift us out of that and bring us back to a brighter reality. We’re also lucky to be a tight knit team, so we always have each other to fall back on. That combination of artistic expression and a reliable support system makes it easier to maintain a positive attitude.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
All three of us have individually been in the entertainment industry for a combined 30+ years. Funny enough, we all started in acting and some of us still do! Almost Normal Productions itself, however, sprung from the desire to create content where women were written as badass protagonists. We are a film production company who both develops all of its own content, and can also help other creatives take their projects from development to the finish line.
What sets us apart is our diverse backgrounds. For one, the age difference in the trio gives our projects a broader scope. While some of our films are told from the perspective of a woman in her 40s-60s, others follow a young woman in her teens and 20s. In addition, Elizabeta and Izabela’s Croatian roots and Kathryn’s midwest background offer our stories a unique flair. Our differences compliment one another and allow us the opportunity to speak to people of all ages and walks of life.
We are proud to say that we only work on projects that all three of us are equally passionate about, meaning that when we decide to dive into a film, we really give it our everything. Speaking of, our next endeavor is a feature film titled After Winter, and it is a true story about one woman’s fight to save her young son’s life during the Bosnian war in 1992. This would be the third feature film by Almost Normal Productions and we look forward to sharing updates as we move forward in the later stages of development!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
When we just started out in this industry, we had to learn a little bit of everything in the realm of filmmaking. Thankfully, as our experience grew and our network of people increased, we were able to shift our focus to the areas of filmmaking we were most passionate about — that being writing, producing, and directing. Having the ability to write, produce, and direct gives us the freedom to develop our own projects from the ground up.
If we were to give advice to a filmmaker early in their journey, we would say start by writing a script that you can produce with the resources available to you. Let’s say you live in an apartment in Los Angeles, write a short screenplay that takes place entirely in the confines of your four walls. Hire people who are looking to build their resumes just like you. And understand that you may have to do a handful of these smaller scale projects to build that network of people and gain that necessary experience to move up to the next level. Be patient, work hard and, most importantly… have fun! Never forget why you started doing this in the first place.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
Although we each have our own ways of decompressing, we’ve found that the common theme is to step away from the work… and understand that it’s okay to do that sometimes. Put the phones and computers away. Pick up a book instead! Work in your garden. Play with your dogs. Go on a walk with your kids. Take a bath. Go fishing. Cook a meal. Take a hike. Have a wine night with a friend. Do literally anything that pulls you away from the very thing that makes you feel overwhelmed.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.almostnormalproductions.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/almostnormalproductions/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/almostnormalproductions
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/anpfilms
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/AlmostNormalproducer
- Other: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/almostnormalproductions ‘Almost’ Normal, Always Badass merch: https://almost-normal-productions.myspreadshop.com/
Image Credits
Madison McDermott
Still from the production of Lone Rider (dir. Adam Jumba)
