We were lucky to catch up with Emily Skye recently and have shared our conversation below.
Emily, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I have been fortunate to have a father that has taught me from a young age what it meant to work hard for the things you want. He worked hard, built a window and door company (Royal Palm Aluminum) from nothing. He didn’t rely on anyone to do the job, so he did it. I wanted to ride horses and so he set me up at a barn where I worked there, cleaning stalls to ride. This taught me my work ethic. I find people expecting things to be easy and to be handed to them, but in fact it takes everything you have to achieve your dreams and goals.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
From the age of 6, after I watched “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” my fascination of sci-fi evolved. Snagging my mothers camcorder, I began filming my brothers, friends and cousins over the next 15 years in short movie ideas. I couldn’t get enough of it. By the age of 17 I was scouted by Ford models in NYC, but decided to go with Wilhelmina Models in Miami. I used modeling to learn how sets actually work. Since in my time there wasn’t social media, I had no one to learn from in real time. After working on Miami Vice, I made the leap into Directing and DOPing music videos which then I transitioned into narrative stories. For the next 10 years I hustled and also became a mother. To say being in the film industry as a single mother would be easy is an understatement. So many lessons. Somehow I kept going, despite a lot hurdles. Randomly a picture of me filming a Docuseries went viral on instagram and that opened up a portal of so many opportunities, like becoming a Brand Ambassador for LUMIX Panasonic, Small HD and having the opportunity to do a Reducation with RED and joined them as their guest at the ASC Awards, trust me when I say social media can help you be seen. During the Pandemic my best friend Mary Cameron Rogers and I made a short film in NC, that did amazing in the festival circuit and led us to being funded for the feature called “River” which is on Apple TV and a bunch of other platforms. I’m forever grateful what that film has taught me.
June 2023 I received an email from Fox Tubi asking to meet me, so I went to LA and sat down with the VP and head of original content. I didn’t realize I was being interviewed, nor did I think I would book a feature film with them, but I did. Wrapping the feature April 14 2024. Currently I am finishing up editing. Life has been a journey and I am learning how to take beats to enjoy the process and take care of my mental health. That what is meant for you will always find its way to you. So take that beat, take care of your well being, love the journey, embrace it.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Drive, no ego, listen. Those are the skills that has helped me so much in the film industry. You could be the most talented, but with the worst ego and never get hired again. The same goes for listening, at the end of the day you learn and grow more by listening to good advice and to your team if there is a problem, your way isn’t always the best way. If you are just starting your journey or are seasoned, ego is the death of humans, be kind, take care of your team.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
Sidney Lumet “Making Movies” gave me some wonderful nuggets of gold. I highly recommend this book as a filmmaker to read.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.emilyskyefilms.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shewolffilms/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Shewolffilms
Image Credits
Sam Brave is my headshot. Jose Rovira all the other images
