Hello! My journey in filmmaking began as an actor first. Like many actors, I wanted to go beyond my typical casting and play characters that were interesting and challenging to me. So I began writing with myself in mind for certain roles. As much as I appreciate and love workingon any story that enlightens us to some aspect of the human experience, I really wanted to tell the stories that I felt were unusual and underrepresented. I wrote, produced, and acted in a short film, entitled Roomies, that was shot for $800 in my old apartment. It was a female lead stoner comedy, something I had never seen before. Later, while living in Los Angeles, I wrote and produced another short, a western. For some reason, I never focused on submitting either of those for festivals. The experience of completing them was enough for me at the time, and I suppose I saw too much room for improvement. However, I am very interested in submitting new work to festivals. Now I focus a lot on writing. This particular story I am submitting, The Widow, has garnered a lot of interest from some filmmakers I really respect. Several directors have been interested in making it, so I am now seeking out funding opportunities. I realize that this script does not pass the Bechdel test. However, I felt it was worth submitting anyways because it fits all other requirements and there are only two characters in the script total. In my humble opinion, it is certainly a feminist story. My vision for this script is to bring to life an incredibly cinematic, surprising western tale where no one is inherently “good”. I see the dry landscape of the open prairie as kind of another character, almost taking sides with the woman. My resources to create this film include all the people I know who are eager to make

this a reality, the stunning Eastern Oregon landscape, and my experience as a professional actor. My life as a filmmaker is only going to grow and I look forward to making that happen.

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Thank you to Couch Film Collective and organizations like it for supporting women and minorities in film and for this opportunity!

-Sonya