Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalie Hodge.
Natalie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Martinsville is my hometown. It’s a beautiful, rural community in southern Virginia that has survived some hard times. When I left for college at 18, I didn’t ever anticipate moving back. I loved the community and its people deeply, but my heart was set on adventure. After getting my bachelors degree in African American Studies and Justice & Policy Studies from Guilford College, I went on to get a masters degree in African American Studies from Cornell University. I bounced all over the country from there – San Francisco Bay Area to Detroit then back to Ithaca, NY to work at Cornell then to New York City where I discovered the film and television industry. I’ve always loved watching shows and movies. It was only right that I dip my toes in that world as a background actor. Being on those major sets in New York, most often pretending to sip coffee or walk up and down New York City streets for hours on end helped me develop a deeper appreciation for that world. I watched all the moving parts. I became fascinated with the collaboration and the delicate dance of creativity and technology. The whole thing was marvelous and I found myself wanted more and more. I left an incredible job at Columbia University at the worst possible time to feed my need to be a part. The financial crash and the writer’s strike were a gut punch to the city and there I was searching for what was next. I started writing screenplays and learning to produce. Frank M. Calo became my mentor and gave me my first job behind the camera. I found that I enjoyed that space even more than being in front of the camera. It was a space where women were not well represented and I felt we needed to be. Frank taught me to swim by throwing me in the water. Years later, as I work with young professionals, I find myself doing the same. He forced me to figure it out and I’m forever grateful for that experiential learning. In this world, more than anything else, I found that writing made my heart sing. I remember writing my first screenplay. I was up for several days, un-showered pounding my laptop keys. It was the most incredible feeling I’d ever had doing anything. That’s when the real journey began. It was all about figuring out how to do that for a living. In and out of traditional jobs. NYC to LA and back to NYC. My unlikely return to my country girl beginnings shocked everyone. In true to form Hallmark movie fashion, I touched down in Martinsville for the holidays and met my now husband. He’d just arrived back home from being in the Air Force and was determined to make a positive impact on the community. I was determined to go back to my red carpet, movie-making dreams, but after months of telling me “there’s no place like home” and “you can make your dreams happen here,” I gave in. Ten years in, we have a small brick-and-mortar studio in the heart of our commercial business district, a growing catalog of short films and shows and so many life-changing experiences that could never be contained in one article.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth? HA! Raising money in NYC, LA, Atlanta or some other larger market is tricky. Try doing it in an area where the industry doesn’t exist. How do you explain the value or the vision? How do you find actors, a film crew and locations? I’d been a part of several independent film productions in NYC and on a number of large production sets. I had no idea how to do it from scratch. It took three years before I even dared to try. The first short film we produced called “Sell” had one actor who had ever been in a production. His work was on stage and he was quite good. Everyone else had never done this work before. Some actors didn’t show up on set, so my husband and I stepped in. I was re-writing the script as we were filming, because we were behind schedule and we only had two days to get the whole thing done. The crew was from a local television station. The locations were donated by friends and family. We paid for food and props out of pocket. The hustle was all worth it. When we premiered the project at a local theater, we sold out four shows. The film was about a man who returns home from prison and is in search of meaningful work. It caught the attention of a regional reentry professional who got us to screen it at a medium security correctional facility. That was a MOMENT – a gymnasium full of men watching every scene intently. Many approached us afterward thanking us for telling their story. There were quite a few local men incarcerated at the facility and they talked about seeing “home” on screen. You couldn’t have told me Hollywood wasn’t the next stop, but it was December 2019 and none of us knew life was about to be turned upside down by the pandemic. I kept writing and producing through it. We filmed a second short film about domestic violence awareness during a time when we thought we were coming out of masks. We filmed a pilot season of Hometown Hustle, our show about small businesses in small towns that make a big impact in masks. The second full season had us on the road featuring businesses all over southern Virginia. Since then, we’ve done a short series called, “Molasses” and a short film earlier this year called, “Bottom Line.” We’ve produced commercials, corporate pieces and supported local businesses and nonprofits with marketing all to make the creative dream work. Never has the budget been what we planned or what we needed, but we always made it work. I can’t tell you how many times my credit card has been pushed to the limit in pursuit of this or the times a check has arrived right before disaster was poised to strike. I still love it. I still keep going. I still create every single day!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a storyteller to my core. I love writing and I’ve taught myself to write just about any genre. I have an amazing catalog of work that’s essentially been built on rejection. So, I wrote the first screenplay and thought the hard part was done. I just needed to get it to a studio or an investor and I was golden. What I didn’t expect is that every meeting I had, people would be looking for something else. The first project was a comedy and at that time, the industry folks I met wanted dramas, reality shows, series, etc. Instead of feeling dejected, I wrote dramas, reality shows, series, gameshows, thrillers, short films, feature films, on and on. I’m most proud of my resilience through it all. I might have talked about quitting a time or two, but I never did. I found ways to fund my own projects when no one else would. I collaborated with other creatives as they were pursuing their dreams. And, I’ve done all of this in the least likely place on earth for this to happen. When I didn’t have the money to film a project, I wrote books. I helped other people learn how to write books and self-publish. I have a poetry album. I write music. I spread my creative wings daily, step to the ledge and fly.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most is that I’ve kept going and not angrily or in a spirit of bitterness, but inspired. I have met so many creatives who feel betrayed by the industry or overlooked and that wear it on their face, in the way they move through spaces. I get it. I’ve wallowed a time or two. I’ve watched projects on tv or on the big screen, even now on my phone that I feel pale in comparison to some of my early work. I’ve shaken my fist at the sky wondering why my time hadn’t arrived. I learned a valuable lesson though; you can be disappointed or you can be dynamic. You can surprise yourself every day with new work and get lost in the beauty of your creative mind. I had to step back and realize that I WAS creating the dream in such a powerful way that it opened the door for people who will never even visit Los Angeles to experience Hollywood on a dusty country road in southern Virginia. That feeling is incredible. I’m so grateful to be exactly where I am in this moment even as I know I am not where I expected to be almost 20 years after I wrote that first screenplay.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rudysgirl.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rudys-girl-media
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/rudysgirlmedia
- Other: https://www.nataliehodge.com
