Film and Television writer AJ Bermudez bravely shares her experiences with envy and her learned understanding of deploying her "empathy muscle."
About A.J.
A. J. BERMUDEZ is an award-winning writer and director who divides her time between Los Angeles and New York. Her projects include iCON (Grand Prize Winner of the PAGE Award, 2021), The Face of the Earth (Grand Prize Winner of the Diverse Voices Award, 2018), Nightingale (Winner of the Cinequest Film Festival, 2017), and Hunt (HBMG Foundation Selection, 2017). Her work has been featured at the Yale Center for British Art, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, the LGBT Toronto Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and in a number of literary publications, including McSweeney’s, The Masters Review, Boulevard, Columbia Journal, The Chicago Review, Fiction International, The Offing, Gertrude Press, Hobart, Black Static, Concīs, Sick Lit, White Hot, Cheap Pop, Exposition Review, Lunch Ticket, Baltimore Review, Story, and elsewhere.
In addition to writing and filmmaking, Bermudez is also a former boxer and EMT, and her work gravitates toward contemporary intersections of power, privilege, and place. She is a Writer’s Digest National Award Winner, nominee for the Spotlight Culture & Heritage Award, winner of the 2018 WeScreenplay Grand Prize, 2021 finalist for the One Story Adina Talve-Goodman Fellowship, winner of the 2021 Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize, and winner of the 2022 Iowa Short Fiction Award. She was recently announced as Co-Editor of The Maine Review, is co-host of the podcast Two-Person Book Club, and currently serves as Artistic Director of The American Playbook. Her first solo-written feature film premiered in 2018, and she was named one of the ISA’s Top 25 Writers to Watch in 2019. Her first book, Stories No One Hopes Are About Them, will be published by University of Iowa Press in fall 2022.
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About the MAKE IT Podcast The MAKE IT podcast is a platform for the voice of independent filmmaker. We offer a variety of educational, aspirational, and entertaining content that promotes the success of creatives across the filmmaking community and the film industry. Our Conversations with filmmaking professionals are dedicated to sharing the advice, knowledge, and insights of experienced filmmakers while exploring what it truly means to be an independent creative in the highly competitive world of filmmaking. Each filmmaker conversation is backed by thoughtful research that allows us to uncover the raw, authentic truths behind each filmmaker's journey. Through our Indie Talks, we share our thoughts and perspectives on navigating independent film from the perspective of Advisory and Executive Producers. We discuss topics that are relevant to filmmakers across a wide spectrum of filmmaking perspectives, and we do our best to uncover hidden truths and new developments in the film industry. Our goal is to help filmmakers avoid the pitfalls and obstacles on the business side of film so that their filmmaking creativity can thrive. Our Industry Insights provide bite-sized actionable advice that filmmaking professionals and creatives of all kinds can use to keep their heads up as they continue their filmmaking journeys. With advice sourced from the filmmaking community, we build upon the wisdom of our filmmaking guests to provide our audience with truly aspirational and inspirational content. The Mistakes in the Making series gives our filmmaking friends an opportunity to speak directly to our filmmaking audience to share a specific lesson they've learned through a mistake they've made. We are firm believers that mistakes can be the gateway to success when we open our hearts and minds to learning from them, sharing them, and using them to Be Better. The Film Investment series is a conversational series of 52 episodes geared towards the would-be film investor. Each episode, facilitated via a friendly conversation between hosts and friends Christopher Barkley and Jason McConnell, highlights a unique aspect of the film investment process. In addition to being a great resource for film investors, it serves as a reference for filmmakers regarding the many considerations that must be made when seeking film investment.
