Dinner With Dames #15, With Dave Andron (Recap)

Dinner with Dames Case File

Who: Dave Andron, showrunner of FX’s Snowfall, & Cinefemme board, fiscal sponsorees, and referrals – Liana Alexander, Lena Benson, Alexandra Davies, Porcha Evans, Michelle Kantor, Sade Oyinade, Jenna Payne, Cricket Peters, Holly Soriano, and myself, Morgan Dameron

What: Dinner 2.5 – a casual discussion on industry issues facing women & ways to excel in their careers over dinner & drinks

When: Sunday, March 11, 2018

Where: Del Frisco’s Grille

Why: To propel women to bigger and better career opportunities within studios and networks

Female empowerment is finally at the forefront today’s cultural conversation. As more light is shined on the means of inclusion, more women are finding opportunities. In the entertainment industry, there is a lot of talk about creating opportunities, but it often feels like “hope” stands in for “action.”

Enter Dinner with Dames. Cinefemme has taken action. They’ve created a powerful tool to forge relationships between up-and-coming filmmakers and established industry mentors. I was honored to be given a seat at the table for this Dinner with Dames conversation with FX showrunner Dave Andron.

Andron started his career dreaming of being a fiction writer but quickly shifted into writing for television. He’s built an impressive career working on Knight Rider, Past Life, Justified and is currently showrunner of Snowfall. Andron was down to earth and conversational, immediately putting the room at ease. The setting of the dinner made it easy to fall into a casual conversation.

In an industry where breaking in can often feel like an insurmountable obstacle, Dinner with Dames puts aspiring filmmakers and industry power players on an equal playing field. Sharing drinks and dinner, it becomes easy to get answers to your questions and to hear firsthand about experiences that may not otherwise be shared until a second or third meeting. It creates an atmosphere of support – rather than competition.

The central theme of the evening was clear – the more we forge our own paths, the better we can forge paths for others. As women and men, it is essential that we advocate for ourselves, and if in a position of power, to reach back to bring as many voices with us as possible. Andron has put this theory into practice. He remarked he “aims to be the only white guy in the room.”

One of the most memorable pieces of advice Andron shared from his professional experience is to make yourself undeniable. You have to do the work. By doing the work, you empower yourself. When Andron was first starting out, he buckled down and churned out as much material as possible. He wrote several spec scripts in different genres, so if someone was looking for a detective drama, he had it. Medical? No problem. He wasn’t waiting for opportunity to knock. He created his own.

I am a big believer in this philosophy. As a writer-director, I’d been making short films, web series, and branded content for several years when I felt confident I could take on a feature film. Not seeing the female empowerment story I wanted to tell, I set out to write my own. I’m proud to say my film, Different Flowers, opened in AMC Theatres across the United States, received glowing reviews, and is now on Showtime.

At the end of the dinner, Andron asked the table if they had any requests of him. Lena Benson, who works at the British Consulate in business development and international trade, talked about her desire to connect with the studios to build talent development programs that better serve women and minorities. Porcha Evans, writer, asked if Snowfall would consider inviting her to a table read, and Andron said yes!

Cinefemme’s Dinner with Dames is simple in its practice – host a dinner for several talented, passionate, driven women with an established industry professional – but in its practice, its mission is far-reaching. Every woman at the table felt respected, heard, and left with more fuel to continue to push for their creative goals to be achieved. Cultivating this environment of support is essential for success across the board. The more we shine a light, the more we put in the work, the more we can lift each other up. Make yourselves undeniable, ladies. Let’s get it!

Photo & video credit: Michelle Kantor. Video edited by Liana Alexander.

About Cinefemme

Cinefemme is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by women filmmakers, for women filmmakers in 2002.  Cinefemme provides fiscal sponsorship to women filmmakers and artists, as well as peer-to-peer networking, mentorship, and strategy for project fundraising.  By advancing women’s careers in film and the arts, we empower women’s voices to create gender parity in the arts and equal representation in the media.

About Morgan Dameron

Morgan Dameron is an award-winning writer, director and producer who has always blazed her own path. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Dameron was awarded the Women in Film and Television in Kansas City’s “Trailblazer Award” for Up and Coming Women in Film while still in high school. She received a full scholarship to the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, where she graduated summa cum laude. Her award-winning short films have been selected for film festivals worldwide.

After graduating, she worked at Bad Robot Productions on such films as Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. She has been supported by prestigious programs such as the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, The Caucus for Producers, and Ryan Murphy’s HALF Foundation. Through the HALF Foundation Director Fellowship, she shadowed Gwyneth Horder-Payton on American Horror Story Season 7. Dameron has directed groundbreaking digital series and branded content accruing tens of millions of views.

Her first feature film, Different Flowers, starring and produced by Emmy-Award-winner Shelley Long (Cheers, Troop Beverly Hills) premiered to sold-out audiences at the 2017 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Different Flowers received rave during its national theatrical release with AMC Theatres, and can currently be seen on Showtime. She lives in Los Angeles. You can see her work on her website and watch her feature film Different Flowers here.