#28: Filmmaker Gabrielle Burton

Listen to the interview by clicking the arrow on the audio player below.

I was interested to speak with Gabrielle Burton in part because she has pursued a path I considered but then abandoned. For about two years after college, I worked as a production assistant for various film companies in New York. I answered phones, fetched cappuccinos…and nearly died of boredom. I didn’t stick with the film world long enough to get to the interesting parts—writing, producing, directing—and I often wonder what might have happened if I had persevered.

Gabrielle did persevere. She worked on the TV show Law & Order trailing directors as part of their director training program. She earned a Rotary Scholarship to study film in France. And, very wisely I think, she has surrounded herself with reinforcements: several years ago, she joined with her siblings in founding Five Sisters Productions, an independent film company through which the Burtons collaborate on a wide variety of creative projects.

About Gabrielle Burton: Gabrielle is a writer, director, and actor. Her current project is Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens, a documentary about drag kings and queens in Columbus, Ohio. Gabrielle directed the grassroots success Manna from Heaven with her sister Maria (MGM/Sony). Among other credits, Gabrielle also wrote, produced, and acted in the feature comedy Temps, co-produced the romantic comedy Just Friends, and produced the marital comedy The Happiest Day of His Life.

Photo: Gabrielle (second row, left) with her sisters Maria, Jennifer, Ursula, and Charity.

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