Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Christina Beck of Hancock Park

Image credit: Beth Dewey

We recently had the chance to connect with Christina Beck and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Christina, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
I have a morning routine that starts with feeding my dog and then I feed the stray cat that lives under our building and then I meditate. I love quiet mornings when I can set my intention to be of service especially in these trying times. I also send a text message to a few friends stating the things I’m powerless over, what I’m grateful for then I pray for loved ones and our planet.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a writer, director, actress and I teach those things as well. I lOVE film! It’s been my greatest inspiration since I was little and continues to be a source of creative fulfillment. I started out acting as a kid. First in commercials then in theatre and as a teen I was cast in Penelope Spheeris’s narrative feature, SUBURBIA where I fell in love with the process of filmmaking!

Watching Penelope direct gave me permission and I’ve never looked back. I made short films and quickly realized that writing, acting and directing my projects was the best use of my talents. My first feature PERFECTION was awarded The Adrienne Shelly female directing grant and I was so honored as the late, great Adrienne Shelly also wrote, directed and starred in her own films.

It turns out, the very first American female director, Lois Weber wrote, directed, acted, edited and produced her own films from 1913 – 1927 as well. She was amazing and paved the way for all of us.

I encourage my filmmaking students to create their own projects and to not wait for someone to give them their big “break”. I never got a “break” in show business so I gave it to myself! I just completed my 2nd independent feature film, HANCOCK PARK.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
Growing up in the San Fernando Valley in the late 1970’s was boring and I couldn’t wait to grow up and split. One day, a girl from Hollywood came to our school, she was a punk rocker. I went to my first punk gig at The Whiskey a go go to see The Cramps and found my people. Creative, funny, smart and stylish. I was forever changed in the best way.

When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
I got sober in my twenties and then had to deal with all the reasons I drank and used drugs as a teenager. So much self-hatred came up and I had a bad habit of picking at my skin until it bled. I felt like a weirdo and couldn’t stop this compulsive behavior. I was trying to be an actress and this self destructive addiction to self-harm wasn’t helping. I went to therapy, shared about it in women’s meetings and finally started writing about it. As shameful as I felt, I kept talking about it and created a support group for other women who were also self-harming, cutting etc. This became the screenplay for PERFECTION and as I was moving forward to make this film my behavior slowly began to heal. My desire to help others through this film while spreading a message of healing and hope gave me the strength and the courage to keep going.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What’s a belief you used to hold tightly but now think was naive or wrong?
You have to be perfect to have a career in show business. When I started out as an actress in the 1980’s I was a teen coming out of the punk scene and I never felt like I fit in. Other actresses had big hair, skinny bodies and perfect skin. I was caught up in a very superficial idea about the industry but I was also told by managers and agents that I needed to lose weight and dye my hair to a “normal” color to work. It was a different time then and gratefully people can’t get away with crap anymore. Looking back now, the truth is I was also scared. I didn’t have confidence so the slightest criticism sent me running. It wasn’t until I was in an acting class in NYC and our teacher, the late E. Katherine Kerr told the class that we needed to write our own stories and create our own projects. That’s when I started to find agency in my work and that I deserved a place at the table.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
That’s what being an independent filmmaker is all about! There are no guarantees your film will get where you want it to go and that’s hard at times. I’m grateful to have given my all to my films and I can’t worry about praise. Of course it’s great to be acknowledged but when people ask what do you like most about the filmmaking? I have to say, being on set, working with amazing actors and a talented crew, incredible post people and being in the flow of the creative process. The results are not up to me and that can’t be why I do what I do even if rejection sucks.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://christinabeck.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cbrubylee_xtinabeck/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cbrubylee
• Other: Substack : https://substack.com/@xtinabeck

Image Credits
On set, HANCOCK PARK