Daily Inspiration: Meet Maeve Thompson Osgood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maeve Thompson Osgood.

Hi Maeve, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started acting in school plays when I was 6, making my way into musical theater in middle and high school, then was introduced to filmmaking my freshman year of college. After transferring and completing my BFA in Acting for Film, I settled in Los Angeles and set about making films and plays in my community. Much to everyone’s surprise… it is unbelievably hard. I quickly realized the myth of being “discovered” or of some incredible job finding my resume and whisking me off to Europe to film was exactly that: a fantasy. The only success I had seen in my peer group was new filmmakers scraping together enough funds to put out their own work, so I dove right in and started producing and writing. After years of test scripts, a touch of self doubt and several adrenaline-fueled 3am writing sessions, the idea for While You Watched finally worked its way onto the page.

Surrounded by other Los Angeles creatives, it is important that I give the people I care about most a chance to work and see their projects and skills come to fruition. On every one of my projects, I make sure to hire and collaborate with producers, actors, writers, directors and filmmakers from my circle. We are all in this inspiring, frustrating industry together, and I feel the least I can do is support all the talent around me. I started this film with the intent to raise up these artists and give them an opportunity to collaborate on something we can all take pride in. Pitching to my directors Deborah Maxwell Dion and Hadley Dion and having them be as excited as I was for this project certainly cemented that belief. I cannot wait to move forward with them into film festival circuits.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The main struggles of filmmakers are pretty widely known at this point: funding, time and opportunity. With billionaire corporations taking over the film industry, it is increasingly difficult (if not impossible) for smaller creative projects to surface. Most short films are made on a shoestring budget like mine, with skeleton crews and barely enough money to feed everyone. It has been a challenge to find artists willing to commit and work under these conditions, which is why every short film is truly a labor of love. The crew, cast and team all have to agree that the film is worth their time, even if people can’t be paid what they are worth. I am incredibly grateful to my team for riding that wave with me, and I believe we’ve landed it successfully. I have watched many projects crash and burn, lose funding, never finish editing, or lose integral team members to higher paying jobs and have tabled a few of my own for similar reasons. It is difficult to sell someone on a project that can’t pay their base rate and may not get the public accolades it deserves. However, independent filmmakers keep creating anyway because the stories we tell matter more than awards and recognition. That’s the beauty of this art form: there is no glory in short films, only earnest creatives with important stories to tell.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Acting has been my main artistic focus, but with the industry going the way it has, I have been forced to wear on many other hats in order to continue to act. Currently I am a writer, producer, actor, singer, filmmaker and costumer. That’s five times the amount of skills my high school self thought I would need!

I am very proud of cultivating these skills, especially the unconventional way in which I have done so. I like the way my mother put it when I told my parents I had taken up sword fighting as well. They were both thrilled, and she turned to me and said “You seem to be quite the skill collector.”

My acting work has made me somewhat of a chameleon, and I pride myself on picking things up quickly in order to make my projects work. You need a writer? I’ll have a draft for you tomorrow. You need a producer? Let me send you my spreadsheet. You want me to dry brush the foam walls of what will be the interior of a spaceship that is actually a living, breathing being? Let me grab the paint can. Versatility and dedication have been my lifelines as an actor, and they have only strengthened my other pursuits. I only have the one degree in Acting for Film, but somehow have produced three plays and two films, directed one and written three scripts that are currently being workshopped. If I think a project is worth my time, there is no position I won’t take in order to shove it over the finish line.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
“Success” changes based on the person you ask. When I look at them, my family are all exceptionally successful people. If you asked them, I’m sure you’d get a mixed bag of answers and reactions. Much like the pursuit of happiness, success can be a temporary thing that ebbs and flows throughout one’s life. As someone who faces almost constant deterrents and rejection, I have had to redefine the term for myself. Every step towards doing something I love is a success, and as long as I am trying and pushing, I will always be “successful” in working towards my goals. Our editor finished the Final Cut of While You Watched this week, so in my book – success!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://maevethompsonosgood.weebly.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maevethompsonosgood/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maeve.osgood

Image Credits
Sarah Colby, Olivia Kimmel