Today we’d like to introduce you to M.C. Huff.
Hi M.C., so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Playdates when I was a kid always looked like this: rummaging through a huge box of costume pieces (aka hand-me-downs from my older siblings), assigning characters to all of my friends, and then saying “action!” I loved nothing more than to play pretend and get lost in the world of make-believe. As I entered high school, I soon became enthralled in the sciences. I was so interested in understanding why and how certain things happened. When I found myself staying up reading extra chapters in my biology textbook for fun, pursuing a degree in the sciences became an obvious choice. I ended up graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science and Arts degree in Biology. Through the course of my studies, however, that urge to tell stories never dissipated. I used up every elective I could in my degree plan for theater and improv classes. Upon graduating, I decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue my true calling.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
If I heard anyone say that the road as an actress or a female filmmaker was paved smooth, well let’s just say I’d be a skeptic. But I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing. I believe that it is through the struggles and through the rejection that we learn the most. Audition after audition I poured myself into my work, and then once the audition is over, I found myself in this state of hoping I would be picked. Hoping they would select ME. If you do not have a strong sense of self-worth, this cycle can certainly take a toll. As I focused more on my mission and the validity of my voice and my story, I saw a shift in my mindset as a storyteller. I shifted from feeling like I needed to wait around for someone to grant me permission to tell stories, to realizing that I have the ability to grant myself that very permission.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Determined to make art as a female filmmaker that I could share with the world, I became a sponge, desperate to soak up every piece of knowledge I could about each aspect of filmmaking. From writing to directing, to properly lighting a shot, to color correcting, to scoring a film, I just couldn’t get enough of it. I decided to write a short film that I knew I could produce entirely on my own with a budget of less than $100. After creating my shot list and securing my incredible actor, Gregory Michael, I forced myself to just do the darn thing! I picked a day and I shot my short film “Breakfast with Jenny.” That’s the hardest part in my opinion. I feel as though it is easy to just learn and learn and learn but to actually just DO IT, is a whole other story. But once you do, boy is it fulfilling. You feel as if you are flying. To see your story, go from a script to screen is a feeling like no other. I had to throw away my perfectionist tendencies and know that I was going to make mistakes. What an incredible thing it is to make a mistake. What an amazing opportunity it was to gain so much knowledge from the many mishaps I experienced during my one-day shoot, and take that knowledge with me to my next project. I am very excited and proud to announce that my short film, “Breakfast with Jenny” just had its world premiere at the 2022 Mammoth Film Festival on February 5th. With a budget of less than $100 and just an iPhone to shoot on, my humble short film has already won awards at over 10 film festivals around the world. I don’t say this for an ego boost, I say this to hopefully inspire you and show you that with hard work and authentic storytelling, anything is possible. Please know that your voice deserves to be heard and your story deserves to be told. My deepest wish in life is to create art that can provide comfort and help others know that they are not alone.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Put simply, I would have to say nature. I have so much respect for this planet and this thing we call life and I cherish every second of it. Cherishing it usually comes in the form of me admiring a tree, observing a little bug live its little life, or walk along a creek where you see the crystal-clear water flow over the stones. I feel honored to be a part of this planet.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/m.c.huff/?hl=en
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/breakfast_with_jenny/?hl=en
Image Credits
Tony Tang
