Meet Anna Halberg of Six Foot Turkey Productions in Toluca Lake

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Halberg.

Anna, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in Minnesota and started doing professional musical theater when I was in middle school. I continued to act through high school, and after booking a show for the Disney Channel, I started coming to Los Angeles to audition during pilot season. I’m half Japanese, and at the time, there were far fewer ethnic and bi-racial actors on television. I would go in to audition for roles and people would say things like, “you don’t look Japanese enough… are there makeup tricks you can do to make your eyes look more Asian?” Or “you’re really talented, but we can’t cast you as the daughter because the parents are white, so it wouldn’t make sense.”

When I graduated, I decided I wanted to go to film school. That way I could have more control over the filmmaking process, and could cast diverse actors like me, and people who represented a majority of the population – people who weren’t white, who were adopted, who came from blended families, who had parents that were different races, etc.

I ended up going to film school at the University of Southern California where I fell in love with producing. I learned so much, but the most valuable thing I got out of college was being around other like-minded individuals who shared my passion for the arts. During my junior yet I met a student named Spenser Cohen, who is my current partner at Six Foot Turkey Productions. We had very similar sensibilities, but really different skillsets, so we complimented each other extremely well. Spenser and I began collaborating on class projects and music videos / commercials outside of school.

When we graduated, we were asked to start and run a television production company. We did everything from coming up with the ideas to putting together the pitch materials to handling network meetings. It was a great crash course on how television worked and how to run a business. After selling a number of projects we left to start and run our own company. And we’re still working together nearly ten years later.

Recent projects of note include co-producing Netflix’s banner feature film “EXTINCTION” starring Michael Pena and Lizzy Caplan, and co-creating / executive producing the scripted pilot “STAY” for Freeform, directed by Jon Turteltaub, starring Skeet Ulrich. Most recently, Spenser and I sold original feature film “DISTANT” to Amblin Partners, which I am attached to produce. Shooting is set to commence in August with Rachel Brosnahan and Anthony Ramos. I just wrote / produced a short film for Sony / Screen Gems called “BLINK,” and signed on to write the new feature project “HORRORSCOPE” for them with WB’s Alloy Entertainment producing. I am currently writing a feature project called, “THE WAND” for Amblin Partners, and Spenser and I also sold our first scripted podcast earlier this year.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road or an easy journey, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Every obstacle has taught me something. Spenser and I turned down some very prestigious, high-paying jobs after leaving this other production company. Going off on our own without any clout or money in savings to fall back on was definitely the harder path, but we decided to bet on ourselves, and it made us extremely hungry. We worked around the clock. Because if we didn’t set up projects or get hired on jobs then we didn’t have any money coming in.

I distinctly remember going to a coffee meeting one day, looking at the menu and wondering if I could splurge on a latte or if I should save the money and just get a black coffee. Eventually we made contacts in the industry and built a reputation for ourselves, but it took a while.

Six Foot Turkey Productions – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Six Foot Turkey is a film and television production company. We primarily produce scripted content. We tend to gravitate towards high-concept genre ideas, and do a lot of grounded science fiction – ideas that take place five-minutes in the future. We write and develop a lot of our own ideas, but we also love collaborating with other filmmakers. I think what sets us apart from other companies is the fact that we have a ton of on-set experience.

I worked as a line producer on the side when we were just starting out, which meant that I was responsible for generating and managing budgets as well as overseeing the day-to-day physical aspects of productions. These skills are really valuable to me as a creative producer. For instance, if we’re over budget, it’s helpful to be able to estimate what various scenes and sequences are going to cost. That way we can cut the script down in a way that makes sense for the story, but that also helps the bottom line.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success is working on projects that I genuinely love, and telling stories that are important to me. I feel super fortunate and lucky to have a job that doesn’t feel like a job. I really enjoy what I do, and am excited to dive into work every morning. When it stops being fun, that’s when my career isn’t a success anymore, and I’ll need to re-evaluate what I’m doing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sixfootturkey.com
• Instagram: AnnaHalberg

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