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Meet Monica Suriyage of Body Checker Productions in Burbank

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Monica Suriyage.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Monica. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I went to college for filmmaking and shortly after moving to LA I directed my first short film titled ‘Black In Red Out.’ It’s a horror comedy about zombies but more so about awkward hookups.

While that short was floating around festivals I had some opportunities to get in front of the camera. So now I’m also a host who has worked with very fun places Hissy Fit, Snarled, BuzzFeed, and Funny Or Die, and I host comedy shows from the comfort of my own home.

Through a series of meeting awesome people because of my short, I ended up being interviewed for ‘Horror Noire,’ a documentary about the history of black people in horror. It just came out on Shudder, and I highly recommend giving it a watch!

So now I’m an on-camera/live host who also directs short films and music videos with my friends and our all-female production company, Body Checker Productions.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Hm, the road has been smoothish. I’m incredibly fortunate to have many friends who I jive with creatively, so there’s always someone to get excited about the next project and work on ideas with. But honestly, finances have been rocky. Being creative in LA for me means sacrificing a steady income. I’ve been a personal assistant, wedding videographer, delivered groceries, and lots of other odd jobs to get by.

It’s also hard to find funding for projects, which hurts my insides because my ideas start to burn a hole in my brain if I can’t make them as soon as I want to. And it sucks to feel creatively stalemated because of a lack of money. But now my artistic work is picking up steam, and I’ve been able to drop those odd jobs, which feels really good! I’m excited to have some momentum that I can use to get my films made.

Body Checker Productions – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Body Checker Productions consists of myself and my very talented friend’s producer Chelsey Colosimo, writer/producer Kaitlin Reilly, and editor Christa Philippeaux.

Together we make films and music videos featuring women and generally with some kind of horror element. ‘Black In Red Out’ was our first project, followed by ‘The Third Date.’ Now we’re getting ready to (hopefully) film a horror anthology this summer. I’m proud of this company because I’m proud of my friends!

We all just want to make good work that people can enjoy and be frightened by. We’re known for scary yet funny and relatable films and also for throwing unforgettable parties to raise money for our projects. We once threw a house party in Burbank where Reggie Watts performed to help us raise our budget. It was awesome.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I personally define success as making a film that I’m proud of and being able to pay my bills. If I’m making movies and manage to occasionally land a hosting gig, I’m happy. If I’m able to pay my credit card bill before it’s due, I’m even happier.

Hoping these things will just keep building and growing until I’m making movies with big budgets and don’t have any debt. That will be like mega success, but I’ve definitely already experienced a good amount of success and have to remind myself to be grateful for it.

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Hissy Fit, Ian Brunell, Brian Legoo, Megan Duffy, Kelli Radwanski, Christa Philippeaux, Rohan Suriyage

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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