Trailblazing Talent: Bridget Stokes' Journey to Emmy-Winning Director

I had the chance to connect with Emmy award-winning director and producer, Bridget Stokes.

Bridget Stokes’ masterful direction won her an Emmy for HBO’s, A Black Lady Sketch Show, making her the first woman to win in the category. In addition to her win, Bridget has received four Emmy nominations for her directing work on Apple’s Hello Jack and producing work on A Black Lady Sketch Show. Stokes received an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Directing on ABLSS and won the award for producing.

As a feature director Stokes’ second feature, Boy Genius, starring Rita Wilson and Miles Brown was an award winner at Bentonville and Newport Film Festivals before being acquired for domestic theatrical distribution and streaming as well as selling internationally in Africa, Asia and South America. Stokes has directed two feature films and 30 episodes of television in addition to helming the award-winning short film, Think Fast.

As a producer, Stokes has co-executive produced seasons 1 & 2 of Hello Jack and seasons 3 & 4 of A Black Lady Sketch Show as well as six feature films, including Netflix’s The Lost Husband and documentary, The Rachel Divide.

Stokes lives in Los Angeles with her family and sits on the boards of the Independent Shakespeare Company and Parity Productions.

Q: What first drew you to the film industry, and how did you find your voice as a filmmaker?

A: I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker when I was 18 and in my freshman year of college. I took a media class that delved into the language of film and all of a sudden I realized I could unite my passion for stories and theater and visual arts in one career. I thought the stories I wanted to tell were best suited for the independent film scene in New York City, so that’s where I headed. Through a lot of trial and error I did make short films and a feature in New York and then, after making two features, had an opportunity to move to Los Angeles. While living in L.A. I made two more features and began working in television. The combination of working in New York and L.A., film and television has allowed me to find the full expression of my voice. I've told stories where I was executing my own vision as well as working to manifest someone else’s vision, which has taught me the value of collaboration and elasticity as I create. The most important thing to land on when making film is not a singular vision realized, but a layered story built on every creative bringing their truth to the tale.

Q: How do you build culture, relationships, and teams inside and outside of your organization?

A: Culture is very important and it is built by example. At the outset of any project I want to foster a culture of collaboration and support. Creatives need to be vulnerable to do their work, so it’s crucial that a film production is a safe space for expression and experimentation. Filmmaking has often felt to me like team sports and I have brought a lot of lessons learned from playing sports to my work as a director and producer. The way I build a culture of collaboration and support is, I make myself vulnerable, I communicate openly and I listen to everyone on the team and give them space to experiment. I try to bring this ethos into all aspects of my life, not just work, but somehow it works best on a film where the time is tight, the stakes are high and it’s easier for the team to get into a flow-state where after prepping intensely, we can operate from an intuitive place during production.

Q: Can you share a pivotal moment when you felt you had "made it" in the industry or at least found your footing?

A: I don’t know that there has been a moment when I felt “I’ve made it” and I don’t believe that moment will necessarily happen. There was a time, right after I won an Emmy, where I thought, "let’s see if this changes anything" and a few years out from that, I can say confidently that it did not. The nature of the film and television business is that it is ever-changing. What captures audience attention from year to year is different. What is attractive to investors or studios from year to year is in constant flux. Therefore, I don’t know if anyone ever “makes it.” You can, with a great deal of intention and luck build a body of work that you are proud of, but I don’t think anyone at any level would say that they have reached a point where they can easily get their passion projects made. That truth has been an excellent reminder to enjoy the journey and to keep my ego in check.

Q: When starting a new project, what steps do you take to develop and refine your creative vision?

A: The first step is getting feedback from as many people as possible. I feel fortunate to have reached a point where all feedback is not weighted equally. I can synthesize what criticism makes sense for the project, from what is a result of the person not being the right audience for the project. I go out far and wide in search of notes and can receive them without losing sight of the story.?

Hearing actors read the work aloud is an important step because it gets me into the collaborative mindset and starting to think about what others might bring to the story. Speaking to department heads, the cinematographer, production designer, editor, wardrobe, etc. also gets me in collaboration mode. Hearing what sticks with other creatives and what they want to bring to the project sharpens the story we’re about to tell.?

Each project is further refined as we drill down on logistics. I start out with dream locations, shots, schedules, etc. and then as we look realistically at the budget we start to adjust accordingly. This sharpens the story because it requires you figure out what’s most important as you begin to compromise from your initial plan.

Q: Tell me more about your latest project, what inspired you and what story are you most excited to tell through it?

A: Zugzwang is my latest project and the feature I am currently fundraising for. It’s a fantasy-noir about a private detective who takes a job, hoping for redemption and finds herself in the midst of an ever-expanding world of corruption. I love detective stories because the hero-detective is always trying to make sense of their place in a broken world through the lens of a crime. As they unravel the mystery, they are also revealing something about themselves. This is the human condition - we are constantly faced with mysteries and through solving them find out something about ourselves and the world we live in. I’m excited about the world-building I’m doing with Zugzwang. It’s a universe I already want to explore beyond this story. I can see Lady, the detective in the story, taking on larger and larger mysteries beyond the one she solves in Zugzwang and it thrills me to think about what she’ll do next. I’m looking forward to filming in Los Angeles, the birthplace of the kind of film noir and literary noir that Zugzwang embodies. Lastly, I’m thoroughly enjoying connecting to the audience for this story. Telling the audience about Zugzwang in advance of making it has been a really rewarding process and I really value the feedback I get. I hope that the audience feels a part of this film. It will be gratifying to watch something you feel a part of - I want the Zugzwang audience to feel that kind of ownership.

Q: Who or what has influenced your leadership ethos?

A: My leadership ethos has been influenced by many of the leaders I’ve had the good fortune to work with.To name a few, early on, my partner on the first four features I worked on, Vicky Wight, taught me a great deal about going after a project relentlessly. A producer I’ve worked with in television, Erin Owens has taught me the importance of looking at a project not just in terms of what you want to create, but how it will be accomplished and to understand the importance of the way all the collaborators on a project will feel about the experience. Showrunner Robin Thede’s way of weighting organization and communication in pre-production taught me how to make resources stretch as far as possible through intense preparation. Producing-director Joe Nussbaum and creator Mike Alber taught me the value of working as though making an episode of television was akin to preparing for and playing on a professional level sports team. My leadership style of relentlessness, consideration of the entire community and intense preparation has been informed by all the leaders who have modeled those things in my career.

Q: What are some of the most significant challenges you've faced in your career, and how have you navigated them?

A: The two most significant challenges I’ve faced are one, finding work and two, finding the truth. As a director and producer I am always looking for work. Even as I’m writing and creating, I love playing in someone else’s sandbox and am always looking for opportunities. While working, the biggest challenge is finding the truth. When I tell a story, the goal is to transport the audience to a captivating world that they stay in until the credits roll. Whenever you don’t tell the truth, you lose the audience and that can happen in any area; sets, props, sounds, camera moves, performances and so on. My job as a director is to be hawk-eyed to see anything that does not feel authentic and may take the audience out of the story.

Q: What do you think makes a story compelling on screen, and how do you bring that to life in your projects?

A: Truth makes a story compelling. If you can see something you connect to, you engage with a story no matter if the hero has the same identity markers as you, or if it’s set in a time and place very different from the one you know, you need that grain of truth to engage with. Bringing authenticity to life on screen happens by making that goal your true north at every stage of the process. As I’ve touched on, rigorous preparation is important, as well an openness and trust in your intuition when plans fall apart. There are always those moments in prep, on set and in the edit when your gut tells you what to do before your brain has even processed a thought. Listening to that intuition is how you make and keep your story compelling.?

Q: What are you expecting out of 2025, and how will that impact your business?

A: I expect 2025 will be a year of great challenges. Financial challenges as the economy in general and the economy around the film industry face a lot of volatility. We still don’t know how streaming becomes profitable and the industry has little idea what stories people under 35 want to see. There will be logistical challenges as we continue to grapple with how new technologies will influence storytelling. How will AI come into play at every level of the filmmaking process. Where will people watch films. How will we eventize films if theaters continue to struggle? Luckily, challenges almost always create opportunity. When you don’t have reliable traditional models, you get creative about finding your resources, your community and your audience, so I think 2025 will be an exciting time for new ideas.

Q: How have you seen the film industry change throughout your career, and what excites you about its future?

A: The film industry is constantly in flux, certainly since I started in the industry 20 years ago, but the 100 years before that as well. New technology and artists and studios adapting to each new technology has made the film industry a place of innovation and flexibility a requisite. I’m curious as to what new stories and ways of telling stories will come out of this time, when the traditional ways of making and engaging with stories are falling apart.

Q: How do you balance the artistic side of filmmaking with the logistical and business demands of the industry?

A: Finding a balance between creativity and logistics is work that never ends, but all to the good because both sides inform each other. When there is not as much money or time as you would have liked to accomplish something (which is most of the time) you are challenged to come up with new ideas. These challenges make you hone and crystallize your story at a deeper level every time, because you strip away what is cool or aesthetic and ask the question, what is essential? I tattooed “tell the story” on my arm and every time I look at it, it reminds me to strip away what doesn’t matter, everything that isn’t that.

Q: What do you work for and what do you do for fun?

A: For work I write, direct and produce film and television. For fun, I write and direct film and television. While it’s a crucially important skill set, producing is definitely not fun for me!?

Outside of work-fun, I love hanging out with family and friends, reading mystery novels, photography, walking, going to the movies, hosting parties, running, going to plays, yoga and dancing. I’m so curious about everything that almost anything is fun for me.

Q: What advice would you give to someone just starting out in the film industry today?

A: I would say there’s no proscribed path, so don’t waste a lot of time doing what doesn’t feel organic to you. Being who you are and having a voice is going to attract your audience more than trying to follow a formula. Spend your time finding your voice and your community and that is going to be the most likely path to work and fulfillment.?

Q: Can you share a moment when you took a creative risk in your career or a project, and how did it pay off?

A: When I moved from NYC to L.A. it was a much bigger risk than I knew at the time. I thought the work I had done in NYC and the relationships I had built there would be a foundation for working in Los Angeles, but it was a full rebuild. It took years to work in L.A. after I moved here. It was the right decision and it paid off. It’s good that I didn’t know how long it would take because it would have been daunting. That lesson is also helpful now. As the film and tv industry in L.A. have been hit hard by the pandemic, the strikes and recently, catastrophic fires that have all sent production out of the city, I know it is still the place for me and that shoring up the community and the industry here makes more sense to me than starting over somewhere else.

Q: When audiences think of your work, what do you hope they take away from your films, especially your newest project?

A: I hope that audiences are entertained by my work, first and foremost. I hope they laugh and that they feel hopeful and intrigued. I hope they want to know more. I hope they feel that they left their lives for a couple hours to go on an adventure. I hope they think about the story long after it’s over.?

When I fall in love with a story, it enriches my life. The really great ones make me a better person. This is the pinnacle of being a storyteller, to engage with the audience on that level. That is my fondest hope for Zugzwang and for all the stories I tell.

Thank you for contributing to this series, Bridget.

Curious about how you can support Bridget’s new project Zugzwang, connect with her on LinkedIn!?

And thank you, @zilkermedia, for making this newsletter possible!?

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