Cabbage Fairy Conversations

Shannons Baker Davis joins MiF to chat up editing The Photograph as well as her leap from reality tv to narrative content. Shannon's experience is an inspiration and she's sharing her success stories and actionable ideas to support parents in entertainment so that more women like her can open industry doors. Enjoy! Shannon Baker Davis, ACE is an award-winning television and film editor, who began her career in New York, editing unscripted shows and documentaries. After 10 years working on many iconic and Emmy-winning shows such as Top Chef and Project Runway, Shannon began adding narrative television and feature films to her resume. Her credits include Insecure, from Issa Rae, Grown-ish, a spin-off of the highly acclaimed series, Black-ish, from creator, Kenya Barris and Queen Sugar, from creator Ava DuVernay. In features, she edited Armstrong, starring Vicky Jeudy, Sean Parsons, Jason Antoon and Kevin Pollak, and The Weekend (Lionsgate), starring Sasheer Zamata, Tone Bell and DeWanda Wise, from director, Stella Meghie. The Weekend had it’s World Premiere at Toronto Film Festival in 2018, and screened at AFI Fest, South by Southwest and Tribeca Film Festival. Next, she cut the feature, The Obituary of Tunde Johnson, directed by Ali LeRoi (creator, Everybody Hates Chris) which premiered at TIFF in 2019. Shannon reunited with Stella Meghie on The Photograph (Universal), starring Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield. Her series and film credits run the gamut, from funny to heartbreaking, provocative to visual-effects-heavy and action-packed. She is a member of ACE, where she is a mentor in their Diversity Mentorship Program, and she is the Cochair of the African-American Steering Committee of the Motion Picture Editors Guild. Shannon grew up in Augusta, GA, earned degrees from Howard University and The American Film Institute, and resides in Los Angeles, CA, with her husband and 2 children.

In the latest MIF podcast, filmmaker Sachi Cunningham discusses how becoming a mother changed her perspective on the act of creation and the importance of empathy in the creative process. Sachi Cunningham is a documentary filmmaker and Assistant Professor of Multimedia Journalism at San Francisco State University. Her award winning stories have screened at festivals worldwide, and on outlets including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, PBS FRONTLINE, FRONTLINE/World and the Discovery Channel. The Emmys, Webbys, and Pictures of the Year International have honored Cunningham's work. A graduate of UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism and Brown University, Cunningham's documentaries focus on international conflict, the arts, disability, and the ocean environment. On land she has turned her lens everywhere from the first presidential election in Afghanistan, to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In the water, she has swum with her camera along side everything from 350-pound blue fin tuna to big wave surfers, to Olympian, Michael Phelps. Once an assistant to actress Demi Moore and Director/Producer/Writer Barry Levinson, Cunningham brings a decade of experience in feature films and commercial productions in New York, Hollywood and Tokyo to her career in journalism and filmmaking.

The director of photography of Mudbound, Fruitvale Station and Black Panther discusses her creative process, finding a model for raising a healthy family while being a DP. Recorded live at the Soho House in West Hollywood on January 13, 2018.

We co-hosted a panel on Motherhood & Filmmaking at Neue House with New York Women in Film & Television. We talked about mom guilt, how some women won't admit they are moms due to the fear of being seen as a liability, and how socio-economic status affects motherhood in our industry. A much needed conversation, including personal insights by panelists Squeaky Moore, Emelyn Stuart, and Amy Fox

The talented and hilarious Jennifer Dehghan, the art director of the Beguiled, hosted our L.A. meetup at Collab&Play to discuss her experience as a mother in the film industry and the benefits of bringing your child to set.

Sarah Solemani, BAFTA winning actress, stops by Collab&Play in L.A. to discuss her experience as a mother in the creative industry. She tells her story using her unique, intimate, honest, and often irreverent voice, talking about the kind of mother she is (and wants to be) and what it's like to often find herself working as the only female in a boy's club.

Keirda Bahruth stops by Collab&Play in LA to discuss her three films and the continuing struggle to define her identity as both a parent and filmmaker.

Filmmaker Michéle Stephenson discusses diversity and parenthood at our Moms-in-Film NYC meetup.

Producer Jamie Zelermyer stops by to discuss line producing and motherhood.

In which Brooke Berman and Elissa Strauss answer our questions and discuss the challenges facing mothers in the industry, the representation of motherhood in film and television, the need to politicize childcare, and the pitching process. Not included in the audio track: "We are finally at a time when motherhood is deemed worthy of art," says Elissa as she recommends some pretty great books: Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson Little Labors by Rivka Galchen On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss