There is a tradition around these parts. We wake up early, on days that matter, to watch the sunrise. Birthdays, anniversaries, first days of production, wrap days. It started as a personal tradition and stayed that way even when it became professional.
The name, Sunburnt, came from something a bit simpler though. Remember that feeling at the end of a long day outside as a kid? A little sunburnt, the good kind of exhausted, and entirely content. That is the feeling we are after. The kind that means it was a day well lived.
Why Sunburnt?
What We’re Building
Sunburnt Studios exists to tell the stories history keeps trying to skip over, the people who didn’t live inside the box society built for them, whose lives and choices and impact have been left out of all the records.
We also hold ourselves and our crews to a higher standard than the industry does. Weekends during production. Eight hour days. Longer schedules that don’t squeeze the life out of work. Pay that is equitable across every position on the crew. None of this is radical, we respect the people on our crews and know nothing of what we do would be possible without them.
How we choose the stories we tell and how we choose to tell them are not separate. They are the same conversation and for us they are extremely intentional.
For years I was doing commercial work; real estate, weddings, content creation. I learned a lot, made money, and I was completely uninspired, running on empty, and not making a single thing that I was starving to make.
I kept telling myself the same story we all do: I'd get back to what I love when I had more time, more energy, more resources. That time never came, the commercial work filled everything and left nothing.
Then one day, I made the time anyway. I said Fuck it I want to chase bison in a truck and film it. So I carved it out of a schedule that had no room for it, and spent it doing what I actually wanted to do. I was on set for less than a day before I realized that weight was gone and my breath was deeper. I was kicking myself wondering why haven't I been doing this all this time?
That was it. I finished out my retainer clients, thanked them honestly, and told them I wouldn't be offering client services going forward. Then I restructured everything around the only thing I actually wanted to build, a documentary studio. Sunburnt Studios stopped being a one day and became my everyday.
How we got here
Founder & Creative Director
I was the 235th woman to winter over at the South Pole Station, which included shooting a short film at -106 degrees. I've also shot in 128 degree heat. What can I say, I like a challenge.
I've been on sets for over a decade, directing documentaries and production designing narrative films. I currently live in Arvada, Colorado with my husband, my cat Porg and my dog Deunan.
Films That Live Rent Free In My Head
Extraordinary Artistry — Loving Vincent & Bajirao Mastani
Cinephile Favorites — Shawshank Redemption & The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Comfort Watches — Sandlot & 10 Things I Hate About You
Favorite Documentary — Becoming Cousteau
Current Obsession — Project Hail Mary (updated frequently)