I’m Isabel. I write and produce original, female-driven, fictional projects for film and television that inspire, engage and entertain.
Safe bets are for wusses.
I believe bold choices in storytelling inspire the conversations we need.
As a New York-based producer and writer with a 20-year career in social-issue verité documentary production, I’ve collaborated on independent projects in over 32 different countries grappling with issues ranging from community health care to political corruption to Black history and have had the honor of speaking directly with these real people fighting for a better world.
Some of projects I’ve been a part of currently stream on the Criterion Collection, one was ranked #2 on Netflix. Others have screened at Telluride and Berlin.
Building upon my non-fiction work I’ve expanded into the fictional space. I’ve received two screenwriting fellowships from Sundance’s Co-Lab and have consulted for studios such as Amazon, Disney and Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope. Raised in the San Francisco Bay area, I’m passionate about working class dramas filled with struggle and heart for global audiences.
Working shoulder-to-shoulder as Producer and Writer with Cherokee Nation is one of many collaborative projects where strategy, budgetary agility and creative magic converge to develop a project’s storytelling magic.
Frame By Frame is a podcast I created in collaboration with Post New York Alliance, featuring never-before-shared stories from the editors, mixers, and producers who crafted New York’s most iconic films—Network, All That Jazz, Sophie’s Choice, Do The Right Thing.
find 35 episodes streaming on Apple Podcasts and in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Oral History Archives.
The producer is part artist, part technician, part general, part gambler, part mother-confessor, and part seducer. Ultimately, my job is to gather forces and birth new worlds through sheer will of the collective imagination.
Creating stories that entertain and shift the culture is my kind of heaven. The instinct that pulls me to a story is a belief in action, in the power of voice, in bearing witness. The stories I choose are never abstract. They matter because they move something forward.
For me, the real magic happens in collaboration with others and I’m always looking for the next can’t-pass-this-up project that offers new challenges, opportunities, builds community and makes me fall in love with filmmaking all over again.
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"Isabel and I have had a working co-producing relationship for 10 years, and I am always trying to find ways to include her in my work where possible. She is pro-active, dependable, has a great eye for detail, and is just as comfortable putting together budget proposals and schedules as she is in writing, shoot-planning and working with key department heads on a film set under pressure."
Ben Baker, Owner, 8th Ave. Productions, VP and Post-Production Specialist
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“Building a deep emotional connection to the characters and ramping dramatic conflict over four acts was our priority. Isabel heard that and that remained strong for her throughout the editing process. She helped me think through the story in a much more emotional way, tying in the characters lives to the Big dramatic arc as well as the minor themes of our story.”
Ouida Washington, Producer, Director, Associate Professor, Spelman College
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"As an investor, founder and CEO of several successful tech startups in Silicon Valley I understand how difficult it is to balance creative demands with the strategy and execution needed to achieve commercial success and solid ROI for any project. As a writing consultant for my book, I found this in Isabel. "
Ashok Narasimhann, Investor, Founder, CEO
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“When there's a tough decision to make, Isabel's head is always in the right place. She's always positive. She always takes the high road.”
James Blevins Owner/Founder, MESH
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"Isabel’s natural ability to focus the story and drive the emotion of a piece with rhythm and flow brought out the heartbeat of our project."
Shari Johanson Film and Television Music Editor
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“Isabel is an absolute artist. I know when she is working on a project she is going to find the human hook that is going to pull the viewer through the narrative, that the storytelling will be complete - from picture to soundtrack to closing frame. Working with Isabel is a total joy and her work is meaningful and beautiful. Can’t recommend her enough.”
Katheryn Jones Owner a the Collective Agency
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“Isabel’s precision and an ability to problem solve creatively while maintaining a great repore with others was key. Isabel was able to assimilate notes and turn things around fast while continuing to add to the evolution of the story and the emotional impact of piece. . . and she made me laugh.”
Tim Clancy Executive Producer at VICE | HBO
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“I’ve been with, and seen Isabel in just about every imaginable situation. In creating multiple projects together over 10 years, we’ve encountered countless challenges and she handled them all calmly and elegantly. Isabel is fearless, true to her word and has a spirit and energy that could pretty much get anyone through anything. There is nothing she cannot do – or at least in all these years, I have not yet come across it.”
Carolyn Jones Director/Executive Producer of The American Nurse Project
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"Communication is always clear. Things always get discussed. That wondering anxiety is never present because Isabel’s so willing and open to explore and execute an idea fully."
Kate Elmore Producer, The Criterion Collection
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“As a story producer Isabel went above and beyond what was required to find storylines and themes in the footage— super helpful and easy going.”
Peter Chelkowski Television Director/Producer
