Debra Granik is an American New York City-based independent film and documentary film director and screenwriter. She is most known for 2010's Winter's Bone, which starred Jennifer Lawrence in her breakout performance and for which Granik was nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, 2004's Down to the Bone, which starred Vera Farmiga, and 2018's Leave No Trace, a film based on the book My Abandonment by Peter Rock.

Winter’s Bone won Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic film at the 2010 Sundance film festival. 4 Oscar noms for best adapted screenplay, best actress in a lead role, best supporting actor, best picture. Jennifer Lawrence was nominated for Best Actress and Outstanding Leading Actress for the Golden Globes and SAG Awards, respectively.

Other projects Granik has in development include a documentary about life after being released from jail and the subject of recidivism in East Baltimore - that was to feature Felicia "Snoop" Pearson from The Wire and elements of her memoir, Grace After Midnight - but is now a documentary about four former inmates in New York City.

In this episode, we talk about:

•   How the production company for Winter's Bone pulled out at the last minute, which gave her and her partner the freedom to choose an unknown actress who was closer to the age range of the character

• Recruiting a fixer: how she develops or recruits a trustworthy group of informants to provide realism and honesty to her stories

•  How she started: graduated college with a documentary project about a guy in Waltham, MA

•  Meeting her producing partner and working on the feature film of Snake Feed: Down to the Bone

•  How she deals mentally and emotionally with intense, dark subject matter

•  How in Europe, they do a great job nurturing short films as opposed to here, it’s a calling card

•  Her journey as an independent filmmaker 

•  How projects get presented to her

Guest:

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If you liked this episode, check out Executive Producer Director Jason Ensler

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