Filmmaker’s transformation opens up space, new thoughts on storytelling
By Jennifer Cloer
Jennifer’s Note: Tara was among the attendees at the first-ever Storytellers Retreat in December. The Retreat was a gift to herself to dedicate more time to creativity and projects, especially as her children - a college freshman and highschool sophomore - are requiring less of her time and as the social / political climate across the globe influences the way we frame and share stories. I sat down with her to learn more about this pivotal moment in her life and career.
Tara Johnson-Medinger is going through a massive transformation, one that is opening up more space for creative storytelling and pressing her to consider how she approaches the art.
As her children come of age and the social and political climate around the world burns hot, Tara has both more time to work on her projects and more reasons to think about how she approaches and frames stories today.
Tara Johnson-Medinger
“I have a huge amount of time now. When my kids were little, I had 15 minutes here and there and got super efficient. Now I’m like “I have five hours!” she tells me over a Zoom call.
There’s empowerment there but also a little bit of trepidation.
“I’m reclaiming time for my work and my creative process , but it’s a little scary to think, ‘Oh I do have the time to sink into this project.’ I can no longer say I don’t have time for that, which was an easy excuse.”
As Tara moves into this new space, she’s also finding that today’s social and political environment is having a big impact on the way she thinks about storytelling.
“I want to focus on things we’re living right now and where we can play our part as storytellers.”
“I’m really gravitating towards uplifting and hopeful stories,” she says. “I want to focus on things we’re living right now and where we can play our part as storytellers.”
It’s probably no surprise that as her own children come of age and the world seems to be changing by the day that Tara is thinking a lot about the stories and films she consumed when she, too, was coming of age. She’s been taking a deep look at how those earlier stories and the values they represented influenced her and her generation. It has been making her think hard about how she frames stories today, from representation on screen and behind the camera to the lines her actors deliver.
She says she worked hard to do this and to freshen up the coming of age story in her film My Summer as a Goth (available on Amazon ). Tara wants to bring today’s perspectives and values to stories that came before but in an authentic way, to demonstrate how culture changes over time.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about what was popular and influencing me when I was coming of age and how I want to improve upon that as I bring stories forward and also to be more in that uplifting style. Hope-driven stories vs super tragic stuff.”
But she also pauses to consider if hope-driven stories are authentic in this social / political climate. “Does hopeful storytelling feel false right now?” she asks.
She believes the truth, the authenticity in storytelling, is probably in the middle of two polarized worlds we see across media. We don’t collectively respond to what Tara calls ‘bubble gum,’ stories that are blindly optimistic and hopeful. “It’s not all amazing instagrammable moments,” she adds with a laugh. I laugh, too.
“But we also don’t respond to stories that are cruel or dark with no way out.”
I’ve studied the change cycle as part of my own career and creative progression and it’s clear Tara is in square two of a new cycle, which is where she gets to create space and dream and scheme about what comes next. I’m so excited to see what she creates next.
Tara is also the producer on Mother of Color, the first film recipient of Story Changes Culture’s ELEVATE program. You can follow Tara and her work here: https://www.instagram.com/littlemissanomaly/