UNDEREXPOSED
AMELIA BRODKA ON HER WOMENS SKATEBOARDING DOCUMENTARY
The biggest issue in women's skating is the lack of media exposure
I've been skating for about ten years. I grew up with two older brothers and always wanted to do what they did so naturally when I saw that my brother was rolling around I wanted to try it myself.
I was ecstatic when I got to go to the X-Games myself! It was such a tease though because as an alternate/stand in I only got to skate in the practice. But still, skating the X-Games ramp with all of my idols was such a treat! I think if I could go back in time and tell my twelve year old self that I was an alternate for the X-Games, twelve year old me would cry tears of joy!
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I decided to make this film because I was really frustrated by all of the cutbacks happening in women's skateboarding, especially since this is a time when women's and girls skateboarding has been the biggest I've ever seen it. But being frustrated and complaining gets you nowhere so I figured it would be good to get the perspectives of the people who make the marketing and media decisions to see where they stand. I want to help spread awareness about the growing world
of women's skateboarding and help to create more opportunities for the future. The biggest issue in women's skating is the lack of media exposure, which affects not only the women skating but also the perception of women's skateboarding as a whole. So the film fit perfectly with my schooling because the Communications major at USC has a lot of classes that deal with media studies and the impact the media have on the rest of the world. My professors were really interested in what I was doing. One of my professors at USC Annenberg, Alison Trope, always showed clips of Dogtown and ZBoys in her class anyway. She even let me show my film in her Gender in Media Industries and Products class as a test screening. My other professor, Ken Cosby, taught at the USC film school and he had some really amazing input as well. I even got an "Outstanding Documentary" award for the rough cut at USC Webfest and a was able to graduate with a USC Discovery Scholars honor. I've received nothing but positive responses to the trailer as well as from everyone I've reached out to for interviews. I think that people are becoming more aware of how much girls' skateboarding is growing which then contributes to more growth. So overall, I think we're going to see a