Misty Talley
Donna Chance
A case study in the individual impact of the emerging industry, Misty Talley hasn’t seen a lull in work from film and television editing since becoming involved in the craft. Misty, a fine arts graduate in the Visual Arts Media program at UL, was hoping to be a video installation artist when she discovered the film industry. “Editing became this great new thing for me. It uses all my skill sets.” She’s worked on productions for the Syfy channel, Lifetime and documentary work from local filmmakers. Misty said she usually has about 5 feature-length projects going at once, most produced in Louisiana. She does it all from her home in Lafayette where she teaches editing at UL, helping to grow a home base of talent for the industry. Misty recently shifted her focus from editing to directing and her second short film ‘Ten to Sing’ was accepted to the Cannes Film Festival’s short films corner.
Donna Chance has worked in the film business for over 28 years. She has been working as a Key Set Costumer, Costumer Supervisor and Costume Designer in Louisiana since the late 80’s, before there was even a film union in the state. “I have worked in New York and Los Angeles, and other parts of the U.S. and the world,” shares Donna, “but I love doing film work in Louisiana.”
12 FACE | OCTOBER 2014
Previously, film workers had to have other jobs and degrees to support themselves as did Donna, a graduate of UL Lafayette in Public Relations. After the state started the tax incentives program, that all changed. Many times there was more work than the existing film workers could handle. Now there is a large crew base that is very professional and highly sought after. Productions began realizing in the last several years that Louisiana has the talent and professionals for all the key positions on a movie.“You work with many of the same people over and over and I love that we are so supportive of one another; we are like one big film family.”
enjoy it. Her non-industry friends always laugh when she says, “We are in prep for the movie so we are ONLY doing 12 hour days right now.” Her normal day on a movie when filming is 15 or 16 hours long. But, when finished, she can take a break between movies to recharge. “You can’t do film work unless you have a true passion for it. My Uncle Joe had one of the first film studios ever in New Orleans and he was recruiting people to film in our state before anyone was filming movies here. He has been doing union film work here for 50 years and was a pioneer in bringing filmmakers to our great state. And like many other film professionals in our state, he was willing to share his knowledge and his equipment with those wanting to learn the business of filmmaking, especially the generation of filmmakers that were up and coming.”
Oftentimes Donna recommends other costumers for jobs that she cannot work, many of whom reciprocate. “That kind of support is not present in all film regions and I could not imagine doing film work without that kind of support.”
Donna has worked on many, many movies but her favorite was Because of Winn Dixie. “I just loved working with all the children and the animals. It was a sweet movie and I loved every minute of it. A movie that I was really proud to have worked on was Ray about the life of Ray Charles. It was a hard and challenging movie every single day but when I went to the premiere and saw what we all accomplished, it made me realize that the hard work and really long hours paid off.”
People often think that film work is glamorous, but spend one day on a set and you will understand the amount of hard work, long hours, and sometimes harsh conditions that film workers endure to make sure that the director’s vision makes it onto the big screen so that the public can
Donna has been offered film work in other states but chooses to be in Louisiana because of all that our state offers not only for her film career but for her personal life. “I am proud to be a member of the Louisiana film community and proud to call Louisiana home.”