Heather Rae is a film and TV producer who also who also promotes narrative change work, particularly for Native and Indigenous filmmakers. Here she talks about how inclusion will change the industry and why producers of culture are more needed than ever.
Key Insights

  • Changing the cultural narrative requires including more storytellers of underrepresented communities and supporting their unique points of view. Heather Rae's work focuses on making change to improve public knowledge of Native and Indigenous people through cultivating Native and Indigenous filmmakers and their stories.
  • Although Hollywood creates a majority of the world’s content, there is a massive market opportunity for expanding inclusion and diversity. 
  • Storytellers of culture in the producing space are especially needed. Producers with diverse backgrounds can support, educate, and offer a balanced perspective that's based on personal experience to help shape the outcome of a project. 
  • Anchoring into community and creating community-based media are crucial opportunities to push against (de-colonize) the norms of Hollywood and to create content that represents a more authentic global reality.  
  • As Heather quoted: A rising tide lifts all canoes. One person cannot succeed without the many, so help one another to create and move forward. 

Heather Rae
Producer
Heather Rae has produced such films as Academy Award–nominated FROZEN RIVER, Netflix originals TALLULAH AND DUDE, festival darling I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS, award-winning THE DRY LAND, and more recently, BULL, which premiered at Cannes. Rae has been recognized as one of Variety’s “Producers to Watch” and won the Piaget and Cinereach producers awards. more...

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