Baeza on the Big Screen
When Emily Baeza stepped on the Whittier College campus, her eyes were not set on the big screen. In fact, they weren’t set on anything in particular. Now, she’s part of an Oscar-nominated film.
But before that, Baeza explains that her multiple interests were the “bane of my existence,” She continues, “Just the fact that I had so many interests and everyone knew exactly what they wanted to do,” Baeza continues, the illuminating smile bursting, even through the confines of a small Zoom screen.
But soon enough, the world (a.k.a. Whittier College) was Baeza’s oyster, heralding from the “far-off” city of Montebello. Baeza and her large family (three younger brothers and a “dozen of first cousins,” as Baeza enthusiastically puts it) were not ones to know about the College. It was not until some high school teachers of hers — also alumni — suggested the small liberal arts college that Baeza decided to give it a chance. A written application, a sent letter, and then a phone call back to the curly-haired, brightly smiling girl guaranteed her acceptance.
“I remember thinking, ‘Oh wow this is such a small school experience! This is really cool.’”
But even though the arduous hurdle of the college application process was over, the somewhat debilitating work of being a college student just began. And for Baeza, this posed the same problem she had before — what should she be focusing on?
And, well, Baeza had a lot of roads she wanted to go down.
“I think I went into Whittier pursuing writing and English, and it’s still my favorite subject. It’s what I took the most classes in.” But in the long run, Baeza decided to combine all of her favorite subjects into one through the Whittier Scholars Program, a twinkle in her eye reminiscent of the younger collegiate version of herself. The major she decided on was a multitude of media, journalism, environmental studies, and community activism.
Her colorful array of studies translated into her activities as well. Baeza demonstrated her skills in writing by being a staff writer at the Quaker Campus.
“I didn’t do too many articles. But one of the bigger stories I followed was during the time of the oil drilling in the Whittier hills.” Baeza’s journalistic instinct took her to the community meetings of the City of Whittier’s coalition to stop the drilling. “It was a really interesting time.” Baeza looks around the room, as if she is bearing witness to the scene in front of her.
While writing is one of Baeza’s passions, her heart also lies in community and environmental activism. On the environmental activism side, Baeza based a lot of her college career on this, specifically with policy around campus. She took many environmental classes, specifically with Professors johnston and Fissore. (The campus garden was actually created during Baeza’s time at Whittier; she happily recalls cooking artichoke for the first time, describing it as “the most life changing experience.”) But notably, Baeza and her life-long friend Amber Orozco created a club called “Raising Awareness About the Environment,” where the two made videos and — you guessed it — raised awareness about environmental issues on-campus. You can actually thank Baeza and Orozco for the water refilling stations.
On the community side, Baeza became a sisTer in the Thalian Society. But much like Baeza’s life, the journey was unexpected. And it started in the trying-too-hard-to-be-post-modern-but-not-even-that ideology that is Stauffer Hall.
Baeza and her Stauffer Hall freshman living community rose up to the challenger, and decided that there sophomore year, they should “just go for it.” Baeza continues, smiling as the sun reflects down on her, “We got our group of guys, girls, everything in between, and we all just auditioned in different societies, with no intention of joining! Just seeing what was available. And we all ended up joining something! Not the same one [either]! We all just took a different path, which was really cool.” Her green Apple headphones are reminiscent of the green the Thalians proudly wear.
Her Thalian family was composed mostly of people in the arts, specifically within another organization that also started with the letter ‘T’ — theater. Baeza and her sisTers created an all-female version of Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, where the student got her first taste of the limelight, playing the main character Katarina. “As an English student, I love Shakespeare. But getting to perform it was a really different experience. It was so rad.”
But while Baeza may not be studying Stanislavski’s system at the Actor’s Studio anytime soon, she did get a huge appreciation for what goes on behind-the-scenes during a production. This helped her especially during a class where she created a documentary about her commute on the bus.
“That experience was eye-opening because it shattered the illusion [of what a production needs to be]. I understand that there are some productions that need lights, that need crew, you need a whole lot of gear and people to make things happen. But you also can just have an interesting premise. Or if you are just one person with a camera, there is a lot of what you can achieve there.”
Filmmaking still was not what Baeza did after graduating in 2013, however. Her sights were set on working with the roots of activism that she garnered during her time at Whittier. Baeza smiles fondly as she remembers her time working at the education non-profit City Year, both in Los Angeles and in Boston. She worked as an “Americorp” member in Boyle Heights at Mendez High School. “I worked there for two years as essentially a social, emotional tutor and academic coach for students in the ninth grade.” Baeza would support students in classes like Biology, English, and Algebra — the latter she enthusiastically states has created “supreme [skills] now because [she] took that class twice as an adult.”
Baeza eventually moved away from this, becoming a creative producer for City Year, where she interviewed people involved with the company for articles, make videos, and other social media marketing techniques (which is a job that came about when Baeza was in college, as she notes that Instagram came out at the same time). Specifically, Baeza would interview students in vulnerable communities, but she made sure that her personal mission with the non-profit was never lost during these sensitive times.
“I was never painting anyone to be a victim,” Baeza firmly pronounces, vocally standing her ground just like her position within the company. “The goal of the organization was that it doesn’t [need to] exist. You don’t want nonprofits to have to exist in this world. Nonprofits are a band-aid for systemic injustices. I would always try to meet people where they are.”
The skill sets that Baeza acquired helped her, even when she made the hard pivot to working in the film industry. “I started doing this work in Boston when I met a Board member who is an owner of a commercial production company, who asked me if I would be interested in doing more directing and producing for videos like this.”
And that she did.
Baeza became production assistant on more and more sets, eventually leading her as second assistant director (AD) on American Fiction. “It was only the second time ever where I had the specific job that I had.” But the young filmmaker describes herself as “hungry” and a “quick learner,” ready for more. This is also thanks to the Boston filmmaking community and the Women in Film and Video New England — a worldwide company that helps female filmmakers find and share their voice within the industry — who helped her to get to this position.
“The joke is that the AD department, out of all the crews, has the shortest life span,” Baeza jokes, but with a twinkle of painful truth emulating in her eyes. The day-to-day of an AD is to “be the conduit between the present and the future.” This translates to checking hair and makeup, making sure the actors are getting to set and are taken care of, making sure the director is running on schedule, thinking about conditions for tomorrow, and pretty much everything else. Baeza aquaits this to running her own mini hotel.
“To some people on the outside looking in, it looks like pampering somebody, but for me, I just saw how much work these actors have to do to bring these characters to life.” Baeza chuckles, yet stands strong about the idea of helping the people in front of the camera. She continues, “So much of the success of a film is dependent on their performance. Why can’t it be my job to put on a little bit of hospitality?”
All that hard work seemed to be worth it, as American Fiction garnered five nominations– notably for Best Picture. “I feel so spoiled to get such a wild intersection of opportunity come my way in the form of American Fiction.” Specifically, however, Baeza is happy that a wider audience is getting to see a piece of art that deals with heavy subject matters like discrimination and exploitation, in a satirical way.
“The story really spoke to me,” Baeza enthusiastically says, “and most of the crew that I worked with were Black and Brown. That was a different culture on this set.” Baeza recalls how she has worked on many sets where she’s the only female, person of color, or both, and she recounts– slightly losing the twinkle in her eye — “You get some downtime or some water cooler talk and you’re like, ‘Okay, I don’t want to be here.’” The clouds begin to part however and the sun begins to shine down on Baeza, both literally and figuratively, when she continues saying that, “On this set, it was like, ‘I feel at home.’”
Baeza is not stopping after American Fiction. She just moved from Boston back to Los Angeles, which she calls an “open-minded stage.” Currently, she is working on a script of her own, while also producing short films in the area. “I just want to be ready when the opportunity finds itself. I’m in the prep mode right now.”
Assistant directors do not stop. Even when the lights go out after a long day and the crew is sweaty and tired whilst lugging the camera equipment back to the moving truck, getting ready for tomorrow, the ADs are making sure that everyone is ready. They can thank Emily Baeza for that. But even in the long journey that the assistant director has trekked, from Whittier to Boston and back, Baeza seems to have found herself in the spotlight.
Photo Courtesy of Whittier College.
