Studio Lalala

​

​Meet Studio LaLaLa, an independent film cooperative for Queer Trans Black Indigenous People of Color (QTBIPOC) filmmakers. The relationship between CNO and Studio LaLaLa run thick: two of its founders, Maya Pen and Juicebox Burton, are members of our Steering Committee and the other studio members, Elvira Costello and Jazz Franklin, have documented or produced content for Cooperation Gumbo and Black Liberation Cooperative Academy. More recently, we have been facilitating some of their meetings to help the co-op internally organize and take stock of where they are and where they are going. We know each of  them to be brilliant artists and cooperative visionaries. Here are some tidbits from a recent sit down with the cooperative. Enjoy - Susan Sakash and Tamara Prosper.​

​

How do you describe your cooperative? 

When talking about our co-op, we envision ourselves as a collection of offerings that any and all QTBIPOC filmmakers can step into to meet their needs within this practice. Whether you are here to further your professional goals within the dominant industry, here to play, here to learn, here for support in seeing your ideas through… We are not prescribing a certain style, outcome, or vision–we want others to come and add their energies to co-create a vision of a well-resourced community of QTBIPOC filmmakers, period. 

​

What is the studio's approach to storytelling? Both in how you tell the story of your co-op but also how you mentor emerging filmmakers and collaborate with clients?

We approach both the presentation of our co-op and the creative process in a collaborative, non-hierarchical way. On a Studio Lalala production, no one is better than anyone else. Everyone’s role is important, and everyone is invited to share in the storytelling process. Yes, we may start with a specific idea, deadlines, and assigned roles…but no one’s voice is minimized. If a Production Assistant (PA) has a great idea for production design, we collaborate. If the Assistant Director (AD) sees a potential shot, we pass them the camera. We want to make high quality work for our clients, and we don’t believe a resume needs to be a deterrent to that goal. We love amateurs and visionaries. 

​

Why do you think the film production industry needs cooperatively-run ventures like Studio LaLaLa? What about the industry makes a business like yours necessary, valuable and distinct?

The dominant mainstream film industry has the same patterns as many other industries: it over-promises mobility while undervaluing creativity, it maintains ownership of its profits over the people who power it, it exploits the experiences of marginalized voices for its own manipulation and gain, it chokes the potential for cities like New Orleans to develop its own local filmmaking economy. We want to create ownership of our own space, our own gear, our own systems of distribution and validation of the work that we make.

The film industry has made the process of filmmaking seem impossible–how am I supposed to independently raise the funds to write and produce a movie…and once I actually make it, how am I supposed to distribute it to the world? We want to undermine that narrative. We want to remove the industry's product-oriented goals from our imagination. We want to work in ways that align with our values and cultural traditions. We want to create a space where we can survive capitalism by doing the thing we love, and re-center the urgency to tell our stories, to play, and to learn. 

​

How would artistic expression and access to paid film work for members of BIPOC LGBTQ+ communities be different if Studio Lalala was not did not exist?

We know that using the name “Studio Lalala” creates a platform, a brand, and an access point for our community members to get what they need. By collectively pouring energy and time into building that platform, we help each other to meet our individual goals. We know that attempting to do that by hustling individually is harder, more degrading, lonelier, and less effective. We hope that as time goes on, we grow to be a real and viable alternative for QTBIPOC filmmakers looking to learn, to tell their stories, or get more access to paid work. We deserve better.

​

What are ways for people to work with Studio LaLaLa?

Reach out to us! We will get in contact and learn how to best support each other. People can find our inquiry form on our website or reach out directly at bookings@studiolalalanola.com in order to access our space for photoshoots, film shoots, scenic build-outs, community organizing meetings, rehearsals, workshops, screenings, and more. We love our partnerships with nonprofits, local collectives, and other organizations, who build mutual relationships with us by hiring us to create their content and document their work at a low and affordable cost, or by offering their services to us on an exchange basis. 

​

​

​