SLMBR PRTY , a curated network of female creatives from all disciplines in the commercial production space launched in New York City last week.
The invite-only network aims to connect talent through monthly meetups and will continue to grow as more connections and friendships are made through the meet-ups and creative collaborations. The inaugural event was hosted by Voyager Creative on March 16.
“This is America” was shot, produced, edited, and finished with an all women team, making it SLMBR PRTY’s first collaboration.
This is America: The Women’s March on Washington from Samantha Scaffidi on Vimeo.
Co-Founder Sarah Donnenberg tells DIVERGE the story of how it all began:
Where did the idea for SLMBR PRTY come from?
It all started organically. Leah and I were both shooting commercials the weekend of the Women’s March. We decided to get all of the women on set in a picture and hashtag #womenonset. We posted it to our social media, and sent mass emails to our contacts asking people to do the same.
Through this, we met Allison Anderson (DP), Samantha Scaffidi (Director/Actress) , Rachel Klein (DP), and Kirsten VanSkiver (Producer/Photographer) who were shooting the Women’s March. I wrote to them via instagram (sdberg is me! You can see below!) We realized we had a ton of mutual friends and decided to meet back in the city.
One of those mutual friends was Elle Ginter. I realized that through all of us, we must have a killer network of women in our peer group and that we should get together. Elle and Alison were laughing saying that when they shoot with a group of women they chant: “SLUMBER PARTY, SLUMBER PARTY!” And we said, “Thats what it should be called!”
How did the Women’s March on Washington inspire this?
It inspired the idea because its how it connected the five of us.
By Kevin Condon (Photographer)
What does the group aim to do?
The group aims to build connections, friendships, relationships with our peers that impress us that are female. So much of our business, whether you are an agency producer hiring a director or a DP choosing their AC, is built on relationships. If we can initiate those relationships, and women’s careers thrive off of those relationships, we’ve done what we’ve set out to do.
How was the first event?
It was so much fun. The energy of these total badass women all super talented and rising in their careers was amazing. We had DPs, Sound Designers, Editors, Colorists, Producers from Buzzfeed, Weiden Kenedy, and Refinery 29. It felt special and intimate. That was the goal.
How can others participate?
You can register online and we will send you info about our events. Currently, they are closed to those who know someone in the network, because we are aiming to keep the relationships genuine. However, we do aim to be inclusive. and there will be more events in the future that are open events.
Why is it so important for female creatives to unite?
Its not about “uniting” necessarily because we aren’t uniting against something. It’s not an “US vs them”. Its just about putting people in the same room with the right people. We are aiming to build a community of like-minded, passionate creative females who learn from, admire, and respect each other for their work, passion, and hustle.
