Chasing your dreams is no easy task, but when you’re determined to beat the odds nothing can stand in your way. Take it from Angela Marie Hutchinson — producer, casting director, scriptwriter, and media entrepreneur of her own entertainment empire.
For over ten years, Hutchinson fought to get her screenplay “Hollywood Chaos” funded and produced, but her efforts were of no avail. Fed up with rejection after rejection, she took matters into her own hands and found the means to produce the feature film herself. The film was also successfully picked up by Hulu.
“Sometimes we feel like it’s bad to quit so we keep on going. We keep receiving the rejection thinking that eventually a yes will come along. And that’s just not the case. Sometimes the yes will never come until you create it. You have to do something different than what you were doing before,” Hutchinson said, according to Black Enterprise.
No longer operating on the scale of getting rejected, Hutchinson created the opportunity she felt didn’t exist yet. She went on to create her own entertainment empire where she was her own boss. As the founder of Break Into Hollywood Studios, Hutchinson now helps jumpstart the careers of creatives and business professionals trying to find a way into the entertainment industry. She previously served as the first Black president of the Scriptwriters Network back in 2006 as well as the editor-in-chief of Hollywood & Vine Magazine and executive director of the Hollywood & Vine Film Festival.
Hutchinson has been moving and shaking in this business for years. When she first moved to LA, she hit the ground running, networking in the entertainment industry, and investing in herself. However, she still found obstacles in her way that she couldn’t push past.
“I had to ask myself, ‘Are you going to keep pushing or are you going to stop and create what you want to happen?'” Hutchinson added.
Rejection was a major chapter in Hutchinson’s life, so much so that she shared her story on a TEDx stage. That story then became a book in 2019 titled “Create Your Yes!: When You Keep Hearing No.”
Hutchinson continues to pave the way for others hoping to make their mark in Hollywood through her outreach and guidance. She recently hosted a networking event called BReaKiNG iNTo HoLLyWooD for entertainment professionals with Nneka Enurah, Director of Digital Development for Hello Sunshine.
“You have to change your mindset. Determine what kind of no you received and based on that information you can determine if you need to build or shift entirely to something else,” Hutchinson advised. “In changing your mindset, you have to figure out how you can redirect the rejection you are experiencing in your life.”
