Meet Arden Teresa Lewis | Film and Theatre Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Arden Teresa Lewis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Arden Teresa, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I was taking film classes at LA City College when the first Women’s March happened in 2017. It was an empowering experience that I brought fully into my filmmaking at the time. I no longer felt that I had to wait for someone to give me a greenlight or permission to make my own films. I gave myself my own greeenlight basically.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I want the world to know that a fresh path, a new dream, can be created at any time in your life. My own horizon is ever-expanding. Lewis-Films began with student short films and something possessed me to keep going. All my previous work as a theatre director and an educator, made me uniquely able to run all the moving parts of a film shoot. The biggest challenges arise in fundraising and distribution, ironically, not in the location shoots themselves. My sets are always warm and cordial. We can run 10 interviews in a day and still go out to eat with smiles on our faces. Organizing the funding and follow through financially has been a productive learning curve for me. Seed & Spark has been my go to platform for crowdfunding, which has been a blessing really for me as a producer. I am proud of my new found knowledge and skills.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When a friend comes to Los Angeles and needs me to show them around it is a lovely excuse to actually see some of the sites I never pause to see on my own. Angels Flight, the Central Library and MOCA make a lovely visit with lunch either in Little Tokyo or up at the Music Center Plaza. A day at the Getty Museum followed by a stroll on the beach, and possibly a meal at Back on the Beach Cafe. My husband Charlie is a magician, so if I can get friends up for a fancy evening, there’s nothing better than using his membership at The Magic Castle in Hollywood. The best evening would be dinner in Topanga Canyon and a show at Theatricum Botanicum Theatre Company– an absolute California gem that should be experienced by all who come here.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have used a network of humans and groups of humans to support this career development. My core support for Lewis-Films comes from my husband, Charlie Mount and my adult kids, Dillon and Jeremy. They have jumped on crews, organized crowdfunding among a miriad of daily things. I have enlisted younger filmmakers with a wealth of knowledge to be on my team at Lewis-Films. Jack Stannard my main DP, Andrew Jordan my editor and DP, plus the multi-hyphenated talent Kimberly Woods, were all part of “Leveling Lincoln”, my first feature, and now are producing “The Last Reunion” with me and my friend Evie Abat. Film Independent, Greenlight Women, IDA, WMM, Show & Tell, Seed & Spark and The Chimaera Project are all groups I am associated with and have provided advice and training through the years.

Website: https://www.ardenteresalewis.com

Instagram: AtLewisFilms

Linkedin: Arden Lewis

Facebook: Arden Lewis or At Lewis films

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ardenteresalewis4494

Other: Seed&Spark promotional and fundraiser page for the last reunion: https://seedandspark.com/fund/the-last-reunion-documentary-film#story

Image Credits
Photo credits, America Young, Kimberly Woods, and Charlie Mount