Shena' Carter

Hello, my name is Shena’ Carter. I am a filmmaker based out of North Carolina. Writing has always been a passion of mine, ever since I was a young child. I’ve written screen plays that I would act out in my bedroom with my stuffed animals and dolls. Growing up, writing was an outlet. Whenever I would write, I was able to escape reality and write a new reality. As a child, I’ve dreamed of being in Hollywood acting and directing. But when I became an adult, I had to let that dream go and choose a career that would take care of my needs.

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Fast forward many years and career paths later, I found myself in a state of unhappiness. I was beginning to question what’s my purpose? What am I doing with my life? Am I living to survive or am I surviving to live? Am I living my life for others or am I living my life for me? I wasn’t doing what I wanted to do. I wasn’t doing what made me happy so I had to figure out what made me happy.

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One day I was going through some old papers and I came across some old notebooks and I instantly started smiling. In these notebooks were the screenplays I’ve written as a child. I opened a notebook and read a few pages and I was amazed to see where I was mentally at that age. I was in shock that I had that mentality back then, that I was able to speak on that certain subject matter. As I read them, I said to myself, “I would love to see these on the big screen.” And that’s when it hit me. That’s when I decided to become a filmmaker. I had missed that feeling as a kid when I was genuinely happy with writing and telling stories. I wanted to tell my stories, I wanted to show the world my stories, and I wanted to actually bring my stories to life. I wanted that feeling again.

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In 2019, I made a promise that I would focus on my dreams and never give up on myself again. And in January 2020, I packed my bags and moved to New York to attend New York Film Academy. There I took two 8 week programs – one on photography and the other on filmmaking. During the filmmaking program, I meet some amazing directors, actors, writers, editors, and teachers who each showed me how to dig deep and bring out that emotion in the characters, in the script, and in the environment. I wrote stories and created art in a way that I didn’t see was possible two years ago. The program was almost cut short when COVID-19 hit in March 2020 shutting down the school. The classes moved to online and I no longer could work with a crew. I had to do everything on my own, including acting in two of my student films. That situation didn’t discourage me, it only made me stronger. It only made me love filmmaking even more. And I knew, if I could finish the program in the middle of a pandemic, I could make it through anything. I can make it to Hollywood.