Talissa Wright - Class of 2016
January 1st, 2021
PBA Class of 2016 Alumna Talissa Wright Pursues Her Passion as a Director and Producer
Traveling around the country, producing an award-winning film, and launching an independent film production company, are just a few aspects of Pacific Buddhist Academy alumna Talissa Wright’s career. Graduating earlier this year from Savannah College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in film and television and minor in photography, Talissa has packed her schedule with a variety of exciting projects.
Talissa’s most recent work as an accounting assistant for a film called Bucher’s Crossing, took her to Montana. “It was my first time getting to travel for a film and we had to travel across the state to film all the different scenes. My accounting mentor plans to bring me onto a few more projects so I will be traveling to Los Angeles in January to work on a network series - though I’m not allowed to reveal more details than that!” said Talissa.
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Wander directed by LeAnn Schmitt, was the first animation that Talissa worked on as a producer. The film won Best Character Based Short at the Los Angeles Animation Festival and Best Animated Short at the IndieX Film Fest.
Talissa’s part-time job is as a social media and marketing manager on an indie fighting game called Drag Her. “This is a super neat experience for me, as I’m able to get the chance to wet my feet in the gaming world,” said Talissa. “For this gig, my main job is to focus on growing social media followers through post design and updates.”
In June, Talissa launched an independent film production company called Wright Angle Productions (WAP). She says launching her own company opens up a whole new world of possibilities.
SenpEYES, a comedic infomercial parody, will be the first film made under the WAP name. “SenpEYES stars puppets and utilizes elements of both slapstick and surrealist humor. In the film, young Ping Pong laments over how he can’t find a girlfriend. Everything changes with the help of a sick new body mod: SenpEYES,” explained Talissa.
When asked how the idea for SenpEYES came about, Talissa said, “My best friend suffered from a severe concussion this year and the medication she took for it caused her to have extremely vivid dreams. She had a dream about puppets with anime eyes and immediately called me. She works at Cartoon Network, so she was already starting to form different gags and scenarios. We immediately sprung into action, hitting up friends who were costume designers, prop builders, composers, etc. In less than a month, we had assembled our entire team and were ready to start preproduction!
Talissa hopes that WAP’s portfolio will eventually lead her to connect with businesses and influences she’d like to collaborate with. When her schedule gets busy, Talissa reminds herself of the importance of enjoying the creative experience. “Anytime I find myself too stressed out over a project, I remember my PBA film days and why I went into this weird career path in the first place,” said Talissa. “We used to get special permission from a handful of our teachers to replace final projects/tests with final films if it fit certain requirements. The teachers really respected those requests, and it ultimately helped to solidify the idea that I wanted to make movies for a living.”
Looking forward, Talissa said, “It’s cool working on a big movie or a series, but the control and intimacy you find on smaller films is my favorite.
PBA congratulates Talissa on her many successes looks forward to the primer of SenpEYES. For information on Talissa’s films and projects, visit https://www.talissawright.com
