Creator Conversations: Rachel Black Spaulding

Each year, iWoman TV partners with New York Women in Film and Television for their Annual Online Shorts Festival, a festival with a mission to highlight female filmmakers and female-led films. iWoman runs an audience choice award contest throughout the festival, where the top three most watched films during the festival’s run receive a cash prize. This year, the first place winner is Rachel Black Spaulding, the writer, producer, and lead actress of Her Turn. She sat down with iWoman TV founder & CEO Cathleen Trigg-Jones for an episode of our Creator Conversations series.

Her Turn focuses on a woman named Clare who is packing up her family home to move to a condo after her kids have grown and she and her husband are looking to downsize. This is something Spaulding went through in her own life, serving as inspiration for the film.

She says her desire to tell this story came from not seeing a lot of representation of women on screen who are in this stage of life. You’ve had a career and a family and the house and the marriage, but what now? It explores the journey that millions of women make to discover themselves later in life that does not get the attention it deserves. 

Spaulding said when she would initially tell people her idea for the film, she was met with hesitation. She was told no one would like her character based on the decision she makes at the end of the film. Despite the doubts, Spaulding moved forward with her vision and was met with the opposite reaction. Many women who saw the film resonated with the story, telling her it was an empowering film that showed on screen how they felt. 

As a seasoned actor, Spaulding knew she had a vision for Her Turn and  took a film class during the pandemic that helped her prepare to write and produce this piece. Her experience working with other talented women to make this project was a highlight.

Spaulding’s Audience Choice Award winning film, Her Turn, is still available to watch on watch.iwoman.tv. You can view her full interview with Cathleen Trigg-Jones there as well.