What are the key takeaways from this The Pitch episode?

Key insights include: **Bootstrapped filmmaking approach:** Smith created over 60 short films in two years during high school, learning to work with available resources. Her recent short cost $216, shot entirely on a broken iPhone, proving quality content doesn't require large budgets when paired with determination and creativity.; **Feature film budget priorities:** For her ghost hunter comedy feature, Smith prioritizes three expenses regardless of budget constraints: hiring a skilled cinematographer, securing a professional editor, and allocating funds for marketing. Everything else gets negotiated through favors or free work to maximize production value.; **Film leasing versus selling strategy:** Lease finished films to platforms like Netflix for 10-15 years instead of selling outright. Leasing retains ownership rights, allows sequel production, and can generate more revenue over time than immediate sale, especially for emerging filmmakers without established followings.

What did Eagle Smith and Leah Saint Marie discuss on The Pitch?

Alaska Native filmmaker Eagle Smith discusses breaking Hollywood's stereotypical Native American casting, producing her first feature film on limited resources, and advocating for authentic tribal representation beyond the seven commonly depicted tribes. Key topics include: **Bootstrapped filmmaking approach:** Smith created over 60 short films in two years during high school, learning to work with available resources. Her recent short cost $216, shot entirely on a broken iPhone, proving quality content doesn't require large budgets when paired with determination and creativity.; **Feature film budget priorities:** For her ghost hunter comedy feature, Smith prioritizes three expenses regardless of budget constraints: hiring a skilled cinematographer, securing a professional editor, and allocating funds for marketing. Everything else gets negotiated through favors or free work to maximize production value..

How long is this episode of The Pitch?

This episode is 39 minutes long. SignalCast provides an AI-generated summary so you can get the key insights in about 3 minutes.

The Pitch

#22 - Leah and Angel Interview Eagle Smith - Pt 1

July 13, 2023

39 min episode · 2 min read

Eagle Smith,Leah Saint Marie

Episode

39 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Career Growth, Startups, Marketing

AI-Generated Summary

Published Dec 25, 2025

Key Takeaways

✓Bootstrapped filmmaking approach: Smith created over 60 short films in two years during high school, learning to work with available resources. Her recent short cost $216, shot entirely on a broken iPhone, proving quality content doesn't require large budgets when paired with determination and creativity.
✓Feature film budget priorities: For her ghost hunter comedy feature, Smith prioritizes three expenses regardless of budget constraints: hiring a skilled cinematographer, securing a professional editor, and allocating funds for marketing. Everything else gets negotiated through favors or free work to maximize production value.
✓Film leasing versus selling strategy: Lease finished films to platforms like Netflix for 10-15 years instead of selling outright. Leasing retains ownership rights, allows sequel production, and can generate more revenue over time than immediate sale, especially for emerging filmmakers without established followings.
✓Authentic Native representation requires: Visit the actual tribe being depicted, hire tribal consultants throughout production from preproduction to final edits, and feature tribes beyond the commonly shown seven or eight. City natives comprise 75 percent of the Native American population and deserve representation alongside reservation communities.

What It Covers

Alaska Native filmmaker Eagle Smith discusses breaking Hollywood's stereotypical Native American casting, producing her first feature film on limited resources, and advocating for authentic tribal representation beyond the seven commonly depicted tribes.

Key Questions Answered

•Bootstrapped filmmaking approach: Smith created over 60 short films in two years during high school, learning to work with available resources. Her recent short cost $216, shot entirely on a broken iPhone, proving quality content doesn't require large budgets when paired with determination and creativity.
•Feature film budget priorities: For her ghost hunter comedy feature, Smith prioritizes three expenses regardless of budget constraints: hiring a skilled cinematographer, securing a professional editor, and allocating funds for marketing. Everything else gets negotiated through favors or free work to maximize production value.
•Film leasing versus selling strategy: Lease finished films to platforms like Netflix for 10-15 years instead of selling outright. Leasing retains ownership rights, allows sequel production, and can generate more revenue over time than immediate sale, especially for emerging filmmakers without established followings.
•Authentic Native representation requires: Visit the actual tribe being depicted, hire tribal consultants throughout production from preproduction to final edits, and feature tribes beyond the commonly shown seven or eight. City natives comprise 75 percent of the Native American population and deserve representation alongside reservation communities.

Notable Moment

Smith reveals that six or seven people have directly told her they forgot Native Americans exist, highlighting the erasure problem in mainstream culture. This drives her mission to create films showing contemporary Native life beyond Hollywood's narrow, fetishized portrayals and historical trauma narratives.

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Episode Transcript

Hi. Welcome to another episode of Pitch. I'm Leah Saint Marie. And I'm Angel. And today, we have a very special guest that we both know, a Native American emerging filmmaker, Eagle Smith. Welcome, Eagle. Hi. Thank you for having me today. Yeah. Thanks for coming on. Yeah. Thanks. Coming at us from are you in Washington state? Yeah. I'm in Tacoma, Washington. Nice. Is it beautiful there right now? Oh, it's absolutely gorgeous. I'm personally partial to the rain. I wish it would rain a little bit more right now, but yeah. Same. But it's sunshine and rainbows, and our parents just put up the pool. So that's one thing that we've got going on today is we're gonna jump in the pool later. Oh, fun. Permanent invite for Angel and I to come Yeah. Look at some rainbows and swim. Right? Hop on over. Now are you from, the Tacoma, Washington area originally, or what's your what's your, like, background a little bit? Well, I'm actually from a small fishing village in Alaska called Metlakatla. Okay. And that's where I that's where I spent the first part of my childhood and then the rest of my summers until I was 18. But I grew up in the Federal Way area, which is where I went to high school. And in high school, I was part of a television production program called TJTV. I read about this because you sent me your bio, and then I was, like, doing some, investigative stuff online about you. And I just want our audience to hear this number. How many short films did you do? I made over 60 shorts in two years. Through this program? Through this program. I spent I would and, you know, a lot of it was once I had the camera in hand and access to an editing software, you couldn't stop me. I was just making I was just making stuff just to make stuff. Most of the I would say, like, maybe 15 videos out of the 60 that I made got used. But I I was just out there filming, making little music videos, making little shorts, making, like, whatever I could think of. I was just making what I could think to make. And it's funny because we just had a high school reunion, and some of the some none of my videos made it to any of these people's, like, personal saved portfolios. But they posted in our group, some of the old TJTV videos, and it just it brought me back Brought me back to those days of walking around campus, filming things, and putting stuff to music. What do you think doing so many short films, so young did for your filmmaking education? You know, it really made me learn to work with what you have. So I'm, I guess, coming out of that, we're in preproduction for a feature right now, and I'm really glad to have someone else …

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