By Lauren Anders Brown
NYWIFT member and director Lauren Anders Brown met composer Daisy Coole at a networking event for Women in Film & TV UK, our sister chapter across the pond. They soon began collaborating on Six Year Old Fears, a short documentary from the perspective of a six year old Syrian Refugee as she becomes an older sister.
Director of #6YearOldFears Lauren Anders Brown (left) with composer Daisy Coole (right) meeting at WFTV Networking Event
Here is an excerpt of an interview with Coole that Brown published on LinkedIn:
Lauren Anders Brown: Can you recall the one of the first times you heard a melody and you knew you were meant to be a musician?
Daisy Coole: When I was ten, a classmate played Misty on the saxophone in a school assembly. I had played the flute for three years by then but suddenly knew the saxophone was my instrument. My parents bought me a cheap alto saxophone and I taught myself enough notes to be able to play Misty. I must have driven my family insane playing the original Erroll Garner recording over and over.
LAB: How often are you asked to do unpaid work (whether it be a full project pro-bono or client revisions that are forcibly unpaid)? How does it make you and your [business] partner feel and how does it affect your work?
DC: Far too often. Filmmakers seem to forget to raise money for post-production. Of course we have invested in projects that we feel are important or where there has been an ‘in-kind’ agreement with the director or producer. It’s not an ego thing, it’s being practical: if you want someone to be on call and invest huge amounts of time in your project, you have to pay them, otherwise how do you expect them to prioritize you over paid work? Fast, good and free do not operate in the same universe.
Read the full conversation on LinkedIn.
Lauren Anders Brown is an award winning documentary filmmaker who focuses on global health, women’s empowerment and humanitarian issues. You can follow her on twitter & Instagram @LABCollaborate and view more of her work on www.collaborateideasimages.com.
nywift
Related Posts
NYWIFT Member Spotlight: Kristen Golden
Kristen Golden is a writer and producer whose creative work runs the gamut of genres. She wrote the screenplay AWE, for which she won the 2023 Athena Film Festival’s Chinonye Chukwu Emerging Writer Award, and was selected as a 2025 Screenplay Semi-finalist by the Cordillera International Film Festival. Kristen is a producer of the narrative short film Irving Berlin’s View of the East River, shot in Spring 2025. She is the co-author with her wife, Barbara Findlen, of the book Remarkable Women of the Twentieth Century: 100 Portraits of Achievement. Kristen is the speechwriter for the Women's Media Center. In our interview, Kristen discussed her award-winning screenplay AWE, the connection between advocacy and storytelling, and her advice for future female leaders.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Tenzin Sedon
Welcome to NYWIFT, Tenzin Sedon! Tenzin Sedon is a Tibetan filmmaker from Tibet, and an MFA candidate in the Graduate Film Program at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Her work spans narrative, documentary, and experimental forms. She has received numerous awards, including the Hot Docs Best Canadian Short Documentary and the Golden Mountain Award, and has been nominated for the Hot Docs CrossCurrents Doc Fund (CCDF) and Docs Port Incheon. She is a recipient of the 2025 Ang Lee Scholarship. Her films have screened internationally and been exhibited at major institutions.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Farah Otero-Amad
Welcome to NYWIFT, Farah Otero-Amad! Farah Otero-Amad is a trilingual video producer and host for The Wall Street Journal, where she writes, shoots, and edits short-form vertical videos that reach millions across platforms. She recently directed and produced her first award-winning short documentary, Breaking the Cycle, which follows a hip-hop school in Medellin, Colombia, where students compete for the title of the city’s top breakdancer. Previously, Farah worked for The New York Times, Apple TV’s The Problem with Jon Stewart, and NBC News. She is a graduate of Columbia’s Journalism School, a Fulbright Scholar, and a former Division I athlete.
READ MOREMeet The New NYWIFT Member: Wendy Rubin
Wendy is a financial executive, media veteran, and creator of Fintimacy: A Women's Guide to Financial Freedom. After two decades in entertainment, finance, and private equity, she's on a mission to help women break free from shame and step into financial power. Her work translates the intimidating language of wealth into smart, clear tools for real life, blending strategic rigor with empathy, humor, and real-world insight. She's also an endurance athlete who has completed 10 New York City marathons to date. Wendy told us about her journey from the Midwest to becoming a fractional CFO in media and entertainment, her passion for empowering women through financial literacy, and her exciting upcoming book and podcast series.
READ MORE
