A filmmaker, writer and producer, Ryan Cameron ('20) describes herself as laid-back, but her resume says otherwise.

Cameron is originally from Jackson, Mississippi, and her current goal is to re-imagine Southern filmmaking through an authentic lens. Cameron's work has been screened as part of the New York No Limits film series and at the Martha's Vineyard African-American Film Festival.

She's since started her own production company, Rose & Rod Productions, and is currently in post-production on her second short film, Clear the Air.

"You don't get into this because you want fame, you want glory, you want awards. You get into it because you love storytelling, and you have something that you want to say. And hopefully, there are people in the world who want to resonate with it."

Following Your Creed

Cameron's interest in cinema began with acting and audio/video classes in high school, and it never left. For her, it was a blessing to know her path that early.

"A lot of people don't know what they want to do until they get to college," she says. "Or even after college, they think they know what they want to do, and they change it. I knew what I wanted to do ever since I was a kid. I knew that if it wasn't acting, I was going to be in the entertainment industry somehow, someway."

Cameron knew UNT's film program was strong, so she took her skills there. She found herself under the mentorship of filmmaker and professor Carla Lyndale Bishop, one of her most significant academic influences.

"She helped me to find my voice, and made me feel like I was seen, and that I belonged at UNT, and that I could do what I wanted to do in filmmaking," she says.

Cameron got involved on campus and co-created UNT's comedy show, "All That and a Bag of Chips" with Maya Brown ('20). After graduation, she started freelancing as a production assistant, first for A&E reality shows, later for the A24-produced drama, The Inspection.

Once she found her footing and made enough connections with other crew members in the industry, she decided it was time to take the plunge and make her dream project, Forks in the Road, which follows a young Black couple in the South who slowly realize their relationship is coming to an end. Cameron assembled her crew by teaming up with producers Gary Pierrot Jr. and fellow alum Lauryn Taylor ('21).

This Time, It's Personal

As her debut piece, Forks in the Road draws on Cameron's experience of Southern culture: a slower pace of life, playing outside as a kid and long summers spent at her grandparents' house in Natchez, Mississippi.

"I think it's a culture that a lot of people may not understand until you get down here," Cameron says. "I wanted to showcase stories based in the South because I feel like we don't have a lot, and the ones that we do, I feel don't paint us in the best light."

Her second production, Clear the Air, focuses on three Afro-Latina sisters who reunite at their late father's boxing ring, searching for answers about his life.

"I've sat with this film for two years," Cameron says. "I know these characters. I want what I want. I have a vision."

Making Clear the Air has been more challenging than her first film. Seeing who was on her team, however, helped Cameron realize she was exactly where she needed to be. That's because, like Forks in the Road before it, Clear the Air is also an alumni collaboration, this time with director of photography Robby Cisneros ('18) and first assistant camera Solomon Cisneros ('18), first assistant director Ayron Walker ('23), production designer Brianna Brasher ('22) and line producer Harleigh Nelson ('20). Cameron's collaborator from college, Maya Brown, also returned as co-producer.

"As we were talking, we all learned that a lot of us came from UNT, just different years," she says. "Or we were the same year, and we just didn't know each other. I find that amazing, that we were able to come together on this film and just make something really great."