Aug. 28, 2025
Cinematic Dreams: Tara Sanders Brooks on Balancing Film and Fiction
Send us a text In this inspiring episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we are thrilled to welcome Tara Sanders Brooks, a talented writer and cinematographer based in Los Angeles. Tara shares her journey into the film industry, beginning with her graduate studies at USC and her passion for cinematography, where she captures the essence of storytelling through the lens. As she navigates the challenges of the film world, Tara opens up about her recent return to prose writing during the ind...
In this inspiring episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we are thrilled to welcome Tara Sanders Brooks, a talented writer and cinematographer based in Los Angeles. Tara shares her journey into the film industry, beginning with her graduate studies at USC and her passion for cinematography, where she captures the essence of storytelling through the lens. As she navigates the challenges of the film world, Tara opens up about her recent return to prose writing during the industry strikes, leading to her debut novel, It Will Last Longer, set for release on September 16, 2025. This literary work explores the life of a fine art photographer who inadvertently becomes embroiled in a crime scene, raising questions about morality and the pursuit of creative dreams. Tara also discusses her experiences writing for esteemed publications like American Cinematographer and her ongoing projects, including an independent feature film that delves into modern motherhood. Join us for a heartfelt conversation that encourages listeners to embrace their creative passions, persevere through challenges, and find fulfillment in their artistic journeys.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. if you believe you can achieve.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Today, I am joined by Tara Sanders Brooks, who is a writer and cinematographer based in Los Angeles, California. She has written for film articles and productions all across the film industry. So we're going to be talking to her about everything that she's up to and everything that she's going to be up to. So, Tara, thank you so much for joining me.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>Thank you. It's great to be here.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>Absolutely. So I've been in the film industry. Ah, I got into it in 2018, went to grad school at USC, and then since then have been full time trying to make it as a cinematographer.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>I love working with camera. It's a huge passion of mine. and on the side, I write and produce as well. and during the double strikes in 2023, that kind of shut down the film industry, I returned to a passion, of mine that I've always had, which is prose writing, and began working on my first novel, which now is set to be released in exactly a month from the day we're recording, actually on September 16, 2025. it will last longer.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>So I am really enjoying trying to balance these things right now, both my cinematography career and my, love of prose writing. so I look forward to kind of delving more into both in the future.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>So explain to listeners what a cinematographer is and what they do.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>Absolutely. So a cinematographer is the person on a film set who's responsible for what's in the frame, what you see when you're watching the show or movie or what have you. So they're responsible for the camera and the lighting and all the decisions that go into figuring out exactly what you're going to see at what moment. and I found that I loved cinematography while I was in grad school. I always thought I wanted to be a writer director. I thought that working with cameras seemed very technical. And it is in a lot of ways, but it isn't an insurmountable challenge to get education in that technical. And once you have that, your world expands in this way where you can find creative solutions through the technical to really express tone and emotion and what the film or show is trying to say, through how you move the camera, through what you see or don't, how you light it. And I love the Creativity of that art form, it's also a craft. There's always so much to learn and to hone with cinematography.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>And it's a broad skill set, but a very exciting one. So, yeah, I mean, I love it. And, you know, I urge anyone who is overwhelmed by the technical to give it a try because, it's very rewarding.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>So what made you want to get into the film industry and what made you want to become a writer?
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>Well, I've always been a storyteller.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>I think that I've always been attracted to, to storytelling in a variety of ways. I started out doing community theater as a kid and acting, and I've always loved that. My undergrad degree is in theater. And storytelling, in a multitude of ways, has always been my passion. I think that for me it's really about trying to tell stories that make people feel less alone and, raise empathy in people.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>That's really my, my goal through storytelling and has always been something that I feel driven towards. And that's kind of just changed over time as I have pursued being an actor into more technical film positions, into writing as well. It's just, it's all kind of in the same direction of trying to just write and act and film things that make people feel less alone.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>And it's all interconnected in that way. It kind of all feels like the journey to me that I've always been on with art. And it's just the directions I've been pulled at, ah, different times in my life. but in the end, it's. It's all in the service of storytelling.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>So what advice would you give somebody who's trying to break into, novel writing?
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>Oh, I mean, I feel like in many ways I'm trying to break into novel writing. Having just written my first book and being in the process right now of releasing it and trying trying to publicize it.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>It's, it's daunting because it's unlike any other industry. It's, it's so separate in its own thing. And I feel like my time in the film industry has not really necessarily translated to understanding the, the publishing industry. And I think that the best advice I can give is to, just not let yourself be too overwhelmed and allow there to be a learning curve as you figure out what you need to know to try to embark on the journey of being a novelist. I'm still very much on the journey of learning, you know, the ropes of that myself, I think, and I've said this to my family, I think Honestly, the writing is one of the easier parts.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>It's the, after you've written it, trying to get it out into the world is very difficult.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>And so I guess just don't be overly daunted by it, because it just simply is challenging and daunting and you just need to not give up. If you really feel passionate about the story that you have to tell, that's probably what I would tell people.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, speaking of overwhelmed, how do you manage to balance your career as being in the film industry and as a writer?
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>Well, the film industry, it's really nice in a lot of ways. It's nerve wracking, but it's very nice. That work is either all consuming or not at all. You're either on a gig or you're in this fallow period waiting for, another gig to come. And I think that adding writing into my routine has really allowed me to stay creative all the time, whether or not I'm currently on set. And I think that it makes being creative more sustainable to kind of have a through line of, of working on something creative at all times, whether or not I'm on set being paid to do it. And I think that it's made me less stressed and honestly more happy. I think finding balance and a way to have things not have such high highs and low lows in, in an industry that is so all over the place and unpredictable is really paramount. I mean the more productivity, wow. the more predictable I can make my schedule, the more I can lean into just my creative side. And so that's what I've really tried to do with my writing schedule. And it's been something that's worked well for me.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, to our listeners, about your upcoming novel, tell us, where we can get it and what we can expect when we read it and what makes your book special.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>So it will last longer is about a fine art photographer in Los Angeles who's really struggling to make a career for herself.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>And she stumbles across a crime scene in a back alleyway of la and she impulsively takes a photo and posts it online because she finds it very aesthetically interesting.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>And at first the Internet is completely disgusted by what she's done. Until the photo helps the police solve the murder and then she's a hero. and it follows her journey as she gains this notoriety as a photographer and as this eccentric producer in Los Angeles kind of hires her to join him and revitalizing the idea of death photography, so posing dead family members with their loved Ones. It's something that was big in the 1800s and he wants to bring it back. And so she gets sucked into this kind of macabre life shooting, death photography, and it follows her down that rabbit hole. it's literary fiction at its core. It's really a character study, but it has elements of noir and crime.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>And it really spun out of me just thinking about what are people willing to do to make their creative dreams come true. Where is the line of morality and ethics in that?
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>and really just exploring what it means to try to hustle and make your art work in Los Angeles. so that's really where the book came from and I hope that people, can relate to that. It's available on Barnes and Noble online, Amazon, through my website, tarasandersbrooks.com for pre order now in both ebook and in paperback. and it'll be released on September 16th.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, besides your upcoming novel, tell us about any.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Oh, oh, before I ask you that, I know you've written for film publications all across the industry, so kind of talk about that and tell listeners where they can find those writings. And also I see that you have a newsletter, so talk about that too.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>Yeah. So, a lot of my film writing was through American Cinematographer magazine. I was a staff writer there for four years. I still freelance with them on occasion. and all of that, the back catalog of all of that is available on American Cinematographer's website. Working with them for four years as a staff writer was an incredible opportunity to get to talk to people at every scale of production from, you know, huge blockbuster films to scrappy two person documentary teams, and to really get an insight into the workings of film production across all levels. And I think an amazing thing about American Cinematographer is that it is kind of the, best resource out there if people really want to delve into the behind the scenes of understanding what goes into making a film. I, I think it's an incredible education just reading the magazine.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>and I'm incredibly proud that I got to work with them as a staff writer for four years. So I would definitely recommend people, look that up whether they're reading my articles or other articles. there's a lot for free online and if you're interested in film, it's a great resource. I've also written for Fujifilm and for Women in Media, which, links to those things can be found on my website as well as a link to my weekly, substack newsletter, which is creative, nonfiction, usually, Inspired by my life as I live it.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>I think it's a good place to get a sense of my writing style to see if you like my tone and see if you'd be interested in reading more of my work.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>it's something that I've really enjoyed having part of my creative routine writing for Substack every week. and my community there is small but mighty and I love getting to share creative work there. So if anyone else also, is trying to write on Substack, please reach out to me because I'd love to meet more creative people that are in that space as well.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, well, besides your upcoming novel, tell us about any other upcoming projects that you're working on that listeners need to know about.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>Yeah, so I'm also filming an independent feature right now, called Everybody loves you, by director Flynn Nichols. M. And it is this great story about a woman who is deciding to try to have a baby on her own. And ah, is very gung ho about making this happen and raising this baby with her sister. It's a bit of a dramedy, a bit of a, ah, 20 something year old learning to finally grow up kind of film.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>And it's really near and dear to my heart. We're filming on weekends right now in la.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>it's a very scrappy indie production and we're putting it together as we can. but it's been a pleasure to work with the team. Everyone involved is really great and passionate about it. So that's something that I have really enjoyed getting to work on currently as well. And other than that, I mean it's little things here and there. I'm constantly looking for the next gig. That's how the cinematography world works in a lot of ways, which is exciting and scary. but I am really trying to lean into the exciting aspect of it right now of just not knowing what's around the corner.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, throw out your contact info so people can keep up with everything that you're up to.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it. I mean, yeah, I mean if people want to see my cinematography reel or get a sense of my writing, it's all available on tarasandersbrooks.com the best way to contact me is probably through my Instagram, which is arasandersbrooks. DM me there. It's where I meet a lot of collaborators and it's a great place to see how other people are being creative.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, we'll close this out with some final thoughts. Maybe if that was Something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on any final thoughts you have for the listeners?
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>Yeah, I mean, I would say that I would love to just talk briefly about the fact that pursuing a creative career is really difficult in a lot of ways. It's not a very stable, life journey to embark upon. And especially, you know, I've decided to branch out by pursuing two fields that are very difficult to be successful in. And I think that. I don't know, it's easy to get jaded, it's easy to get discouraged. But I would just want to say that I think sticking with your creative passions, not, not getting jaded, not saying, okay, I'm gonna set this aside. Really prioritizing where your heart is, I think is really scary, but it's also the best way to find a way to be happy.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>At, least it is for me. And so I just. I guess I would just say that I'd love to urge people to find their creativity and pursue it, even if it seems crazy to do so.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>because, I don't know, for me, it's one of the things that makes life fulfilling and exciting. And, yeah, I would say don't get discouraged and just keep going. Because I'm more proud of the fact that I don't give up than I am necessarily about any of my individual achievements. It's. It's. I'm very proud that I am still out there trying to be creative, no matter what the world throws at us.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>and I hope other people can find pride in themselves doing that as well.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>All right, ladies and gentlemen, be sure to check out Tara's new novel, going to be released September 16th. Check out everything that she's up to, her writings. Follow Rate Review Share this episode to as many people as possible. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform and if you have any feedback or suggestions for the show or for more information on the show, visit www.craveball337.com.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Tara, thank you for all that you do. Thank you for joining me.
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> Tara Sanders Brooks>Thank you for having me.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast, visit www.craveball337.com until next time, keep living the dream.
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