Natalie Rodriguez is an award-winning writer, director, and
mental health and anti-violence/trauma advocate based in Los Angeles, CA. In
2014, she graduated from California State University, Fullerton with a Bachelor
of Arts in Radio-Television-Film. Her first experience in entertainment was an
internship at the Conan O'Brien show and Peter Guber's Mandalay Pictures, where
she worked at the offices of producers, Matthew Rhodes (“Cherry,” "Men in
Black: International") and Academy Award-winner, Cathy Schulman
("Sharp Objects," "Crash").
Natalie was also a panelist at events, including
Google, Hispanicize, and YouTube, where she has shared her story as a writer,
filmmaker, and a female working in the entertainment industry. Some of her
previous writing work can be found in publications such as the HuffPost Blog,
Thrive Global, Anxiety Resource Center, Opposing Views, NowThis News, Zooey
Deschanel's Hello Giggles, The Mighty, and more.
In 2017, she founded her production company,
Extraordinary Pictures, focusing on both films, television, digital series, and
social issue projects. The company has a list of projects in its roaster,
including development on a TV sitcom, "The D," which placed in
top-ten for best comedy screenplays at Stage 32. At the moment, Natalie’s
second directorial feature film, “Howard Original,” is in post-production and
set for an August 2020 release date on YouTube Premium. The film is based on
the award-winning short film about a washed-up screenwriter named Howard, who
encounters more than just selling a story, a studio rejection, and writer's
block when his pet cat comes to life.
Natalie’s directorial feature film, "The
Extraordinary Ordinary," which she also wrote, produced, and was the
executive producer on, is making its round through the festival circuit. The
film deals with young adults, mental health awareness, and the aftermath of
trauma. The film won ‘Best Film About Women’s Empowerment’ at the Glendale
International Film Festival and scored nominations in Best Director, Best
Female Director, and Best Picture. The film also had a sold-out world premiere
screening at the Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival (LADFF), winning ‘Best
Performance’ by the leading actress, Maddison Bullock. Further details on the
project can be found @theextraordfilm, including recent film festival awards
and nominations.
Her other screenplays and films have also been
featured and placed in the final rounds at HollyShorts Film Festival, NALIP:
Latino Lens Film Festival, ShortsTV, Stage 32: Comedy Screenplay, Beverly Hills
Film Festival, Culver City Film Festival, Indie Night Film Festival, Hollywood
Screenplay Contest, Table Read My Screenplay - Austin Film Festival, and others.
Natalie was most recently an ambassador for Jen
Zeano Designs (JZD), a clothing company in association with USA Networks. While
she continues to build her creative background, Natalie is always open to
collaborating with other artists and advocates. Currently, she awaits the
publication of her first young adult novel this April 2020,
"Elephant," a story about four childhood best friends who uncover a family
secret. The book was also a finalist at Clare Books' the Binge-Watching Cure II
contest for 'Best Novel.’
SOME PUBLISHED BOOKS
When was the last
time you were shut down for experiencing a mental health struggle or feeling
unheard by others, including those closest to you?
Summer of 2006. Four childhood best friends. A family secret.
After a strange encounter leaves him hospitalized, a timid teenage boy named Matt "Matty" Smith comes home to a continuous series of events met with anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
Under the guardianship of his grandma, Lucia, Matt lives with unspoken questions about his grandfather and parents. The elephant in the room. As Matt develops over the summer, the secrets only grow more profound and complex. Will the answers ever come? While searching for answers, Matt and his three childhood best friends encounter the meanings of love, forgiveness, and fate.
This story is for those who feel their voice is unheard and for children, teenagers, and the adult who never had the chance to heal from their pain.
Summer of 2006. Four childhood best friends. A family secret.
After a strange encounter leaves him hospitalized, a timid teenage boy named Matt "Matty" Smith comes home to a continuous series of events met with anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
Under the guardianship of his grandma, Lucia, Matt lives with unspoken questions about his grandfather and parents. The elephant in the room. As Matt develops over the summer, the secrets only grow more profound and complex. Will the answers ever come? While searching for answers, Matt and his three childhood best friends encounter the meanings of love, forgiveness, and fate.
This story is for those who feel their voice is unheard and for children, teenagers, and the adult who never had the chance to heal from their pain.
When was the last time you confronted the skeletons in your
closest?
Immediately following book one, “Elephant,”
Matthew “Matty” Smith awakens from his coma and discovers that his worst
nightmare is all true: his grandmother, Jamie, and Derek have gone missing and
his mother murdered his father and grandfather years ago.
With the hospital placing him on lockdown,
including no visitation rights by his loved ones such as his best friend, Lisa,
Matty finds himself deteriorating into a state of the abyss, consumed with the
secrets of his family. Convinced that it was the ‘stranger’ who kidnapped his
grandmother and friends, no one believes him. The hospital only believes that
Matty is slipping into a toxic mental state, repeating the cycle of his family.
Until one day, Lisa helps Matty escape the
hospital.
On the run from Dr. Brown, Officer Barry, and the
town of La Crosse, Wisconsin, Matty and Lisa set off to find their friends and
Lucia and for answers on who the ‘stranger’ is. Once they unmask who the
‘stranger’ is, Matty continues to unravel the deepest secrets of what was
supposed to be forever hidden in the Smith family as well as the town.
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Natalie Rodriguez on Twitter
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