San Marcos’s own Anne Sergi started a journey in 2013 to create a career in show business.
“Filmmaking was not my original plan; growing up, I had my sights set on the Broadway stage — I desired to follow in my grandparent’s footsteps. I went through countless hours of training daily in singing, acting and dancing,” Sergi said, adding that she had a goal with her sights set on it ever so tightly. “However, upon starting theater school at Sam Houston State University, I felt no longer fulfilled without being on stage. Then, I met my mentor, Tom Garrett, a film professor who advised me to try a film course. One course and I was hooked; I changed my major, transferred to study film at the prestigious NYU Tisch film program, and found a new passion that only slightly skewed from my original course.”
During film school at NYU Tisch, Sergi voraciously worked through all the films anyone talked about; she worked her way through the controversial films list and erotic femme fatale list then consumed the entire catalog of Ondi Timoner’s documentaries. She immersed herself in all forms of the art, understanding more and being able to create her own films.
Sergi is a 2017 graduate of the New York University Tisch Kanbar School of Film and Television Production undergraduate program. While still in film school, she interned at Poverty Row Entertainment, where she moved up the ladder to become executive assistant to two of their executives, Julie Pacino and Jennifer De-Lia. Earning credit as an associate producer on their Mary Pickford biopic. Next, she served as a Production Assistant on American Idol and as festival coordinator for the 1st Annual Hollywood Women’s Film Festival. At the same time, producing her personal sitcom teaser.
The next step in her filmmaking career was when she joined Interloper Films in Pasadena, Calif. There, she worked as Production Coordinator to Ondi Timoner, one of Sergi’s filmmaking heroes, coordinating an array of in-development and active projects, including Timoner’s documentaries Coming Clean and Last Flight Home. She also associate-produced and stage-managed Timoner’s talk show WeTalk. After Interloper Films, Sergi worked as a production coordinator and production manager on union sound stage shows like Project Runway and YO! MTV Raps, field shows like MTV’s Help I’m In a Secret Relationship, Match Me Abroad, 90 Day Fiance and its subsequent spinoffs, and scripted shows like The Madman, Boned, Liberty or Death: Boston Tea Party, and a number of commercials and corporate shoots including Washington Post, Safeway, Emirates, AC Milan, Knorr Food Products, Cosmopolitan India Salesforce and political testimonials. Currently, she works as a freelance Production Manager/Production Coordinator in New York City. She has been an active member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Local 161, since joining in 2022.
“In the next part of my artistic journey, I want to bring my love of the logistical side of production forward so that more students will appreciate and learn alternate options if they don’t find their dream directing or producing job immediately,” Sergi said. “Freelance may not be a glamorous job, and production management can be challenging at times. But it fills my heart and soul with happiness to be the unspoken hero on a film set. Sharing real- world experiences in an academic community is my next dream.”
