Ep 88: ACTRESS. WRITER. DIRECTOR. PRODUCER! Victoria Vertuga

In her own words!"I’m a Los Angeles & Atlanta based actress/writer/director/producer/pitbull rescuer/lover of slashes. A California girl born and raised, I attended the University of Southern California (GO TROJANS!!!!) where I graduated Magna Cum Laude (hey, if I can’t brag about it, it’s no fun at all!!!) with a B.S. in Music Industry and minors in Business, Communications, and Theatre.I’ve always had a great appreciation for the arts and an intense love of the stage. I’m intrigued by the power art has to move people and connect people. As Tyrion says in Game of Thrones “no one can resist a good story.” I believe in the power of storytelling and have always been driven to be part of the process.Growing up, my eccentric- yet very talented- extended family put on talent shows every summer where we would sing, dance, play instruments, and do full blown productions of plays. In high school I began acting and dancing in school productions and continued to do so while attending USC. After college, I took that long held love of performing and began pursuing a professional career as an actress. In 2013 I began my television career on the long running soap opera “Days of Our Lives” and the hit Showtime series “Dexter." I’ve filmed national commercials for brands such as Budweiser, Toyota, Gap, Valley View Casino, and many more. As a model, I’ve been featured in everything from FHM Magazine to charity pin up calendars to major commercial print ads to coffee table books and art galleries across the country and abroad. In 2018, I co-wrote my first half hour dark comedy pilot entitled "Tithes" with my writing partner Eric Williford. Tithes was recently a semi finalist in The Script Lab and Coverfly’s Screenwriting Contest. We followed that up by penning the entire first season, a short film, a feature horror film, and another 1 hour drama pilot that was recently a semi finalist at the highly competitive Austin Film Festival. Our latest project, a darkly comedic webseries called DisGraced, was released to the wild during Covid-19 to rave reviews. I’m also a huge animal lover, a proud dog mom to three rescue pitbulls, and part of the Leadership Team for Angel City Pitbulls. I’m also a self proclaimed foodie, which I credit to coming from a long line of fantastic Italian cooks; and an avid lover of traveling.I love being part of the creative process and am so very grateful for the opportunity to do it."Like to have a ASC cinematographer as a mentor?Have you thought of upgrading your cinematography game? Would you like to have an ASC Cinematographer mentor you for free? Join veteran cinematographer Suki Medencevic, A.S.C. (Disney, Pixar, FX Networks, Netflix, American Horror Story). He teaches you how to create beautiful images using three lighting techniques he has mastered on film sets over his 30+ years in the film industry. Each technique uses basic, low-cost lighting equipment so that anyone can achieve beautiful visuals no matter your projects's budget.Learn film lighting from an ASC cinematographer. If you want to take your cinematography to the next level, this free training will get you there. These videos are available for a limited time, so sign up for instant access. CLICK HERE TO REGISTERhttps://www.ifhacademy.com/a/28632/aLFBXkpNIf you liked this podcast, shoot me an e-mail at [email protected], you can check out my documentary The People of Brixton, on Kwelitv here: https://www.kweli.tv/programs/the-people-of-brixtonDamien Swaby Social Media Links:Instagram