When Marsha Oglesby graduated from Southern Methodist University, she wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do with her education.
With a BA in English literature, the now-Co-Executive Producer and Director of Development of the YouTube channel WIGS thought she might pursue law school. Yet even then, she wasn’t 100 percent sure. Never had she imagined that one day she would be involved in film.
The Beginning
“A good friend of mine had moved up to LA and had called me and said, ‘Would you want to come up here and be a production assistant on a low-budget movie?'” Oglesby said. “And I thought you know what, while I’m waiting to take the LSATs, why not?”
With no initial intentions of getting into the movie business, Oglesby admits that her first job had nothing to do with her background as an English literature major. However, it did make for a perfect starting point.
And after falling in love with LA and the industry, Oglesby eventually began dabbling on the development side of producing as a creative assistant, a job which required reading scripts, books, and writing coverage. Beginning to use her skill set from college once again, it wasn’t long before Oglesby truly began to work her way up the ladder.
When Everything Changed
In fact, it was while she was still an assistant that Oglesby began attracting the attention of her bosses when she produced the film “Tie-died: Rock ‘n Roll’s Most Deadicated Fans.” The documentary, which illustrated the lives of “Deadheads,” better known as fans of the band Grateful Dead, premiered at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival.
“It got me noticed by the producer and director I was working for,” Oglesby said. “And then I just started reading all my friends’ scripts and looking at shots and I literally started to bring in material that we were able to set up at the studio or get made independently.”
From there, Oglesby eventually became a producer, later producing Director Rodrigo Garcia’s first movie (also at Sundance Film Festival), “Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her,” along with Jon Avnet, Effie Brown, Lisa Lindstrom, Elie Samaha and Andrew Stevens.
It was through this connection between Garcia, Avnet, and Jake Avnet (his son) however, that the idea to start working on short films for the web came to fruition.
“Around that time, YouTube started their initiative to get more premium content on their site,” Oglesby said. “So they were spending a lot of money and giving a lot of deals to more professional producers and directors to try and get more professional content. So we were one of those deals.”
Thanks to this collaboration, WIGS was born. The YouTube channel, which is comprised of short films, documentaries and original series, highlights the true stories of women everywhere, from sexual assault in the military with “Lauren,” to the story of a single mother making ends meet as a call girl in “Blue.” With both Garcia and Avnet having worked on female-oriented pictures like “Fried Green Tomatoes” and “Ten Tiny Love Stories” respectively, they were able to create something quite special with WIGS.
Learning from the Job
In turn, Oglesby has had the opportunity to grow with this team since the beginning and has continued to learn so much about an industry she never thought she’d be a part of. While she admits that she “fell into the production assistant position,” and that it’s not as easy to find development jobs nowadays, Oglesby attributes much of her success post-college to her willingness to explore. And that open-mindedness, she said, is what will help college students (and others seeking jobs) today.
“I think it helps if you’re personable,” Oglesby said. “When we have people come in [we] always look for someone who’s energetic and really just curious and open.”
Naturally, everyone has to start somewhere, and Oglesby is just living proof that everyone’s perfect fit is out there, whether they know it or not. With a little hard work and a good attitude, it’s possible for others out there to discover their dreams and a career they love, just like Oglesby did.
“Just be positive and be curious,” Oglesby said. “Even though you may think you know exactly what you want to do, you may not.”
Bright & Balanced 