Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Aimola.
Lisa, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was a marketing executive for 19 years & when my son was a toddler & first home from South Korea, I spent a year in Harvard University’s Continuing Education writing program during his naps and after his bedtime crafting my first feature-length screenplay. The script got some notoriety as a finalist in the American Accolades Writing Contest in Los Angeles but working in a different industry and raising a young family with my husband, Chris, kept the dream far from reach at the time. So 7 yrs. ago, my friend Sorboni Banerjee (a former Boston news anchor) & I wanted to take control of our creative stories and began writing and producing a series of short films.
Thinking back, we laugh because our first film had a scene with dogs and we almost forgot to cast dogs. But when we scrambled at our local Squantum Point Park to find some, who showed up but Steve Sweeney walking his dogs. I only knew him as a local comedian but he volunteered to help that day and who knew he would be the star of my first feature-length film SWEENEY KILLING SWEENEY all these years later. I still consider myself a huge fan of his but I also get to call him a friend thanks to this project.
Last month, WHERE WE MEET, a short film I directed and produced about an isolated Muslim Woman living in the suburbs of Boston who embarks on a secret road to independence, won BEST NEW ENGLAND SHORT FILM 2017 in the Shawna Shea Film Festival in Central MA. In May of 2017, PROBATION, a short film I directed and co-wrote with Sorboni, writer Mary Conroy & my daughter Nancy Aimola was shown as part of the Best of the Boston 48 Hr Film Festival. Chronicle’s Emmy award-winning editor Brian Menz was brought on board to edit by our team’s editor Scott Shucher whom I met through my old marketing world boss. Brian recommended me to the Sweeney producers.
I was honored to receive the Boston Women In Film award winner for the 2016 48 hr film project. Our team film, LOVE UNLOCKED, placed in the 48 Hr.’s Best of Boston’s 2016. In addition, I received a Best Director nomination. I have produced, directed & co-written 7 short films.
I get to write with my dearest friends, one of whom is my beautiful teenage daughter. I brought onto the Sweeney filming a Production Manager/Assistant Director, Mark Carey, who has been my dear friend/like a brother to me since high school. We scout and film primarily in the City of Quincy, our home, the place where I conjured so many adventures as a kid. My husband, Chris, an electrician is also an amazing chef. He caters many meals for the cast and crew. We often joke that is the reason they keep coming back!
I proudly work in the City of Quincy as the Director of Community Preservation supporting projects in the areas of historic preservation, recreation, open space & affordable housing, It is an amazing feeling to lift stories off the page and fulfill my childhood dreams with people you love. My Mom was a beautiful writer and my best friend. She passed away from metastasized breast cancer when I was 25 yrs old. I carry her spirit and enthusiasm in my life and work and think of her and my 2 children as my greatest inspiration
As a little girl, my Mom took me to see the movie LOVE STORY. I was so upset that Ali McGraw’s character died that I got sick in the parking lot. Years later, we laughed and attributed that to the magic of movies and the suspension of belief that the characters become real. Or it just could have been too much ice cream and popcorn!
In June, I began this world wind dream come true of directing this gritty, fantastical, funny story about a local comedy legend who’s characters come to life and try to kill him when he aspires for Hollywood and drops them from his act. I am very proud to say I am making my feature-length directorial debut in SWEENEY KILLING SWEENEY and I am extremely proud to be featuring my hometowns of Dorchester and Quincy where I first began creating my stories.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
You have to go out and create your own opportunities and have a good support system at home to walk your dog and feed your bird. No-one is going to come knocking on your door and say “Hey, would you like to direct a movie?!” Yet, once I signed onto filming Sweeney, each day has been incredibly filled with creativity and laughter. You have a 30 person cast & crew all working together to make something great. There hasn’t been a moment of negativity & I have had some of the best laughs of my life.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I am the product of an Italian immigrant family and the Mom of 2 amazing children from South Korea. I have a genuine appreciation cross cultures and love to highlight character-driven stories that include this authentic experience. The loss of my own Mom at a young age has given me drive to squeeze the juice out of life.
I proudly work in the City of Quincy as the Director of Community Preservation supporting projects in the areas of historic preservation, recreation, open space & affordable housing. I am also a freelance photographer. I have a boundless amount of energy when it comes to my family, my work, and film-making.
What were you like growing up?
I am an only child who grew up surrounded by a huge & loving Italian family stirring Sunday gravy after church and singing Partridge Family songs with my first friend. I would pick sun-warmed tomatoes from my grandparents garden in our Dorchester home and draw treasure maps to make up adventures that my friends and I would act out across our backyards.
We would pretend to be Charlie’s junior Angels chasing down the “bad guys” with our squirt guns. I was convinced I had magic sneakers that I could talk to to make me run faster. (They were really blue Chuck Taylor’s from the Bargain Center in Quincy). I hunted for fossils and arrowheads at Squaw Rock in Quincy and threw a pretty good fastball pitching for my high school team.
The first word I learned to spell in kindergarten was “courage”.
Contact Info:
- Address: Lisa Aimola
- Email: laimola@mac.com
- Instagram: Sweeney Killing Sweeney
- Facebook: Sweeney Killing Sweeney: The Movie
- Twitter: @killingsweeney
Image Credit:
David Elmore & R.J. Lynch
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