Isabella Olaguera

Isabella Olaguera is a New Jersey-based Assistant Director who has worked professionally on over 80 feature films, television shows and commercials since 2010. She received her first film credit at the age of 13 for a short her SAG-member brother starred in. Accompanying him to set offered her a glimpse into a wide range of productions, and sparked her interest in all things behind the camera. Throughout childhood, she took filmmaking classes with local teacher Neal Bennett and soon moved up to assistant teaching his high school program though she was the same age as her students. When Isabella was 16 years old, Neal suggested she try Assistant Directing, and from there she never turned back. After earning her high school diploma, Isabella chose to forgo the film school route and directly pursue her career. Since then, she has received AD credits for many notable narrative and commercial projects. In 2017, she was fortunate to have 1st AD'd Oscar-nominated short film My Nephew Emmett (dir. Kevin H. Wilson, Jr., starring Jasmine Guy and the late L.B. Williams), supporting the crew and cast at the DGA awards, Student Academy Awards, and the Academy Awards. Isabella's 18 feature film projects include No Land's Man (dir. Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Tahsan Khan), Luca (dir. Horatiu Malaele), God the Worm (dir. Eric Schaeffer, starring Annabella Sciorra, Robert Klein, Andrea Navedo, Willy Garson), Son of Monarchs (starring Tenoch Huerta), Lifetime movie A Very Nutty Christmas (starring Melissa Joan Hart, Barry Watson), and All These Small Moments (starring Molly Ringwald and Brian D'Arcy James that premiered in Tribeca 2018's Spotlight Narrative category). In 2018, Isabella began line producing under the stewardship of mentor Scott Rosenfelt (producer of Home Alone, Teen Wolf, Mystic Pizza) for her debut feature as an LP, A Case of Blue (dir. by Student Academy Award winner Dana Glazer, starring Stephen Schnetzer and Annapurna Sriram). In between narrative work, Isabella AD's commercial spots for clients like Olay, Swarovski, Equinox, LIFEWTR, Facebook, Tyson, Walmart, HPE, and Withum. Isabella is a proud member of New York Women in Film and Television, an organization that "advocates for equality in the moving image industry," and is drawn to projects that celebrate diversity and inclusion, especially when female, POC, and LGBTQ+ creatives or themes are involved. She believes that age bears no indication to talent, professionalism, and industry experience, and actively works to disable discrimination based on age, gender and race. She hopes to inspire other young girls of color to pursue a path similar to hers and challenge the norm in a still male-dominated field. Isabella looks forward to a fulfilling lifelong career as an Assistant Director for film and television.