Lauren Musgrove finds a role in the classroom and on movie sets

There is a synergy to Lauren Musgrove’s life that makes her busy schedule feel supported and aligned.

Musgrove not only teaches, but she is also a co-founder of a woman-owned production studio called Purple Magnet Productions, and she directs films. She recently directed, co-wrote and produced her first feature film, “Ugly Sweater,” which has been winning awards at film festivals across the country.

She says that her job teaching classes, which include Production Basics and Introduction to Cinematography, is similar to that of being a director.

“As a professor, I am able to tap into every individual’s potential and abilities and see them achieve,” Musgrove said. “That is so satisfying, and so empowering for me. It’s the same for directing a film. For instance, if my production designer feels like they did their best work, that’s going to make the whole film better.”

Her roles as professor and director are mutually beneficial in that she is frequently inspired by her students with ideas for creative projects, and she also brings examples from her films into her classroom. For example, she teaches her students about how she incorporates production design into her films, how to submit projects to film festivals and life as an independent filmmaker. She also invites members of her production teams to lecture in class.

Teaching was not always an obvious choice. Musgrove grew up enjoying math, but when it came to tutoring her classmates, teaching math didn’t appeal to her.

“I thought that I didn’t like teaching because I didn’t like tutoring math, but when I got the experience to teach something more creative, I really liked it,” Musgrove recalls.

Musgrove is driven to show her students that there is a role for everybody in film production, teaching the importance of collaboration.

“The people that you’re sitting next to in class, could be your forever collaborators,” Musgrove said. “And, that collaboration is so important in this industry.” 

Although Musgrove is relatively new to campus, she has plugged into the UGA community quickly, participating in the new faculty tour and the Center for Teaching and Learning’s Active Learning and Teaching Effectiveness program.

Musgrove introduces a lot of active learning concepts into her classroom, encouraging her students to work together with less lecturing from her.

A recent example is a project where students were provided envelopes, each listing a production problem faced on set. Students were asked to write responses on how they would solve the problem and put them in back in the envelope. At the end, the students read the responses and discussed the best solution.

“Hopefully, exercises like this force the students to be self-reflective,” she continued. “A lot of times it’s a confidence thing, and they actually know a lot more than they think they know. The lessons become apparent when you put them in the right context.”

She also knows the importance of engaging students and their interests.

“Students learn the most when they’re passionate about what they’re learning,” Musgrove says. “That’s why I like a giving them a lot of choices, especially near the end of their final project. It’s about tapping into their creative passion.”

Musgrove, who has won eight Southeast Emmy Awards from work on various documentaries, is also involved with the Athens Film Festival. “Ugly Sweater,” her directorial debut, was the opening night feature film at the inaugural festival this past August. Musgrove will serve as one of the producers of the festival next year.

“We’re hoping to grow this big enough to be Academy Award-qualifying one day,” Musgrove said of the festival. “I think it’s a great opportunity for our students, too. Several of my students’ films made it in last year and they got to have public screenings with an audience. It was so great.”

In the meantime, Musgrove is appreciating the talent of her students and working on her next feature film, which she plans to film in Georgia.

“Everything is aligned for me here: I’m a UGA professor and a business woman and a filmmaker — and, Athens has something for me to do.”

Author: Sarah Freeman, FreemanS@uga.edu