Jennifer Plotzke is an award winning actress and producer and is also a Creative Team Executive at IFT Network. Most recently she completed a role on a new series from HBO Max and also appeared in the film Fizzle, directed by Jeremiah Kipp, screening in Las Vegas later this month. In the past few years, she has also starred in The Red Lotus, My Dinner With Schwartzey, Lost + Found and Perfect and currently has multiple films on the festival circuit as both a producer and actress.
What do you look for in a role?
I always look for something challenging or different. Something that I haven’t done before or something that I can play differently than I have in the past. Otherwise, I’m not learning! We all fall into a certain type when we’re being cast, so finding a way to bring something new to a role or a way to put a fresh spin on something is the key!
You recently completed a role on a new series from HBO Max. What did you enjoy the most?
It was such an incredible experience. I can’t say much about the show or the role until it airs, but it was my first TV costar which was a great milestone for me. It was wonderful to be a part of something of that magnitude, working with some really amazing people. Everyone working on that project was wonderful from start to finish and I learned so much and was so grateful for the opportunity!
You won the Best Actress award for your role in The Red Lotus. How did this role expand your craft?
This was your first lead role in a film so it was intimidating at first but the only thing to do in that case is to jump in with both feet. So that’s what I did. I remained super focused throughout the process and that helped me go where I needed to go with the role. The whole experience really helped me uplevel my work and my confidence in what I can do and I was really honored to receive an award for that.
Tell us about your new projects including Crumb Cake, Shyft, and Remsen Road.
I’m the producer on both Crumb Cake and Remsen Road and I directed Shyft. Crumb Cake is a beautiful story written by Diane Harrington about three sisters coming to terms with their past and present after suffering a great loss. We shot the film in Cape May this past spring and had such a wonderful shoot. It was really incredible to finally be in production after having to push the shoot twice because of the pandemic. It’s going to be a really beautiful film! Remsen Road is a sexy, dangerous thriller that will be in production this September, written by Jeana Reilly. It’s a great script and a great location. We’re shooting in upstate New York and I’m super excited! And Shyft is our “Little Engine That Could” from writers Brooke Hoover and Harry Sood. It’s a short comedy about a ride share that Brooke and Harry wrote and produced in order to build their own comedic content as actors. But it ended up going far beyond that and having a great run on the festival circuit. And it’s now streaming on IFT Network!
How have you evolved as an Actress?
I’ve evolved as an actress by learning multiple aspects of production both in front of and behind the camera. I think understanding what goes into film or TV production makes you a more well rounded actor. It gives you a sort of global view of the project, a respect for what everyone is bringing to the project and what everyone’s job entails. It also helps you understand exactly what’s happening on set, where you should be and when and how you fit into the puzzle to support the whole. It’s been invaluable to me as an actor to have this understanding and I’ve been able to grow so much because of it.
Share your upcoming projects in 2021.
I’m so excited for everything that’s happening this year. I’m excited to finally be working on projects that were on hold during 2020 and also for new projects in development. In addition to Remsen Road, I have another project shooting this fall, The Missing Piece, a wonderful story about a new mother finding her voice from writer/actress Eva Kantor and am also lucky to be working with some of my favorite people again on a film called Don’t Pick Up from writer Susannah Nolan and director Jeremiah Kipp. I’m looking forward, I hope, to more TV gigs this year and extending that branch of my career and also excited to be producing my first feature film, Trinities, alongside producers Kelsey Maples and Francesco Nuzzi. Trinities is a female driven thriller in the vein of Sharp Objects and Silence of the Lambs and is now in the funding stage and then heading into production!
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Jules Lavallee is a Celebrity Writer in LA.