ABOUT
LAURA PLOTKIN

Laura Plotkin is an award-winning writer, producer, and director, who focuses on the use of personal narratives to challenge mainstream stereotypes. She portrays mavericks — people who accomplish what others consider impossible.  Her aim as a creator is to stay curious and open to all possibilities allowing her to produce the highest quality of work while traveling to new film frontiers and neoteric landscapes. 

Known for her painterly visuals, Plotkins's wide breadth of work includes her Rockefeller-nominated film, Red Rain, which highlights the struggles of a female boxing champion. Red Rain has aired on PBS as well as many international broadcasts and has shown in over 100 film festivals worldwide.  Laura's haunting film, 21, chronicling a violent, post-9/11 racist attack, premiered at the Tribecca Film Festival and aired on HBO for a special anniversary broadcast.   Laura was instrumental in the development and production of the award-winning documentary The Gulabi Gang, which follows a women's group in India fighting for equality and civil rights.  

Laura’s works as a consulting producer on documentaries both domestically and internationally, selected topics include the rise of racism in eastern Europe, child prostitution in India, educational science series, MMT economic theory, autism, music and performance documentaries, abortion, and female athletes. She has also worked as a producer and DP on many music biographies including the acclaimed Punk Attitude directed by Don Letts (IFC Films), Marianne Faithful: Dreaming My Dreams, and Marvin Gaye: The Legacy (Eagle Rock Entertainment).

She is the co-writer of two narrative screenplays: Derby Queen, an adaptation of the documentary film Demon of the Derby featuring 1950s professional female roller derby stars (FilmMakers International Screenwriting Awards), Finding Freespace, a comedy exploring the world of a raw-vegan guru, and a TV Pilot The Green Dress, which highlights an underground network of women in 1956 fighting for abortion rights.

Laura holds her MFA in cinema and film production and has taught documentary filmmaking at several universities including San Francisco State, CAL Berkeley, and has lectured at Yale. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband Brent who is a musician and their dog Bell.