When Allison Norlian JMS’11 was a junior in high school at Cherry Hill West, her English teacher advised her to go into journalism because it would combine her writing skills and interest in advocacy.
The night after her teacher gave her this advice, Norlian ate dinner while the local news played in the background. At that moment she realized she wanted to become a journalist – a broadcast journalist -- and she began pursuing her dream from that moment on.
When Norlian arrived at Rutgers, it was a no-brainer that she would major in Journalism and Media Studies, and as a student, she took advantage of the knowledge she gained in the classroom. She also interned at media organizations to gain the experience and skills she would need to launch her career in broadcast journalism.
Following graduation, Norlian achieved her professional dreams and worked for years as a journalist, reporter, and anchor for outlets in New York State, Virginia, and Los Angeles.
Recently Norlian developed an interest in telling stories through film, and she segued into a new career as a screenwriter and co-founded BirdMine.
She and her business partner, Kody Leibowitz, have many goals for their company including reaching many people and changing the way the world views disability. “We hope to shed light on the issues our more vulnerable populations face in hopes of creating a more empathetic, inclusive, compassionate, and accessible society,” Norlian said.
“We hope to shed light on the issues our more vulnerable populations face in hopes of creating a more empathetic, inclusive, compassionate, and accessible society,” Norlian said about her production company BirdMine.
“We hope to make people who are often in the shadows feel seen. Our goal is to reach as many people as possible with our films, but if we can even change one person's heart and mind—especially since we are new filmmakers—we did our work, and we did it well. We hope BirdMine is so successful that our production company can eventually work like the A24 model but with socially conscious films. We hope to finance other filmmakers doing great work to create their socially conscious movies under the BirdMine name,” Norlian explained.
SC&I talks with Norlian about her new career showcasing important and authentic stories through film.
SC&I: Do you think SC&I and Rutgers helped you prepare for your career? Were there certain courses you took or opportunities that helped you navigate your professional career?
AN: Rutgers’ journalism program prepared me for my time as a journalist and in the media.
Reporting/writing courses gave me the basics, but what helped me the most was that I interned five times during college at various television news stations. I got some of these internships on my own, but it wouldn’t have happened unless I got my very first internship—which was thanks to a Rutgers class and my journalism professor, Steve Miller. Professor Miller brought in Rutgers alums who were now working in news media to speak to our class. One of those people was an executive producer at My9, a news station that no longer exists but was formerly a sister station to NYC’s Fox5. During her presentation, she mentioned an internship program, so once the class was over, I went up to her and asked for her card.
I was only a sophomore then, so I returned to my dorm and drafted a resume. The next thing I knew, I had an internship. I interned there for the summer, which gave me the confidence to find other opportunities; eventually, I would intern at New Jersey Network (NJN), Comcast Sportsnet, WABC in New York City, and WPVI in Philadelphia, PA.
SC&I: What inspired you to co-found BirdMine?
AN: Kody and I met as interns in college and spent the beginning years of our careers as journalists/reporters at various news stations. As the years went by, we discussed wanting to tell longer-form, more impactful stories—we wanted to take what we learned as journalists and become documentarians. Documentaries were the pinnacle; we'd have more time to investigate, research, and dive into the stories. We started our production company, BirdMine, in 2020 because it was the natural progression or next step for what we were already doing as journalists. As journalists, we worked tirelessly to create positive change by uncovering wrongdoing, exposing injustice, and highlighting communities often pushed to the shadows. So, when creating a production company, It only made sense that our films would be socially driven, considering who we are as people and why we got into journalism/documentary work in the first place.
We were strictly focused on documentaries when we began, but we have since expanded to include narrative films.
SC&I: What inspired you to create your short film, Thirteen? What were your first steps in the production process?
AN: I want to share a bit about my company's first two films -- THIRTEEN and MEANDERING SCARS. I'll start with MEANDERING SCARS, BirdMine's first documentary.
MEANDERING SCARS is about a woman, paralyzed in a domestic violence incident who spent the better part of two decades depressed and suicidal. Then, in 2019, she discovered a nonprofit that helps people with disabilities compete in obstacle course races, like the Spartan and Tough Mudder; she started participating, which changed her life. She then decided to make it her mission to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest free-standing mountain in the world, located in Tanzania, to spread awareness about mental health struggles and suicide in the disability community. She contemplated suicide often during her life and has had multiple friends with disabilities die by suicide.
But the film is about more than just the climb. It is about our story subject's journey as a disabled person in America. It is about how inaccessibility, perceived burdensomeness, and financial turmoil due to a faulty system contributed to her deteriorating mental health and suicide ideation. It's about how she overcame and worked through those dark feelings and how she helps other disabled people today. The Kilimanjaro climb is just a part of a bigger narrative.
Meanwhile, THIRTEEN is a short narrative film loosely inspired by real life—specifically, my mother and sister. The film is about a mother fighting to have a Bat Mitzvah for her nonverbal, developmentally disabled, terminally ill daughter in a synagogue that refuses to break from tradition. My older sister was the first nonverbal, developmentally disabled person to have a Bat Mitzvah at my synagogue in the 1990s.
I was inspired to write THIRTEEN for a few reasons.
When Kody and I decided to venture into narrative writing/filmmaking, I tried to think of the films I needed as a child—films that would have helped me feel seen while I was growing up with a profoundly disabled sister in a single-parent household.
Many moments in my young life stuck out to me, especially when I saw my mother advocate for my sister, including my sister's Bat Mitzvah. Ultimately, I decided to write a short film loosely inspired by this moment to help people with disabilities, their families, and the Jewish community feel seen while also educating people on the outside. Although the film centers on Jewish life and disability, it is relatable to everyone as it looks at traditionalism, inclusion, and progression.
The first steps in creating THIRTEEN involved putting together a team to help me make the film and raising money. We raised $20,000 on the Seed and Spark fundraising platform to make this movie a reality.
SC&I: What advice would you give to a student at Rutgers who might be interested in creating a media company like yours in the future?
AN: I have a few key points of advice:
Remember that life is a journey, passions change, and we always learn. I may not be doing exactly what I set out to do in college, but college and my career as a journalist helped me create the life and career I am building today.
SC&I: With your extensive experience in journalism, was there a particular moment or experience that you feel significantly contributed to your professional growth or even personal growth?
AN: Many moments during my career contributed to my professional growth, including reporting on investigative news, covering monumental/historic stories, and learning how to navigate the world of television news. However, what changed everything for me, professionally and personally, was when my husband and I decided to move to Los Angeles. We both left our full-time, well-paying jobs on the East Coast so he could pursue his dream of screenwriting.
The move forced me to reevaluate my professional life and think about what I loved and didn’t like about television news. Ultimately, this is what pushed me to co-found BirdMine and is the reason I am a filmmaker and writer today—the happiest I’ve ever been professionally.
Remember that life is a journey, passions change, and we always learn. I may not be doing exactly what I set out to do in college, but college and my career as a journalist helped me create the life and career I am building today.
More information on the Journalism and Media Studies major is on the Rutgers School of Communication and Information website.
Photo captions: Top to bottom: A still take from Norilan film THIRTEEN, the BirdMine logo, Allison Norlian JMS'11.
Photos: Courtesy of Allison Norlian
