Today we’d like to introduce you to Arma Benoit
Hi Arma, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I began my storytelling journey at 8 when I asked my mother how movies and tv shows were made and she explained it was job and I knew that is what I wanted to do. My father said “girls don’t do that job.” It was 1979.
All my mother knew was that there was writing and acting involved so I began doing both, and gratefully, have a knack for them. I had an agent as a child and acted in commercials and plays.
I was accepted in NYU Tisch school of the Arts but wasn’t allowed to go. I put myself through film school at GSU (worked the overnight shift at Waffle House.) I started working as a PA before I graduated and worked a camera for the Olympics and then went on to work a camera at the Braves games. My camera was in the 1st base dugout. This was 90’s World Series days and it was such a fun time to have been there!
I worked my first music video in the Art Dept and the Art Dept Coordinator had a family emergency and they promoted me. On a million dollar music video! Busta Rhymes “Gimme Some More” The UPM said “you should be a coordinator.” So I moved into production and worked my way up to producer. I coordinated The Outkast music videos for “Rosa Parks” and “Bombs Over Baghdad” was the UPM for “So Fresh & So Clean.” I produced videos for TI “24’s”, Three 6 Mafia “Ridin Spinners”, Young Yeezy “Trap or Die”, 112 “Where the Party At?” “Lil Jon & Yin Yang Twins “Get Low” Eight Ball & MJG “Straight Cadillac Pimpin” Pastor Troy “Vice Versa’ the list goes on and on.
I got pregnant and could no longer live the life of “can you get on a plane in 4 hours and go to Toronto?”
So when I was eight months pregnant I got a call to coordinate the art department for the Rob Zombie reboot of Halloween II. I accepted and once that wrapped the production designer called me and asked if I wanted to do a tv show. Having never done episodic, I asked how it worked. He said “don’t worry about it. it’s some silly show about teenage vampires. We’ll do three or four episodes and they’ll cancel it.” Eight years later, we wrapped The Vampire Diaries. Around that time I started itching to tell my own stories, so I shot my first short, Amaia, which was fairly well received for an experimental short based on a poem. It was hard to accept short term work however, when I was booked on big shows like Black Lightning, Step Up: Highwater, Genius: Aretha, GreenLeaf, etc. It wasn’t until the pandemic that I could start accepting directing gigs on low budget music videos and I LOVED IT! Once movies came back, however, I had to go back into service of telling other people’s stories. (Those bills aren’t gonna pay themselves!)
I started Atlanta Breakaway shortly after the end of Vampire Diaries. I managed to teach myself how to make rubber glass and breakaway bottles. Every single night I would come home and spend hours experimenting, until after a year I could do it. There is no manufacturer in Georgia, so now, instead of shipping twenty four pound buckets from California with no tax incentives attached, they can get it from me!
I also signed on with a talent agency and started going on auditions. I booked a good role on The Gifted as the widow of the lead, but only a few tiny parts besides that. It wasn’t really a good fit with that agent, and I wasn’t being sent on appropriate roles for me. Once the pandemic happened, we parted ways. (I’m currently seeking representation again.) For the first two years post-pandemic, there was so much work as crew I could not have spent any time acting. Now that the dust has settled, I have time to go on auditions again and am hoping to sign with someone I really connect with.
Also during the pandemic, I started writing again and this time it wasn’t a script. It was more like, talking on stage, some of it funny. A friend connected me with Lace Larrabee who teaches joke writing and structure, among other things. By the end of the course she said, you should be doing this on stage. And so I did.
I wrapped the Francis Ford Coppola movie (I worked in SFX dept on that) right before the strike in 2023. It was during that time that I really started hitting standup comedy hard. Comedy is purely a momentum game, and the only way to improve is by doing it. So while the strike was devastating financially, it DID afford me time to hone my craft and actually get to tell MY stories.
Meanwhile, the University System of Georgia has recently hired me as an adjunct professor for their intro to film course. I’m currently teaching a great group of kids at Georgia Film Academy at Trilith Studios one day a week (6 hours each class!) That isn’t something I had ever even considered, but it’s been really fulfilling and also helped me to remember how cool film really is!
Looking ahead: I have filmed a pilot and have a fully fleshed pitch deck and am shopping a group of shows. The goal for 2025 is to finally REALLY tell my stories on film, as I have always wanted to do. In addition to that, I plan on expanding my comedy reach and traveling in 2025.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
lol I started as a female in the 1990’s take a wild guess.
I had bosses that greeted us by kissing us on the mouth until we learned to turn our heads quickly.
My first job they asked “what is your ultimate goal in film” and before I could speak they said “don’t say director.”
Social life is a HUGE factor in advancement and being a mom with young children killed many after work connections that turn into at work opportunities.
As many Gen X woman, we had kids and raised a family and now all find ourselves in our late 40’s and early 50’s ready to finally get to go for OUR dreams. The good news is, we no longer listen when they say “no.”
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a storyteller at heart. Film is my medium, but so is the stage.
I perform standup and I love the immediacy of the storytelling.
But as a filmmaker, the majority of the stories I have to tell are visual and not just literal storytelling.
I am most proud of all my accomplishments as a whole.
I own a production company, I own a breakaway glass company (the only one in Georgia) I work in film and television, I perform standup and am a classically trained actor and I have been a part of some really iconic projects, whether it be Outkast “Bombs Over Baghdad” or Goodie Mob “Soul Food” (Oh yeah I also produced a Ceelo music video that featured Timbaland “I’ll Be Around”) or The Vampire Diaries or Green Leaf or Megalopolis with THE Francis Ford Coppola.
I think together they tell the story pretty well of my career. 🙂
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
OMG I LOVE ATLANTA!
I have been here since 1990 and I can’t tell you how much I love it! I love THE PEOPLE!
This is what I always say: creatives, entrepreneurs, dreamers are all welcome here. If you come to Atlanta and say “I’m a singer” and someone says “what have you done?” and you answer “nothing yet” they’ll say “Oh I have a friend that is vocal coach I’ll connect you.” or “I know somebody looking for backup singers let me connect you” or even “I know someone who runs a workshop on breaking into the music industry, let me connect you”
In LA if you say you’re a singer who hasn’t done anything yet you will be met with a swift and definitive “then you are not a singer.” and will most likely be summarily dismissed.
The reason for this is we are a city where the traditionally marginalized : black, women, queer, trans, can come and be seen as everyone else sees straight white men. In LA they would literally say “well but Jimmy here has 17 years experience.” it’s like “Yeah because 17 years ago Jimmy was the only one you would let try.” Once we realized we could never break that cycle people moved here and tore the wall down entirely.
We really do believe in dreams here. And we celebrate each other’s successes. I freaking LOVE Atlanta like you just don’t know how much I love this city.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.atlantabreakaway.com also www.group129.com
- Instagram: @armabenoit and also @group129
- Facebook: armabenoit
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@group1298
- Other: TIK Tok!! ArmaBenoit
Image Credits
the three studio pics of me are Lola Scott Photography. All other pics taken by me EXCEPT the pic OF me in front of the monitor was taken by Kevin Vickery.
