340: Vivienne De Courcy on A Wild Nature Story.
Telling a story of young environmentalists reaching for their dreams.
Vivienne came from a long family line of market gardeners, academics and rebels, yet somehow found herself having lived for 20 years in a Chicago high rise practicing corporate finance law. She really missed the landscape of her childhood – between Dublin and West Cork, and after getting breast cancer in her early thirties, she left corporate law, followed a childhood dream and started writing scripts. She went back home and bought a small hill farm where her love for natural landscape, writing, and trying to make the farm hers, came together and gave her the opportunity to write the script and then direct Dare to be Wild, released spring 2016.
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DARE TO BE WILD, is a romantic adventure based on the true story of two young environmentalists, whose quest is to show the world the power of wild nature as they reach for their dreams – one garden, one vast desert, at a time.This film is available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube!
In This Podcast:
Becoming a scriptwriter had been a goal she set to the side while she worked her way into corporate finance law. However, when Vivienne DeCourcy heard the story of a young award winning garden designer’s journey, she found her way back. She shares how searching for a garden design consult then filled her need to connect to nature and introduced her to an amazing woman with an amazing story. This is the background of how the film Dare to Be Wild was completed.
Listen in and learn about:
- Growing up in Ireland with a father who was an Army Colonel and an English teacher
- How she became a lawyer instead of a playwright
- Not being willing to sell her early scripts
- Her first movie is called Dare To Be Wild
- Wanting to build a garden at her home and the designs that left her wanting
- Getting to know Mary Reynolds and getting an amazing garden design
- How Mary earned a gold medal in the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show
- Becoming a female film director
- Grasping the wild and inviting nature into our space
“Let’s throw a lifeline to the wilderness” – a quote by Mary Reynolds in the Film “Dare to Be Wild”
- A beautiful description of her space
- The organic aspect of the gardens
- The negativity that surprised her about a movie that was beautiful and inspiring
- Being around long enough to see the changes in perspective
- Amazing feedback that she has been getting, including a standing ovation from teenage boys
- Her other projects she is working on now
As well as:
- Her failure – Encountering the cronyism in the film world
- Her success – Wanting all her life to make films that illuminate solutions for humanity and making this film
- Her drive – wanting to create films that show what ordinary people acting together in the furtherance of a great goal can achieve
- Her advice – Do the best you can to take power to yourself, and see how you can have a forest garden of your own
Vivienne’s Book recommendations:
Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution
Mary Reynolds book: The Garden Awakening: Designs to Nurture Our Land and Ourselves
How to find the movie, or reach Vivienne:
Dare to Be Wild Movie: on Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube, and iTunes
Click here for the Trailer
Email: vivdecourcy@gmail.com
Producer’s Note: Mary Reynolds podcast interview is available HEREUrbanFarm.org/DareToBeWild
This episode was sponsored by Health IQ. Visit them at healthiq.com/urbanfarm to support our show and to see if you qualify for lower insurance rates.
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