Netflix Producer Meets with THS Students

It would take around 2,000 hours to watch the movie Jaws 1,000 times. And yet, blogger Sasha Stone did so and relished every minute of it. This movie expert recently zoomed with THS students to discuss her love of movies and her recent Netflix episode, Summer of the Shark.

Summer of the Shark is part of the series Voir that takes a look at cinema throughout the years. Each episode features one visual essayist; each person focuses on a specific movie that was an important part of their childhood. For Stone, it was Jaws.

Ms. Sullivan, the THS teacher who organized this interview, wanted her students to have a hands-on experience in English class. Her AP students were tasked with analyzing Stone’s skillful use of rhetoric in the episode.

Bringing their questions to class, Sullivan and her students had an in-depth conversation with Stone. Specifically, Stone spoke of her stream of consciousness writing style and interest in minimalistic voice.

Rhetorical technique was not the only topic discussed in the interview, however. Stone also expressed her love of all things film and her life leading up to this point.

This obsession with movies started in her childhood. Stone explains, “I felt like I was escaping a chaotic home life to disappear into the dark movie theater for a few hours.” 

From this young love, Stone realized the beauty of film. In 1999, she started her very successful Oscar blog, AwardsDaily. 

She is also currently working on a novel: in a world, almost 80 years in the future, people only have the option of watching one movie.

She got the opportunity to create her Netflix episode because of her skill in writing. Pitching over 15 ideas for the show, Stone finally landed on Jaws: “it was a movie that shaped my own childhood, but also that of the producer David Fincher and the director, David Prior.”

Stone brought much of her insight of the Oscar world into the interview. She believes that blockbuster films have hurt the movie industry, with people being obsessed with making money.

Despite this ongoing problem, Stone reminded the class that we must all continue to move forward like the mighty sharks she loves.