Meet Nathalie Zagar Abitbol, a trilingual producer and script supervisor whose passion for storytelling bridges cultures and disciplines. Born in Mexico City to French parents, Nathalie grew up immersed in languages, arts, and creativity, a foundation that continues to shape her work behind the camera.
After excelling in performing arts and earning a degree in Communications and Performing Arts, she moved to the U.S., graduating Summa Cum Laude from the New York Film Academy. Mentored by industry veteran Randi Feldman, Nathalie has produced and supervised over 30 projects, including award-winning features and mini-series.
From supporting live productions at Universal Studios to reviewing emerging films for the HollyShorts Film Festival, she approaches every project with curiosity, precision, and heart. Nathalie’s journey is driven by a love of learning, collaboration, and the unwavering desire to bring stories to life.
Before we chat about Producing, what other entertainment jobs are you trained in? I have worked in many other departments in film and have worked on massive events logistics. I have had the luck to be a part of a few short films acting, doing wardrobe, hair and makeup, also in some occasions 2nd Assistant Camera.
The other job I tend to do frequently along with Producing is Script Supervising, because I also like to keep myself challenged while being on set, making sure that everything flows well and keeping track of the notes and the continuity of the film that trusted me enough to hire me to get the job done. I feel very satisfied when it is all done and properly completed. On the other hand, I have worked for HollyShorts Film Festival, which is an Oscar-qualifying festival that is hosted at the TCL Chinese theater every year. I was blessed to be a part of their team, both to review the films that were selected for the festival, as well as helping organizing the monthly screenings and the event itself with red carpet and closing ceremonies.
Wearing multiple hats is a necessity in independent filmmaking! What do you feel have been the pros and cons of pursuing your producing career? I think that the biggest pro of pursuing my career is to see the films I worked on succeed. There is nothing more satisfying than to see my teams winning. I love getting involved with all their stories and enjoy so much being a part of all their processes to make these stories come to life. Every time I take on a new project it’s like immersing myself into a new world, a new situation, a new universe even; and I really want all the projects to do well, to be shown to the entire world.
Now, I would not necessarily call this a con, but it is a lot of work and a lot of time to put into for each project. There are so many things to do and paperwork to get done before anything can start happening, and some people get overwhelmed. Also, we are working with people’s budgets (in the case of independent filmmakers) or bigger companies’ reputation and money, so we need to be extremely careful and transparent with everything that we do in order to have everything flowing smoothly. In this industry, reputation means a whole lot and if you start doing your work in sketchy ways and not responding when needed, then it is very easy for people to mark you as someone they don’t want to work with. To the contrary, if you do everything well and handle things with care, then people will recommend you and want to maintain the working relationship longer.
Have you worked on a film that you are particularly proud of? I have had the good fortune to work on so many productions that have scooped up awards and industry recognition, but I think “Exsanguination” is one I recently enjoyed working on. The film follows the story of a lost mother, who after months of searching, her daughter Lily agrees to accompany her father James to a psychic medium in a desperate attempt to find her. While in the middle of the medium, Alexandra’s process of trying to find her mother, Lily grows more and more suspicious of both the methods being used and the motives for both her father and the medium throughout the night.
For this project I was an Associate Producer and the Script supervisor!
How did you get involved? I had already worked in the past with this team. The director is such a sweet and kind person, and I always appreciate to be taken on to their projects. I believe “Exsanguination” was maybe the third or fourth project I had done with them. I was called to be a part of the team and was sent right away the script. I thought it was a very intriguing and scary story and of course I was curious as to how it would be developed. When production began and we saw all the small elements of the film come to life, I was impressed and definitely not disappointed in the footage we were getting. I was certain that the film would be successful and get very far.
Can you share any fun facts from the set during the making of the film? Yes! We were shooting in a very old and antique house which is also a landmark in Glendale. There were lots of taxidermy animals all over the place, but particularly there was this one goat that looked like a little man standing in the corner of the living room. It was wearing some sort of little petticoat and looked like a proper sir. I was sitting next to the First Assistant Camera and the monitor to see what was being shot, and as a joke we started imitating the goat’s noises saying that the shot was out of focus, so we would say like goats “foooocus”, so the First AC was laughing at the idea of the goat telling him how to do his job better.
There were lots of fun trinkets all over the house and if you took the time to look with detail all over the place you would find so many hidden gems. It was one of the most interesting locations I have ever had the pleasure to shoot in. I would most definitely like to film another project in that home.
We can’t wait to see the house! How can we see the movie? Actually, this film is enjoying its film festival circuit so stand by for news on its public release soon!
What’s coming up next for you? I have a few projects still in the brainstorming stage, that I’m confident they’ll come to life. Three films I worked on have had incredible success on the festival circuit, winning awards and gaining a lot of recognition – it helps when your resume boasts award-winners!
Yes, it really does! How can people follow your journey? Thank you! Aside from IMDb I am on Instagram
@dailyscriptie.
