Even if you don't know his name, you've probably seen one of his films. Stacy Peralta was a professional skateboarder for Californian skate pioneers, the Z-Boys, in the seventies. But, these days, he's more commonly known for being the creator and director of a 2001 award-winning cult documentary, Dogtown and Z-Boys. He also directed surf doc Riding Giants and wrote the screenplay for Lords of Dogtown.

But his film-making career began as a fortunate accident in 1983, when he stepped in to shoot a film on a shoestring budget with the Bones Brigade, a team of skaters (including Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen) that Stacy managed in the eighties. It went on to sell ‘30,000 to 40,000’ copies. 

Now 64, Stacy is set to release his latest film, The Yin & Yang of Gerry Lopez, based on the life and learnings of the renowned surfer. While it's everyone's dream to make a career out of their passion, he's found that even those at the top of their game need to take on less creative projects to be able to fund the work that they really love to do.

From grinding to the grind

‘I still had my [skateboard company Powell-Peralta], still [made] my videos. I got a number of calls from producers in Hollywood to do second-unit direction work on motion pictures. Let's say there's a piece of action in it – the director of that picture isn't comfortable directing that action, they bring me in and I direct that action. I wasn't thrilled doing the work, but I was learning a lot.

‘I wanted to make my own films. In that seven-year period, I'd take three months and direct a TV show, then I'd take a month and a half off to write a screenplay. Then I get back on a TV show. I'd do that for five years. I wrote five screenplays – they all went nowhere. But I learned how to write and do all this stuff. So, finally, at the seven-year mark, I conceived of doing the Dogtown [and the Z-Boys] documentary – that was the first time I got to do my own project.’

On commercial versus personal work

‘Commercial work is how I make a living. It took a lot of years to learn how to do that, [to] work with agencies and somehow feel I could take this idea and walk with it. I was much better with my own ideas. I've grown as a film-maker doing that kind of work so much more, because there are budgets, I don't have to steal locations, I don't have to run from the police. It's a lot easier. 

‘So, I make my living doing commercial film-making. I don't make my living doing these films. I wish I could, but there's not enough money in them. Getting financing is such a mystery. Technology is shrinking so much now that you can have a camera and an editing system in your house. You have to have an example of what you can do to show someone what you can do and what you want. You're getting them to put money into your dream, so you have to show them it!’

Advice for young film-makers

‘A lot of people spend their day looking at their phones. Young people have to realize we all have a dream inside of us – everyone has a dream. Our dreams are very quiet and the only way they come to life is if we put our attention on them. If we don't, they're never going to manifest. But you have to live with the unknowing of [your dream] for a long time. Dreams don't come to us fully formed – they come in fragments and pieces. They slowly assemble, but it takes a tremendous amount of attention to do it.’

Read the full interview, including insights on the early days in the skateboarding business.

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Many of the estimated 2 million transgender people in the US face discrimination at work. More than half of transgender employees say they're not comfortable being open about their gender in the workplace – and two-thirds stay in the closet in professional interactions outside of their own companies, according to a recent study. Here, Sam Marshall, co-founder of diversity training organization Be Trans Aware, shares how businesses can support trans workers.

01. Get educated.

Bring in speakers or organizations who can deliver workshops on trans inclusion. Online training courses like High Speed Training are relatively inexpensive and take only an hour or so to complete, but these won't be personalized to your business. ‘At the end of our training course, we bring on a [panel] of transgender people to support with any specific questions,’ says Sam. Your local LGBTQ+ organization should have a ton of resources to help you out.

02. Fly the flag.

Displaying the pale blue, pale pink and white colors of the transgender flag has a big impact – whether on a flagpole, window sticker or on your website. ‘That flag is one that a trans person would spot at a thousand paces,’ says Sam, ‘When I see a rainbow, I know that place is for me.’ On Google Business, you can also mark your website as a transgender-safe space or as LGBTQ-friendly. Having a diversity and inclusion statement or a policy statement on your website is also something that potential customers and job applicants will look at – as well as the levels of representation in your marketing and website images.

03. Get the language right.

‘Seeing that you're using pronouns is vital for the community,’ says Sam. If someone who's transgender needs to put their pronouns in their email signature or wear a pronoun badge because people keep misgendering them, it makes them stand out. ‘If it's normalized that the whole company is using pronouns, then they feel welcome,’ says Sam. Check that your language isn't gendered across registration forms, newsletter sign-ups or surveys.

For team members who are slow to pick up the habit, try supporting them – not attacking them. Sam suggests a disarming sentence to help bring people around: ‘We have gender-diverse people working here. Keri [Be Trans Aware's other co-founder] uses they/them pronouns. It's something we support as a business because we want to be inclusive, and we want a happy team.’