Never Stop Creating: The Many Lives of Emily Holt — Ep. 14

What happens when you refuse to stop creating?

For Emily Holt, the answer is… a lot.

She's a teacher, theater artist, costumer, filmmaker, festival volunteer, performer, and author—and somehow manages to keep finding another creative challenge to say yes to.

In Episode 14 of The Neveready Podcast, Emily sits down with Christian to talk about a creative journey that stretches back decades, from her early days in Southern Utah theater and filmmaking to teaching, costuming at Tuacahn, working on film sets, volunteering with FMASU, writing her own stories, and continuing to challenge herself creatively.

Emily talks about moving to St. George as a child, finding her way into theater, and the teachers and mentors who helped light the fire that eventually became a lifelong creative career.

She also shares stories from her years in the film world, including early experiences on productions such as Virtual Obsession, Meet the Deedles, The Right Temptation, Johnny Tsunami, High School Musical 2, and Down and Derby.

But Emily isn't content simply to participate in other people's productions.

She has stepped behind the camera to write and direct, including her award-winning 2023 guerrilla short Yule Be Canceled, which took home both First Place and the Audience Choice award. She followed that with Dust and Determination, a western short that deliberately pushed her outside her comfort zone.

And that's one of the biggest themes of this conversation:

You can't grow if you're afraid to try something new.

We also get into Emily's love of costumes—including her work with Tuacahn, her vintage clothing collection, and the fact that she actually made her own wedding dress.

Emily discusses the Broadway Teacher Workshop, the friendships and professional connections she's made through it, seeing Broadway performances, and the unique experience of watching people she once taught go on to perform professionally.

And, because this is The Neveready Podcast, we couldn't let her off the hook without talking about some of the bigger names she's encountered through Southern Utah's film and theater community—including Doug Jones.

Emily's response?

She'd absolutely love to put him in one of her shorts.

And apparently… he makes amazing bread. 😂

But perhaps the most inspiring part of the conversation comes when Emily talks about recently putting herself out there in an entirely different way: entering a runway competition with the dream of walking at New York Fashion Week. She made it all the way to fourth place in the quarterfinals

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Her attitude says everything:

“You're not dead yet. It's okay, you can still dream!”

From theater classrooms to movie sets, costume sheds to Broadway stages, Emily Holt is proof that creativity doesn't have an expiration date.

Never stop creating. Never stop learning. And never be afraid to try something you've never done before.

In This Episode:

-Emily's journey to Southern Utah

-Discovering theater and performing

-Becoming a teacher

-The influence of Russ Saxton

-More than 20 years of creative collaboration

-Southern Utah's guerrilla filmmaking community

-Working with Brandon Tippets and Lonie Black

-Costuming and her work with Tuacahn

-Making her own wedding dress

-Yule Be Canceled https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njjs2cgGWBo&t=19s

-Dust and Determination https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTbqQN2bv8s&t=12s

-Acting and directing

-Her experiences on major film productions

-FMASU and volunteering at local film festivals

-Meeting filmmakers and Hollywood talent

-Doug Jones and the mysterious bread

-Broadway Teacher Workshop

-Writing a book

-Creating a murder mystery musical for her students

-Her next filmmaking ambitions

-Trying to become the next runway star

-Why criticism and failure can make us better artists

-And why you're never too old to dream

🎙️ The Neveready Podcast

Real People. Real Work.

Nothing truly great is ever “ready.”