FAM Welcomes Autumn McAlpin to the Board of Directors
Please welcome FAMs newest board member, Autumn McAlpin. Autumn has been a longtime donor, volunteer and supporter of FAM. We are ecstatic to have Autumn join our board and look forward to her continued contributions to our mission! Get to know Autumn by reading below:
AUTUMN McALPIN is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and owner of Side Gig Productions. She wrote, directed, and produced the 2018 feature film, Miss Arizona, which premiered at Geena Davis’ Bentonville Film Fest where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature. The female empowerment film about five women in crisis (and inspired by women she met at Gilchrist Family Shelter) enjoyed a successful festival run with sold out audiences across the country and received IMDB’s Reframe stamp of approval for gender-balanced films. Miss Arizona was released theatrically and on streaming/VOD in 2019.
Autumn co-wrote and produced the 2015 feature film, Waffle Street, starring James Lafferty and Danny Glover, which also won several awards on the festival circuit and was released worldwide by MarVista Entertainment. She also wrote, produced, and directed award-winning short films Shadow and Another Time, as well as several PSA campaigns, and is the author of the best-selling graduation gift book, Real World 101: A Survival Guide to Life After High School and the literary memoir, But Jesus: A Conversation. A graduate of USC’s Master of Professional Writing program, Autumn’s play, In Front of the Children, won first place in USC’s 2015 Writing for Stage and Screen Competition. Autumn is a member of Women in Film, Film Fatales, and the Alliance of Women Directors.
Beyond creative storytelling, Autumn is a mother of four who runs the nonprofit Aspire Higher, which connects families to volunteerism causes. Autumn and her husband Michael are committed donors and consultants for the nonprofit Encircle, which provides safe spaces for LGBTQ+ kids. A longtime volunteer, donor, and community liaison for Family Assistance Ministries in San Clemente, CA, Autumn is passionate about creating a more inclusive and compassionate world from the ground up, one connection at a time.