Alumni Profile: Tisha Robinson Daly
THE HIGHS OF LIFE
By Robert Delaney
Tisha Robinson-Daly is a writer and director based in the suburbs of Philadelphia, whose lifelong passion for storytelling came to a point when she read about the death of a communication tower climber. All of her work to that time led her to advocate for the climbers, who risk their lives servicing the technological world.
She first entered this community by developing her narrative feature script, HIGH: “I just thought: this is an interesting group of people, an interesting subject. At that point there was no advocacy work.”
Her activism developed organically: “I was getting to know this community, they welcomed me in. I was talking to climbers every single day, and climbers were dying.”
As she learned more about their world, she saw it as her mission to advocate for this unsung group of people: “I have tried to be very respectful and responsible to that duty, which is to give a voice to this community when they haven’t had one, and to bring up some issues that really need to be talked about within our society.”
Tisha attended Stowe’s 2017 Stowe Narrative Lab, where she received a SAGindie Fellowship Honorable Mention. Following Stowe, Tisha was named one of the TOP 30 Writers by Roadmap Writers, she became a Sundance and Knight Foundation Fellow, and the recipient of the 2018 and 2019 Sundance/Knight Foundation Production grant.
Tisha returned to Stowe to develop her script further at Stowe’s July 2020 Remote Writers’ Retreat. She received a fee reduction to attend the Retreat, supported by Stowe’s NEA Opportunity Gap Grant. As she explains: “It was at Stowe that I feel like it all started. These are people who I am still in contact with for the last three years, who are continuing to fight with me to advocate for these climbers and amplify their voice.”
“It was at Stowe that I feel like it all started. These are people who I am still in contact with for the last three years, who are continuing to fight with me to advocate for these climbers and amplify their voice.”
Tisha is now preparing to direct HIGH, and was selected for the 2020 Sundance Directors Collab to develop the wide visual and emotional range of the film: “When I think of HIGH cinematically there is all this spectacle, just imagining these views and these vistas. But really the heart of the story is the intimate fractured relationships within a family” With her power as an artist, Tisha is channeling her vision for HIGH into a potent catalyst for change. “This isn’t just a film, it’s a movement. People are interested in this community, climbers are dying, we need to talk about it.”
Learn a bit more about the world of HIGH at https://www.instagram.com/high_the_film/ . We are proud to be working with Tisha to bring her vision to the world.
Robert Delany is an Academic Intern with Stowe Story Labs. He graduated in 2020 with an MA in cinema studies from NYU and was a Program Associate for the 2020 Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, where he now conducts interviews for their “Filmmaker Spotlight Series”. Robert also writes for Split Tooth Media, an independent film and music publication based in Portland, Oregon. He is currently acting as a researcher on the film ASCO: WITHOUT PERMISSION, directed by Travis Gutierrez Senger and produced by North of Now. He was also an Office Assistant at Senger’s production company, Asa Nisi Masa Films, where he focused on the development of numerous projects. Robert graduated in 2018 with a BS in film and TV from Boston University’s School of Communication. Robert Delany was selected for this academic internship to focus on interviews and other writing for The Story Board, Stowe Story Labs’ bi-monthly newsletter. He will also assist in the establishment of a curated short film platform for Stowe Alumni.
