Somers Grad Continues on the Path as Filmmaker

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Spencer Santini got her start as a production assistant on the set of Bakeaway Camp with Martha Stewart, graduated to production coordinator on Season 9 of the Netflix version of Queer Eye and is working as a producer for an upcoming pilot on HGTV. But her first film credit comes much closer to home.

Inspired by an ESPN 30 for 30 called The Undefeated, the 2015 Somers graduate approached Coach DeMatteo in hopes of documenting the football team’s pursuit of a third straight sectional championship.

She got the green light and mostly stayed the course to gather content. A lot of male friends on the football, lacrosse and soccer teams, she remembered, “I felt like these guys always opened up to me and talked to me about what was going on in their heads and their lives.”

So the senior followed the team around to practice and games and frequently went one on one with the players. “I really got to the heart of some of these guys,” said Santini.

A loss to Rye in the finals was not the happy ending she hoped for, but the final score didn’t take away from the young filmmaker’s memorable win. “I had these intimate moments that were isolated,” she revealed. “I learned things about my guy friends that I would never have learned in a pack.”

Nonetheless, the documentary was screened at the high school and then as a fundraiser after one of the football moms had a stroke. The rewards haven’t stopped coming either. “The guys still reached out to me,” she revealed.

But it was another Somers guy who put Santini on this path. Her older brother started picking up a camera and being an unpaid production assistant came second nature. “The little sister in me followed him around and wanted to be part of his filmmaking,” Santini recalled.

Props, decorations, camera work and whatever else, Santini picked up more mentors at the high school. Christine Connolly in particular, the art teacher encouraged the creative to always think outside the box and never wait for others when it comes to vision. “If you have a camera, and you want to create, then go out and create,” Santini conveyed the wisdom.

The foundation proved prescient. “You weren’t sitting in a classroom taking notes. You were going out, finding stories, working with groups and figuring out how you were going to produce short films of your own,” she reflected on her time at Chapman University.

Leaving California for New York City after graduation, Santini said that she hit the ground running. Starting as a production assistant, she did more than just get coffee. “You’re kind of a pack mule, a jack of all trades and do everything to assist every department on the shoot,” she said.

14 hours days, all the learning brought her to the next level. “I worked my way up to production management and production coordinator for companies like, Hit and Run, Left to Right and iTV,” Santini said.

Now immersed, this past year had her working as a segment producer for Worst Ex Ever and a true crime show on Netflix. Working alongside the story producer, Santini reverts back to Somers. “You’re helping to create an environment where people feel comfortable to tell their story,” she said.

Her end game is producing, though. “My strength lies in putting a team together,” Santini explained.

So she gets herself out there by networking and attending film festivals. “It’s figuring out where your people are,” she assured.

A full time job inside a full time job, New York City provides the fuel. “New York is a place filled with so much energy and that helps me to continue to want to work,” Santini clarified.

As for the Somers students looking to follow in her footsteps, Santini lays out the regimen for success. “If people know that you work hard, that you’re willing to put in the time and energy into your craft, you will always have work,” she concluded.

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