Patricia Riggen is best known for directing the 2007 film Under the Same Moon and the 2011 Disney Channel original film Lemonade Mouth.
20 Facts About Patricia Riggen
2.
Patricia Riggen had many jobs up and into her early 20s, she worked as a writer for her local Guadalajara newspaper, worked for producer Bertha Navarro, and collected research on the death industry for a Guillaremeo Del Toro documentary.
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Patricia Riggen moved to New York City, where she received her master's degree in directing and screenwriting at Columbia University.
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Patricia Riggen noted, "I had to write and direct all my exercises and English is not my first language, so I started writing all these little movies that had no dialogue".
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Unhappy with producing, Patricia Riggen moved to New York to pursue a career in writing.
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Patricia Riggen found herself as a director after directing one exercise.
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Patricia Riggen partnered up with writer and producer Ligiah Villabobos for the creation of Under the Same Moon.
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Patricia Riggen and Villabobos are both Mexican-born but relocated to the United States, and after taking many years to embrace their careers, they became extremely passionate about the work they produced.
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Funding for the binational film Under the Same Moon, which was started in an American studio before Patricia Riggen made the decision to direct it independently, was done through both a funding from the Mexican government, and American financers.
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Patricia Riggen has continued to direct feature films, with her next two being: Revolucion and Girl in Progress starring Eva Mendes and Patricia Arquette.
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Patricia Riggen believed Girl in Progress, could be a crossover movie that attracted many audiences as a coming of age story with a female lead that just happens to be Latina led, but found out it would be marketed exclusively to a Hispanic audience.
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Patricia Riggen worked with this audience she was given and casting actresses who had their own fanbases, including Espinoza Paz.
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Patricia Riggen jumped right in, directing 3 episodes of the Amazon TV Series Jack Ryan, starring John Krasinski.
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Patricia Riggen said that she was able to explore new genres by working on episodic TV.
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Patricia Riggen found that she was very comfortable shooting the aggressive fighting sequences and focusing on a sense of character and performance.
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In 2021, Patricia Riggen joined Danny Strong on his Hulu mini-series, Dopesick.
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The biggest challenge Patricia Riggen faced while filming Dopesick was shooting amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
18.
Patricia Riggen said it was vital that young people be aware of what is happening and the risks involved with addictive prescription drugs.
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Patricia Riggen publicly encourages women in film to claim their space in the male-dominated film industry.
20.
Patricia Riggen is married to cinematographer Checco Varese, with whom she has a daughter.