Floriane Andersen | Building a Sustainable Creative Career

In this episode of No Map Included, I sit down with my friend, collaborator, and Artak Pictures co-founder Floriane Andersen to talk about something we've both been thinking about a lot lately: boundaries.

When you're starting out, saying yes to everything can feel like the only option. But eventually there comes a point where every "yes" starts costing you something, your time, your energy, your health, or the work that matters most to you.

We talk about how producing changed the way we think about responsibility, why ambition and competitiveness aren't the same thing, and how learning to protect your time can actually make you more intentional about the career you're building.

We also pull back the curtain on the film festival circuit, what people see on social media versus what it's actually like behind the scenes, and how Floriane approached this year's festival run very differently after burning out the year before.

More than anything, this conversation is about redefining success. Not by asking, "How much can I accomplish?" but by asking, "What kind of life am I actually building?"

If you've ever struggled to say no, found yourself constantly chasing the next opportunity, or wondered how to build a creative career without losing yourself in the process, I think you'll find something in this conversation.

Connect with us!
Floriane Andersen

Yessi Sanchez

Artak Pictures
https://artakpictures.com

If this conversation resonated with you, I'd genuinely love to hear your thoughts. You can leave a comment, send me a message, or subscribe to No Map Included wherever you listen to podcasts. Your messages often shape future conversations, and I'd love to know what part of this episode stayed with you.

About the Podcast

No Map Included documents the process of building stories in real time: from proof of concept to premiere.
Hosted by filmmaker and producer Yessi Sanchez, the podcast explores the work behind the work and the paths that don’t show up on IMDb.

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to No Map Included. I'm your host, Yessi Sanchez, and this podcast is about becoming a new version of yourself, the moments where a career ends, an identity shifts, or a version of you that you knew is simply over. Every episode is a conversation with someone who lived through one of those moments and came out the other side as someone new.

If you're in the middle of something like that right now, you're in the right place. And today's guest is my friend, collaborator, and co-founder of Artak Pictures, Floriane Anderson.

Floriane is an award-winning actress, producer, and director working across the US and Europe in both French and English. What I wanted to explore in this conversation wasn't her resume. It was something I think almost every creative struggles with eventually: boundaries.

How do you decide what deserves your time and energy? How do you say no to opportunities you once would have said yes to? And how do you protect yourself from burning out while still pursuing the work you love?

We also talk about the film festival circuit, the pressure of being in constant motion, and what it looks like to choose the life you want, not just the career you've built.

Here is my conversation with Floriane Anderson.

welcome, Flo. 

Thank 

you. 

Really glad to be here with you. 

Thank you. So yeah, like I said, saying no is really a hard thing, especially as creatives, especially as women. And it's funny because acting school taught us to just take everything, take every gig that we could get, and I feel like that is a really I don't know.

At the beginning of your career, you kinda have to do that, but it teaches you to have a non-sustainable career. Does that make sense? Do you feel the same way? 

Absolutely. You're being told to say yes to everything- Yeah ... because you don't wanna lose any opportunity, and also you don't really have a network yet.

Yeah. So saying yes to anything and everything allows you to build a community, so it is very tempting, and it's also highly encouraged. So yes, it is definitely something I've been told to do, but not just in acting school. I think as women, we are really incentivized to be agreeing and agreeable and just people-pleasing is part of our core, our DNA, I feel, as women.

And when you enter an industry that is so reliant on network and social interactions it's becoming your, like, go-to response. It's a yes before you even think. 100%. 

It's 

You're constantly afraid that you're gonna lose an opportunity, so say yes first and then think and maybe try to find a solution to do it all.

And when did that start for you, starting to realize that you need to set boundaries?

I think it's when I realized that I was acting less and less and less because it's an incredibly competitive industry, and there are so many actors out there, so the one way you can stand out is by being an actor plus. And so you can do this and that on top of it. And if you don't pay attention to it soon enough, people are gonna know you for whatever else you're doing different than acting.

And I think I started realizing that my path was, like, so far from what I initially set it out to be when I was not acting anymore. 

Do you think starting a production company and focusing on producing had a big impact on you then? 

Absolutely. And it's funny you say that because there is a similar path.

I think the four of us in the company we created called Artak Pictures came from the will and the motivation to create something of our own when we wouldn't have the need to be approved by anybody. So we wanted to create our own work, but in order to create our own work, we needed to have the trust of people, so we started producing for other people, and we started saying yes to other people to produce their projects.

And I think along the way, I'm talking for myself, but I lost my way because you become really good at doing it, and you forget that initially you started it for the four of us. And I think it is dangerous, and it is really important to remind yourself why you started in the first place, because you can end up producing full time and not acting at all.

And so that was a wonderful tool and opportunity, but now I try to remind myself the why I started it and to refocus and reshift things for it to make sense, like projects I really believe in and I can be part of, but that are also nurturing my acting and directing career. 

Do you think even though it took you away a little bit from acting, that it has taught you a lot about saying no or creating boundaries?

Like, did you have those same boundaries when you were an actor or Setting the boundaries for you as an actor is less important... not less important, but you are willing to say yes to more things than producing? 

I think producing took it to the next level, where this is not just about me involved.

So as an actor, you say yes to everything, but if you end up saying no, you're not disappointing anyone else than yourself and the person who asked you. When you start a production company, you have so many people relying on you, and the responsibility of saying yes or no impacts all the people around you.

So those decisions are not to take lightly. So yes it really just, like, magnified the issue because I think the four of us are really eager to help out, and we wanna be part of something. But saying yes to a project has so many different implications, and I think that's a lesson I learned the hard way because I realized that I said yes to things maybe I should have said no to.

And saying no then, once you realize that, is extremely complicated. 

So hard, yes. I feel similarly. I don't think I realized when we started how long the projects are gonna be and that you really have to have the same level... Like, the values have to be similar, I feel like, with your co-producers. Us four, we do have those same values. We have similar backgrounds. We are a great team, but then deciding who to work with long term is a really hard thing, and I feel like I should have gone with my gut a lot more. People do tell you, like, you gotta be careful who you choose to work with, and because development phase is so long, but it's different when you're actually in it, and then you realize it, and then you're like, "Oh, gosh, I do have to be the barrier of bad news."

Yeah, and those are mistakes you kind of have to experience. 

Mm-hmm. Y- 

if people are telling you, you're not gonna really fully comprehend what it means until you make this mistake, and you, you learn from it. Yeah, it's trial and errors. 

Yeah, 100%.

One more question about boundaries as a creative. Do you think producing forced you to become better at protecting your time and energy?

Definitely. I think once there are people in your team, it's not a decision that you're making just for yourself. So it's not just your time, your energy.

A lot of people are working on their time, sometimes for free because they believe in the project, so it forces you to think twice before you make a decision. 

100%, yeah. In that case, have you gotten better at recognizing your limits? 

Yes. I think, again, I had to make my mistakes. I think going on tour, being on set, doing a lot of things that take time and you're constantly with people really taught me a lesson about, like, conserving my energy, my time and choosing wisely, yes.

Do you think ambition sometimes makes people overwrite their own capacity? What happens when your body or mind starts telling you the pace isn't sustainable anymore? 

It's interesting because I wouldn't say that's the ambition that leads you. It's more the competitiveness- ... of this industry that pushes you to not listen to your body and to know when to say stop.

But if anything, I think putting more boundaries allowed me to be more ambitious about my own career. So ambition is more about what is it that I really care about and where is it I wanna go, and making sure there's nothing in the way of that. And so refining my ambitions, allowed me to, like, set my boundaries, I think.

That is so interesting. What I hear is that the competitiveness is external, but your ambition actually focuses in on what you really wanna put it to. Like, you're being more intentional because you are ambitious. I never thought about it that way, and I think it makes so much sense, yeah, that those are two different things.

Yeah. 

Because when you first said it, I was like, "Mm, competitiveness and ambition might be similar," but no, it's actually not so similar. The 

competitiveness implies that there are other people competing with you, and so there is that, that time pressure of, like, being the best. But it is always in comparison.

Ambition, for me, is like being competitive with yourself and just pushing yourself to be better for yourself, no matter what happens outside of what you set yourself to do. 

Yeah, I love that. Do you feel like you still compare yourself to other actors, or do you think that's something that you automatically don't do anymore?

I wouldn't say I never do it. I would lie, uh, if I said that it didn't affect me at all. But more and more, it is about my journey and am I proud of myself? Is, is my younger self proud of what I have achieved? And also my mental health is so much better uh, when I stop comparing myself to others.

Yes, yes. I'm just asking that because I just had a conversation with a friend from Switzerland... she's not in this industry, but we were just talking about comparing ourselves, and I was like, "Oh, it's interesting, because here you are forced to compare yourself maybe at the beginning of your career a lot more, but then you learn that is very unhealthy for you, and you start to not do it anymore."

It's not attractive. People can tell when you're doing something for yourself. 

Mm-hmm. 

It is incredibly aspiring and attractive. When you're doing something to look like someone else people can tell. They sense it. Uh, they- Mm ... sense it's not genuine or authentic, and the more you're doing it for yourself, the more people wanna be on board with you and, and wanna be part of what you're doing, because it's just fun to do something for yourself.

Yeah. 

Yeah, I feel like in my 20s, I did everything for the outcome of things. Like, oh, okay, I'm gonna say yes to a certain acting job because the outcome is gonna be this and that, and maybe I can meet other people that could give me more acting opportunities. It's always outcome-based, but centering it around yourself and your ambition is... I don't think I have internalized it in those words, but I am gonna steal that.

I love it. Yeah. Yes.

So talking a little bit more about your own projects, I mean, there are so many projects we'd probably both love to work on but at some point, choosing your own work means saying no to other opportunities. Was that shift difficult for you?

Very difficult, because you have to say no to things that are not yours.

And so it means like, "Oh, I think my projects are worth taking the time and energy," and you have to have a lot of self-confidence in that, and it's so much easier to jump on board of something that already has momentum and that is, like, incredibly attractive, and to have, the courage to say like, "Hey, maybe my project is not there yet, but no one else is gonna take care of it unless I start taking care of it."

So it is extremely, extremely difficult to make the time for yourself and your projects, but this is something I try to do and I'm getting better at. 

That's really good. I also love that we do take care of each other's projects, too. Like, if we are invested in someone else's project, then it is one of ours, and I think that is, uh, really valuable to have a community like that.

Yeah, I'm really excited about your project

thank you. 

You mentioned film festivals before. I wanna talk a little bit more about that because film festivals really seem glamorous, exciting, people romanticize them, but what was your experience like last year? 

Complete burnout. It was brutal. And it was, as beautiful as it was brutal, I think, yes, people don't realize how taxing physically, emotionally, and financially it is, because you see people, like, walking the red carpet in beautiful dresses, and unless you're at a certain place in your life where you have an entire team behind you we're doing independent films, and so a lot of it is self-funded.

Going away for three months and touring from, like, countries to countries, it is incredibly hard and I kind of lost myself, in the way I was so focused on promoting the projects and trying to find the next investment opportunity and the next, like, green light for our films that I wouldn't sleep, I wouldn't, like, take care of myself, and I came back completely broken because then, like, where do you go from there?

It makes you feel like, "Oh my God we're doing so much," and you come back and nothing happened. You're back to square one. You're never back to square one, but it's how it feels. 

Mm-hmm. 

So, I think it really made me realize that I needed to be more cautious about my capacity as a human being to take on so much work, because yes, there are like, again, the screenings, the parties, but there is like, you wake up at like 6:00 a.m.

and you go and you have meetings and you try to, like, make it happen while you're posting on Instagram all the cool things about showing your film, and it's, it's a wonderful opportunity and it's something great, but there is this dichotomy between, like, what people see is the top of the iceberg, and, like, the amount of work, and also, because it's, like, a short amount of time and you have a lot of people in the same place, you wanna make the most of it.

So you're like, "I'll sleep later. This is the opportunity to meet as many people as possible." And this is not sustainable. It's okay if you do that for a couple weeks, but three months of it, I was the shadow of myself. And this year we also had wonderful festivals, but this time I really took it the other way, maybe even too slow, but I really made sure I was protecting myself first and then making sure that, like, I was also having a good time.

It's... You're going there to celebrate something, and let's not forget that we're doing this because we love it.

It is understandable. We had so much momentum with Artak Pictures that- It felt like a now or never situation. And thankfully at one point we were three people, um, at least, you know, and we were able to tackle different meetings.

It was still very tiring though. I don't know how you did it when you were at the festivals by yourself because I couldn't be at all the other festivals unfortunately. Financially that was just not possible for me. But then again, like I said, it is understandable because We started the year off with Wish You Were Here premiering in New York, and then I Live Here Now going to so many really cool festivals, and then starting this year with Perfect going to South by Southwest.

The results that you see basically from the three months being at film festivals versus South by Southwest, do you feel like there is a difference because you were maybe more intentional, or do you think there was no difference, or yeah?

Oh, no, it was night and day. I, first thing, I took less meetings. I didn't pack my day with meetings, and that allowed, like, some spontaneity to come in, and I actually met people very organically, and that was so much better.

I was not sleep deprived, so I was able to actually perform better, in meetings and, and knowing, like, prepare your meetings. You have to be prepared, and when you go to bed at 4:00 AM, but because you just, like, went from meetings to meetings, and then you had that screening, and then you wanna talk to that person at that party, and you have a meeting at 8:00 AM the next day, how do you, like, sustain yourself?

And so South By was really different for me. I really made it very intentional. I got a lot of time on my hands, but hey, I'll take that. I was able to do other things. Um, I was able to visit Austin, which was amazing. I went to some concerts there. It was a totally different experience, and I treasure that.

When I say results, I mean more like the connections that you made at South by Southwest versus all the other festivals that you went to. But it sounds like that you were able to meet people organically, and so I think that is probably a really good thing that you can take with you- 

for future film festivals, to just trust that you are in this environment, and if it's meant to ha- I don't know, if you're meant to meet a certain person, then you will.

So while we were in Locarno, you missed the premiere of Pas Vraiment Ordinaire, which is your short film that you won an award for recently.

Congratulations. Thanks. How did you make that decision to not go, and do you feel some sort of guilt to not go to your own premiere? 

It was a very, very difficult decision because both projects are very dear to my heart, but there was one that I produced and another one I acted in. And so we were already on tour with I Live Here Now.

We were in Europe. I would have had to in 24 hours, do a back and forth. It was financially very heavy, but also I was like, "Okay, I chose something. I chose to go on a tour and support one film. I think I need to do it all the way to the end." And there will be other festivals for Pas Vraiment Ordinaire.

And by the way, we had a wonderful run with Pas Vraiment Ordinaire, and, I got to see it on the big screen. But it was hard because it was the moment where I was like, "Oh, Flo, you're becoming a full-time producer," when producing was always a mean to an end and not your true passion. Like, I love producing, but my true passion is about acting and directing.

And so I had the opportunity to go support something I was really proud of as an actor, and I said no to it because I felt responsible to promote and continue to promote the film we produced. I don't regret it at all, but it was one of the first times where I was like, "Maybe I need to make a change in my life."

So I always put acting first. And so for the future, this is something I wanna prioritize more. And this story is interesting because, well, first, it's a good problem to have. To be able to say no to a premiere that you love because you have another premiere is wonderful.

And as a matter of fact, we had this opportunity again this year. We had the premiere of Perfect in South by Southwest, and we had the premiere of I Live Here Now in theaters in LA. And again, I felt a lot of FOMO for not being with my team, with the crew, and being in South By, but that's the beauty of having four badass women as part of this company, is like, we divide and conquer.

And I knew I had no, fear or worries or like I, I knew it was in good hands. It was covered, and again, such a beautiful problem to have. I'm missing my own premiere because I have another one. This is the kind of life I want. I'm, I can't complain. 

I do cherish that day so much where we had two premieres, and I did have FOMO about not going to South by Southwest, but I am certain that some time in the future I will have the opportunity to go. And it was your turn to go to South by Southwest, and you invested so much into Perfect as well, and it was a good call, I feel like, because I was able to hold down the fort here and go to the I Live Here Now theatrical premiere, which was amazing.

It was a really great day. But what I cherish is that, what a funny coincidence that Artak Pictures is having two premieres the same day, which is crazy. That's insane. It is really crazy.

I wanna talk a little bit more about sustainability and redefining success.

Has something changed for you, as in like how much can I do to what kind of life can I actually sustain? 

Absolutely. I think when I was in my 20s, my lifestyle didn't really matter. All that mattered was, like, how many auditions am I getting? Sleep or, or quality of life was, like, the least of my concerns.

And I was living with so much stress constantly, and I didn't even realize it. And I think nowadays, in order to be sustainable, I need to have a quality of life a, uh, social circle, a support circle that is solid, and therefore I can thrive. I need to make sure my base is solid, and at the time, I was putting success first, and now I'm putting is my life beautiful as it is without acting?

And if it's great and acting is, like, elevating everything, okay, then it makes sense. But I wanna be able to wake up in the morning and be happy about my life even without the success of being a successful actor. 

That's so interesting because I've been hearing that a lot in conversations here on the podcast or with other people in general.

That comes up a lot, that you're the center of your life and not acting. And to be honest, that's a big reason why I stepped away from acting, because I don't think I can do that. Whenever acting is involved, then I- I don't know, it becomes really toxic for me really fast, and I feel like I can't separate that well.

And I feel like for me, choosing myself is not acting at the moment. That might change at some point, but yeah, it's... I can't really define why yet, and maybe it'll come back and I'll have a better relationship with acting, but it's just, it always automatically gets into a pressure cooker, and even just, like, taking new headshots and, like, wanting that validation, like, from booking something or, like, it all becomes about pressure automatically.

Like, I can't stop myself 

If you don't find the pleasure in the little things, it is gonna eat you alive. 

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and I think that's also why I started falling out of love with acting, because it always goes automatically to that point.

But it's interesting how that keeps coming up to redefine what is your priority, and then acting comes as, like, something additional which is good, but your foundation needs to be there.

And I'm similar in the way that all of my decisions, everything was around acting in my 20s, and like I said, it was all about the outcome, all about what can I gain from this experience, which is not the point at all. Maybe this is a weird question, but what's one boundary you're trying to protect more these days?

I think it's the social aspect that I'm still struggling to say no to. Like I, again, I'm a people pleaser. I take a lot of pleasure being around people I love, and it is extremely hard for me to say no when I do need my time to reload and actually focus on my own projects. And I think it's a form of procrastination as well.

Saying yes to social events or seeing your friends is like, "Oh, but I need it," but it's also a way for you to not do the things you promised yourself you would do. And so I'm still working on this. This is still hard for me because I do enjoy having a social life. But I know that I do need a lot of alone time in order to start being creative and have the inspiration and have the space for my mind to be productive.

And so this is what I'm fighting right now, still learning to say no to things I actually want to do. 

Yeah. I feel like that's been coming up with me too, having my own boundaries with myself. Like, I have an idea and, I mean, this is not necessarily about social stuff, but I, I think it ties in a little bit, having an idea and then being like, "No, Yessi, just focus on the things that you're already working on.

You don't have to add another thing, another project." And I have dozens of ideas all the time where I'm like, "No, just do the things. Like, work on the projects that you're actually working on." And I think it ties in a little bit with the things that you wanna do, that you have to say no sometimes and choose your alone time and your social battery.

Yeah. We have made it to the end of all of my questions, which I had a lot of. Um, is there anything else you were hoping we would talk about that I didn't mention? 

Yes. I would love to have your version of what setting boundaries mean

I think it is a skill you can learn, and it's gonna become automatic. And maybe I say no to too many things nowadays. And there are people who say no, and then they kinda miss out on life, too. Like, there is the opposite- True ... to that. But I think With me, the problem is more taking on new projects for Artak and then realizing, "Oh, I don't have the capacity for that."

So in order to do the best with our projects that we have to say no, and I feel like I have to say no to quite a lot of people who wanna take meetings or who, yeah, who wanna convince me that their project is really great. I, I believe your project is really great, but I just can't take anything on.

And I think having a purpose or a good reason to say no can help protect feeling bad or guilty, because you know it's for the greater good of the other projects, for example. Yes. 

It's in their own best interest. Yeah. 

Exactly, and it's, yeah, for them, too. 

Yeah. 

Other than that, I feel like it is a skill that you can learn, and it's like with atomic habits. You make small changes and maybe you say no to a smaller thing, and it's becoming automatic. But it's, it's still hard. So yeah, like I said, I feel like I have to set boundaries with myself and prioritize my own health, working out, taking care of my body, having good routines.

That is something that I struggle with, because I sit there and work on my laptop and my projects the whole day, and I haven't done anything for myself, and that is my biggest problem, yeah, at the moment. 

Yeah. Thank you for sharing. 

Yeah, of course. Where can people find you?

Well, for our production company, we have a website, which is artakpicture.com. Um, we also have an Instagram account, @artakpictures And my, handle is florianeandersen on Instagram, IMDb. All of the social media, it's @florianeandersen, and, I hope to see you there. 

Yeah. Thank you so much for listening.

If this conversation has brought up anything for you, then I would love to hear from you in the comments, or you can also find me in the show notes. I would love to hear from you. And like I said, thank you so much for listening.