We sat down to interview Writer and Director Emily Aguilar about her new film “Brie’s Bake Off Challenge”. “Brie’s Bake Off Challenge,” is available to stream now on HBO Max.
Interview Emily Aguilar
Before I sat down with Emily Aguilar to discuss “Brie’s Bake Off Challenge, I had already been charmed by her on TikTok. Her videos on TikTok range from silly and fun to inspirational content for aspiring creatives. Aguilar has produced three films since graduating from film school in 2015, all of which have been picked up for distribution. She is the essence of someone who knows what she wants and lets no one stand in her way of getting it. And at the same time, she inspires others to do the same for themselves. You can’t help but admire the fact that she doesn’t gatekeep the industry knowledge that she’s learned along the way.
In a statement about her film, Aguilar stated: “When writing Brie’s Bake Off Challenge many years ago, I myself was not in a positive state of mind. I was working all the time, not taking care of my body, and neglecting the people I loved. And mind you, this was pre-pandemic in 2017. I decided to write Brie’s Bake Off Challenge to honestly help get me out of the rut that I was in. I love baking shows and loved the idea of building a character around baking challenges. Having a sweet tooth myself, I thought this would make for an excellent on-set experience as well, so I started writing. I found my purpose through Brie’s character because I wanted other girls like Brie to not be intimidated by kids at school like I was. The more that I developed the story and got feedback,
the more confident I got and the more concrete this concept became. A year later we were in production and on the last two days of filming, we had over 100 people on set all working together to help bring this film to life. The feeling of accomplishment when we wrapped shooting, on time and within budget, was something I’ll never forget.”
Brie’s Bake off Challange
“Brie’s Bake Off Challenge” was inspired by Aguilar’s love of baking competition shows and her goals to make a positive, uplifting family feature film that is fun, light-hearted, and diverse, and represents the kind of family film that she wants to see — a film that reflects how she grew up in school with multiple ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations represented.
The story follows Brie Hayes, an aspiring 12-year-old baker who does everything she can to win first place in her school’s annual Spring Bake Off Challenge. Brie and her BFFL Millie must practice and motivate each other in order to win.
“Brie’s Bake Off Challenge,” is available to stream now on HBO Max.
