NYWIFT Blog

By Mariana Valencia

Welcome to NYWIFT, Alison Fraser! 

Alison Fraser is an award-winning producer and media executive with more than 20 years of experience in the North American entertainment industry. Her career spans work with major organizations including HBO, BET, Court TV, TELUS Storyhive/Originals, and Rogers. 

She has served as a board member for Gender Equity in Media Society Vancouver (GEMS), formerly Women in Film and Television Vancouver (WIFTV). She has also held leadership roles with Storyhive, Telefilm, Entertainment One, Shaftesbury, and as an Executive Producer at Rephrase Filmworks.

Alison holds a graduate degree in Journalism from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, is a graduate of the Women in Film and Television Media Leadership Program, and recently completed an Executive MBA with a Business in the Americas specialization, which included studies at business schools in São Paulo, Mexico City, and Nashville.

New NYWIFT Member Alison Fraser

Could you give our readers a brief introduction to yourself?

Hello, NYWIFT! I’m Alison Fraser, an award-winning producer and media executive with more than 20 years in the North American entertainment industry. I actually started my career in New York City as a TV producer before shifting into marketing. This detour led me into leadership roles on the business side of the Canadian production system, with stops at Telefilm Canada, Entertainment One, Shaftesbury, and Rogers, alongside early career work with HBO, BET, and Court TV in New York City and Washington, D.C.

A few years ago I decided to reprioritize storytelling by stepping back into development and creative producing and launched Rephrase Filmworks and the Rephrase Table Read Series.

As well as the inaugural Universal Pictures Mentorship recipient through WIFT-Toronto which gave me access to the inner workings of how productions are developed, produced and brought to life in a large studio context.

What brought you to NYWIFT?

New York has been like a second home to me for years. I have family and friends here, visit often, and spent five years living and working here after graduating from Columbia. 

Given those roots, it felt right to formally connect with the filmmaking community in the city, so I joined as a dual NYWIFT and WIFT-Toronto member. It’s allowed me to build relationships in New York while staying connected to my home base, which has been especially valuable as I look to grow Rephrase Filmworks’ presence.

What aspects of your life and background have motivated the stories you want to tell?

Growing up as the firstborn daughter of Caribbean immigrants in Canada came with a constant search for belonging and identity. That came through a strong community of Black women that form the subject of my documentary short, Belonging: Congress of Black Women.

Early on, being on set and working at Court TV and BET taught me how much craft and improvisation goes into what audiences eventually see. Working as a story editor gave me a grounding in story structure and character development.

But it was more recently, working with producers on the coming-of-age film Little Fires to fully and equitably portray the Somali community at the center of their story, that something crystallized for me: representation isn’t a checkbox, it’s a practice. That experience, layered on top of everything before it, is a big part of why I started Rephrase Filmworks and built it around stories by and about women of color.

NYWIFT Member Alison Fraser on set.

What characteristics and/or aspects of being a producer catch your attention?

Producing is my lane. I’ve connected people through storytelling as a writer, a marketer, and a journalist, but producing is the one place all of that comes together. It lets me use my right brain and left brain at once — the creative instinct for what makes a story land, and the analytical, business-minded discipline to actually get it made. That combination, more than any single skill, is what keeps me energized by this work.

What is the most fulfilling aspect of being a producer?

It’s watching a story find its true shape — and watching the people whose lives it reflects see themselves represented on screen. Whether that’s an emerging screenwriter hearing their dialogue performed aloud for the first time during an episode of the Rephrase Table Read Series, or a community seeing themselves authentically portrayed in a finished film, that moment of recognition makes the work worthwhile.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned so far in your career?

I’ve learned that equitable storytelling has to be deliberate, it doesn’t happen by good intentions alone. My experience on Small Fires drove this home: accurately portraying a community requires real, sustained collaboration, not just casting or consulting decisions made in isolation.

The other lesson, which took me longer to embrace, is that I didn’t need to choose between the business side of this industry and the creative side. Bringing both together is actually where I do my best work.

Alison on set in late July.

What project(s) are you currently working on that our readers should be on the lookout for?

The big one is the Rephrase Table Read Series, which I launched through Rephrase Filmworks two years ago. We partner with emerging screenwriters and run a casting call so they can find actors to bring their scripts to life in a 30-minute table read, paired with story editors who specialize in inclusive storytelling and tailor feedback to what each writer is trying to develop.

Season one drew international attention, and we’re now building on that by partnering with local production companies to help take these scripts from the page to proof of concept. We’re actively pursuing those partnerships here in New York, so if you’re a producer or production company interested in collaborating, I’d love to connect.

I’ll also be shooting two documentaries this year. UnShazamable shines a light on Black Canadian session musicians and songwriters from the 70s to the 90s who were part of LA-based music supervisor Amani K. Smith’s youth. While Belonging: Congress of Black Women showcases how three generations have benefitted from a community organization’s perseverance, resilience and tenacity.

Connect with Alison at hello@rephrasefilmworks.com and learn more about Rephrase at www.kafconsulting.net/rephrase-filmworks and about their Table Read series at www.kafconsulting.net/gems-rephrase-table-read#collaborators

(All images courtesy of Alison Fraser)