Britt Rentschler is one of the lucky ones.
She found her calling at a young age, fourth grade to be exact.
While she was growing up inBirmingham, Alabama, Rentschler couldn’t wait until fourth grade.
Credit: Tiziano Lugli
Every year at Grantswood Elementary, Melanie Palmeri’s fourth grade language arts class produced a big Disney musical.
And I didn’t really want to be Princess Jasmine.
I wanted to be Aladdin because Aladdin was the lead of the play.
She said it was Ms. Palmeri who suggested that she just go for it and audition for Aladdin.
So she did, and she outshined her male competition.
“That was the moment that I started to understand how much I loved it.”
She was in love with performing and telling stories and she was going to do it her way.
She listened to Broadway show tunes nonstop.
Rentschler continued to be involved in theater throughout high school and earned a scholarship to UAB for theater.
As she wrapped up her program in Orlando, she weighed her options.
“I just thought, am I going to go to New York and just audition and keep touring?
I just lived my last year in residency at a Shakespeare theater doing regional theater.
The Alabama native knew she had to either start her next chapter in New York or California.
That’s where the most opportunities were at the time.
She knew that New York would be a lot of trying the same things she was already doing.
Auditioning for theatrical roles and working in theaters.
“I kind of looked at it as a gap year because why not have an adventure?
And film and TV were adjacent to what I was doing.
And I didn’t hate it.
In fact I found out I loved it so much!”
But much like she did in fourth grade, Rentschler eventually found a way to forge her own path.
Only this time, not just for herself.
And that’s exactly what Rentschler and her friend, fellow actorMichael Tennantdid.
And we just thought, ‘you know what?
What if we didn’t do it that way?
What if we wrote a movie for all of our friends?'”
Rentschler and Tennant wrotePretty Problemsand they cast their friends.
“We know we all have chemistry and let’s give it a shot.
And if it goes nowhere, it was an experiment, right?
And that’s how it started.”
Pretty Problemsdebuted at SXSW in 2022 and it was a hit.
[It was like] electricity was running through me.
The house was just so responsive.
There were so many laughs and giggles.
To have that happen in my hometown was a dream come true."
She added, “I don’t say that lightly.
We got ourselves there.
And Sidewalk gave us this platform.
I was a big part of my community that night.
My original community and that meant everything to me.”
