Victoria Muspratt, a former casting director and short filmmaker, won her American Green card in the lottery in 1994. The next day, she embarked on a journey to Los Angeles with only $400, no driver's license, and no contacts, determined to make her first feature film within the year. With a confident attitude, she had previously landed a job with a top casting director in New York City despite having no experience in the industry. However, she was later deported and flew to London, where she landed another job with a top casting director. After growing tired of London, she returned to Toronto and landed a job with Ann Tait's casting agency.
Despite her previous successes, Muspratt struggled to find a job in Los Angeles, where she had expected immediate success. A week later, she was still unemployed and no one was taking her calls. She eventually found a job with a small company that specialized in casting adult features for the Playboy Channel, where she was rarely consulted and was often asked for her input on trivial matters.
In her spare time, Muspratt devoured biographies of directors and learned that many were given their start by courageous producers willing to take a chance on new talent. She set her sights on Roger Corman, a renowned producer of low-budget films, and volunteered to work as an unpaid intern at his studio. She eventually landed a job as assistant to the director of development and spent her days pitching her ideas to Corman.
Muspratt knew that the only way to convince Corman to give her a chance to direct a feature film would be to shoot a short action film. She managed to secure a cast and crew and used Corman's equipment to shoot the film, which impressed Corman and led to her being given the opportunity to direct a feature film, Circuit Breaker, with a budget of $700,000 and a star-studded cast.
After completing Circuit Breaker, Muspratt plans to make several more feature films with Corman's support and then aim to become the next Francis Ford Coppola.
