studio CITY A-listers and high-end brands come to Acity’s first woman-owned studio in LIC t age 29, Carrie White sold her home in Atlanta, Georgia, and moved to Brooklyn with no job to live in a “tiny bedroom with no closet.” Now, 11 years later, White is the founder of GUM Studios, a film studio in Long Island City which she says is the only woman-owned film studio in the New York metro area. The studio, which celebrated first anniversary last month, was the home of season 14 of “Project Runway,” season 1 of “Project Runway Junior” and a host of several commercials, music videos and indie films. White previously owned Factory Studios in South Williamsburg for five years before her landlord was issued a vacate order by the Department of Buildings. She spent five years building up her business and was suddenly told that she had to move out overnight. “When I lost my old studio and I thought no one is going to give me a chance. I’ve never wanted anything so bad in my life and I was like destitute,” White said. “I was living off my credit cards, I didn’t have an income and I just kept saying, ‘I want this so bad.’” With the help of an investor, White was able to sign a lease on a 21,000-square-foot space on 2-15 Borden Ave. The space is seven times bigger than Factory Studios and is attracting indie filmmakers, musicians and big retailers who shoot commercials such as Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Mac Cosmetics and Intel. Actors who have shot films in the space include Alec Baldwin, Alicia Silverstone, Demi Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer and Johnny Knoxville. “It’s crazy to me; I was in this little studio,” White said. “We had our own clientele. It went from small commercials to large-scale TV and film and large-scale commercials. It’s a big gamble to take on something this big. I don’t have a million dollars in the bank.” White started her career in marketing and event planning. She graduated from Auburn University with a degree in public relations and worked in email marketing for several years before she was enlisted by Singapore-based beer company Tiger Beer to create a guerrilla marketing campaign in Atlanta. White produced 175 events for the company in just one year. When she moved to New York, White freelanced with a production company and was eventually hired by a local studio, where she worked as a manager for
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