About

Susan Stolov
Founder, CEO, Director, Producer, Scriptwriter

Susan Stolov owner washington-independent-productions

Susan Stolov is an award-winning filmmaker, director, scriptwriter and social media strategist. She has blazed trails in improving public safety, raised significant donations for non-profits and tackled hot topics on the public agenda-among a lengthy list of achievements. If you put your child in a booster seat or warn a friend not to drink and drive, you’re probably doing so because of her work.

A graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications (broadcast journalism) with a Masters in political science from American University, she shunned all professors advice when they said, it’s not possible to start a TV reporting career in a major market. But she loved DC and felt that was where the action was for anyone with reporting in mind and her ability to overcome obstacles has served her well throughout her career. As a White House and Capitol Hill reporter, she covered the Capitol for TV stations in Miami, Houston and Philadelphia including stints as election night anchor. Locally she’s covered drowning’s in the Potomac for WJLA and internationally she’s reported from France and England. As Bureau Chief of Washington Independent News, she built a staff of 13 employees and a facility with three edit bays to cover the U.S. Capitol for TV stations in different parts of the country. Then she was asked to set up a similar facility for the Senate Democratic Policy Committee so Senators could communicate via video with constituents. It was an exciting time to be consulting to the Senate as that was the year C-SPAN set up its cameras. After several years, she realized her love of storytelling was greater than her love of policy so she went back to reporting.

But, one could only stand in the rain on the White House lawn for so long….so she took her unique skills pitching and writing and crafting stories to a much larger arena. When she opened Washington Independent Production’s doors, she discovered she could have a real impact on the nation’s media agenda. She was hired by government agencies and associations to launch major media campaigns that inform and inspire. Her work began to be recognized with awards including one from the Department of Transportation recognizing work she did to improve seat belt and booster seat usage. For ten years, she produced videos for Mothers Against Drunk Driving that changed people’s attitudes about drinking and she is hoping to have a similar impact with a project for the U.S. Army, changing employer’s attitudes about hiring veterans with PTSD, hopefully boosting employment and life opportunities for those who served.

She has been involved with and served in some capacity with the Radio TV News Directors Association, National Association for Women Business Owners, Independent TV Association, Women in Film and Video and the Independent Public Relations Alliance. She loves to mentor and has taught at American University’s Graduate School in Communications program and guest lectured at Georgetown’s School of Business Administration.