Welcome to our multi-part storytelling series, revealing the real-life journey behind You’re a Personal What?—a television drama inspired by Sandra Bueckert-Davison’s life.
Follow along as we peel back the layers of Sandra’s story—one that proves the path to strength often starts in the darkest places.
Some stories repeat themselves, even when we think we have outgrown them.
As I prepare to pitch It’s Personal at Prime Time this January, I have been thinking about all the moments, small and not so small, when someone tried to tell me what I could not do.
“Aren’t you too old for that?”
“Don’t you have enough on your plate?”
“Why would you do that?”
“Don’t embarrass the family.”
These comments come gently, like someone offering you a coat when you have insisted you are warm. They mean well, or so they say. But discouragement has a way of settling on your shoulders all the same.
Years ago, long before television pitches and financing plans, I told my mother I wanted to become a personal trainer. She did not even look up.
“No one is going to pay you to do that.”
Better to get a real job. Something sensible. Something safe.
I did not listen.
Decades later, I heard a familiar version of that sentence again, this time from someone at the top of a national organization meant to support Canadian film and television.
They said my story was good. Important, even.
But I was not ready.
For a moment, I felt that old ache return.
The one that says, sit down. Slow down. Stop dreaming so loudly.
Here is the truth I have learned.
Life does not get easier just because you have climbed one mountain. There is always another behind it, taller and steeper, waiting to see if you stop.
I have spent my career teaching people what to do when progress feels slow. When the scale will not move. When the weight will not budge. When the body resists change.
You do not quit.
You catch your breath.
And you keep going.
So that is what I am doing now.
✨ Reworking the pitch deck
✨ Finalizing the Season One financing plan
✨ Exploring actors who could bring these characters to life
✨ Training for the moment I step into that pitch room
I will keep sharing these moments as I go.
After all, the series is called It’s Personal for a reason.
This journey is exactly that.
