To achieve success and popularity in a particular field of activity, it is necessary to show perseverance. In addition to perseverance, it will take appropriate ability. Natalia Merkulova came to the cinema, being a sought-after journalist.
Childhood and youth
You won't become famous in a hatched nest. To achieve success in the modern sense, you have to leave your native place. Natalya Fedorovna Merkulova was born on September 19, 1979 in a family of rural intelligentsia. Parents at that time lived in the small town of Buzuluk, which was spread over the vastness of the Orenburg steppes. My father is a veterinarian. The mother worked at a local clinic. The child was not even a year old when the head of the family was transferred to the remote village of Edogon, Tulunsky district of Irkutsk region.
In the village, children are taught to be independent from an early age. Natasha helped her mother with housekeeping. She could ask for hay and milk the cow. I went to the taiga, which began immediately behind the garden, picking berries. The girl studied well at school. I read a lot. Literature and the Russian language were her favorite subjects. In high school, she already knew that she would become a journalist. To realize her dream, Merkulova purposefully prepared for admission to the journalism department of Irkutsk State University.
Already in her student years, Merkulova was engaged in literary creativity. She wrote informational notes for local newspapers. I tried to record reports for television. In 2001, she received a diploma in specialized education and began working in a news program on one of the city's TV channels. "Creating news" is an interesting and exciting process. Even in a provincial city, which in all respects Irkutsk is considered, one can attract the attention of viewers by non-standard presentation of information. Natalia did it well.
Director and screenwriter
At first, the career of a television journalist was quite successful. After some time, the video materials and comments that the news anchor Merkulova was preparing for the air began to be heavily censored. The moment came when a talented and hard-working journalist slammed the door and left for free bread. Using the established contacts, she prepared informational videos for federal television companies. Plots from the life of Irkutsk and the surrounding area were shown on Channel One, RTR and REN TV. For several years Natalia hosted the program "Minority Opinion" on the NTS.
After a while, the television routine began to tire and even annoy the experienced journalist Merkulova. She began to consistently and methodically look for another field of activity. In 2004, she left her TV journalism classes and began to try her hand at documentary films. By that time, many people had already realized what a danger drug addiction poses to society. Against the background of social degradation, adolescents, and even children, began to take an active interest in drugs. The consequence of this hobby was the HIV epidemic.
Merkulova wrote the script and shot a documentary called "The Cage" about children with HIV who live in the Irkutsk region. For this work, the author was awarded the prize of the Artyom Borovik International Press Club. Naturally, Natalia strove to build on her success. However, she lacked experience and knowledge in this area. Then she makes a bold decision and enters the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors in Moscow. Everything would be fine, but in order to pay for the studies, I had to urgently seek ten thousand dollars.
For a short period of time after the end of the courses, Merkulova, as they say, got her hand in the "Wedding Ring" project. She wrote lyrics for the series. At this moment, she met her future husband and colleague Alexei Chupov. From the first days of their acquaintance, they started to create the script for the film "Intimate Places". As conceived by the authors themselves, the picture was provocative. The film turned out to be like that. At the 2013 Kinotavr festival in Sochi, the film received the Best Debut prize and the Guild of Historians of Cinema and Film Critics award.
Personal life plots
Cooperation between Natalia Merkulova and Alexey Chupov turned out to be fruitful. It is interesting to note that Alexey suggested Natalia to marry him at the presentation of the prize for the best debut, when they were on stage. The family-based creative tandem has significantly increased labor productivity. At night, when the wife was resting, the husband worked on the script. In the morning Natalya read the text biasedly, and Alexey fell asleep. In this mode, the script for the film "The Crisis of Tender Age" was created.
As the practice of subsequent years has shown, love and mutual respect did not become an obstacle to the quality of the product being created. The spouses did not allow even the slightest hack in the process of creating the next film. In 2017, the comedy "Yana + Yanko", directed by Natalia, was released. The next project “About love. For adults only”they worked together.
For Natalia Merkulova, this is the second marriage. While working on television in Irkutsk, she was married to Vladislav Shindyaev for some time. Her husband helped her pay for her studies at the Moscow courses. There is no reliable information about the reasons for the separation. Natalia herself tries not to remember this period of her life.
