Popcorn Entertainment's Anne Jordan

Anne Jordan is a fabulous teacher! I met her four years ago when John and I spent the year in Petaluma, California.  Currently, I attend her ongoing screenwriting group (meets weekly) where we do table reads of our scripts. It's invaluable to hear my script read out loud. The problems resound in a way that's impossible to detect when heard solely inside my own mind.

I've worked with Anne privately and attended her screenwriting class at Santa Rosa Junior college. (Anne also the organizes the Storyteller's Conference and Expo in San Francisco.)

Here's a short interview with her:

Anne Jordan, Screenwriter and Teacher, telling me about the future of my TV pilot! Really, Anne is fun. She's actually a RIOT! 

Levonne: When did you write your first screenplay? What was it about?  

Anne:  In 2000 - "President of the Fan Club" - sort of a "Sex in the City" meets "I love Lucy."  (A comedy)  However, I was a novelist and magazine writer before becoming a screenwriter.

Levonne:  What made you choose screenwriting as a writing modality? 

Anne: I enjoy the fact that screenwriting is more succinct, more focused. You can't wander around when you're writing a screenplay. Every word counts. Also, I liked that I could complete a screenplay in 3 weeks, rather than 10-12 months for a novel.

Levonne: When and where did you teach your first screenwriting class? Why did you start teaching?  

Anne: I started teaching around 2007. At first, I taught individuals and then I started teaching at colleges and universities.  I love teaching! It's easily the most rewarding job I've ever had. I truly love my students and when I see the light bulb going on inside their heads . . . well, that's priceless.

There's an old story . . . A Fireman reaches the pearly gates and Saint Peter asks him why he should let him into heaven. The Fireman answers, "Because I saved other people's lives."  Then a Doctor walks up to Saint Peter, and Saint Peter asks the Doctor the same question. She answers, "Because I healed sick children and made them better."  Finally, a Teacher walks up to Saint Peter and again, Saint Peter asks the same question: "Why should I let you into Heaven?"  The Teacher points to the Fireman and the Doctor and replies, "I taught them all."   . . . Teaching is my ticket into heaven, at least I hope it is.

Levonne:  What is your experience with marketing your work? 

Anne: I'm incredibly lazy and not terribly motivated to market my work, thus, my reason for not attaining greater success. I think most writers hate the amount of self-marketing that they have to do in order to sell their writing. Unfortunately, marketing is 50% of any writer's job. As they say on Madison Avenue, "You can build the best mouse trap in the world, but if nobody knows about it, you're not going to sell it."

Levonne:  What advice would you give to an older (over 50) beginning or emerging screenwriter? 

Anne:  There is no age limit on talent. This is your second act in life. Have fun! Write the stories you enjoy or feel the need to write. Somewhere, someone is going to like your stories. The best advice I could give to anyone, regardless of age, is to never give up. Have fun and NEVER GIVE UP.

Levonne:  Want to promote your screenwriting services?

Anne: Sure, I not only teach, but I also do ghost writing and consultation on novels and screenplays. See Anne's website for more information about Popcorn Entertainment.   You can reach her at Annejordanwrites@yahoo.com.

Thank you Anne for sharing about your screenwriting life. You're one of my favorite people in the world!  

You're crazy! Aren't you?

I'm thinking that being crazy (at least the delusional part) is required, if you set out to be a successful female screenwriter at sixty. Successful in this instance means that someone actually pays me for a  script that I write.

Over the past several years, I wrote two feature-length spec screenplays. I'm currently trying to finish a TV pilot script.

To extricate myself from the "self-criticism, hopeless hole" I'd buried myself in this past week, I turned to YouTube videos on screenwriting. Well-known teacher John Truby hit the nail on the head within the first seconds of the video clip "Why Most People Fail at Screenwriting".

John said people fail at screenwriting because it is the "most difficult craft in the world."  He went on to say that the hundreds of techniques associated with story telling takes a lifetime commitment to master.

Next, I listened to Richard Walter, head of UCLA's graduate screenwriting program. When asked about today's young screenwriters' urge to "hack it" or jump over learning the craft, Richard said "All writers want to jump over everything, always." Boy could I relate to that statement big time. At least I'm normal in that regard, I thought. He said that you can't skip learning.

To Richard's statement "Art wants your life," I asked myself how much of the time I have left on this earth, can I, and do I, want to give to art. Give to screenwriting.


When Richard said that "It never gets easier. It gets harder," I then understood why I have been so frustrated of late. I have fostered the belief that it will get easier as I write more, but the reality is that it has only gotten tougher. Of course,  the better I get, the higher I set the bar. The less I knew, the more carefree and careless I could be.

Both men said that to stick it out as a writer, a professional approach to continuing education is essential. So where does that leave me?

Even though the messages in the videos were validating, they also left me feeling regret for not giving my life completely to art earlier. So back to the internet I went. This time to find out the ages of today's successful screenwriters. On Stephen Follow's blog, I found this graph.

So, although it may take a lifetime to master the screenwriting craft, it can take as little as four years of adult life to write a top grossing film. It seems that about half the people represented on this graph needed twenty years or less of adult living to write a top grossing film.

The graph tells me that lots of time remains for me to "get there". If I commit myself to learning the craft and if I continue to write regularly, lot's could happen over a ten to twenty-year time span. I like that.  Maybe I don't need to be crazy to believe in myself after all!