We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ellie Jepperson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ellie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Is there a lesson you learned in school that’s stuck with you and has meaningfully impacted your journey?
The most important lesson I learned in school was during grad school– so, way too late in life. But, let me set the scene. I was in theatre in high school, went to film school for undergrad, moved out to LA after school to become a “creative,” then spent several years in commercial production to make ends meet and wanted to die. So! I applied to the UCLA graduate screenwriting program to hone my craft. I found it incredibly hard to share my work (always have), which was a waking nightmare for every single moment of the grad school workshop process. However, one day in class, someone was talking to my professor about “writer’s block” (which– up until this moment I believed in). The man looked at all of us and said, “There is no such thing as writer’s block, lower your standards.” Aka write garbage, write silly, write anything– the point is to write, who cares what it is. All of a sudden, walls broke down in my brain, gates flooded open… the point of being creative is to be able to share and explore with others. No one brings a perfect ANYTHING to anyone in the beginning. We just need to get over ourselves. All that being said is… the most impactful lesson I learned in school was: just do the work, don’t let your mind get in the way.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
These are hard! Okay. Briefly, as I mentioned earlier, I was an actor/singer in high school, went to film school in undergrad, then moved to LA and got a taste for the commercial industry and it’s money. However, with no desire to pursue a career in commercials I pivoted and applied to grad schools. The UCLA MFA program accepted me, that was when I truly felt like I began my career as a writer. That being said, I had been writing my own shorts and plays since high school– I just never took them or myself seriously. The written projects were always just something to shoot for me to act in. Realizing the creative power that comes with writing in the beginning of the film process, I started taking my creative self seriously. I had always felt constrained by acting, in the sense that someone else decides your fate and you have to say their words, etc– that didn’t cut it for me anymore. I wanted more creative control. I wanted to express my creative vision.
So, going to school helped me build my confidence as a screenwriter– validating that, not only did I have something to say, but I knew how to say it professionally. I write largely about women, body horror, folklore and the southwest. I write the things I want to see; historically driven pieces with a supernatural or unexplained element that create situations that confront our inner compass or horrify it,
Currently, I write for myself and a company that adapts self-published author’s work. Working with other creatives to execute their vision/book for the screen and combine it with mine has been, wildly, a very rewarding process. I love working with other creative people, striving to express their story and energy to a wider audience. It hones my own writing skills and inspires me to keep pursuing my own ideas.
I am most proud of my work surrounding women, research and horror. If someone needs to curl up into a ball after reading one of my screenplays– that is the highest compliment. I also relish a research opportunity. I love diving into history and pulling specific elements from it to add to a story. The past inspires me… or I should say a modern, violent, take on the past inspires me. Women have always had it… rough. So, twisting and turning the past, relationships and situations with revenge in mind feels incredibly freeing.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I am currently still unlearning this lesson; perfectionism is self-sabotage AND my voice is not un-valuable. I say them both in the same breath because one begets the other. If you have no self worth perfectionism becomes a tool to, either, keep you down or stop you from sharing. Perfectionism isn’t a healthy tool, it isolates you and keeps you in stasis. “Nothing is good enough to share,” “This is too bad, I’m embarrassed, it needs to be perfect before I show anyone,” etc… These are all thoughts that stop people from being creative. Again, I want to stress, that I’ve found that creativity often comes from collaboration, openness and sharing. Also, if you don’t share– which is what the ego wants– nothing ever changes, you never grow.
I don’t know where this lesson came from– aside from the patriarchy and/or family dynamics– but unlearning it is a process. It’s a muscle you have to work out and build its strenght. It’s hard to share bad work… it’s hard to share good work, but the point is sharing, so you can either grow or change.
Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?
It felt like I almost lost my writing reputation/job with my current partners when a client chose not to proceed with my outline for their story. It was my first opportunity with this company and I was afraid that I had blown it.
However, during the adaptation process, you work with a producer and the client (author of the book), and I had impressed the producer. He requested my as his writer for several other projects, which helped my reputation with other producers.
Moral of the story, you never know who you’re actually trying to impress or who’s “watching.” Everyone in the film industry is a potential connection– scratch that, everyone in life is a potential connection. Conduct yourselves accordingly. Opportunities are everywhere– again, you just have to be out in the world, sharing your projects, or working with people being yourself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://elliejeppers.com
- Instagram: gemjamjepperson
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellie-jepperson-62b983203/
- Other: Vimeo – https://vimeo.com/user4186841
Image Credits
Tarryen VanSlyke