We recently connected with Gina Ronhovde and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Gina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I learned by doing. I remember two decades ago, when I lived in rural Minnesota with zero connection to Hollywood, I bought a book on how to write screenplays. I felt like I understood what I was reading, yet still helpless. I still couldn’t technically write them. This is because writing screenplays is like learning how to ride a bike or drive a car; I could not learn how to do either by reading about it, I had to physically do it.

I first learned how to write screenplays and make films by going to the Los Angeles Film School. That was my initial introduction of being thrown into the water and what “sped up the process.” I made short films that were noticed or won awards or whatever, so I didn’t really ever feel like giving up entirely.

I think I REALLY learned how to write screenplays being an intern at Lionsgate and physically having my hands on scripts and making changes and observing films that were actually being made. Like the first Hunger Games movie, I helped work on that as an intern in the creative development. I observed both big budget and low budget movies being made. I read the screenplays going through tons of changes. I observed different kinds of genres being made. It was an interactive, real life experience that changed everything..

As an intern and later a script consultant, I had to write coverage on a screenplay almost every day, which is like writing a book report. I remember I often gave them scores of C+ or B’s (even though I wasn’t not supposed to, I just did this anyway) because a lot of screenplays were technically good enough to make a profit but they also were formulaic. I remember at the time, so many screenplays had the generic “Die Hard” action film formula. I’d write “this is Die Hard on an oil rig in the Caribbean,” or “this is Die Hard in Antarctica.” It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t feel that original or that great either. I’m not saying I’m right in my opinion, some people love this kind of entertainment and might give them all A’s, it was just my personal take on it.

I’ve noticed that novice screenwriters write without a budget in mind. And if you have never made a movie, it’s difficult to understand what the budget would be. I think that’s what held me back from writing a screenplay before I went to film school.. When you write a book, your imagination has no budget, but that’s not how it works in making films or writing books. Every word costs money. Harry Potter and The Hunger Games and Lord of the Rings were already popular books before they became films; they weren’t original screenplays no one had ever heard of. Sometimes I’d come across a super fantasy screenplay and I’d want to stop reading, because it wasn’t made with a budget in mind.

As far as other art goes, I think I had one art class in eighth grade where we made linocut prints and that was my initial introduction to it and that’s it. I just feel like making them – and it’s therapeutic to carve lines into linoleum blocks and make them into prints.

In hindsight, I guess I could have been more motivated to learn on my own without self-doubt. It’s entirely possible to have enough self-discipline to write screenplays or make films without attending school, but you would have to be extremely self-motivated, extremely self-educated, and extremely confident in your abilities, and also extremely open-minded to failure. I know and knew I couldn’t do it alone: I’d recommend studying and reading actual screenplays that are currently being made rather than just winging it.

The biggest obstacles to actually making films and art are always: a money, time, other people’s egos, and mine/your own ego.

Learning to trust the process and yourself is an essential skill and I take this approach to other ways I make art: I don’t ask other people’s opinions, I just do what I feel like doing. When people put their art up on Reddit and ask for their opinions; it’s like a recipe for trolls killing creativity. Plus, people are going to insert their own bias.

Know that your art and films are not going to be seen as good in some people’s eyes and that’s ok. I’ve learned to trust my own eye for my own style, it’s like this feeling I can’t explain: I know it when I see it. I make linocut prints entirely this way, and I made a lot during the pandemic.

Your schooling as a filmmaker or artist never stops. I’m still a student and will always be a lifelong student. Enjoy the process!

Gina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m most proud of the comedy specials I helped produce and coordinate for artists such as Weird Al Yankovic, Aziz Ansari, Jim Gaffigan, etc., and many others. I became a coordinator by answering a job ad and interviewing for it, and my previous film school experience is what helped me get that particular job.
I’m also proud of my short film Boudoir that I wrote and directed and it continues to win awards even now a decade later. It recently won eleven awards at the Rome International Film Awards in almost every category. I wish I could make it into a television series or feature film, and who knows what will happen with that. Every screenplay I’ve written has won awards. I’m still hoping they get made one day. I haven’t given up.
As far as my visual art goes, I have made portraits or abstract art for people and businesses, and I sell some of my prints and photography on Redbubble and Society 6. I want to include other sites as well.
I like to capture a feeling or essence in my prints, it’s hard to put into words. It’s just my style when I see it.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I have a goal to either direct a feature, create a television series, or publish a book. I’m going to publish a book either this year or next. I’ve been an executive producer on an independent feature film, but I’m definitely not proud of that one, for reasons I won’t get into.

The last time I was interviewed, I mentioned my cousin Dan Erickson who created the television show Severance along with Ben Stiller on Apple TV.

Since then, my mind has gotten totally blown open by watching Dan and Severance become famous. It has sort of a cult following waiting for season two to come out. Definitely check it out if you haven’t yet! I’m very proud of Dan. I hope his fans don’t lose sight of reality. (“It’s only a TV show, Focker!”)

I wrote a screenplay called Cult Fan. It’s based on the insanity of David Lynch and Twin Peaks fandom. It won awards but it hasn’t been produced or sold yet. I am hoping that will become true.

I’m turning that screenplay into a novella that I hopefully will get published by the end of the year.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

When something I’ve visualized becomes reality. Watching Dan’s bad office job become a tv show is still trippy but rewarding.

Sometimes something as simple as just posting a black and white video of waves crashing on a shore in Hawaii and posting it to Instagram is rewarding in itself.

Contact Info:

• Other: @ginaleeonhovdeartist Instagram