We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gina Wurtz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gina below.

Gina, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

At the start of 2023, I decided to create a newsletter on Substack called Movie Mondays with Gina. At the time, I was a Reality TV news journalist, but film has always been my passion, so I wanted a way to express my love for film without any limits. I knew if I had my own newsletter, I could do everything my way. I could choose what I wanted to write about, and I could format my writing in any way I wanted. Every Monday, I started sending out newsletters on movies I loved, like The Princess Diaries and Titanic. It felt so freeing to be able to say whatever I wanted about each film because it was my publication, with my name on it. I went from 10 subscribers in January to finishing 2023 with over 400 subscribers. I knew Movie Mondays with Gina would do well because I was so passionate about it, and when you are passionate about something and you believe in your idea, other people will believe in you, too.

Gina, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Writing has been my passion my entire life, but I’ve also been a huge fan of film, and when I was deciding what I wanted to do with my passion for writing while applying for colleges, I realized I wanted to go into screenwriting. This was around the time A24 had released Lady Bird, and I realized I wanted to do what Greta Gerwig had done: tell my own original stories and bring them to life on the screen. I majored in Screen Studies at The New School in Manhattan, New York, and since then, I have been doing a lot of entertainment journalism but recently found myself on a few sets, working toward my goal of becoming a director as well as a writer. I’m incredibly proud of the newsletter, Movie Mondays with Gina, which I started in January 2023, but I’m also proud of a screenplay that was meant to be my senior capstone. Tony Vampirelli is a comedy story about an Italian vampire, which I didn’t get to bring to life due to graduating in 2020, but in 2024, I have plans to finally bring it to light.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I’m always working on unlearning limiting beliefs and stories that hold me back. One in particular is that going after your dreams isn’t feasible. A lot of people give up because they think it’s too hard or it isn’t possible, but I’ve found that everyone who has ever succeeded has one thing in common: they never gave up. Despite this coming from society, this belief also comes from being surrounded by people who all think the same and do the same things, never stepping out of the box or aiming for anything different in life. I’ve found that in order to overcome this, I have to be okay with being different and carving my own path. After all, I do subscribe to the idea that I can achieve anything I desire as long as I believe that anything is possible for me.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

From experience, non-creatives and creatives have drastically different perspectives on the world. It’s basic psychology that creative people lean more into the right side of their brain while non-creatives are more “left-brained.” I don’t think non-creatives understand that my life is going to look drastically different than the societal model of what someone’s life is supposed to look like. I already see people I went to high school with following the path of college, then marriage, then buying a house and starting a family. For a creative mind like mine, this feels so suffocating, and I don’t think non-creatives understand that I want less structure and more freedom. I want to experience things in life that are different and express those experiences through art. I think creatives are the ones who break the mold and who are brave enough to live life outside the lines.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ginawurtz.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ginawurtz/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-wurtz-8247866b/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ginaroseex3
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ginawurtz?lang=en

Image Credits
Personal Photo taken by Maria Wurtz