We recently connected with Jennifer Lieberman and have shared our conversation below.
Jennifer, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
When I was 8 years old I wanted to be Zack Morris’ girlfriend on “Saved By The Bell” so I started writing myself guest roles in fan fiction scripts, that eventually snowballed into writing myself guest roles in fan fiction scripts for many of the shows I watched. At 12 I wrote my first original script where the plot and characters were all my original inventions. Although I began writing before I started to pursue acting, all my writing stemmed from the desire to perform. So I had a very strong pull towards a creative life quite early on.
Jennifer, 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?
It feels like I’ve lived many different lives as a creative, which I believe is something many creatives have in common. I’ve worn and still wear many hats and am pivoting continually towards new opportunities and learning new skills. I started off as an actor and was doing theatre in NY, I pivoted to stage managing and picking up different jobs behind the scenes in the theatre when there wasn’t a role available for me. Working in theatre production led to producing and running a theatre company in New York’s East Village. Eventually that led to working in film production. As I was refining my craft as an actor and was learning the ropes in both film and theatre production I kept writing on the side. Scripts, plays, poetry and even stand up comedy.
After my first year of living in LA with no luck getting a foot in the door as an actor I was encouraged to create a vehicle for myself as a showcase to invite industry, so I developed the solo show “Year of the Slut” where I played 10 characters to showcase my range, ability and writing skills. This was the culmination of all the skills I’d acquired over the years and this production is what solidified me as a multi-hyphenate actor/writer/producer. I had produced about a dozen indie film and theatre productions at this point, but the solo show was the beginning of me producing my own work. “Year of the Slut” had several different workshops in LA eventually going to the Frigid NY Festival and winning the Audience Choice Award.
The award and the success of the show in NY were definitely a bonus, but the biggest takeaway from the process was that I was more creatively fulfilled developing and working on my own material than I’d ever been in my life and I’ve been creating my own projects ever since. Moreover, I realized I had the skills and expertise to help other frustrated or struggling actors create vehicles fro themselves and help writers get their projects off the ground. I founded Make Your Own Break over ten years ago and to date have helped over 100 creatives ‘make their own break’ through my production consulting services. What sets me apart is that I’ve clocked my 10000 hours in each role of Actor, Writer and Producer and have success and critical acclaim in each category independently so I really understand how all three roles function and interact on the development and production level.
I’m beyond grateful I haven’t given up on my creative dreams and that I’ve stuck with it and developed the skills I needed to stay in the game, which admittedly has gotten harder as I’ve gotten older. I also feel very blessed that I have some incredible things to be proud of here are the top 3:
“Year of the Slut” is now a 5-time award-winning and #1 Amazon Best Seller novel “Year of the What?”
My short film “Details” and directorial debut was a Semi-Finalist for Best Female Director at the Art House Festival in Beverly Hills 2022
I was nominated for best performance off-Broadway by Broadwayworld.com for my roles as Gilda Radner and Judy Belushi in “With A Little Help…It’s John Belushi.”
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I think one of the hardest things for non-creatives to understand about creatives is that even if we won the lottery or got that massive break and never had to work again, most of us would continue on our creative path. There is a love and joy for what we do that is rooted in our being and we can’t escape from it, it’s part of our DNA. It’s not about money or fame, those are bonuses to achieving something worthwhile or unique or exceptional and allow us to continue on a greater scale but rarely the drive of our work. People who don’t have that overwhelming passion or need to focus their expression through a creative outlet like art, music, writing, performance etc. in order to avoid spontaneous combustion can’t truly understand what drives us. I know that sounds super intense and hyperbolic, but you get the picture, right? We’re just wired differently.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
My novel “Year of the What?” is the best example of my resilience. After completing the first draft I was totally fired up about it and after 2 years of going hard trying to connect with agents and publishers the rejection chipped away at my enthusiasm. I put it down and created the web series “Dumpwater Divas” with my friend Rebecca, we wrote, produced and starred in it together. After we launched “Dumpwater Divas” a friend asked me how the book was coming, and that inspired me to go back to it; this time I hired an editor (which I should have done the first time).
The editor I worked with was recommended by a friend and was a complete disaster. She didn’t get the piece, she didn’t like the piece and she trashed my work so badly I gave up on it again (I wish she would have passed on the project if it wasn’t for her, I learned my lesson about vetting editors and finding the right fit for my style). I walked away from the book, wrote and shot another project with Rebecca, shot my own short film “Leash” and continued writing other theatrical projects.
In 2017 I was encouraged to revisit the book by a friend. He suggested I self publish just for my own peace of mind and not to focus on the results, just to get to the finish line. I appreciated the way he framed it and went in for another round of rewrites, found a coach, Stacy Dymalski, to consult with about self publishing, found an editor that was a perfect fit for the style and subject, game on! Going the self publishing route elevated much of the stress and emotional rollercoaster of trying to get recognized by traditional publishing.
In October of 2018 I self published “Year of the Slut.” It was a complete failure. The word slut was censored by the algorithms on all social media and all my ads were flagged on Amazon, Facebook and Instagram. I could sell on Amazon, have accounts for the book on Facebook and Instagram but I couldn’t reach an audience beyond my friend group. I was also turned down by three publicists. In October 2019 Stacy and I were discussing the sad state of the book, she suggested changing the title since that was the problem. After a few months of digesting the suggestion I was able to get over myself and the title and took Stacy’s advice.
“Year of the What?” was launched in November of 2020, it hit #1 on Amazon within the year by the end of 2022 has won five international literary awards including the Gold Medal for Coming of Age Books and the Global Book Awards and the IPPY (Independent Publishing Awards) Bronze Medal for Romance/Erotica Ebooks.
Michelle Danner, who I studied acting with, said “the reason most people never ‘make it’ is because they give up too soon,” she’s right. My journey with this book was almost a decade long, plus the years working on the play (which I first workshopped parts of in Michelle’s class), and it’s all about resilience: take the hit, regroup and get back in the game. Rinse and repeat until you get to the finish line.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.YearOfTheWhat.com
- Instagram: @iamjenlieberman
- Facebook: @iamjenlieberman
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-lieberman-33b20426/
- Twitter: @iamjenlieberman
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB1InTsTdZx0quRUffeQHlg
Image Credits
Dan Nastro, Genevieve Marie