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

Kate, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

The key is FAILING a lot! Writing and rewriting and rewriting… with feedback from creative experts that you trust.
The obstacles are the point. That’s how you learn the craft.
The most essential skill is real understanding of character – what are their needs? Wants? Secrets? How do they see themselves? How do they think others see them? Where are their wounds? What are they about?
If you don’t know your characters inside and out and channel their voices, you don’t have anything. Story is character driven.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I grew up in Harlem, NYC, with parents who were artists (Mom- painter, sculptor – Dad – Technical writer.) They never seemed to have actual jobs, and we were ALWAYS seconds away from being evicted, BUT they did set an example for creativity and art. We had no TV, so we had to read or paint or make collages.
Growing up in a rough neighborhood, I gravitated to “partying’ and the like, hanging with a shady crowd,
(I won’t go into the full depravity of that time in my life.)
Wasn’t really until High School when I got a full scholarship to a Private school (Trinity) that I followed my brother , Chris, (just 1 year older) into the Theater Crowd. Our brilliant teacher, mentor and director Bill Sweeney, treated us as if we COULD do any play. (“High School kids can’t DO that play” he was told over and over, but prevailed) I learned about character and subtext, the structure and beats of building tension and story ….all as an actor, but it also taught me everything about writing and creating dramatic work.

Through college (Vassar) I continued to act, but also become involved in the 80’s Downtown Club scene where I was a bartender at AREA, the Palladium, Madame Rosa’s, the Roxy…etc. I met a lot of other Downtown artists, filmmakers etc…many of the huge names, celebrities as well as the complete unknown, street graffiti artist.

Alan Taylor (now a HUGE director, was also bartending at AREA, as well as being a NYU graduate student) cast me as the lead in his first film, THAT BURNING QUESTION, which won the Nissan Focus Award and opened the NY Film Festival. He became sought after, meeting with everyone in Hollywood. When people would ask about who the lead was (‘GRACE’ – my role) he would generously tell people that I was also a writer.
I’d been writing plays and scripts since High School, but really thought I’d end up as an actor.
One agent he spoke with, Ronda Gomez at Triad, asked to read one of my scripts, GABRIEL’S WATCHING, which she ended up representing, and went into a bidding war, with Warner Bros buying it (Lorenzo Di Bonaventura was the exec)
From there, I was hired to write a few studio scripts and finally pitched WHAT”S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT? the Tina Turner biopic, which went on to win Academy Award nominations for both lead actors, Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburn. After that, I was writing 2-3 studio scripts a year, many of them produced: SET IT OFF, BEAUTY SHOP, MOD SQUAD, CRAZYSEXYCOOL, GLITTER, BEACHES, JENNI….and many more PLUS uncredited script ‘doctor’ jobs.
Every single script/job I’ve done has require anywhere between 10 to 19 rewrites: REWRITING IS THE KEY TO A GOOD SCRIPT!
32+ scripts later, I cannot emphasize enough the absolute necessity of knowing HOW and WHAT to rewrite.
I have mentored many up and coming screenwriters, always having them go back and restructure, work on character, theme and overall tension-building. This is true for every genre, be it Drama, Action, Thriller, Romantic Comedy….I have written them all, and reworking, rewriting is always part of the creative process.!
I am passionate about helping up and coming writers: I was 24 when I sold my 1st script, and had no clue what I was actually doing. Having a good idea, a good ‘premise’ is not enough.
30 some years later, I feel like I can help writers with ‘shortcuts’ that I learned from making mistake after mistake!
I am currently working with a brilliant director, Darnell Martin (I LIKE IT LIKE THAT, CADILLAC RECORDS – a plethora of TV directing from OZ to OUTER BANKS) collaborating on a piece.
I also recently wrote, directed and co-produced a 30 min romantic comedy, LUCKY, which has been accepted in a dozen or so Festivals, and which I hope to ultimately transform into a Feature or Series.

I am available to mentor, coach, teach, lecture and otherwise be helpful to young screenwriters/filmmakers!

(I will have a website up shortly for all services. Meanwhile, I can be reached at [email protected] or through my agent Auri Maruri at THE GERSH AGENCY)

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I had a 3 picture deal at Disney/Touchstone after selling GABRIEL’S WATCHING, and I was given one premise after another to develop as a Feature. Film.
I remember I was working with a producer at the time (he’ll remain anonymous) who was giving me note after note – which I dutifully implemented., exactly as instructed.
I mean, I was 25 years old. What did I know?

The script turned into a jumbled mess, and was never green-lit.
I was devastated, and felt like a failure.
Hadn’t I done everything they had asked for?
Was this going to be a huge set back in my career?

My manager, DOUG CHAPIN, who I was with for 30+ years, said to me: “The title page of this script will not say WRITTEN BY KATE LANIER WITH NOTES FROM XXX PRODUCER, it will ONLY say, Written by Kate Lanier…so you need to learn how to listen to notes, understand how to reinterpret them so that they are AUTHENTIC to your voice. Because at the end of the day, IT’S YOUR NAME!”

I learned so much from Doug (who was like a Creative Editor for everything I wrote) about listening beneath the specific note and figuring out for myself what wasn’t working, and THEN rewrite, rewrite and rewrite, always staying authentic to my own vision.

I learned 2 important lessons from perseverance after this experience: you can NEVER work in a vacuum. Everyone needs support and direction. You have to ask for help, receive help from people you trust who GET YOU!
And second, learn from others, but always return to your GUT, INTUITIVE creative voice!

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Good one!
I wish I knew….
In the 80’s and 90’s an artist could live dirt cheap in a railroad flat in NYC, in proximity to great art and other Creatives.
NOW, the divide between the 1% and the rest of us has become so impossible, that EVERYONE has to hustle, be on the grind, working 2, 3, 4 jobs!
How does one have time to make Art?
We are all trying to pay for food and rent!
Won’t be until we have a completely different government that economics might change and support those people who are the driving, creative voices in this country!!

Contact Info:

• Website: katelanier.com (coming soon! In process!)
• Instagram: lanierkate
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-lanier-17b679139/?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
• Other: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm0486824/credits
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Lanier
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMDb_(identifier)
  movies.nytimes.com/movies/review
  web.archive.org/web/20130922104347/
  www.luckybykate.com