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

Lynn, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

When we separated church and public school, I believe that we threw the baby out with the bath water in terms of removing discussions and teaching moments around values, morals and helping students find their purpose. In our age of social media, students are inundated with messages of consumerism and are judged and valued for superficial traits, and we haven’t done enough to counter balance these messages. When I researched the young men who became school shooters for my play, “All American,” I found that many of them left messages behind that said “help me.” A high school counselor told me that many male high school students feel entitled, but also that their lives have no meaning and no purpose. I think it would go a long way to introduce ethics classes starting in elementary schools and continuing through high school where students learn that happiness lies in being kind and compassionate towards others, and leading a contributive life. We should help students find their unique talents and help them develop these talents into purpose and passion. I had an English teacher in high school who saw that I had writing talent and encouraged me to pursue it. I also think we should start foreign language training in elementary school like most countries do. Half of Americans never leave our country, and we are notoriously ego centric. Encouraging students to learn a foreign language would go a long way to help them develop curiosity and respect for other cultures; and building bridges between cultures would go along way towards creating more peace and harmony in our world.

Lynn, 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?

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Russian studies, I traveled to the Soviet Union to work as an assistant director for the Nikitsky Vorot Theater. It was there where I solidified my love of theater and decided to dedicate my life to the arts. I traveled with the theater around the former Soviet Union and wherever we went, every seat in the theater was filled. There was a tremendous respect for the theater and the arts in general, and this experience gave me the courage to return to New York City and start my own theater company, The Chelsea Players. The company produced numerous successful, Off-0ff Broadway shows, but after working three jobs to support my theater habit, at 29 I decided to move to LA and try my hand at screenwriting. I worked in production, became an assistant and then an executive at several major production companies. When I met my husband and we started a family, I left my office jobs and turned to writing full time. I have produced TV movies on Hallmark and Lifetime, and this past spring I was hired to write for season 2 of “Cypher” on the Roku Channel. I have also taught screenwriting at Pepperdine University and I currently teach through Script University. In December of 2021 I received my MFA in Creative Writing. I returned to playwriting and wrote a full length play called “All American” that looks at teen mental health issues that give rise to school shooters. I produced the play in the spring of 2022 at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, where it was nominated for Best Drama and won the Hollywood Producer Encore Award. I am most proud of this play because I found a phenomenal cast and director who collaborated to produce a very moving and beautiful play. I work as a writer for hire, as well as a script consultant helping screenwriters produce professional quality scripts. If you are interested in hiring me, please refer to my website, lynngrantbeck.com for rates.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

When I started writing scripts, I wrote them mainly for entertainment. But as I’ve matured and had personal challenges in my life, I write with more meaning and purpose in my work. I have a young adult daughter who has struggled with serious mental health challenges since 8th grade. Depression, anxiety, self harm and suicidal ideation are at epidemic proportions with our youth in this country. I am greatly concerned with these trends as our youth are our future. My mission as a mother, writer and Buddhist is currently to use my writing to shine light on these issues and help our youth find meaning, passion and joy.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I believe that if you have a strong work ethic, do good work and effectively network, then work will find you. In order to succeed in Hollywood you have to have chutzpah. You have to put yourself out there and market your scripts. Most writers want to hide behind email, but producers and agents can receive 500 emails a day. So it’s usually better to pick up the phone and call them. Another mistake beginning writers make is thinking that they need an agent to launch their career. But you need to launch your own career and then find an agent. They make their money repping working writers, not discovering new ones. You also need discipline. If writing is your job, treat it like one, sitting at your desk for specific hours every day to produce pages. Early in my career an A list writer told me to write at least 2 scripts a year so I try and hit that goal. Hollywood is known for a lot of difficult personalities, but as a writer you definitely don’t want to be a difficult personality. If you want to work in TV, people will spend a lot of time with you in a writers room so you want to be professional and easy to get along with.

Contact Info:

• Website: lynngrantbeck.com
• Instagram: lynngrantbeck
• Facebook: lynn.grantbeck
• Linkedin: Lynn Grant Beck
• Twitter: lynngrantbeck

Image Credits
Matt Kamimura