We were lucky to catch up with Stevie Wain recently and have shared our conversation below.
Stevie , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
The most meaningful project I’ve ever created was my TV pilot, Day Jobs, which just won the audience award at Outfest and Austin Film Festival. I’ve been developing my craft as a writer for the past eight years and have not had any success breaking in the “traditional” way, so I decided to self-produce one of my TV pilots. It’s a half-hour dramedy about an aspiring comedian who secretly falls in love with the mom she babysits for after coming out as gay and struggling to pay rent to her ex-boyfriend turned best friend. And it’s wild because I’ve always had a lot of shame about my day job as a nanny and after taking this story through festivals this year and winning three audience awards and one jury award it feels like the path I’ve taken to garner such intimate stories has been completely worth it. I never could write a show about being a nanny unless I had been one myself. And creating this series has been the most fulfilling experience of my life.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name’s Stevie Wain and I love storytelling. I’m a writer/director/comedian and I’m eager to pitch my tv shows and be a part of a writer’s room. I’m also a comedian and I’m looking to film my first hour comedy special next year. My dark sense of humor is rooted in a lot of heart and I think that’s what is most notable about my work. As a middle child of divorced parents, I survived on the skill of hypervigilance and I learned from a really young age the value of being an active listener. I don’t really love big parties but I love big crowds when I’m on stage because there’s something so magical about getting people to lean in and connect with your most shameful painful moments. I think it helps us hand wash our shame so we can go on feeling a little lighter in our struggles. And I think that’s the theme of my work. I just aim to create the feeling of hope despite having lived in some very unhopeful circumstances.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I think perfectionism is the constant ghost haunting me that I still struggle with and have to work at every day. I grew up in a really small town and when my mom came out of the closet, we were socially ostracized from our religious community. And the way that I learned how to create a sense of self-worth was trying to be “perfect” at everything. School. Musicals. Sports. Grades. Taking every leadership/captain role I could garner but not really allowing myself to be an equal to my peers because I had experienced so much rejection. And perfectionism is a really sick disease that teaches you you are not allowed to try something unless you are already great at it and I had to unlearn that if I wanted to give myself a shot at a creative career. No one is born “ready.” Especially when it comes to writing. If I had judged my talent when I was starting out and compared it to working professionals, I would have quit years ago. And it’s still a feeling that haunts me. A feeling of being exposed as a fraud or a fluke and being abandoned because I’m “not good enough.” And what I have learned by trial and error is that it’s okay to be bad and to still trudge on and create. Your work will eventually catch up to your taste and you’ll likely keep moving the goal post. I really admire people who put themselves out there. I think it’s been something that I’ve struggled to do for a really long time and I’m just finding freedom in it. Recovering perfectionist over here.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
I watch Elizabeth Gilbert’s Ted Talk about your “Elusive Creative Genius” nearly every time that I am about to write something and I feel nervous to start. It basically pitches the idea of stopping yourself from internalizing being great at something so that you can allow yourself to try without being perfect. She encourages you to externalize it onto something else, like a god or a statue or something that can come and go as it pleases despite your consistency in showing up and doing the work. Which, I’m honestly butchering it but it helps me fight my perfectionism anxiety response when I have to start writing and it helps me find the freedom to play and stay consistent and be curious about my own work. I highly highly highly recommend watching it!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.steviewain.com
- Instagram: @stayfunny_wain
- Twitter: @stayfunny_wain
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuNtQ34y7GE
Image Credits
Still frames taken from Day Jobs, DP: Kevin Stiller