Ep #67: Coaching, Writing and All Things Television with Jen Grisanti

You are listening to The Overthinker's Guide to Joy, episode 67. Today, I interview
my friend and colleague, Jen Grisanti. Jen is a writer's coach for all kinds of
screenwriters, television, and features. And like me, she is a former television
executive. So today's conversation is about coaching, writing, and all things
television. Let's dive in. This for over -thinkers, over -doers,
and over -achievers who are tired of feeling over -anxious and just wanna feel better.
I'm your host certified life coach, Jackie de Crinis.
- Welcome. Today I am bringing on a very old friend from the entertainment business.
We were colleagues when we were both working in the television business. She still
works in the television business, but no longer as a creative executive like we did.
Her name is Jennifer Grisanti, we call her Jen Grisanti, and she is the
international speaker and acclaimed story career consultant at Jen Grisanti Inc.,
a 13 -year writing instructor for Writers on the Verge at NBC, and a former 12 -year
studio executive, including vice president of current programming of CBS Paramount, and
Jen is also the author of three books, Storyline, Finding Gold in Your Life Story,
TV Writing Toolkit, How to Write a Script that Sells, Change Your Story,
Change Your Life, A Path to Your Success. Jen actually started her career in 1992
as an assistant to Aaron Spelling. He served as her mentor for 12 years, and she
quickly climbed the ranks in eventually brand current programs at Spelling Television,
covering all the spelling shows, including Beverly Hills 90210, Millaroll's Place, and
Charmed. In 2004, Jennifer, or Jen, was promoted to Vice President of Current
Programs at CBS Paramount, where she covered numerous shows, including Medium, Numbers,
NCIS 4400, which is the show we met on, and Girlfriends. In In 2008,
Jen created, launched Jen Grisanti, Inc., a highly successful consulting firm dedicated
to helping talented writers break into the industry. Drawing on her experience as a
studio executive, where she gave daily notes to executive producers and showrunners,
Jen now guides writers to shape their material, write their emotional truth, hone
their pitches, focus their careers, And since launching the firm, she has worked with
over a thousand writers specializing in television and features. And due to her
expertise and mentorship, 110 projects, that is,
scripts have sold, including 10 that went to series. And 152 writers have been put
on staff since working with her. These are some amazing statistics. And with that,
I would like to introduce to you my old friend, Jen Grisanti. Aw, thank you so
much. I'm so happy to be here. That is an amazing resume. I think whenever you
hear things read back to you and you think of the journey, from the day you
decided to change direction, it is fascinating to think back to that arc of growth.
It is amazing. And it's actually an important coaching lesson, which is sometimes
when we're at a particular station in our life, successful or not,
stuck or not, sometimes to reflect back, and it's an exercise we do in coaching, on
what you accomplished in your current stage of life, whether it's personal or
professional, is so valuable to your psyche. So it's actually, I might be a good
tool. I'll bring back out of the toolbox, which is have people write their resume
again or read it out loud. - I think when somebody too, it's fascinating when you
look at it and then when you hear it and you hear somebody respond to it.
And I think you, like you and I are both the same as far as do, do, do,
do, do, go, go, go, go, go very often coming from that mindset. And I think you
don't take the time to reflect or you don't have the time to reflect until you're
in a situation where you're hearing it and you're like, Oh, fascinating to think of
the arc of growth from day one of starting a new company to now. Yeah. And it is
a coincidence that we both live on Maui and We used to live in Los Angeles and
that we both coach for a living now. We used to be creative executives. So our
paths have sort of been parallel in many ways, but it was only in all of our
dinners together and all of our phone calls and such that I started to realize
really how similar our career paths or new career paths were. I work with writers
as a coach, but I'm not a writer's coach. I'm a much more of a mindset coach and
stress coach and over thinkers coach than I am, you know, in the weeds on the
riding and you are in the weeds on the riding. - Yes, and I love that you
distinguish, there is a very much a difference between what I do and what you do.
I would say with the working with writers on the scripts, although I know you
occasionally read scripts. - Very rarely. - Very rarely. - Yeah, I really try to stick
to the mindset of it more than the notes of it. - Yeah, and all of it is
important. I mean, I think coming from our background with the studio network,
executive studio executive, I think when you look at it, psychology is a part of
all of it. Mindset is a part of all of it. And I think Whenever you are coaching,
you are working with the internal being as well as the external script and writing.
So I think that you and I have parallels as far as looking at the psychological
mindset part of the writing and creating a career in the entertainment industry.
But I think as you say, we differ in that my focus is on how to get writers to
write a script that is going to lead them to their dream and open doors and all
of that. Yeah. Yeah. It's very specific. And actually, in all the years that I was
in television, I have to say, I think you're still the only one who does this.
There are the classes, you know, the Robert McKee's and John Truby's, but you're the
only one I know who has this kind of mentorship program,
coaching program specifically for television and feature writers, at least in all of
my travels. I think you're the only one I've ever known. - Carol Kirschner is
probably the other one from the studio executive world. And like you say,
I mean, there's a differentiation for all of us in our focus like Carol's focus is
mainly on career and the idea of career guidance versus script versus her reading I
think I think I think so many people who do come from the executive world and
Carol also focuses on pitching and where we have similarities.
We both go into the personal story, emotional truth is a huge part of my brand and
understanding how to write from the truth that isn't autobiographical,
but is a glimpse of who you are as a person and a writer.
And those were always my favorite stories to develop. I was always interested in the
emotional truth behind the writer that was pitching to me. Like story, yes, and
series had to have legs and all those things, but I was always interested in where
was this character created from? Like, was it your uncle, your father, yourself,
your neighbor, your best friend, somebody you admired across the street? To me, those
were always the juiciest stories. - I - Great, I mean, I think when we're looking at
where the world is at right now and the desire for depth in story,
in how we spend our time, in something meaning something that we're gonna dedicate
ourselves to, certainly when you start a new series. I think people are in a
mindset where they wanna watch story that is going to create transformation,
that is going to make them lean in and learn and grow.
I think that that is where where we all are in the world right now.
And I think entertainment and art is the perfect place to reflect so much of what's
going on inside. So can we just jump to the good stuff. Can I ask you what you're
currently watching or what you've recently watched and love? Like, I know you watch
a lot and I know you educate a lot. - I watch a lot. Yes, I watch a lot. - Top
five in the last 12 months. Just give me your top five series. - I would say a
series that's surprising. So top five, I would say the split on Hulu.
I loved the old man. - I did too. - I am currently watching him very intrigued by
CB Strikes on HBO Max, which is a procedural with a very strong character aspect
with a one -legged lead. So I find myself very drawn to that.
I'm watching Dear Edward. The emotional part of that is making me lean in,
I find the idea of hope, something that everyone needs right now.
And then so, oh, the bear would probably be the fifth one. I mean, there are so
many shows that I teach from, but I would say those five, when I look at
components of what's making them work now, that's what intrigues me on a
psychological level. And in the split, which was written by Abby Morgan,
who wrote The Hours, and also, if I remember, oh, wrote River, which was another
show that I taught from in one of my courses, River that was on Netflix. There is
a debt in the writing. And that one surprised me because I'd never heard about it.
And I found it on Hulu, and it was such a simplistic concept in terms of you have
a mother and three daughters and we learned that the father returns after a 30 year
absence in the series arc set up. So you have four women with the same wound, the
mother and two of the daughters work at a family law firm. So you have the engine
of the law firm that's bringing story in. Then you have the main worldview is the
eldest daughter Hannah and Hannah is a very successful divorce attorney and she's
married with kids and we learn that Hannah has a secret and so between the secret
the father returning after 30 years and having four women with the same wound and
then having an engine of story coming in with domestic dispute which thematically
resonates with all the characters and what they're going through and how the four
women, how we see the absence of the father come up in husband, come up in them
in different ways. So it's a brilliant series. Like all three seasons,
there was not a weak link. So when I see series like this,
then I'm like, all right, I'm in, like this, this is amazing. And They made a
version of it in Turkish, I believe that was even more successful.
So it's really fascinating. - Oh, I will check it out for sure. - Yeah. - I'll check
it out. The others I've seen, but I will check it out for sure. That's awesome.
And what show are you teaching on right now in your program? What are you going
doing your deep dive on this season? - In my program, the eight shows that we're
looking at. We're looking at Severance, which I also love. The Bear, which I
mentioned. Gaslet, the old man, is in there, single, drunk, female.
Life and death. And then there was one other, and I'm blanking on. But these are
shows, yeah, these are show, Gaslet. Gaslet and we crashed. So these are the eight
shows that I selected for the course this year, again, because they are making
breakthroughs in how we tell story and what story means and how deep they are going
into what I call triangle of the wound toward the central character and how we feel
that in these stories. Nice. Tell me a little bit about your favorite part of your
job. I would say that I love waking up every day with the idea of knowing that
both you and I spent our lifetime being executives and learning the craft and the
skills and knowing that everything we learned and all the tremendous mentors that
we've learned from in our careers has so much value to pass forward right now.
That's probably my favorite part. That's so beautiful. So you're taking generations of
knowledge and paying it forward to young or old, hopefuls and or established writers
to bring their career to a next level. Yes. Beautiful. Yes.
And it's all levels. I think because I had the good fortune of staffing 15 prime
time shows, I have writers of all levels and I have writers who will come to me
at the mid to upper level who are stuck, who need to redefine what their career is
by writing a new script that represents what really is going on inside of them so
that doors can continue to open, but perhaps open more in the direction that
fulfills them. That's kind of a beautiful thing, as opposed to feeling like they
just have to fill this corporate void. Yes. Or just take a job because they need
the money. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's beautiful. That's really transformative.
I mean, it's transformative to make a living also as a writer, but it's
transformative to be able to write something you love. Yes, so big. I mean,
so big about thinking about who you are and where you are in your life,
in the life phase process, and thinking about how where you are in your life is
reflected in what you right. Yeah. Yeah,
it's amazing when people can, when writers can write truly from their gut. Not
necessarily, like you said, autobiographically, that's not necessary, but really things
that are meaningful to them, whether it's exploration of character or exploration of
things that are uncomfortable to talk about, or whether it's messy, or whether it's
on linear storytelling, meaning it jumps around in time or you only get so many
clues about things and you really have to make the audience pay attention and lean
in, which I think, yeah, which definitely streaming has changed that business because
when we were raised in television and it was just broadcast television when we
started and then it was cable, basic cable, a little bit of paid cable HBO
Showtime. There was no luxury to do that. You couldn't do that because the theory
was that even the best most watched show, people only saw one out of four.
So you had to presume that people were coming to it for the first time and you
couldn't lose them in deep, deep, deep storytelling, which is why franchise
television, lawyers, cops, doctors, was so popular because people could dip in and
dip out. But with the advent of streaming, where people could binge, watch,
where people could watch a show that maybe was on the air five years ago, and now
watch all five seasons at once, you really can get very invested in the characters.
And if you're willing to lean in and pay attention, there's a huge payoff. - There
payoff? There is and I think the current state of the business with the recognition
that streaming on a business level isn't working in the way that they had hoped it
would is a little unsettling because it's like when we look at our viewing now and
how used to we are to the idea of the binge watching on an emotional level on a
time level, it is going to be really fascinating to see what happens in the next
decade with the business models that are evolving. - In other words, they may go
back to once a week dropping an episode. - I think they already started. I mean,
it's interesting on Apple, they are recognizing that the anticipation does create a
value. So it is an interesting thing. And I think just the idea of how do you
find a continuous flow of shows that the audience is going to tune in for without
jumping from place to place to place to place. I think it's a huge challenge right
now. It used to be that Netflix had it and everybody was always there and then
everything else popped up. And I still think Netflix has it in the biggest way, but
I think others are starting to have their own voice and how they're bringing the
audience to them and keeping them there. - So let me just clarify because my
audience is not industry people, they're every walk of life. Many of them are
writers and producers, but many are just lay people. And so let me just be clear,
the others are Hulu, Amazon, HBO Max, Showtime. You're talking about the others'
meeting channels. - Yes. - Yeah. - Yes. - Yes. - Not to mention-- - Yeah, the other--
- Broadcast ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and to the whatever degree that basic cable is still
in scripted series, yeah. - Exactly, exactly. And I think it was interesting like on
the Oscars. I think there was at the Oscars, there was something where there was a
joke about something being on Abbott Elementary being on ABC and the family saying,
well, how do you find ABC? Everything is in an app. And I thought, oh, my God, so
true. Well, that's I have three children who have never seen any more television
because probably when they were really little, they watch basic cable, you know, they
watch Cartoon Network in Nickelodeon and things like that, but they never saw
broadcast. It just wouldn't even have occurred to them. And then by the time they
were teenagers, it was not really television. It was content that was consumed on
either a phone or an iPad or a computer. And so I think as adults,
I'm not even sure any of them have "television." They have television sets and they
have streaming, but they wouldn't probably know. Yeah. Yeah. It's continuously
changing. It's fascinating. And it will again, very, very soon. We're not done
changing. Yes. I can tell, well, we can't be because of the recognition that the
financial part of it isn't working in the way that it needs to be working to keep
it going. Yeah. Yeah. To sustain it. So there's challenges,
and again, I don't want to get too in the weeds, but there's challenges on every
level. There's challenges on the business side of television and what's next. And
then there's the challenges of inclusivity and trying to make sure that we are
hearing from lots of different voices from all over the world and being much more
inclusive in representing everyone, everything,
and as evidenced by the Oscars with the first Asian actress to win Best Leading
actress with Michelle Yeo. So things are changing. So that's a certain amount of
advice or coaching to a more senior writer /producer who's been doing it the same
way for 10, 20, 30 years, and now is having to pivot because like, wait, they're
streaming and wait, streaming is not working, and wait, I need to be inclusive, and
wait, I need to be progressive, and wait, there's, I'm talking about things I don't
even know. But then there's also like the baby rider. And there used to be like a
process of how baby riders broke into the business, you wrote a spec script, you
hoped an agent or a manager was going to read it, and then you got hired, and
then if it was good enough, you got on staff, and then so on and so and it feels
like even those rules have changed. So are you ever confronted with a brand new
client who's like, "I don't know where to begin," other than they want to write and
they're writing and they presumably they've had some education about writing. But how
does one even start to break into the industry in today's world in 2023?
I think with the digital world and the internet, there are new frontiers for writers
to make breakthroughs in ways that they never have been able to before.
So I think with so many executives hearing pitches on Zoom now and with writer
rooms being all over the world now and people being able to live where they choose
to live, you and I being excellent examples and do what they love to do.
I look at the newer writer coming in, and I think what an incredible time to come
into the business. I think the biggest thing to stay focused on is the writing,
because the writing is the one thing you can control. If the writing is at a place
where it cannot be ignored, then it will in its way.
- So give an example of what that would mean or what that might look like for a
young person who's finished college or finished graduate school or written their first
spec, spec meaning a script written from beginning to end without being paid.
What would that look like for them? What would be an example of what you're talking
about? - Well, I'll give a success story. So I have a writer who I've worked with
for five years who recently sold a comedy and a drama in one development season.
She doesn't have an agent who's never staffed. So that's an example.
And how did she do that? So without an agent and having no staff experience, how
would she handle it? She has a manager. She does have a manager. So the manager
definitely was a contributing factor and then she was out there meeting people and
making relationships and asking for things and assisting executive producers and doing
the work like continually writing and having a strong work at that can having a
strong belief and doing everything that needed to be done to get her where she is
and and it doesn't mean She didn't even have hurdles on this path, but she moved
through them. And so I think for newer writers, belief is a massive part of whether
you will make it or not. So certainly when writers are working with you, I think
working on the emotional and the mindset and the psychology behind how do you create
a long writing career that fulfills your life on every level.
So to do that, you have to work on the inside and the outside and do the work
and continuously do the work. - I love that you said that I was gonna make you dig
into those two words you used. - Yeah. - Because I didn't wanna gloss over them and
you did it on your own, so I don't even need to prod you. But I love that
combination of belief, which is mindset, and a huge piece of what I do with my
clients, and not or, and taking action.
And the action being in this case, consistently writing and meeting people,
whether it's working for a producer as an assistant or a writer's assistant or a
production consistent and writing. So you can't stay home and meditate,
although I like meditation or pray, and then that's fine too, or believe that you
will be a writer, nor can you just write. Yes. You have to do both.
So it's just a great distinction and it's a great reminder, whether it's the goal
is to be a writer or the goal is to be an executive, or the goal is to be a
lawyer, or the goal is to be a doctor, or a real estate agent, or whatever
entrepreneur, you have to do the work and you have to believe. Yes. Yes,
because you and you know, as well as I know, like you can have a writer where all
the talent is there, but the belief and confidence is lacking. So they will
continuously get in their own way of success happening. So that's why.
And I do feel that story is reflecting that now more than ever as well.
I think that the procedural that people are being drawn to right now,
watching why. So like when I talk about CB strikes, when you have a one -legged
lead who lost his leg when he was serving time in the military and you add
components to that character like his father was a rock star and he's estranged from
his father and something happened to his mother and we'll learn that that's why he
does what he does with private investigation. I think when you plant these seeds on
the personal lives of these characters that are doing a very procedural plot -driven
thing with the crime of the week, it adds a whole new level of meaning when we
know who the character is and why they do what they do. - That's great. Probably
too hard of a question to answer on the spot, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. - Okay.
- Do you have five favorite TV shows of all time? - Well, like when I'm thinking of
from, well, I certainly would at the split on my five of all time without a doubt.
- That's an amazing statement. - Yeah, I was that moved by it.
I mean, it was one of those shows that when it ended, I was sad that it was
ending because I so, even though I also felt like three years was perfect for what
they set up in year one. So the series arc structure was perfectly set up for
three seasons. So even though I was sad when it ended, I felt that it fulfilled
everything at the highest level. I definitely loved Breaking Bad.
I had felt that Vince Gilligan did major service to it all the way up to the end,
which I don't think was an easy thing. I think fulfilling the audience's expectation
of the finale is one of the hardest things to do in the world.
I think Luther is probably one of the best pilots to teach from.
I think The Good Wife is definitely in the top tier as far as a show that
successfully deals with the internal as well as the external in a compelling enough
way to engage the audience to want more and more so I'm always looking I watch Oh
an international show There's one show that was probably one of the best shows I've
ever seen as well that was right upon a Storm and I forget the foreign word for
it something Oh, I forget. That show was about a family of Protestant priests.
And it went so deep into religion and politics and generational dysfunction and
family and expectation. And there was something about that show that hit a chord at
a level. So I love the international shows. I love the British shows. The Tunnel
was definitely in the top tier as well because of the characters,
because of the setup, because of the depth, because of the polarity between the two
leads. We watched seven seasons of that and when that ended, it was a really hard
thing as well because you felt still connected to these characters and the world.
- That's what I find. I find when a series ends and I've watched it, over the
course of maybe a month, maybe I've watched three seasons or four seasons of
something, I feel a loss. I feel a profound like postpartum of,
well, now what? And I'll see people on social media, people not even in the
industry, but just fellow fellow friends and what have you they'll say I need a new
show to watch and that's what they mean. It's like finishing they do. Look, it's
I'm done. I'm happy to be done. I feel excited. And now I'm not ready to let go
of my characters. I felt that way. I think the one of the few times I felt that
way in long before there was binging long before there was streaming was that's how
I felt about Friday Night Lights. I was not ready to let go of those characters.
And I put that in my top 10 because of that feeling. - Yeah, I agree. And Jason
Caden wrote Dear Edward. So yeah, it's interesting. And another great show, Shrinking.
Have you seen that? - I have not. - Oh, that's another brilliant. - All right, it's
on my list. - I'm gonna take a look, 'cause that's on Apple. Yeah,
in that pilot so perfectly set up. It's a comedy and it's just set up.
And obviously, in today's single cam comedy is the idea of more of a drama with
humor. So it's in the idea of that tone, but the humor is very,
very well placed. And yeah, brilliant. That is another brilliant show,
but Friday Night's Life. Yeah, totally agree with you. Yeah. I actually cut my teeth
as an assistant on the original single camera shows that were the hybrid between
drama and comedy because I was the assistant to the executive producers and then
became the executive in charge at ABC of the original The Wonder Years. And then I
also covered Doogie Howser, which was the original, one of the few 30 minute single
camera quote comedies but then also had, you know, pathos because people died and
people got divorced and people had their hearts broken and it wasn't, there was no
laugh track and there's no live audience. And then I also worked on multi -camera
sitcoms where, you know, everything gets tied up at the end and there's a laugh
track and there's an audience. But I always said that my favorite dramas were the
ones with comedy and my favorite comedies were the ones with drama. And probably my
favorite movies, too. You know, one of my favorite movies of all time is Terms of
Endearment. Yeah. And, you know, I'm literally laughing my butt off and I'm crying
uncontrollably every single time you see it. Every time I see it,
like uncontrollably. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, but those are my that's just my genre.
That just happens to be my favorite is that hybrid, that mixture. And some writers
just do that so well. And I always say that I'm not a lover of sci -fi and I'm
not a lover of fantasy. Anybody who ever tried to sell me knows that. And those
shows that I did buy that were science fiction and /or fantasy were because they had
great characters. And so I always say the best shows are the ones that can send a
genre you don't like because the characters are so compelling you can't resist
watching it. Because of the transformation and I think it's interesting on that topic
when you talk about I used to feel the same way and yet then I covered 4 ,400,
medium, all souls, the kindred, charmed, so different levels of understanding the
beauty of the liberty that you could have with storytelling when characters were
great. I think something recent I watched was 1899 on Netflix that was in the
horror genre, which typically would not be something that I would love. And I loved
it because of the character transformation. It's exactly how I felt about "The Last
of Us," the new series that just won all the awards. Yeah. And I don't like
zombies. They're not zombies. It's just not my genre. And I'm like, I don't want to
see, you know, monsters and all the things, but the leads were so compelling that I
kept watching till the end. And I really did feel that sadness when, at least when
the first season was over. Do you know what's interesting about that sadness? One
thing I want to bring up that's that I've talked about on a few of my classes
that is out there in the ether and so many people are starting to talk about when
you're talking about people missing a show or I need my next fix. There is a TED
Talk and then there are a number of books going into it now too. There is a TED
Talk on the magic science of storytelling that goes into the recognition that with
storytelling, we, the writer, the show is eliciting dopamine and oxytocin.
Same things when we fall in love. - Yep. - So when storytelling is doing it right.
- Yeah. - Then you are emotionally attaching. - I love it. - In that way.
- I love that. - Which is making you want more when something ends. Yeah. That's so
beautiful. I'm going to, I'm going to check that out. The last thing I was going
to say in that vein is, and sort of to tie it back to the theme of this podcast,
which is obviously the Overthinkers Guide to Joy. I have experienced with my writing
clients, my producing clients, writers tend to be overthinkers, right? Because they're
creating worlds. It's actually their job to overthink. But when it becomes
dysfunctional. In other words, the overthinking isn't just expansion of the brain or
expansion of the what if or expansion of storytelling, but becomes disabling in the
case of I don't know what to write or I don't know how to corral it or I don't
know how to sit down and just do it. Any advice for that overthinking writer? And
again, this speaks a little bit more to the more junior people because as We build
confidence a decade or two in, they just sit down and write, but any thoughts on
that? Yes. First, one thing I'd recommend to so many people right now, if you have
not seen the documentary called Stutz. Loved it. Yes. Loved it. That is a huge
thing, I think, for all writers to understand about therapy. Yeah.
And let me just step back for a sec so they can know what it is. It's Jonah
Hill, the actor, therapist, whose last name is Stutz, and it's on Netflix. And it
was a documentary that he did as an homage to his therapist, because he loved the
transformation he got so much from him, that he decided to make a documentary about
his own therapy and therapist, and it's called Stutz, STUTC, on Netflix. Anyway,
so that's just a summary. And Phil Stutz also has a book that I have always
recommended to my writers who get stuck, who have blocks, is called The Tools. So
Phil Stuck's is, there at Johnny Hill Serifist, is the author of the book, The
Tools. I recommend when writers are struggling, there are several things you can do.
Certainly meditation. I highly recommend the combination of meditation and journaling.
If you are stuck and you start listening to meditation and you just start stream of
consciousness writing. You just start writing anything that comes to mind as you are
meditating, you will be shocked at what you can capture and what comes through you
as it links to content, as it links to ideas, as it links to your message and
what you have to say to the world. So that is a huge thing. Then obviously things
like a disciplined writing practice. So if you are a writer,
then you have to be writing. And so I think it is thinking of what two or three
hours a day can I set aside to write and recognize things like when I was writing
my books I got up at 4 a .m. because I had heard from Susanna Grant that that was
the magic hour and the idea that you come off a dream state and you go straight
into things that your mind your subconscious and your conscious are processing and
that also helped the writing process for me in a big way. So writing in the
morning before things would get crazy with my day was my time by myself to just be
in content. So I think when you think about the discipline of writing, it is
setting yourself up for success by having a routine that works for you on an
emotional, psychological, mental level to get you to an outcome. - This is so
interesting. And I think in the first seven episodes of this podcast, I talk about
first the four basic non -negotiables about what I think people should do every day.
And then in episode five, I talk about the power of journaling. And then I think
it's seven or eight, I forget where I talk about scheduling. And so all of these
disciplines that you're talking about specifically in how to break through writer's
block or how to break through the overthinking of being a writer or how to just
create a discipline, so that it becomes your job even before you're paid for it.
These are all things, all tools that I recommend across the board for people to
just feel empowered in their own bodies and start their day ready for success.
So it's so lovely to hear that reiterated specifically for this type of career goal.
So I have taken almost an hour of your time and I want to just make sure that my
audience knows if they are writers or and /or aspiring writers, how can they find
you? How can they work with you? Tell us all the things. Where can they find
social media? Where When they find your website, what kind of programs do you offer
those kinds of things? Okay, great. Thank you. I love that and you can reach me at
jengrissanti .com so very easy if you google my name it will come up immediately.
You can find me on facebook under jengrissanti, linkedin, twitter, instagram all under
jengrissanti. I would say my most popular service is my five coaching consults and
the reason it's my most popular is that we cover wherever you're at in the creative
process. So we can cover starting at the concept phase, the outline phase, the
script phase, or you could be halfway through a script, you could want to work on
two or three scripts, then you get a coaching consult package where we could go
into pitching, we could go into meeting skills. So that tends to be my one that
people gravitate toward because it's less permitting when you do it as a package.
And then my pilot consults, my feature consults, my pitching consults,
all are ways for writers to get feedback. When I started my business,
it was the recognition that there was a void in the market that we knew as
executives that finding professional feedback was near impossible and yet when you can
give professional feedback and you have a writer who is at a time and place in
their life when they're ready to hear the notes and understand how to make the
notes, then outcomes happen. So that's everything that drives me and creating services
and courses. I have a number of digital courses where I do breakdowns for so many
of the shows that Jackie and I have talked about during this podcast with the
courses I'm always looking for. What are the top shows that writers can learn from?
What are the top shows that the writers are doing it so well and they're making
new rules with story structure and emotion and how do we mimic those and how do I
create tools so that writers can write at a level that could lead to a long and
successful writing career. - That's awesome. I wanna thank you for your time today
and your wisdom and your expertise and also just for helping so many writers reach
their dreams, not just become writers, but also finally sell their own projects or
reinvent themselves or go on to win awards. You have just been so instrumental and
so relentless in your pursuit of helping writers become who they want to be.
And I just want to thank you for that. It's amazing. Oh, thank you, - Jackie,
Jackie, you are amazing. I have to tell you, your posts are so inspirational.
I love everything that you're doing. I love how you are digging so deep into the
life process to help people find and live fulfillment.
And I love that you are an example of this. So thank you so much for having me.
- Well, I receive that and I thank you and we will keep the conversation going.
But for now I'm going to say goodbye and thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Overthinker's Guide to Joy. If you're
enjoying these episodes, please subscribe or follow this podcast so you can always be
in the know when the next episode drops. If you would like to learn more about
working with me as a coach, you can connect with me through my website at
jackiedecrinis.com. That's J -A -C -K -I -E -D -E -C -R -I -N -I -S .com.